Chapter Ten:

A Weak Mind

Skidziń, German Empire, 1944

Mary and Katherine raced through the narrow tunnels and endless guards now on high alert. More than once they were forced to extend the gap between Cole and themselves to slow and dispatch the German Templars who raised rifles and bayonets against them. Katherine managed to get her hands on a rifle and tossed Mary's handgun back to her after a skirmish.

Mary quickly checked its magazine then followed after Katherine, who was holding the rifle with her right arm. Katherine's wrist had swollen already from the break. The Scot quickly caught up with her as they reached the ladder. Cole wasn't there. They assumed he ascended already.

Katherine tucked the rifle underneath her armpit and reached for the ladder, but Mary stuck her hand out and stopped her.

"What's that over there?" Mary asked, pointing.

And as Katherine looked Mary grabbed her wrist and snapped it back into place. Katherine's mouth opened with a wordless scream and she cradled her wrist close to her chest. A few stamps of her feet and Katherine whirled on the Scot.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?!" she snarled.

Mary shrugged. "Ye'll thank me later, lassie." And the Scot ascended the ladder.

"Thank my ass!" Katherine followed up with a bit of strain on her wrist, but certainly not as much as she would have if her wrist hadn't been set.

"Katherine! Climb like ye mean it!"

A small object fell beside Katherine's face and she immediately recognized it. She all but leapt up the ladder as the grenade went off. Heat rose quickly and so did the fire. Mary reached the top but found the trapdoor locked. Fire licked its way upward and smoke filled their lungs.

"Give me a moment!" Mary called. "I need ye tae back down a wee bit!"

"It's locked?!"

"Aye!" Mary descended two steps then used her arms and her abdomen to flip herself upside-down so her legs were within reach of the trapdoor. Her coat hung off her shoulders and the smoke made Mary teary-eyed. Katherine began coughing hard. With all the power and concentration she could muster, Mary kicked the trapdoor. She realized, as the lock broke, a keg of wine had been placed on top.

"Damn that bastart!" cursed Mary. "Boggin fucking bastart!" Their breaths came short. Both Katherine and Mary found concentration becoming difficult. They could barely see through the smoke.

Then Mary finally managed to kick the keg off, and the door swung open. Righting herself, Mary clambered out of the hole and helped Katherine escape it before she allowed herself any gasps of air. In the moment they'd taken for breath Cole was escaping, and both of them knew it. As quick as they could they rushed out the cellar doors and back into the camp, where people were being rounded up and executed. Katherine sighted David among them, and a harsh pang of regret settled in her. He was brave to the last.

Mary led Katherine the way she'd come, where the sleeping guards hadn't yet been discovered. Once she'd knocked three more out and Katherine, with a few well-timed shots that were synonymous with the rifles of the German Nazis, had shot down two watchmen, the women escaped the camp and hurried for Mary's car. In the cold distance Mary saw a trail of snow and dust.

"We can still catch him!" Mary snarled, and immediately leapt into the driver's seat.

And as she started the vehicle, Katherine said, "Just keep it steady. When we get close enough I'll take a shot."

"Ye're a good shot with a rifle, lassie?"

"The best."

Mary spun the car around and tore after Cole, back to the village she'd made her base. Her hands would have been frozen from the biting wind and snowfall had she not had her gloves on, and that was when she remembered Katherine had barely anything warm on.

"We cannae catch up very soon, lassie," Mary shouted to the back over the roar of the engine. "I've got my trunk back there. Get some clothes on!"

Katherine was loathe to disagree, and quickly grabbed herself socks, warm boots, a coat and some gloves. Once she buttoned the double-breasted coat she began to feel the chill leave her. Her hands, too, felt better on the trigger.

And soon they began to see more of the car in the inky darkness of the night, with barely a moon above to light the way. Mary hadn't turned on her lights quite yet, but she noticed when Cole and his driver began to slow down. That was when Mary signalled Katherine and flipped the lights on, surprising the American Templar within.

"Hello, bahookey!" goaded Mary. "Shoot that pure boggin dunderhead, lassie!"

