Chapter 7 - Alive In Memory

Lucy looked to the outside of the carriage, but paid no attention to it; the streets barely registering, all she had was a vague notion of where they were going. She didn't notice her friend's eyes on her either, so absorbed she was in her own thoughts, mostly centered on work, as always, still Miss Attaway observed her friend with interest.

"Have you seen them?" Pearl asked, leading the redheaded Templar to look at the woman sitting opposite of her.

"Them?" Thorne raised an eyebrow.

"The Fryes, of course." Attaway smiled. "My dear cousin was rather adamant on showing their pictures to me, or rather, their sketches, for my safety." The corner of her mouth curved upwards, a smile of scorn. Starrick was slightly overzealous towards his cousin and Pearl never seemed to take those too seriously.

"Oh!" A red brow curved up, swiftly moving down to weighing on her eyes. "Yes, I saw them." She took a deep breath and raised her chin. "They shan't be a problem, just a pair of arrogant brats biting more than they can chew," Lucy looked directly into Pearl's eyes "and they shall choke on it. They can not defeat the Order."

The other woman couldn't help but smile; "You're always so confident in the Order."

Lucy looked puzzled; "Are you not?"

"Oh, I certainly am, but your devotion will always be greater than mine." Pearl observed. Silence settled between them once more, until she spoke again; "They say Mr. Frye killed Ferris. Is that true?"

"Yes, as far as we know, at least a young man matching Mr Frye's description was seen leaving his office right onto one of his trains."

Pearl looked puzzled; "Spotted leaving the office? Why didn't the guards stop him?"

Thorne looked at her friend; "He left through the window."

The Tycoon tried to hold back a laugh, but found herself quite unable to and had to discreetly cover her mouth with her hand: "I guess that is enough proof."

The corner of the redhead's mouth curved upwards; "One would think so." She said, and her serious tone was so straight and grave that Pearl let out a loud laughter, throwing her head back, the sudden burst making Miss Thorne quite unable to hold back and she laughed as well.

"Oh god, I am so sor-." She laughed out loud again, before the apology could leave her lips, but she was soon able to hold her laughing fit again, let out a sigh and took a deep breath; "Poor Mr. Ferris. I guess his death was unfortunate."

"He was never much of an asset, could easily be replaced." Lucy sneered. She hated that man, but he wasn't the only one to die that day, and her eyes were cast down as she remembered that; "Brewster, on the other hand, was an asset and his loss will be felt."

"Oh yes, your scientist." Pearl's voice became serious, her mirth gone; "I was told of his passing as well." She looked at her friend. "His wound was from a knife to the neck you know? It was probably the work of the elusive Miss Frye, there is no need for you to feel guilty."

"Whatever makes you think I feel guilty about it?" Thorne said, suddenly defensive and was met with Miss Attaway's look. Her dark eyes were penetrating and made Lucy feel mildly uncomfortable, like she could see inside of her.

Pearl knew, somehow she knew. She always had this talent to see right into her friend's mind it seemed, but thankful, she also knew when to not to pry;

"I am sorry then, dear." Miss Attaway smiled. "I guess I misinterpreted you." Her eyes flashed, she knew Lucy better than that, but on her part, the redhead was thankful for her friend's consideration; "They do look very handsome, don't they?" She changed the subject. "The Frye twins."

Lucy gave out one reluctant nod; "Yes."

"Specially Mr Frye, but I fear that's just my taste." The tycoon grinned.

"You're taking this as a joke, but Pearl, please be careful." Thorne plead. "You better get more guards, just in case."

"Oh please, Lucy." Pearl rolled her eyes. "I doubt they'll come after me, and if they do" she shrugged "well, everybody has their price, I can handle myself, don't worry. I much rather that if they do come, it will be Mr Frye."

The redhead had a concerned look; "Pearl..."

"What?" She asked innocently; "Mr Frye just seems less… bright than his sister, from what I've read." She fetched a shimmering coin from a hidden pocket in her dress; "I'll keep this on me, at all times if need." And laughed.

Despite her best instincts and efforts, Lucy laughed as well.

~0~

The sound of the door opening made Thorne frown, and when she spoke her voice sounded like a whip cutting the air; "What did I say about interruptions?"

"S-sorry m-ma'am!" The poor maid stuttered; "I didn't want to, ma'am, but, eh, it's Miss Attaway!" She quickly added, sighing in relief when she saw Miss Thorne's face relax;

"Oh!" Lucy rubbed her eyes, pulling out her pocket watch. "It's half past nine already." She grumbled to herself. Once again, she had lost notion of the time, but Pearl was also uncharacteristically late. Thorne looked at herself. She didn't have her coat on, her cravat was undone and her shirt had its first few buttons unfastened, far from her usual impeccable self, but all she did was sigh; "Tell Miss Attaway to come in."

"Yes ma'am!" The maid left, coming back moments later, accompanied by Miss Attaway.

Lucy stood up and approached to hold her friend's hands; "Pearl, my dearest, how are you?" She pointed at the sofa nearby. "Come, sit with me. Do you wish for something to drink?"

A mischievous smile that made her look a few years younger came upon Pearl's face; "Wine would be great."

Lucy frowned, but the sides of her mouth turned up; "You heard Miss Attaway." She told the maid that bowed and left without needing to ask what wine to bring. "Alright, we are alone, what is it?" She said as Pearl and her sat on the sofa.

"I have some amazing and impressive news!" Pearl put her hand on Lucy's and gave her a look.

