So the first chapter of the AC2 world seemed pretty well liked. That's good to hear! Let's hope I keep it that way. Shout outs:
Shadowdragon1317: Haha, well don't worry. In UWS, there will be a lot of old worlds returning, along with some of these new ones.
Lucenthia: Thanks, and I'm glad for that! Don't worry, I will!
13TheAce: Ha, well we'll see where the pieces fall, right? I sure hope so!
T1M3: We'll be going a lot more into his character in this world, since this visit will be a little bit longer than some of the previous ones. There is no limit to the Anvil, there is only a limit on what Jason can do with it, if you know what I mean. Using the Anvil takes a lot out of you, and there's a limit to how much he can take. Thanks!
The Unknowing Herald: Dawnomar told four humans about those events, and I've stated before that they are the brothers, Jason, and Sora. Hopefully to something good!
Legionary Prime: Don't worry about it! I will do my utmost, haha!
Well, That's what I've got for today! Hope you enjoy this one!
Chapter 36: Flying Demons
Ezio led them through the crowded city streets for about twenty minutes before taking them into a grassy courtyard of sorts. As Marek looked around, the Assassin turned and walked over to a door that was nearly hidden inside of an archway. "Leonardo!" he called.
"Ezio, come in!" a voice yelled from inside. Ezio turned to them and waved them toward him before going inside. The Assassin was a young man with dark hair that he kept back in a short tail. "Ezio, my friend! How can I help you today?" the man named Leonardo asked. He looked slightly older than Ezio, and was wearing an odd assortment of red and bluish clothing. Ezio smiled and put his hand on Marek's shoulder.
"This is Marek. Marek, meet my friend, Leonardo Da Vinci." he introduced them. Leonardo reached out to shake his hand, and Marek took it without enthusiasm.
"Heya." he muttered carelessly. Leonardo must have noticed his lack of enthusiasm, and he turned back to Ezio.
"Does it work?" the Assassin asked, walking over to an odd flying contraption on the wall. Leonardo stared at him for a moment, not understanding the question. "Does it really fly?" he persisted. Then the inventor realized.
"No, it's not ready yet! To test it, you would have to leap off a building! Who would be mad enough to do something like that?!" he exclaimed. Marek and Ezio glanced at each other before the latter answered.
"Leonardo…I think you just found your madman." he announced with a smirk.
LATER, TOP OF A TOWER…..
"Now, Ezio, the trick is not to be lighter than air. The secret is to balance, like a bird in flight!" Leo was explaining. Marek was watching Ezio, and could tell everything the inventor had told him had just gone in one ear and out the other.
"Right…." Ezio muttered, confirming what Marek had saw, causing the man to laugh quietly. He was loud enough for Ezio to hear, however, and the other man looked up at him and glared. "I don't see you volunteering to do this." he muttered. The Keyblader rolled his eyes and walked over to the side of the building.
"And I don't see you doing this…." he replied as he tucked his arms across his shoulders and fell backwards off the building.
"Marek!" both men yelled, while Bane yawned lazily and rolled over. They quickly ran to the edge to look down. Needless to say, they fell onto their backs in surprise when Marek soared up into the sky past them, black wings outstretched from his back.
"Surprised yet?" he asked them with laughter in his eyes as he descended to them and touched back down on the rooftop.
"Never again shall I be surprised by something an LE agent does. If you can fly, then why am I doing this?" Ezio muttered as he walked back over to the flying machine. Marek brought his arms in, and his wings liquefied back into dark vapor and drew back into his shoulders, where they came out.
"I told you already, if Eclipse is inside and I'm using any of my powers when we get close, he'll know I'm coming. Besides, I won't be going in there with you, anyway." he countered. Ezio looked at him for a moment.
"What?" he questioned.
"Later." was his answer. Leo motioned to Ezio.
"If you're going to try this, now is the time, my friend." he told him. The young Assassin sighed and took his position on the flying machine. To Marek, it looked like the skeleton of a giant bird with two latches for hands and feet. Ezio took a running start and leaped off the building, tucking his feet up into the foothold. He tried to maneuver it around the tower, but he was gradually falling, and they all could see it.
"Basta! I will end up killing myself before I ever kill another Templar!" they heard him yell. Marek looked at Bane, who nodded and dove through a portal. He resurfaced just beneath the now flying Assassin and pulled both man and machine back through the portal, where they landed safely on the ground.
LATER, BACK AT LEO'S SHOP….
"I can't believe it! You flew, Ezio, you flew!" Leo was shouting happily. Ezio rolled his eyes as he rubbed his sore arm.
"Si, but not very far!" he argued. Leo sighed as he walked past Marek, was leaning back in a chair with his feet propped up against a desk, Bane lying at his side.
