*Hey y'all, sorry for the lack of Revolution chapters. Hope you're having a good day!*
The warm breeze signified an intense aura around the farm that day. Kane was training Ashley just as hard as Hugh was training Luka.
"Pull your arms and legs together, your body needs to be compact and small to perform all these sudden movements!" Kane shouted at his pupil while Ashley was hanging off of a pole high up in the barn of the farm. She suddenly swung herself forward and performed a backflip before grasping the very edge of the wooden floor above her. A few seconds passed as she climbed up and ran towards a pole that was supposed to train her balance. Ashley quickly sprinted over the pole whilst maintaining her balance the entire time. There were a few close calls, but she managed to complete the small course. After a few seconds of catching air, she collapsed on the second floor of the barn.
"You see what I'm talking about? If you spread your limbs out whilst performing all these moves, the energy you're releasing from your body is gonna start dispersing in different directions." Kane yelled up towards her once more before climbing up a stack of hay himself. He was standing next to Ashley in a matter of moments. "If you keep your whole body compact and sharp, you'll have less recovery time in between your flips, rolls or any kinds of twists involving your body. Look here really quickly."
Kane stepped back a few metres and jumped to another nearby ledge with his arms and legs spread out. His landing was passable, although it didn't look smooth at all.
"Now, watch once more."
He proceeded to do the same thing, except this time he jumped back the same way he came from. He tucked his arms and legs in whilst landing and grasped the ledge a lot better. You could feel the energy dispersing across the entire wooden plank as Kane got up with ease.
"Oooooh, I get you!" Ashley's eyes lit up with excitement as if she witnessed something extraordinary. "I think I can do that with enough practice!"
"Yeah, you'll be able to do this in no time, I'm sure of it!" Kane walked up to her and helped her stand up. He patted her on the shoulder before speaking up again. "Take a breather, we can resume training after lunch."
"Yup!" Ashley enthusiastically replied.
"Hey, guys!" Hugh's voice echoed throughout the barn as it got the attention of the two assassins. "You might wanna hear this!"
Kane and Ashley's expressions turned into slightly confused ones as they quickly leapt down to the ground.
"Did something happen, brother?" Kane walked up to Hugh as Ashley was grabbing a water bottle from a nearby bench.
"Barton gave us a call!" Hugh shouted with excitement and spread his arms out happily.
Kane's eyebrows shot straight up as his eyes widened with excitement. Ashley stopped sipping on her water almost instantly. "We've got an assignment to do! Come, you two, let's talk about it over lunch."
Kane looked back at Ashley with a prideful smile on his face. Ashley glanced back at him with an equally happy expression.
...
"France?" Ashley's voice filled the dining room with confusion. "Isn't it a bit too early for us to move onto the rest of Europe?"
"Kane and I have been waiting long enough, juniors," Hugh spoke up after having a few huge bites of the meat that was for lunch. "Plus, Italy and France will probably be our bases for a while. We'll stay there for quite a long time performing contracts."
"It won't matter if you two don't have as much experience, you'll gain lots of it while we're doing work over there." Kane entered the conversation and doubled down on Hugh's statement. "Everything will be fine, kids, don't worry about a thing."
"It helps being reassured by you two." Luka sincerely replied. "But, it's kinda scary..." He paused for a few moments. "Barton paired me and Hugh up. That means we won't see Kane and Ashley for quite a while."
Silence took over the room for a few moments.
Ashley was sitting next to Luka, so she grasped his hand quickly. She didn't say anything for a few seconds before she spoke up. "We'll keep in touch, love, you know that."
Luka's face managed to crack a smile. "I know."
"Soppy bastards." Hugh sipped some beer from his mug. "What's the plan, then? When are we thinking of heading out? And where to, while we're at it."
Kane positively glared through Luka. Luka looked away for a moment before meeting Kane's eyesight. "What?"
Kane shrugged his shoulders and smiled lightly.
Luka sighed and began thinking for a few moments.
"Peter!" Luka shouted for Peter out of nowhere.
Peter's distant voice could be heard coming from the kitchen. "YEAH?"
"How far away is Karlovac from here?!"
"About an hour and a half drive, why?!"
"Just asking!" Luka quickly turned his attention back to the table. "We're heading to Karlovac, from where we can travel to Rijeka or Pula, either one works. Both have an airport and both of them are even further away from Zagreb and Osijek."
"It's settled then, how about we head out Monday morning?" Kane suggested after listening to Luka thoroughly. "Everyone cool with that?"
Hugh, Ashley and Luka looked at each other and each of them genuinely smiled.
"RIGHT!"
...
