Disclaimer - Assassin's Creed and Prototype all belong to their rightful owners. This story is beta by Trondason.

Hello Great Britain and Connections

Alex would have start kissing the ground when he finally got off the ship he had taken at Boston, but he was not desperate enough to disgrace himself in this way. The virus was only glad that he survived the constant storm the ocean kept throwing at the ship he was on and made it to London in one piece. He ran his fingers through his short dark brown hair as he looked around the loud port before he covered them with a tricorn hat. His current clothes were that of a Colonist instead of his Native ones. He kept Ratonhnhaké:ton's form instead of taking another one, because Ziio and Haytham might try to track him down or get some news from him.

He threw his bag that held his tomahawk and his money over his shoulder as he went around the crowd, listening to the busy people talking about everything and nothing before he headed towards the general direction where the Fox's Den tavern was.

It was a short walk, because the tavern was the closest to the port and its main business focused on sailors, merchants and visitors from other countries. When he entered the tavern, it was full of people of different nationalities, but they were mostly sailors, he went to the counter to order a drink and set his luggage at his feet. The ale was soon placed in front of him and he sipped it slowly like a well-educated gentleman.

'Hey, did you hear?' someone said in a hush-hush tone. Alex placed the rim of the mug over his lips as his eyes searched for the speaker and found the person sitting in the far corner of the counter. 'Another merchant is found dead last night, cut on the throat like all others.'

The man next to the speaker replied, 'Yes, I am arranging my business to move to the New World, I don't think it is safe to do business here anymore. The man was my neighbour and I didn't hear anything from his house, I only found out what had happened on the news.'

This piqued Alex's interest as he listened on. 'You may be right in moving away, just seeing the killer's poster gives me the creeps.'

Alex finished his drink as he pulled out a few golden coins, throwing them to the bartender who caught it and told him to prepare a room for him. The bartender happily thanked him as he left the tavern. Now where do I find one of those posters?

Just as he finished his mental thought he spotted a dog-eared poster slapped on a wall on which heavy black letters that screamed "MOST WANTED" and underneath the huge words were a vague drawing of the wanted man. The reason why it was vague was because the man's face was hidden under the hood he wore, hiding the top halves of his face, showing only the mouth and chin. The details on the bottom were no help either, other than the man is white, extremely dangerous and whoever captured the man would received 10,000 pounds.

While Alex had money, it did not mean his money pouch was bottomless, so it was best for him to find some kind of income. His current income would be the bounty of this killer. He reached out and pulled the poster off of the wall, stuffing it into his bag as he continued with his exploration over the city.

After having memorized half of the layout of the city, Alex had returned to tavern to rest until it was nightfall, from the gossips and rumours he had heard, the killer targeted more than just merchants, there were soldiers, politicians, and a professor. The Blacklight virus couldn't find what made all these people a target for the killer, unless the killer was like what he was back at Manhattan, a dangerous being with amnesia who hunted those responsible to his current state. Alex laughed at the idea. Gentek hadn't even been established yet and Ohio, Hope, hadn't happened, so the possibility of having another Runner out there was zero to none.

Alex decided a late night stroll with a pouch full of heavy gold and his tomahawk at his side to the shadier part of town was in order, because that's where dark information with a price amassed other than a market area. It was a risk to keep his Native skin and wear his Indian clothes, because he might just get some savages haters instead of thugs, but from the minds of soldiers and civilians who had lived in a poor district before, thugs would be the first to come.

It did not take long for a gang of thugs to surround him, leering at him like madmen. Alex stopped and calmly studied each of the five men that had him surrounded. The virus put on his best fake bravery as he challenged them, 'What are you idiots waiting for?'

He held up his pouch of gold for them to see and shook it a little for them to hear the clinging of gold hitting gold as he taunted them further, 'Isn't gold what you greedy bastards want?'

One of the men charged towards, but Alex easily sidestepped away from the man's track and weakly kneed him in the stomach before the thief fell to the ground, groaning in pain and holding his bruising middle. Alex looked at the rest of the group and asked tauntingly, 'Next?'

Two men, with knife at ready, ran up to meet the challenge, the Blacklight virus dodged his first attacker's strike, grabbed him by the collar and threw him back at his charging partner. The rest of the group was hesitating to attack him outright, one had already run, but he would deal with that one later. He quickly dispatched the rest with quick and precise hits.

'Time for some housecleaning,' Alex muttered as his arms became tendrils and grabbed his first attacker, consuming him and the rest of the thieves who barely had the chance to scream before they became part of his biomass. His hands reached up to clutch his throbbing head and his mouth opened to let out a silent scream as the memories surged through his mind and shelved among the other millions of memories. The memories all revolved around heists they had done together with a man named Gabriel and the failed ones caused by someone named Robert.

The virus quickly caught up to the escaped thief with a powerful jump and landed in front of the cowering man. In a blink of an eye, his hand was around the coward's throat and the man was lifted from the ground. The man stared him in fear, gasping for air and clawing his arm, hoping to get his attacker to loosen his hold on him.

