Alright readers, we finally get a taste of Adeline's bad ass side in this chapter. Throughout this story she has been timid and human and now you all get to see why she is so highly regarded as a spy and assassin. I drew a lot of inspiration from skrillex actually, I listened to nothing but Bangarang and First of the Year to write this hahaha. I hope you enjoy and as always, let me know what you think 3


"My lady?" Adeline turned her eyes over to her trembling maid.

"What is it Annette?" She placed a comforting hand on her shoulder,

"I've never ridden a horse before..." Adeline's eyes widened momentarily,

"What?" Her eyes darted over to her commander who was just about to mount... "Not once in your life?" She shook her head in a panicky "no" to her lady who was quickly becoming frustrated. She gave a hard sigh, if there was any stranger sight than a woman dressed as a man, it was a woman dressed as a man carrying a maiden on the back of her horse.

"Master Kenway!" She called to him just before he placed a foot in the stirrup. "My maid can not ride alone, may she ride with you or Charles?" Adeline felt her cheeks burn at having to ask such a thing of her commander, especially having aggravating him earlier. He mounted with a smile though, much to her surprise, pulling Annette up gently and setting her firmly in front of him. Annette whimpered, knotting her fingers into the steeds mane and keeping her widened eyes downcast, fearing wrath from her lady at the closeness of her body next to her commander's. Adeline mounted quickly, gritting her teeth against her unreasonable frustration at her fragile little maid. She didn't like seeing her master touching anyone other than herself. Her steed shifted beneath her, sensing her tension no doubt and feeding from it.

They started at a trot, moving quickly through the crowded streets with ease. The people were quick to jump out of their way and shout curses, most of them directed at Adeline as her horse was flighty and threw a kick here and there. Damnable thing, did the horses here have no sense either? Her question was answered swiftly as a cat bolted beneath its hooves, followed closely by the dog giving chase. Her horse roared and trembled beneath her as she fought to keep it in check, yanking her reins in tight and putting all of her weight up on it's withers.

Her efforts were in vain though, it snapped the leather thong securing its bit in place and bolted off ahead of the group, sparks flying from its shoes as they hit the hard cobble stone. She reached forward quickly and grabbed the bridal, yanking it down to bring the horse's head into its chest, tearing her from its back and onto the ground in the process. She kept her hands firmly on the bridal as the stupid creature flung about, twisting and kicking until it exhausted itself after only a minute. Master Haytham and Charles galloped over to her moments later just as the beast had calmed,

"Christ! Do all Americans behave this way?" She hollered at an incredulous Charles,

"I beg your pardon?" He bit back, gritting his teeth against the harsh words he wanted to correct her with.

"Peace Adeline!" She shot a murderous glance up at her commander who held on tightly to her maid, adding fuel to her raging fire. The intense anger seemed to seep out of her pores and her commander noticed, "Are you alright ?" She gave a stiff nod and quieted the fidgety beast before her, "Come, ride with me darling. Charles, come and fetch Annette would you?" Charles did so obediently, pulling Annete over onto his saddle and walking a few steps ahead. Adeline huffed and unclipped her steeds reins, shooing him off before hopping into the saddle, ignoring her master's outstretched hand. They took off again at a steady pace, Haytham's arm draped securely around her waist. The heat in her belly seemed to dissipate at his touch and all that had gone wrong was being slowly forgotten.

"What has you in such a foul mood darling?" He whispered in a silky tone, raising goosebumbs in its wake. She shook her head at her commander, not really wishing to explain something she couldn't quite understand herself. Haytham chuckled, "How disobedient you are today..." She grit her teeth against her commander's seemingly harmless words.. It seemed he was back to giving orders and demanding answers, for as soon as they reached land she had done nothing but follow him aimlessly through Boston against her wishes.

They arrived shortly thereafter, Adeline springing from her steed and rushing over to help Annette down. They walked through the door of The Green Dragon Inn to a raucous as two folks stood before them swearing. How Charming Adeline thought as she crossed her arms and her commander interrupted.

"Perhaps we've come at a bad time." The woman turned, surprise scrawled across her tired looking face.

"Oh! Don't be foolish dearies. Please, sit! Fancy something to eat? A drink perhaps? Or is it a bed you require?" She threw a wink at her master and Adeline decided she hated her then. What has possessed her as of late? Their baggage arrived then, the men placing the various trunks at the foot of the stairs and taking their leave with their pay. Adeline lifted one of her hefty trunk over her shoulder and began the ascent, ordering Annette to follow with her own trunk while the men finished up buisiness below. She set it down out of the way and smirked at her commander and guide as they followed her up empty handed and gave her questioning looks. Though she had established a mutual dislike of the female proprietor here, she certainly wasn't going to make her haul all of that luggage up the stairs on her own.

