Chapter Three:

The Unlikely Hero

1194

"Apprentices, can you tell me why the Assassins are choosing subtlety over dominance?" Malik asked the group of tiny Assassin Apprentices. A group that I was a part of.

When no one raised their hand to answer, I did, hoping I wouldn't look stupid in front of all the boys. Malik raised a questioning eyebrow, but motioned to me.

"I heard that this fortress was a sign of Assassin arrogance, and that we should be spread out across the world instead of one focused place. We are choosing subtlety over dominance because we have become too overconfident of our abilities," I answered.

Malik smiled. "Well done, Suna. Yes, the Assassins have learned a valuable lesson from arrogance. But you can always be redeemed by hard work, and a bit of luck." Malik smiled mischievously. "In the Grandmaster's case, it was a lot of luck."

"I heard that, Malik!" Altair called from the window above the entryway. "Stop exaggerating!"

Malik rolled his eyes as the Apprentices and I snickered. "Go look after your son, Altair! Maria's gone down to the village!" Altair's eyes widened and he hurried away, looking for baby Darim. "Maria's not really in the village," Malik whispered to us, and we burst out laughing.

When we'd gotten our laughter under control, Malik dismissed us so we could play. I headed to the training arena and continued my training. I knew that I had to prove something to the boys, since I was the only girl in the Order besides Maria, and I was not born into the Brotherhood.

"Malik likes to bug me," Altair said. I hadn't noticed him, so I jumped in surprise. "Still, I guess I deserve it." I bowed quickly, but Altair only laughed at me. "Suna! Stop acting so formal! Do not worry!"

"I can't help but be respectful to the Grandmaster of our Order," I replied smartly, straightening up. "What do you wish of me?"

Altair put a hand on my head. "Suna, I was hoping you could aid me. I need to find some things in the market, but I am busy with…" His eyes became distant. "I am busy with many important things for now. Could you go in my stead? I will give you some money to get the things I need, and a list."

I nodded. "Yes, I can help."

Smiling, Altair patted my head. "Thank-you, Suna. I've just been so busy."

"Anytime, Grandmaster."

1452

"Seriously! This place is excellent!" I said to the two boys at my side. "Maria is an amazing baker! You will love the place!"

Vanni grinned. "I think you are exaggerating, Sofia."

I poked Vanni's chest. "Taste for yourself, idiota! You will see!"

Mario chuckled and opened the door into Maria's bakery. "I guess I am the only one excited that there's something as nice as this in Firenze. I may need to ask father about one of these for Monteriggioni."

"You'd definitely get more people coming to that merda buco."

Mario laughed and found us a table, but Vanni wasn't moving at all. I followed his staring eyes to—.

"Vanni has una cotta for Maria," I said to Mario bluntly as I sat down.

"What makes you say that?" Mario asked, looking at his brother.

I jabbed a thumb in their direction. "Look at the way they're looking at each other! You'd think the world would slow down just for them!"

Mario smiled. "Let him have his fun. He always gets outshone by his elder fratello when it comes to women."

"Oh, really? Then how come I haven't seen you with a woman? Ever?"

"You must be implying that you are not a woman, oh uno brillante," he quipped.

"I don't count!" I snapped. "We've already discussed that I'm off-limits!"

"I know, I know," Mario said. "Still."

I shook my head. "Whatever, stupido."

2012

I guess it really doesn't matter how long it's been when it comes to Walter. The past few weeks with Rebecca, Shaun, Desmond and… Lucy, really made me think about him more. Yeah, there was Michael, but it felt more like puppy-love than anything else. With Walter… it was real.

I didn't even know why I was thinking about him at a time like this. You know, with the whole, "world-hangs-in-the-balance" thing going on. But still, I was.

God, what the hell's wrong with me? I wondered, resting my head in my hands. He's been dead for two-hundred years! It wouldn't have worked out, anyway! So stop thinking about it!

I was in total conflict with myself. On one hand, I felt like I'd repeatedly kicked a puppy (a.k.a. feeling terrible), and the other was trying to console myself.

Like that'd ever worked.

I quietly stood up and walked to the balcony of the apartment we were currently in. I was pretty sure we were gonna move soon, to keep the Templars off our tail, but I still liked this place. It had a nice view of New York City, and it was nice to know I was close to my foster-brothers, Ryan and Tyler.

So, why was I thinking about Walter? So far away from England, and that time period…

"You're thinking about that boy again, aren't you?" Bill asked as he joined me on the balcony.

I bit my lip and nodded. "It doesn't matter how old I get, I guess. Still, if I hadn't gotten drunk with you that one night, you wouldn't've known about him." I shrugged. "My fault."

"Great. Nice to know you missed me, Samantha."

I smirked. "Bill, I don't miss the assholes in my life. Hell, I'm glad I outlived Henry. It's just the people that I loved that I miss."

"Like I said, nice to know." Bill tapped the handrail. "He's dead. Deal with it."

"You are so lucky that you married into the range of my protection," I told Bill. "If you hadn't, I would've killed you by now."

"I thought my advice helped you?"

