*Hey, everyone!

Here's another Revolution chapter. I hope you enjoy it!*

"Luka, you bastard!" Hugh lightly smacked Luka's back. "You're gonna go all out against the kid?"

"Of course not," Luka calmly replied as he took off both of his hidden blades and some of his armour. "But he will."

He quickly nodded at Lucio, who gathered his two shortswords.

Hugh noticed that Luka's expression changed. "Something up?"

Luka quickly changed his expression after scoffing. "Things are truly getting nostalgic." He briefly paused before continuing. "Ryo had the same weapons."

Hugh lowered his head slightly as his expression garnered a bit of a depressive tone on it. "Yup. It's still fresh on our minds." Hugh shook off the sad thoughts and walked a bit closer to Luka while gripping his hand into a fist. "We've gotta stay strong and push through! It's what Ryo would have wanted. So, Luka..."

Luka looked at Hugh as if he expected an inspirational quote.

"Kick the kid's ass."

Hugh's pupil chuckled and briefly closed his eyes. "Got it, sir."

On the other side of the room, Gabriel had a somewhat similar conversation with his junior.

"The hell do you think you're doing, boy?" Gabriel looked angrier than usual. His calm demeanour seemed to be gone for the moment. Lucio just calmly smirked at him. "Do you honestly think you can face him?"

"He's a low-ranker, why should I be afraid?" Lucio replied with a cocky expression.

"Don't judge a book by its cover." Gabriel straightened himself out and deeply exhaled. "Just make sure to do your best, I'll coach you through it."

"I appreciate it."

Gabriel looked over towards Luka and noticed he wasn't using any weapons. He walked over to him. "I figured you wouldn't use anything against him."

"He did ask me for a spar including weapons, but all of my weapons are too heavy and strong for a 17 year old to handle." Luka went off on a small rant as he turned towards Gabriel and began moving his hands around, making them into small fists, pounding his fist against his palm and cracking his knuckles. "I have two german maces and a billhook, along with the two hidden blades. Both of my primary weapons aren't meant to go easy on someone. That's the main reason I picked them. They match my fighting style and my strength. Hugh can back me up on this, but I don't use my weapons all the time for no reason. I don't think any assassin should."

Hugh quickly joined the conversation as he agreed with Luka. "That's right. I've been training you to use your body to knock someone out or kill someone, not just to use your weapons." Hugh shortly paused in between his sentences as he lifted his head. "That's why you're an infighter, not a ranged assassin like Ashley or Nicole. I'm sure you can relate, Gabriel, we assassins that are naturally big or strong or the ones that don't have much talent for being stealthy are dealt with the hand they're dealt. That's just how it is."

"Yup," Gabriel immediately nodded with a smile on his face. "Of course, all three of us are really fast, but we're never going to be as agile or stealthy as..." Gabriel briefly paused. "Well, the first man that comes to mind is Ryo Galler."

Hugh's and Luka's mouths and eyes both widened slightly. Luka deeply exhaled as Hugh looked off to the side. Gabriel quickly read the room.

"Touchy subject?"

Hugh quickly nodded as Luka turned around and walked over to the table where he put his weapons down. Hugh pulled Gabriel off to the side and quietly uttered. "We're going to announce it after the spar." Hugh let go of Gabriel. "Go tell Lucio we're ready to go."

"On it." Gabriel started moving back, but he quickly turned around. "Sorry, Hugh."

"It's fine, you didn't know." Hugh chuckled with a slight smirk on his face.

After a minute, both fighters were ready.

They squared off on a platform similar size to a boxing ring.

A 6mx6m space, essentially.

Lucio prepared both of his shortswords as Luka put up his guard. This wasn't a boxing match, so he simply lifted his hands on each side of his face and body. They slowly started circling each other.

"Lucio! Keep him on his toes, strike first and fast! Use your speed advantage!" Gabriel shouted from behind his pupil.

Lucio quickly dashed in and within a few moments, he was in range to strike. Luka calmly observed as Lucio thrust forward with one of his swords. Luka parried the strike with the metal apparatus of his armour around his wrists and arms. A few thrusts came at him from several directions, one after the other, but Luka calmly observed and blocked them all. They were all aimed at the sides of his body, so he could easily deflect or parry them. This exchange turned into a longish one as Lucio was taking the pace of the fight.

"Keep it up, mix up your combinations!" Gabriel shouted once more and Lucio calmly listened.

His slashes did not appear to be that strong, but they were quick and persistent and now Lucio was also aiming at Luka's face and lower body more and more. The hits that couldn't be parried effectively were dodged with some swaying or slipping blows.

*Come on, Luka, how long are you gonna let him do this for?* Hugh thought to himself.

Luka's expression didn't change the entire time. He seemed more focused than usual.

Nicole noticed Luka was taking his time, so she walked over to Hugh on the side and asked him. "What's up with Luka? He's had plenty of opportunities to end it already, hasn't he?"

"Yup, but I think he wants to teach Lucio a thing or two." Hugh analyzed the fight. "Lucio isn't doing anything wrong, technically speaking. He's not swinging wide and he's changing up his attack patterns. It's just that Luka is so skilled at dodging and parrying all of those blows that it looks like Luka isn't trying at all, but in reality, he's just trying to give Lucio a chance of doing something."

Nicole shortly laughed. "He's such a sweetheart sometimes."

"You can say that again." Hugh chuckled as well.

*If I end the fight too early, he won't have any confidence in his abilities. I have to win based on a mistake he does.* Luka thought to himself. *Now, is that mistake gonna happen because of his mental strength giving out or when his stamina reaches its limits?*

Lucio immediately shifted his upcoming attack pattern which surprised Luka. The blade managed to graze his cheek. A single line of blood bled down Luka's cheek as he wiped it and laughed.

"I guess that's the signal."

Luka immediately stepped in.

Lucio was ready, he threw out a few slashes, but they were all dodged. Luka didn't even let himself parry a hit anymore. He got within range to swing, so he threw out a left straight.

It displaced Lucio's arms as he barely blocked it, but without even giving him a chance to think, Luka immediately fired off another left that landed cleanly on Lucio's face. He stumbled backwards, but he held himself up.

Luka immediately stepped in again as Lucio put his hands over his face. Unfortunately for Lucio, he got played. He thought he felt a punch coming to his face, but there was nothing there.

Luka feinted up high but threw a full force body blow that sounded like Lucio's organs were about to get crushed. He vigorously began coughing and immediately fell to the floor, grasping his stomach.

Gabriel and Nicole rushed up to help Lucio as they shouted for his name. Luka calmly stepped back and looked at Hugh who was now in the ring. Hugh patted him on the back and proudly smiled.

Lucio managed to lift his face off the ground after about half a minute. The only thing he could see is Luka proudly looking down on him. He managed to get up.

"Come on..." Lucio spoke up. "I know it's coming, so just get it over with."

Luka scoffed. "Are you expecting a boast or a lecture?"

"Both."