After lunch, the juniors thought it would be a nice idea to pack early so they could get that out of the way. As they were packing, they struck up a conversation. The air was a bit tense around them.
"It's sad, isn't it?" Luka spoke up.
Ashley turned towards him whilst frowning. It was one depressing ass mood. "That we won't see each other for a long time?"
Luka's silence confirmed her statement in a way.
Neither of them knew what to say in this situation, so they remained quiet.
Luka rummaged through a large bag of his until he came across something kind of heavy. It was the two German maces that Rae made for him alongside his billhook. They were the heaviest thing in the bag. He pulled them out and gripped the handles of the weapons firmly. "I forgot I had these, to be honest." He said through a chuckle. "They'll come in handy in the future."
Ashley was able to smile lightly seeing Luka chuckle. She quickly reverted to a disappointed face as the mood got tense once more.
...
A day or so later, the assassins were ready to venture out.
"Pete, you saved our asses, you know that." Luka extended a hand towards Peter and showed his gratitude. "Thank you."
"It's no worries, we already cleared it up. You lot have some safe travels now, ya hear?!" Peter stepped back after a moment as the group got into a jeep and drove off to Karlovac.
Even with all the potential excitement of everything the future holds, the mood was still off inside of the jeep that day. The only noise circling through the air of the vehicle was that of the radio playing random overplayed tunes.
Proper words could not be spoken.
Nobody knew how to formulate a sentence properly, it was just that uneasy of an aura.
After a while, it seemed like the group made it to Karlovac.
"We're gonna have to ditch the jeep and pick up a few train tickets," Kane spoke up from the back seat as he got out of the jeep after it stopped. "Come on, lads."
They bought the tickets and patiently boarded the train.
The feeling of the air around the group alone could kill someone, so Hugh had enough of it.
"Come on, now, it's not like we're all hauled off to get executed or anything." He gazed through each member of the group with determination in his eyes. "We'll constantly keep in touch and will always be around to make time for one another, it's just how the Creed operates. Sometimes you have to split from the ones you love the most."
Kane firmly nodded and gestured he fully agreed with his big brother.
A few seconds of silence went by.
"This is how Nicole felt." Luka suddenly uttered. "What if she's not the same as she was before? What if Kingston's right about her betraying Ryo and the Creed?"
"Luka, you said it yourself. There's no way Nicole could have gone back to the evil roots of her family. Everything will be fine." Ashley began lightly touching his shoulder and arm. She leaned her head on his shoulder. "It'll be okay."
Luka let out a big sigh as the train began moving.
"I sure hope so."
...
Even if Zagreb was the biggest and most important city of Croatia, Rijeka wasn't too far behind. Rijeka is #3 on the list in terms of population and industrial and tourist importance. It still had modern energy to it, but it was a slightly different one. Rijeka's located in Istria, a county very close to the Adriatic Sea, therefore, it had that seaside feeling of clean and fresh air, the smell and feel of salt soaring through the air and the very comfortable temperatures.
"I hate leaving this town, it's really nice." Ashley inhaled a deep breath of fresh air.
"Have you ever been to Rijeka, Luka?" Kane questioned with a slight eyebrow raise.
"Nope. I've only ever been further down the coast, not in Istria." He quickly scanned the nearby area until he found a few signs that would lead them towards the airport. "Let's hurry, we don't wanna be late for the flight."
The rest of the group quickly followed as Luka began moving faster.
...
The group scanned the airport to find their respective flights.
"The fuck is our flight's number?" Hugh questioned whilst hanging his bag over his shoulder.
"727. For the 4th time, big fella." Luka answered with annoyance in his voice.
"It ain't my fault I've got bigger things on my mind." Hugh closed his eyes and briefly exhaled through his nose.
Luka opened his mouth but didn't reply for a few moments.
"What bigger things?!"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Hugh raised his voice.
"Don't make this weird, you jackass!" Luka yelled back.
They almost began swinging at each other.
"Relax, children." Kane raised his voice. "Your flight's gonna take off soon. Pull yourselves together."
"That includes us too, right?" Ashley asked Kane as she pointed to her plane ticket. He quickly turned towards her and slowly nodded.
"Our flight is taking off on a different terminal. We got some time, but you lads should probably get on within a few minutes." Kane continued his statement and crossed his arms in a friendly manner.
Hugh and Luka stopped their swings midway through a punch and began grabbing all their luggage.
"That's rather civil of you." Hugh complimented his student.
"Oh, I'll kick your ass on the flight." Luka came up with a snarky remark.
Hugh cracked sort of a psychotic smile and his eyes widened instantly. "BASTARD!"
Kane grabbed Hugh's arm and tightly gripped it and seriously glared through Luka. Hugh slightly yelped in discomfort. "Ouch, ouch, ouch!"
