This guy's house is very modern. Modern and almost cozy at the same time.

This man we were meeting with apparently lived out in the woods, surrounded by trees and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The tall trees hiding the house away as we pulled up in front of the home from a rental car that we swiped after we left Venice and flew to London. It was such a change from Venice, the sunny skies were now filled with clouds and a splatter of rain here and there. There was no longer warmth there along our skin as we were winding through the woods and feeling the crisp air coming through the open windows, having me inwardly cringe in how now I had to wear a jacket and long pants.

"Not a fan of the weather?" Nile asked me as we were in the backseat of the car. Joe chuckled in the front driver's seat, Nicky on the passenger's side.

"She's more prone to what she likes to call the French weather," He explained to Nile, though he sounded skeptical about it.

"It is different, I've explained to you before," I reasoned with him as I looked over at Nile, "it's nicer over there and there are fewer bites of cold. There it's eased into the air,"

"I've never been to Paris before," She admitted to me almost in a shy manner.

"We'll take you," Nicky reassured her, "You'd like it there, lots of music, the French food is delicious, and the art is amazing."

"Not as good as the ones in Rome," Joe argued with him.

"As the only French person in the car, I can clearly say that the art is far more different from the art in Italy," I said the people in the car, but it was mostly to Nile as she was smirking with how we were having a banter with each other.

'Not to sound rude, but you don't…sound French," Nile stated to me. I had to smile since to me it was more like a compliment than anything.

"Being all over Europe for a couple of hundred years and experiencing a mixture of the cultures made me sound less French," I admitted to her. I knew where she was coming from: my French accent was more laced with English than full French. It took years to learn full English, decades to learn a handful of other languages including Italian and German, and yet I was still prone to go back to my French roots and main language from time to time.

"We're here,"

After we got out of the car and walked up the front steps, I was feeling a bit of hesitance in comparison to how the others were nonchalant in walking up to the front doors. I was towards the back, taking in all the scenery.

Walking into the house, which seemed far too big for someone like me, already made me feel intimidated as we were climbing the stairs. I was mostly following, seeing some family pictures along the walls along with security cameras along the corner. It was almost like an oxy-moron: both a cozy home but it had a sense of security everywhere. Nicky could sense me walking a bit more stiffly than the others, Joe and Nile were in the front and they knew where we were going clearly.

"You alright?" He asked me as we were walking side by side.

"I haven't met the guy yet and I already have doubts about him," I explained.

"He's building trust back with us," Nicky reasoned.

"How do you feel about him?" I questioned him since Nicky had more of a good intuition about meeting other people. He could read people better than others could, and the fact that I haven't met this Copley yet and relying on the others was enough for me to question them.

"He means well, even when he made a mistake I made it for his reason that wasn't selfish or unjust," Nicky reassured me. I had to give him a worried look as we were approaching some double doors. Joe and Nile were already walking in, which gave me another worried pit in my stomach.

"Does he know about me?" I asked. it was a scary feeling since I left the group and I never met this man. They barely met him and it almost lead them all to die.

"No," Nicky answered, "Andy made sure for that," I looked at him in shock as we were walking through the doors as well. This didn't seem like Andy at all, at least to me. I knew that my leaving would leave some kind of mark with the others, but then again I didn't think they would have a grudge about it. Andy, out of all of them, have a solemn understanding since she knew what it was like to be alone in this world and have to be alone.

"She did?" I asked, sounding surprised. But before Nick could answer, we both walked into the room. it looked like some kind fo fife or study, the modern windows showing the forest trees and lush forest life outside those walls. I could see ancient and old trinkets along the walls and on the shelves, yet there was one distinct item there in the study.

A massive board, tucked the corner, was littered top to bottom with newspaper clippings and pictures. They were placed together by country, and from where I was and what I could see as I slowly walked in with Nicky next to me, some fo those clippings and pictures dated back decades and decades. red circles were evident, post-it notes with names scribbled along the top of the pages and black and white photos.

