"Try to avoid putting too much power into your attacks," I told Nathan, "The heavier the attack, the large the opportunity for your opponent to counter. Noe, try it again."
Nathan stood up, having just been knocked off his feet for the third time by Mallory, who could barely hid her smile the whole time. They both assumed her fighting stance, and Malorie struck first, darting forward and jabbing with her practice blade. The blades were about forearm length and made of a strong plastic that mimicked the balance of the real blade without doing any real harm.
Mallory's jab almost connected with Nathan's wrist, but he jumped back just in time. Stepping forward quickly, he delivered an overhead slice which in real combat would have been a death blow, but he stopped before it connected with her skull.
"Excellent work Nathan," I said, legitimately impressed. Malorie seemed to have a natural talent with a blade, and she'd already mastered using the wrist blades as well as keeping stealthy. Nathan struggled slightly with combat and stealth. His attacks were slow and telegraphed and relied more on landing a lucky blow than hitting a weak spot, and his footsteps could be heard for miles on hard surfaces. He could hide in plain sight if the surroundings provided it, but you'd be lucky if that ever happened.
Jessica was the worst of the three. She'd never held a sword in her life, or tried to hide from someone who was two meters away. She was quiet enough, but her breathing was heavy and gave her away instantly.
"You need to get your breathing under control, Jessica!" I said, exasperated, during a training session, "You'll be dead in seconds if a Templar with years of training heard you."
"Easy for you to say, you've been doing this for years!" she'd reply between attempts. She was improving though,and I had faith in her.
"Alright guys, that's enough for now," I said, "Get somethiñ to eat and well have another go in the afternoon."
Nathan and Malorie left just as Angela walked in.
"How are they?" she asked, handing me a bottle of water.
"They're improving," I said, taking a much-needed sip from my water, "Jessica's behind the others, but she's showing plenty of progress. So, how was the meeting?"
"Good news and bad news," my wife replied, "The good news is, the U.S fleet's almost here. Bad news is, Russia's bailed out."
"Are you serious?" I asked in disbelief.
"Afraid so. The Assassin fleet's already here, but it doesn't have the firepower to deal with the invasion force. Apparently Putin's worried about Russia being attacked, since there's been Templar scouts in their waters. Still, it's unlikely that they'll get through the naval fleet."
Unlike the base I trained in, the training center was enormous and built entirely below the Yarra river. The base had three rooms for hand to hand combat, as well as a separate Animus room. Each room was directly below the south bank of the river, and huge windows gave an underwater view. THe floors were padded to avoid injuries, and in one corner were the changerooms.
Angela's Assassin-issued iPhone rang in her pocket. Unlike a typical phone, the Assassin-issued materials were made of much stronger materials. They were also waterproof and impossible to trace.
"It's Ethan," she said, looking at the screen and sliding to answer the call, "Hello? Okay... yeah, we'll be there in a minute."
She hung up, and before I could ask, said "The invasion fleet's about to make contact."
"What? Now?" I asked, "They're not expected for another week!"
"Well they're here now. Phil wants us in the war room immediately," Angela explained.
The war room was built directly beneath the Yarra river. It was smaller than the main room that we saw before, but contained a world made on one wall, and on the opposite wall was a large screen. In the middle of the room was a large table on which sat a map of Port Phillip bay . Small sculptures of the defense fleet were placed on the appropriate positions, and two men placed sculptures just inside of the bay. ALl the sculptures were marked with Assassin, Australia, American or Templar flags.
"Ryan!" George exclaimed, "Thank God you're here!"
"What is this?" I asked, "The fleet's early."
"They must have moved early," George replied.
"Where are the kids?" Angela questioned George.
"Right here!" a voice called. We turned around to see Nathan, Jessica and Malorie.
"What the hell are they doing here?!" Phillip said, storming over to us.
"They're with us," I told him.
"No. Absolutely not," Phillip said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Phillip, they're not doing any harm!" Angela argued.
"They're not Assassin's either!" Phillip shot back, "I gave you both leniency when you asked for use of the training facility, but I'm putting my foot down on this!"
"For Christ's sake, Phil," I protested, "The country could be burning in the next few hours and you're worried about protocol? They have every right to be here!"
Phil opened his mouth to retort, but bit his lip and snapped "Fine, but if they cause any trouble I'm throwing them out myself!"
With that, he stormed off.
"What's the situation in the Bay?" he asked George.