"Well, what did you expect? The machine wasn't designed for distance! Alright, let me look over my notes. Perhaps there is a way to extend the flight…" he murmured as he walked over to his desk and firmly pushed Marek's dirty boots off of it. The white haired man grunted unhappily and looked over at Ezio.
"You sure this is the best thing to do?" he asked. Ezio looked at him and shrugged his shoulders as he sat by the fire.
"Not entirely, but I don't have another choice. I have to kill Carlo, and to do that, I have to get inside the Palazzo." he told him as he rested his chin in his hands, thinking hard. Marek watched as Leo left his desk and moved across the room to check on something, immediately putting his feet back on the desk again.
"I told you earlier that I won't be going in there with you. Even when you get inside, you'll have to navigate through the entire place and find Carlo without running into any guards, or Eclipse, if he's in there. But, I can help you there." he began, reaching over to the desk and picking up a pitcher of….something. He poured himself a cup and raised it to his lips. He took one mouthful and immediately leaned forward, spitting it back out onto the floor. "What is that?!" he exclaimed in disgust. Ezio raised an eyebrow.
"Café. It is Persian, I believe." he answered. Marek shook his head.
"You mean Coffee? Because that shit ain't anything like the coffee I've drank before." he replied. Ezio laughed quietly and waited for him. Marek set the cup back on the table and winced in disgust before talking again. "You'll get inside, and I'll take on the guards standing by the front doors on the ground. If I can keep them busy enough, they'll call most of the guards out of the palace to try and take me down. That leaves a near empty palace for you to get through and kill your Templar." he elaborated. Ezio leaned back and rested his chin in one of his hands, that arm being propped up by the chair's armrest.
"I see. And you are a warrior capable of dealing with hundreds of guards?" he asked him, a sliver of humor in his voice. Marek formed his hand into a gun and shot at him.
"Bingo. Like I said, there's a better chance of success if we do this together. You get your Templars, and I get Eclipse." he said. They both looked at Leo, who walked back to his desk and pushed Marek's feet off again, resulting in another unhappy grunt. The inventor picked up a note of paper off his desk and sighed in exasperation.
"I've checked over everything, and there's simply no way! I can't do it! Pezzo di merda experiment!" he yelled as he threw the paper into the fire. But, when the paper reached the fire, it uncurled and started hovering, held up by the flames. "Aha, of course! Genio!" he suddenly yelled as he stood up and started writing again. Marek had already placed his feet back on the desk and exchanged glances with Ezio. Bane merely turned over onto his side and didn't say anything.
"What?" Ezio asked him. Leo looked up at him and smiled.
"Heat rises! Heat rising under the wings will lift the machine and carry it over a longer distance!" he explained happily. Ezio shook his head.
"But how is one fire going to help?" he asked him. Marek cut in.
"I can help there. I'll follow you from the rooftops, and every time you need a boost, I'll send up a flame." he told him.
"So what, you can cast fire from your hands now?" he asked him sarcastically. The white haired man rolled his eyes as he stood up and walked over to him. He calmly placed his fist in front of him, and it instantly became engulfed in fire. Ezio and Leo slowly looked at each other and didn't quite know what to say. "What….what ARE you?" he asked. Marek sighed as he turned away and extinguished the flame.
"I've been trying to figure that out for a long time." he replied quietly as he went back and sat down. Leo looked at Ezio.
"This plan can work, my friend. But it is your call." he told him. Ezio thought long and hard for a moment, and stood up. He looked over at Marek with determination in his eyes.
"Carlo Grimaldi dies tonight." he told him firmly. Marek nodded with a small smile and stood up. Bane jumped to his feet, and the three of them walked out the door.
MEANWHILE, JASON'S TOWER….
"You're doing really good, Namine. Now raise high and block!" Roxas said as he swung Oathkeeper toward her. She quickly swung high and blocked his strike, and turned following up with a blow to his waist. He had seen it coming and had calmly brought Oblivion in to block, but she was improving.
"We might just make a field agent out of you yet." Riku told her with a smile. She looked back at him and nodded gratefully.
At the same time, Xion and Mist had been working at it. The 'parent' Rikkison didn't require any training on the magical arts, she was quite the rookie at Keyblade wielding and physical fighting. "So what do you think of Eclipse and what's he trying to do?" Mist asked her as they moved through the basics of form and defense. Xion thought for a moment before answering. She swung low toward Mist's legs, who managed to bring her own blade down and block it.
"I think he's one of the most dangerous people out there. I mean, the Ancients are dangerous enough when they're indifferent to us. But Eclipse, he's half Ancient and he's dead set on whatever it is they're trying to do. He's already merged with Corruption, so we can only guess what that's doing to his mind." she replied as she clashed her blade against her trainee, knocking it away and aiming a punch at her. Mist whirled to the side and kicked toward her side, but Xion back stepped. Both girls were making quick progress. But then again, Namine was the Nobody of a Keyblade wielder already, and Mist had been around the LE, Jack, and Marek for most of her life.