"You killed the assassins?" Lucy jested.

Pearl let out a loud laughter, covering her mouth; "Oh, dearest, better!"

"Better?" Thorne looked confused, and at this point the butler came in with the wine and the talk had to stop as he served them. "Better how?" Lucy asked, bringing her cup to her lips;

"I just got myself a new employee. Very competent, he blew up half of my competition; Mr Jacob Frye." and laughed at her friend's surprise, as Lucy stopped right before the wine could touch her lips, before pulling the cup away and trying to sound calm as she asked;

"What?!"

Morning:

It was pretty early when three gentlemen, who Lucy assumed to be Morris and Sons, came into the library wagon of the train, carrying with themselves polished wood parts and a giant mattress. The wagon itself was reorganized to make space for the new comer.

"You seem surprised, Mr. Morris." Lucy said, with a half smile.

"Well, Miss Blackthorn, this is the first time someone asked me to move a bed into a train." The older man of the three said with a confused look. "Work is work. Let's go boys! Let's get this put together."

"Thank you Mr. Morris, I'll be in the next wagon if you need me, If you need assistance, however, ask one of my associates." She pointed at the Rooks standing guard at the door and moved to the other wagon.

"Good morning, Miss Thorne." She heard Henry's voice.

"Mr. Mir." She smiled at him; "How is your leg doing?"

"Healing faster than I expected," He said, still shifting his weight onto one of Evie's sword canes, that he now wore in place of the crush "but still hurts."

"Well, that is something I can identify with." Lucy gave out a bitter smile at that, but was able to keep a tone of jest. "Please, sit down." She gestured the small sofa to him and he gladly took it, his attention being attracted to the sound of loud hammering in the other wagon;

"What is going on, there?" Henry asked, observing the three men working.

"That's my bed." She responded simply; "I figured it was time for Miss Frye to get hers back." Lucy did her best to sound uninterested and while the reason was true, it was also just part of it, since she obviously omitted what had happened at the night of Venus. She didn't want to talk or think about Evie, yet it was unavoidable; "Where is Miss Frye, by the way?" She managed to sound almost indifferent as she asked.

"She went straight to her room, said she needed fresh clothes." He responded, the neutrality of the question ringing a bit strange in his ears.

"Ah." Was all that Lucy said, relaxing back to her chair and taking a sip of her tea, a frown coming to her brow, which Henry did notice.

"She slept on my flat last night," he quickly explained, "I am sorry if her absence worried you or Jacob, but she was fine." He gave what would be a reassuring smile to someone with less grim outlook than Thorne had. "Just didn't have much sleep."

Lucy took a deep breath at that and tried to maintain calm even over the images those words conjured in her head; "Mr. Frye and I were quite alright. Both do have a habit of spending nights away from the train anyway." She shrugged and continued to sound uninterested as she asked; "You say she didn't slept much, why?"

"Evie was doing research in my library." He quickly explained.

The mention of Henry having his own library, specially one where Miss Frye would prefer to do research in, managed to break Thorne's general black mood and her voice sounded curious and slightly enthusiastic as she asked; "Yours?"

Her enthusiasm didn't go unnoticed, and Henry smiled proudly as he responded; "Yes, I have a rather sizable collection of old assassin manuscripts."

Lucy perked at that; "That sounds very interesting, I would love to see it!"

"I would love to show it. That is, the ones I could, some are more secretive, I am sure you would understand." Henry smiled; "I know it will have to wait as well, Miss Frye told me of your arrangement."

At this point Evie came in, Lucy found herself staring at the woman, or rather, glaring at her. Thankfully her eyes couldn't shoot daggers, but Lucy Thorne was an English gentlewoman after all. One that had her emotions cause her more damage lately than it was worth, so she controlled herself and inquired with a calm voice; "Our arrangement?"

"Yes, Miss Thorne, about our separate researches?" Evie said with a serious expression. "Widening our chances of finding something."

"Oh, of course!" Lucy forced a smile. "Completely slipped my mind." She looked at Evie and the assassin could feel the hot glare from the redhead, some part on the back of her head fearing her hair would start to smoke just from it. "I see you told Mr. Mir of our little incident."

"Yes! Venus!" Henry said, excited. "According to Miss Frye, she wasn't mentioned even once in our accounts of previous encounters with first civilization entities. At least not in the material we had seen before."

"She was not among the Templar records either." Lucy rubbed her chin; "I was hoping my own personal collection could tell us something, but I'll have to wait till Mr. Morris is done before taking a look myself." She pointed at the men working in the last wagon with a flippant gesture.

Evie frowned and shifted on her feet; "What are they doing?"

"Putting my bed together." She responded with a slight turn of her head; "I figured it was time to let you have your own space back, Miss Frye." She took her teacup wing with her finger and raised it towards Evie, toasting at her. "I thank you for hospitality, Miss Frye." Thorne finished her tea.

Evie frowned. She didn't quite know why she frowned, but she did, a weird feeling compelled her to frown at Miss Thorne no longer sharing her wagon; "Thank you." Was all she could muster to say, but soon found more words; "Enjoy your privacy."

"And you, yours." Unable to hold her tongue she added; "You'll certainly be less prone to committing mistakes, I believe my presence has been distracting and I apologize. I'll try to keep my distance now."

The assassin inclined her head and her eyes went wide and the fact she couldn't actually remember what happened... Her distressed expression made Thorne smile didn't help matters at all either.

