Nightcap
Tai groaned as he walked up the thirtieth flight of stairs to reach Izzy's laboratory, the elevator was broken. As he reached the door, which was ajar, he heard talking on the other side, who was Izzy talking to? As Tai opened the door he saw who Izzy was talking to, in front of the Animus's podium, where Izzy usually was, was a woman in a white tank-top and blue jeans. Tai spotted Izzy at a computer across the room.
"Lucy," Izzy said as he walked across the room and handed women a digital pad. "I have the results." The woman took a moment to look at the pad and smiled.
"That's great!" she said, brushing some of her blonde hair out of her face, the rest of her hair was in a bun.
"I hope I'm not interrupting," Tai chuckled nervously.
"Interrupting what?" Izzy asked, walking to a stack of metal crates.
"Never mind," Tai said as he watched Izzy take a piece of machinery out of a crate. "Umm…Izzy, just last night, something weird happened." Izzy and Lucy looked up excitedly.
"Did you do something really crazy really fast?" Lucy asked.
"Umm… yeah, how do you know about this?"
"We were just talking about it!"
"It's the bleed-through affect," Izzy tried to explain, but Tai was still confused. "Ok, let's say you do something, like a slide-kick in soccer. Your mind remembers how you did it so you can do it again. We're doing the same thing with the genetic memories."
"With time, you'll be able to retain your ancestor's skills, reaction time, and speed," Lucy said.
"Tai, this is Lucy Stillman, my assistant."
"So, this is who you always talk about," Tai said to Izzy.
"You talk about me?" Lucy asked Izzy, who shrugged nervously.
"Anyways, I'm back for another round of the Animus."
"I thought you didn't like it," Izzy said.
"After what happened last night, I think being a ninja would be pretty cool. But, if I only need to be inside the Animus, why can't I just get all of these skills at once?"
"You have to go through the memories one by one and learn it gradually, as you ancestor did. If we did it any other way, it'd almost be like teaching a baby to run before he can walk. Anything else?" Tai shook his head. "Let's get started then." Tai laid back down on the Animus-bed and waited as Izzy and Lucy both worked at the podium.
"Let's try to see if we can go for a longer session," Izzy said.
"Are you sure that's safe?" Lucy asked.
"Is what safe?" Tai asked, concerned, but the two scientists did not hear him.
"As long as we keep it under four hours," Izzy replied.
"GUYS!" Tai yelled.
"Staying in the Animus too long may have some side-effects," Lucy explained
"What side-effects?"
"Degradation of cognition, temporal hallucinations, multiple-awareness issues, overlapping realities…you know."
"So, what you're saying is…"
"What we're saying is if we're not careful, you don't need the Animus to visit with your ancestors," Izzy clarified. "Which wouldn't be a bad thing, assuming you could control it."
"Which, no human can," Lucy said.
"Yet," Izzy added.
"We have safeguards, Tai," Lucy said reassuringly. "If we don't eject you from the Animus after three and a half hours, the Animus will eject you itself."
"Well, if I die, I know who to get when I'm a ninja-ghost," Tai said.
"We'll be starting a few minutes after the scene that we left off on," Izzy said as Tai watched the world melt to white. "Oh, yeah, the podium's broken, so I can't track your memories anymore, you'll have to tell us what happened when you come back out." Tai did not have to wait long this time for his memory to load up.
"Come on then," Fredrico said to Ezio as they jumped onto the roof of a church.
"Where're you going?" Ezio asked.
"You'll see," Fredrico replied as he began to climb the tower at the front of the church, Ezio followed suit. Fredrico helped his little brother up onto the roof of the tower, where they look at the entire town of Florence, and its beauty, in the moonlight of the night.
"It's a good life we lead, brother," Fredrico said.
"The best," Ezio agreed. "May it never change."
"And, may it never change us." The two of them sat down and soaked in the marvelous sight of the town. After a while, Fredrico and Ezio both stood back up.
"Alright, enough of this, we really should head home, let's go." Fredrico said.
"Wait," Ezio said.
"What?" Fredrico asked. Ezio looked at one of the houses in the distance. "Ezio, let Christina sleep."
"There will be time enough for that, later," Ezio laughed. He saw a large pile of hay at the base of the tower; the pile was nearly five feet tall and was wide enough to catch Ezio when he jumped off the tower! He landed right in the pile of hay, which cushioned his fall. People hated when he did that, if the hay is not thick or wide enough, the fall would be fatal. He got out of the hay and walked to the front one of the houses.
"Christina," Ezio hissed. "Christina!"
"Who is it?" a girl asked from the window.
"It's me." A teenage girl in a white blouse with brown hair stuck her head out the window and saw Ezio.
"I should have known it was you," she said.
"May I come in?" Ezio asked.
"Fine, but only for a minute."
"A minute is all I need," Ezio said as he scaled the side of the building. "Wait, that came out wrong." As he climbed through the window, he saw Christina sitting at her desk.
"Come here," Ezio said. Christina groaned, but she got up and walked up to Ezio. They looked at each other for a long while before Ezio reached up and began unbutton Christina's blouse.
"Oh, Ezio," she said as her blouse slid off, and…
"HEY!" Tai thought when the scene suddenly faded to white. "What happened?!"
"Sorry, but it looks like the memory is corrupted," Izzy said.
"What do you mean corrupted?"
"We can't access it."
"Why not?"
"It's almost like trying to remember something forgotten," Lucy explained. "We simply can't access this one."
"Do you think you can un-corrupt it?" Tai asked.
"Doubtful, if we try too hard, it might have some serious side-effects."
"Like?"
"Since we're accessing your DNA, we could cause genetic instability."
"What's happening in there, Tai?" Izzy asked. "You seem very eager to watch this memory."
