Isabella watched the people as they gather for Sunday mass. The throngs of people waiting for the large wooden doors to open so they could worship a God that seemed to not care for his children. She, at one time, had been a believer. Attended mass with her family every Sunday, went to bible school, and church outings. Her mother, Sarah, was raised Baptist, while her father was raised Catholic, and at one point in his life, had attended Sunday Mass at this very place in the future.

They had brought their children up right. To be good citizens. To watch out for the weak, and to always do what was right. But as she grew, and saw the many injustices in the world. The corrupt getting the power and the lesser man dying for the faith that he believed in. It was enough for her to question the 'God' that was to watch over them.

She closed her eyes briefly and took in a deep breath. As she exhaled through her mouth, her eyes opened once more, the thoughts of her family and her ex-beliefs chased from her mind like phantoms at the first of dawn's light. She had to keep her head in the game. She had to protect Ezio from Francesco. Even though Desmond had told her that he would walk away with hardly a scratch, she still had a job to do. She still had to keep an eye on everything and watch everyone. She would not fail. Not again.

Movement out of the corner of her eye made her turn her head to see what it was. It was not someone that was waiting for entrance. This was three men who walked with a purpose. A mission. Isabella knew who they were instantly when she saw the men that they had their eyes on. Lorenzo Medici and his wife had just arrived. He smiled and waved at the populous. His brother, Giuliano, who had a woman on each arm, was all smiles as well as they headed towards the front of the Duomo.

Standing, she leaped the small distance and dove into the hay below, rolling out just in time to see Francesco's stiletto drive its way into the chest of the younger de' Medici. Desmond had told her that his death had to happen, but Lorenzo himself could not die. And so, she pushed into the fray, as the screaming people took off from the bloodshed and the followers of the Pazzi ran into the plaza, killing at random.

A flash of another blade and Lorenzo grabbed the wound on his shoulder. Stefano da Bagnone, stood over the man, blood coating his knife. Then she saw them. Ezio rushed into the battle, protecting Lorenzo just as Desmond said he would and he was not far behind.

Making her way to their side, she flicked out her hidden blade, and rammed it into the unprotected back of an attacking soldier. A twisted smile spread across her face as the man's back arched, trying to get off of the sharp deadly blade that had taken his life so easily. His eyes glazed over as his body impacted with the ground.

Turning to her next victim, she blocked the oncoming sword with her bracer, feeling the jarring all the way to her teeth, but pushing past that, she drove the right blade below the sternum in an upwards motion, the steel entering the heart and taking his life.

Her father had made sure his daughter was a proficient killer. He had always told her not to let the victim suffer. She was there to end their lives, not let them linger in limbo until all of their blood had been spilled. He was a wise man, and Isabella had made a promise to honor those teachings for as long as she drew breath.

Killing one more guard, she spied Ezio at Lorenzo's side, combating Francesco and his guards. Desmond was pinned down, unable to render assistance to the Italian assassin, so it fell onto her shoulders. She rolled between two guards and blocked a blow meant for Ezio's unguarded back.

He must have heard the sound of steel hitting steel behind him, and he called over his shoulder. "You have my thanks."

"Anytime." She smiled and rammed the hilt of a sword she had taken from one of the men, into the face of a man to her right, while trying to keep the soldiers from getting too close to him.

"Isabella?" He asked as he slashed open the throat of a man that came between him and Francesco. He dropped like a stone, spilling his life blood onto the paving blocks.

She ducked a sword swing, and as she came back onto her feet, drew her blade over the throat of another man. "You sound surprised." She jested with him, and hissed as the tip of a rather large sword grazed her left bicep. She could feel the blood running down her arm, soaking into the fabric. It would require a few stitches to close the wound, but she would worry about that later when the fighting had stopped.

He danced around a few men, sending them to their deaths in quick secession. "I want answers when this is done." She heard him growl and she just merely shook her head before sparing a glance over at Desmond. He had just finished off the last of the guards that had his dance card and was sprinting their way.

"Retreat!" The call was made and Francesco and the remaining men ran out of the plaza, leaving many bodies behind. The stones beneath their feet were turning a sickly shade of brown from the quickly drying blood mixing with the dust that covered the street.

Isabella faced a rather pissed off Ezio, who's brown eyes were mere slits in his tanned face. If she was not an ally, she was fairly certain she would have been dead at that point in time. "Now talk." He growled, his voice menacing, but she had been through worse. Abstergo had men that all they were good for was torture. Go through that and you could handle anything life threw in your direction.

