Hey...so...I'm not dead...yay? I'm so sorry this took so long to post! I didn't mean to go for that long, but unfortunately, time got away from me. I actually meant to post this several days ago, but I got caught up in preparing for a con. Anyway...please ready and enjoy! I'll do my best not to go so long before posting the next chapter.

So it turns out that narrowly escaping a burning building can really take it out of a person. We got to our plane seats and I promptly passed out on Nate's shoulder. I begrudgingly woke up when Nate gently nudged me. At my pitiful groan, he offered to carry me off the plane. I'll admit, it was a tempting offer and I almost took him up on it. In the end, I decided to keep my dignity and walk off the plane myself. I ignored Nate's chuckle as I stifled a yawn. The castle in Syria was much larger and in much better shape than the one in France. This one looked like an actual castle.

"Damn it. Still can't reach either one of them," Nate announced in frustration, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "Something is definitely not right."

"How long til this place opens?" Sully inquired.

I checked the time. "We've still a few more hours before tour buses start showing up."

"Then we better hustle." We approached the front door and noticed the chain had been cut.

"Ok, so we know we're not the first ones here," Nate noted.

"As long as Marlowe and Talbot think we're dead, we've got the element of surprise. Let's not waste it," Sully said. We slipped in through the door and headed along one of the walkways.

"Right. So we sneak in, we find out where they're holding Chloe and Cutter," Nate informed us.

"If they're holding them," Sully cut in.

Nate gave the elder an exasperated look. "Glass half full, Sully?"

"I'm just saying, these guys don't seem like the hostage talking type."

"Let's just go with the best-case scenario for now," Nate said.

"Best case scenario would be they don't even have Chloe and Charlie," I pipped up. "In which case, we wouldn't have to rescue them, we just need to find them."

"Ok, so we find Cutter and Chloe and then the five of us sneak back out," Nate finished.

"Yeah, right. Sneak back out," Sully scoffed.

"It could happen," Nate protested. I hid a snort behind a cough. Sully merely hummed, unconvinced.

"I'm pretty sure I could count on one hand the number of times we've been able to sneak in or out of a place," I said.

"How about a little optimism, huh?" We approached a gate and Nate inspected the door. "Not getting in through here, door's locked."

I put my hands on my hips. "I knew I should've learned to pick locks and not just pockets."

Nate chuckled. "Certainly would've come in handy over the years."

"Well, I didn't see you trying to learn either."

"Well, I'm not gonna learn now. We'll have to climb," Nate replied. He started up the wall to the next level.

"You check it out. We'll wait here," Sully said. I watched with crossed arms as Nate clambered up, biting my bottom lip slightly as I got a good view. "You're drooling a bit there, sweetheart," Sully teased.

"Oh, leave me alone, old man," I grumbled in response, a light blush coating my cheeks. The elder chuckled. Sully and I followed Nate once he gave the all clear. Across the way, we ran into a large wooden door.

"Help me with this door," Nate said, getting ready to push.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't know what's on the other side of that door," Sully warned.

"Oh, yeah, good point." I rolled my eyes fondly. Always rushing ahead.

"I'll take this one. I'm stealthier than you," I announced. "I'll climb up and let you two in if it's safe."

Nate nodded. "Okay, but be careful." Using some protruding stone, I started the climb. I let out a squeak of surprise when one of my handholds broke away underneath me. I dropped a few feet, thankfully managing to find another handhold. I let out a couple Italian curses as I caught my breath. "You okay, Alex?"

"M'fine," I grumbled. I climbed up the rest of the way and through an open window at the top. I dropped down, landing in a crouch. I spotted movement on the landing across from me and ducked behind a low wall. Carefully peaking my head over the barrier, I silently cursed. It was one of Talbot's men. A quick look around and I spotted a few more. Just great. Thankfully, it didn't appear they had noticed me yet. Let's see how stealthily I can take them out. When the suit across the way wasn't looking, I jumped to his landing and snuck up behind him. I quickly wrapped an arm around his mouth and neck and with a quick jerk, snapped his neck. He dropped to the ground and I ducked behind a pillar. Carefully timing the next one, I jumped to the lower level, landing on the suit patrolling that platform. The sound alerted the nearest suit, who climbed a set of stairs to investigate. When he got close enough, I leaned out from behind a pillar, grabbed him, and slammed him against it. The suit crumpled to the ground.