"We declared War against Corruption, but now that he and Eclipse are one, we have to go after him and his client. That's the only way to stop this threat." Namine spoke up, hearing their conversation.
"You two have been training for hours. Why don't we take a short break?" Sora suggested. They all nodded and dismissed their Keyblades, sitting down or leaning against the wall of the tower.
"But Marek is the one that wants to go after Eclipse. I thought we didn't want anything to do with him, especially because of what's happened in the past." Roxas said. Sora nodded slightly.
"Yeah, but Marek's been on this journey for months now. He's been to several worlds, and they're all better since he went there. I think we've all underestimated the good that he can do. He has his own reasons for wanting to go after Eclipse. It's no different than when I wanted to kill everything in sight to find Kairi again. At first, I totally agreed with everyone, that he should bring him in and put him on trial for what he's done. But that line of thinking allowed most of this agency to fall victim to Corruption. I've thought about what Jack has said and done for his brother, and I've tried to keep an open mind. Maybe we all should." he explained. He had been thinking this for a while, but hadn't decided to say anything.
"Say you're right. Say we let Marek continue to wander on his own after this threat is over. After Eclipse is gone, then what? Sora, he's damaged. Once Eclipse is gone, he'll replace him with someone else, and the process will just repeat itself. You can't trust him." Riku calmly argued. Namine looked at the ground.
"I think we're all damaged, Riku." she softly said. At hearing that, he realized just exactly what he had said. He looked around and saw Mist, Roxas, Xion, and Namine all glaring at him.
"I lost my friends, and everything I cared for. Sure, I have them back now, but that doesn't erase the memory of what happened, or what DIZ put me through, either. If you wanna act perfect, then fine. I'll face reality." Roxas spat at him venomously. Riku glanced over at Sora, who shrugged his shoulders.
"I didn't mean…" he began.
"Vexen created me in order for me to absorb Roxas and all of Sora's memories so that he would never wake up. When I found out, Xemnas tried to wipe my own memories. I died, Riku. I DIED! Everyone who knew me forgot about me! How do you get more damaged than that?!" Xion yelled at him. Mist wrapped an arm around her and shook her head at him.
"I was held in Illusion's compound for twelve years. He used the powers of the Divine Being to keep me in stasis for most of that time. When I wasn't in stasis, he was raping me, over, and over, and over again. Tell me you know what that's like, Riku." she told him calmly, but they saw tears forming in her eyes.
Riku sighed and looked over at Namine, who stared at him. "I think my point is made. We want to judge someone who's just as damaged as we are, and has been through just as much. None of us know what it's like to be controlled by Darkness for almost two decades of our lives, and to rage war against the realm of light, killing innocents with our body as we can only watch through our own eyes, prisoners of our own hearts." she said as she looked at the wall and wrapped her arms around her knees.
"I think we've had enough training for today." Roxas stated as he stood up and walked out of the room.
"Agreed." Xion muttered. Mist and Namine got up and followed her up the stairs, leaving Sora and Riku alone.
"I didn't mean it like that…" the silver haired young man replied. Sora sighed and touched his shoulder.
"I know that, and I think they do, too. It's just easy to forget what all of us have been through. We complain about our own hardships when the people around us are struggling just as much, if not more. C'mon, Riku. Let's go on patrol. We can check with Rayne, Lea, Ven, and Kairi and see if they've found anything that might be Light." he told him. Riku nodded and led the way outside. They mounted their riders, and made their way into the Lanes, leaving the tower…..and a very awkward situation for Riku, behind.
VENEZIA, TOWER ROOFTOP…
"This is it, Ezio. Trust me to have your back. I'll be there." Marek promised him as they readied for the fateful flight. Ezio swallowed hard as he took his position.
"I can't use my sword while flying this thing. If they're shooting at me, I'll need you to take them down." he told him. Marek nodded calmly. Bane was on a rooftop halfway between them and the Palazzo, waiting for the signal to begin attacking the guards. "Andiomo and Buena fortuna!" he yelled as he ran and leaped off the building. Marek followed suit, leaping off and allowing himself to fall a few stories before calling his wings outward. He knew how quickly they drained his energy, so he would need to move fast. (Venice Rooftops, AC2)
He cast a fire spell as he flew underneath Ezio, lifting him back up into the air, and then brought his attention forward, where a wall of archers were perched on a building fast approaching them.
"Mi cosa?! Shoot! Shoot the flying demons!" one of them yelled. They quickly drew their arrows and began firing.
"Marek!" Ezio yelled. He was getting shot at and he was falling again. Marek whirled in the air, plummeting underneath him and boosting him up with fire again.