My eyes were instantly on the one person who I haven't had a reunion just yet. She was talking to both Nile and Joe, her face was still youthful and yet filled with past demons she was smiling at the both of them.

"Where did you go?"

"Out to the East."

"You look tan, boss."

Then there was silence in the room since all of the eyes were on me. I was looking only at Andy, seeing her look at me with her haunting light eyes and her beautiful face. She was sporting a black shirt, black jeans and boots, and her short black hair frame her angular face perfectly with her few jewelry trinkets that she has worn for hundreds of years. She looked just the same as she did long ago, I was always intimidated not only by her beautiful but how she carried herself in battle.

As soon as she saw me next to Nicky, she grinned a soft smile and I smiled in relief from how she was smiling. I didn't know why I was thinking that she was going to be angry with me, but then again I was afraid that all three of them were going to be mad at me.

"Heya, boss," I said to her kindly, watching her with my eyes as she walked over and engulfed me in a huge. I sighed in relief, hugging her back just as soothingly as she chuckled. She was never suavely a hugger, but only with our group since we've been through so much together.

"It's good to see you," She said to me genuinely as she pulled away and looked at me up and down, just like how Nicky and Joe did when I was in Venice with them, "You don't look half bad,"

"Thanks," I thanked her, seeing him grin as someone moved behind Andy and myself. I looked over her shoulder, seeing the man who was apparently named Copley. He was watching my interaction with Andy with fascination like I was a specimen from outer space. I felt a twinge of fear going down my spine, and it felt like Andy could sense it now as she looked back at me, searching my eyes.

"He's fine, trust me," She reminded me, having me nod my head slowly at her.

"You must be another Immortal," Copley said to me in his English accent, Andy moving away to have me look at the man directly. He instantly walked over, holding out his hand for me to shake with a fascinated smile on his face, "I'm Copley."

Slowly, I shook his hand, still taking a baby step with him since I knew from the others what he did and why he did it.

"Eleanor," I said to him, seeing him raise his eyebrow to me now, almost like I offended him.

"Just Eleanor?" He asked, almost a bit of uncertainty now since I wasn't giving him my full name,

"I don't give out my full name easily," I explained to him calmly, though trying to sound both civil and yet not too soft. He nodded his head as we pulled our hands away from each other.

"I can agree with that," He said to me, "Yet, Andy never mentioned you,"

"And for good reason," Andy reminded him, given him a short side glance as I was still standing in front of him.

"I was away from them," I explained, seeing him analyze me with his eyes.

"For how long, if you don't mind me asking?" He pondered, having me shift slightly in my boots.

"Doesn't matter," Nicky answered him back quickly, all of us looking over at him as he was standing a bit stiff next to Joe, "She's here now and that's all that matters,"

Nicky held a higher standard for someone who was meeting me for the first time, and I didn't know if it was because he was protective of me and weary of those questioning me, or that we've traveled and fought together for far too long and thought of each other as blood more than anything, but I was grateful for him in how he jumped to my defense.

"In fact," I said as I looked away from Nicky and back to Copley, "I was informed about you, by Booker,"

"You saw him?" Andy asked me, looking a bit shocked as I looked over at her. She looked a bit relieved to hear his name, and I knew they both had their own kind of friendship together. I grinned at her briefly.

"He found me in France almost a week ago," I told her, seeing her give me a soft smile as her eyes were a bit warm from thinking about her friend. I could tell there was more under the surface when it came to all of them banishing him, and as much as I wanted to know more about it, now was not the time.

"And he told me about you, and what you did," I said, looking back at Copley, seeing him looking a bit stiff from how I was almost sizing him up in his own home surrounded by other Immortals, "I know I just met you, and your intentions now may be good, but I do hold the word of my family here to a higher standard in comparison to someone I just met,"

I sounded a bit bitchy, I wasn't going to lie. I just met this person, and I was already sending him vibes of not to mess with me. It was

"Understood," he replied simply, nodding his head, "I know what I did pushed me back a bit when it comes to bringing back trust to them all, and I do want to make amends."