"Don't be a fucking pansy." Kane glared through Hugh right afterwards. "Grab your luggage before I kick your asses back to England and Croatia respectfully."
Kane tossed Hugh's arm forward which made him almost do a forward roll on the ground. Luka helped Hugh stand up. "It really ain't my day, is it?" Hugh scratched his arm.
"Aren't you gonna walk us off?" Luka questioned Kane.
"As I said, we got an entirely different terminal to get to on the other side of the airport," Kane replied with disappointment in his voice. "We would love to, but yeah."
"I get you." Hugh managed to pull himself together. "Welp, come here, guys."
Hugh walked up to Ashley first and tightly hugged her and patted her on the back. "You take care of yourself, Ashley, the world's a dangerous place."
Ashley chuckled. "I'm a danger to this world."
Hugh cracked a smile and sincerely laughed before he walked up to his little brother. "Call me when you get to France."
"Got it, big brother," Kane replied with a bit of sarcasm behind his voice. "Watch yourselves."
Hugh patted Kane's shoulder before they briefly hugged. After they split up, Luka walked up.
"I guess it's my turn now." He extended a hand towards Kane and shared a moment with one of his mentors. "We'll keep in touch."
"You got that right."
Luka turned towards Ashley and slowly walked up to her. She pulled off an innocent smile and slightly blushed before Luka pulled her into an embrace. They stayed like that for a while without saying a word. Somehow they communicated everything they needed to within that time. As they were pulling away from each other, Ashley gently brushed her lips on Luka's forehead. Luka pulled away with a warm smile on his face as Ashley brushed his cheek with her palm.
"Don't die on me."
"I don't plan to."
They managed to let go of each other.
"Let's go, Luka," Hugh spoke up. "We got a flight to catch."
"Yes, sir," Luka answered in a normal tone with determination in his voice. He quickly waved behind him as he and Hugh began walking off. Warm smiles and waves stared into their backs as they managed to board the plane a slight bit earlier than expected.
"They're gone," Ashley said with disappointment in her voice.
"We can't waste any time ourselves." Kane turned around and grabbed his luggage. "We're in it to win it, Ashley. We got some work to do."
Ashley was able to pull off an inspired expression.
"Yup! Let's work hard!"
"Yeah!" Kane yelled back towards his pupil with power as he raised his fist in the air.
...
A pilot's voice could be heard resonating through several of the speakers within the plane.
"Good afternoon, welcome aboard to flight 727, scheduled to fly from Rijeka, Croatia to Rome, Italy. Please remain seated during takeoff, any additional information can be received from the flight attendants or directly from me. Thank you, it's an honour to fly yet another flight for this airliner!"
A clicking noise was heard as the pilot turned his microphone off.
"Seems like a cheerful fella." Hugh was sitting across from Luka who was facing him.
"Oh yeah, this company's good. I know a lady who used to work here. I believe she's retired now, though." Luka explained whilst leaning back in his chair. As soon as a flight attendant passed by their seats, Luka requested an iced coffee. Hugh requested a beer alongside the coffee for himself. "She's very sweet, although I haven't contacted her in quite a while."
"Is it someone I know?" Hugh questioned with an eyebrow raised.
"No...I don't think so. She's an old friend of mine, way older than I am." Luka rummaged through his small backpack. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask, but we've been constantly busy."
He paused for a few moments as Hugh patiently waited.
"Are there any updates on Hans Roth and that entire situation?"
It was a fair question to ask. Hugh looked like he didn't expect it. "Hm, I've called Barton last week, he had no updates on his whereabouts or if he mentioned our names within the Templar Order." Hugh casually replied.
"How does Barton know?" Luka received his coffee along with the beer for Hugh. He quickly thanked the attendant. "Does he have connections or something similar?"
"I would assume so." Hugh took a sip of his beer. "I wouldn't be surprised if being the interim Master granted him a bunch of contacts. Remember, the Creed has at least a dozen assassins working close to the suspected Templar Order base, surely we have at least some information on them, it just might be confidential."
"That'd make sense. Do I phone Barton during the flight?"
"Nah, don't worry about it, I'll shoot him a message now and call him later."
"Alright." Luka nodded.
...
The plane scheduled to take off for France took off just an hour later with Kane and Ashley both boarded on it.
"Kane, can I ask you something?" Ashley suddenly sparked a conversation soon after they took off. Kane nodded slightly with an eyebrow raise.
"You mentioned a little while ago I had more potential than Ryo does..." She instantly corrected herself. "I mean, did..."
Kane sighed. "You want to know how strong Ryo was?"