"He must be a demon!" one of the archers yelled. Ezio soared over them, and before they could turn to keep shooting at him, the Keyblader soared down out of the darkness, dark wings outstretched and his Keyblade and dagger in hand.
"No, that'd be me!" he yelled with a smirk as he dashed through them, cleaving through multiple enemies with two clean swings. He flew higher into the sky and caught up with Ezio. He glanced back and saw most of the archers fall onto their backs and lie still. He smirked, but could feel his energy draining already. He soared down, casting another fire spell under Ezio before drawing his wings back in and landing on the roof of a building. He wasted no time in sprinting along and jumping from roof to roof, staying under the flying Assassin and making sure he stayed in the air.
He ran past the waiting Bane, who quickly moved to follow him, and in a matter of minutes they were within sight of the Palazzo. "It's up to you now, Ezio!" he looked up and yelled. Ezio glanced down at him and nodded as he flew over the courtyard and disappeared over the roof of the Palazzo.
"On to business!" Marek turned to Bane and yelled with a smile.
"Shall we have a contest to see who can kill more?" he asked.
"I'm really starting to worry about you!" Marek replied as he leaped off of the final rooftop. He channeled darkness out through his limbs to carry him toward the gates of the Palazzo and toward the unsuspecting guards standing near it. As he plummeted toward them, they looked up in time see his wide smile and weapons heading for them.
"MAREK, TWO, BANE, ZERO!" he yelled with an echoing cackle as he impaled the two guards and hit the ground with a crash. He quickly drew his weapons out and back flipped away. Immediately, countless guards moved in on his position, but Bane appeared behind them and lunged forward, latching his jaws onto a man's throat and shredding it open. He immediately whirled around and dashed through a man's legs and leaped up, colliding with a third and digging his darkness extended claws into his waist. He then leaped up again and spun through the air, roping his tail around a man's neck and using it to throw him through the air into a group of his fellows, which he unhesitatingly leaped into and decimated.
"Bane, nine. Marek, two." the dog muttered as he ran back into combat. Marek smirked and shook his head as the pulled out three of his throwing knives and threw them in different directions, taking out three guards with them while he cut one down with his Keyblade and stabbed his dagger into a man's eye. (Author's note: What? It's Assassin's Creed, I get to use a little gore, XD)
MEANWHILE….
Ezio soared onto the roof, where a group of guards was standing around. He let go and tumbled onto the roof, but the flying machine collided with the guards and knocked them off the building, much to his humor. He quickly ran over to a ladder and moved down it. As Marek had predicted, the guards had emptied out into the outer gates to keep him out. He looked at a window from across the inner courtyard and saw the Doge raising a cup to his lips. His eyes widened and he sprinted along various wooden beams and platforms before reaching the stairs and running into the room. "Signore, don't drink that!" he yelled as he ran into the room. The man looked up at him questionably, but then coughed up blood. Carlo stood up from his seat at the table and smiled maliciously.
"You are too late. The Doge is dead." he told him calmly as he moved toward the door.
"Carlo…..?" the man muttered as he coughed up more blood and fell onto the floor. Ezio looked up at the Templar ragefully and ran toward him. He slid his wristblade out and moved to stab him, but at that moment, Carlo moved to the side and pushed him out the window. He fell down several feet and landed on the stairs. He groaned in pain, but stood up in time to see the Templar heading for the exit.
"THE DOGE IS DEAD!" he was screaming.
"You're not escaping me, Templar!" Ezio yelled as he got to his feet and ran to the side, traversing the same wooden beams and platforms he had used to get to the room. As he reached a point above Carlo, he leaped off, holding his wristblade back as he soared through the air. His feet landed on either side of the fleeing man, and with his free hand he shoved the man to the ground, plunging his wristblade into the back of his neck.
"Requiescat in pace, bastardo." he muttered as he turned him over and closed his eyes.
"Ezio!" he heard Marek yell from the courtyard. He quickly ran out the gates to see man and dog handling themselves easily against all the guards. "Eclipse?" he asked. The Assassin shook his head.
"No, but someone must have given Carlo access to the poison and to the Doge's wine. I suspect it was your man. We must discuss it later! Now, we vanish!" he yelled, making his way through the army of guards and heading for a nearby alleyway.
"Time to disappear then…." Marek muttered as he held his hand up. Dark electricity began to flow through it, and he slammed it onto the ground. All the guards around him suddenly stopped and screamed in pain as lightning coursed through them. Those that weren't affected stopped to help their comrades. By the time they looked up, Assassin, dark Keyblader, and killer canine were all gone.
Well, I hope this chapter was alright, too. We're going steadily through this world, but we still have two or three more chapters to go, depending on what feedback I get! I tried to stay true to the core of the plot, while changing some things, but I hope it went alright. Anyway, now I'm back to moving stuff. See ya later!