I said nothing else since it felt like it was short and over with. My eyes were slowly moving over to the large board with the clippings and pictures, walking over with my hands shoved in my pockets and seeing all of the information there. it was almost like I was going through a throwback of moments, seeing those small glimpses of memories in there pictures and where we were in those times. It made me almost lose my breath as I was seeing those battles and missions that we all did. Finding abducted children, aiding in battles, stopping out secrets.

"I found some of these clippings with you in them," Copley explained as he walked over and pointed to a few of the pictures, "You weren't a visual as the others, but I knew you were with them."

A picture of me helping a battalion of men during an ambush in France, another picture of me giving food and water to a group of children that were abandoned in a town out near England, it was all coming back to me with those moments. I made me smile slightly as I was seeing me in those pictures.

"And now I want to help you to continue help people and save lives," Copley reassured me as I was watching him stand next to me and having me give him one more look over. It was risky that he knew about us and was willing to help us save more lives. I had to look over at the others, seeing them watch our interaction. They were all calm about it, maybe willing to go along with it too. But I was mostly looking to Andy since she was our leader, seeing him give me a small smile and a single nod.

"Fine," I replied calmly. Copley smiled, seeing that it was a good first step for me to trust him.

"Don't mind Eleanor, Copley," Andy said to him as I walked back over to the group and against the chair with my arms crossed in front of me, "She doesn't have a whole lot of trust in meeting new people. Not for as long as I've known her,"

"I understand," He said, "And how long have you known her for?"

"600 years, give or take," Andy replied smoothly, rolling her shoulders, "And since we're done with the pleasantries, should we get to why we're here in the first place?"

Copley walked over to where his computer was and went into one of his drawers. While he was doing this, I cracked my neck to ease some tension as Nicky walked over to stand next to me and gave me a small shove on my shoulder with his shoulder. I gave him a small smile, seeing him do the same since he could tell where I was coming from.

"I've started working with other agencies: British Intelligence, FBI and CIA from the US, SVR from Russia and countless others, getting permission to get more evidence of each of you in other parts of the world. I had to make some adjustments and pull some strings, but it's the least I could do to make your presence out there in the real world less known," Copley explained as he pointed to the computer with his spare hand.

"I take it you're not just gonna ask them nicely," Nile commented carefully.

"No, but I do know some agents that are willing to bend the rules for me and keep you out of their line of sight," Copley answered her. It was a bit of a start, Copley trying to negotiate with other agencies around the world to not have our secret be exposed. It was always a fear for us, and now this person was going to try and protect our existence.

"We only had one set back as of right now with one in particular," We all looked over at him to see who he was talking about, and the uneasiness was there on his face.

"Germany," he said simply.

"Why Germany?" Andy asked.

"Not sure just yet, but some of their inner Agencies have been extremely private in their reasoning not to be on our side with hiding your identity," Copley replied, "I am, however, going to each out to some of my old Agent partners to see if they can talk to those over to Munich."

I had to give Andy and the others an odd look, since it seemed a bit off with this kind of situation. I knew Copley was at least attempting to get us out of the open and no longer exposed, but then again I never heard of something trying to do this for us before.

"Since things are still heated and investigations are still going in at the company Merrick ran, I think you all should lay low out of England until things slow down, maybe even most of Europe altogether," Copley advised us

"I'll need to go to Paris and get my things," I said to Andy, seeing him watch me now as I shrugged my shoulders with her, "If I'm not going to be there for a while I might as well get my things,"

"We'll go with you," Andy reassured me.

"You sure, Andy?" I asked in worry.

"We go together for now on," She explained, sounding so sure about it. I gave her a small smile, seeing that she was still on my side when I was afraid that she wasn't.

"We can head to Venice after we hit Paris and lay low there for a while," Joe said to Andy in a suggestion, "So far it's worked well for us,"

I could tell this was the first step for us to move together as a group together, and although my trust in new people was still sore and not as deep as it should be, I was willing to attempt to do so now since I was back with the others.