Luka began laughing. "Don't be such a dumbass. I beat an opponent who is way weaker than I am and I'm not your senior." He paused for a moment. "Plus, you got some guts, kid."

Lucio's face brightened up a small bit.

"You're good at brawling, as far as I can tell." Luka began explaining. "I was expecting a chance to come from you when you realised you couldn't touch me, so you'd make a sloppy mistake, or when your stamina would start to run out so you'd become desperate. I never expected you to land a blow on me."

Luka walked over to Lucio and patted him on the shoulder. "Good shit."

Lucio lowered his head and smirked. "Thanks."

The conversation was suddenly interrupted by the only person that didn't walk into the ring yet. "Excuse my manners, lads."

Everyone turned their attention towards Ruth, who hasn't said a thing yet. "Am I out of line to ask Luka for a favour?"

Luka casually smiled. "What's up, brother?"

"Would you mind a spar with me without weapons?" Ruth's voice sounded confident and excited.

Luka's expression loosened up as he calmly glared at Ruth. He smirked after a few moments. "Let's get it on!"

Ruth happily smiled. "Alright!"

Hugh looked over at Gabriel with a certain amount of concern on his face. "We good letting this happen?" He genuinely asked.

"It should be a good spar," Gabriel shouted back. "They'll probably be on even ground."

The rest of the assassins came closer to each other as Nicole brought Lucio to a nearby bench. She began wiping some of his wounds away with disinfectant. "How's your face?"

"I'm already better once you're taking care of me." Lucio coughed through the end of his sentence with a smirk.

"You always were a flirt." Nicole playfully replied. "Is that the reason you wanted to fight him? Because of me?"

Lucio's eyes widened a small bit.

"Lucio, you're always gonna be my little brother, but Luka is too special to me for you to hate him." Nicole turned serious for a moment. "So, could you please not hold a grudge against him?"

Lucio leaned back and looked towards the ceiling before scoffing. "Alright."

"I really appreciate you." Nicole quickly replied before turning her head towards the second spar that was about to start.

Ruth and Luka stood side by side. Ruth was taller than Luka, he was older and had more experience. However, Luka's advantage was power and stamina. He was noticeably bigger.

"Any predictions, Hugh?" Gabriel playfully started a conversation.

"I haven't seen Ruth in action before, but he looks like he could put up a fight!" Hugh enthusiastically replied.

"Oh, he certainly could. We've sparred a lot. He's got the experience and speed." Gabriel stopped talking for a few moments.

Hugh noticed this, so he spoke up with a confused tone. "What about power?"

Gabriel's expression got serious. "As much as I wanna brag that I easily beat Luka and that I'm ahead of him in every way, I gotta say..." He paused for a moment. "He's got more power."

Hugh's expression remained calm.

"It's like his body blows were piercing my guts even with my guard still up. He's got some mean punches, and he repeated those rotations for a solid amount of time. Not to mention, he also withstood an entire combination from me and still didn't go down. Your lad has got some guts." Gabriel's voice became less and less serious throughout his sentence and his cheerful personality showed again. "I wouldn't wanna fight him after he gets more experience!"

Hugh chuckled for a few moments. "It's true, he's been doing nothing but sparring with me and Ryo in the past. He's used to fighting people bigger than him. It's almost as if he's a specialist in that field..." Hugh froze up for a moment but closed his eyes and lowered his head afterwards. "No, it's almost like he *needed* to become a specialist in that field." Hugh crossed his massive arms and continued. "Luka is shorter than most assassins I've met in my life. The only person I've seen recently that's shorter has been Nicole. You can't hope for every single opponent that he goes up against to be someone bigger, but it usually is someone bigger or someone of similar proportions and size to him! That's what makes his training with me so effective! He's always fighting me, someone who's way bigger than him, so he wouldn't have problems with someone like Ruth, for example, who is only slightly taller than him."

"He's learned to deal with certain types of fighters just from spars and basic training, then?" Gabriel casually crossed his arms as well.

"Yup! He doesn't like to say he has potential for anything, but he's always had the potential to brawl." Hugh lifted his head slightly as he pointed it at Luka. "There are definitely so many other assassins that have more talent than him in various other ways, so he chooses to ignore his advantage of fighting when comparing himself to other assassins."

"So..." Gabriel began talking. "Parkour, stealth, charm, thievery, assassinations...he wouldn't fare particularly better at those than someone who has the talent to be an assassin?"

"Exactly!" Hugh exclaimed. "To sum it up in one major sentence...Luka doesn't have the talent to be an assassin, Luka has the talent to be a fighter!" Hugh proudly chuckled.

Gabriel began laughing as well. "Nonetheless, this spar should be interesting."

Hugh firmly nodded as he turned his attention towards the two men.

Ruth lowered his body and clamped himself up with a strong guard.

Luka did the same and entered his good old peek-a-boo stance.

*This ain't someone I gotta take lightly, so I can go right off the bat!* Luka thought to himself.

*I wouldn't challenge you if I didn't think I could take you, come on!* Ruth psyched himself up, as well.

As soon as the signal to start went off, Luka dashed into Ruth from below. He immediately threw out an uppercut aimed to blow away Ruth's tight guard. Ruth quickly reacted and attempted to distance himself a small bit by circling to the right and throwing out constant punches.

*That's not gonna work on Luka! He knows how to cut the space inside of a ring.* Hugh thought to himself with a confident smirk on his face.

Luka immediately closed the distance again, but Ruth backed off. As soon as Luka would come forward, Ruth would retreat. This kept up for a few exchanges until Luka stood still in the centre of the ring. There was a problem with Ruth's pathing. Instead of circling himself into a corner, he just retreated every time Luka would close the distance without utilising the corner. Instead of worrying about it too much, Luka immediately dashed to the right side of Ruth after thinking about his next move for a few moments. Ruth's punches weren't the hardest, so he could shake them off. Ruth predictably dodged backwards, but in the middle of his backwards leap Luka immediately threw out a heavy left straight aimed at Ruth's body. Ruth reeled back for a moment before he straightened himself out and stood his ground. Luka didn't stop with just one, though. He followed up with several swings from different angles.

Body, face, shoulder, stomach, abs, chest.

He kept rotating his punches and kept aiming at different portions of Ruth's body. Ruth managed to block all of them, and he had something in mind, as well.

Out of nowhere, Ruth landed a clean knee on Luka's chin. Luka's head was flung backwards as some blood dripped from his mouth. He stumbled back, but he kept himself up.

"Unfortunately, Hugh, this ain't boxing." Gabriel reminded Hugh of a very important thing. "In a real fight, anything goes."

Ruth quickly dashed forward and struck at one of Luka's legs with his foot. It put Luka off balance just enough so that Ruth's short uppercut landed on Luka's face. At this point, Ruth was thinking of stopping the fight and taking his victory, but his thoughts were disrupted as his entire body twisted in pain.

As Luka was falling, he managed to land a severe full power kick to the side of Ruth's body. Even though Luka went down, he stood right back up and dashed in once more.

