Hey ya'll! I just want to start by saying I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. I hope this chapter is worth the wait. Let me know what ya'll think!
Connor POV
I literally left the room for less than five minutes, but I open the door to find Father out of bed. Again. It has only been a couple days since he awoke, and the man is shaving? It wasn't that long ago he couldn't even feed himself.
"Do you honestly need babysat every second?" I ask.
"I'm sick and tired of laying in bed! I feel fine!" he replies.
"You are not fine, however. Need I remind you that thinking you were fine and acting normal before being fully recovered is what got you poisoned in the first place?"
"Oh, thank you so much. I forgot all about that."
"So…?" He rolls his eyes.
"You worry too much."
"Well I apologize for not wanting you dead."
"Has anyone ever died shaving?" I roll my eyes right back.
"Whatever. I don't care. Do what you want." I turn to leave.
"Connor." I stop and look at him.
"What?"
"Don't be upset, I'm just so restless. Besides, the doctor said I'm okay now."
"You know I worry about you. You have not been conscious even a full week, and I just do not want you getting hurt again."
"I know. Which is why you won't like my plans for the day."
"Oh?"
"Charles and I are going to go question a Poisonstar we've captured."
"I am coming with you, then."
"I guessed you'd want to."
"Good. I will go get ready."
Haytham POV
"Yes, Mentor. What he said checks out. There's an old abandoned fort just outside of Boston that used to belong to the British. That's where they're hiding out at," I hear someone say to Connor as I round the corner.
In front of my son stands a shorter man, yet equal in build to Connor. He wears a grey robe, and like all the other Assassins, his face is hidden by a hood. I can see he has large features and a beard that's braided, but little else. I stop beside my son and cross my hands behind my back. I pretend not to notice the nervous gaze the Assassin in grey casts my way.
"Excellent. You did well. I will handle this from here," Connor says. The Assassin nods to Connor, and then to me. He then leaves. "I'm guessing you heard?"
"Yes. When do we go?" I reply.
"We?"
"I'm coming with you."
"That's unnecessary."
"It's perfectly necessary. We don't know what we're up against, and I'd rather you didn't go in there alone until we do. In fact, I think we should bring Charles and Miss Cooper."
"What if it's a simple task? Or they've cleared the place out?"
"Or what if you're overwhelmed because, as usual, you're so worried about listening to what I have to say that you go in alone?" He rolls his eyes.
"Fine. If you insist."
"I do. Also, I'd like to get familiar with Miss Cooper, and I think it would be beneficial to you to get accustomed to Charles."
"What is your point?"
"We ought to have them over this evening. We can have dinner and get accustomed to one another, then discuss plans for tomorrow."
"Well… okay. I've never done anything like this before though."
"Well, there's a first time for everything. If you'll send word to Miss Cooper, then I will to Charles. We can plan for seven."
"Okay."
"Great." I pat him on the shoulder before leaving to contact Charles.
Several hours later, Connor and I are making the finishing touches to dinner. Eleanor is out of town for vacation, but I can hold my own in the kitchen. I prepared some steak, potatoes, and corn for dinner. I nod at my work in satisfaction as I hear the door opening. That must be Charles, he always enters without knocking.
"Evening, Haytham," he says as he joins us.
"Good evening, Charles," I reply.
"Connor."
"Lee," Connor replies.
"You two better be civil tonight. No arguing, you hear?" I say.
"Yes, sir," Charles says.
"Yeah, yeah," Connor says, rolling his eyes. There's a loud knock on the front door. "I'll get it."
Connor exits the room and opens it. I hear him warmly greet Miss Cooper, and then the two talk quietly for a few moments. Finally, they both enter the kitchen.
"I know you've met my father, but have you met Lee yet?" Connor asks.
"Not formally. He was there when we brought the Poisonstar to check your father, but that's the only time I've seen him," Miss Cooper says.
"Well, then this is Charles Lee. Lee, this is Daisy Cooper." Charles extends his hand, and after glancing at Connor, Miss Cooper shakes it.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Cooper," Charles says.
"Likewise," she replies, releasing his hand. "Good evening, Mister Kenway."
"To you as well, Miss Cooper," I reply.
"I wanted to apologize to you."
"Me? For what?"
"The way I behaved around you the last couple times we've interacted. I did not mean to be so cold."
"No, don't worry about it. You were nervous and had every right to be. I'm sure I have something of a reputation amongst you Assassins." She smiles slightly.
"You do, but you're not near as intimidating as I expected." I tilt my head.
"Is that a compliment or an insult?"
"She meant it as a compliment, Father," Connor says.
"Why? Do you take pleasure in being intimidating?" she asks, her smile growing.
"It has its moments of usefulness."
"Don't let him lie to you, he loves it," Connor says.
