Angela's car wasn't in the driveway when I pulled into the car port. I guessed she was still picking up Nathan and Jessica from school. I told her I'd try and change my shift to be able to start picking them up instead. It wasn't fair on her. She had to leave earlier in the morning than me, spend seven hours at work, then drive straight to school to pick up the kids. She might get there in time if the traffic wasn't bad, but most of the time it was. Road accidents were occurring in the city almost daily, clogging up the freeway and making it harder to go anywhere in Victoria. People were fed up with it. The government had promised a new freeway running through Melbourne almost two years ago, and still nothing changed. And the roads were getting busier and busier by the day. It wasn't fair on her at all. The school was only about ten minutes from where I worked, and if I had a better shift, I could pick the kids up at the end of the day.
I fumbled with the keys for a minute before letting myself into the house. It was an older house, and we had to do a lot of renovations when we first bought it. With Nathan only a year old and Jessica well on the way, it was the only option. But it was well worth it. I felt dehydrated in the summer heat, and I immediately went to the kitchen to find something. All we had was water and Diet Coke. I considered water at first, but I'd been drinking nothing but during the day, and I hadn't had any recently. Pouring myself a glass, I turned to the copy of the Herald Sun on the bench. The date read Friday, 11th of November 2016. The front headline showed only some AFL news, and having almost no knowledge of the sport, I turned through the pages. A small article near the end caught me.
Tensions are reportedly rising between the FBI, CIA, and Brotherhood of Assassins following the assassination of a wanted Abstergo hitman. The man was assassinated in plain view of the public, including children, in a cafe in New York. The cause of death has not been determined ,but witnesses say that the man fell sideways off his chair, jerking on the floor as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The FBI, following the incident, condemned the actions of the Assassin who acted on orders from the Brotherhood, saying "There were plenty of other ways to deal with him. He should have been arrested, not murdered. This isn't how we're meant to do things in this country."
The CIA, however, said in a statement yesterday "It's very tragic that this had to occur in a public place seen by small children, but it was essential in showing the public that supporters of Abstergo could very well we living among us in secret, and that we must be vigilant to flush them out."
The Assassins have existed in secret since the earliest human civilizations. While the full history of this once-secret group is unknown to the public, it is known that they have fought to protect scrapes of technology from an ancient race of beings from the remains of Abstergo, once a powerful and wealthy organisation now reduced to a group of wanted terrorists. Since revealing itself in 1996, the group has worked closely with governments and anti-terrorist organisations. THe partnership has caused the approval ratings of American president Barrack Obama and Prime Minister Tony Abbott to skyrocket, and support of the Assassins growing by the day.
I put the paper down and sighed, looking over at the mirror in front of the kitchen sink. My mind went back to that young guy from 15 years ago, with his hair hanging over his face, dressed in a white hooded jacket and black pants, blades strapped to his wrists. Then I looked in the mirror and saw a different person entirely. His hair was now combed back, and alarmingly showing a tiny patch of grey above his left ear. Instead of a white jacket and pants, this stranger wore suit pants, a white shirt and a tie. A nobody. Just one of those people you pass on the street, going about their boring lives.
I won't deny that I missed those days a little. Don't get me wrong, of course, having Nathan and Jessica in my life was great, and I couldn't have been married to a nicer woman. But sometimes I felt like I hadn't appreciated those days from before. That six years of fighting evil.
The rest of the team had returned to New York to hunt down Samuel Grove. That was the last I heard from them. My father moved down here as well. He did get to keep his hand, but he left as well. As for Keith and Julia, I felt bad about leaving them behind in the States. I heard from them occasionally, assuring me that the fight was going well and that everyone was doing fine.
We knew we were relatively safe when Angela and I moved here, but William Miles was kind enough to pull some strings and ensure that we'd be protected. It was the least he could do, he said. An agent from the Australian bureau came by daily to check on us. Other than that and my brother and sister, I heard nothing, until later that night.
Angela came home with Nathan and Jessica later during the day after I'd changed into jeans and a blue shirt. If you were thinking that she looked older than before, you were wrong. She looked almost exactly as she did 15 years ago, although there was something about here that was different. She seemed older, wiser, than before.
Nathan, our first child, was what I'd probably have been like if I'd gotten to have the experiences he had. His fair hung in a way similar to what I once had, and his hair was the same color. He was also athletically-built. However, his face was slightly fuller than mine used to be, since he had never had to search the gritty streets of L.A for food. He wore the light blue shirt and grey pants of his school, as well as black leather shoes.
Jessica was slightly heavier than Nathan, but not overweight. I was glad about that she never tried to starve herself so boys would like her. Her face was framed by reddish-brown hair which went down to her shoulders. She wore the blue and white checkered dress and blue spray jacket that the school required.
With them was a guest, who Nathan introduced.
"Dad, you remember Malory, right?" he said.
Malory was a girl Nathan and Jessica had met in kindergarten years ago. The three of them got along so well because they all had American parents who'd moved to Australia, but they had never seen their own country. She had Asia ancestry, and said that she was a Christian. Her hair was black, and shiny, and tied back in a ponytail, and her skin was slightly tanned from the Australian sun.
"How are you, Mal?" I greeted her, shaking her hand.
"Not bad, thanks," Malory replied.
"Ryan?" Angela interrupted, "Can I talk to you for a second?" The kids went into the entertainment room while we talked upstairs.
"What is it?" I asked, fearing bad news.
"Ethan's here," she replied, "William and George too. They want to come over for dinner tonight."
My heart skipped a beat.
"Wow, gr-great!" I got out.
"It is," Angela admitted, "But there's one problem. What do we tell Malory?"
I paused for a moment.
"Would there really be any danger to tell her the truth?" I questioned.