"You do not intimidate me, Ezio. Deal with Lorenzo first and after Francesco's life is no more, I will give you the answers you seek, but right now, you should deal with one problem at a time." She met his glare with one of her own.

She watched his lip curl up in a sneer, but said no more as he turned quickly, the blood splattered half cape brushing her chest as he walked over to where the Lorenzo was getting to his feet, hand over his neck, applying pressure to the wound.

Desmond stopped at her side. "I guess he found out." He watched the scene unfold from a relatively safe distance.

She nodded her head once. "Yeah. I kind of spoke. He was bound to find out sometime, but I was hoping to ease him into this little transition of my actual profession."

His arms crossed over his chest as he watched his ancestor. "Well, he is going to be pissed when he finds out the rest of it, or dies from a heart attack and I will have to be him for the rest of my life."

That actually got her to laugh, which she saw a smile cross his face. "No offense, but he looks better in the robes than you do, and your accent is well, rather atrocious."

Before the retort came, Ezio waved them over. They walked over, and his eyes met each of theirs. "Can you clear the way to the Palazzo Medici? Lorenzo had been hurt and we must get him there."

"You got it." Desmond nodded and grabbed her injured arm. She cried out a bit, and he released. "You're hurt."

Her hand flew up to cover the wound. "It's not that bad. I'll clean it up when we're done." She looked at him, and his lips were set in a thin line. "Don't give me that look. If I say I'm fine, then that means I'm fine. Get over it." And with that, she headed in the direction of the palazzo.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Desmond stood guard with Isabella as Ezio talked inside with Lorenzo de' Medici. He stood on one side of the door, while she stood on the other like silent sentinels. He glanced over at her, and the slice in the upper part of her sleeve.

"You know you should really wrap that up. If that gets infected here, you could die." He finally spoke.

She grunted. "I know, but it's really not that bad. It's not like it's gushing blood everywhere." She looked at him from under the depths of her scarlet hood. Her green eyes were bright against the color.

"Stubborn woman." He growled as his eyes looked down the small alley they were in. Ezio had taken to the back door of the palazzo. He knew that the fighting would carry over into the streets more soon. Francesco had men everywhere.

"Mother hen." She gave a smile and pushed off the wall. "Look, I will be fine. I doubt it'll need that much stitching and if it does, you can say I told you so, alright?" She stopped in front of him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "But thank you for caring. I mean that."

Reaching up, he laid his hand over her smaller one "You are reckless, Isabella."

She opened her mouth to speak, but the door opened and Ezio walked out, face a mask of calm, which he knew was a lie. The man was fuming on the inside. "We need to find Francesco." He looked at the two of them.

"Signore! Signore!"

Three heads turned to look at two guards running over. Ezio met them as they came to a stop in front of them. "Francesco has been spotted climbing to the top of the Palazzo della Signoria." He sounded out of breath. Most likely from running the distance he had.

Desmond already knew where the man was, but could not reveal that. He just had to let a few things play out the way that they were supposed to. He wanted to tell, sure, but he couldn't mess with the fabric of history. One false move, one kernel of knowledge to the wrong person, and the future that he knew who cease to exist.

As Ezio talked to the guards, he pulled Isabella closer. "Are you able to climb with your arm like that?"

She looked up at him. "Yes, it's really not that bad."

He looked at the bloody mess that was her left arm. He could see the cut was wide, but it did not seem that deep. "I want you to stay behind us and come up the side. There is a shit ton of archers all over that place. Can you thin the ranks?"

A grin threatened to split her face. "That I can do." And she reached into the pouch that contained his throwing knives. "I just need a few of these. I'm running low and I don't have time to stop and get anymore."

He watched her pocket them with a frown. "You know, all you had to do was ask."

"Well what fun would that be?" She still had the grin on her face.

He opened his mouth, but Ezio came walking up. "I require your help once more."

Isabella turned the smile on him. "Whatever you need, my friend. We are here to help with anything."

"Will you help me take down Francesco?" He asked.

Desmond clasped his ancestor on the shoulder. "You got it."

A smile spread across his face "Thank you." Then he looked at Isabella. "I would like to apologize for my actions and words towards you. I should not have been surprised to see that it was you under those robes."