*That was a good combo, but if that's all you got, there's nothing left from you that I should fear!* Luka encouraged himself as he targeted Ruth's body once more.

He landed consecutive body shots that exposed Ruth's face after a few of them. Luka stomped his foot down, leaned on his pivot leg and charged up the longest uppercut he could. After a moment or two, he twisted his entire body to put all his weight behind the blow as he cleanly hit Ruth's chin. It felt like a shattering noise in Luka's eardrums as Ruth's entire body was flung backwards.

"You're right, Gabriel!" Hugh chuckled. "Anything goes, but boxing is an effective way of fighting for a reason!"

Ruth slid his foot across the canvas as he kept himself up. He clenched his teeth and patiently waited for Luka to dash in one final time.

Luka acknowledged his tenacity as he proceeded to leap forward. Both men were exhausted, but both of them showed incredible willpower.

At the end of his step in, Luka attempted to end the fight with an overhanded hook, but Ruth saw through his punch.

*This is it, this has to land now, this will put an end to it!* Luka shouted inside of his head.

*Move, arms, move! His swing's too wide!* Ruth gritted his teeth.

Ruth threw a counter punch that should have hit Luka's face before Luka's punch reached him, but the damage Ruth received showed as he staggered a small bit.

This was going to be a close one!

After what felt like an eternity, the two men's heads were both flung in opposite directions at the same time.

Both of the punches landed simultaneously as both men collapsed to the ground, beat.

Hugh and Gabriel quickly jumped into the ring as they helped their pupils up.

"Easy now, easy." Hugh grabbed Luka and carried him to the side. "Nicole, you'll take care of both of them, right?"

"I can do, yes. Just move them over here!" Nicole put on an annoyed expression as she lightly slapped Luka's face. "You dumbass, going all-out like that!"

Luka chuckled. "Love you too, babes."

Ruth was able to sit down on the bench. "We'll call it a draw?"

Luka had to lie down. After a moment, he sincerely laughed. "Yeah, let's call it a draw."

...

It was a quiet morning. There weren't many guards awake, but a few of them stood outside of a few rooms. Harrison sparked a conversation with a few of them about various topics, including the revolution in general, today's weather and where Kane and Ashley were. An assassin informed him that they were already awake and possibly having breakfast. Harrison thanked the guard and began walking towards the dining hall.

Ashley and Kane were already up for a few hours.

"Morning, sir!" Ashley greeted Harrison as he entered the dining area and started preparing himself a coffee. He nodded at her.

"You feeling good?" Kane asked as he sipped his coffee.

"I'm fine, thanks." Harrison sat down and relaxed his hands on the table. "Looks like you guys are up and ready for business. Should I explain to you what we have to do, then?"

Kane quickly looked at Ashley who nodded. "Yup, whenever you're ready."

"Right, then." Harrison straightened his back and began talking once more. "The city is slowly falling into the hands of the Templar Order. The government and most of the important business figures and CEOs within the city are all corrupt. They've been systematically replaced over the last few months from the usual respectable people to Templar associates."

"A quiet revolution, huh?" Kane briefly asked.

"Exactly, and most of the general public hasn't caught up on that yet." Harrison leaned back slightly. "People don't realise they're slowly losing the country they all live in."

"Can you blame the people, though?" Ashley joined the conversation. "There have been so many countries in the world over the years that have been run by horrible people. Most of the common folk wouldn't know the Templars are behind it all."

Kane nodded as Harrison silently agreed, as well.

"So, what do we reckon? A divide and conquer plan between the people in charge of Paris?" Kane questioned.

"Not quite. Instead of having them all focus on each other, we're simply gonna eliminate them all." Harris replied very convincingly.

Kane lifted his head slightly, intrigued. "Sounds like you got someone in mind already."

Harrison nodded in reply. "For today, we have a contract to eliminate an important CEO of an electronics company nearby. Elroy Leroy."

Kane and Ashley kept a straight face for a few moments before both of them burst into laughter.

"How funny would it be if I was Kane Akne?" Kane laughed through his sentence.

Ashley lightly slapped the table in front of her as she got Kane's attention. She raised her index finger into the air.

"Ashley Sahley."

"For fuck's sake." Kane laughed once more. "Sorry, Harris."

"All good, a few of the boys in this sanctuary had a similar reaction." Harrison got up and grabbed his finished coffee. "The building's a few streets away, you can go whenever you want, but make sure you do it today. Careful, though. The building is severely guarded. You might have to sneak your way throughout the entire place."

"Fine with us, we can be stealthy." Kane turned towards Ashley. "You up for this, Ashley?"

"Yup, let's do it!" Ashley exclaimed.

...

The sandbag was bouncing up and down, from left to right. The attacker was relentless, persistent and powerful. It only took a few moments for the satisfying sounds he was making to get noticed.

"Working hard already, eh?" Gabriel stepped into the gym area of the sanctuary. "It's pretty early, man."

Luka looked at Gabriel and smirked. "I always do this right after my morning run."

"You've already been outside?" Gabriel questioned as Luka nodded to confirm. "Damn, you seem like a training nut."

"One of my nicknames, that is." Luka chuckled.

Gabriel proudly smiled as he walked up to a weights machine. "You won't mind if I join you, then?"

"Of course not, milord." Luka tipped his imaginary hat and laughed once more.

"Luka!" A sudden shout came from the entrance to the gym. It was Hugh. "You up to hit some mitts?"

"Let's go, H!" Luka excitedly replied as he got inside a boxing ring. Hugh quickly followed with a pair of mitts.

Gabriel observed this training while he lifted his weights.

"Step in more!"

"Put your hips into it, you aren't giving it your all!"

"Watch out for random blows!"

It was sort of poetic, seeing the two men work together so brilliantly. This was how the two men trained each other to their absolute peak.

After a while, Gabriel raised his voice at them.

"It would be a good time to head to the main hall soon, guys. We don't want to be here all day." Gabriel packed his things and prepared to leave the room.

"We'll be out in a few!" Hugh shouted back at him.

Gabriel nodded and quickly left the gym.

He made it to the main hall as he noticed the rest of the group having a conversation there.

"Gabriel!" Ruth was the first to notice him.

"Ruth." Gabriel nodded at him. "What's everyone up to?"

"It's been a slow week, as you know, but we got an emergency contract," Nicole spoke up. "Sounds pretty serious, too."

"An emergency?" Gabriel questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Let's hear it, then!"

"This is probably more impactful to the two of you, Lucio, Gabriel." The two men in question directed their attention towards Ruth who spoke up once more. "The Pantheon is rumoured to be invaded this afternoon."

Gabriel's eyes widened severely. His voice pierced the open room. "The Pantheon?!"

"Yup, The Pantheon." Ruth calmly repeated.

"You can't be fucking serious!" Gabriel yelled once more. "Who's invading it?!"

"We're being called to defend it, so it's pretty obvious. The Templar Order." Nicole's voice could be heard once more.

