VII.
On The Docks

Edward arrived back before long. Mary moved outside to sit in the shade and wait with Rhona, but she didn't speak to the other woman. She seemed lost in her thoughts. She didn't want to disturb her, lest she say something unknowingly cruel or thoughtless. Edward didn't appear to see Mary at first, as he trotted directly over to Rhona and she turned to him and spoke.

"And how much trouble did you cause us?"

"None mum" His tone was sarcastic and dripping. "I did find this." He handed her a paper and she opened it, reading it over.

"Who did you find this on?" She asked.

"Does it matter? I found a couple letters to match" He reached in one of his pockets, pulling out four more papers. Rhona read all of them, tossing the discarded ones to the ground. She cursed as she threw the last one to the ground. Mary watched from the shadows, not sure if she wanted to be a part of this conversation or not. Finally she stood and walked over to the two of them, bending to scoop a letter off the ground before straightening.

"Christ! What the hell happened to you?" It was Edward. She glanced up at him.

"It's not so bad is it?" She had inspected the damage right after it had happened and one cheek was slightly swelled, her lip was split in three places and she had an awful bruise from her chin to her eye. The bruise on her stomach was the worst of it of course. The bruise had since shrunk and the swelling of her cheek had gone down to nearly nothing. Her lip was mostly healed too but Edward seemed a bit surprised to see her in such a state.

Edward just seemed to be waiting now for an explanation. "Obviously he got in a fight! Focus, Edward!" Rhona's voice cut in. She sounded annoyed, maybe even worried. Mary had never heard the Master Assassin really worried. "We have a problem on our hands"

Mary finally looked down at the letter, reading through it. It detailed the gathering of arms and payments for the arms. She frowned at it and then tossed the letter down the others. "What are they meaning to do with all this gun powder?"

"An Arms Race" Rhona said the words like a curse. She paced away from the two of them, rubbing at her wounded arm. "Hilary Flint! That bastard!" There was that sort of…weird way she said his name. She cursed him and yet Mary couldn't help but feel like there was something more going on between them. She wasn't going to say a thing though. She glanced over at Edward who had clearly heard the difference her words had, but he wasn't going to say a thing either.

"Alright, so what are you going to have me do about it?" Edward asked.

"You?" Rhona turned back to him. "What makes you think I'm going to have you do a thing about it?"

"Well this Hilary Flint probably has the key I want. So obviously I need to kill him. Where is he? I'll go now" Edward's brazen words were accompanied by a puffed chest, full of pride enough to get him killed. Mary rolled her eyes at him.

"You can't just go charging in, Edward. Hilary Flint is a dangerous Templar. He knows a lot about explosives. No doubt he has traps set up to keep us from getting to him" Mary chided.

"Well then what would you have me do?" He asked her.

"I'll have you destroy some of this gunpowder he's gathering" Rhona said. "Yeah, destroy the gunpowder and he'll come out of whatever hole he's hiding in" She had turned away but she was looking at the two of them again. "Do you think you can handle that, Edward?"

"I think I can manage" There was that brazen confidence of his again.

"Try and manage not to get yourself killed too" Mary stated.

"Starting to worry for me are you?" He winked at her. "Don't worry, I can't die just yet. We still have our bet to settle." Her face flushed at the remembrance.

"Oh go to hell"

"Only afterwards." He laughed and began to walk backwards, grinning at her all the way. "At bet is a bet! I won fair and square and you'll give me what I want. One way or another." Then he was running, his laughter floating back to her, making her ears burn.

"Bet?" Rhona asked quietly.

"I don't want to talk about it" Mary snapped with more force than necessary. It was bad enough that Edward would dare think that he would get her to dress like a whore, let alone say a thing about it in front of another Assassin! Than man had some gull! Mary was going to gut him when he got back!

"Well…okay." Rhona sighed. "You think you can help me get Mark and Malcolm out of here? We have a safe house where Mark can rest. It's just not safe here, in case we're attacked again."

"Is the safe house really safe?"

"It should be. We just established it last week" Rhona sighed, rubbing at her wounded arm again. "Some of the others are there now, guarding it. I told everyone to report there until I made it safe here again. Mark got hurt closer to here though so was brought here…" She ran her fingers then through her short hair.

"Let's get them there."

They went inside and gathered the things they would need. Rhona said it would be a short journey there, as long as everything went well. They dressed Mark in more civilian looking clothes and had Malcolm, his unwounded older brother, changed as well. Soon the four of them were on the streets. Rhona was helping Mark limp along. If anyone stopped them, they were taking him to a doctor.

Mary walked behind the two and Malcolm walked ahead. She had to drift a bit behind, to act like she wasn't part of their group, but she kept a close eye on them, drifting into crowds when patrolmen got too close to her or the group. They were trying not to draw eyes to themselves after all.

They did run into a little trouble when Malcolm bumped into a patrolman but Mary saved him by slipping a dagger between the man's ribs. He had been alone so it had been easy to kill him and leave him to collapse on the street. People stopped to see what had happened and their group just kept moving.

Soon enough, they arrived at the safe house and they dropped the brothers off. They were bid to stay but the two women quickly made their exit, wanting to get back to the Bureau to meet up with Edward again. They were silent on their walk back but when they got inside, they sat at the same table, each with their own sigh.

