Chapter 13: Altair

I could tell from our mad dash out of the room that this was going to be a really bad night. Don't get me wrong, I like a good fight and all, but when it is three against God only knows how many men they brought, we are screwed. I had a feeling I was going to get shot, many times. I hate being shot. It pissed me off. Well, that and being tased. That was worse than being shot in my book. Damn electrodes. Why couldn't new go back to the dark ages where we fought with just blades and bombs. It made life easier. I hated, really hated, pulling lead out of myself.

"Would you quit acting like you are going to your death? We are going to go fight Templars, not the Chinese army." Ezio grinned as we ran like the hounds of hell were on our heels.

"Well, I am so glad that you are enjoying yourself, Ezio. I, for one, do not like to take on a bunch of guys with a few semi-automatic weapons, a knife and whatever Alanna's packing." I frowned, knowing we were so screwed.

Alanna ran next to me, hair flying behind her. "Hey, I know you are not happy, but shut the hell up. You are bitching more than a pregnant woman who is nine months along. Grow a set of balls, get your head in the game, and shut your trap, Altair."

I glanced at her. "You really are a bitch. I have a set of balls. My head is in the game, but I know that we are going to to get royally fucked in this fight. Let's count shall we. There is three of us. One of us has the Apple, I will give you that, but it is not going to save our asses from getting shot from a multitude of bullets! I personally do not want to be comatose for another week." A scowl was plastered on my face. I really was not liking the odds of this one bit.

We slid to a stop near the service elevator at the back of the building. I checked the clip in my gun and the other one on my hip. Both were full and I had three spares. Not enough to take out an army, but I could hold my own. The large hunting knife was strapped to my leg. I brought me little comfort. I wished for my hidden blade and a few hundred throwing knives. Oh and a dozen bricks of C4. That would bring a smile to my face. A crazy, sadistic smile, but a smile none the less. I really, really, wanted to smile. It had been too long.

"So, what's the game plan? I am not running in down there, weapons blazing and pray we hit something. We have to know what each of us are going to do." Alanna readjusted the strap of her gun holster. It was a bit big for her, but she was making due.

Ezio pulled out the Apple. The orb pulsed with a slight golden light. "I say we take them down with this and then put a bullet in each of their heads. Quick and painless."

I looked at the orb. It called to me, whispered my name in my head. I could feel the warm embrace of it's knowledge. I wanted to see it, to hear and see it's secrets. My hand reached out for the object. I wanted it. I had to have it.

Suddenly I was against the wall, Alanna in front of me, a gun to my head and blood running down my lip. "What in the fuck has gotten into you, Altair?"

"What?" I blinked my eyes, trying to clear my mind. Trying to figure out what had just happened.

Ezio was wiping scarlet blood from his nose, looking at me. What the fuck did I just do? I didn't have a clue. I tried to remember. I wanted to remember, but all I could recall was the call of the Apple and then the cool barrel of Alanna's gun to my temple.

"Release him, 'lanna. It was the Apple. It does it to me as well. I calls to you, wants you to take it. Since I hold it, I do not feel it's pull as bad." He wiped more blood away with the sleeve of his shirt.

She pulled back, but still kept the gun at ready. "If you two feel the pull, then why do I not? I have never felt anything but malice towards that damn thing."

"That is one question I do not have the answer for. I wish I did, then I might be able to break the hold this damn thing has on us." The Italian shook his head as he slipped the orb back into the large cargo pocket of his pants.

I could feel my head clearing more with the damn thing out of sight. It was unnerving to know it had that much power over me. To get me to do things that I would not normally do. Well, that I would not do in a combat situation. I mean, I have punched Ezio in the nose before, but not before a fight. "I am sorry, Ezio. I do not know what happened."

"No harm, no foul. I know it was not you at the time. You were being used and I understand that." He nodded.

"Well I don't. So, you mean to tell me that cursed thing can take control over you two, causing you to fight over control for it?" I nodded. "That is messed up. I guess I am fortunate that it does not do that to me." She looked at the two of us. "Now what do we do?"

After coming up with a viable idea, we made our way down the steps. Slowly and quietly, and came to the end of the line. I took a deep breath. Behind the door in front of us was a group of men that wanted nothing more than to take us out and destroy the one thing that I have fought for many years to protect. I protected peace and freewill. They wanted to take that away. I would not let them.

