Bad Ideas Make the Best Stories

(AC:B fanfic ch7)

„So, this is what you've planned? Using little-old me, to negotiate your way out of here?"

After a few minutes of recovering from shock, Matteo has finally found his voice again and started to utilize it - mainly to annoy his captivator. The young man was clearly stressed out and, even though he tried to look composed, his features, his posture, every bit about him spoke that he was on the verge of panic. For the first time on this day, Matteo felt like he was in control of the situation. He didn't have an elaborate plan yet, just a vague idea his instincts muttered to him, but that was more than enough for him again. The first thing he learned as an assassin, was that he should always trust whatever his guts tell him to do.

„That's the idea, yes." Fabio answered. He still held Matteo by his collar firmly, while he kept peering through the gap between the door and the wall. „Have any objections?"

„Oh no. Not really. Except that it won't work." replied Matteo. Fabio gave him a long, hard look, but the young man's smile didn't fade.

„You see," Matteo continued „you've reached the end of the road here. Oh, I don't mean to criticize of course, you've probably come farther than anyone alive could have... but that's going to be it. You want to use me as a hostage and manoeuvre yourself outta here, that isn't going to work. Not me, not my brothers, not our Mentor will allow you to get away so easily."

There was a long pause as the two men kept staring at each other, without any of them blinking or turning away.

„You done?" Fabio asked, clearly annoyed and angry.

„Ehh... I guess so."

„Awesome. Now hit the road, jackass!" with that, he grabbed the guy by the shoulder and flung him out the door. Matteo tumbled on his feet and almost fell over, when two remarkably strong hands grasped his arms and helped him to maintain his balance. He heard a loud „Shack!" noise and a moment later, he felt the cold touch of a hidden blade on his left collarbone.

„You try something funny and I push this into your throat. Got it?" Matteo didn't answer. The two of them started off the corridor like a sad, two-person funeral march. Every step seemed to have echoed unending on the walls of the ill-lit archways and Matteo briefly wondered whether this was going to be the last time he ever sees these walls.

„By the way... " Fabio said after some time „How come you're almost naked?"

Now Matteo was the one, to make an annoyed expression.

„Dude, you stole my clothes, remember? Back when you attacked me on the roof? Thanks for that one, by the way."

„Ah, yes, indeed. Sorry, my head is a little... and I have hard time recalling... Never mind. But what are these weird spots on your skin? Do you have some kind of illness?"

„Uh, no, I don't think so... but they do itch a lot. I got like this after I jumped into some hay. Never thought, it could give you so much trouble."

„Yeah, tell me about it." replied Fabio rolling his eyes.

The two of them arrived to a branching; Fabio ordered Matteo to stop.

„Which way can we get out the easiest?" he asked, pushing the blade on the skin of the young man a little harder.

„Are you crazy? Like hell I'm going to tell you..."

„Don't make me repeat myself, lad."

„I could say the same thing to you. Stop trying so hard and just give up already!"

„You guys looking for the way out?" asked someone in a deep, threatening tone. The two men turned around, only to face the woman to whom the voice belonged to.

„I could show you to it." Lucia growled with a predator smile on her face. She grinned like the hyena that just spotted the nestling fallen out of it's nest.

Matteo let out a relieved sigh, while Fabio screamed inwardly. It was the pair of bright, emerald eyes, he never wanted to see again. He quickly grabbed the young man and pulled him in front of himself, making Matteo a human shield. The hidden blade flared menacing as he put it at Matteo's throat. Lucia watched him without even moving a muscle.

„You just don't know, when to give up, do you?" she said, sounding surprisingly soft. She batted an eye inconspicuously, signalling to Matteo to stay calm. It was curtains down for the intruder.

Fabio couldn't hear the three men closing up on him from behind; they were quick, light on their feet and so well organized, it was over in the blink of an eye. One swift and precise hit on the nape and Fabio was dangling around like a drunken sailor. Somebody pulled Matteo away from his arms and he fell forward on his knees. His head throbbed like it was about to blow up, his vision became a blurry mess and he felt that every force had started to evaporate from his body. But, like the stubborn survivor he was, he still tried to struggle and get on his feet again - quickly got pushed back on the ground.

That's it. That's the end of it. he thought bitterly. After all this mess, all the adventurous twists and close-calls, he finally gets caught and he doesn't even have any epic last words to throw into their faces. Damn. Should have spent that last half an hour thinking up my testament. He closed his eyes and waited for the final blow silently, briefly wondering what's it going to feel like. He sure hoped, they were going to grant him a swift death at least.

„Don't hurt him. The Mentor wants to question him first." he heard Lucia's voice from somewhere above him. He carefully opened one eye and peered through his eyelashes. He saw the front of a boot just inches away from his nose. He shifted his weight a little just to make himself comfortable; looks like he was going to live to see another day. Maybe.