"Well, probably not, and her parents know who we are, but we can't be 100% certain it won't have negative consequences," Angela replied slowly.
I scratched my chin, thinking.
"We'll just tell her that we were Assassins," I finally suggested, "She doesn't need to know anything about what we did."
"Would she look at us differently?" Angela pondered aloud.
"Nonsense, you've heard her talk about Assassins. She's practically a fangirl."
"Ryan!" Angela hissed, punching me on the shoulder, but still having to stifle a laugh.
"Sound fair, then?" I asked.
"Okay, okay," she said, "I'll put dinner on."
The doorbell rang just as Angela pulled the Lasagna out of the oven. Angela set the dish down on the kitchen counter, then went into the hallway. I followed.
Ethan was first in. He hadn't changed much. His black hair was just as unkept as before, but greying very slightly near the ears. He wore, for some reason, skinny jeans, which he once said he hated, and a black shit, under which I could see his wrist blade.
"How are ya, brother?" he greeted me.
"Good seeing you too," I replied warmly, shaking his hand. There was something about him. Perhaps it was just the new feeling of meeting someone again after years. True, I'd spent four years away from my family, but this was different. 15 years was a long time ,after all. Or it could have been that he'd simply seen things he wouldn't forget. The "conflict" (it wasn't quite a war yet) had probably intensified over the decade after all.
Jones and, to my surprise, William Miles indeed came. Jones, or George, as he wanted me to call him now, looked only slightly older but William looked like a man in his sixties. His hair was greying, and he seemed more tired than when I'd last seen him. And his smile seemed somewhat... artificial. George explained it.
"We finally got his son's body back from the Templars," he explained, "Desmond. He ran away in the 90's and got captured by the Templars. A few Assassin's got him out two years ago, but he didn't make it."
"I'm sorry," was all I could say.
"Thank you," William replied, with a more genuine smile this time, "Things weren't great between us after he ran away. I held that grudge for a long time, but he died for the Order, and I'm proud of him for it."
The lasagne was excellent as always, and William seemed to be a bit happier after the meal.
"Dave and Vince wanted to come," he told me, "But we needed them back in New York."
"What's happening there?" I asked.
"Abstergo might be planning an offensive against us," Ethan explained, "They expanded into Nevada once they had California locked down, and there's rumors they're using the base at Groom Lake to mount an attack."
"Hold on a minute," Malory broke in, "You guys are-?"
"Assassins," I finished for her, "We're sorry we couldn't tell you before , but it's what your parents wanted."
A knock on the door ended the conversation temporarily. I got up before Angela could. Going into the hallway, I opened the door, wondering who would be knocking late at night.
"Dad?" I said, "I didn't know you where coming."
"William sent me a message," my father replied, "I couldn't stay away from a reunion."
His hand, separated by a scar, was attached and functioning as it did before. He wouldn't have needed it. It wasn't his blade arm, and he stayed with the Brotherhood for years before retiring.
"Charlie, how are you?" Angela asked.
"Not bad, thanks," Charlie replied, sitting down.
"How are things with the Brotherhood these days?" he asked.
"The Templars might be mounting an attack on New York," William said grimly, "There's been activity in Nevada for months, and unrest in Califonia is growing."
"We never got the state back, I take it?" Charlie asked.
"It never became a possibility," George replied, shrugging, "We've done okay without it, and we can still spy on them, but we couldn't rebuild our operation there if we tried."
"What about the old base?" I asked.
"It's useless," William told me, "The technology's outdated, and it would cost too much to refit the base. Parts of are buried too. We got a few weapons from it, but that place is only good for rusting now."
"So what's happening here?" George changed the subject, "You two been checking in on the bureau like I suggested?"
"Haven't lately," I replied, "Got busy with other things."
"What other things?" Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Uhh, let me see. Oh, there's my job, the kid's school supplies, the state election, the crappy state of the roads," I ticked off each item with a finger.
"Oh, that reminds me," George broke in, "I need to talk to you and Angela for a minute."
"Sure thing," I said. We both followed William and George out of the room and into my study upstairs. It was a small room, with a bookcase in the corner, a desk in front of the window overlooking the front yard, and a couch next to the door.
"So what's up?" I asked, taking a seat on the couch next to Angela.
"We've been having talks with the President and Prime Minister," William said grimly, "The Templars are planning an invasion of Australia."
"What?" Angela said in disbelief, "No, that's not possible."
"it is possible, and it's happening," George assured her, "Around six million trained killers under Abstergo's commands are being prepped to take over the country."
"Is it a ground attack?"
"Yes, and they're surrounding the country with a fleet larger than any in the world," William informed us.
"So what's the plan?" Angela asked.
"Most of Australia's troops are being pulled out of Iraq," George said, "But America can only put so many resources into defending the country, so they won't be coming until any kind of attack happens. But the problem is that Abstergo has an atomic bomb that they could easily drop on any city to cripple the country."
"And if that happens?"
"All out chaos," George said darkly, "Economic collapse, low resources, heavy fighting. it's gonna be bad if they come, but it'll be a disaster if they drop that bomb."
"So what do we do?"
"I need you both to rejoin the Order," William sad, "Now hold on a minute. I'm not asking you to return to the States, just to stay here as informants on any activity."
"Okay then," I said, "But what if they do come?"
"We'll get you out as quickly as possible," George assured us. It was a relief to hear, but I had to be sure.
"We'll be safe?" I asked, "ALl of us?"
"I give you my word, Ryan," William told me, "No harm will come to your family as long as we're watching. Malory's too."
"Thank you guys," Angela stated, "We'd be helpless otherwise."
"Don't mention it," William said, opening the door, But be careful. We've got a war on it's way."