Paris, France

I pushed open the front door of my apartment, walking in a hearing the others coming in after me. I was a bit intimated by the others coming to see where I was living, which was a small enough apartment to not have suspicious heads turn my way, and yet it felt a pinch too big for one person to stay in.

The living room was quant, a loveseat and chair that were mismatched and a shelf on the far wall with several books and texts in different languages catching dust. The kitchen was a bit smaller on the other side of the room, barely any countertop space and not a whole lot of appliances. The wide windows were on the lone end of the living room, the door there leading to my bedroom and my bathroom, the windows were barely open and bringing in some fresh air into the apartment.

"Nice digs," Nile said as we gathered in the living room.

"It's not too bad," I agreed, Joe was walking over to the shelf and looking at some of the books. Andy was looking at the structure of the room all together as Nile was gravitating towards the kitchen. Nicky walked over to the windows, peering out at the scenery below.

"How long have you been in here?" Andy asked as I walked over to my door that would lead to my bedroom.

"About 8 years," I answered, seeing Joe hold up one of the thicker books and raise his eyebrow at me.

"Early Piloting Mechanics?" he asked me in amusement. Nicky was chuckling as he was looking out of the window as Nile waltzed over to peer at the book too. Even Andy had a small smile,

"Light reading," I answered in a shrug, disappearing into my bedroom. My full-sized bed was against the brick wall on the other side of the room, a simple comforter and some pillows on the bed itself and a wooden dresser and a mirror placed on the top of the dresser. It was barely a bedroom, only the things that seemed like a decoration were things I found out in the alleyway that I wanted to use to touch up the place where I slept at night.

When I would move from one place to another, even back when I was with the others and traveling with them, I barely had anything for my own to keep. I couldn't keep anything big that was hard to take with, and yet the smaller things would pile up. But when I got this place, I found it to be a safe enough place to keep or awhile and then some, so anything that I would keep, I would bring it there.

I went over to the closet and grabbed one of my markers jackets with a massive hood, looking at the collar and seeing the secure face mack that I sewed into that part. A part of my life I knew I had to protect was my identity, which meant I would have to cover my face every once in a while when I would do something. I did fight street thugs in this jacket, caught some thieves in the act, and turned them into the authorities.

Needless to say, I was having some Robin Hood moments on my solo time here in Paris

"This is nice," I looked over to see Nicky walking into the bedroom, looking at the room itself and having a curious look in his eyes. I had to chuckle, seeing him give me a look with a tilt of his head.

"What?" he asked.

"You think this is nice," I commented, seeing a smirk from him as I walked over to sit at the edge of the bed, holding the jacket within my fingers as Nicky stood nearby.

"I've slept in worse places," He said back, "Ditches and graves, actually."

"Even that one time in when we slept in those farmhouses during the Great Plague,'" I said in a hum, Nicky having a small smile on his lips from the memory, then humming as he walked over to the window and looked out of the window there too, not saying anything for a moment or two. I watched him, seeing him he would carry himself and seem so gentle and quiet in times of chaos. Although it's not chaotic now, it felt like it would be soon.

"Must have been lonely for you to be here, alone," Nicky said to me, still looking out the window. I watched him carefully, shrugging.

"I was fine with it," I admitted, though I didn't sound convincing enough to see him roll his shoulders and look at me curiously.

"You sure?" he asked, sounding genuine about it. I gave him a look since it felt like we were going to have some kind of heart to heart now in my bedroom out in Paris. I finally stood up from my spot on the bed and walked over to him carefully, seeing him watch my eyes move as I threw on my jacket arm by arm.

"It was lonely at times," I confessed to him, "But…I don't know…I got used to it." I felt bad for saying it in that manner, but it was the reality of it all. I had to get used to doing things on my own and in comparison to being with the others in the group, mostly on and off for hundreds of years on end when we would go out on our own for only months on end. But this was different for me, and I think the others knew about it too.

Nicky hummed, saying nothing as he looked back out of the window at the view briefly.