Alex brought to the man's face close to his as he whispered threateningly, 'You have exactly one chance to get out of this without ended being dead like your friends. Bring me to your leader, or boss, or whatever you thieves call your leader. You either do this or you won't ever see tomorrow's daylight.'

The man immediately nodded at his request, Alex released him and said, 'Good.'

The thief coughed a few more times before he started limping towards one of the crappy alley, moving around, jumping across trashes and climbing up to the rooftops. Alex almost lost his patience, thinking the man was just trying to lose him in his parkour tricks.

The man suddenly announced, 'We are here.'

Alex looked at the crappy and half falling house as he turned his threatening gaze on the man who was doing a very good job at being Smeagol in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as he gestured towards the house and fearfully explained, 'Most of the soldiers don't come into the poor district, this is Gabriel's base of operations.'

'Gabriel, huh?' Alex repeated the name as he pushed the coward towards the door.

Not caring what the coward's name was, Alex decided to call him Smeagol. The thief entered the house first and called, 'Gabriel? There is someone here to see you.'

Smeagol opened the door wider, enough for Alex to see who this Gabriel was. Alex's first thought when he spotted the man was that he looked like an 18th century version of Gambit of the X-Men comic books. The man was in his early thirties, he had shoulder-length brown shaggy hair, faint stubble on his chin. He had a dark green waistcoat covering his white linen shirt, armguards covering his arms, fingerless gloves on his hands. Unlike most of the 18th century people, Gabriel did not wear breaches and stockings, instead he wore leather pants and knee-high riding boots. Alex studied the man and the room, looking for any kind weapon the man could get his hands on. On the left far side, there is a wall display of different rapier swords and beneath it was an opened display case of short knives. On the right, there were armours of different weight from light to heavy. The closest weapon Gabriel could grab were the throw knives sheathed on the coat hanger stand next to the hanged cloak.

Gabriel had his legs crossed and placed on the desk, his arms placed behind his head and had his chair tilted slightly. The leader of the thieves asked lazily, 'Who is it?'

'Um, uh,' Smeagol sounded hesitantly as he looked back and forth between Alex and Gabriel.

'My name is Zeus,' Alex began as he approached the table. 'A Native Indian from the New World and I am here to make business with you Mister Gabriel.'

The thief cracked opened one eye to study him before he closed them again and asked, 'Why would I want to do business with a savage? Or do you prefer Zeus, your lordship?'

Alex, unaffected by the man's sharp words, threw his pouch on the table, where some of its content got spilled, gleaming slightly under the candle's light. Gabriel yawned as he removed his foot from the table, letting his chair slammed loudly on the wooden floor, leaning in, and asked suspiciously, 'What does a savage come to me for?'

'I want information,' Alex started all business-like. 'I am after the bounty of the famed killer who has his posters shown all across the city.'

At that Gabriel leaned back, arms crossed in front of his chest, fingertips against fingertips, and asked suavely, 'What do I gain in this partnership?'

'A share of the bounty,' Alex answered, putting his hands on the edge of the table. 'You will provide me with information and weapons. I will do the hunting and collecting the bounty that we will share. This business will continue until the world doesn't have any bounty left.'

Both men knew that there would always be rich men willing to give a huge reward to whoever killed their targets or enemies. Gabriel wore a thoughtful look for a moment before he explained, 'Sadly for you, my good sir. Information and weapons I cannot provide. Not because of financial problems. You see, there is someone else in London, beyond this poor district, a thief named Robert Dupuis controls every coming and going streams of information. Dupuis has an ally who eliminates and steals every piece of information my men gather. As days passed, I lose more and more men who went to help Dupuis.'

'Here's what I propose to you,' Gabriel began with a content look. 'I have two tasks for you to complete. First, you must go and find Madame Giry. She lives three blocks northeast from my house. She is the one who looks after every street prostitute and beggar in the city, tell her that Gabriel is in business once more and show her your pouch of gold. I will collect my share later. After you receive her aid, we will show the information.'

Gabriel put the gold back into the pouch and slid it back to Alex as he continued, 'The second task is to bring me Robert's head. If you can't grab his head then take the triangular shaped pendant to me as a proof that you have accomplished your task. With him out of the picture, I and Giry will control the flows of information once more and whatever is ours will be yours, given with a reasonable price of course. Then the weapons will be yours and the man you look for will be revealed.'

Alex nodded as he replaced his pouch at his side. Just as he had his hand over the doorknob, Gabriel called out to him and said, 'You better get some better clothes, my friend. The city does not welcome your kind anymore than they will welcome us. I suggest you use some of your gold to get clothes before you meet up with Giry.'

Alex nodded before he left for the tavern.

Next morning, dressed in some modest clothes and with a half-filled pouch of gold, Alex headed towards the block where Madame Giry was. When he reached the location, he was swarmed by a group of beggars, but his cold and warning gaze kept them from approaching. Prostitutes and beggars parted ways for him and he walked until he reached the center of the block where an old woman in a tattered dress stood and some girls were handing out food and cloak to the people. The woman had her grey hair tied into a bun and her skin was as gnarl as an old tree's bark.