"Well," Henry said, making both women look at him "there is no problem in that, your comfort should come first, Miss Thorne." He bowed his head slightly to his friend. "The research can wait, Evie."

Evie looked at him surprise. Well, of course Henry thought the research was all she cared about. She sighed, but at him she gave a smile and nod.

~0~

"What is the password?"

Jacob smiled and responded; "Balaclava." The door opened and in front of him was Lord Cardigan, talking endlessly about a thing or another, Jacob slowly walked behind him, as Lord Cardigan turned around and for Jacob's surprise, he smiled.

"Oh, Mr. Frye." He said with a smile; "I was waiting for you. Have you met Mr. Orlov?"

The assassin felt a presence behind him, followed by a telltale sound. Ethan taught him and Evie that to listen to the quieter sounds of a gun, the hammer being engaged, the trigger being pulled, the mechanism of a gun just as the hammer was about to snap and hit the bullet, the very last quiet sound of it right before- He dodged the bullet, jumping out of the way. Jacob was unscathed, but Cardigan was hit on the stomach.

"Orlov!" said the Templar shocked, falling to his knees, but Leon ignored him, shooting at Jacob, till his gun was empty, that was when Jacob pulled out his kukri attacking the Russian directly. The blond man lifted his iron cast cane and defended against the kukri strikes, holding cane like a bat, himself swatting back against the assassin when he found an opening, until Jacob's blade became locked with his cane, giving Jacob the first opportunity to look at him closely; Blue eyes, blond hair, muscles, tall, handsome.

Shame he was a templar and Jacob had had more than enough of those;

"So you're the prick who tortured Henry, huh?" He asked.

"That was nothing compared to what you've don-" Jacob extended his hidden blade and tried to stab Orlov as he was distracted, but the templar jumped back, hitting him in the face with the heavier part of his mace-cane.

"You're tricky, assassins!" Orlov grinned, before attacking once again.

This time Jacob didn't waste his time trying to defend with his kukri, electing instead to get out of the way of each blow.

"You see, Mr Frye;" Leon said with an overhead sweep, that Jacob escaped by jumping to the side "I do not really care about anything" he did an attack from the side, but Frye dodged that by ducking and trying to attack Leon from below "other than killing Thorne!" Leon hit Jacob in the hand, making his kukri be thrown away and stuck to the wall, so great was the strength of the blow.

Jacob swiped his leg, making Leon fall on his ass. "Sorry mate, Ginger is ours now." Guards burst through the door as soon as he said that, quickly, he looked at Cardigan, that still agonized on the floor. A shot to the stomach was one of the worst ways to die, so in a last gesture of mercy, Jacob threw a smoke bomb and executed the man with his hidden blade, taking a short time to dip his handkerchief in his neck, despite the fact it was only technically his kill;

"Looks like my work here is done anyway!" The assassin, the smoke started to dissipate and Jacob smiled as he ran, picking up his kukri and escaped through the door.

Leon, face covered by an improvised gas mask, jumped on his feet and followed Jacob, standing on the other end of the corridor. He pulled a golden knife from the inside of his coat and aimed, managing to stick it on Jacob's shoulder, making him stagger and almost fall to the ground, but he just removed the throwing knife from his shoulder, took a at look at it, pocketed it and kept going.

A smile came to the hunter's lips.

Afternoon:

Miss Thorne had been specially quiet the greatest part of the morning, which was something that now moved into the early afternoon, while Evie herself would only talk to Henry. He and Evie were looking over the books they could access now to see if they could find anything about Venus, while Lucy looked over her own annotations, but there was a general feeling in the air; nothing would be found.

Henry looked at them both, catching the two of them sneaking looks at one another. Was there something Venus had told them? Something that was supposed to be a secret between the two? Henry took a breath and thought for a second, having an idea. He looked at the watch on Lucy's table, they had eaten lunch just some time before;

"I'll go make us some tea." He said suddenly and bowed his head, leaving both women alone.

As soon as he did, Evie laid the book on the table at her side, falling to her knees in front of Thorne's cushioned chair. The redhead looked at her, eyebrow raised.

"What's with the dramatic pose, Frye?" Lucy's voice was soaked in irony. She couldn't say she knew what Evie wanted, but she had a few suspicions.

"What happened?" The assassin went straight to the point, her eyes on Thorne's, hardened and serious, but the redhead couldn't help but smile in amusement, thinking for a second how much fun she could possibly have without lying for a second.

"Whatever are you talking about, Miss Frye?" She asked, incapable of keeping the edge of cruel humor on her voice.

"Don't play games with me Thorne!" The assassin warned her. "That night.. I was drunk, I was not being myself."

Lucy's eyes slowly settled into a realization; "You really can't remember a thing, can you?"

"No..." Evie admitted in a whisper; "Did I… Did I do anything I would regret if I remembered?"

The redhead looked into her eyes. She looked so deeply apprehensive, for herself of course, after all there was no bigger mistake than she could had made than, well, Lucy.

"Yes." Lucy responded. "You did do some things you might regret," she grinned "but I didn't." She said, and Evie stood up with a jump, her face had a horrified expression and her breath was heavy. Seeing her like that filled Lucy with satisfaction and she smiled with a selfish happiness over the idea of panicking Miss Frye for a second before giving her the full story.

"I can't believe you would be so-" there was the heavy sound of something hitting the top of the wagon.