Gabriel collected himself after a few of his shouts. "Lucio, you're sitting this one out. If it was a smaller contract, I would have taken you on it, but not this one, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, big brother. I get it. Even if I am a kid and an orphan, this stuff's important to us Italians." Lucio spoke up in a mature tone.

Gabriel proudly smiled at him.

Hugh and Luka walked into the main hall.

"Oho, everyone's gathered already!" Hugh enthusiastically shouted as they approached the group.

Luka noticed that Nicole was holding an envelope. "We got a contract?"

"An important one, at that," Gabriel answered. "Let me walk you through it..."

After a few minutes...

"Ah, I see. The Templars are launching an attack on The Pantheon? Sounds important." Luka pulled up a chair and sat down. "How do we know about this?"

Nicole spoke up this time. "Barton called me while you three were in the gym. He said he got the intel from one of the assassins that travel across Europe."

A few seconds of silence followed until Hugh's chuckle broke it. "Sorry, it's just weird seeing us having a competent Master."

Luka laughed alongside him after Hugh's sentence. "Yup. You wouldn't see this shit with Kingston."

Hugh crossed his arms and got closer to Nicole so he could look at the contract she was holding. "When do you reckon we should set out?"

"As soon as possible, lad." Ruth's voice turned a little bit rough. He coughed to clear his throat. "Why don't we just pack our gear and set out now?"

"Could be a shout." Gabriel nodded at Ruth and relaxed his expression. "Gather your equipment, then, everyone, we got a job to do!"

All five of them began making their way to their rooms.

...

Kane and Ashley stood on top of a building rooftop next to the office building they needed to sneak through.

The robes each of them wore blew slightly due to the wind.

The usual robes they wore on contracts lately have both been personally made for them.

Kane's bright robes were coloured in gold and white. A real significance to his attitude and knight-like style of fighting.

A stark contrast of that could be seen in Ashley's choice of clothing. Dark blue accents across her limbs, hood and body went very well with the darkest black the robes could be coloured in. Their outfits were slightly polished by Harrison's Creed.

"Do we look good or what?" Kane cracked the intense moment open with a witty question.

"Rae made both of these, obviously we look fabulous." Ashley tilted her head slightly and happily smiled.

Kane exhaled for a moment before he spoke up again. "Hope she's okay."

Ashley quickly nodded as Kane continued talking. "Let's go, Ashley."

"Right!"

They both put their hoods on and scanned the bottom floor of the building for any openings.

Kane quietly mumbled the start of his sentence but quickly raised his voice. "A few cameras...but no guards on the outside. Think you can take them out?"

"Did you want me to use my bow or throwing knives?" Ashley held out both options in each of her hands.

Kane slightly chuckled. "Go with the bow. You might need those knives later."

"Got it!" Ashley grabbed her bow and carefully aimed it at a nearby camera. She aligned the sight of the bow perfectly with the screen of the camera as she stopped her breathing. The camera's lens was shattered with an arrow sticking out of it a moment after she let go of the string. Ashley calmly repeated this process for a few of the cameras outside.

"Good, let's move in." Kane parkoured down the side of the building they were on. Ashley shortly followed.

They made it down the building with ease as Kane leaned against the wall of it. He patiently waited for Ashley to drop to the bottom floor with him before he spoke up. "There's a vent right above the entrance. It looks like we can get to it if we parkour across some of the poles leading up to it. Let's go."

Kane inspected the street and quickly crossed it before grasping at a nearby pole as he began climbing it. He jumped from pole to pole until he made it to the entrance. A few moments after he climbed into the vent, Ashley did as well. Kane nodded his head towards the duct system as they began moving through it. Floor by floor, they ascended. It didn't take them long to reach a duct that couldn't lead them upwards anymore, though. Kane pointed beneath them. They were above what looked like a laboratory room. Two guards were standing outside of the entrance to the lab, so Kane and Ashley quietly dropped into the room. Kane made a few gestures towards the door that Ashley understood as she walked towards it. Kane visually counted down with his hand before opening the door and letting Ashley assassinate both guards. She quickly pulled their bodies into the door with Kane's help before closing the door. Kane proudly smiled as they began looking around the lab.

"Harrison said this is an electronics company, didn't he?" Ashley questioned as Kane nodded along with a grunt to confirm. "So, why do they have all these substances scattered around here?"

"Lots of stuff goes into electronics development nowadays, but you're right. It looks more like someone's been using this as a drug production lab or something along those lines. There's no way some of this shit goes into devices." Kane briefly explained as he walked up to a table with a file folder. He opened it and skimmed through it. It was some sort of report that was filed for the CEO of the company, Elroy Leroy.

"Looks like my suspicions were correct. Leroy is working with a Templar group and is using this company as a placeholder for all kinds of illegal trades and shipments." Kane's eyes widened slightly as he read the name of the location where they were storing the supplies.

"Do we know who exactly filed the report to him?" Ashley questioned.

"Unfortunately, no. But there is a name of the storage facility the supplies are stored in." Kane closed the file before stashing it into his coat. "We should check out that storage place after this. Let's keep going." Kane walked towards the exit of the room where the two guards stood before. Ashley nodded and quickly followed.

...

A puddle formed on a rooftop of an apartment complex. Drop by drop it slowly filled up with the shallow rain of the day. A tiny droplet barely managed to graze the puddle at the same time as someone viciously stomping on the puddle with blinding speed.

Four sets of boots followed shortly after the first.

The parkour session was led by Nicole, shortly followed by Gabriel. Hugh was right behind him as Ruth and Luka seemed to be fighting to not be in last place.

Nicole beautifully displayed her flexibility and smooth way of freerunning as she was the first one to make it to the edge of a factory rooftop. The rest of the guys shortly followed.

They were now overlooking the Pantheon from a safe distance. Hugh was on the left side of everyone as he spoke up. "Alright, listen up, everyone! This is how we'll do this properly."

He began explaining as everyone turned their attention to him.

"We need to secure a few of the surrounding buildings to make sure no Templars attack from a distance. Nicole, I'm trusting you with this task."

"Yes, sir." Nicole nodded and cheerfully smiled. "I'll make sure no snipers get to us."

Hugh nodded. "Gabriel, I assume you know the locals here the best. I'm gonna need you to evacuate the citizens that would be roaming around outside or inside the Pantheon. Can you do that?"

"Yup, I got this." Gabriel respectfully answered.

Hugh smiled at him. "Ruth, Luka, you're with me. Let's handle things on the ground floor. We'll make sure no Templars manage to sneak in, out or around the Pantheon. We good to go?"

"YES, SIR!" They all shouted in unison.

"Let's go then!" Hugh lead the charge this time as he noticed a group of bushes beneath them. He carefully jumped off the building and safely landed in a big brush. Everyone shortly followed.

Hugh immediately started running down the street as soon as everyone managed to land safely.

Within minutes, the group was outside of the Pantheon. Shortly before making it to the Pantheon, Nicole saluted at Hugh who nodded back at her as she pulled away from the group and began parkouring up a nearby building.

Gabriel patted Hugh on both shoulders before sprinting inside of the Pantheon to let the security staff know about their plan.

