Chapter 19

The Saw Scaled Armored Division

"Okay… We are here," I said as I pointed to our position in Africa, "Tunisia. Eberhart is said to be building his secret battleship here… In Algeria."

"If we're going to hit that ship, there's going to be heavy resistance," said Oberon.

"We?" I asked, "no, no, no… We all can't launch an attack on that ship, some of us have to stay behind and watch over the base as well as figure out a game plan for taking out the Templars new tank."

"So, what do you propose?" asked Corrie.

"I recommend we do it like this, we fifty commandos and two assassins for back up," said Ariela.

"Fifty commandos?" asked Jake.

"Fifty is more than enough," I said, "so long as they play their cards right, stick close and mind their surroundings we can be able to handle whatever Eberhart's got waiting."

"What if the Templars are being led by a Hunter?" asked Oberon.

I paused.

"…I'll handle the Hunter," I said.

"Uh-uh, it took the both of us to take down the last Hunter Ariela," said Jake, "if you're going to be leading this attack, you're going to want me by your side."

I crossed my arms.

"And what's wrong with my cousin?" I asked.

"No offense Ari but… Your cousin might be good… However, he's not exactly uh…" Jake started to say.

"Not exactly what?" I asked.

"He's a little wet behind the ears," said Jake.

Eli looked down at the floor. He seemed hurt.

"Ouch," said Corrie.

"Jake," I said firmly.

"No, no, Ariela it's okay," Eli said as he gave me a small smile, "I mean… I'm no good at battling Hunters… Not real Hunters who were trained by former assassins. I think it's best if I stay behind."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Eli nodded.

"Nic mi nie będzie. Szczery. Nie chcę, żebyś się o mnie martwił (I'll be fine. Honest. I don't want you to have to worry about me)," he said.

I smiled and gave him an affirmative nod. At least he didn't get his feelings hurt, I was afraid I'd have to thump Jake on the forehead.

"Alright… Well if you insist that I have someone accompany me… I want you to go with me Jake," I said.

"Well if you insist-Wait what?" asked Jake.

"What!?" exclaimed Oberon, "you're taking him over me!? What the hell!"

"Oberon, don't start throwing a tantrum, you had your time with me when you, my cousin and I all went to Germany that night," I said, "you can come with me next time."

Oberon let out a huff.

"Oh alright," he said.

I saw Jake and Oberon look at each other for a moment. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or what, but I could've sworn I saw Jake give Oberon a smug grin.

"Don't worry… I'll keep her safe," said Jake.

"I'm going to hold you to that," said Oberon.

"Hey, hey, hey… None of that," I said as I came in between the boys.

I looked at Oberon.

"You, lighten up," I said.

I looked at Jake.

"You don't antagonize him," I said.

I looked at Corrie.

"You watch over my cousin," I said.

"I'll watch over him as if he were my own son," she said as she pulled Eli in close.

The look on Eli's face… The redness when he saw how close he was to Corrie… I know he had to have been embarrassed as anything, but it really was cute.

Anyway… After our little meeting Jake managed to round up fifty soldiers and we started making our way towards Algeria in the half-tracks. The trek was long and quiet, we had to be mindful not to run into any possible desert patrols, especially since we were traveling a few miles close to the coastline.

"…You certainly seem to have a real strong bond with your cousin," said Jake.

"…That's what happens when you have to take responsibility for someone who lost their whole family," I said, "I know he's young Jake and he still has a long way to go before he reaches my caliber… Our caliber… But Corrie's got a bit of a ways to go as well."

Jake started laughing.

"What's funny?" I asked.

"You sound like a worried mother Ariela," he teased.

I puffed up my cheeks.

"What?" asked Jake.

"What are you saying that I'd be ready to have my own child and raise it?" I asked firmly.

"No, no, no… I just think it's cute to see you show your maternal instincts, at such a young age," said Jake, "it's like you're treating Eli as if he were your own son."