"Jacob..." Said both women at the same time and their words were soon followed by the man himself, Jacob coming through the entrance and as he came in they saw he grabbed his shoulder under his jacket with a grimace, pulling his hand out to look at it; "Hey Ginger, can you-Oh." He noticed his sister. "Evie."

"Jacob." She bowed her head slightly. Her angered, tense expression causing Jacob to be sure she was still angry at him. There was a heavy silence where Lucy's eyes went from sibling to the other without understanding the looks, at least not fully.

"Cardigan is dead." He said.

Evie raised an eyebrow; "Good! Let us pray that doesn't collapse the government." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and Jacob grinded his teeth, but before he could say anything, Lucy laughed, breaking the tension;

"Sorry, but the very idea that Brudenell of all people would make any difference in our government is deeply laughable to me." Thorne explained with great mirth in her voice. "That man was always just a tool for Starrick."

"Oh, like you?" Evie shot back, unable to hold her tongue back, still bitter.

"Yes." Was the response, and Evie was surprised by it.

"Thorne-" She started, when Lucy cut her;

"Miss Frye, spare me." The redhead dismissed her with one gesture, in fact didn't look one bit bothered by it, and looked at Jacob; "He did a long speech about being a war hero before dying didn't he?" She asked. A small smile formed as a memory came to her; "I'll never forget the day he cornered poor Pearl, probably thinking he was charming her with his endless talking. She kept shooting me looks, her eyes were begging me to rescue her." Lucy shook her head.

The mention of Pearl's first name name made Jacob jump, till that point it never occurred to him that Thorne and Attaway could had been that intimate. However, there was no time to think of that now;

"Maybe he would if he have had the chance, but that didn't happen." Jacob said. "Your little Russian friend showed up first." He took the knife stained with his own blood from his pocket.

"Are you hurt?" Evie asked, there was considerable softness in her voice now.

"Nothing to worry about." He said, removing his coat, there was blood in some quantity, but the biggest damage was to the coat.

Evie took the blade from his hand, examining it with a clinical eye; "Damascus steel, very sharp and heavy, well balanced still, a very good throwing knife, but the weight is still… Unusual." She looked at the handle and noticed that it had miniscule holes in it, she felt a really particular smell, under the blood, when she approached it to her nose.

Jacob shrugged, snatching it it from his sister's hand; "Oh, you know those templars and how much they love to flaunt their money around, no offense Ginger." He told Lucy.

Thorne, that had gone back to her reading, just dismissed it with a wave.

He smirked and looked at the knife again; "I liked it though, makes a nice trophy." He added, raising his head, he saw something on the back of the train. "Uh, excuse me, I have something to do." He walked off to another one of the wagons, towards Henry.

"Miss Blackthorn, we're done." Mr Morris said, coming in and addressing Lucy.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Morris, thank you. You can wait till we reach your station on the wagon bar, it's two wagons over. Tell them to put it on Miss Frye's tab." She bowed her head as the man took off his hat briefly and went with his sons to the bar.

Evie raised an eyebrow at her, immediately deducing that Thorne had given a fake name. She looked at the woman, they were alone again and the assassin shifted on her feet, staring the redhead down and spoke in a low serious voice;

"You will tell me in detail what happened that night!"

"Right now?" Lucy asked defiantly.

Evie opened her mouth, but she heard Jacob and Henry coming down to their wagon, she looked at them quickly and whispered; "Tonight."

"As you wish." Thorne whispered back, as Jacob and Henry came into the wagon.

Evening:

The news were spreading slowly through what was left of the ranks of the Blighters, whispered quietly between those trying to avoid the eyes and ears of the Rooks, trying to keep close to the templar guard that still roamed the streets in the absence of their old leadership, now dead or in jail, those who still had some respect inside the gang, those were just slightly above everybody else were now given a chance.

Or so they were hoping, but the fact at the moment was that they were just reunited in a dingy room and offered a lot of money by a tall, blond man with a funny accent to pretend they were in control while he pulled the strings.

Most of them, turns out, were fine with that. The one who wasn't, Colin the Butcher, got killed with one swift attack of that horrible cane the man with the funny accent carried.

Leon knew that as a foreigner the Blighters would not trust him at all, so instead, he sought out those seven, now six, to do his work; They were a pathetic bunch, lacking all training and discipline, but they didn't have to be perfect, they had to be competent, but even if that was hard to believe they could have.

His first order was to find the best ones they still had. Best shooters, best fighters, best runners, best spies and so on, and have them reunited, those would be more useful to him, but for now, all he did was sit on the side as the new leaders roused the Blighters.

From Leon's point of view it was an amazing spectacle.

The fury, the bitterness, the willingness to fight at the least provocation. Those men and women were desperate, lost and above all, stupid, as humans often were. He wished he could bring the assassins to watch this, show them how many were perfectly willing to throw themselves into a blade for revenge or anger or money, ask them if these animals were really the ones they wanted to set free in the world.

This was the reason why Templars existed; so at least this bunch of sheep fancying themselves wolves would be well directed, so their anger would go to the right place, show the way and light the path, so at least they wouldn't be lost in their own stupidity. They would be serving the purpose; to serve those who know better and in trade be protected by them.

He caressed the head of his dog, a beautiful mix of hound and jackal he had bred into existence himself;

"Tatiana, if you could talk," he spoke in their mother tongue "you would be smarter than any of those ones." Orlov joked and the puppy lovingly laid her head on his strong thigh, making him smile and scratch behind her ear.