"Okay, lads." Hugh began talking. "We're looking for anyone suspicious or recognisable within this crowd. Keep an eye out, but don't stand out too much."

"Got it, H." Luka began walking to a nearby bench as he lit a cigarette and sat down.

Ruth nodded before splitting off from Hugh. Hugh noticed a salesman nearby and began talking to him. They engaged in a lengthy conversation before Luka grabbed Hugh's attention from the bench.

He used sign language to tell him there was trouble behind him. Hugh cautiously turned around while still talking to the salesman. He bought a newspaper and proceeded to walk a bit closer to a suspicious-looking fellow. Ruth was a few dozen metres away, but he noticed Hugh was tailing someone. Their eye contact met as they nodded at each other. Ruth began carefully moving closer. The man sat down and began talking to an older woman. They spoke in English, surprisingly. It was an innocent conversation, though.

Hugh stared at Ruth for a moment before getting his attention. He slowly shook his head from side to side with his eyes closed.

"No dice."

That's what Hugh wanted to say. Ruth understood it, though, and he quickly backed off.

Suddenly, an Italian accented voice could be heard coming from several speakers around the Pantheon. It was a male who first spoke in Italian, then English. It was an evacuation warning.

Hugh's eyes lit up with happiness as he looked towards the entrance of the Pantheon. Gabriel stood outside of it, guiding everyone inside of the building out of it. Their eyesight met as Gabriel walked down towards him.

"Good stuff, G!" Hugh exclaimed.

"I told you I had it!" Gabriel laughed and shouted back at him. "What's the status on everyone?"

Hugh looked around the vicinity. All the people managed to leave the Pantheon's outside space. Luka got up from his bench and Ruth walked over to the group as well. "No suspicious targets. We should be prepared for the attack as soon as we hear from Nicole."

"Speak of the devil." Luka's voice could be heard as Nicole jumped out of a nearby building's window. She began reloading her guns after landing on the ground.

"Did she shoot people?" Ruth rightfully questioned.

"That announcer was pretty loud, to be fair." Hugh slowly nodded.

Nicole walked up to them and cheerfully smiled. "All the Templars within buildings are taken care of!"

Hugh put on a smile and started moving his lips, but Luka bumped his arm and pointed at a nearby rooftop. Hugh began talking once more after his smile dropped into a frown. "Shit."

Nicole turned around and noticed at least three or four dozen templars on top of a rooftop.

They began dropping down the building one by one and landing on the street.

Hugh and Gabriel stood behind Luka and Ruth respectively. Nicole crouched in the middle of them a bit further forward.

The templars stopped several metres away and began preparing their weapons. Three distinct figures stepped up as some of the templars got out of the way to make some room for them.

Gabriel's body slightly shifted as Hugh quickly gazed at him.

"Is this someone I should know?"

"They've been operating within Rome for a while now. The strongest Italian templars." Gabriel's voice became slightly disturbed.

"Direct descendants of the Borgia family..."

A very large man, comparable in size to Hugh and Gabriel. "Mirco Borgia."

An agile and deadly-looking woman. "Bella Borgia."

And a tall, toned and mysterious man. "Roberto Borgia."

Nicole spoke this time. "The Borgia trio. They're plenty strong, alright."

Hugh and Luka put on a serious expression.

"It's been a while, assassins!" Roberto suddenly shouted.

"Right back at you, templar!" Gabriel calmly replied.

"How about we throw down, for old time's sake?" Bella spoke up as she pointed her open hand at the assassins.

"TAKE THEM DOWN!"

The templars suddenly charged in.

...

"Um, sir?" A young woman's voice was heard echoing throughout the mostly empty hallway of the building.

It looked like the man in question was making a phone call. He quickly ended it and said goodbye to whoever he was speaking to. "What is it?" His thick French accent revealed his nationality instantly.

"Should we log off for the night? Most of our employees are gone for the day." The well-dressed woman kindly asked a question.

"Take the night off, I got a business to attend to either way. I'll stay for a while." The man quickly replied before rummaging through his papers once more.

"Okay, sir. Have a good night." The woman shut the office door and left.

Not even a minute later, the man got up and walked over to one of his shelves. It contained a bunch of file folders.

After opening a file, the man's eyes suddenly widened as a sharp pain pierced both of his legs. He fell to the ground immediately and yelped in pain. He looked at his thighs and noticed two sharp knives stuck in them.

"Safe to say his legs are done for." A British female voice came out of the ventilation system above before she dropped down and revealed herself.

"Good work, Ashley." Kane dropped to the floor alongside her. "Now...Leroy." Kane slowly walked up to him and crouched. "Something tells me you're not gonna be much help, but I'll ask anyway. The fuck are you doing with the templars?"

"Templars?! The hell are you on about?!" Elroy clutched one of his legs as he winced in pain.

"Don't play dumb. You're running some kind of illegal market behind this entire company. If you're not gonna expose yourself, at least expose the people who gave you all this." Kane's tone shifted to a more aggressive one as his voice got louder.

Elroy thought about his options for a few moments before raising his voice. "Alright, alright. It's not like I can do anything here anyway." Elroy straightened himself out the best he could. "There was a man who offered me lots of money so he could sell his drugs safely. Naturally, I refused, but after hearing about the amount I had to take the offer."

"What amount are we talking about here?" Ashley questioned him this time as she glared through him.

"Hundreds of millions, at least." Elroy immediately answered.

Kane and Ashley looked at each other with concern in their eyes.

"Who offered you the money?" Kane's voice became rough. After a few seconds of silence, Kane placed his boot on one of the knives stuck inside of Elroy's leg. Elroy's eyes began watering as he screamed in pain. After a few moments, he caved in.

"OKAY, OKAY, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"

Kane lowered the pressure on the knife. "Well...?"

Elroy hesitated but quickly answered. "Mikhailov. Mikhailov Kirill."

Kane's eyes widened. A few flashbacks circled throughout his brain before he glared through Elroy once more.

"Tell me where he keeps the drugs." He was precise and intimidating. "Now."

Elroy answered almost instantly once more. "One of our storage units. Down the street."

"See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" Kane jokingly replied before slicing Elroy's throat. He died on the spot.

"Isn't Mikhailov the leader of the Russian Templar Order?" Ashley asked with concern.

"Yeah," Kane quickly replied before standing up. "We gotta get out of here, Ashley."

"We're gonna stop by the storage facility though, right?" Ashley questioned. "Leroy's story confirms our suspicions."

"Yup. Let's go." Kane began storming out of the facility while Ashley quickly followed. He seemed angrier than usual.

...

A templar got dangerously close to Nicole, but he was slammed into the ground by Luka who knocked him out instantly.

"H! Let's do this!" He suddenly shouted behind him at Hugh.

Hugh suddenly stepped up. "I'm right behind you!"