That made me kick him. Jake yelped out.

"It was a compliment!" he snapped.

I just let out a huff and sat back, pulling my hood down over my face and looking down at the bed of the half-track. I wasn't sure what possessed me to kick Jake… But quite frankly, I don't really care. The trip continued, with no one saying much to each other. It wasn't until the early evening, that we our convoy had stopped.

"Why are we stopping?" asked Jake.

The driver pointed forward. Up ahead, I saw a sign that said something in… Whatever language it was. That was the second thing that caught my attention, the first thing that caught my attention was the four soldiers. They appeared to be Templars, but they weren't like any standard Templar soldier that I recognized. They wore sand colored military uniforms and they wore the standard Templar armband and each one of them was armed with an MKB 42 (H); but what caught me was the headgear, it was a military helmet with a gas mask, like something to protect a soldier from biological warfare.

"Who the hell are they?" I asked.

"I don't know… Let's ask them," Jake said as he climbed out.

I followed him over to the soldiers, each one of them approached us.

"Let me do the talking," I whispered to Jake.

"I was about to say that," he whispered back.

We met the soldiers in the middle.

"Was ist denn hier los (What's going on here)?" I asked.

"Verschlusssachen, gnädige Frau, wir haben den Befehl, die Grenze von Bougies zu schließen (Classified information madam, we have orders to close off the border of Bougies)," said the first soldier.

"Wir müssen in die Stadt gehen, wir wurden darüber informiert, dass unerwünschte Aktivitäten stattgefunden haben (We need to get inside of the city, we were informed that there's been some unwanted activity)," I said.

"Bist du taub, Frau? Wir haben die Anweisung erhalten, die Grenze der Stadt zu schließen (Are you deaf, woman? We've been given orders to close off the border of the city, you need to turn and leave at once)," the soldier said firmly.

I took a step forward. The soldier raised his weapon at my face.

"Lassen Sie mich nicht noch einmal sagen (Don't make me tell you again)," he said, "...Attentäter (…Assassin)."

I smiled under my hood.

"Ok dobrze (Okay… Fine)," I said.

In a flash, I grabbed the barrel of the rifle and pulled the man forward, driving my boot into his stomach, knocking him down and disarming him in the process. The three remaining soldiers all raised their weapons at me when, I heard Jake fire his phantom blade into one of their necks and dropped him to the ground. The two soldiers left standing both looked down at their comrade in shock; using the window that Jake gave me, I whipped out both of my hidden blades and jumped at them, the soldier to my left had his rifle knocked to the side and I drove my main hidden blade into his neck. When the soldier to my right raise his rifle at me, I grabbed it and aimed it down at the ground as he started squeezing off a few shots. I took my main hidden blade and stabbed him in the arm, then I knocked him back with a shoulder tackle and drove my off-hand hidden blade into his chest and stabbed him again in the neck, killing him.

As I turned my back, I saw Jake take his phantom blade and shoot it right past me. The sound of the first soldier screaming out made me turn and look down at him. I saw the blade sticking out of his knee. I looked back at Jake.

"He was going for his knife," he said.

That made me giggle. I walked over to the wounded soldier and knelt down beside him.

"Was ist in der Stadt los (What's going on inside of the city)?" I asked.

"... Konstruktion ... des Poseidon (...Construction... Of the Poseidon)," he groaned, "Aber Sie werden nie dazu kommen ... Nicht hinter der persönlichen Rüstungsabteilung von Field Marshall (but you'll never get to it... Not past the Field Marshal's personal armor division)."

And with that, I ejected my main hidden blade and drove it into the man's chest, ending his life. As I pulled out my blade, something caught my eye. The soldier's armband… It wasn't like any Templar armband I recognized. It had the Templar cross yes… But it had some sort of snake wrapped around it, which made me feel uneasy.

"Well?" asked Jake.

I let out a sigh and rose to my feet.