"Shit!" Cole grabbed the wheel and yanked it hard. Katherine missed Cole but the bullet smacked into the skull of his driver. The car sped up with the full weight of the driver's foot on it while Cole struggled to see with the snow pelting his windshield.

Katherine unloaded the empty shell in the rifle and ducked. Shots came from the car ahead, alerting the Assassins to more men in the backseat. Mary shut the lights off and slowed a bit while veering to the side in an effort to disguise themselves in the snow the Templars were churning up with their vehicle. Katherine took a moment to line up her shot, and when Mary sped up again (thanks to the pause of the men having to reload their guns) Katherine shot at the back window. One spurt of blood escaped the vehicle and men shouted loudly, which was Mary's queue to fade back into the storm the car was creating for them.

"Nice shot!"

"Thanks! Glad my aim's not shite because of the camp!"

Cole executed a sharp turn, much to the surprise of Mary, and began racing towards a town. Mary was forced to slow their vehicle, put it in reverse and continue the pursuit. On the bright side the Templars within would only be shooting blindly at them. The chase continued through the streets, and curious townsfolk peered through the casements to get a glimpse over the engines screaming through the night. In and out the town they went, and Cole was finding his way to a warehouse outside of it.

Or, at least, what Mary thought was a warehouse.

By the time Mary finally realized it was an airfield Cole had dived from his passenger seat and let the car drive itself into the ditch with the surviving Templars within. He picked himself up, didn't bother to straighten his wrinkled clothes or the satchel that no doubt held the Apple within, and immediately spun to face Mary and Katherine's oncoming vehicle. Mary's foot slammed hard on the gas, and for a second time Cole had to dive away. As he scrambled back to his feet Katherine fired her rifle, and the bullet smacked into his leg. With an animal-like snarl Cole gripped the wound and drew his gun. He fired at the swerving vehicle and managed to shoot out two exposed tires. Mary and Katherine hit the side of the airplane warehouse, vaulted out of the vehicle and used it for cover against Cole.

And then there was a lapse in his gunshots, and Katherine aimed her reloaded weapon at him, but he was nowhere to be found. Katherine alerted Mary and charged ahead but her brashness was met by Cole's quick fist at her gut. Gasping, Katherine clutched her rifle tightly before Cole grabbed it and slammed it hard against her head. Katherine crumpled as Mary leapt overtop her and engaged the Templar.

"Dannae think ye're getting away this time, laddie!" Mary grabbed his wrist, twisted hard and disarmed the gun from his grasp. His shout was hauntingly shrill in the frozen night but Mary was unmoved and twisted his arm behind his back. As Katherine got back up onto her feet Cole slammed his head into Mary's, gained control over his arm once more and pulled a dagger from his coat.

Mary grinned and flexed her forearm, which made her hidden blade leap forward and gleam brightly. "Pity ye dinnae find another sword, Mr. Cole."

"Don't you ever shut up?!" snarled the American. "I'm sick of you! I'm sick of looking at you, of hearing you, of all of you!"

"Good thing ye dannae have tae look at what ye're sick at in the mirror every damn day then, Cole." Mary grinned brightly, though Katherine noticed a darker undertone within. "Ye should take a good look. Ye're the one who did this. I'm gonna make ye pay for everything."

Katherine fired suddenly and struck Cole's side. He hollered as Mary lunged forward, though with a flick of his dagger he managed to draw first blood and sliced at the bandages on Mary's face, though at her temple above her eye. Shrieking, Mary struck ferociously while Cole was forced back and Katherine hurried to fix the jam in her rifle. The roar of an airplane's engine cut the night, and just as Mary seemed to gain the upper-hand with blood gushing onto her bandages Cole retreated and made for the plane.

"Mary!" Katherine shouted. The Scot tore after him, pistol aimed at his back. Katherine fixed her rifle and aimed it at three Templars that had emerged from the hanger with assault rifles primed. The bullet ripped through two men and startled the third, but by then Mary was aware and diverted her course to sink her hidden blade wrist-deep into his neck. Katherine was already sprinting after the Master Templar and reloading her weapon.