"Am I that easy to read?" Ashley pulled off a somewhat playful but sad smile.
Kane brushed off the question. "Ryo was the greatest assassin of today's age in two ways. At least, in my opinion. Number one, believe it or not, he has done a total of 124 contracts, including the Noah Roth one. This beats the next closest competitor, Gabriel Auditore, by only 2 contracts."
Ashley's mouth and eyes widened. "I had no clue he did that much!"
"Hugh has done 102 and I've completed 96. Hugh's older, so he started slightly before I did." Kane pridefully looked at Ashley. "According to the rankings, you have 3 finished, while Luka has 4."
"Right, he did do that one contract before I got transferred." Ashley paused for a few moments. "Wait, you said there was a second reason Ryo was the best assassin?"
"Yup." Kane dramatically stopped talking, crossed his arms and legs and deepened his voice for a second. "He was just that powerful. You've technically never seen him in action, but he had the guts and skills to outrival mine and Hugh's experience. It was just unfortunate there was never a situation where he'd have to use his full potential."
"Have you ever had to use your full strength, Kane?"
"Oh, yes. There was a particular time when Hugh and I had to perform a contract as a pair. This contract was very important and many people within the Creed informed us that we needed at least three other people to even think about completing it." One of Kane's eyes shined with pride. "My fucking ass. Hugh and I managed to take out a group of seven highly ranked Templars all by ourselves. You might have heard of Radanov."
Ashley leaned back in her chair for a moment. "Isn't that the man you two murdered with Ryo whilst me and Luka were recovering?"
"Yup. I gave him his signature scar across his eye. He managed to escape the slaughter, but we hunted him down nonetheless." Kane started twirling a pocket knife around.
A few moments of silence occurred. "Wait, Kingston mentioned Ryo was ranked 4th." Kane slowly nodded a few times. "How is he 4th if he has done more contracts than the top three competitors?"
"That ain't the only factor, Ashley." Kane sipped on a drink he ordered. "The top three assassins within the Creed have taken out more important targets than Ryo, and in the case of Gabriel Auditore, he has managed to take out more people on the contracts themselves compared to Ryo."
"So, Gabriel took out a few more guards or targets during each contract and that gives him an edge?"
"Precisely."
Ashley looked deep in thought for a few moments. "I miss him."
"We all do, lovely. He's resting happily in the afterlife now, though. We should be pleased about that."
Ashley nodded a few times, but she never confirmed who exactly she missed at that exact moment.
...
A thick and heavy Russian accent filled an empty hallway. Mikhailov couldn't hide the raspy tone in his voice. "Hans, do we have any updates on the White brothers and their little companions?"
"I know where they're heading, Kirill, I'm going to need you to prepare a few troops to expect them when they land in Rome." Roth's giant figure made Mikhailov look tiny. Roth's hands were slightly shaking and he gently clenched his jaw out of anger. "I won't be satisfied until I get my hands on them myself."
"Don't worry, you'll get your shot at that." Mikhailov patted Roth on the shoulder before turning his attention towards a different direction. "I'm sorry to bail on you, but I've got an old friend visiting me, I must meet with him." He tipped his hat and proceeded to walk away from Roth.
Roth managed to firmly nod in understanding. "I'll keep updating you on the situation at hand."
Mikhailov held up a thumbs up above his head.
...
"Gabriel!" A gentle voice shouted for Gabriel's attention.
He seemed to be in the middle of a workout, but he quickly stopped doing squats and straightened himself out. "Nicole, is something up?"
"Do you remember that I mentioned Ryo Galler to you not that long ago?" Nicole walked up to Gabriel with a positive expression.
"Galler's ranked 4th isn't he? He seems pretty tough." Gabriel took a sip from his water bottle. "What about him?"
"He got back to me a few weeks ago, but I haven't received any word from him recently." Nicole lowered her head with a slightly exaggerated frown on her face. "I'm kinda worried about him, you know?"
"I get how you feel, but he's highly ranked, he could just be doing some sensitive contracts right now." Gabriel walked over to a bench and sat down whilst he grabbed a towel. "Don't worry your pretty little head too much, you'll see him again someday."
Nicole couldn't help but smile at this point. "You're the best, big brother from another mother!" She enthusiastically yelled.
Gabriel couldn't help but chuckle.
...
"We're here!" Hugh enthusiastically shouted as they got off the plane and entered the Rome airport.
"What happens now, Hugh?" Luka asked in a confused tone. Hugh turned towards him with a serious expression. "Sorry I didn't ask earlier."
"Nah, it's all good. We're supposed to expect two assassins to meet us here, so let's wait for a little bit." Hugh genuinely smiled.