"The defense fleet's established visual contact. They'll be within firing range of each other in two minutes," George said quickly.
"What about air support?" I asked him.
"Airborne already," Ethan answered me from the other side of the table. Looking down at the tablet in his hand, he added "Contact in five, four, three, two, one-"
At that moment, all the computer monitors in the room went haywire, showing nothing but static. Ethan threw his tablet in a fit of anger. It hit the wall and landed screen-first on the floor. Even my phone was going haywire.
"What the fuck?!" Phillip exclaimed, kicking the table, "Get our communications back online!"
"There's nothing!" Ethan replied, checking his tablet. The screen was cracked, but it showed the same static as everything else, "The whole network's down!"
The room shook and the lights dimmed. I heard a dripping sound, and look around.
"Well brilliant!" Phillip grumbled, "Ethan, get your ass to the tech guys and fix this or I will drown you in the Yarra!"
Our luck must have had a dark sense of humor, because at that moment, a crack appeared in the ceiling. The lights fell out and landed on the floor as the cables holding them snapped, and water gushed into the room. Then I remembered; we were right below the river!
"RUN!" I screamed. People ran for the nearest set of doors as water filled the room. Already, the water was up to my knees. Ethan dropped his tablet into the river water and ran behind us for the the hallway beyond. Lucky for us, most people had ran for the second set of doors on the other side of the room, and we burst out into the hallway. I fell backward and slammed painfully into the tiled floor as water gushed out of the room and began to flood the corridor.
I picked myself up, swearing, and saw that Nathan, Ethan, Angela and George had sprawled on the floor as well. Nathan was helped up by Malorie and Jessica as Phillip tried to shut the doors. I ran against the water to help him, followed by George and Ethan. As we struggled to push the double doors shut I drew my short blade and wedged it between the door handles. It worked, and the rate of flooding was cut in half.
"That won't last long," Ethan commented.
"Then let's get to the amory quickly. I'm not going topside with just my wrist blade," Phillip suggested.
We ran through the hallways, trying to find a nearby staircase to get to the armoury two levels up. We made a left turn and came to a staircase... with one major problem: a barricade was built into the ceiling and had been extended for whatever reason. I shook it hard, but by the looks of it someone had WELDED it shut.
"Shit," I said, "We're not getting through there. We'll have to go around."
"That's the only way up to the amory," Phillip told me, "We can't get upstairs any other way."
"We could pry it open with our blades," Nathan suggested. We both tried, but made no progress.
"Well now what?" Nathan said, more to himself than anyone else.
"Wait," George stepped forward, pulling something out of his pocket.
"George," Angela began cautiously, "Is that a-"
"Hand grenade," George cut her off.
"You'll kill us you half-wit!" Phillip snapped at him.
"You got a better plan?" George asked, setting it down on the top step. He gripped the ring with his finger, ready to pull.
"Guys, get back!" he shouted. We retreated a good distance around the corner, then heard a "Oh shit" and saw George bolting around the corner and ducking to the floor. We did the same just as a deafening explosion shook the corridor.
I stood up and ran back to the staircase, or what was left of it. The grenade had succeeded in blowing away the barricade, but had also blown away a portion of the staircase, and it did not look stable. I tested it with my foot, and cautiously made my way up until I reached the second floor.
"Watch your step up here!" I called over my shoulder. The double doors to my left were the armoury, and inside I found an incredible collection of short blades, pistols, throwing knives and a fe rifles.
"Take whatever you can carry," I told the group as they entered behind me, "We could be facing Hell itself up there."
Some kind of shockwave had evidently struck the base. Pieces of metal had been ripped open, exposing wires and pipes, some of which had burst, spraying water onto the floor. The lights had fallen out in some places and swung close to the floor. Others had dimmed or simple fallen out and shattered on the floor.
"You are aware, right, "Jones whispered as we walked, "that we may be buried down here?"
"Of course I am," I replied, "I'm just trying to push that idea out of my head."
"Don't get your hopes up, that's all."
Some areas had collapsed, and we spent plenty of time doubling back to find a different route.
"Anyone know how long it's been?" I called.
"About two hours," Phillip called from the back of the group.
"How do you think the battle went?" Ethan asked, joining me at the front.
"Not sure," I admitted, "If they managed to cut off communications in the city, then they may have done the same to the fleet. Without any way of communicating, they'll get hammered by the invaders."
"And if they take control of the bay?"