"Umm…it's nothing, just a really cool fight scene," Tai lied.
"I'm loading the next most recent memory, but it's over eight hours later," Lucy said.
"Okay," Tai groaned in disappointment as the scene of Florence was recreated, and yelling could be heard from Christina's house.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!" an angry father yelled as Ezio leapt out of Christina's window.
"That's not necessary," Ezio smirked when he got to his feet.
"GUARDS!" the father yelled as Ezio took off. Nearby guards heard the yelling and took off after Ezio.
"There's really no need for violence," Ezio said to the guards as he began to scale the side of one of the buildings. "She needed some help…some things. I'm mostly innocent." When Ezio saw that the guards were climbing after him, he jumped off the roof and tumbled on the ground. He quickly picked himself back up and sat on a nearby bench, pretending he had done nothing and that he had been sitting there for a while.
The guards, who were looking for a boy who was running from them in panic, did not bother to pay attention to the crowd. Ezio nervously looked at the guards; if any of them decided to pay more attention to the crowd they would notice him. Fortunately, they gave up the search and walked back to their posts. As soon as the coast was clear, Ezio got up and began to make his way home.
As Ezio reached the gates around his house, he could see his father waiting for him at the front door. The man's red robes made him look like an authority figure, especially with his neat, brown hair.
"Good morning, father," Ezio said innocently.
"Come with me," his father, Giovanni, said strictly, putting his hands behind his back and walking to the house.
"Is something wrong?" Ezio asked. Giovanni stopped in front of the door when he heard this.
"Do you think me blind and deaf, son? I know all about your fight with Vieri de' Pazzi, and then your little visit to Christina! Your behavior is unacceptable! It…it…it reminds me of myself when I was your age. I assume these misadventures won't interfere with your work today."
"Of course not, padre (father)," Ezio replied as the two of them went inside the house.
"I've prepared some documents for Lorenzo de' Medici," Giovanni said, handing Ezio a small stack of envelopes. "Return to me when it's done."
"With haste, father," Ezio said as he ran out the door. As the boy got outside, he looked around. He could climb onto the roofs, but he's had enough climbing for one day.
This was not the first time he had to deliver something to Lorenzo, so he knew the path to take to get to his palace, the best shortcut was through the market place, and hopefully Vieri and his gang were not there. As he made his way through the market, something caught his eye. He stared at one of the blacksmiths, who had just made a new sword to sell. Ezio knew the basics of sword fighting, and the sword he saw was the craftiest he has ever seen.
"Interested in swords now?" a dry voice said behind him. Ezio turned around and saw an old, grizzled, man wearing black robes, holding a metal walking stick in his left hand, standing behind him.
"Daeman!" Ezio said in surprise. "I didn't expect you here."
"I have nowhere else to go," Daeman said, stroking his white beard.
"Why do you always wear that black hood?" Ezio asked as they began to walk to the palace together. "It'll make the guards think you're up to something."
"The guards can think whatever they like. I let them think whatever they like, like you should do with Vieri de' Pazzi."
"What are you talking about?"
"I know about your fight you had yesterday." Ezio loudly cursed Vieri's name. "Please keep those cruel words in your head."
"Why?" Ezio asked. "He slandered my family's name."
"Do you think I went through life without someone slandering my name? There will always be those who do what they please with no concern of the affect is has on others."
"But, that is why I fought him. He needs to know when he should hold his tongue."
"Why do you think you should be the one to teach him? Their actions show how low they are, and fighting them will not make you better than them. Do not harbor hate for others, such things are poison. I know you're not paying attention to me."
"What are you talking about? I am paying attention to you."
"What I mean is, I know what you are thinking right now, you do not understand why I am lecturing you about this, and you will still get into more fights, take more nightly visits, and do what you usually do without considering what I am saying. I was once your age."
"I guess," Ezio said, considering Daeman was right about Ezio not caring about what was being said.
"I do not expect you to take my words seriously or act on them at your age."
"Then why do you try to lecture me?"
"You may not like the lectures, but if you have these thoughts in your head when you are young, you might act on them when you are older.
"What's wrong with having a little adventure in life?" Ezio laughed.
"You will have plenty of adventures when you grow older. Once you reached manhood, you can have formal duels with swords against your friends and family without getting in any trouble. Perhaps I can teach you someday."
"I know how to use a sword."
"You know how to swing it, but do you know how to fight with it?"
"I can too. But, there was this one sword I heard about…"
"The Sword of Altair?" Daeman asked.
"Yes," Ezio replied. "Why is that sword so legendary, and why do people argue whether it is real enough?"
"Legend says that the sword was made by a blacksmith who was blessed by almost every religion. He made a sword that was said to be given to a warrior who was perfect in almost every form to use it against evil. The sword's blade is said to be as thin as paper, but is harder than most metals. Some say that the sword will face little resistance when it is slashed through water."
"Do you think it exists?" Ezio asked.
"Unfortunately, the Sword of Altair is pure myth, but that is what I believe; there are some things in life that we will never know. We've reached the palazzo (palace). You can deliver the letters, but I have to go now, Ezio," the old man groaned.
"Good bye, old friend," Ezio said, turning away when he realized…
"How did you know I was headed for the palazzo (palace)?" Ezio asked, turning around, but Daeman was already gone. Ezio shrugged and approached a man near the palace gates.
"Ezio," the man said cheerfully. "How are you?"
"Como sempre (As always)," Ezio replied. "I have a letter for Messer (sir) Lorenzo," Ezio said, giving the man the letters.
"I'll see that he receives it when he returns."
"Returns?"
"He is away to handle other business. He's not expected back for at least another day.
"I'll let my father know," Ezio said, walking off. As he left, the entire scene faded into white.