Back, she was back in New York. The place that had created her, molded her into what she is now. The place of her first releases, the place she had started to protect the princesses. But she wasn't here to reminisce, no she was here for a purpose. She was here to learn about the Hydra and the Black Knight. They were dangerous, now even more so because another head had grown on the monster which was making it difficult to tell the difference of the real and the fakes.
She twitches, the seizing of her muscles painful now as they lock up. It was beginning to hurt and the crystals weren't helping anymore. She would need to get something stronger to take with it. The thought slides to the back of her befuddled mind, mixing into the chaos that was her world as she saw it. This place was a form of evil that she had never encountered. It would single you out and eat you, changing you into something twisted and dark; change you into the shell of who you used to be.
The princess was with the Hydra, the Black Knight nowhere to be found. Good, maybe he had left for good. Found her to be incorruptible. But then why leave the Hydra behind? No, the Knight was still around watching her. It just knew the Hydra would be enough to keep her at bay for the time being. She still didn't know its weakness. But her princess would be lured, lured oh so easily away from it. She just needed to time it right….
"Megan what's wrong? Alex do something stupid again?" Desmond questions and elbows Ezio who was trying to steal a bite of his food. Arabic, why did they have to eat Arabic? Malik and Altair were happy, munching away on things the rest had no desire to try let alone figure out what it was. The chilled monkey brains on the menu alone had nearly gotten the rest of them to jump up and leave. But trust the two have gotten things that they would somewhat recognize, like rice or beef or chicken, for the rest of them. But they had noticed at breakfast that something had happened between Megan and Alex.
For one, the girl was alone getting food with a faraway look in her eyes and wasn't paying any attention to the food she had been getting. By the time they had gotten down there she had apparently burned three waffles and was well on her way to adding a forth to the trash bin. Desmond took the waffle instead while Shaun got her coffee and Leo got her cereal with milk. Malik and Ezio had directed her to a seat, with her acting as a marionette and they were the string masters. She ate robotically at first, not even paying attention to what it was she was eating until Altair had stopped her repetitive motion with a dark look on his face. She seemed to wake up and smile at them, a false one they could easily see through but they said nothing about it. They had all walked around, Desmond now acting as tour guide because of Alex having disappeared or refused to come out of the room. They didn't know which.
But she had once more returned to the blank look in her eyes. The way she looked was wrong, like she hadn't slept any that night. The dark rings under her eyes were back and with a vengeance. They would hear her sigh every so often, a soft exhale long and low, and her shoulders would drop just a little more. It was now at this point that they got worried and decided that emotional outbursts be damned, they needed to know if they were going to have to find a way of killing the man. Even Connor found himself interested and his own thoughts flowing with the groups, something that surprised him since he didn't know any of them very well. Hell, she normally dressed well when they knew they were going out and here she was in frumpy jeans, oversize shirt she must have taken from Alex, and a zip up gray hoodie that was lying beside her since the restaurant was insanely warm.
Megan jerks in surprise, eyes gaining back some of the light they had lost since the day before. Her brows furrow and the orbs fall back down to the food she had been about to eat. She drops it quickly, grabbing the napkin provided to wipe off her hands. "It's nothing." She mumbles back to him, tucking a strand of hair that had fallen out of the lazy bun she made earlier with a pen back behind her ear. The words were sharp and easily told them not to ask any more questions. They look at one another and the theoretical hand basket was secured so they might as well leap head first.
"Bullshit." Altair bites out, a snort following afterwards. Megan's eyes snap up and widen. Very few times had she heard the man curse and that was normally something that was brought on by Ezio and Des. This was the first time she had ever made him angry enough to cuss. She couldn't help the small flinch that followed afterwards, a jerk-knee reaction to something like that. Her father had been like Altair, quiet and ever present. A steady shadow of warmth and understanding, only thrice had she ever made the man curse. The first had been when she had signed on to be a writer without her parents knowing. The second time had been when she had told them she was moving up to Washington alone. The third had been when she had come down to see her niece just before they all died, she had gotten into an argument about how she wouldn't be able to make the trip down until after her manuscript had been sent in. So to hear someone she held in such a high regard cuss, it showed just how much her silence was affecting them.
She holds her head high for a few moments before dropping and she sighs. "I told Alex I love him last night. He didn't react well…"
Rage begins to build in each of them. When she doesn't elaborate on it Leo, being the calmest in the group surprisingly, decides to question her to get her to give a little more information. "What do you mean he didn't react well?"