"I do not."
"Of course you don't."
"I don't!" Connor chuckles.
"I'm kidding, no need to get so defensive."
"Although, I would believe it if you did," Miss Cooper says with the hint of a smile. I chuckle.
"Truth be told, I'm glad you aren't so nervous anymore. Wouldn't do me much good if the Assassins still fear me. Anyway, won't you take a seat?" She and Charles sit.
"Sit, Father, I'll grab the food," Connor says.
"Connor—"
"Sit! I got it!" I raise my hands.
"Okay, okay!" I sit down. Connor places the food on the table, then joins us.
"So, how are you feeling, Mister Kenway?" Miss Cooper asks as we begin eating.
"I'm fine. Plus, my shoulder is completely healed."
"That's good news. Maybe now Connor won't have a panic attack every time you move." I chuckle, but Connor frowns.
"I'm so sorry about caring about my father," he says, rolling his eyes.
"Quite frankly, I think Connor had right to worry," Charles says. I raise my eyebrows. Did he just take Connor's side?
"Thank you, Charles. At least someone understands."
"Anyway, enough about that. Miss Cooper, if you don't mind me asking, what made you join the Brotherhood?" I say.
"My father was an Assassin overseas. A pretty good one too, from the way I hear it. He trained me since I was little, though I didn't realize my destiny until I was almost Connor's age," Miss Cooper replies.
"She came to us a few years ago and offered to help me train recruits. Between the two of us, I'd say we've grown well," Connor adds before taking a bite of his steak.
"I was an Assassin in England for a while, you see. I heard the Brotherhood was deprived here, so I came to help."
"Were you raised there?" I ask.
"In England? Not exactly. My father worked kind of internationally, so we travelled a lot when I was growing up. Not that I'm complaining, since I got to see much of the world in my youth. Not many can say the same."
"I wish to travel sometime, maybe when being an Assassin is less demanding. Where was your favorite place?" Connor asks.
"Honestly, England. That's why I worked there for so long before moving here."
"And you came in the middle of the war?" Charles asks.
"Well, I agreed with the Colonists' cause, plus I knew the Brotherhood needed help."
"Well, I must admit I am impressed so far with how many of you there are. When Connor and I worked together before, he made it seem like he was alone," I say before taking a drink of my tea.
"That was the idea," he replies. I glance at Connor, and he peeks at me from under his hood.
"Makes sense, I suppose. Oh, and Connor?"
"Hm?"
"Would you take the hood off?" He sighs but complies.
"You're as bad as Achilles."
"Well, I think one of the few things we agree on is that it's rude to wear those hoods of yours at the table." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Miss Cooper removing her hood.
"I apologize, Mister Kenway. I did not mean to disrespect," she says. I smile at her.
"No need to apologize."
Now that her hood is off, I can see her hair is grey and light brown streaked. She has it in a braided bun at the base of her head. Now that I can see all of her face, her strong features show better. She has a few scars here and there, but her expression is a warm and friendly one.
I glance away, realizing my eyes lingered a moment too long. She is pretty, but that's no excuse.
"Well, it's getting rather late. I should be headed out. When and where are we meeting?" Charles asks. We discuss our plans for tomorrow. Once it's settled, he leaves.
"I should get going too," Daisy says.
"Okay. Goodnight, Daisy," Connor says.
"Goodnight, boss. Thank you for having me over, Mister Kenway."
"Of course. It was a pleasure getting to know you, Miss Cooper," I reply. She smiles.
"Next time, you have to tell me your life story." I smile back.
"If I have to."
"You do." I chuckle.
"Yes, ma'am." She rolls her eyes, but a smile still lingers.
"See you tomorrow, boys."
"Have a good night."
"You as well." With that, she shows herself out.
"Wow, you two really hit it off, didn't you?" Connor says. I get up and begin cleaning, and he helps.
"I don't know, she was pleasant I suppose," I say.
"You guys were kind of joking around, is all."
"I'm just trying to not be intimidating, really. She claims she doesn't think I am, but I can read body language. When she first met me, she wouldn't even look at me. To say nothing of the fact that she barely breathed."
"That is odd. I would not have expected her to be so nervous."
"Why is that?"
"Well, partly because she's always so… strong, I guess is the best word. I've never seen her afraid of anything. But I've been trying to talk you up around the Assassins." I pause and raise my eyebrows.
"You have?"
"Yeah."
"Will I be able to live up to their expectations?"
"Of course. I just told them the truth." I scoff and continue cleaning.
"The truth is hardly 'talking me up,' Connor."
"You are a good man, Father. You just are good at what you do, and it makes you frightening to those who are or, in our case, have been a foe. I just want to humanize you."
"Humanize me? What do you mean by that?"