Luka inspected the area around them and noticed a vending machine. "You mind if I grab myself a snack?"
Hugh waved him off. It was his way of approving. "Go for it!"
"You want anything?" Luka asked before turning around.
"I'm good, I'm good."
"Right, then."
Luka walked up to the vending machine and bought himself a large bag of peanuts and a canned drink to go along with it. After inserting the money into the machine, two men walked up to him from the side.
"Oh, I'm just finishing up, the machine will be ready in a minute." Luke turned towards the two men and spoke up in a friendly manner.
"You're Luka Cvitković, aren't you?" A thick Russian accent was heard from the bigger man of the two.
Luka's eyes widened slightly. "Stalker much?"
"We're the two assassins that are tasked with escorting you to a secure location." The smaller man spoke up with a similarly thick Russian accent.
"You sure as hell picked a good time to show up, didn't you?" Luka turned his head towards the machine and grabbed his snacks. "Follow me a sec."
The two men followed Luka who walked back over to Hugh. He was sitting in one of the chairs, patiently waiting.
"Yo, H!" Luka raised his voice a small bit. "We got company."
Hugh looked over at the two men behind Luka. "Oh, that's a bit strange."
"What is?" Luka's sentence got caught off as Hugh stood up and picked up his luggage.
"Weren't you supposed to report to me first before anything?" Hugh asked in a serious tone.
"We did not want to raise suspicion. You are higher ranked, after all, so you're bound to be more popular." The bigger man spoke up.
Hugh turned his mouth to the side and made a 'hm' sound. "Can I get your names, fellas?"
"Alex Baker." The bigger lad spoke.
"Drew Hangings." The smaller lad spoke.
Hugh raised an eyebrow and pulled Luka to the side. "Let's roll with it. They don't look that intimidating."
Luka firmly nodded.
"Alright, lead the way, fellas." Hugh pointed his palm towards them with a calm expression on his face.
The two assassins began walking out of the airport through one of the many exits with Hugh and Luka quickly following them.
...
Kane and Ashley landed in Paris sometime later.
"Whew, we made it." Ashley exhaled proudly. "Are we gonna get into contact with your friend, then?"
"Yeah, I'll phone him now."
"I'm gonna pop to the loo." Ashley pointed towards a restroom as Kane nodded and waved her off.
A similar British accent to Kane's could be heard on the other side of the phone call. "Kane, you there?"
"We've landed, Harris, tell me the location and we'll be there in no time," Kane responded in a friendly tone.
"Don't trouble yourself, I'll send a vehicle your way. I'll text you the license plate of it. A few of my boys will come to pick you and the lady up." Harrison replied in quick succession.
"Sounds alright, not gonna lie. I need a bit of a rest." Kane performed an exaggerated stretch. "Jet lag is serious with us old guys, you know?"
Harrison laughed for a moment or two. "It sure is. Right, I won't keep you, I'll send the vehicle your way. ETA is 5-10 minutes."
"Roger. I'll keep in touch." Kane hung up.
...
The street was sort of busy that evening. It was quickly turning into nighttime, however. Several restaurants and buildings began shutting their lights off as they either stopped working or the people living in them were prepared to fall asleep.
"Where are we going, boys?" Hugh raised his voice. It had a hint of annoyance in it at this point.
"To a sanctuary, of course!" Alex's voice was louder than usual.
"Could you be any vaguer?" Hugh replied once again in an annoyed tone.
"It's a surprise!"
Luka quickly looked over towards Hugh with an angry expression. Hugh nodded.
"YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS A SURPRISE?!" Luka shouted at the top of his lungs before grabbing both of their collars and throwing the two men into a nearby alleyway. He quickly pinned them down and placed each of his feet on their backs whilst they were turned around. The two men couldn't make a sound before being dropped to the ground.
"Who're you working for, what's your actual identities, and who the fuck sent you?" Hugh's expression was serious but he sounded more tired than usual. "Cut the crap and tell us before Luka breaks your backs."
"I-impossible, he's just a lower-ranked scum, he d-doesn't have it in him!" Drew managed to blurt out a sentence whilst the back of his lungs were being crushed.
Luka grabbed him by his hair, pulled his head up and threatened to drop him onto the solid concrete beneath them, but he stopped before Drew's head smashed into the ground.
"Tell us before I smear your face against the ground." Luka crouched and relaxed his expression. "And it'll probably be way rougher than the way I handled your mother last night."
"OUCH." Hugh winced. "You didn't have to do the man like that!"
Luka glared through Hugh playfully. "I probably did."
Before Luka was able to turn his head back at Drew's head and make his decision, a sudden gunshot disrupted everyone's thoughts.