"Only helped me to avoid you."

Smiling, Bill straightened up and started to walk away. "I know what's on your mind all the time, Samantha. So stop thinking about him, and start thinking about how we're going to stop the Templars."

"I've been thinking about that for more than eight-hundred years, Bill," I muttered under my breath, laying my head against the railing. "At least my time with Walter gave me a break."

2000

"Extraction!" the radio screamed. "We need extraction now! Abort the mission!"

I leapt out of the jet and dived through the air, the wind whipping at my face and threatening to remove my hood, but it stayed on miraculously. Aiming for the isolated oil rig, I finally deployed my parachute and glided easily to the slanted roof of the management building. I disconnected my parachute a few feet above the roof and slid down, letting the slant take the brunt of my fall.

"Reinforcements are already advancing on your position!" the jet pilot told the team. "Try to make it to the extraction point!"

"What d'you think we've been doing for the past few minutes?" Jared snapped, who was leading the team on the rig.

The team consisted of eight people, with Jared as the leader. The second-in-command was Matilda, and then there was the rest of the team: Connor, Greg, Lisa, Shepard, Jamie and Deena. Each Assassin was skilled, and one of the best teams in the Order. The fact that they were compromised spoke volumes.

I heard the sound of guns and followed it, keeping quiet as I could while placing tiny explosives. Tiny, but packed full of a kick.. I saw that the team were being corralled into an area, where they would be surrounded by the army of Templars on the rig. I activated my cloaking device and slowly snuck around, to where a heavily armoured Templar was holding a huge machine gun. The team was standing back-to-back, each with a gun in their hands. They were looking for the reinforcements that were being sent.

"Attention Assassins!" the Templar with the machine gun yelled. "You're surrounded! Surrender now, and we won't blow your goddamn heads off!"

Jared showed the Templar his middle finger. "Bring it, asswipe!"

"Then die!"

I activated my hidden blade and leapt out of the shadows, my cloaking device shutting off as I moved. My hidden blade had no centre of the blade, but was instead replaced by bolts of electricity that was good for frying my enemies. My other hidden blade was completely original, and from the Crusades. With two Templars dead, and a shocked audience, I took it as an advantage. I leapt up and kicked a Templar in the face, then back-flipped until I reached the Templar with the machine gun. I punched him in the face then pressed the button to turn the machine gun on, and then kicked it so it spun around and shot all the Templars on the platform we were on. The other Templars quickly took cover, and the Assassins on the ground took that as their cue to leave. They dived off of the rig and onto the waiting jet, where I followed them quickly. Unfortunately, the Templar who had previously held the machine gun grabbed my ankle and followed me onto the jet.

I hit the jet hard, the breath temporarily knocked out of me. The Templar laughed manically and tried to pin my arms to the jet.

"We're takin' off!" the pilot yelled into my radio. "What the hell're you doing?"

"Just a bit sidetracked!" I replied as I brought my leg up and kicked the Templar hard in the face. "I'll be there in a bit! Just fly slow for now!"

"Roger that!"

I got to my feet and found my balance as the jet started to move. The Templar got up and pulled a dagger from his coat, then wiped some blood from his mouth.

"Die, Assassin!" he roared, and leapt at me.

I activated my hidden blades and parried his blows while trying to keep my balance. He was falling all over, but didn't once fall off. I managed to slip the dagger into the middle of my new hidden blade and twist it, disarming the Templar. The dagger flew uselessly through the air, with the Templar's eyes watching it.

"We've gotta go!" the pilot screamed. "We have fighters comin' at us!"

I stabbed the Templar in the gut, but he grabbed my arm and forced me to fall off of the jet with him. By some miracle, I latched onto the wing of the plane and the Templar had slid off of my blade, and was now holding onto my ankle for dear life.

"If I die, you come to Hell with me, Assassin!" he screamed.

I started to slip off of the wing, so I scrambled to shake my leg and get him off of me. As the Templar started to slip, I took a breath.

"Rest in peace!" I yelled at him, and released the wing.

I grabbed onto the open door of the jet just as I passed it. The Templar had released me, believing we were both to die. He slammed into the edge of the engine and spun off through the air, never to be seen again.

"Go! Go! Go!" I screamed into the radio as I pulled myself into the jet and slammed the door shut.

I felt the jet hit its top speed just as I took a breath of relief. The team of Assassins, already seated in the leather chairs, were all staring at me.

"Who the hell are you?" Jared asked.

"You reinforcements," I replied. "Did you at least get the information we needed?"

Lisa held up a tiny computer chip. "Of course we did."

"Great. Nice to know that I'm not gonna blow up a rig that we needed." Seeing the confusion on their faces, I held up a detonator and pressed the red button. In the distance, we heard a massive explosion. "So, think this'll get on the evening news?" I asked as I let my hood fall to my shoulders. "I hope so. It always makes me feel so good inside."

Everyone else in the jet followed my example and removed their hoods. "You're crazy," Connor said, to which everyone nodded.

Smiling, I replied, "I wouldn't be in this business if I wasn't."