"Sir." One of the new Blighter leaders, Olga Plumb, younger sister of the fallen gang leader of Southwark walked in. She was short and thin, her hair was the same sandy blonde color as her sister's, but her nose was smaller and her features not as harsh. "I managed to identify the ones you asked for, do you want me to bring them here?"

Leon looked at her; "Not yet, Miss Plumb," he responded "just show me who they are, I shall seek them out myself."

Anne put both hands on her back; "If I am allowed to ask sir; Why?"

"People like to feel special, Miss Plumb." Orlov explained, scratching Tatiana's neck "If I make it seem like I single each one of them out on my own they will feel like greater assets than they are, it will be easier to secure their loyalty if I play my cards right. Plus, being able to observe them from afar will give me the opportunity to measure their skills on my own."

"I understand sir." The blonde girl responded, somewhat intrigued. "Very well, I imagine you want the locations where they usually dwelve."

He nodded, his attention turned to the puppy laying on her back so he could scratch her belly, a small smile playing on his lips.

"It's done sir." She took a paper from her pocket and offered it to him, making Orlov look up, surprised.

He took the paper from her hand and looked at it. The most complete ones had their names, how they were known, their address, abilities and areas where they were most active and present, but even the one with most scarce info had at least three of those items. Leon was impressed; "Efficient, Miss Plumb." The admiration in his voice was sincere "You seem to have some personal interest in this."

"I heard you were going after the Fryes and their Rooks." Her voice calm and cold, as was her expression, but her light blue eyes seemed to stir something more. "Miss Frye killed my sister, she was a gang leader."

"I see." Leon looked down on the paper again. "Octavia Plumb of Southwark, right?"

She nodded.

"So, you're doing this because you wish to kill Miss Frye?" He asked.

"No." She responded curtly "I wish to take my home back."

"Your home?" Orlov inquired.

"Southwark is my home; The Plumb family ruled over it, it belonged to us, even before Roth came to London, my whole family used to run every single street and now I am the last one." She raised her chin. "It's my duty."

"Miss Plumb," Leon looked at her and smile; "would you consider working directly for me?"

~0~

Ned was still angry, but at least he wasn't furious anymore, walking on the streets in the cool evening air helped him think, despite how tired he was from the lack of sleep that night, and the thing annoying him was a quite simple conclusion;

He might have kissed Jacob had he ASKED, alas, that was not what he did! He just kissed him without his consent or consideration and now the thief was angry and lost. Before he thought that Jacob saw him by the man he was, he thought Jacob respected that, but he also knew there were no signs the gang leader was interested in men and the very idea of someone trying to woo him while thinking that made him furious all over again, including a feeling of being sick to his stomach.

That wasn't all of course, it was just the part that related to Ned, there was also a problem with the gang leader himself;

When Ned looked at Jacob, he couldn't help, but see the living embodiment of a mess. Jacob Frye needed approval and praise like a cripple needed a crutch, and that was what Ned felt that both Attaway and Roth were to him, crutches, dishing praise before breaking on him, letting him fall to the ground again. He would not allow himself to be a crutch for another person.

The worse about those two was also that Ned warned him! Twice over! Yet, Jacob did the same thing. Suddenly, Miss Evie's general frustration with her younger brother became all the more comprehensible to him.

He reached his destination; the Fighting Rink. The room was full of cigar smoke that combined with the yellow lights gave it an oppressive atmosphere that Ned absolutely adored.

"Ah, dear friend, Mr. Wynert!" Said Rob, as soon as he saw him, tipping his hat. "Did you come to collect already, milord? It seems a bit early for me."

"Got that right Topping." Ned responded. "I decided to watch a few fights." He looked around. "I like this place, I'll take it out by the end of the night, still, I would like to see it." Topping bowed his head and started to move, followed by Ned; "How did I do this week?"

"Very well my friend," Rob said as he conducted his friend towards the back room; "a few golden watches, some jewelry, someone even bet a cavalry sword, most of those yesterday, in fact!"

Ned inclined his head "How did that happen?"

"New contender, broke the Frye's record."

"Oh? Of both?" Ned asked and Robert nodded, opening a crate on the back of the room filled with all the things that the bookie had described, ready to have Ned do his vanishing act that would turn all of them into money; "Amazing." Finished the thief. "Who would be this amazing creature?"

"A certain new friend of them, Miss Thorne," the man smiled, "though I do not think that they know. You know how protective of his title Mr. Frye is."

"Hm." Was the only response.

"However, she did forget something." Topping pulled out a dagger from its sheath, before it was in a separated chest that was in a table away from the crate. The blade was diamond-shaped; thin at the base, widening into two sharp points at about a third of the length, and progressively thinner towards the tip. The ornate weapon was completely black, seemingly made from a single piece of metal and had very clear, very well made details. Ned took the weapon from Topping's hand and tested the blade in a bit of the superficial skin of his thumb, it cut it easily and precisely. He held it in his hand feeling the weight and the center of mass of it and, impressed, he said;

"It's a great weapon." He twirled it in his hand with no problem. "I wonder where Miss Thorne got it."

"I have no idea either, but I found it strange she didn't came back for it either." Rob explained with a shrug. "You seem to be spending a lot of time in their train lately, I wonder if you could deliver it that to her."

"Couldn't you wait till she showed up again?" Wynert looked away.

"I could, but I don't know when that will happen and I don't like keeping it around, too many honorless thieves around" he looked at Ned adding "present company excluded, of course" with a tip of his hat.