"Hey!" I snapped around. I had been spotted. I dove behind a barrier and the rest of Talbot's men were alerted to my presence and began shooting. I pulled out my gun and returned fire. I cleared out the top two levels and moved to the ground floor. I leaned out from a pillar and shot one of the men in the head. I quickly pulled back behind the pillar again as a few bullets whizzed by. I tucked and rolled, popping up near another of Talbot's men. He started, not having expected me, but I shot him before he had the chance to react.

"Anyone else?" I asked to an empty room. I let out a sigh and returned my gun to its holster. I looked up at a knock on the door.

"Alex, everything okay?" Nate's muffled voice came from the other side. I walked over and gave them the all clear. The two slipped through the door. Nate eyed the bodies littering the ground and cocked a brow at me. "Stealthier huh?"

"Shut up." Nate shook his head with a chuckle. After lowering the drawbridge, we walked into the middle of the citadel.

"This place is crawling with agents. Chloe and Cutter could be in real trouble," Nate whispered. We snuck through the courtyard, looking for any signs of our missing comrades.

"Where the hell could they be?" Sully wondered. We rounded a corner and caught movement. All three of us pulled out our guns, aiming them at the newcomers. I lowered my gun as I recognized our no longer missing companions.

"Why aren't you in France?" Chloe asked, frowning.

"We're rescuing you?" Nate answered, though he sounded unsure of himself at seeing Chloe and Charlie unharmed.

"From what?" Charlie inquired incredulously.

"We thought you'd been captured…"

"Or worse," Sully added.

Chloe tilted her head. "Wait, why?"

"Talbot ambushed us at the chateau," I informed our very confused friends. "We figured if they followed us to France then they had probably followed you guys too."

"Well yeah, they're definitely here," Charlie agreed.

"Yeah, no kidding, Sully scoffed.

"So we might want to think about keeping it down a little," Chloe warned.

"What happened to you two?" Nate demanded. "We've been trying to reach you for over twenty-four hours."

"Oh, right, I need to top up my minutes," Charlie pipped up casually.

Nate gave Charlie a weird look. "You're using a prepaid phone?"

"Mate, those contracts are a complete rip-off," Charlie defended.

I turned to Chloe. "And what's your excuse? Please don't tell me you broke another phone." Chloe merely shrugged. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Ok, next time, we're getting you a Nokia."

"Look, just forget all that. You'll never guess what we've discovered," Charlie said excitedly. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his notebook. Nate and I moved to look over his shoulders. "I've got it all in here… Not only did Elizabeth's spy network stretch all the way over here. But they were part of some sort of Hermetic secret society. The British Occult Secret Service, The School of Night, the Hellfire Club, the Order of the Golden Dawn - they're all connected."

"So John Dee -" Nate started.

"And Francis Walsingham, and Walter Raleigh, and even your mate Drake, they were all in on it," Charlie said. Nate and I exchanged awed looks. "But for them it was all about power - controlling their enemies through espionage, deception, fear."

"Hey, guys?" Sully interrupted.

Nate waved him off. "W-w-wait, wait. So Marlowe and her crew -"

"Are the same secret order - four hundred years on," Charlie said with a grin. I whistled appreciatively.

"Will you cut to the goddamn chase, please?" Sully interrupted again.

"Yeah, we really need to keep moving," Chloe added.

"Sure, sure…" Charlie flipped a couple pages in his journal, stopping on a page with some Latin. "Here, look. Quod est superius…"

"...est sicut quod est inferius," Nate finished, a grin spreading across his face. Charlie raised his brows expectantly.