But Cole was in the co-pilot's chair and the plane was taking off. Katherine steadied herself and aimed, but suddenly she jerked her weapon away from the plane. Mary wasn't quite finished with Cole and had latched onto the pilot's door. Katherine, seeing Cole's gun even from where she was, looked down her sights and fired quickly. Her last bullet shot Cole's hand and threw his second gun from his grip. Mary started smashing her fist into the window. The pilot pulled up, leaned to the left and Mary, thanks to the frost, slipped. She hit the ground hard and skidded several metres before coming to a complete stop, and the plane took off into the darkened sky.

Cole had escaped again. Katherine rushed to Mary's prone form on the ground and was relieved to see her move into a sitting position while she watched the plane become an invisible dot against the inky sky. Katherine joined her there, seated on the ground and watched as Cole slipped further and further away. The blankness in the Scot's eyes reflected all that she felt, though Katherine couldn't fathom the intensifying loss.

Several minutes later, Mary stood up and rubbed her only visible eye. She was still bleeding badly from the head. "Och... I need a drink..." she grumbled, and as Mary turned towards the totalled vehicle she added, "There's got tae be a clue tae his next location here. I hope, at least."

Katherine nodded solemnly, watched the plane finally dissolve into nothing, and turned when she heard a sudden thunk. Mary was laying on the ground, and then Katherine realized the bleeding on Mary's head hadn't stopped. Swearing, Katherine hurried to Mary and applied pressure to her bleeding temple, then she dragged Mary towards the hanger to a radio.

The moment she was on an Assassin frequency Katherine reported the situation while shredding her jacket to wrap around Mary's head. A few hours, the Assassins said. A few hours and they'd be there.

Katherine knew it would be a long night.

_/-\_

Kraków, German Empire, 1944

"So tell me how you really know Richard Cole."

Just a few days after Katherine's escape from Auschwitz and Mary's rushed hospitalization (which she was constantly complaining about while trying to assure her fellow Assassins that all was well), Katherine finally sat down beside Mary and confronted her with that question. Mary was relieved to see Katherine looked healthier than she had when they'd broken out of Auschwitz and was back in her double-breasted uniform, dark olive trousers, leather gaiters that covered worn black shoes and a brown coat. Her white hood, much like the time they'd first met, was lowered onto her back.

Katherine's gaze never wavered as Mary smirked at her in her hospital bed, dressed in a typical hospital gown. Her bandages had been replaced. But Katherine set her eyes on the floor when Mary countered, "Only if ye spill yer Sight, lass."

The younger Assassin drew herself up. "Not until you explain your relationship with him."

"Ye say that as though ye think I've been doggin' with him." Mary noticed the lost look on Katherine's face. "Ach, do I have tae spell it oot for ye?! Sex! Ye think I leapt intae bed with him!"

"Shh!" hissed Katherine, and she leered around the room to see if anyone heard. "Mary there's a time and place for talking about that... that sort of thing. It isn't now!"

Mary smirked and pinched Katherine's cheek. "Aw, ye wee little bairn! Ye're so innocent!"

"I will cut your fingers off, Mary." Katherine brushed Mary's hand aside. "And I wasn't talking about... that. I meant a different sort of relationship."

"Sure," said Mary. The Scot gestured to a bottle on her table. "Pass that here, lassie? Then I'll tell ye."

With a dignified huff Katherine grabbed the bottle and handed it to Mary. Katherine assumed it to be a kind of tonic but the way Mary downed it made her second-guess herself. That, and the whiff she got when Mary uncorked it.

"Mary," said Katherine slowly, "is that...?"

Mary smiled sweetly, hiccupped, and corked it. "N-Naw..."

Katherine had the bottle back on the table before the Scot could protest. Better it be there than in the hands of Mary, or shattered over Mary's head, which Katherine only just managed to keep herself from doing.

"You're going to drown yourself with this shite!" Katherine snapped at the Scot. "How you're even still alive or coherent is beyond me!"

"Ye wouldnae believe me if I told ye it loves me back," Mary mumbled.

"And you'd be right about that." Katherine leaned back in her chair and got comfortable. "Would you tell me now?"

"Yer Sight first, lassie."

With an exasperated sigh, Katherine let her chin fall to her chest. "It's really about as straightforward as you'd expect. A lot of people in my family have it. Like you said back on the Gallant, there are people who are born with it. I and my family are just that."

