It was late February, 1923, and the snow was in the midst of melting away. World War I had ended years ago yet peace had not fallen on this world. The Prohibition Era was in full swing in the United States and the National Fascist Party in Italy, secretly a Templar-backed organisation, was rapidly gaining power.

Darko Kerzhakov, now twenty seven years old, had spent the last few years in the city of Bern, de facto capital of Switzerland. Most of the time Darko shyed away from combat missions, usually only taking on administrative work for the Assassins.

A stack of letters was on his desk, waiting to be read. In the evening, after having dinner, Darko proceeded to read the letters one by one.

Halfway through the stack, a letter caught his eye. It was from a certain Alvin 'Sassin' Seymour, whose name and nickname sounded very American, but the letter's origin was Italy. Opening the letter, Darko started to read what was inside.

"Dear Darko, this is your older brother, Nikolai. It's been a while, hasn't it? I write to you not for chit-chat, but to request your urgent assistance," Darko read aloud. "Frank Gatti, whom I'm very sure you know, has been arrested in Palermo by Cesare Mori, a Templar known by the moniker of Iron Prefect. We are certain that Frank will be sentenced to death, thus we need your urgent intervention."

Getting up, Darko headed for his car, a 1922 Essex, which was parked in the garage of his house. It was time for an overnight drive.

Roughly two hours later, Darko arrived outside Zurich Airport. Darko owned a small hangar within the airport, which he had purchased with earnings from his businesses, which contained a Junker F.13, his personal aircraft.

Using a telephone box outside the airport, Darko contacted an acquaintance of his, George Dayton, a middle-aged American Assassin who had migrated and settled down in Zurich.

"George, I need you to come over to the airport quickly. I need your help," Darko simply said before hanging up.

Ten minutes later George arrived. "What's the problem, Darko?"

"I need you to fly me to Italy. The Italian Assassins need my help urgently, particularly in Sicily," Darko explained.

"I suppose I could get the plane in the air by midnight. If things go according to schedule we'll be in Catania Airport at about three in the morning," George said. "Hurry, let's get to the hangar."

Everything went according to plan and the Junker F.13 landed in Catania just before three in the morning. Luckily George had some contacts in Catania so Darko was able to rent a pickup truck to drive to Palermo.

At eight in the morning Darko reached Frank's house in Palermo, also the base of Assassins in the city. Nikolai, his older brother, though only four years older than Darko, seemed to be over a decade older than him. That was because over the past few years Nikolai had been active throughout Italy helping the Assassins, thus looking much older.

"Nikolai! It's been a while!" the two siblings embraced each other in a hug.

"Come in, come in," Nikolai said. "You must be George Dayton, a pleasure to meet you."

"I should be the one saying that, Master Assassin," George said with a grin as he shook Nikolai's hand. Nikolai had been promoted to the rank of Master Assassin about three years ago, so now he was of the same rank as Darko.

Inside, they sat round the table in the living room, drinking coffee. "You two are here because you've seen my letter, I take it?"

Darko nodded. "Where is Frank?"

"God, we don't know. The situation here in Italy is just terrible," Nikolai said with a sigh. "Italy is infested with Templars! Fellow Assassins and allies across the country are disappearing by the day. The lucky ones are sentenced to life imprisonment. The not-so-lucky ones, well, they die."

"But Frank will most likely be sentenced to execution, no?" Darko asked.

Nikolai replied, "Most probably. But it depends whether news of the execution will spread to the public. We're depending on that to learn of Frank's location."

On midday of the same day, news spread that Francis Guercino, a prominent wine seller, was to be executed for 'treason' on the very next morning. The Assassins guessed that the Templars thought by announcing the news such a short time before the execution the Assassins would not be able to retaliate. How wrong they were.

The next morning, Darko was perched on the top of a building overlooking the square where Frank's execution would be held. George was sitting in a pickup truck in a nearby alleyway, acting as the getaway driver. Nikolai was also in the pickup truck, but he would be the one rescuing Frank. The three of them had been there since last evening and had spent the night there.

Civilians were pouring into the square by the dozen, wanting to catch a glimpse of the latest unfortunate about to be executed.

At around eight thirty in the morning, a convoy of three military vehicles, with the van containing Frank in the middle, arrived at the square.

Four Italian soldiers escorted Frank, who had been handcuffed and blindfolded, to the makeshift platform in the middle of the square. A fifth soldier, an officer, made a speech to the crowd as Frank was escorted into position.

"This man here, Francis Guercino, was caught doing one of the worst crimes that can be committed. Mister Guercino was working with rebels to break the fragile peace of this country," the officer said. "Benito Mussolini, head of the government, has demanded that this man be made an example of, so others don't follow his footsteps."

Darko, armed with a M91 Mosin-Nagant, opened fire on the group of soldiers. Right after the first round was shot, Nikolai bolted into the square, heading right for the stage. Darko shot dead two more soldiers before Nikolai made it onto the stage.

Releasing his Hidden Blade, Nikolai slashed the officer, who was the nearest enemy, across the chest. As the officer toppled Nikolai ran for the remaining two soldiers, young foolish lads who were protecting the prisoner with their lives instead of fleeing. Nikolai knocked the two of them unconscious before freeing Frank.

"Nikolai, by the gods, it's you," Frank said. "I really thought I would die here!"

When Nikolai and Frank got to the pickup truck, Darko was already there and Frank had started the engine. Frank sat in the passenger seat while Nikolai got on the back with Darko.

Police cars sealed off the exit points of the square and policemen ensured that no one got in or out. But it was too late as the perpetrators were already long gone.