"As above, so below?" I inquired. My Latin had never been as good as Nate's.

Charlie nodded. "That's the key to all of this."

"We need to get to the highest point of this castle," Nate announced. Charlie wrapped an arm around my boyfriend's shoulders, turning him to face a set of stone steps.

"Thus, the stairs." We jogged up the stairs.

"We should be able to find our way into the crypts with this clue. The entrance has got to be hidden here someplace." We reached the top and Charlie pointed to a large round tower in the distance.

"There - that's the highest tower."

"Ok, so we just need to make our way across -"

"Get down!" I whispered harshly. Everyone quickly ducked behind a low stone wall. Just ahead were some more of Talbot's men.

"Now what?" Chloe sighed.

"All right, the only way to the tower is through them," Nate answered.

Sully huffed. "Great. Whatever happened to that sneak in, sneak out plan?"

"You wha? We can't quit now," Charlie protested.

"Yeah, not when we're so close," Nate agreed. "C'mon, we'll find another way around them." I myself had mixed feelings. I wanted to see this through to the end, but I was afraid as to what that might cost. We had almost died twice already, which was beginning to border on excessive, even for Nate and me. I knew, however, that Nate wasn't one to give up so easily. It was one of the things I loved about him, but it had also gotten us into trouble more than once. I just hoped when it came to it, he would know when it's time to call it quits.

Unfortunately, Nate's way around was basically straight through. It was a wonder the entire city didn't wake up with the amount of gunfire going on within the walls of the castle. A couple firefights later and we made it to the top of the tower.

"Up here," Charlie called from a small square platform.

"Hey, keep us covered all right?" Nate told Sully and Chloe.

"Yeah, well just hurry it up, lads, ok?" Chloe said, glancing around nervously.

"Yeah, we're sitting ducks out here," Sully agreed. Nate and I followed Charlie onto the platform. Charlie knelt next to a symbol that I recognized from his journal.

"Oy, here… you see? 'As above, so below," he said gleefully.

Nate nodded, moving to look out over the castle. "We're definitely in the right spot."

"But right spot for what?" I inquired.

"We know the Crusaders would've hidden the entrance to the crypt somewhere in plain sight," Nate answered. The three of us pondered the problem. I glanced back at the symbol on the ground. It looked familiar, but where had I seen it before?

"Nate, give me Drake's map," I said.

"What is it?" Nate asked as he pulled the map out and handed it to me.

"I've seen that symbol before." I unfolded the map on the wall. Nate and Charlie crowded on either side of me. "Here." I tapped the corner of Drake's map where the same symbol was sketched. "And look here." I tapped another symbol right next to it.

"Of course, Ursa Minor. The North Star," Charlie said.

"The one fixed point on the night sky," Nate added.

"It would've been one thing the Crusaders could count on not changing over the years. I bet that star will point us directly to our hidden entrance," I finished.

Nate grinned and pressed a kiss to the side of my head. "Well done."

"It's what I'm here for," I teased. Nate borrowed Charlie's binoculars and after a moment found our hidden entrance in a tower across the courtyard.

"Well that's hidden in plain sight, all right," Charlie commented and Nate hummed in agreement.

"Um…guys!" Chloe called urgently.

"Yeah, just a minute," Nate dismissed.

Charlie frowned. "It can't be that simple, can it?" I caught movement on a wall below us and my eyes widened. Some of Talbot's men were on the wall with what looked like a rocket launcher.

"We can argue over simplicity later, we gotta go!" I urged, tugging Nate's arm.

"Get down!" Sully cried. We didn't need to be told twice. We all wasted no time jumping over the edge just as a missile hit where we had been standing. Talbot's men fired missiles after as we ran. I tripped as a missile hit a little too close for comfort. Nate rushed over to help me up.

"What the hell's wrong with these guys? They're destroying this place," Nate shouted.

"Something tells me they don't care," I replied.