She followed her commander over to a table in the corner where a solitary man sat draped in a curious blanket of sorts. Charles introduced him as William Johnson, who stood to shake her master's hand.

"A pleasure." They both gave Charles a "look" and he responded, turning his back to them and standing guard. "A good lad, if a bit earnest." Johnson remarked as he took his seat again. "I'm told you're putting together an expedition." Her commander wasted no time, skipping straight to the point.

"We believe there's a precursor sight in the region. I require your knowledge of the land and its people to find it." Adeline took her seat across from the two men, catching Johnson's eye for a moment. It was a curious look, as if she were a pleasantly unexpected guest. She liked him already, for he did not scoff or stare on in bewilderment at her, only kindly inquired with his eyes. He nodded in polite acknowledgment to her before continuing.

"Sadly, my research has been stolen. Without it I'm of no use to you." Adeline gave an inward groan... Was everything destined to go wrong this day? Her commander did not seem swayed by the dismal news, giving a confident reply.

"Then we'll find it, do you have any leads?" The look he gave Adeline suggested what her mind was already thinking, weariness... They had been here less than an hour and already they were to go out seeking an unknown number of bandits for a chest full of information.

"My associate Thomas Hickey, has been making the rounds. He's quite good at loosening tongues." Her master tensed lightly, suggesting he was about to rise, and so she followed suit.

"Well tell me where I can find him, I'll see if we can't speed things up." Johnson picked up his mug of ale, staring sadly into it.

"We've heard rumors of a bandits operating from a compound southwest of here. You'll likely find them there." He looked over at Adeline with an almost apologetic expression donning his sturdy features,

"We'd best be off then. Charles!" Their guide straightened up at his name,

"Of course, sir." She politely requested Annette get started on the laundry before she left, her spirits dampened by the fact that she wouldn't be having a bath until Later this evening. She removed her small daggers from the holsters in her belt and replaced them with the broad swords from her trunks, the very ones she had trained with all of her life.

"What a curious blade." Her commander remarked from the wall he leaned against, no doubt referring to the hilt. There was no handle for which to hold it, only small intricate loops specially tailored to fit her hands, and her hands only.

"How on earth do you work them?" He came close, running his fingers along the smooth rings of the hilt that jangled lightly in response.

"Perhaps you shall see soon enough, hm?" She smiled playfully before setting off down the stairs to meet their guide. Charles was leaning against the wall just outside the door when they emerged from the inn.

"Shall we be off?" Was he always this excited about everything? They nodded and followed him through the ever shifting streets of Boston, the sun indicating the time was around noon. They walked on and on until they were outside of the city and into some fresher air where large fields of corn were growing and the guard was less frequent. The roads turned to dirt lined with soft green grass, Adeline had to fight the urge to bend and run her fingers through it. It had been months since she'd felt anything other than soggy wood and the high winds of the sea. She kept her pace steady with her commander's despite her intense urge to break away and frolic in the fields.
They came upon what looked like a makshift fort with four men guarding the front entrance. Her master approached a man leaning against the railing of a fence,

"Thomas Hickey?" The man brimmed from beneath his hat, his mouth twisting up into a slight snarl.

"Who's askin'?" He had a thick cockney accent, and a rugged dirty face.

"Haytham Kenway." He scoffed at her commander, avoiding eye contact with him. Not out of fear Adeline noticed, it was a gesture of disrespect.

"That supposed to mean somefin?" She bristled up along with Charles at the unruly man's tone.

"Show some respect boy..." Charles closed in on him,

"Peace Charles." Haytham raised his hand in a haulting manner, "William Johnson sent us in hopes we might expedite your search." Another sneer from him, as if her master had insulted him.

"Don't need no expeditin'- Don't need none of your fancy London speak niether. I've found the men that done the theft." Her master's eyebrows raised in humor at his brash statements, clearly he had a superiority complex.

"Then why are you just lazing around?" Charles closed in on him again, earning a warning glance from Thomas and a well placed shove.

"Figurin' out how to deal with those varlets." He pointed towards the four men guarding the door. Adeline took up a defensinve stance by her commander as he approached Hickey,

"I have an idea..." He detailed our positions, said he would kill the look out and sneak up behind them. We were to charge only when he fired the first shot, the element of surprise would be on their side. Their small team nodded at her commander as he took the first shot from the secrecy of the corn fields, hitting the look out clean in the face. The other two bolted out of the corn and into position, but before she could follow her master grabbed her arm roughly,

"Swear to me you can do this? I won't send you into battle if you will come out scarred." She scoffed at his naivite.