Ned let out a chuckle. He didn't want to see Jacob at all, but still there were other means. "I can get it delivered for sure."

"Marvelous, milord!" Topping said enthusiastically and gave him the sheath. "Here, so you may carry it safely."

"Thanks, Robert." Ned tied it to his belt and then he looked at the crate "Ah, damn it, this can't wait till the end of the night, I'll have to leave now, while it's still early... Could you get someone to help me with the crate, Rob?"

"I can help!" Ned recognized the voice and huffed, without turning he knew that there was Jacob standing at the door.

"That won't be necessary Frye." Wynert didn't looked at him at all. "Rob, go get some grunts to do this"

Feeling the tension in the air, Rob stood up and tipped his hat leaving.

Jacob scratched behind his neck uncomfortably; "I guess you're still angry at me?"

Ned let out a sigh of frustration; "Oh, great reasoning there, Dupin!" Lifting his spectacles, he pressed his thumb and forefinger to his eyes for sometime, and then suddenly snapped; "Are you surprised, really?"

The gang leader took a step back; "Look, I am sorry, but-"

"NO! No 'buts'! Sorry wouldn't have cut it either!" The thief took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Jacob, you know what your problem is? You're-" Ned stopped and took another deep breath, throwing his hand to the air in a dismissive gesture. "Forget it, I am not here for that! You're a grown man!" He put a finger to Jacob's chest, poking him; "Figure it out!"

"I obviously don't know!" Jacob screamed back "God! What now? You're just like Evie, acting like you know something that I don't! Why not stop being so bloody mysterious and speak up!"

"You wouldn't listen!" Wynert screamed back.

"How can you be so sure?!"

"Because you won't believe anything that isn't flattery!" Ned was breathless from the screaming, but he looked Jacob in the eyes and finally spoke up. "You're constantly trusting people you shouldn't trust just because they tell you what you want to hear!

"That's why you're so angry at your sister all the time, that's why Attaway had you wrapped around her little finger. That was why you worked with a goddamned maniac! Because your stupidity was VERY useful for her while and your desperate need for approval left you completely blind! And I that's not even the worse part! You know what the worse part is Jacob?" The assassin opened his mouth, ready to scream back his defence; "SHUT UP! I am not done!" Ned silenced him.

Ned looked him straight in the eyes; "You don't need this! That's the worst part! You're better than this and you don't even know it!"

"YOU SHUT UP NOW! Don't you DARE giving me that shit!" Jacob screamed back. The old 'You're better than this' was the worst thing to hear and after that, he couldn't stand being there anymore. "Sorry about the kiss Wynert, go to goddamned, fucking, bloody hell!" And stomped off.

He loved the sound of his name on her lips, but even more when they were fucking, because then, as it left her lips, it felt like it came out of a long journey that had started somewhere in her core and took the breath of her lungs as it passed by it, lumping her throat even more than the hidden blade-clad hand she begged him to hold to it ever could, and taking her mouth before it left her lips.

Pearl enjoyed the artlessness of how he did it, pressing her against a wall sustaining her up with one hand on her rear, her legs gripping Jacob's hips fiercely, so his hand could still around her throat, she enjoyed his roughness and to that, she responded in kind, leaving long traces of her nails on his back as he thrusted, faster and stronger, building up until she screamed and drew blood from his back.

He never pressed her throat, he never left her breathless by any other means than his performance, but she liked his hand there and now Jacob asked himself if it was the threat of death, the fact he was an assassin and she knew it, and knew he would have to kill her if he discovered she was lying and using him.

Yet, he never saw fear in her eyes as he held a blade to her throat, he didn't see it when he killed her. He was an assassin, he could tell, as unperceptive as he was, fear was something he could understand, but Jacob only saw fear in her eyes once they were alone and just quietly talking, he said one thing or another that made her laugh or made her happy, in those moments she would look at him and there she would be afraid and he could never tell exactly of what.

~0~

"You're playing a dangerous game, Pearl." Lucy had laid her cup of tea that frankly found herself unable to continue to drink. She had a bad feeling on the pit of her stomach that had only gotten worse after Pearl told her about her little affair with Mr. Frye. "You know how men are. Specially men who already are killers by nature."

Pearl let out a dismissive laugh "That only makes it more interesting, don't you think?" She sighed when her friend didn't laugh with her. In fact, Lucy was giving her an intense stare and Pearl, couldn't help, but smile at her friend, touched by her concern.

She laid her cup and saucer on the table moving closer and holding the redhead's hand in her's; "I am very lucky to have a friend like you," Pearl's deep voice was sincere, but soon was tinged with mirth as she spoke; "but you worry too much. I have him wrapped around my little finger."

Lucy looked at her friend in silence and Pearl went back to her position, letting go of her friend's hand, also quiet, her eyes wandered to outside of the window, looking at the rare sunny day and she retrieved something from her pocket, a single coin that she looked at with interest. Lucy frowned.

"What so important about that coin?" She asked and Pearl looked at her and smiled again.

"Its his coin." Lucy looked at her puzzled. "The one I said I would pay him with. I still carry it with me."

Lucy frowned "Why?"

"Still waiting for the moment when I might have to buy him." Pearl joked, as she still examined the coin. "He wears a shilling around his neck, you know. Says it's a memento from his father."

"I can make sure Crawford gives it to you, after we kill him." Lucy jested with a cruel grin and pretended she didn't saw the mild shock that passed her friend's eyes, before she also laughed, trying not to consider the sad possibility of her dearest friend actually caring for that assassin mongrel.

