"Well, congratulations; you're a father," we're the words Jacob Frye woke up to one morning. It took him a moment to get his bearings and realize exactly where he was, which apparently happened to be a haystack. Oh of course, he thought, remembering the night before, I took a tumble off the roof of Madam Mim's... Or was I pushed off? Unsure and too groggy to think about it clearly, he pushed himself up with his right hand and with his left tried to reach for his hat that had rolled to its side a bit away, but he miscalculated and the hand holding him up slipped under him, making him fall flat on his face.
Laughter broke out all around him. Mouth full of hay, he raised himself once again carefully this time, to get a look at his audience and surroundings. He was in a fairly wide alleyway scattered with crates and barrels and the occasional chicken or two flapping around. His twin sister Evie was near the door of the building to his right, and Henry Green, their friend and fellow assassin, was leaning casually against another door to his left. That door had a faded sign jutting from the brick just above it with the words: Madam Mim's Angels of Mercy. Jacob smirked as he started remembering more and more of the hours previous and shakily rose to his feet. Then the thought of something else brought him back to the present.
"D-did you say somethin' about someone being a f-father?," he stuttered in between spitting out hay and looking nervously at the brothel.
His sister and friend looked at each other once before turning back to him, both with looks of mischief on their faces. "Er, yeah Jacob. YOU are," said Evie. Henry, who was trying and failing to hold back his laughter, walked over and bent down to carefully pick up Jacob's hat. "I dunno, Jacob; they don't really look that much like you, in my humble opinion," Henry said with a small bow while grinning, tipping the hat towards him.
Now very curious, Jacob looked inside the hat and saw three baby chicks snuggled neatly inside. They were all asleep despite the movement, and very very cute.
"Oh, I think they favor him quite a bit, actually," quipped his twin as she sauntered over, looking greatly amused with her hands clasped behind her back. She and Henry both laughed at the scowl growing on her brother's face.
Jacob, not at all amused, decided to ignore the two and grabbed his hat (gently) from Henry so he could extract the chicks (gently) from it. Those damned birds better not have done any lasting 'damage' to my beloved wide brim, he thought to himself. While he picked the birds up one by one and placed them on the ground next to what he assumed was the mother (a particularly fat hen), the other two assassins laughed once more and began to help gather the rest of Jacob's gear so that they could leave.
By now the sun was high in the sky and the clouds and fog had dissipated, leaving clear blue in their place. As they walked to Henry's curio shop, the trio spotted a contact of theirs waiting outside a carriage in front of the building. The bright sunlight beamed down on a metal part of the vehicle, reflecting the light into the assassins' faces, blinding them long enough to miss a shadow move inside the window of the shop. With a hand shielded above his eyes, Henry walked up to the contact.
The man turned and handed him a large bulky package with a knowing look on his face that only Henry would understand, and then promptly got back in the carriage and signaled the driver to ride. As their contact rode away, the three entered the shop, with Jacob and Evie eyeing the package curiously.
He placed it on a table as they walked in. "Ah, no no no," Henry said wagging his finger at them with his eyebrow raised. "Your news first. We're you able to gather any information from the girls at Madam Mim's, Jacob?"
Jacob raised his eyes from the parcel with a confused look on his face before finally realizing what the master assassin was saying. "Oh, right..."
"Yes. I'm also interested to hear what 'info' you managed to, uh, obtain from these girls," Evie said sarcastically. Jacob shot a look of pure venom at her before yanking out a short piece of parchment from the pocket of his jacket. "These," he slammed the paper down on the table, "are the names of several clients that frequent the brothel. Most of them seem to be nothing but mooks but these three," he outlined three names with his finger, "are Templar agents for certain."
Before anybody could say anything else, they heard a floorboard squeak and turned to their left and saw a rather large man coming around from the storage room. All three assassins pulled out their various weapons at once, prepared for battle. The man stopped in his tracks and put up a hand in surrender.
"Wait, please. I'm not here to harm anyone. I just wanted to leave this for a Mr. Will Turner from a Miss Kitty Bell?" He then pulled out a small bag that looked like it carried something cylindrical inside.
Henry and Evie looked confused as they lowered their weapons, with Evie saying, "Will Turner? There's no one here by that name. Who-" She stopped then, realization slowly growing on her face, and with narrowed eyes turned to Jacob. He was beet red and looking down at the floor. "Yeah, that...that's me."
The large man crossed the room in two strides towards Jacob and handed him the bag. "I'm sorry to have scared you. I just like to be thorough, is all. You give me an assignment, I carry it out no matter what." And with a huge and somewhat goofy grin, he left the shop. The three assassins stood in awkward silence.
"So. 'Will Turner' is it? Can you please explain to me what the hell that was all about?," Evie threw at him.
"It's just a name I use for missions like these"
"What's in the bag?," Henry asked.
"Why are you using a fake name?"
"Well, I can't bloody well use my REAL name while out there gleaning information, can I?"
"Yes, dear brother, but why did you not tell us of said name, hmmm?"
"Because, it's called an alias, dear sister. I'm not only protecting myself but you also."
Henry, who was quickly getting a headache, decided this had gone on long enough. "Alright, my friends. Please, calm down, both of you. It is what it is, but what I'm really curious about is...what's in that bag?"
This only caused Jacob to turn even redder and clutch more tightly to the bag. "I-it's n-nothing for either of you to worry about. Never you mind! Just...I need to be alone for a while, alright? I'll see you two later on." He headed outside and down the street.