The grip on his limbs tightened and the boot disappeared from his sight.

„Matteo! Are you alright?"

„I'm fine. Excellent time, you got here though."

„Oh, don't mention it, you've handled yourself very well on this one! I never thought that you would go ahead and rat him out like that, making it look like, he's taken you as a hostage. Great idea!"

„Yeeeaaah... I totally did that. On purpose."

„Let's take the little birdie to his cage then. Boy, you caught him, I'm guessing you'd want to tie him up."

„Oh, with pleasure!" Matteo sounded a lot eager this time. Fabio rolled his eyes and let out a resigned sigh.

As the rope slid onto his wrists and tightened, replacing the grip of the assassins, Fabio looked up from over his shoulder and smiled at the young man.

„Enjoy the moment while you can, kiddo. Once my associate gets wind of that you caught me, he'll send the whole army to your little bunker. We'll smoke you out, like a bunch of rabbits and then cut you down, one by one..."

„Save your breath, asshole." Lucia growled and stepped on the back of the man, pushing her heel painfully between his ribs. „You don't get to threaten us in your position."

„Well, sweetie, that s where you're wrong. Remember, I have a mate, who has been hiding among your ranks, spying on you and feeding information to the Borgia's. And the best part is, that this individual actually is one of you! Octavio is a traitor and an agent of Cesare!"

„What?!" Matteo's voice trembled. He looked confused from Fabio to Lucia and back. „What is he talking about?"

„Don't listen to him, he's lying. He wants to confuse us, so that we start doubting each other."

„And a poor attempt at that." said one of the assassins, his grizzly bear voice echoing under the ceiling. He stepped up to Fabio, grabbed him and pulled him on his feet violently, then picked him up and threw him onto his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes. „Let's go and get this over with."

Ezio was standing in the middle of the salon, waiting patiently for news to come. At first, he'd wanted to join one of the search parties and look for the intruder, but then decided to entrust his assassin brothers to do the job, while he stayed back to control the situation from behind the front-lines. Any search party that couldn't find anything, returned to him to report and then scattered to join the others guarding the exits.

So far, two of the five groups have returned from their search, without anything to show for. Ezio didn't feel anxious, although tension was definitely hanging in the air. No superfluous words were exchanged, everyone knew what was on stake and they did their job swiftly, smoothly and professionally.

Ezio caught himself tapping with his foot on the floor - he forced himself to stop and readjusted his composure. He reminded himself, that he was supposed to be the pillar of this whole organization. Let's just hope it doesn't collapse on our heads in one day. he thought, bitterly. Before the incident, they were seemingly invulnerable; they had done serious damage to Cesare's troops and his financial background and Ezio slowly started to think they were getting strong enough to launch an attack on the man. Nice way, to prove me wrong, Cesare. Hope, you don't take on the habit of making smart decisions. Thinking about it, it may have been Rodrigo, who had enough of the lame ass mistakes of his prodigy son and started to meddle in the affairs again. If so, they may have been in bigger trouble, than Ezio would have ever dreamed of. The old fox still has definitely got some more ammo to throw at them.

„Mentore! We've got news from the outside, sir!" A novice came running to Ezio, looking really pale. The older man gave him a hard look, but on the inside, he felt just as terrified as the young man.

„Get it together, son. What news?"

„One of our agent has returned from the Castel Sant'Angelo. He says, his name is Giordano and that he has tried to infiltrate the Castel with Octavio, but they got ambushed. They were captured and tortured, and then they released Giordano with a message, that he says was written by Cesare himself. He is at the door that leads to Isla Tiberina and he looks like he's injured pretty bad... What should we do? We didn't dare to let him in without your permission... sir."

The novice rattled this off with an unimaginable speed and Ezio felt like he was going to drown in the tsunami of words. Once he got his head above water, he felt the anger build up in him slowly, like lava brewing up inside a volcano. Alright. Screw it. Screw the cool leader image. he thought. If this day goes by without me killing someone, I'm gonna be absolutely livid.

„I know Giordano, I'll take care of him myself. Meanwhile, you stay here on this spot and receive the news from the search parties. Once they have the traitor, tell them to bring him to my office and tie him up good. I'll deal with him later. And tell Lucia, I want her to head to the infirmary immediately. Understood?"

„Yes, Mentor."

„Excellent. Oh, and don't yet tell anyone what you've just said to me. It is enough, if only I lose my shit completely today."

/Hello! This chapter is bit a shorter, but only because I already started to write the next one. I'm planning to speed up the making of the chapters (yes, I know, about damn time...) and see where I can go with it. I thoroughly enjoy writing these, so it's going to have more chapters than I originally planned, I hope you will also enjoy reading it./