"Nothing..." Evie said exhausted, leaving another book aside. "Any luck?" And got a distant denial gesture from Lucy, whose head was obviously in other things, and a quiet negative word from Henry. The assassin rubbed her eyes. "Looks like Venus really doesn't want us to know."

"Yes, I agree." Mr Green said, setting the book he had in his hand aside; "However, we still need to decide what will be done about the Queen's ball."

Lucy looked up as Green's last words brought up from the memory of her friend; "Queen's ball?"

"Yes." Evie started. "There is a secret vault somewhere in the Buckingham Palace grounds, Mr. Green and I think the Shroud was housed there, after being moved from the Tower of London."

"And where is that vault?" Lucy inquired.

"We don't know." This time, Henry responded, "That information is also in the palace. Most likely the white drawing room!"

"Henry and I think that the ball would be the perfect opportunity to get to the Shroud, or at least discover where the Vault is." she sighed. "The problem is that we have no idea how to get into the Ball."

"I was wondering if perhaps you have a contact that could lead us to the palace."

Lucy raised both eyebrows "Oh, yes, I did; Lord Cardigan."

Evie and Henry sighed.

"Is there any chance of you getting an invitation?" Henry asked.

"I doubt it. My tea trading company does quite well, but has to yet render me invitations to those events, especially now, without either Starrick or Cardigan's endorsement. My fame precedes me, I feel, and I have made intimate acquaintances of certain ladies that might be made uncomfortable by my presence." She grinned quite widely at Evie's slight blush, but then went quiet for a few seconds, before suddenly asking; "Have you talked to your brother about this?" Lucy asked.

"Jacob?" Evie crooked an eyebrow surprised.

Lucy rolled her eyes; "Yes, Jacob. Isn't he well acquainted with Mrs. Disraeli? Maybe there would be a way for the prime minister and her to arrange a pair of invitations for you two."

Henry's eyes lit up: "That's a good idea, Miss Thorne!"

"If it works." Evie said.

Lucy looked up, annoyed; "Oh, I am sorry, Miss Frye; Do you have a better plan?"

The master assassin laughed; "So defensive Miss Thorne, I was just pointing out that it might not work." Her eyebrow raise as she looked at Thorne with a mirthful expression.

The ex-templar frowned, not really in the mood for that, but before she could say anything, there was a loud sound of someone landing on top of the wagon.

"Jacob." Stated all three occupants at the same time, and it was soon followed by the man himself at the door.

"Starrick is making his move." Evie said as soon as he came in. "He is going to get the Shroud at the queen's ball-"

"Let him have it." He said, walking right by his sister and going to his wagon and was soon followed by a furious Evie that was herself followed by a worried Henry.

On her part, Lucy wisely decided to stay exactly where she was and observed the spectacle from her chair, when the train would allow it between the curves of the way, Evie trying to tell her brother something, she could not hear their voices clearly, but the tone was there;

Evie was fed up and her voice had that kind of arrogance that people like her so often used to cover up hurt, Jacob was furious as he spoke, his sister had obviously said something that annoyed him, but when she spoke again her voice calmer, lower, not any less arrogant, but the hurt was better hidden;

Before she could end, however, she was cut by a loud scream from her brother:

"FATHER IS DEAD!"

Lucy jumped on her chair slightly, those words were full of fury and screamed in such volume she heard them perfectly, the only thing in the whole conversation she fully understood, but before things could escalate, Mr. Mir interrupted, playing the voice of reason again, it sounded like, the rest of the talk was too quiet even for listening or understanding their tones, but there was something unsettling about the way they looked right after the train went into a curve, causing Lucy to lose sight of the three for a long time.

When the train finally aligned itself, both Evie and Henry were gone, but Lucy could see Jacob sitting on the sofa, elbows on his knees and face covered by his hands.

Thorne stood up and got another book.

Night:

He was alone in a dark office, there was nothing in his home to go back to, no more reunions to organize, everybody he once knew and kept close to him were now gone, one way or another. Now tea didn't cut it anymore as he drunk a bitter dry wine that reminded him of his mother.

Crawford Starrick was a second son and from early in his life, ever since he gained the power to understand, he knew that wasn't much for him. His father didn't care much for him, always valuing his brother over him and that hurt him a lot, as child he would run to his mother and cry on her skirts, she would smile and play with his hair and make him feel better.

His mother always had attentive eyes and ears for him, for everyone of his accomplishments she would have something to say, always sincere and always critical, praising when deserved, as well. Crawford had always felt his mother's pride and approval had logic to it, he had to earn it and with time he grew to value her opinions and views more and wanted to be more like her, but still, still, he wanted his father's approval.

Until one day, shortly after his eleventh birthday, he once again found himself wanting to cry and ran to his mother, but this time everything changed, when instead of her usual comprehensive words, she held his chin up and made him look into her eyes.

"You're quite grown now, son." She said firmly. "Stop crying." And he did. It was simple following her orders, she was a woman of power and intelligence, more than his father could always command. She told him to stand up straight and he did, and she told him to keep it in, and he did. A week later she told him about the templars and took him to the order, something she hadn't done with his brother.

Starrick build the order on his image and then made London with the same mold and in it, he excluded the old blood, with very few exceptions and filled it with what he considered the best, usually by influence and money, some for being visionaries, but Lucy... Lucy had passion, she was fascinated by the Precursors, a hunger that he found admirable.