She takes a deep breath, holds it in momentarily, and then exhales. "You guys really don't what to know." She waves her hands infront of her face, a forced smile on her face. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
"We are asking because we do want to know. We do worry about you, so anything that is making you upset we want to help you with." Ezio remarks with a gentle look on his face and taking her hands in his, patting them gently. She blinks a few times, her face blank, before a true smile breaks out over her face. She nods once then sees a waiter bringing out monkey brains. When horror breaks out over her face the rest follow and see the same thing.
Desmond waves at a waiter like he had Tourette's. "Check please!"
"Oh my- that was so gross." Megan says, bouncing slightly while grimacing. Malik beside her scoffs.
"You have never tried it so how would you know." Megan turns to him her face showing her displeasure.
"And I am never going to."
Altair rolls his eyes hunching his shoulders as a gust of wind hits their group that had everyone but Megan (who was sandwiched between Ezio and Malik) and Connor doing the same. Megan pulls Ezio closer, clutching onto his arm.
"About the Alex thing, what all happened?" Shaun questions as he quicken his pace to be even with the girl. She looks at him slightly confused before her good mood falls.
"Oh, yeah…" She remains quiet for a minute thinking over her words. "Well we were sitting there-"
"We don't need this image thank you." Desmond moans out behind her and she kicks him in the shin without messing up her steps. He gives a grunt of pain and thumps the back of her head in retaliation.
"We were sitting there and I just couldn't stop it from coming out. He looked surprised at first and then the wall, that emotional wall all of you had at first, came out. He stared for a minute or two and then turned over without saying anything to me. And then this morning when I woke up, he wasn't there. And I don't know how to get a hold of him. I don't know if I may have brought up something or if he doesn't understand or-or-"
"Calmati, calmati. You must remember, he has no memory of being a normal person." Ezio says, once more patting her but on her head this time. She gives him a look at first in response to the patting but takes a deep calming breathe anyways.
"Yeah, I guess I forget sometimes. It's just that he can just seem so normal." She says to them, her tone becoming frustrated at the end. "I don't know if I'll ever understand men."
"Hey, we're not that hard to take care of!" Desmond says. "All you have to do is give us food and sports and we're pretty much good to go."
Megan scoffs as they turn the corner. Somehow they were in Times Square but otherwise paid no mind as they were deep in conversation. "Yeah, pretty much like a pet; like a dog or something." Desmond thumps the back of her head once more, which she rubs. "Ok, that one hurt."
He shrugs and ruffles her hair affectionately. "So he wasn't there this morning when you woke up?"
"No, this isn't unusual mind you. But his side of the bed was cold so that meant he hadn't been there in a while. His body temperature is atleast twice what y'alls is so the residual heat tends to linger for some time." She answers.
"Front desk?" Leo questions her, looking in the windows they pass. She shakes her head no.
"Wonder where he could have gone." Altair mumbles to himself. Megan looks around at their group.
"Uh, where'd our Native go?"
Connor was surprised, which was hard to do. This strange woman he had notice earlier following them seemed to know where she was going. While this wasn't the first time he had been to New York, it was nothing like the New York he knew. She was weaving in and out of alleys, behind dumpsters, and anything she could to get away from him. He had caught a quick glimpse of her when he noticed; disgustingly dirty hair (even to him it was bad), ratty clothes, her face seemed gaunt and pale and she even seemed old though her movements belied a younger soul. Finally he gives up, stopping at a four way intersection of alleys. He heads down one that the noise seemed loudest. Once out and on the sidewalk, he found that he didn't know where he was.
He makes a displeased noise, picks a direction, and goes with the flow of people. And damn, could they move quickly.
Close, that was close. The new head on the Hydra noticed her. She needed to hide better. But she learned something. The Black Knight and her princess were arguing. She didn't what about but they were. This was a good opening. But the Hydra, the damn Hydra was still there around her. It was getting harder to find openings, find out information. But she had when she got into the princesses home, had gone through everything and found out that she was making plans for something, pooling her money into a single account.
She just didn't know why…
Ok, now Megan was getting worried. At first they had just assumed the Native had gotten distracted and wondered into a store but after having waited for almost thirty minutes in one spot and no sign of the dark skinned man, they realized that something else must have happened. Megan, Shaun, Leo and Desmond (who only went along to lead them back to the hotel and left as soon as they saw it) calmly walked in and hopped into the elevator. Once the doors shut did Megan start fidgeting, shifting her weight from one foot to another as she watch the numbers climb slowly up to their floor.
"I can't believe we lost him."
"He's an Assassin. He'll be fine Megan." The woman shoots him a dirty look.
"He's from the Colonial times. He will not be 'fine'." Leo puts his hand on her shoulders.