Luka and Hugh's eyes both widened as Hugh was caught off guard, but Luka immediately dashed backwards after letting go of the back of Drew's head. It was a good thing he reacted so quickly because the top of Drew's head had a gunshot wound right after it smacked into the ground.
"LUKA, GET BEHIND SOMETHING!" Hugh quickly shouted at his pupil before diving behind a huge dumpster. Luka did the same within a moment's notice.
Another gunshot went off only a few moments after the first one and it struck the back of Alex's leg. He quickly stumbled to the ground and yelped in pain. A very large figure cut off his escape route and cast a massive shadow over him. The huge man took a step forward and pulled out a one-handed war axe. Safe to say, Alex's expression didn't matter at that point. His head rolled over to the side of an alleyway next to a few garbage bags. There was a second smaller figure looking down on the alleyway from the rooftop of a building. It quickly leapt down and was not staring Hugh and Luka down through a hood.
Luka suddenly stood up and straightened himself out. The smaller figure bowed slightly, indicating that it would let the bigger figure handle the fight for now.
"That's awfully nice of you." Luka raised his voice after standing up. "Let's take turns." Luka quickly directed his attention towards Hugh.
"If you're confident you can beat him, go for it." Hugh stood up and walked over to the smaller figure. The smaller figure tensed up. "Don't worry, I'm just gonna observe." He stood next to the figure and turned towards Luka.
"Let's go, big fella."
The figure stood its ground and waited for Luka to charge in.
...
In the meantime, Ashley and Kane found the vehicle Harrison was talking to them about.
The driver was a nice enough fellow, a typical French chauffeur.
The car ride to the sanctuary wasn't anything special. Paris is known as being one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and a city that most certainly sticks to its traditions and the way it operates.
"What's your opinion of the city so far?" The chauffeur questioned trying to start a conversation.
Ashley cheerfully replied. "The architecture is really something and it's a really beautiful city!"
"It's better than London, that's for damn sure." Kane chuckled after his sentence. "Then again, that's not a massive bar to pass."
"I was gonna say, you aren't raising the bar that high with that comparison." Ashley burst into laughter.
Kane genuinely laughed now. "London's a shit hole."
"Yup, it is."
"I'm glad we agree." Kane pridefully smiled at Ashley.
"Me too." Ashley put on a polite expression.
The chauffeur looked into his rearview mirror. "I guess this is how English people bond."
The car filled with laughter for a few moments.
...
Luka stepped in hard, but he was met with a good rotation of the figure's body. He was met with a solid stance before Luka tried to mix up his combinations.
A high blow was dodged with a head slip.
A low blow was parried by the figure's massive hand.
It seemed like none of the combinations were working, but Luka kept trying. He weaved his whole body back and forth trying to establish a rhythm.
High blow. Low blow. High blow. Low blow.
None of the blows landed and they seemed to be getting parried easier and easier with each combination.
The fourth low blow was blocked and immediately the figure sent out a monstrous punch, but Luka suddenly changed his attack pattern and threw a monstrous uppercut in between the solid guard.
"This is it, he got him now!" Hugh thought to himself.
"There's no way this doesn't land!" Luka reassured himself inside of his head.
The uppercut missed the man's cheek by the slightest of hairs and Luka's eyes and mouth widened slightly. He was in no position to avoid a direct kick to the body and a few strong punches from the giant. Luka managed to keep himself up, but he got completely outclassed in the brawling department. After the barrage, he held himself up, but he was quickly shut off from any kind of attempts to re-establish his rhythm once more. Heavy combinations overwhelmed Luka as his body was drilled from the heavy hits and he coughed up some blood.
Hugh has had enough of this and sharply dashed forward. He caught Luka and stood in front of him. A huge punch was heading for his head, but he caught the fist and gripped it tightly.
"This is more of a fair matchup ain't it?" Hugh spoke up with a confident expression.
The man was able to release his hand from Hugh's tight grasp before he threw a few more punches. Hugh dodged or blocked them all as he returned fire. The fight was taken to a standstill through the next few exchanges.
Luka managed to back off whilst holding his stomach.
"What a fucking monster."
The smaller figure walked up to him calmly. Luka quickly turned his head towards it. "You got one hell of a friend, don't you?"
The figure turned its head towards Luka and grabbed the outsides of its hood. It took a deep breath before taking the hood off and revealing its face. Even Luka's distorted vision could recognise the person's face.
"No fucking way."
It felt like time froze for him for a solid few moments.
His thoughts were interrupted for a brief moment as Hugh managed to land a severe body blow. The big man reeled for a moment whilst Hugh prepared to throw a huge punch to potentially knock him out.
