Bad Ideas Make the Best Stories
(AC:Brotherhood ch9)
His boots knocked against hard rock as he tried to make his way up the stairs. He almost fell over but an iron fist grabbed him by the arm and helped him maintain balance. Fabio stopped and turned his head towards his „henchman"; even though a bag was pulled over his head, he still knew who it was.
"Where are you hauling me to, Auditore?The end of the world?" he asked, his voice muffled by the canvas.
"Better than that, lad. The one below it." Ezio replied and pushed the boy to make him start walking. Fabio obeyed reluctantly and they ascended the stairs carefully.
When the assassins decided it was time to leave the hideout, his eyes were covered immediately and have been like that ever since. They left the building through what smelt like an old underground tunnel; an escape route, he figured. After a long walk in that filthy, rat-filled hole, they finally emerged, the air was filled with various smells, of which Fabio could only recognize the odor of freshly caught fish. Given this and the talk of the men, who were probably working on a fishing boat, the young man concluded that they ended up near one of the docks on the Tiber. Some time later, they boarded a boat and the assassins rowed down the river. Fabio couldn't even tell how many of them were on the team that left the hideout, but there was always someone beside him to guide him and to watch after him. If they hadn't tied his hands together, he seriously would have considered jumping into the water, although even then he would have had meager chances to escape alive. He gulped and did everything that was asked of him and tried not to think about the meeting in front of him. On the boat, he was forced to lay down and they covered him with a large canvas so that no one would notice his presence; laying there with a bag on his head, in complete darkness, listening to the splashes of the water against the front of the boat, he once again had to note that it was nothing short of a fucking miracle he was still alive. He was angry at first that they blindfolded him, but after a few moments, he realized that the less he saw, the better. The assassins knew that he didn't know where their hideout was - thanks to that moron Bruno, he got into the headquarters while he was unconscious, never seeing the entrance of it - and they made sure, that it stayed that way.
"Mind your step." Ezio's voice shook him up from his daydreaming. He tried to put his feet carefully so he wouldn't trip on the marble sill that was in front of him.
"Are we there yet?" he whined, staggering through the obstacle. The grip on his arm tightened.
"You've got some problems?"
"Actually, yes. I have to pee. God only knows, when was the last time I took a leak."
Instead of an answer, he only got a repressed laughter from his right side. from the sound of it, Ezio could barely contain himself.
"Well, I'm so glad that I managed to entertain you this much." Fabio snapped, trying not to sound too huffish. Ezio just started laughing even more and stopped their movement.
"You know, kid, you impress me in so many ways, I can't even make fun of it anymore. You've got more balls than the entire entourage of Cesare and still, you don't seem like a bad guy to me. I've never been more honest, when I say, I'm almost sorry that you're leaving. Almost."
Fabio was a little dumbfounded by that, he didn't really expect it from the man to compliment him. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
"As for your huge problem, you need to hold it in for a little more. Or just let it go and relieve yourself, I don't care. But if you do so, please do it while we make the exchange, I'd love to see what they would react."
"Screw you!"
Ezio chuckled but the others - and Fabio was sure they were still around - remained completely silent. They proceeded forward, helping the handicapped young man to struggle through the obstacles of the ancient ruin. After a few turns, Fabio lost his direction completely, he couldn't see through the bag so the only way he realized that they entered indoors was that the smell of the air changed; it became stale and reeked of mold. They started walking downstairs, deeper into the unknown entrails of the tunnels below the city. It wasn't long until the air cooled down measurably and their footsteps started to echo on the ancient walls
"Where are we going? I thought you were taking me to the Terme di Traiano."
"And that's exactly where we are, only- "
"Yes?"
"There is a part of the bath that is, let's say, not open for visitors. We're making the exchange here, hidden from the eyes of the city."
"Genius." Fabio grimaced under the blindfold "And how is the other party supposed to find us down here?"
"They're already here."
"What?"
Someone pulled off the bag from his head with a swift move and Fabio opened his eyes; to no avail though, the room they were standing was in complete darkness. The young man listened carefully and suddenly he became terribly aware of his surroundings: judging from the echos of their footsteps, the hall had a low ceiling, also, he could hear water flowing, which indicated that they were in the sewers or maybe in a drainage tunnel of one of the aquaducts. These assassins sure have a talent finding the worst meeting spots in this beautiful city. Welcome to the asshole of Roma, let me show you to your toilet seat!
He could hear multiple breathing noises around him and some more, coming from a little farther ahead of them. Fabio leaned closer to the figure standing right beside him and whispered:
"Is this how you planned it? In total darkness? How are you going to make sure that the cargo you get is genuine?" he said, talking in a low tone but audibly.
"Is there no situation, in which you can actually hold your mouth shut?" he heard a female voice from his left and immediately recognized Lucia talking.
"I'd hate to say it, but our little cuckoo has a good point." The voice that made the statement was somewhat higher but it belonged to a man without a doubt. Fabio didn't recognize that one but he made a note of the strong accent. The young man looked around him; luckily, his eyes had already adjusted to the darkness due to being blindfolded for a long time but even so, he could only barely make out some hooded silhouettes standing around him.