"So you seem to be very friendly with Edward" Rhona pointed out. "I didn't realize until I saw you with him"

"Don't get any ideas in your head, Rhona" She grumbled.

"So he doesn't know…"

"He knows." She told him a shortened version of what happened in Kingston.

"Hm" She didn't say anything for a long time.

"Can I ask you something? Without you getting mad" Curiosity was burning in her and Edward wasn't here nor was anyone else, so maybe Rhona would tell her. The other woman nodded and Mary went on. "Is there something between you…and this Flint?"

"No!" Rhona denied at once. Her brow furrowed and her shoulders sagged. "I…We met a couple years back when I had just joined the Assassins. He was so charming and kind, not like a Templar. I just…The time we spent together, walking on the docks and talking was some of the best times of my life."

Mary could see herself, much younger and so much more foolish, walking along the docks, but not of Havana. She saw herself looking up at a man with sparkling blue eyes, who knew her secrets yet treated her as an equal. He saw her for who she really was. She had never smiled so brightly and she doubted she ever would again. That man had been one of a kind and the smiles they had shared had only been for him.

"I think…I think I…" Rhona fell silent, unaware of Mary's painful memories. She could understand what Rhona was thinking, more than she knew. "…He told me he was a Templar one day and asked me to join his order. I was already an Assassin but I had never told him and…well we had a terrible fight. I ended up leaving him, swearing I'd never go back"

"Did you?" Mary asked. Rhona was silent. That was her answer. "How are you going to fight him if you…"

"He needs to die, Mary. I can't just…I can't just ignore my duties as an Assassin" Her voice was laced with pain. Mary chewed on her cheek, wondering what she should say.

"Would you…be able to…" Her voice faded as Rhona looked at her with dark eyes. She didn't answer, not with words at least. Mary closed her eyes. "I understand." And she did. More than Rhona knew. She couldn't ask Rhona to take a stand against Flint, not at least deliver the killing blow. Perhaps…

"We'll need a plan" Rhona's voice was soft, the pain was still there.

"We should wait until Edward comes back" Mary chided softly, wanting to give her a moment to relax, to not think about it. It had to be a thorn in her side, painful with every breath. Mary knew what it was like to suffer like that.

"You're right. I'll get the rum" She was up and getting two glasses before Mary could stay anything. She sighed and let it go. Whatever made her feel better.


Edward returned after several hours, covered in soot, smelling of fire and laughing like a drunk. Apparently he had a bit of fun with getting rid of the gunpowder. Mary and Rhona looked at him. Rhona laughed. She had already had enough rum to make her smile again while Mary hadn't drank half a glass herself. Edward cleaned himself up and joined at the table. Rhona went to get him his own glass of rum and then plopped back down to return to her own drink.

"We need a plan" Mary started but neither of them seemed to be really listening. Maybe they heard her words, but they weren't going to pay them any heed. Not right now anyway. Rhona wanted to avoid the thought of death for a moment and Edward seemed more than willing to go along with her.

"A plan! Oh shite, Mary! You're a stern as an old nun! We should just go in and kill the bastard!" Rhona waved her hands, as if waving off the idea of a plan. Mary gave her a look, which the Master Assassin ignored by taking a drink. She wouldn't meet Mary's eyes. She could see the fear though, the fear and despair.

She watched as the other two drank and laughed. Neither drank much but Rhona was trying too hard to laugh and smile though they would soon be leaving to kill someone she cared for. Someone who cared for her. Mary felt bad for ever bringing it up. Finally, after a few hours of laughing, jokes and smiles the other two sobered up.

"We need to do something about Flint." Rhona said. Her voice was sad, her eyes were too but her mouth was set. She was going to do this. Mary wondered how, but she just nodded at her words.

"Aye. What exactly are we going to do?"

"We wait a few days" Rhona suggested. "Let him see the damaged we caused. We keep our ears to the ground, listen for him to scamper out of whatever hole he's been hiding in. Then we kill 'em"

"You make it sound so simple" Edward stated. "What you forget is beasts usually have their claws ready when they charge out of their hole."

"We won't attack him right away" Mary told him. "We wait; let him think we ain't coming."

"Then we surround him and kill him and all his boys" Rhona finished. She had clearly sobered up. Mary looked at her and she gave Mary a tight smile. She was hurting yet, but she had accepted what she had to do. Mary knew she wouldn't fight Flint but…

It wasn't like she couldn't understand why Rhona was reluctant to kill Flint. She understood completely and she knew it was up to her – or Edward – to kill the man. She chewed on her cheek, wondering if Rhona would hold a grudge, even secretly. Rhona wasn't a Master Assassin for nothing.

Mary excused herself from the table and stood, walking outside, standing in the sunlight, letting her thoughts drift. She gazed out towards the sea, listening to the gulls and eventually found herself drawn to the ports, thinking of Rhona's story. She thought of her own past. Her brow furrowed and she heard herself sigh. There was no use dwelling on any of it anymore. It was the past for a reason after all.

There was no going back to those docks. Not anymore.


A/N: I know its a short chapter but I hope you enjoyed it. Leave some reviews to let me know what you think, yeah?