"Makes ye a descendant of Those Who Came Before, the Precursor Race." Mary rubbed her visible eye. "Ach... I've always wondered about the crazy that came along with that title..."

"You're no stranger to crazy. You tried to enter a moving plane, for God's sake." Katherine smirked, but the quiet that followed her statement indicated to Mary the explanation she was waiting for.

Mary stared at her bed sheets. Katherine would have prodded her had she not looked so absolutely and completely... well, wounded. Not that it had stopped her before, but Katherine was beginning to see a different sort of human vulnerability within Mary. But Katherine realized she had very rarely seen Mary as anything beyond a soldier in the time she'd known her. Katherine forgot that Mary, like Katherine, had a life outside the Assassins. That person was probably different from the one who Mary usually portrayed. Mary was still just a person, after all.

"I told ye about my parents, aye?" When Katherine nodded, Mary bit her lip. "After I avenged them I came tae the Assassins. I was put in a trainee cell with others, and that was tae be my team.

"I got along well with them. Ye remember Hall, of course. Boy called Wessex was another. Then there was me and Richard Cole."

Katherine's jaw dropped. "Cole was an Assassin?!"

"He came tae them about a year before myself. Smart in the fashion of a fox, I always thought." Mary smirked. "Bastart gave me a run for my money. He and I dinnae get along so well at first. Our cell leader kept pairing us because she knew he and I were the best damn interrogators we had at the time. A lot of that interrogation usually included torture."

Katherine nodded, though Mary noted how she pursed her lips. "That's... necessary, I suppose."

"People dinnae want another Great War, lassie. It wasnae pretty, but it was indeed necessary." Mary paused again. "We worked together for a few years, intae my twenties. By then our cell was inseparable, even if our leader had tae keep going on missions by herself.

"Then, one day, Cole approached me. He jabbered on about how the Assassins were corrupt and needed help. But I was already on my way oot. I dinnae want anything tae do with what he was saying. I was retiring. He wasnae happy about it, but thought he could bring me back. When I left I dinnae expect tae ever see any of them again."

Katherine tilted her head to the side, a quizzical look on her face. "Why'd you leave?"

"Ye dinnae forget I'm Mrs. Helling, did ye?" Mary asked with a grin.

"Oh," Katherine responded.

Shrugging, Mary's grin faded until her mouth had been made into a thin line. "I suppose it's a good thing ye managed tae behead one of those bastarts. One down."

"That entire place was in flames. I doubt Cole will be able to make many more of those Assassin-hunters, even if he still has the Apple."

"By now I'd wager Cole's handed the Apple off knowing we'll find him again. We need some spies tae confirm it though. The Apple has become our main target. Recover the Apple, and I guess we can try tae save those enthralled by it."

Katherine halted. "Mary, you're not saying—? T-They're all responsible for that! For killing our brothers and sisters! They need to pay for it!"

"I dannae think ye heard me correctly, lassie: they. Had. Naw. Choice. Naw say in that. Punishing them for what they had naw control over is something we just dannae do. And ye beheaded the one ye said killed yer brothers. Ye ought tae be fine now."

"I'm not fine! How many others are out there?! Cole could have lied to me! I can't rest until every single one of them has fallen to justice!"

"Justice or vengeance, lassie? Ye're blurring the lines a wee bit. Even the one ye killed was controlled by that un-Godly weapon. We dannae know if they died fighting it or were already dead."

Katherine leaned close to Mary, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I. Don't. Care," she sneered. "They're our enemies, and the Assassins will always oppose those who side with the Templars!"

Katherine stood and quickly began to stride out of the hospital room, but just as she opened the door she heard Mary say, "Dannae paint yerself as white and yer enemies as black, Katie. There's a bit of grey in every colour."

She spun on her heel to give Mary one last glare. "Don't shove your drunken philosophies on me, Mary! You don't know what it's like to have people you love more than anything taken from you! I could do nothing, but now I can honour my brothers! Drown in drink if you must!"

And she slammed the door hard, which caused the nurses to chastise her and practically shove her out of the wing. Mary, however, stared at the flask of beer across from her.

"I cannae drown if it's that far away, ye div."