"There! There's a wire. We can zipline across," Chloe said as we reached some shelter.

"Not while they're firing at us, we can't!" Charlie protested.

"Alex!" I looked up in time to catch a Dragon Sniper that Nate tossed my way. "We gotta take some of these guys out!" I nodded and checked the slide before racking it.

"Lock and load." Taking cover behind a pillar, I began picking off some of Talbot's men. A couple feet away I could hear Nate doing the same with his own sniper.

"Come on, we gotta move, now!" Nate urged once we had taken out several men. I took out my pistol and followed Sully and Chloe, using my gun to slide down the wire. We landed safely on the other side and I turned to wait for Nate and Charlie. They were just about to join us when another missile hit, throwing both men off.

"Nate!" I cried in panic. I nearly threw myself off the wall to go after him, but Sully grabbed my arm.

"We can't do anything from here. We have to keep moving!" Sully urged. Sully, Chloe, and I continued on, stopping once it had quieted down slightly. Looking over the stone wall, I scanned the area for any sign of the boys.

"Hey, hey. Down here." I looked down and spotted Charlie waving on the level below. Sully and Chloe came to stand next to me.

"Dio mio," I mumbled in relief as I saw Nate, looking roughed up, but alive. "You guys alright?"

"Yeah, we'll find a way around and meet up with you," Nate informed me.

"Please be careful," I warned. Nate's gaze softened.

"We'll see you soon," He assured me. I watched as he and Charlie ducked out of sight. Yeah, I had heard that before.

"Come on, sweetheart," Sully said gently. "They'll meet up with us."

I wasn't at all surprised when I heard gunshots. In fact, I would have been surprised if we had been able to meet back up with Nate and Charlie without them causing more trouble. I commandeered a rocket launcher from a man who was too dead to care. I probably would've felt like crying as I fired the rockets at different parts of the castle if I wasn't so worried about Nate. It was really a shame all the damage our presence was causing to this beautiful historical site. The three of us climbed down from the upper wall just in time to meet up with Nate and Charlie as they climbed up through a hole.

"You two all right?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, still in one piece anyway," Nate answered. I stalked over and grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him down for a hard kiss. "Mph!" He quickly got over his surprise and slipped a hand into my hair to deepen the kiss.

I pulled away and leaned my forehead against his. "You really need to stop attracting so much attention," I told him softly.

My boyfriend chuckled, but he could tell he had worried me. "What can I say, I'm irresistible." I huffed a laugh. "Was that you with the rocket launcher?"

"I do have a thing for big guns," I confirmed.

Nate smirked. "Is that why you're dating me?"

"No, you just have a big head," I teased, booping his nose. He chuckled and captured my lips for another kiss, but pulled away as Charlie cleared his throat.

"All right, lovebirds, you can save all that for later," Charlie teased.

Nate slipped his hand into mine. "Come on, I think we're onto something. Good to see you're all right."

"You too," Sully replied. I squeezed Nate's hand in response. He and Charlie led us to a lower level where some pillars stood.

"Right - here's the wall," Charlie announced.

I raised a brow. "Is this where that hidden entrance led?"

Nate rubbed the back of his neck. "Turned out it was a clue which led us here, which is where the crypt entrance actually should be."

"Well, what does Lawrence have to say about it?" Chloe asked.

"He doesn't," Charlie answered with a laugh.

"This is as far as he got," Nate said.

"Well what are our chances then?" Chloe wondered. She had a point. Lawrence had only gotten this far, but we had had tough puzzles before. I was confident we could figure this one out.

"Symbolically, two pillars are used to mark a gateway," Charlie mused.

Sully huffed. "Swell, which two?"

"And a gateway to what?" Chloe added. We each began feeling around the pillars, hoping to find some sort of crack or crevice, anything to indicate and opening. After a moment I realized something or rather someone was missing.