"Eberhart's constructing the new battleship, but the streets are being patrolled by his own personal armor division," I said as I retracted my blade, "he's practically sealed off all of Bougies, no one gets in or out."

Jake gritted his teeth.

"Dammit. Son of a bitch is going to be tougher to take down than I thought," he muttered.

Jake and I started pacing back and forth for a moment. Things were already looking bad.

"What are we going to do? We can't go in guns blazing, not with the attack force that we have," said Jake.

"I know," I said, "I need to think."

I pondered for a moment.

"…Let me take a look around, see if I can get a vantage point," I said as I hurried off.

I entered the city and climbed up the nearest building as fast as I could until I managed to reach the roof. I moved over to the edge and stopped, looking downward at the ground below. I wasn't high enough; I moved over to the next roof and headed over to the edge, I looked down at the ground below and concentrated as I closed my eyes, clearing my mind and taking in the sights and sounds.

I didn't hear anything at first… But then I heard… Tank treads… And footsteps. I opened my eyes and gasped. Down below was a full platoon of those same soldiers Jake and I encountered, and they were backed… By a fucking Panzer IV.

"Shiiiiiiiit," I thought bitterly.

I quickly made my way back to Jake and the commandos.

"Well?" he asked.

"There's armored platoons…" I said.

"Oh…" said Jake.

"And they're backed by Panzer IVs," I said.

"Shit," muttered Jake, "…well we can't be seen moving together as a full unit, we're going to have to break up into smaller groups."

Jake turned towards the commandos.

"Listen up everyone, it looks like the Field Marshall's deployed armored platoons to patrol the streets, I recommend that you all break up into groups of five to reduce your chances of getting spotted," said Jake, "let's make our way to the docks, there's most likely where the ship is being constructed. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" barked the commandos.

Jake looked at me.

"Be careful," he said.

"You be careful," I said.

And with that we all broke off and entered the city. Jake and I took to the air, while our soldiers moved through the streets, quickly, quietly… And unseen.

"I feel like I'm sneaking through Auschwitz again," I thought as I moved from rooftop to rooftop.

The night was long and quiet. With nothing happening so far. It seemed strange… I didn't really see any soldiers posted at any of the buildings or on top of rooftops while I was on the move. That started to make me wonder if the Templars had fully adopted the Nazis ideals… Or if they were merely looking for a quiet place to work.

"…It seems odd, considering how deep-seated they appeared to be with the bastards," I thought.

I jumped over to the next rooftop and made my way to the edge. Before I made my next jump, I stopped and looked towards the docks, activating my Eagle Vision. Something was wrong… I didn't see the ship!

"Shit… Don't tell me that what the soldier told me was false," I muttered under my breath.

"Help you find something?" asked a voice.

I gasped and whirled around; what I saw next almost made my shit myself. It was another hunter, and this one appeared to be wearing a black hooded-trench coat.

"Oh great," I said.

The hunter drew his weapon, a standard French sabre.

"Try not to make too much noise… Wouldn't want to attract too much attention!" barked the hunter.

The hunter jumped at me. I drew my Karabela and deflected his strike as he swung at me.

"How many of you are here?" I asked as he and I started to circle one another.

"Afraid that's on a need to know basis, Assassin," he said, "and you don't need to know!"

The hunter and I started taking swings at each other, our weapons struck one another with incredible speed and force almost to the point where sparks could be seen flying off of our blades with each hit.

When the hunter and I locked blades, I shoved him back and whipped out my off-hand hidden blade, I threw it forward and tried to drive it into his neck; but the bastard moved to my right and grabbed my wrist, kicking my left leg out from under me and knocking me down with a twist kick to my chest.

"Okay… That hurt," I groaned.

I jumped to my feet, spun and swung on the hunter again, trading strikes once more over and over until we had entered some sort of rhythm.

"Compared to Hrodulf and Emil, those two feel like child's play compared to this guy and the other hunters I've faced," I thought as I locked blades with the man.