"Just that it's hard to think of your enemy as human instead of just a threat. But you are not the enemy, not anymore. And I want them to understand that you aren't so different from anyone else."
"I see." He leans against the counter as we finish cleaning up.
"I meant every word I've said to them about you. You are a good person." I smile and pat his shoulder.
"I'm glad you think so." He smiles too.
"With that said, you should go get some rest. Since tomorrow will be such a big day, you need your energy." His smile grows. "After all, you're of little use to me dead." I chuckle and shake my head. The boy said that phrase more than once before our fight, and I now realize it was an attempt at affection all along.
"Fine. I will see you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Father."
"Goodnight, son." I pat his shoulder and go to my room. When I go to bed, the exhaustion hits, and I find myself falling asleep almost instantly.
Haytham POV
"Connor, the fort's captain is over there. You know, the opposite direction of where you're trying to go," I say, growing exasperated. He and I have argued about exactly everything since the second we both got up this morning, and quite frankly he's wearing on my patience.
"Well, all knowing one, while you're so consumed with trying to take the lead, there is useful information about plans this way. We need to go get them," Connor replies.
"How about we split up, since you two can clearly agree on nothing," Miss Cooper suggests.
"That is a wonderful idea. Come, Charles," I say.
"Actually, I was thinking maybe Connor and Charles should go together."
"Why? We all know they can't get along. Especially since Connor is in such an agreeable mood today." Connor rolls his eyes.
"That's my point, if this truce will work, they're gonna have to get over it. It can't be solely balanced on the relationship between the two of you, you know. I just think maybe being forced to rely on each other will ease some tension."
"As eager as I am to split up, so I don't have to deal with Father, I am by no means behind this idea," Connor says.
"You know you are going to have to get over how you feel about Charles if this is going to last, Connor."
"I must admit, I see her point," I say. Connor scoffs.
"Please, you only want us to go together because you're mad at me,"
"No, I am not so childish to force you into anything because I'm mad at you. I simply think that it would be beneficial if you and Charles learn to get along. Plus, Miss Cooper and I should work together some as well."
"Easy for you to say that, you two can actually stand each other."
"For the love of…" Miss Cooper says. "Do you have a better idea?"
"I would rather work with you."
"Do you not understand what I'm trying to do here? We need to quit breaking off into teams of Assassin and Templar and learn to work together. You can either work with your father or Mister Lee." He rolls his eyes.
"I understand exactly what you're trying to do. I just do not like it."
"Why? Wasn't this truce your idea in the first place?"
"It was, but we all know how I feel about Lee."
"Connor. Go with Charles," I say.
"Why?"
"Because I said so! Now go!" He growls.
"Come on, Lee." He turns and storms away, Charles on his tail. I sigh.
"That boy…"
"I hope they're okay together," Miss Cooper says.
"They'll be fine. I think having some space from me will calm him down." We begin walking.
"I can't believe 'because I said so' works on Connor." I glance at her, and she's grinning.
"Only sometimes. I think he just grew tired of arguing." She shrugs.
After some investigating, we discover the location of the fort's leader. This isn't really a job for two people as skilled as we are, though. We'll just have to go and kill him, then be gone. It will be simple.
Or so I thought.
We are getting quite a bit of resistance. The fort's captain is locked up in what I assume to be his quarters and surrounded by guards. The only way to get in is direct entry, which means we must fight the ten or so men guarding. Of course, that means everyone else's attention has been drawn to us as well.
On the plus side, if we're fighting everyone, Connor and Charles should have no problem finding those plans he mentioned. Then again, they can't do much eavesdropping with all this fighting. I truly hate to have this whole thing go to waste, especially with how little we know about the Poisonstars.
An arrow narrowly misses my face, digging into the skull of a guard that was coming up behind me. I give Miss Cooper a grateful nod, then return the favor by shooting someone about to stab her. Within a second, she moves on and stabs three people consecutively, and I get momentarily distracted with the grace of her attack. If all the Assassins fight as well as she and Connor, I will benefit greatly from this little team up of ours.
"Haytham, behind you! Duck!" she shouts. I instinctively comply, narrowly avoiding an ax taking my head off. "Get your head in the game before someone chops it off," she adds.
"It is in the game," I reply, countering an attack.
"Sure, I believe the Grand Master can't do any better than that."
"Better than what?"
"I just saved your ass twice."
"Please, you did not. I could take them all myself." I notice a smirk on her face.
"I've killed more."
"Oh, is this a contest, then?"
"It would be barbaric to compete who could kill the most." I roll on the ground and stab a guard from behind. My pride isn't too large to take notes on Connor's fighting. When I stand up, I'm right beside Miss Cooper. "Loser buys drinks." I laugh.