"Mentor, I hope you have a bloody good reason for agreeing to this nonsense." said the same man, addressing hos words directly to Ezio this time.
"When did I ever let you down, Gilberto?"
"Don't call me that, when we're out here. What is our move?"
"Seriously? You guys want to compare notes right now?" Lucia growled "If you didn't quite notice we're in the middle of the meeting already..."
"Khm! May I have your attention over there?" A man called out from the other side of the room. The assassins fell completely silent. Fabio could feel them tensing up and for a brief moment, he could feel Lucia's arm brush against his own - accidentally, as she tried to reached for the sword hanging on her side. The young man had to exert himself not to give into the inappropriate thoughts that suddenly popped into his head.
Man, I'm really desperate...
"We asked to meet you here and like this because, well, I'm sure we're not the only ones here that would like to remain anonymous." The man on the other side continued talking. His voice sounded ridiculously shaky at first, however given that no one interrupted him, he got more and more confident with his words.
„Very clever." Ezio answered wryly "Tell me, did you plan the part where we trade hostages? How are you going to tell if the cargo we brought is what you're looking for?" He didn't get an answer right away. Hasty whispering could be heard from the opposite side.
"Looks like we're not the only ones in the dark here." Bruno remarked, his voice hushed but audibly sarcastic.
"Yeah. But we don't have all day either." Ezio turned to them, whispering "You and Gilberto go over there and snatch Octavio while these dimwits are busy tying their pants together. I'll give Octa the password, just to make sure he's ready for you guys."
"If he's even here..."
"Well, then we will know for sure. Go."
The assassins didn't even waste time to wink; they moved like ghosts in the darkness. What was supposed to hinder them, actually turned out to be a huge advantage.
"Hey, gentlemen!" Ezio spoke out as soon as his men were out of sight. "How about we solve this problem like professionals and light this baby up?" He held up an oil lamp.
"Nobody lights anything, messere. Besides, we have the perfect solution with us."
"You do?"
"Yes. Braulio here has the best smelling in all of Italia..."
"Hey, don't say my name out loud, we were supposed to keep this anonymous!"
"Relax, they still can't see you!"
"This isn't what I agreed to!"...
This went on for a good minute and Ezio had to fight back the urge to punch someone in the face.
"Alright, that's it!" he exclaimed, loud enough for everyone to hear it "I'm just going to act like an actual adult here and make some light, so we can get on with business... before Judgement Day dawns upon us."
No counterargument could be heard as Ezio proceeded to back up his words and he took his sweet time by doing so. Noises of fumbling were followed by rhythmical clicking; for minutes, nothing but faint sparkles were produced by the flint. Finally, the wick of the oil lamp caught on fire, right at the exact moment when the commotion started on the other side.
The Borgia's envoy consisted of six people, all of them wore the uniform of the Borgia and covered their face by pulling a hood over it. (Hooded robes. Seems to be the dress code of the underground business nowadays.) The six people settled in a neat little circle, surrounding the seventh guy, who stood silent in the middle, his hands were tied together behind his back and his head was covered with a bag. When the oil lamp lit up, the light that fell upon the glistening, mucous brick walls; two human shadows separated from the surrounding darkness and appeared behind the group.
Gilberto and Bruno worked together, like gears in a watch; the two guys standing in the back row suddenly stumbled and grabbed their throat. The assassin covered their mouth shut, muffling the faint moans and laid the twitching, bleeding bodies on the ground as gently as one would handle a newborn child. The rest of the Borgia envoy didn't seem to hear a thing of what was going on behind their backs.
"You know, gentlemen" Ezio said, to keep the men's attention occupied" There is something, I don't really understand about this whole situation. Why go to such length as to cover your own identity, when you're just following orders? Unless... you're not here on the behalf of Cesare. You're working behind his back, am I correct?"
"Don't think yourself too clever, assassin. You are not even..."
"BEHIND YOU! NOW! WATCH OUT!"
Fabio thought about it in the seconds as Ezio spoke and decided, he couldn't just stand there and watch the events unfold as they did; he cried out as loud as he could, causing a minor heart attack to all those present. Lucia and Ezio exchanged looks, she then unsheathed her sword and raised it to silence the cuckoo but to no avail; the damage has already been done. The Borgias were alerted and the moment they realized they have been attacked from behind, they pulled their weapons out and turned against the assassins. One of them grabbed the hostage, possibly with the purpose to kill him while the others were fighting. A well-timed throwing knife that pierced his hand, prevented him from doing so. Ezio lowered his arm and looked over to Lucia, who was at the time busy wrestling with Fabio. The young man was determined to not die in the canals and fought like a tiger, even with his hands tied together.
"Dio! Just once in my life, I would like something to go smoothly. Just once."
The moment he said that, a shot was fired in the low-ceiling tunnel, deafening everyone temporarily. The bullet hit the lamp, which broke into pieces, leaving both foes and friends fighting in total darkness.