"Then they'll land as close to Melbourne as possible, and then they'll take it over, no question. After that, they'll march on the surrounding suburbs and lock down the state. With the invasion underway, they'll be anarchy all over the country."
"What do we do if that happens?" asked Ethan.
"I know I agreed to rejoin the Brotherhood, but I'm getting the kids to the U.S if they want to leave. They're not Assassins, even though they have the skills to be so. They have every right to leave," I said firmly.
"But what about you?"
"If the Order wants me to stay, then that's what I'll do."
Finally, at long last, we made it to the basement where the entrance was. I pulled out one of my pistols as I gripped the door handle.
"Be ready for anything," I said before pushing open the doors.
The air was cold, and I shivered, having neglected to bring a jacket. The sky was cloudy and grey. The ground was wet with rain from earlier. None of this was uncommon, but what made me worry was that the entire area seemed DESERTED. Not a single person around. Not in the street to my left, not on the bank to my right, and none across the river.
"Where is everyone?" Malory asked, maybe hoping someone would answer her.
"We should split up," Ethan suggested.
"Not a chance," Phillip said firmly, "There could be a Templar hit squad right around the corner and hardly any of us are trained to deal with it. Splitting up is a death sentence."
"They wouldn't have taken the entire Southbank district in two hours, Phillip," I said to him, "The fleet would have given them hell. There's no way they would have made it into the city."
"He's right, Phillip," Angela added, "There could be people left who don't know what's happening. We can't just leave them behind."
"Phillip opened his mouth to argue, but saw that nobody was backing him up, and fell silent.
"Okay then," I said to the group, "Nathan, you, me, George, Ethan and Angela will search the streets on this side of the river. Angela, Phillip, Jessica and Malory will search the banks of the river and search for surviv-"
A rumbling sound occurred behind me, and I turned to see fire, not a fireball, fire itself, rapidly climbing up the building across the street form us. As the ground flaw was crushed under the rest of the building, fire burst out from the upper flaws, engulfing the building. I turned to the others.
"RUN!" I screamed. People always say that times seems to slow down when you have an adrenaline rush. That's bullshit, time speeds up. I reacted as if there was no other option. I ran behind the others for the bank as I felt the heat getting closer to me. As the others practically threw themselves behind either wall to each side, I felt the heat getting closer to me. Making an instinctive decision, I lunged forward and landed on the pavement as the fire soared over me.
I stayed as low as possible, as if trying to melt into the ground to escape the unbearable heat. I might have been screaming. My mouth was open after all, but the roar of the flames drowned out any sound I might have made.
This continued for what seemed like a lifetime. Finally, the roaring stopped, and I slowly got to my feat, taking in a huge breath of air. Turning around, I saw the most terrifying thing I've ever seen.
Every building behind us was on fire. Some taller buildings, reduced to a frame, collapsed under their own weight.
We gathered by the river, observing the carnage.
"Ryan," George said, "I know what you're going to say, but we can't stay and search."
"I wasn't planning on it," I replied, "Alright people, we need to find transport out of here before more of the city is leveled."
"I'd suggest we make our way to Flinders Street Station and follow the Metro line out of here," Phillip suggested, "There's an Assassin outpost in Langwarrin that we planned to redirect civilians to in the event of an invasion. There might still be someone at the outpost."
"No need," George spoke up, "Communications are back online."
I checked my phone. Indeed, the Assassin network was running again, and I saw that I had seventeen missed calls... from Charlie.
Before I could start reading the messages, George shouted "William!" while looking over my shoulder. I turned, and saw William Miles staggering toward us, wearing the grey pants, jacket and vest of an Assassin fighter. The uniform was stained with muck and blood, Will's hair was matted and dirty, and he had a haunted look in his eye.
"William?" I called cautiously, taking a step to meet him, then broke into a run as he collapsed on the pavement.
"William, what happened?" I asked, kneeling down and turning him over.
"T-templars..." choked William, "They swarmed the fleet. Tore it t-to shreds. They h-have..."
"What?" I asked him, "What do they have?!"
Something struck near us, and I jumped. Looking up, I saw the sky darken, then turn a shade of gold. Thunder rumbled above, and a second bolt of golden lightning struck the river, causing steam to rise up. Then the rain came. Like melted gold, it stung my bare skin. It was boiling!
Then I understood. Somehow, the Templars had the Apple of Eden, and to them, we were fish in a barrel.