Chapter Two – Blue

Margaret slipped herself into the farthest corner in the back of the Queen's pub. She was not sure how she felt about sending a man she barely knew on a mission for the only assassin left in the City of London. It seemed like forever ago she had found out about the almost invisible war between the Assassins and Templars. She had been sitting in one of the many alleyways that graced the city. Cold, starving and alone, she had started to think that this was it. She had lost her job in the factory and found herself as one of the many prostitutes that littered the streets. Forced to pay off her debt that she now owed her procurer and what little money she made she sent straight home. She'd been sitting against the brick wall for some time and many people had passed her by without a second glance. Men might have whistled, and woman quickly guided their children by. She was not a role model, she was not someone to look up to. She was a whore. The last thing she'd expected was a man to stand in front of her, offering out his hand. He was clade in white and offered a warm smile. At first she had mustered the most flirtatious smile she could as she took his hand, even though her eyes gave her pain away. Only to have him reassure her, that was not what he was looking for. As anyone in her line of work would be, she was confused and pushed further into a state of shock as he proceeded to ask if she was alright. Before she could answer the man offered to buy her some food and a warm place to stay for the evening. From that moment on Margaret technically worked for the Assassins. Henry had shown her the kindness that no one else was willing to, and it gave her hope for humanity. She had a place to go if she needed somewhere fresh to rest her head, in exchange she offered the only thing that she could; information.

The woman shifted in her seat as she sucked in a breath of air, suddenly finding a deep pit of worry settling in her stomach. She should have met with Henry before she sent, whom she was assuming one of his trainees, on a mission. They would have been able to talk about the plan and who it was they needed to track down. Sure she had a name, a portrait, and other information sprawled out on the card she had passed on to the man, but she didn't feel like it was enough. Strange things were happening around London, the street gang that plagued London known as the Blighters, seemed to be disappearing in certain parts of the town. New gang members dressed in green and yellow were walking the streets, and she was unsure if they were friend or foe. Her fingers nervously played with the fringe of her skirts as she hazily stared out the window, her mind in a completely other realm. She felt the table shake as someone bumped it as they plopped down in the seat across from her. Margaret's lips began to part to begin her sentence to ward off her possible buyer.

"You know, this is actually quiet drinkable."

Confusion washed over her face as she stared at Jacob in the booth across from her. After taking a handful of large gulps from the iron pint he set it down on the table with a satisfied 'ah' passing his lips.

"Mr. Frye? Done already?" She asked while shifting herself closer to the table. How long had she been spacing?

"Who else would it be?" Jacob tossed her a charming smile before leaning his left arm onto the table, her eyes took in the gauntlet than decorated his arm suddenly more confused than she had been before. "Unless you're waiting for customers." The corner of his lip corked into a devilish smile that reached his eyes.

Suddenly any amount of confusion was replaced with slight annoyance. "Oh Mr. Frye, quite the jokester aren't we?"

"My apologies, madam. I will learn to watch my tongue around you." A hearty chuckle vibrated in his chest before he took another swig from his cup, disappointed to find he was met with an empty glass. His lips pursed together and he pushed it to the side of the table before he leaned closer to Margaret, for once keeping his words from any listening ears. "Mr. Markson goes to the Queen's Arms pub just aside Buckingham Palace in Westminster. All of them were dressed in the same yellow and black trimmed coats, I couldn't get any closer without an invitation or a set of breasts."

Margaret's head tilted to the side, her eyes subconsciously flicking out mindful of any possible spies wanting to listen in on their conversation. To play it up she reached her hand out and lightly brushed her fingertips over Jacob's arm, causing the assassin to look at her questionably.

"Sounds like a job well done indeed. I know of the pub which you are talking about. Anything else that you found out?" She questioned in a way that anyone listening in could mistake her tone for something a little more suggestive.

Jacob licked his lips and tossed and glance over at the bartender before his gaze fell back to the woman before him. "There is some kind of event taking place in the near future. I managed to smuggle a poster which I will give you later." His eyes flicked downward to her hand that was casually trailing up his forearm to his bicep.

Her free arm came up to rest her elbow on top of the table as her chin fell into her palm. "That sounds horribly exciting." She gave his shoulder a squeeze before slipping out of her side of the booth. She leaned down to whisper in Jacob's ear. "There is a man in the corner that keeps looking our way. Why don't you take me to Mr. Green and we can discuss your findings further?"