"Fear not Master Kenway, I can handle myself." His eyes still harboured a twinge of fear as they bored down into hers.

"Trust me," She leaned up and gave him a quick and quiet kiss, "I may just surprise you." She didn't give him time to answer as she bolted off to join the other two in position.

"Who's this?" Thomas asked Charles, shoving a thumb in her direction much to her annoyance.

"My name is Adeline, Thomas. Do not be afraid to ask me yourself, I'm standing right here after all." Charles chuckled at her as Thomas sneered. She pulled a small knife from he pocket, preferring light weapons when dealing quiet deaths. There it was, the first shot timed perfectly in sync with the firing range behind them. Adeline felt herself falling into that invisible silence between a blink and a tear as she shot forward quick as a bolt of lightning, opening the first guards throat before spinning around to catch the musket of the other's, ripping it from his hands and shoving her small knife into his wrist. He fell to the ground, clutching the bleeding appendage. She ended him quickly, spinning to meet the weary gaze of her team mates.

Above them her commander signaled them forward where they layed in wait for his shot. A quick observation drew her to the conclusion that she would be dealing with multiple attacks from all directions, and so she dropped her small blade and brought her heavy swords out, gripping the cool silver hoops with white knuckles in anticipation. There it was, a shot fired into the crowd from above and the three of them stormed in. Adeline began swinging her blades into the perfectly circular motions she spents decades honing, the heavy swoosh of them deafening in her ears.

Haytham watched from above in awe, having killed the enemies in range. If she weren't wielding blades it would almost appear as if she were dancing... She moved at a lightning pace, spinning and twirling and ducking and dodging, never pausing. All the while her blades spun wildly, hacking limbs to pieces as if they were made of butter. He had never seen anything like it, never seen blades wielded the way she wielded them. It was as if they were one entity, working like a precise machine built only to kill and hack. Within the minute they stormed the fort she had close to six enemies laying in a mangled pile at her feet, her face and clothes covered in their blood while the rest fleed to safety behind large wooden doors.

The numbness began to fade from her mind, seeping away slowly as her senses returned. There was a place she fell into while in combat that was only movement. Movement and calculations... It was something her father had taught her, something she had mastered...

"Adeline?" Her eyes pulled over to her master as she licked the blood from her lips and put her blades away. Haytham had seen traces of predator in her eyes before, but this was more than a predatory hunger... He watched closely as her pupils shrank, the blue in her eyes became more prominent and her limbs relaxing into themselves.

"Yes commander?" He tested her,

"Bring those doors down..." She drew her pistol, aiming them at the powder kegs left carelessly by the large doors and fired a shot into them. The explosion was heavier than she anticipated, the heat and force swirling around her in a cloud of blinding dust, she planted her feet and shut her eyes against the intense heat. Haytham's eyes widened in horror as she was swallowed whole by a cloud of debris, fighting the urge to call out to her. The dust settled just as she had replaced her pistol in her holster, leaving her team mates in an impressed silence.

"Come along then Master Kenway." She called over her shoulder at Haytham as she entered into the threshold, bodies strewn about her feet that had been killed in the explosion. The chest lay rather conspicuously on a bench not far from them, so as her master went to fetch it she investigated the upper walls for any threat. She was awarded the vantage point then when three men closed rank on her team mates, holding them at gun point. She drew her own pistol, awaiting the signal from her master to fire on them. It seemed they were working out some type of negotiation, though she was to far to hear their words clearly.

Her master lifted his gun then and she took swift action, firing at the man on the left before leaping from the wall and landing on the man holding the gun, catching all three by surprise. They all collapsed onto the ground as she hit them like a cannon ball, one of their bones crunching beneath her boots. She rolled and rebounded onto her feet, ripping her sword from her belt and swinging it around to relieve the other bandit of his head. Haytham waved her to a halt as she closed in on the last, letting him go as a warning to the rest of the bandits in his company. Adeline was not happy about it either, men like that did not change. They would always be thieves and scoundrels down to the edge of death, which is where he lingered as he limped away from them.

Haytham turned to look at Adeline with something she read as fear in his eyes, only a small amount that disappeared as soon as it had appeared. He was now made aware of a fraction of her capabilities, and therefore was no longer simply a pretty face to him. Indeed if this day had proven anything it was that Adeline Altieri was a force to be reckoned with, one he would have to keep careful tabs on from here on out. It's strange how quickly his sweet clumsy little spy had been swallowed up by a blood thirsty, precisioned killer... Indeed he would never see Adeline in the same light after this day...


Balls to the wall as I always say, she knows how to bring it. I have been anticipating this chapter since I began the story, I love having more than one side to a character though. So I decided to focus on her human side before delving into the killer. Hope you liked it!