Hugh and Luka charged in together, side by side. They instantly became surrounded and attacked, but they quickly shook off the attackers. Hugh took lots of hits, but he absorbed them all and knocked several people out within a single blow. A few templars swung their blades at him, but he dodged each one consecutively and beautifully knocked out or killed every attacker. The bodies began piling on the floor.

Luka's side of the fight was no different, but he didn't take the templars lightly. He immediately grasped his billhook and began spinning it around.

A vicious thrust found itself in a templar's chest as Luka tossed his body aside. He took the billhook's blunt end and slammed it into the ground. It was an invitation for the templars to dash in.

Eventually, they had to.

Luka firmly grabbed his billhook and strongly spun it around him. He managed to take out several templars as he slowly kept walking forward and slowly killing the grunts in front of him.

"Jesus, you need to get some better grunts." Luka put his billhook away as a single templar charged him, but he grabbed his neck and lifted him. He tossed the templar to the ground and broke his neck with a solid kick.

Within literal minutes the only templars left standing were the Borgia trio.

"Good work, H!" Luka shouted at his mentor once more as Hugh smiled happily and held up a thumbs up.

Bella began clapping and hysterically laughing. "Good show, good show!" She confidently placed her hands on her hips. "How about we make this fair on us, hm? What do you say we set up three duels? Whoever wins gets to do what they want."

"I'm down for that." Roberto crossed his arms and smirked.

Luka glared through each of them before turning around and walking back towards his group. "You guys said these guys are strong, right?"

"Only the best in the country. We've never had a clear victory over them." Gabriel answered his question.

Luka looked at Hugh for a moment. "What do you reckon? Do we let the Italian Creed handle this one?"

Hugh looked at Luka with a confused expression before answering. "I'm okay with that. If anything goes wrong, we're jumping in. Got that?"

Luka nodded in reply.

"Bella! We accept your challenge!" Gabriel suddenly shouted at her.

Bella chuckled once more. "How about it, little brother?" Bella turned towards Mirco. "You wanna fight Auditore?"

Mirco slowly nodded. You could barely see his masked face. He cracked his massive knuckles and stepped forward.

Nicole and Ruth stood their ground as they prepared to step forward themselves, but Gabriel touched both of their shoulders before making his way forward. He gently loosened his collar and gloves as he also cracked his knuckles.

Gabriel placed himself into a convincing stance as Mirco slightly crouched. You could feel the tension in the air.

"Look at the size of Mirco." Luka's voice slightly broke the silence from the Creed's side. "There's no way he ain't charging in."

*You can also tell from his stance.* Hugh thought to himself. *It's similar to Luka's stance before stepping in.*

Gabriel suddenly closed the gap and attempted to slash Mirco with his hidden blades. Each strike was carefully dodged or parried.

Luka and Hugh's expressions changed.

*Guess I was wrong.* Luka spoke to himself inside of his head. *That's good, though, keep him off balance, G.*

Gabriel's swings were unusually wide, but he changed his attack pattern and managed to grab Mirco's shoulder. He threw him to the side and immediately leapt at him to try to air assassinate him, but Mirco managed to grab his arm and throw Gabriel off of himself. The fight seemed to be reset until both men simultaneously charged in and hit each other with incredible strength. Both of their heads were flung backwards as they both staggered. Gabriel managed to collect himself first as he followed up his attack by landing several blows aimed at Mirco's body. Mirco suddenly collapsed as Gabriel attempted to slice his throat, but Mirco's body suddenly shot up as he intercepted the slash with his body. Mirco landed a severe blow to Gabriel's temple as he pushed him away, but he didn't follow up his successful hit.

Hugh attempted to charge in after thinking he's seen enough, but Luka stopped him.

"Not yet, H." Luka's expression became serious. "Mirco's about to bust out his weapon."

Mirco suddenly revealed his weapon.

A giant two-handed mace.

Gabriel scoffed and spat on the ground beside him. He also grabbed his one-handed war axe. He waited a few moments to show off something different, though. His left hidden blade holder suddenly revealed a retractable shield that fit him and his war axe very well.

Everyone's expressions gathered anywhere from small to huge amounts of shock into them.

*Come on, G. You win this.* Luka encouraged his comrade silently.

Nicole grasped her hands together. *Please, big brother. Make it out.*

Mirco dashed in once more and spun his mace around. The smaller end of it managed to graze Gabriel as he barely dodged. Gabriel instantly retaliated and slammed through Mirco's solid guard supported by his weapon. From there, Gabriel found a rhythm and managed to dodge several huge swings from Mirco while landing several blows himself.

Luka smirked and let out a chuckle as he spoke up. "Has anyone noticed a pattern?" The rest of the assassins turned their attention towards him. "G is focused up immensely right now and Mirco is throwing out swings that could most certainly take your head off, but are telegraphed easily and can be avoided. Meanwhile, G is throwing out compact, fast and small swings that are hard to dodge and are good at doing damage through Mirco's guard and armour. It's a one-sided exchange."

"As long as he keeps his focus up, he can't be touched. Is that it?" Ruth quickly caught on and replied.

Luka nodded and smirked. "That's exactly right."

Gabriel displayed this wonderfully by piling lots of damage onto Mirco incredibly quickly. Mirco's movements and strikes turned from strong to sluggish as he began slowly retreating. Gabriel got super close to Mirco before using all of his strength to slam him to the ground.

"Arrivederci, Mirco."

Gabriel attempted to decapitate Mirco, but a spear got in between him and Mirco's neck. Gabriel instinctively leapt back.

It was Roberto who stepped up next.

"You've proved your point, Auditore. Bella, grab little brother!"

Bella immediately got Mirco out of there.

"My turn, pezzi di merda."

Ruth patted Gabriel on the shoulder as he stepped up.

"Let me see what I can do."

Ruth immediately drew both of his longswords from their sheathes and clashed them together.

The two men glared through each other as the tension rose once more.

"Good work, G." Hugh congratulated Gabriel. "Ruth should have this, right?"

Gabriel took a few moments to answer. "Let's hope so."

Luka gazed at Gabriel before quickly turning his attention back towards Ruth. *We don't need to hope for shit, Ruth will pull through.*

The first move was made by Ruth as he dashed in to make up for his reach disadvantage. He threw out a few casual but strong slashes that Roberto easily parried. Ruth stepped in even further and attempted to grab Roberto, but Roberto shook him off and headbutted him. Roberto began landing a few strikes with the back end of his spear before he shoved Ruth away and swung at him with full force. Ruth managed to defend himself using both of his blades before he regained his senses and dove in once more. This time Roberto attempted to keep Ruth at bay with a few strong swings with his blade. Ruth had no choice but to dodge them by swaying backwards. In other words, he couldn't get close. He attempted to close in on several occasions, but he failed every time. It seemed like Roberto was going to make quick work of him.

Hugh loudly exhaled through his mouth. "The reach advantage is bugging him. Plus, when he managed to get into his range, his strikes were getting parried. Not to mention Roberto has the blunt end of his spear to strike with even when Ruth closes in. He needs to come up with something to make up for that."

Ruth continued to dodge the thrusts aimed at him.

One, two, three.