"Great idea…"

Margaret looked around nervously as Jacob lead her toward the train tracks, where on earth where they going? Normally when she met with Henry it was at the shop front he owned. It had been a few months since she had been able to make her way over to the building, but she had never needed a train. A simple ride on the bus or a walk did well. She'd tried to talk Jacob out of it but he insisted that he would take her to Henry. Now to hope that he was telling the truth.

"Now…you're going to have to trust me a bit on this one." Jacob stated as he walked closer to the train tracks. His eyes scanning the metal beast that was quickly making its way toward them.

Margaret tossed the assassin a skeptical look. "And I haven't given you enough trust as we made our way along the railroad tracks? What else are you going to have me do?"

"Well…" Jacob shrugged as if weighing his options in his head. "The train doesn't always stop and I wasn't paying attention when Evie was listing off the schedule…so we're going to have to jump on."

Margaret's jaw practically collided with the ground. "Are you mad?!"

"Slightly. Probably. I'm not entirely sure." The locomotive turned passed them his lips curled with excitement as the first train crossed in front of them. "Have you ever hitched a ride on a train before?"

"Are you crazy?! No! Verrückte Ficker*." Her eyes widened as he watched the train begin to pass in front of them. Jacob took a step closer toward the train, causing her to take a step back. What had she gotten herself into? Sure the train wasn't moving as fast as they normally would, but it was still madness!

"We have already gone over that!" Jacob laughed as he looked over his shoulder. "Do you trust me?"

The blonde looked down the tracks to the city below. What did she have to lose? She barely had any money to her name, if she missed the train she would be easily forgotten. Not that she would be die from missing a jump to a train, maybe a broken ankle… She shook her head. There is no way that she was going to believe a man she just met.

"I believe that you are on your own, Mr. Frye. I will go and find Mr. Green myself." She turned on her heel and began to walk to the nearest bridge, hoping that it would have some sort of ladder she would be able to take down to street level.

The assassin found himself confused. Torn between the ideas to jump onto the train and leave the woman behind was tempting but…he told her that he would take her to Henry. His body swayed toward Margaret. "Now…don't be like that. Henry is on the train. I can jump first and if you jump after me I can catch you. I promise."

"Jacob this is crazy!"

As the trains wheels clicked over the rails Jacob rolled his eyes as he cursed under his breath as the woman continued to walk toward the edge of the bridge. The window they had to catch the train was nearing its end and the last thing Jacob wanted to do was spend his day chasing down the train. He finally had a lead on what needed to be done around the city. But he would not be getting more information out of Margaret before she spoke with Henry.

"Well if you would excuse me…." He started as he reached out and grabbed her hand.

A mixture of shock and annoyance crossed her features. "I beg your pard-."

Before she could scold him any further she found herself slung over his shoulder like a freshly slain deer. Her eyes widened in shock but everything happened too quickly for her to let out a scream. She hardly had the time to process what was happening and she watched as her destination got farther and farther away. Her lips parted as she began to question but she found herself gripping onto the leather of the man's jacket as her stomach flipped. For a split second…they were airborne.

"JACOB!"

She was going to kill him. She was not sure how, or when, but she was going to kill him.

Jacob jumped onto the train his free hand grabbed the rail on the last train car, the extra weight caused him to arch backward as his body tried to regain its balance. Margaret dug her nails into the middle of his jacket and gathered a fist full of fabric in the process. Once he gained his balanced he ducked into the inside of the train and placed the woman down, who promptly clung to him like a frightened cat.

"Well that is one way to get a woman to scream my name." His lips quirked into a smirk.

As her feet made contact with the ground, she became aware of her surroundings and anger quickly took over.

SMACK!

Margaret turned on her heel and began to walk deeper into the train as Jacob's hand babied his, now red, cheek.

"I don't understand…what did you do with your shop?" Margaret questioned the Henry as he poured her a cup of tea. After slapping Jacob, the assassin who watched over London for years now had made his way to the train car. It did not take long for Henry to defuse the fire that was Margaret, much to Jacob's confusion, and bring them into the bar car for a drink. "Thank you." She whispered before taking a sip.

"I still own my shop in Whitechapel. The train was-." Before he could finish Jacob called from his spot where he was splayed on top of the bar.

"MY idea. If it wasn't for my Rooks we would have never gotten a hideout on the tracks." He held his cup out for Henry to refill.

The other assassin merely laughed. "Yes, yes. It was Mr. Frye's idea. He is the one who took down Kaylock when I could not."

Margaret's eyebrows shot up in shock. "Wait…Kaylock. The Blighter? The gang leader?"

Jacob smirked. "The very same."