The hunter and I broke off and engaged each other again, I blocked his first three hits; but when he went for a forth, I rolled out of the way and jumped forward, punching him right in the face and knocking him off balance for a moment. The hunter smirked and reached into his coat.

"FUCK!" I thought.

I ducked as he threw three knives my way. The hunter jumped at me again, I raised my Karabela to block the hit, but the force from his sabre striking my weapon was enough to disarm me… Leave me open for a kick to the chest. I jumped to my feet again and got in a ready stance. The hunter walked over and started swinging on me again, I dodged the first two hits with relative ease; but when the third hit came, I drew my Dirk and deflected the strike before delivering a spinning kick to the side of his head and a twist kick to his chest, staggering him.

"Good one," he said with a chuckle.

I didn't care if I did get a good one, I needed to put this guy down before someone caught wind of what was going on up here and fast. I glanced over at my Karabela and charged over to it.

BANG!

I screamed and fell back in shock, seeing a bullet land right by my weapon.

"Ah, ah, ah," the hunter said with a wag of his finger, "I didn't say you could get it."

The hunter holstered his pistol. I'm fucking screwed unless I can even this fight. Thinking fast, I ejected my off-hand hidden blade.

"Heh, this again?" he asked.

Without wasting time, I brought my blade up, got my finger on the trigger and retracted my blade before firing my hidden gun, nailing the hunter in his right shoulder.

"Argh!" he yelped.

I sheathed my Dirk and charged, tackling the hunter and pushing him back with all my strength.

"What the… Fuck are you doing!?" he demanded as he started pounding on my back.

I shrugged off the blows, and with all my might, I started driving my fists into his gut repeatedly. The hunter grunted and grimaced with each blow that landed until he drove his knee into my gut twice. The pain might've been bad, but it wasn't enough to get me to let go; which allowed me to eject my main hand hidden blade and stab him in the hip. The hunter grimaced and drove his knee into my stomach one more time, forcing me to let go and letting him land a jab to my face, knocking me to the ground.

"Gotcha motherfucker," I said as I sat up and glared at him.

The hunter gave me a confused look, that is until he saw that I managed to disarm him of his own weapon. He went to go and grab it, but I charged and kicked him right in the face, knocking him down and kicking his sabre away.

"…Ugh… Fine… Hand-to-hand," he said as he rose to his feet.

The hunter and I marched towards each other and started swinging on each other. I remembered how my fight with my last hunter with, even though I was with Jake, I knew I couldn't hold back since it was just me and him.

I made sure to time my blocks and dodges, though he still managed to get in a couple of good hits while I got in a couple of good hits on him, almost to the point where I started to feel blood trickle down the right side of my mouth.

"Motherfucker," I growled as he kicked me down to my knees.

I let out a yelp as he drove his knee in my face and knocked me on my back. I jumped back onto my feet and lashed out, catching his next right cross with my hand and kicking him in his left shin, then I clocked him in the jaw and headbutt him, leaving him stunned before whipping out my hidden blades and slicing open his throat with one quick motion. The hunter dropped to his knees and fell over, dead.

"And to answer your question… I can find what I need just fine," I said as I spat out blood.

I picked up my Karabela and sheathed it before moving on. The rest of the night carried on in silence, with not much happening for a while. I managed to make my way to the next building before climbing down into the street when I saw where I was; the docks.

"Looks like I made it before everyone else, now all I have to do is-"

But my thoughts were interrupted when I caught the sound of nearby gunfire… And an explosion that made a chill go up my spine.

"Oh-no," I thought.

I took off towards the sound of battle. To my horror, I saw ten of the commandos caught in a firefight with one of the armored platoons. Fortunately, it looked like the commandos had taken refuge in a nearby restaurant building that appeared to be closed and the Eberhart's soldiers appeared to be the only ones who were trading shots with them while the Panzer was keeping watch… Well… I can't say the same for the gunner.

