It was ironic that Denis was essentially posing as her husband when of all the men at the chateau he seemed to like her the least. He seemed to distrust her due to her Assassin background, but she also suspected a hint of jealousy. Before she came to the Templar Order, Denis was the closest thing Timothee had to a human weapon. Being replaced by both a former Assassin and a woman must have been a hard pill for him to swallow.
If all went as planned, he would not even be a weapon here. They had both come armed, but lightly so. Élise did not bare her sword, or more than one pistol. She did not have her bracer augmentations she had used to protect the king and queen. Her handgun was her only visible weapon. She had debated with herself even bringing that. Her outfit, though necessary for effective movement, already made her look unwomanly.
Denis brought only his pistol. It was meager insurance if the first part of their operation went south.
Of all the districts, this one, the Latin Quarter, was the one she was least familiar with. Except when tracking Robespierre, her duties had never brought her here, and she had little reason to visit. It was, from what she understood, the academic center of Paris. The College of Four Nations and the Paris Observatory, in addition to their target the Sorbonne, resided here. She had already seen its domed top while crossing the Seine.
They emerged onto the street on one of the long sides of the university. The rows of windows, three floors, reminded her of the Tuileries Palace.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing!" a guard shouted to an old, black-robed priest from afar. "You're not supposed to be wearing those out here!"
The priest turned. "Whatever do you mean?"
"No robes outside the church. Assembly decreed it last week. Haven't you been keeping up?"
They passed the poor old holyman, focused on their destination.
"There's the entrance," Denis said. It was, strangely enough, an archway at the side of the building.
They began heading through the tunnel to the Cour d'Entree. If Élise had to make a quick escape, and she likely would after killing Ignaz, the last thing she would want would be to be funneled through here.
They came out of the sheltered dark into the courtyard.
Élise grabbed Denis' shoulder. "Hold on, I'd like to take a look around."
It was useful to be familiar with the architecture in her line of work.
The inner walls were full of ridges and protrusions. That was good. There were also plenty of hanging lamps to grab onto. Her eyes shifted to the the core of the university and its majesty became obvious. Giant doors, behind ridged Greco-Roman style pillars, which suspended a triangular stone awning. At the height of the base of the stone awning, the walls briefly slanted into a roof, before becoming a walls again. There was a railing at the first vertex. At the center of the university was a domed tower, where four slender, light-house like towers surrounded the greater fifth one. Fine statues decorated this visage symmetrically.
To an architect that was hard work.
To an artist, it was beauty.
To an Assassin, it was a target rich environment for her hands and feet.
Her tactical assessment was done. "D'accord, allons-y," she said.
"Through this door," Denis said, heading for an entrance flanked by potted plants.
They came indoors, entering some much less remarkable halls. A young student passed, ignorant that he had laid eyes on two agents of the world's most powerful secret society.
Élise and Denis turned the corner.
So many rooms. Men from all over Europe came to study in these halls. But more importantly, so many people here made her job all the more risky. Out of each could emerge a student who might -
"There's the door," Denis said. "I'll stay on this side and distract anybody who comes this way."
"And if they come from the other side?"
"Then nous sommes foutus."
That was neither encouraging nor unreasonable. Risk was part of their lives. She simply soldiered forward, trying to do her order and her sex proud again.
She approached the door, hyper conscious of everything going on around her, but eyes fixed on the lock. She removed her picks, incriminating devices in the open air, and got to work.
She tinkered, the tiny mechanisms rustled inside the lock. The lock was perhaps mankind's greatest invention, and she had spent years practicing mastery over it.
One tumbler.
So far so good.
Someone around the corner exited their dormitory. She went into hyper alert. But it did not sound like they were coming this way. That was a sweet relief.
She continued. An innocent student going about their normal business could ruin everything. But escaping was not even the greatest of her worries, it was the disgrace she would due herself and the order by failing this tremendous opportunity. Élise was not told much about the First Civilization, but finding one of their sites could not be a common occurrence. Ignaz Von Born sat on the find of the century.
Two tumblers.
She could feel all the systems of her body working at full capacity. Her armpits were damp with sweat. This was a trying moment. But while it tested her skills, it could easily be dashed with simple misfortune.
Some people were talking loudly in a nearby room.
Three tumblers.
She was surely more than half way there. It would be a cruel joke of God if not. Most locks had five tumblers. Some had only -
That familiar yet poignant click! The fourth tumbler was the last! She opened the door with great relief and a euphoric sense of accomplishment.
The dormitory was a modest dwelling. The bed reminded her of the one Arno currently occupied under the stairs. The desk was a simple wooden construction with a few drawers, the largest and thinnest on its underside. But most importantly, there were three pieces of paper on the desk! Her golden reward, she eagerly went over to examine!
They were drawings. The first was something she recognized immediately: The Apple. There were copious notes, lines pointing to its various grooves and ridges, but they were written in another language.
The second drawing was unlike she had ever seen. It was titled 'Der Stecker', looked like a slightly triangular tower penetrating a ball at its top. Her eyes were being treated to a tremendous privilege: She was the first Templar to see this technology, and her discovery would be remembered for centuries to come. Again, there were copious notes.
The third paper showed a very strange sight: two interlocking wheels, dotted with eye-like protrusions. It was titled 'Schutzengel'.
She had already discovered documentation of two new First Civilization artifacts! Timothee would be elated!
Was there more? She opened the drawer below the desk. There were two more pieces of paper, one over the another at a roughly thirty degree angle. The top one seemed to be some kind of map of an interior. Again, it was full of labels and notes. Was this the site itself?
She eagerly looked at the final drawing, removing it from underneath the first. It was a strange, barrel-like -