One, two, three...

One.

Two.

Three.

Ruth's eyes slightly widened as he suddenly grabbed the pole of Roberto's spear and shoved the blunt end of it into Roberto's body. Roberto toppled over from the damage and shock as Ruth immediately closed the gap and landed a solid kick on Roberto's head. He stumbled backwards as Ruth grabbed one of his blades and attempted to end the fight, but Roberto's expression changed as he straightened himself out and parried the incoming strike once more.

Ruth froze up from the shock for a moment as Roberto swung at his face with full force.

"You're too weak."

A horrific but satisfying sound echoed through the air as Ruth took the full brunt of Roberto's blow. He fell to the ground as Roberto rotated his spear and attempted to stab Ruth through his back, but a long pole kept his strike contained. Luka was crouched beneath Roberto as he held his swing back with his billhook. He suddenly jumped up with the full force of his legs and shoved Roberto backwards.

"It's only fair, right? You save Mirco, I save Ruth." Luka suddenly put on a smile as he chuckled.

Roberto laughed as well. "I guess so, huh."

"We'll call that a draw, so how about we get the tiebreaker going?" Luka spoke up once more as he looked at Nicole.

Roberto looked at Bella. "Let's let the ladies settle the score, then."

Luka nodded as Roberto backed off and Bella stepped up.

Nicole did the same as Luka whispered something to her. "That one's strong, so stay on your toes."

She looked at his face with a cute smile as she brushed his cheek with her hand. "I know. Take care of Ruth, would you?"

"Yup." Luka immediately turned around and carried Ruth back to the group. He gently laid him down and focused on the fight that was about to occur.

Both of the ladies performed a small bow and stood their ground. Nicole withdrew both of her pistols from their holsters. They looked relatively old, and not just in quality. They were incredibly similar to a very known assassin's guns.

"They might as well be blunderbusses." Gabriel began explaining Nicole's weapon choice. "I'll give you a few seconds to guess who she designed the guns after."

Gabriel looked around himself for a moment, but nobody spoke up.

"I guess I'll just tell you, then. She drew inspiration from her ancestor, Edward Kenway."

Both Luka and Hugh raised their eyebrows and their expression changed just from the mention of that name. Arguably, Edward was the most impressive and deadly assassin of pretty much all time. However, due to his long journey of being a pirate and not sticking to the Creed's orders for a good majority of his time being active, he didn't make it into the history books as much as the legendary Grandmasters like Altair or Ezio.

"She pretty much made the bloody things herself." Ruth joined the conversation as he managed to sit upright instead of lying flat on his back. "Nicole made sure she designed the pistols to be nearly as effective as modern-day pistols and to top it off, they look like a carbon copy of a pirate's handgun."

Luka looked deep in thought for a moment before speaking up. "H." Hugh turned his head towards him. "Didn't Kingston mention a while ago that Kenway's family was part of the Templar Order for the majority of their existence?"

"Right. Brian did say that." Hugh crossed his arms and took a semi-deep breath. "It's true, though. I've done a fair bit of research after hearing about Nicole's existence. Edward Kenway joined the Creed after a while. He was never a part of the Templar Order. However, down his family tree is when things get complicated. Pretty much every single descendant of his was a Templar. That includes Nicole's father and Nicole's grandfather, but..."

"But it doesn't include Nicole." Luka respectfully cut off Hugh's sentence as Hugh nodded in reply.

Suddenly, as a way to start the fight off, Bella bolted off the ground and began circling Nicole. Nicole didn't waste a single moment and began firing away at her with both of her pistols. Unfortunately for Nicole, she was only able to graze Bella due to her magnificently quick and clean footwork.

"She's like a goddamn cheetah! It'll be insanely tough to catch her!" Hugh suddenly raised his voice.

"Mhm." Gabriel nodded. "Unfortunately, that's not Bella's top speed."

Bella shifted up a gear as she attempted to close in, but Nicole kept firing anyway. She had a few rounds remaining in each clip. Again, she couldn't land a clean hit. She even began missing a few of the shots. Bella thought it was time to retaliate, so she began throwing knives at Nicole. Nicole was able to dodge them all and come out unscathed as she leapt backwards immediately after. The fight came to a brief pause as Nicole suddenly began reloading both of her pistols. Bella's eyes slightly widened as she charged in once more to take advantage of this. She was almost within range to attack Nicole with her daggers.

Just a few steps away...

Only a little bit more...

Just one more step...

Bella lowered her head for a split second before lifting her face back up. As soon as her eyes came in contact with Nicole's upper body, a thunderous sound brushed a few centimetres away from her left ear. She didn't even have time to properly respond before Nicole shot her in the ankle with her second pistol. Bella's movements slightly staggered as a burning sensation enveloped her ankle and foot, but she used her leg as a crutch to slide herself that one step she needed to take. Her efforts paid off as she managed to slide a dagger deep across the surface of Nicole's thigh. Both Nicole and Bella's blood began seeping out of their wounds.

"LUKA!" Hugh shouted almost immediately after Bella finished her slash.

Luka didn't even respond, he instantly dashed forward and grabbed Nicole. Luka took out a bandage from a tiny medkit he carries around and wrapped it around Nicole's thigh. He lifted her and carried her back to the group.

Roberto did the same thing with Bella as he took a layer off of his robes and wrapped it around her ankle. "Can't believe this shit, we need to go. Mirco, we're leaving! Can you run?!"

Mirco quickly nodded in response before Roberto carefully let Mirco carry Bella away from the fight. They ran off incredibly quickly.

"SONS OF BITCHES, GET BACK HERE!" Ruth shouted at them as he attempted to stand up properly. "Lads, are we not gonna chase them?!"

"Forget about them, Ruth! We need to treat you and Nicole!" Luka shouted at Ruth, reassuring him that this was the right move to do. "We can catch them in the future. For now, we gotta regroup. H, give me a hand with her!" Hugh ran up to Luka as quickly as he could and lifted Nicole across his shoulders and back with Luka's help. She instantly fainted from the fatigue and injury.

Gabriel offered a hand to Ruth who accepted it after a moment. He lent him his shoulder as Luka nodded towards an escape route. Gabriel nodded in response back at him. "Can you walk, Ruth?"

"With your help, yeah. Thank you, mate." Ruth's body slightly shook because Gabriel let go of him for a split second. Gabriel immediately grabbed him again to make sure he didn't fall.

"Don't mention it, let's just get back. Hugh, Luka, lead the way!" Gabriel shouted at them as Luka began navigating the streets.

About halfway across Rome...

"We're only a few streets away, let's keep it moving, lads." Luka quietly instructed the rest of the team as they quickly followed.

Nicole was conscious at this point as she began slightly bantering with the guys.

"Did anyone notice what I did back there?" Nicole sparked a conversation.

"You mean the reload faint?" Hugh chuckled at the end of his sentence. Nicole began laughing cutely, as well. "I imagine it was difficult for Bella to notice, but you're a clever little assassin, eh?" Hugh and Nicole genuinely laughed again.