"I woke up in this new life alone," I stated in between the both of us as Nicky was watching me while I was peering out the window and down at the couples that were walking hand and hand, not a care or worry in the world. A small sting of jealously was in the pit of my stomach, a sensation that I endured for decades and even hundreds of years on end.

"Maybe I'll be destined to be alone," I simply stated, sounding light about it. Even from the corner of my eye, I could see how Nicky was watching me with a hint of sadness on his face.

I had this talk with him before, and he knew about it: Nicky and Joe together. There was no sense of being plainly jealous of either one of them a tall, they both were destined to be together. In fact, for being together for a millennium and still acting as though they were fresh in their relationship was so rare and true that it made me swoon for them.

But on the other end of the coin, they were beyond lucky. They found each other on the battlefield as soon as they were in their new life, instantly, and they haven't been apart since. But that was too rare, and the rest of us were alone with the fact that being comrades or even in love was not possible. We were to live forever, but not everyone else. Bring in love was not going to be part of my life, and I had to deal with it.

"You're not alone," he reminded me, sounding just as sure as he would ever be about something like this. I had to give him a look now, seeing how he was looking at me in all seriousness, "I know it's not the same..not with what Joe and I have. But you are never alone, we're not meant to be alone in this life,"

Before I could even answer him or say something back, the sounds of the window shattering into pieces filled the air as I felt a searing singular shot of pain in my throat and I gasped out. No air entered.

The blood splattered on Nicky's face as well as on my clothes, my breath was instantly lost as I was staggering back. I grabbed my throat, feeling how not only there was a splattering amount of blood all over my throat. Secondly, there was a massive hole in my throat.

My coughed up blood and gasped for air as I fell backward onto the floor.

"Eleanor!" Nicky grabbed my arm and eased me down onto the ground, standing right next to me as threw more sets of feet running into the room. I was looking right up at the ceiling, black spots were dancing around my eyes as my vision was getting blurry. My hand was shaking as Nicky grasped my bloody fingers in his own.

"Sniper, get down!" Nicky said to the others as another shot was hard, hitting the opposite wall near the door into the bathroom. I could hear Andy, Nile, and Joe fell to the ground to not get hurt as Nicky was crouched over me and looking at me in the eyes with worry and shock, his hands framing my face as Joe was on the other side looking just as desperate too.

"Easy, easy," Joe said to me soothingly as I could feel the last bit of life slipping away from me and things were going dark, "It's alright,"

Things were slowly going to black.

When you die, there's a few moments of pure darkness and silence.

The first several times it happened to me back hundreds of years ago, I was petrified in thinking that this was really the end. I heard nothing, felt nothing, and it was almost like I was stuck in some kind of limbo. But after a few seconds, things were slowly coming back with my senses. First, it would be my hearing, then my touch on where I was, and lastly, my vision and breath. All I had to do was what, maybe trying to treat it as some kind fo reset button.

I woke up, Nicky and Joe giving me some space and away from my body as I was looking back up at the ceiling. Andy was over at the window, peering barely move the line of the window to see what just happened with her trained eyes as Nile was right next to the door hiding behind the door frame itself.

No more pain, no more searching search for air, but in fact, something was coming up through my throat. I gagged, rolling over to the side and throwing up the blood that was lodged in my throat and the stray bullet that was there. The bullet fell onto the floor in a clatter, having me cough up the rest of the blood that was stuck there.

"That hasn't happened in a fucking while," I groaned as I then got on my hands and knees, looking over at Andy and seeing her look back at me.

"The sniper was right across the street, fourth floor," She explained, having me roll my neck as I crawled over to the closet, reached in barely with my bloody fingers, and got my secret compartment door popped open. Grabbing my sets of daggers and my gun in its thigh hostler, I stood back up completely and placed my daggers within my pocket while I strapped my holster on my thigh.

I moved out of the bedroom and saw the others were watching me in a bit of shock from how I bounced back from being shot in the throat. I pulled out my gun and cocked it in one go, looking over at Andy mostly.

"Let's go get him."