"Calmati. He is an Assassin. They adapt, they survive. He did live out in the woods for several months before we even knew he was around remember?" She nods in agreement with a sigh.
"It's just that… times are different. He didn't have a good reaction when we took him to the store the first time and I can only think of that at about ten times worse." She furrows her brows. "Not to mention all the prostitutes, drug dealers, pimps, ya know. I don't want to see on the news that a Native American decided he wanted to liberate people and got killed for it. Guns then and guns now are two completely different things; bullets, styles, accuracy have all been improved. None of you could survive a bullet through the heart, him included."
Leonardo turns to Shaun as the bell dings to tell them they had arrived at their floor. "She has a valid point." He says to the Brit as they exit when the doors open.
"Des gave you the key to their room right?" She asks him and he scoffs while holding up the card key. She nods in the direction of the room. "You and Leo go and check and see if he's there. Imma see if Alex is in our room. He knows this city better than we do. That and he's like a blood hound."
Both men nod and go into the room. Megan stands outside of her room, takes a deep breath and unlocks the door and goes inside. Lying on the bed was Alex who sits up quickly once he sees the worried but slightly relieved expression on her face.
"What happened?"
"We, uh, kind of lost Connor." He raises an eyebrow.
"How? And when?"
"He must have wandered off and we don't know when exactly. Maybe an hour ago." She knew her awkwardness about the situation from last night was getting to her but she needed to get past it and find their errant Native. Once more she had to think that she had adopted overgrown children, especially now. Her heart was racing and she was getting a headache from her blood pressure's rising levels. She massages her temples for a reprieve of tension but it doesn't help. Alex gets off the bed, crosses the floor, and takes both her hands in his. She looks up at him.
"Don't worry, we'll find him." He gives a soft smile to her.
"I can't help but worry."
"They're Assassins not children."
"Yeah, Assassins from by-gone eras." Alex rolls his eyes, grabs his jacket and drapes it over her shoulders, then leads her out of the room.
Somehow he had made someone mad. They chased him for several blocks and then promptly gave up once they couldn't find him. Currently Connor was climbing the metal stairs on the side of a building so that he could get his bearings. But once he reached the roof he found that all he could see was more buildings, taller or shorter than the one he was on. He groans and begins to climb further up.
"Anything?" Megan asks when they meet up infront of the hotel nearly three hours later. All of the men looked grimy and dirty and tired but shake their heads in the negative. Megan begins to chew on her bottom lip, eyes going to the rooftops. She stops, freezing in place. "The roofs…" She mumbles, mind going over the things that Altair and Ezio had told her. She looks back at them. "The roofs! You two told me that you go to the rooftops to case out your targets. Do you also do it to get away or find out where you are?" Both assassins look at one another then back to her with a nod of agreement. "Maybe Connor does that too. Have you guys checked any of the rooftops?"
"That's actually a good idea…" Malik says in surprise. Why they hadn't thought of it he was sure. Alex taps Megan on the shoulder and they all disperse with a new mission at hand. Alex takes her into an alley.
She looks up at the fire escape. "I hate stairs…" Alex chuckles at her mumbled words and pulls her into his arms, holding her like a groom would a bride. She blinks several times. "Uh Ale- AHHH!" was all she managed to get out before he started to run up the side of the building. She could barely hear the crunch of the brick and mortar over the rush of wind in her ears. Her eyes stung and wept from the force of the air against the orbs and she quickly closed her eyes to stave off the effect it had on her. She felt the rumble of his laughter in his chest when her scream choked off. The pressure of changing altitudes so quickly left her somewhat deaf. And just as quickly as he took off he stopped, setting her feet down first but not letting go of her. She clutches at his hoodie with one hand while wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her own hoodie with the other. Once she was sure no more moisture would leak out, she cracks open an eye to give him her best glare. He says something to her but all she caught was a garbled mess.
She holds up her hand, pointer finger the only finger extended, and plugs her nose. She tries to exhale as hard as possible and feels her ears pop several times and then her world was filled once more with noise. "Much better. What were you saying?"
"Was saying that it was a good idea, the rooftops." He answers after a moment. She nods and walks to the edge of the roof to look over. They were many stories up and her stomach does a few unhappy flips at the height. "Uh, about last night…"
Megan turns back to him.
Alex runs his hand through his hair under his hood and makes a frustrated noise. Megan goes back over to him. "It's ok. You don't have to say anything." When he looks down at him she gives him a soft smile.
"You deserve a response." And then he pulls her flush against him and his lips crash down on hers, showing her what he was trying to say to her. When they finally break apart for breathe, Megan knew what he was trying to tell her: That he felt the same way she did. She gives him a breathless smile which he returns somewhat, eyes darting around. "Don't think he's been here." Megan laughs.