"I spent half the exchange fighting my consciousness back there, can anyone fill me in?" Ruth questioned with a bit of sorrow behind his voice.

"Ruth, how many guns does Nicole have?" Luka suddenly questioned.

Ruth thought about it for a moment. "At least 4."

"She faked the reload." Luka suddenly interjected. "She still had bullets in both of her first two pistols, but she deliberately emptied them and began reloading them so that Bella would charge in. As soon as Bella got into range to strike, that's when she would be most open to attack. That's when Nicole drew her other two pistols that hang underneath her coat."

"But even in that super close range scenario, Nicole still only grazed Bella with the first shot," Gabriel spoke up this time. "That only tells you how fast Bella's reaction time and swaying is."

"Yup, which is why I immediately gave up on a shot to her upper body and went straight for her ankle. It worked out beautifully, minus my injury." Nicole playfully stuck her tongue out and chuckled.

The rest of the guys shortly laughed. They managed to make it back to the same street where the sanctuary is located. Luka quickly checked the area and made sure nobody could see them. He gave the signal that it was clear to go and everyone managed to make it back safely. Luka carefully closed the giant stone door that was disguised as a wall that was located a bit deeper from the entrance to the massive sewer system.

...

Kane began guiding Ashley through the dark streets that night as they approached the storage unit in question. They casually advanced corner by corner until they were in front of the storage unit. The massive doors in front of the building didn't seem like a safe place to enter. Luckily, Kane noticed a side entrance which was a normal door. He nodded to it as the two assassins quickly ran towards it. They entered and immediately dashed to the side behind a mountain of boxes. Both of them peeked behind the massive stack of boxes. What caught their attention was a massive truck being loaded with an obscene amount of boxes. To the left of the truck was a massive table with plenty of tools on it and it still contained leftover residue of the drugs that were being packed into the boxes. At least 30 people were in the room actively doing this.

Suddenly, a grunt shouted towards a dangerous-looking man. "Boss, when's this shipment supposed to go out?"

"As soon as we're done loading it. Master Mikhailov made that insanely clear. Come on, hurry it up, I got shit to do." His tone was aggressive and intimidating.

Kane suddenly sighed as Ashley looked at him. "Welp, guess we don't have a choice. Do me a favour, Ashley. Get some of your knives or arrows into that truck's tires."

"On it." Ashley quietly shifted to the side of the crates as she shot at both of the back tires of the truck. She immediately fired at the front tires as well. "We got a few seconds before the tires pop from the pressure of the arrows. If we're gonna move in, we have to do it now." Kane nodded, signifying that he agreed. "But Kane, there are at least 30 men here."

"I don't see any guns, so I'm fine taking them on." Kane activated and retracted his hidden blades a few times.

"By yourself?!" Ashley questioned with concern in her voice.

"You see that set of computers on the right?" Kane pointed towards it as Ashley looked to the right. "See if you can gain any information from them while I keep them busy. And don't worry, kiddo, I ain't gonna go down that easily. When I jump in, you sneak your way down there."

Kane suddenly put his hood on and began sneaking behind several sets of boxes. Ashley sighed and gently pressed her fingers against her forehead. Constant shouts from the thug in charge kept filling the storage unit just as easily as the grunts kept filling the truck up with drugs.

A minute or two later Kane was within range to kill one of the guards leaning against a pile of crates. He quickly inspected the room to make sure nobody was looking at him, but he couldn't wait forever. The room was simply full of people, it would be impossible to wait for the right time to strike and it would be just as near impossible to take out all 30 guards by himself quietly.

*Eh, fuck it.* Kane suddenly jumped on top of the pile of boxes and jumped on top of the grunt. He sliced the grunt's throat and calmly stood up as most of the guards directed their attention towards him, including the templar in charge.

"The fuck is this?! An assassin?! BOYS, HANDLE THIS!" He suddenly shouted as he pointed at Kane.

Some of the grunts armed themselves with baseball bats, crowbars or any sort of nearby object they could grab. A few of them dashed close enough to Kane to surround him.

He was being circled by at least 7 men at all times until the peaceful exchange was broken by a thug attempting to strike at Kane from behind. Kane simply placed his hand next to his ear as he grabbed the baseball bat the thug attempted to harm him with. The cunning assassin suddenly kicked the thug in the guts which made him topple over, but that didn't stop Kane who turned around immediately and kicked the thug twice. Once to knock him down to the ground and once to knock him out. This led to a few moments of peace once more. Kane looked around him and noticed none of the thugs had the balls to jump in, so he did. He leapt towards a thug that he immediately killed with one of his hidden blades before he quickly followed up and began systematically killing all the thugs around him. After the first two, the rest of them started attempting to deflect or block the slashes, but they weren't successful and the floor quickly became filled with bodies. The rest of the men in the room quickly surrounded Kane once more. They tried to overwhelm him with numbers, so a few of them attacked all at once, and once one would fall, another one would jump in. Kane swiftly dodged every blow aimed at him from the front and deflected every blow from the back. He incorporated many styles and techniques into this brawl as he headbutted, kicked, knocked out or killed every thug differently.

Slashing the throat, stabbing a lung or the heart, breaking arms, legs, skulls or bones...you name it, Kane did it all in the fight. When you get caught in a tight spot, you can't rely on simple or repeated techniques. You have to get violent sometimes.

He went through about half of the thugs before it was the first time he was properly hit. As he swayed to avoid a punch, he got grabbed from behind and punched in the stomach. His head lowered as he staggered for a moment.

*One fucking punch ain't gonna do shit.* Kane reassured himself in his head as he violently shoved the back of his skull into the thug that was holding him. He was free almost instantly before he stabbed both of the thug's eyes out with his blades. "Bunch of fucking cunts."

He got aggressive and began primarily stabbing and murdering everyone else in his path from now on. More thugs entered from inside the storage unit's office area. Kane spat on the ground beside him and smiled as they prepared to jump in.

Meanwhile, Ashley was doing her best to get any kind of info from the computers.

*Damn it all to hell, these security systems are too complicated for me to solve them within minutes...*

Her thoughts were suddenly caught off as the thug in charge pointed a gun at her. "Don't move a fucking muscle. Get up." She quickly stood up as the thug spun his gun around. "Turn around. Hurry up."

Ashley slowly began turning around. By the time she fully turned around, she closed her eyes and braced for impact, but instead of hearing a gunshot behind her, she could hear the thug's body collapsing to the ground. She slowly turned around once more. The thug's throat was sliced wide open.

A hooded figure stared her down. It was about the same height as her and it was equally equipped as an assassin. Both of its hidden blades were visible and it was dressed in all black. The figure lifted its head slightly up before taking its hood off, but Ashley's eyes filled with hope, happiness and confusion as soon as the figure lifted its head. It didn't even have to take its hood off for Ashley to recognise them.

"Wait..." She stuttered before finishing her sentence. "Scott?!"

...

*End of chapter 12!

This was the longest one yet, thank you for reading! Enjoy your day!*