Her smile softened, and she enveloped him in a hug. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You have had a lot of shit dumped on you, and me doing this was not very tactful. I should have eased you into before now. For that I am sorry."

Desmond's teeth began to grind when Ezio's hug lasted longer than it should have. He knew he should not be acting like that, but damn it! "Alright, we have a job to do. Let' get to it." He snapped.

Isabella pulled back and gave him a surprised look, but recovered quickly. "Let's head out boys."

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Ezio ran ahead of Miles and Isabella. The two behind him began to take out the archers that was stationed around and atop the Palazzo della Signoria. He would dispatch them when the left the room, but they were proficient and their aim true. If he was a novice, he would be wide eyed with wonder, but he was not that starry eyed youth he once was. He was a trained assassin, and he would not be distracted by knife play, or throwing skills. Even though, it was well done.

Launching himself across a rather large gap in the buildings, he grabbed the ledge in the nick of time, then hauled himself to his feet, and took off once more. Arrows rained down around them, and he narrowly avoided becoming an archer's living dummy.

A knife flew over his head, and the archer fell from his perch on the rooftop across the way. He tuned his head to see Miles standing there, the broken shaft of an arrow sticking out of his thigh. Isabella was nowhere to be seen.

Ezio made his way to the other man's side. "Are you able to continue?"

He shook his head no. "Go on without me. Isabella is somewhere around here. She will go with you." He leaned against a chimney and looked down at the broken shaft. "Damn that hurts like a son of a bitch." He gritted his teeth as his hand laid near the wound.

"I will be back for you." Ezio laid a hand on Miles' shoulder. "Do not move."

Miles barked out a painful laugh. "Don't worry about that. I don't think I will be doing that anytime soon. So go on. That man needs what is coming to him."

With a swift nod, he took off once more. Over the peaked roofs and dodging the taller chimneys, he caught sight of a flash of red leaping through the air and disappearing onto the part of the palazzo that was being rebuilt. He took the very same path and as he rolled back to his feet, he saw that she was surrounded by at least five men. Some in heavy armor.

Avoiding a pole arm, he drove his blade into the unprotected neck of a heavily armored man, and he crumpled to the ground. Isabella slashed another man across the belly, causing him to move backwards, right onto Ezio's blade. His eyes widened as he realized what had just happened, but then, he too, was dead. His body joining his comrade in the growing pile at their feet.

Once all the men were taken care of, he looked at Isabella, who was bent over, trying to regain some wind. As he came closer, she held up a hand. "Get going. I need to rest a minute. I think you can handle the rest of them."

"Are you sure?" He asked. She straightened up and nodded once.

"I'm sure. Stab him once for me." The edge of her lip quirked up, giving him a lopsided smile. In which he returned.

"I will be swift." And he took off up the ladder that was nearby.

Dispatching the remaining men was not hard, and a frightened Francesco dove from the building. He followed in hot pursuit. As he exited the cart, his target was running like the rat he was across the plaza and towards the narrow streets. Ezio knew he was faster by far, and poured everything he had left into the chase.

As he rounded the corner, he saw the man attempting to climb a stack of crates, trying in vain to make it to the roofs once more, but using the last knife, he launched it into his back, and felt an evil grin twist his lips as Francesco fell from the crates onto the paving stones. He scramble to his feet, but could not move fast enough as Ezio was on top of him in mere seconds, hidden blade poised to attack.

Wrapping his hand into the dark, greasy hair, Ezio pulled his head backwards until Francesco was looking up at him, dark eyes pleading for him to let him go. There was no second chance. There would be no release. There would be only death. Letting his arm drift up a bit, he thrust with all the strength he possessed and the first thing he felt was the warm, thick blood beginning to coat his hand. Then he saw the life bleed from the man's eyes. It was a satisfying ending to a twisted, corrupt man such as the one he watch die.

"Requiescat en pace, Francesco." He withdrew his blade, watching the blood drip down from the viscous point, and through the air, until it splattered into the dirt. His hand untangled itself from the victim and the following thump let him know that the body was on the ground.

He walked away, cape billowing around him.

Kind of a dark ending to the chapter, but I thought it was fitting. Been kind of in a bad mood all day and this is what came of it. I think I went a little graphic. Oh, in other news. My husband told me where he is taking me for our anniversary. He is taking me to my first comic con! I am such a geek! But I digress. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. See ya!