Including her in the order was one of the best things he had done, she was so driven it took her a relatively short time to find one of the pieces of Eden. She believed in the order too, that they could make the world better, make humanity better, but the loss of it in the explosions of the laboratory and Brewster's death, plus Thorne's views and strange bounds of mercy, such as letting the constable of the Tower of London live, resulting her and her guards almost being captured, despite the fact she managed to shoot Miss Frye.

He put her up as his second in command because, she was the most competent among them and her research was the most important thing, after his own job, but her temper was always a problem and so was her misguided notion of how the Shroud should be used.

She wanted to research it, explore how it worked, he had allowed her to do it once, he had an artifact in his own hands and he allowed her to have it, to do her research and that was how the lab exploded and Brewster died, but still, she insisted on it being the way to deal with the Shroud as well, and that was why Starrick knew that as soon as her mission was done, Lucy would have to leave.

It wasn't an easy decision to make, he did value her as a friend, he enjoyed her company and her person a lot more than he would let out most of the time which, yes, once led to one indiscretion in one of Pearl's parties that fortunately didn't present any further consequences. In many ways he saw her as a friend, which was why he offered her support in the future in his letter.

Of course he didn't expect her to react well to it, he knew her and her temper too well. In spite of that, he also knew that he waited for the right moment, but someone had ruined that plan and once again, Miss Thorne's temper got in the way and now, she was going to die and then, he would really be alone.

He was ready.

~0~

It was curiosity finally winning over that made Lucy stand up and go see what happened earlier after all and as she reached the frontmost wagons of the train, she saw that the door to Evie's was still closed, but Jacob was sitting back on his sofa. He didn't looked like his usual relaxed self. He looked slumped, sad even, his eyes fixated on that dreadful assassination wall.

Lost in his own thoughts, Jacob didn't notice her approaching so Lucy had time to observe the wall herself for sometime.

There were many things in that wall; maps, places, notes, but above all was a picture of Starrick, to his left was a picture of herself, which brought a quick memory of the vision in the clouds, making Lucy feel the phantom pain of a wound that never happened, causing her to move her shoulder in discomfort, despite the fact that now her picture now sustained a blue circle around her face with an "A" written besides it.

"How well did you know Pearl?" Jacob asked suddenly, his mouth slurring the words slightly, as his eyes were down on the bottle that he rolled between his palms.

Lucy looked at him slightly surprised. Pearl had told her about their affair, but it wasn't the first her friend had had and never before she had allowed them to call her by her first name. Perhaps her surprise got a very sincere answer from her; "She was my best friend."

He looked up at her for a second, then took a swig from his beer; "She talked about you." He added, and that really surprised Lucy again; "She didn't call you by your name of course, but now I could tell she was talking about you." Jacob remembered clearly, in their carriage rides, as they held each other while regaining their breaths, the most random of topics always came up.

"I see..." Was the only response.

"Did she talk about me?" He asked.

Lucy was silent, her face giving almost nothing away.

Jacob laughed; "She must have had… That idiot she had wrapped around her little finger to do all of her dirty deeds." The gang boss frowned. "Destroy for her, steal for her, kill for her!" He grinded his teeth, and forced his eyes closed, suddenly snapping them open. "All the while I was nothing to her and yet I..." He went silent and opened his eyes, licking his lips. "Bloody hell... Sorry, Ginger."

She observed him, his movements, his face, his voice, body language, and a sudden realization came to Thorne. One that made her rub her eyes and let out a sigh. "Oh, god, you were in love with her, weren't you?"

He stood up and looked away, throwing his head back slightly, a sign of frustration, then he turned to Lucy and shrugged in a comical manner with a goofy and forced closed mouth smile. "Does it make a difference though… She just used me. I knew she would never love me back, but what she did was too much and still..." He let out a tired, heavy breath, as his body itself seemed to deflate. "Still, I wish there was another way."

Thorne thought of the things that had happened to her, not only recently, but a few years back and suddenly, she found herself quite unable to hate Jacob as she did before. A part of her still wanted to kill him, but another one could sympathise with him and that was the one who spoke; "I guess it's a family trait... Just like her cousin."

Jacob looked at her, she looked sincere, and her voice sounded strangely soft as she spoke, that whole day, it was the first time he felt someone wasn't giving him any grief and was about to open his mouth to say something when Evie opened her door, coming into that wagon.

"Miss Thorne!" She said surprised at finding her brother and the redhead having what seemed to be a rather civilized conversation; "I was coming to look for you." her eyes from one to the other "I am very sorry to interrupt, but we need to talk."

Lucy put both her hands behind her back, going back to her usual position, her face setting back to a serious expression with just a touch of an arrogant smile on her mouth; "I am all ears, Miss Frye."

"Privately." Evie gave her a look. "In my wagon."

The redhead bowed her head slightly; "Lead the way."

The two women were about to enter the wagon when there was the heavy sound of something landing on top of the train.

"Jacob." Lucy and Evie said at same time.

"Yes?" Asked the very own, confused with their sudden call, but all three were rended silent when on the opposite end of the wagon a hooded figure appeared, taking steps towards them with both arms crossed over his chest. The twins exchanging looks, while Lucy suddenly realized that Evie had moved in front of her in an unexpectedly protective manner.

The figure huffed, lifting his head and crossing his arms.

"I told you two not to come, didn't I?"

George Westhouse sounded as tired as he looked.

(tbc)