"Are you ready?" I whispered to my companions.

They nodded. We knew what are were about to face. We knew it would not be pretty, but we are made for this. To survive a fight like this one, and keep going on. I did not want to do this, but it was what we had to do.

I released the breath that I held. Grabbing the door handle, I pulled it open. Twenty men stood there, weapons drawn and trained on the door we were about to walk out. I opened fire. I didn't know if I had hit any of them, but as soon as the door shut, we dove up the steps just has their bullets ripped through the metal door, sending chucks of concrete in as well. I heard Alanna hiss in pain. Blood ran down her arm from where a bullet grazed the exposed skin.

"I'm fine. We need to continue." She looked at me, then down at her arm.

Slowly again, we made our way down the bullet riddled stairwell. I could hear them reloading, ready for round two. They would never get the chance. I would not let them. I pulled open the door and it fell from it's hinges. It was not made to take fire from twenty fully automatic machine guns.

Running into the garage, I unloaded a clip at them, hitting at least three or four, and dove behind the nearest car. Alanna came next, doing the same and landed next to me and the wall. Then Ezio walked out, Apple held high, bathing the darkened room in the eerie golden glow of the orb. The men began to cower. I did not know what images they saw. It varied on person to person, and the wielder.

I began to feel the pull of it again. I wanted it. "Alanna..."

She grabbed my arm. "Concentrate on my voice. Do not let it consume you."

I tried. I focused on her face, her eyes, her touch, but the pull was strong. I heard the voices, the beautiful sounds from the golden light. I wanted it's knowledge. I had to have it's words. "It calls to me. I must answer."

She placed her hands on each side of my face, turning me head to look at her. "Look at me, Altair. I will not let it take you. I will keep you from yourself and it's influence. I will not let you fall. You have my word on that." Her eyes held determination. I listened to her words this time. I felt the fog clear from my mind. It was my own again.

"Thank you." I managed a small smile for her. I was glad she was there.

"Now, are you ready to take them down?" She offered a smile of her own. I nodded. I was ready to do this. I wanted to do this.

I slowly looked around the end of the car. The men were cowering in fear of the man that stood before them, the golden orb held out in front like a poisonous snake ready to strike. I fought the pull. I knew how to resist. I would beat that damn thing.

I got to my feet, and walked over to Ezio. "I think you can put it away now. I will handle the rest."

He nodded, letting the orb fall. His eyes rolled up into his head. I caught him before he hit the concrete. The strain was too much. It had done it to me before. "Thanks." He manged to get out.

"Anytime." I slid him down into a sitting position. "Just rest a moment and we will handle the rest."

All he could do was nod. I looked over at Alanna. She was already walking around, picking up guns and tying them up. We had decided to use the Apple to incapacitate them, and let them live. Yeah, we killed five of them, but five out of twenty was pretty low for us.

"Well, that is the last of them, but we are not out of the woods yet." She turned to look at the exit ramp. "There are at least three Suburbans up there. I know they have men in them. We can not leave that way. Most likely they have the exits at the ground floor blocked too. It's down to us and the assassins left in the building. Ezio can do no more and I will not let you use that weapon." She let out a low curse. "So what's our next move?"

I didn't have a clue. I didn't even know where the hell we were. "I don't know. The only thing I can think of is start slowly taking them out one by one, but that could take hours that we don't have. I don't know if we can make explosives out of anything in the building and they only have a few flash grenades on them. They wanted us alive."

"Then I will turn myself over. At least that might buy you a little time to get the others out." Taking the Beretta out of its holster, she handed it to me. "It might be the only way."

"Like hell. I will not let them take you. You know what they would do to you." I grabbed her arm. "We will think of another plan."

She shook her head. "Unless you have a few bombs in your pocket and a fighter jet I don't know about, we are screwed."

I grinned. "No bombs and defiantly no fighter jet, but we may be able to pull this off. Do you remember that battle in Turkey in 1587?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh no. That took days of planning and required me to wear a courtesan's clothes. One, I don't think that will work here, and two, I am not striping for a bunch of men with full automatic machine guns."

I chuckled. I knew she would say something like that. "Nothing like that. I mean the snatch and grab. We are going to need help with it though. We need one more person."