"Where's Charlie?" I asked, glancing around for the leather clad Brit. The others looked around, suddenly realizing we were missing a member. We walked back around the corner and immediately pulled our guns as we spotted Talbot standing next to Charlie. None of us dared fire with Talbot so close to Charlie. Talbot raised his hand, revealing Charlie's journal. I heard Nate curse beside me. Talbot slowly backed away with a smirk on his face. As soon as he disappeared, we all rushed forward, Chloe and Sully went for Talbot while Nate and I went to check on Charlie.

"He's gone," Sully announced incredulously. "How in the world…?" I ignored him for now and focused on Charlie. He didn't look too good. He was looking around widely, his eyes unfocused.

I held up my hands to try and get his attention. "Charlie, you okay?" Nate pulled something from Charlie's neck causing the man to grunt in pain and jerk away.

"What the hell? Look at this," Nate said, holding up the dart he had pulled from Charlie. My eyes widened. Talbot drugged him!

"Oh, man, what kind of black ops bullshit is this?" Sully grumbled.

"Let's just hope he didn't have a big dose," Chloe said. Charlie started muttering frantically under his breath.

"Hey, Charlie, easy now," I told him softly, gently placing a hand on his arm. However, as soon as I touched him, he flinched away.

"Don't touch me. Get away from me," Charlie snarled, holding a finger up warningly. I held up my hands placatingly and backed up a couple steps.

"No one's touching you, Charlie," Chloe assured gently.

"What the hell was in that dart?" Sully wondered. He eyed Charlie warily.

"Your face is peeling off," Charlie said, eyes wide. Poor guy looked scared. Nate and I exchanged worried glances. I had never seen him like this.

"Well, whatever it was, he's tripping balls," Chloe commented.

"Charlie, listen," Nate started. Charlie's knees started to buckle and Nate and Sully rushed forward to catch him. Charlie jerked back with a snarl.

"Get off! I won't let you take me," Charlie declared.

"Hey, nobody's taking you anywhere," Nate told him. He glanced at me desperately. I shrugged helplessly. I had no idea how to deal with this.

"Just, just come with us, okay?" Chloe said, beckoning to Charlie.

"The floor is melting," Charlie mumbled as he shuffled forward a couple steps.

"We can't stay here - we gotta move," Sully said.

"How?" Chloe asked.

"Our only hope is to find the crypt entrance," Nate answered.

Sully huffed. "Great. Any ideas?"

"Well, Charlie was onto something - I just don't know what," Chloe replied, sounding a little frustrated. Nate started muttering to himself in an attempt to work out the problem. I stared at the three pillars in front of us. The one on the far left had an upside down black triangle, the pillar on the far left sported a white triangle, the one in the middle combining the two.

"Between Mercy and Severity," Charlie mumbled beside me. I frowned as something clicked.

"Charlie, say that again," I coaxed. Charlie repeated the phrase. I glanced back and forth between him and the pillars. My eyes lit up as the pieces came together.

"Whatcha got, sweetheart?" Sully asked, knowing well the look on my face when I've solved a puzzle.

"It's the middle pillar," I announced.

Charlie nodded frantically and rubbed his hands. "Balance…" Sully looked confused.

"How do you know?" Nate asked, standing next to me.

"Of course, it was in Charlie's book," Chloe added. "The Pillar of Balance between the two extremes. Between black and white, water and fire, female and male. The Middle Way."

"The Middle Way…" Charlie confirmed dazedly. Nate approached the middle pillar and pushed on it. It gave a bit.

Nate grinned. "That's it! Sully, give me a hand with this." Together, Sully and Nate pushed the pillar out of the way. We entered into a small opening. I glanced back at Charlie as Chloe gently coaxed him along. The man already had a fear of small, enclosed spaces and there was no telling how he was going to react with that drug in his system. We were going to have to keep an eye on him. Sully grabbed a couple torches and lit them, providing some light in the dark area. With the light, I could see the passage led further down. Nate slid the pillar back into place to keep Talbot and his men from following us. The only way now was forward.