"I hope you're ready to buy me drinks, then." She laughs too, and I find myself grinning, even as I battle guard after guard.
I kill one final person, then look around. Everyone is dead, and it appears Miss Cooper took my fight with the brute as a chance to talk to the captain. I enter the small room that he was hiding in just in time to see her stab him. She stands up and faces me, wiping her brow.
"They've doubled in numbers over the past month, though he says they've been growing under our noses for years. They apparently plan to attack in two months, and they're already preparing for war. The weapons here are just the tip of the iceberg. He did give me the names of weapons dealers and, big shock, most of them also served the British," she says.
"Good work," I reply. "Let's find the others and see if they haven't killed each other yet."
"Good plan." She slips out the door, patting my arm as she passes. I follow her out, and we head back to where we split up. I glance at her, seeing her try to hide a grin.
"What?"
"Nothing." Her grin grows.
"Seriously, is something funny?"
"Your fighting, for one."
"Excuse me, I think I won."
"No way, I definitely beat you."
"I took out at least two more guys than you!"
"Untrue. Besides, our target counted as three."
"We never agreed to that!"
"Isn't it a given that the target counts as extra?"
"It's only one life! Besides, it's cheating to make up rules after the fact."
"I already made it up, I just forgot to mention."
"Oh, no you don't! You cannot do that. You're just mad that I won. You, Miss Cooper, are in denial."
"I am not!"
"You are too."
"Nope."
"Um, yes." She grins even bigger, and I find my own smile growing.
"Fine. Truce?"
"Okay, we can call it even. But I want a rematch."
"You're on!"
"Are you two finished?" Connor asks from behind. I turn to face him. I realize that while I am in a significantly better mood, his seems to have only gotten worse.
"Ah, there you two are. Did you find the plans?" I ask.
"Yeah, and we even eavesdropped on some good information. That is, until you two attracted everyone's attention. So Charles and I decided to take the opportunity to sabotage all we could. This place and all the weapons here are now useless."
"Except, of course, what we decided to confiscate," Charles adds. Connor smirks.
"They have some pretty advanced weapons. We decided it would be so wrong to let it all go to waste."
"Fine, no harm in it," I say.
"So, were you two successful?"
"For sure. I got some good information we can use," Miss Cooper says.
"Good. I hope your teamwork was better than ours." I frown.
"It sounds like you did fine," I say.
"Yeah, besides all the bickering."
"Why can't you two get along?"
"We tried, honest. But we just cannot stand each other."
"You both need to learn a better way. I intend for this truce to last, and to do so the Mentor cannot be constantly butting heads with my second in command, can you?"
"Look, we understand. And you're completely right. But…"
"I mean, have we ever even been in the same room without arguing?" Charles says as if finishing Connor's trail of thought.
"You were fine last night," I say. They exchange a glance.
"To be fair, you and Daisy did most of the talking," Connor says, looking back at me.
"Look, I just really would like the two of you to work out your differences. I wish to see you get along. Can you at least behave yourselves for my sake?"
"I'll try," Connor says, looking down at his feet. Why is he doing that so much lately? He reminds me of a child being caught stealing dessert before dinner.
"Charles?"
"Yes, sir," Charles says.
"Good. Now that that's settled, let's move on. Come now." I turn and begin walking, not waiting for them to follow but hearing their footsteps all the same.
"Where are we going next? What do you intend?" Connor asks, catching up to walk beside me.
"For now, nothing. We've done enough work for one day, I'd say."
"But there's still a few hours before sunset. We could easily take advantage of what we've gathered today and get something else accomplished."
"It's getting late. I'm hungry, and there's plenty to do tomorrow. Besides, we could still use some more investigating before we plan anything major. I'm sure you've got some Assassins you could send to investigate. Oh, and I'll even send some of my own men to work with them, since we shouldn't be the only ones working together." Connor opens his mouth to argue, but them stops.
"That… is actually a really good idea."
"Duh. I always have good ideas." He rolls his eyes. "Besides, I think we all earned some relaxation."
"What did you have in mind?"
"I was all prepared to go for drinks, so I see no point in not going."
"You know I do not drink. And quite frankly, I don't wish to take care of you when you're drunk again."
"I won't get drunk. Anyway, you will drink tonight."
"No way."
"I'll even buy your drinks."
"Not. Happening."
"Fine, I get it. You're scared of being a lightweight."
"I am not scared of anything."
"No, it's fine. I will not force you. Charles, Miss Cooper, and I will go without you."
"Fine, I will drink one cup of alcohol." I grin.
"That's my boy."
"I am going to assign some Assassins to the investigations, then I will meet you at a tavern."
"Okay. We'll send some Templars to help. Meet me at the Green Dragon."
"You do frequent that place, don't you?"
"I do."
"Okay. See you there." With that, we split up.