"Say goodnight!" Hugh yelled out in excitement.
"HUGH! STOP!" Luka's wounded voice pierced his eardrums as Hugh froze immediately.
"The fuck, Luka?!" Hugh immediately turned towards his pupil as his expression loosened up and he realised why Luka stopped him.
Even if he had never seen her before, he knew who was standing next to him.
Luka pulled off an expression as a way to say thank you to his mentor and quickly turned his expression back towards the figure.
"I've finally fucking found you."
His eyes suddenly filled with tears before he spoke clearly once more.
"Nicole..."
He quickly dashed into her and lifted her off the ground. Nicole is significantly shorter than Luka, so their heads were about the same height as he lifted her. They shared a passionate kiss after Nicole began cheerfully laughing. Their lips immediately sank into each other and they felt each other's tongues. Luka slowly lowered her back towards the ground as he let her stand. They pulled away from each other by a centimetre as they felt each other's breaths. Each of their faces was flustered as their foreheads collided. They closed their eyes and admired the moment.
"I've missed you so much." Nicole's cute voice quietly spoke.
"I can't put into words how much I agree with you," Luka instantly replied. "I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner."
Nicole shushed Luka gently. "You precious sweetheart."
Hugh admired his pupil and cracked a genuine smile while holding tears back.
"Fucking cuties."
He snapped out of it after turning towards his opponent as he raised a question. "Right, so who are you then?"
The man took his hood off and stood next to Hugh. They were around the same height.
"Pleased to meet you, Hugh White." Hugh's eyes widened in disbelief as if he had just seen a ghost. The man's pretty face and polite voice burned an image into Hugh's brain. He was incredibly similar to his ancestor.
"Gabriel Auditore."
Hugh closed his open mouth as he genuinely smiled once more.
"Hol-ee shit."
Hugh offered a hand to the man who he almost knocked out. "You look just like him, kid!"
Gabriel's expression turned into a bit of a confused one as he grabbed Hugh's hand.
"It's like I'm talking to Grandmaster Ezio!" Hugh laughed through his sentence as Gabriel closed his eyes and smirked with pride.
...
Ashley and Kane eventually found themselves in front of a large gothic-styled building.
"If there was a definition of a sanctuary, which words would you use to describe it, Ashley?" Kane questioned his pupil after thanking the driver as he drove off.
Ashley turned towards Kane then right back towards the building. "I'd most likely use something along the lines of...vague, basic, stealthy..." She paused for a few moments. "I would not use this building. It kinda stands out."
The whole neighbourhood was filled with ordinary buildings and architecture...and then you had this building.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one." Kane began walking forward. "Come on, we might as well."
Ashley quickly followed.
The building was decorated very neatly. It seemed like the people staying in it were taking care of it quite well.
A few assassins were hanging out near the entrance to the building, all of which were dressed similarly. They all seemed to be working with or for Harrison.
One of the assassins spoke to Kane and pointed him to where they needed to go. Kane quickly oriented himself in the right direction as they found themselves in front of a large office door. They quickly entered and noticed another assassin inside of it that, once again, looked very similar to the few men near the entrance.
There was a huge oval-shaped window on the back wall of the room. Standing in front of it was a rugged man, someone who looked very experienced. His age was beginning to show, as well. He quickly turned around with his hands still behind his back.
"You've finally made it, you two!" Harrison's voice became louder as he revealed his rough English accent.
"Harris." Kane tipped his hood towards him. "This is Ashley Richardson. She's one of my pupils."
Ashley bowed slightly. "It's a great pleasure!"
"Likewise." Harrison stepped forward. "I have your rooms prepared for the two of you. You can stay as much as you'd like and you can use every inch of this sanctuary as much as your heart desires." He pointed at the assassin in the room. "This gentleman will escort you to your rooms. We can talk about everything in the morning once you've both freshened up."
Kane winked at his comrade.
Ashley firmly nodded.
The assassin began walking out of the room as he spoke up in a friendly manner. "Follow me, please."
And so, they did.
...
Hugh and Gabriel enjoyed a bit of a short but deep conversation before Luka and Nicole were able to gather themselves properly.
"You kids done yet?" Hugh asked in a bit of a sarcastic tone. He pretended to be annoyed, but he was smiling the entire time.
"Not even close, big man." Luka chuckled. "Nicole, Hugh. Hugh, Nicole. It's about damn time you two met."
"I've heard so many good things about you from back in the day!" Nicole's eyes shined with cuteness and determination.
"Good thing you haven't heard of any things recently." Hugh's casual sense of humour carried him a long way in conversations. "Pleased to meet you. Now, I guess I'll do the honours." Hugh paused for a second as Luka's expression became slightly tensed up. "Gabriel Auditore, Luka Cvitković. Luka Cvitković, Gabriel Auditore."