I saw the light come on in her eyes. She finally saw what I was talking about. In that fight, we were moving through the crowd, dressed like a courtesan and a beggar, then slowly killing the Templars off one by one, until we thinned them out enough to get out of town. It was a fun night. "You grab Ezio and I will grab the Apple. We will go get Jenna."

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

After explaining to the blond what was required, she agreed. Ezio stood, but nearly fell. Jenna caught him before he tumbled into the Animus chair, where Desmond still sat, still in a coma. Rebecca said he was improving, but there was no telling when he would come out of it.

"I can help you." His voice was strained. I could tell he was completely exhausted.

Jenna helped him back to a chair. "I don't think so. Let us handle this. If we fail, someone has to get them out of here." She smiled at him. "I don't even know your name."

"Ezio. You can call me Ezio." He smiled back.

"Well, Ezio, I will see you when we get back." Jenna patted his shoulder, gave him one last smile, then walked over to us. "I'm ready."

I nodded. I did not like to work with someone I did not know, but this was a special case. "Do you know anything about snatch and grabs?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty familiar with them. Is that what we are doing?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yes. We are going to disorientate them with the flash bombs they had, then start taking them out. We have to take out most of them. Make a large hole in their defense, so we can slip out." I loaded a new clip into the mac10. "We also need a vehicle. Something big enough to get us all out."

Alanna slid the clip from the Beretta. She frowned at the amount she had left. "I only have six rounds in this thing. If we are doing this silently, I need a knife or more ammo."

Jenna smiled. "I know where their weapons are stored. I was undercover here before we struck. Follow me." She jogged out of the room. We followed her to a lower level. Swiping a key card, the door opened swiftly. I smiled at the room before us. Guns, many many guns were laid out before us. "I think your weapons are in here somewhere. I was here when they brought you in. They brought them in here. That's how I knew who you guys were."

"Thank you Jenna." Alanna smiled at the younger female.

We fanned out through the room. I grabbed a new pistol and a few knives. Opening one of the lockers, my day improved a bit. My weapons laid there, pristine and shiny. "Hey 'lanna, found our gear."

She looked up from the ammo crates. "My clothes in there? I am tired of wearing these pants, and boots."

I looked through the stuff. It was all there. "Yeah, it's all here. Come get it."

She walked over. "Goody! A little known fact about me. I hate wearing ill fitting clothes and I like to look my best. Even if all I am doing is killing someone." She grabbed her clothes from my out stretched hand.

I chuckled a bit. "I would have never taken you for the fashion type. The more functional, the better."

A look of disgust passed over her face. "You should see my closets back home. Mounts and mounds of clothes. I never wear an outfit twice." She looked down at the clothes in her hands. "But right now, I will make an exception."

She began to change, and I looked away. She was no longer mine. I had driven a stake between us by what I said to her in Monteriggioni. I regretted it, but now was not the time to try and make up. It would have to come later.

"I think it's time we get this show on the road. The longer we stay here, the longer they have to mount an attack from somewhere else." Jenna slid a pistol into the holster on her leg.

I finished tightening the leather straps that held my blade in place. It was comforting to feel the cool metal against the inside of my wrist once more. It was like finding part of myself that I had lost. "You ready, Alanna?"

She was sliding her right foot into the black calf high boots. "Give me sec. These boots are a pain to get on in a rush."

I rolled my eyes at her. In the middle of a life or death fight and she was bitching that her boots were taking too long to get on. "Alanna, I would hate to see how long it takes you to get ready on a normal day in your life."

She glared at me halfhearted. "I am very quick, thank you very much." She stood and walked over to where we were standing. "Let the party begin."

The newest member of our team looked at us, and shook her head. "You two are the strangest assassins I have ever met, and I know a lot of them."

My female counterpart and I looked at each other, a small, knowing smile playing on our lips. I turned to her. "You have no idea."

End of Chapter 13. Jenna is working with Altair and Alanna. Ezio is down for the count, and Desmond is stuck in his own mind. The battle for freedom comes next. I know I have been dragging it out a bit, but it will be worth it. I have been working a lot on my writing and I have had this chapter on paper for months now. Chapter 14 is the same way. Hopefully I will have it up soon. See you then.