Margaret placed her tea down on her platter before shaking her head. "Alright…I would like to rewind…. Your Rooks? Who are the Rooks? And how were you able to beat Kaylock? Aren't you just a trainee?"

Jacob choked on his tea as Henry winced. The man clade in white watched the other assassin cautiously. For as much as a child he could be…there were plenty of instances where his rash decisions got the better of him. The man was surprised when the younger male burst into laughter.

"Your trainees? Oh Greenie," His devilish smile returned to his lips. "What wild fantasies do you spin?"

"Me?" Henry questioned but before he could continue Jacob cut it, again.

"Does pretending to take credit for my accomplishments make you that much more alluring to," His hazel irises shot over to Margaret. "Women?"

Margaret and Henry's cheeks flared red. Both of them nervously stuttered over their words quickly shooting down what Jacob was obviously implying.

"I didn't peg you as the type for calling upon a ladybird**." As Jacob pushed his limits Margaret's look seemed to sour and Henry gave the younger assassin a questioning look. "Oh don't look at me like that," He took a sip of his tea. "Men have to have their outlets…so they say."

As if on cue to dig her brother out of another hole Evie walked onto the cart. Shocked to not be met by the normal Rooks who frequented the train the older twin tossed a questioning look to the group. Her head cocked to the side as she caught sight of Margaret.

"Uh…hello there." She began as she tossed Jacob and Henry yet another look.

Jacob shrugged his shoulders an went back to drinking his tea, content with letting Henry take care of introductions.

"Hello Miss. Frye," Henry began with a smile as he moved to place the teapot down alongside Margaret. "This is Miss. Rogers she is gathers most of the intelligence we use."

Evie's gaze turned to Jacob's only to catch her younger brother mouthing, 'lovers' in her direction. The emerald eyed beauty shook her head in annoyance before turning her attention back to the new comer.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss. Rogers." She said while holding her hand out to the other woman.

Margaret offered a nod, while taking her hand. Silence fell between them all for a moment before the blonde broke it.

"Can we get back to who these 'Rooks' are?" She questioned.

Evie rolled her eyes. "Oh not this again. The Rooks happen to be my brothers newest hair brained schemes."

"Excuse me, Evie! You have stood by me after we have freed up some of the boroughs. You should be honored that I allowed you to tack your name on to my gang." Jacob grinned as he straightened himself with a prideful grin.

Margaret covered her mouth to cover up a laugh as Evie tossed the nearest thing she could find at her brother.

"Anyway," Evie said while attempting to ignore Jacob. "Seeing as that my brother has never really been good with formalities…What other questions did you need answered?" She took a seat across from the woman.

Margaret caught Jacob's glare toward his twin before leaning against the wall of the bar. She took another sip of her tea as she mulled over what she wanted answered. Evie seemed to be the more calculative of the two, but both of the twins were certainty about getting things done.

"The Rooks are your gang. And both of you are assassins. Are you Mr. Green's underlings?" She questioned.

"Well…yes and no. Mr. Green certainly has more standing with the brotherhood. They entrusted him with taking care of the city of London. My brother and I are from the branch in Crawley. Our father was the head of the order...before he passed away. We came to London to help get the city of light back under the assassin's control." Evie paused for a moment, calculating if she had given the proper amount of information and what needed to be added on.

Margaret nodded as she re-crossed her legs causing her skirts to rustle against the booth. And here she thought this would be a normal day…. Evie looked over at Henry as if waiting for him to explain how he had become acquainted but the man was surprisingly quiet. He knew everything there was to know about the city, who they could contact where they needed to go and yet he remained silent. Evie offered a nod before straightening her back. The silence was finally broken as a Rook entered the cabin.

Instantly, Jacob perked up and swung his legs over the edge of the bar, managing to not knock anything over in the process.

"Evening Gunther! Have any news for me?" Jacob questioned with an excited grin.

"That we do, Mr. Frye. Roth has called for you. We're not sure what he wants." Gunther said while offering a nod to the others in the room.

"Well best not keep him waiting!" Jacob said while jumping down from the bar and placing his hat on top of his head.

Evie's eyes quickly flashed with worry as she turned in the booth to look at her brother. "Jacob, I thought I told you that conversing with Roth was a ludicrous idea. Father would-."

"Well lucky for you, Father is dead!" Jacob tossed a seething grin as he started walking backward toward the next door. "Pleasure meeting you, Miss. Rogers."

And with that he was gone.

* Verrückte Ficker – crazy fucker

**Lady Bird – Prostitute.