"Jagd auf die Bastarde! Spüle sie aus (Hound the bastards! Flush 'em out)!" barked the lieutenant.

I gritted my teeth and moved in, first making my way towards the Panzer and shooting the gunner with my main hidden gun, killing him. I climbed on top of the tank and plucked two grenades from my belt, pulled the pins and dropped them inside. I jumped off and stood back as the grenades went off, killing the crew inside and causing the tank to go up in smoke and fire. The Templar lieutenant whirled around at the tank; then he looked at me.

"Silverblade," he hissed.

The lieutenant raised his rifle and started to fire on me, I ran behind the smoldering tank and glanced around the corner. The commandos were still in a firefight, but there was no telling how long they would be able to hold out.

"I can't waste too much time," I murmured.

"Erwischt (Gotcha)!" barked the lieutenant.

Before he could pull the trigger, I jumped to my feet and grabbed the barrel of the rifle. The lieutenant and I wrestled with his weapon for a bit until he pulled the trigger and started spraying bullets everywhere.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I thought as I tried to keep the bullets away from me.

I drove my knee into the man's gut twice, then I headbutt him struck him in the face with his own rifle, disarming him… Or so I thought. Until he whipped out a combat knife and started slashing at me. I drew my Dirk and started slashing back.

I didn't know who these soldiers were… Well I mean… I know they're Eberhart's personal armor division, but I wasn't aware of what they were calling themselves. Whoever they were, they weren't no pushovers like the Nazis or the Italians. They were good, and that made me worried.

The lieutenant tried to drive his knife in my gut, but I parried his thrust and struck him in the head with the handle on my Dirk and knocked him back with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head, leaving him stunned. Without hesitating, I pulled out my off-hand Colt and shot him in the right leg and shot him again in the head, killing him.

"Hang on boys, I'm coming," I said.

I sheathed my Dirk and drew my other Colt as I made my way over to my commandos position.

"Es ist deine Weltuntergangsficker (It's your doomsday motherfuckers)!" I screamed.

The soldiers started to turn as I raised my weapons and started firing off a barrage of bullets their way, killing at least twelve, wounding six and killing six more. I ran for cover as the soldiers started to return fire.

"Twelve bullets in each gun… A full platoon… Total of twenty-four soldiers down," I thought, "now it's an even fight."

I reloaded my pistols and rounded the corner, firing off six quick shots, killing two more soldiers and wounding four more. I ducked behind cover again as the soldiers opened fire on me once again. I holstered my pistols as I heard one of the soldiers draw close to the corner, then I grabbed him and punched him in the face, stunning him momentarily so I could grab him and use him as a shield when his friends started to fire on me again.

"Hey it's the lieutenant! Lieutenant Liora!" one of the commandos called out, "let's go boys!"

And just like that, the rest of my forces backed me up with gunning down the rest of the soldiers… Leaving no survivors. I tossed my 'shield' down on the ground and walked over to the commandos.

"It's good to see you lieutenant," said the first commando.

"The feeling's mutual," I said as he and I shook hands, "what happened?"

"We got caught by the patrol, five of us managed to take refuge in here just before things started to get hellish," he said.

"Five?" I asked.

"Yes, there were five of us lieutenant, but ten more came to back us up," said the commando.

"And how are you all holding up?" I asked.

"Eh, we're a little shaken up, a couple of us caught a few scratches, but nothing too bad," he said.

"And the numbers?" I asked.

"Those bastards were armed to the teeth captain, ten dead and three wounded," he said.

"Did any of you see where Jake and the rest of the commandos are?" I asked.

The commando shook his head.

"Dammit," I muttered, "we can't move on the docks until he gets here. I recommend we choose someplace to hold up until Jake and the rest of our strike force can find us. Can the wounded walk?"

"Just barely," said the commando.

I let out a sigh.

"…Alright… I'll give you guys a hand," I said as I went over to help.