"Finally…" Mumbles Connor when he sees the hotel they were staying in after what felt like countless hours of looking for anything familiar. Standing infront of the building was the group of people he had come with. Megan looked frantic as they talked and looked around. Altair points in his direction and they all look over. Joy spreads over the girl's face as she sees him standing out in the sea of people. The group rushes over, each dirty with muck from where they had been looking, and stop right infront of him. Desmond looks him up and down and snorts.
"You don't look much better than the rest of us do."
"Yes, I would agree we all need a bath at the moment." Shaun says, pulling his glasses off to look at them. He sighs and puts them back on. Malik, Altair, Ezio, and Leonardo nod in agreement, the latter two looking down at their attire in disgust.
"Showers then call in for take-out?" Megan suggests, looking at each of them. She receives both nods and shrugs of agreement. She takes both Alex and Connor's hands in hers and leads the way back into the building. The staff gives them quite grossed out and disdained looks at the way they looked. Once they were packed back into the elevator and their floor number punched in, Megan turns to Connor with an unreadable expression on her face.
"What were you thinking, going off on your own?" She chides, her tone surprising him and also reminding him of a mother scolding a child. He puffs up, his mood turning sour.
"I am not a child. I will do as I please." This time it was the rest of them who were surprised. They had just spent several hours looking for him.
"I know you aren't a child. But you don't know the dangers of this time like we do." She motions to Desmond, Shaun, Alex, and herself. He crosses his arms over his chest.
"There is little that I cannot handle."
The elevator dings 4 floors below their floor and the door opens and three people go as if to join them. Upon seeing that the elevator was full they step back and as the doors close grumble about having to wait for the next one. "That may be true in your time but this is another all-together." Megan says putting her hands on her hips.
He scoffs. "I have been through much far more dangerous."
Megan's eyes narrow at being called girl. "You know what, we're gunna watch Law & Order: SVU and then you tell me if you could handle it." And the elevator dings again, this time on the correct floor. The men, except Connor, release a groan.
"If he gets hooked on that show, you're getting a noogie to end all noogies." Desmond points at her as they exit and return to their rooms. She rolls her eyes and waves his threat off, the door closing behind her.
"If he tries to noogie you, he's getting stuck on the top the Empire State Building upside down." Alex says pulling off his hoodie then shirt. He turns around when he hears a dull thump and finds she was leaning against the door, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Megan?"
Her eyes go to him, she blinks twice, and then smiles. "Sorry, was just thinking over what could have possessed him to just wander off." She shrugs and takes off his jacket and her own hoodie.
"Is that one of my shirts?"
She grins, pulling at the bottom of the shirt. "And if it is?" He gives her a feral smile, stalking closer to her and then chases her into the bathroom.
"Did you two have fun in your shower?" Desmond questions, a perverted grin on his face as Megan blushes. Alex, on the other hand, reaches over and cuffs him on the head. The rest, save Connor, burst out laughing as the youngest Assassin yelps and rubs his abused cranium.
"You know, I don't want scrambled eggs for a brain."
"Then learn to keep your mouth shut." Altair says, pointing his fork at him. Chinese was for dinner and the older Assassins were having to use regular utensils after they failed rather spectacularly with chopsticks. Megan chews on broccoli from her beef and broccoli, nodding in agreement. Her attention returns to the show they were watching, Benson and Stabler talking to the A.D.A. After finally getting Connor to tell them that he had been following some woman who had been spying on them for several minutes that he had noticed. Megan then had to explain that she may have been wanting to rob them but got scared off when he went after her. But now things were getting back to some sort of normal, if her life could be called that.
Alright another chapter out! I did have a rant at first at the beginning of this chapter because of reading the reviews on moirabbs story Parting Ways. There was one reviewer in particular that had riled me up. She kept going on about moirabbs story being Mary-Sue and just being mean. I then went onto her page and found myself getting more and more annoyed. Her mission is to clean up by using the report story button on every story she didn't like. Childish. -sigh-
But anyways, I wanna thank any one who reviews!
Raychaell: I am so happy you find this story beautiful and brilliant. Oh! And here. -hands over sunglasses- Just incase!
Zorro: Thank you for your wonderful reviews! Its always great to read them. And thank you for talking to me on skype!
I just want everyone to know that flamers will be ignored and the flames used for a bonfire for when I go hunting with my cousin. In other words, they will not faze me. Nor will any attempts to get me to remove my story. You have been warned.
I do like to talk to anyone so freely review, pm, e-mail, tweet, tumblr, or skype me. All information is on my homepage so just click my name at the top of this chapter!