"You're ranked first and a direct descendant of Grandmaster Ezio, right?!" Luka fully lowered his upper body as he bowed. "Pleased to make your acquaintance!"
"Woah, easy there, brother." Gabriel's voice was calm and collected. "Lift your head. I'm not your senior or anything, so treat me like you would a brother."
Luka's eyes suddenly widened a slight bit. He lifted his body and genuinely smiled. "Right!"
Gabriel quickly looked at his wristwatch. "It's getting late, we should take you two to the sanctuary."
"Sounds like a plan, big lad!" Hugh shouted in excitement as Gabriel put his hood on and began walking to a nearby wall.
"Let's parkour." Gabriel immediately began climbing the building.
Nicole innocently laughed and climbed after him.
Luka and Hugh looked at each other with sparks in their eyes.
"Let's go, Luka!"
"Yup!"
The apartments, restaurants and store buildings weren't all that different to Croatia's, so Luka and Hugh had no trouble keeping up. It wasn't so much the architecture or the way the buildings were designed that made it tough, it was more so Gabriel's monstrous endurance and Nicole's unrivalled agility.
Luka quickly shouted a sentence towards Hugh in the middle of their freerunning. "We're used to this shit, right?! We can keep up!"
"Of course we are! I trained your ass off so you had the stamina to keep up!" Hugh began sprinting even faster now. "Now, show me the results of your training!"
Luka smiled with a focused and determined expression. "YUP!"
The sanctuary they eventually reached was similarly built like the sanctuary in Osijek. It was constructed deeply underground, so the rooms inside of it were very tall and open.
"Nostalgic, ain't it?" Hugh inhaled a big breath of air.
"Yeah, it's just like home." Luka cracked a small smile as he lowered his head.
The entrance to the sanctuary wasn't accessed through a ventilation system, but there was a secret door within a sewer system that granted access to whoever knew how to open the door. The main grounds of the sanctuary were huge, very open and very beautiful.
Luka crossed his arms and playfully scoffed. "Wow, it's almost like motherland's just straight-up poor compared to this."
Nicole looked over towards him and chuckled. "We do have more funds, don't we?"
"No need to rub it in." Luka winked and sarcastically replied.
"Gabriel! Nicole!" A somewhat deep voice could be heard coming from the main hall.
It came from a teenager that was dressed in very casual clothing. He seemed very agile, but he also looked like he had good reflexes.
"Lucio, I'm glad you're here." Gabriel quickly looked around. "Where's Ruth?"
Ruth entered the main hall from a nearby hallway a few seconds later. He was a tall man who looked like he was in good shape. "You called?"
"Your timing's impeccable." Gabriel cleared his throat as he directed his attention towards Lucio and Ruth. "Boys, we got two assassins here who will be helping us, these are the assassins Barton was telling us about!" He enthusiastically shouted.
Nicole moved out of the way and waved her open hands towards Luka and Hugh.
"This is Hugh White and Luka Cvitković. One's English, one's Croatian. They're both really strong!"
Ruth saluted towards Hugh and firmly nodded towards Luka. "Nice to see a fellow countryman."
"Same here, lad!" Hugh exclaimed.
Lucio suddenly walked up to both of them. "Do you mind telling me your age and ranking?"
Hugh was taken by surprise, but Luka managed to utter a sentence before him. "How about you go first?" A few people within the room laughed, except for Lucio.
"I'm 17. As soon as I hit 18, I'm aiming for a high rank." He boldly stated.
"Whew, we got a strong and determined lad here!" Hugh laughed for a moment. "Right, I'm ranked 6th and I turned 41 not too long ago."
Lucio looked over at Luka, expecting an answer.
"27. I'm not sure of my exact ranking, but I'm near the bottom of the list." Luka honestly replied.
"Then how about this, low-ranker?" Lucio's cocky teenage voice got louder. "Let's have a spar! Weapons involved, of course."
Luka's expression changed to a confused one before his face lit up. "Sure, kid."
Gabriel immediately stepped forward and lightly hit the back of Lucio's head. "You dumbass. Sorry, Luka."
"Nah, let's do it." Luka's reply seemed to shock everyone in the room. "It sounds like your heart's in the right place, as cocky as you sound. I'll give that spirit of yours the respect it deserves, but I'll also teach you an important lesson."
He paused for a moment as Lucio cracked a cheeky grin.
"The man who underestimates his opponent is a fool in every sense of the word."
...
*End of Chapter 11.
I appreciate everyone stopping by! Have a good day now!*