Alex approached the woman and asked, 'Are you Madame Giry?'

The old woman looked at him sharply, piercing blue eyes on his face, and coldly asked, 'Did the governor decide that we can't even stay in this district anymore?'

Alex arched an eyebrow at the elder woman's words and answered, 'No ma'am. I am not one of the governor's men. Gabriel had told to tell you that he is in business once more. And offer you this.'

Madame Giry immediately took the pouch from his hand and pulled one of the golden coin out, studying it in different position and biting it with her slightly yellowed teeth before she nodded satisfyingly and asked, 'Gabriel didn't have any business for the passed few months, how did he come in possession of this gold?'

'I am the one who has given it to him, he told me to bring it to you,' Alex replied calmly.

Giry hummed lightly as she studied him from head to toe and turned around him, studying him like he was some kind of exotic animal on display. Alex let her continued with her observation, because he needed the information.

'Gabriel and I used to be the best source of information in the city, but a few years ago, Robert Dupuis arrived and everything that was ours became his,' Madame Giry recounted as she moved to sit on the stack of boxes to rest. 'I lost my house while Gabriel lost his family. No one is coming to us for information anymore, so why do you come to us instead of Dupuis, young man?'

'Let's just say a little rat has told about Gabriel and I have the money to spend on some information concerning a killer on the loose,' Alex explained as he stood next to the resting old woman.

'Ah, the Assassin,' Giry moaned out. 'That's what Dupuis has called the man. The man hunts down men of power and of riches. Everything either falls into his and Dupuis hands or to the governor.'

The old woman stared at the beggars and prostitutes who had gathered here before she turned her gaze on him and said, 'If you can remove Dupuis and the Assassin. I will help in any way I can, even if the cost is this old life of mine.'

While Alex did not care for what Gabriel and Giry's sad story or their situation, the virus couldn't help the growing the desire to help these poor men and women. His eyes landed on a woman who had her hair cut, she had probably sold it to get some money to feed the child beside her. The prostitute looked almost like Dana with her short hair. If it was Dana, he wouldn't just leave her on the street and let strange men take advantage of her body.

He refocused on the old lady and said, 'I will kill Dupuis and the Assassin. You have my words, Madame Giry.'

The lady gently smiled as she got off of the boxes and announced, 'Well then, we have works to do.'

She gestured to him to follow as the people gave them space to move and they only stopped when they reach the end of the alley. She pointed upwards where behind the two buildings he could see a distant mansion and she said, 'That's the Dupuis Manor. Dupuis spent his entire day in his office, storing information and writing records. At night, he will sometimes leave his mansion to go the tavern La Volpe. None of my boys and girls ever got anymore information on why he goes there. Other than those few times, he will remain within his fortress.'

'Thank you, Madame Giry,' Alex thanked the elder lady with a nod. 'You will soon receive good news from me.'

Alex already headed towards the mansion, leaving the old woman behind who whispered wistfully, 'I hope so, son. I hope so.'

Alex had been observing and memorizing the patterns and timetable of each patrol the guards made. It was way passed noon that he made his move. He easily slipped into the mansion without being seen by any of the guards. It was when he was inside that things got a bit problematic, because he did not have a map that could tell him which corridor to take to reach Dupuis' office, though he expected the office of the information broker to be located somewhere in the second floor.

He took a few turns and back before he found the stairs and a coming squad of guards, cursing in Native, Alex quickly jumped and landed still on the creaking beam that shook under his weight. He hoped that the wood wouldn't break until the guards were out of sight.

When guards left without noticing his presence, Alex let out a relieved sigh as he landed the carpet ground, muffling the cracking noise slightly. The virus reached the second floor without incident and began searching room by room. Alex smirked in victory when he found Dupuis' office with said man's back facing him.

Alex closed the door quietly. Dupuis seemed to notice someone was in the room, but he mistook him for the Assassin and said, 'Ah my friend, you come earlier than I thought, but the information you want are on my desk.'

The Blacklight virus went to the desk and spotted the stack of information the information broker mentioned. He flipped through the pages that held information on a man named Reginald Birch, personal information and business, along with a map of the Chateau the man lived in. While going over them, Alex noticed the familiar symbol of a red cross pattée. As he looked back at the picture of Birch, he noticed the familiar ring on the man's ring finger. The virus was certain that the ring in the picture was the same one Haytham had handed him.

Before Alex wondered what the meaning of the ring, Dupuis already finished reading the book he held and turned to see Alex, a stranger, looking through his documents. The information broker yelled, 'WHO ARE YOU?!'

Alex looked up in the time to dodge the sword coming towards him, the documents on Reginald Birch was scattered into the air as Dupuis lunged fowards with his sword, Alex parried it with his tomahawk and kicked the man in the stomach, sending the man flying over the balcony and screaming to his death.

Alex frowned as he grabbed the paper that had Birch's picture, the biography and the map of Birch's chateau before he jumped over the balcony and landed heavily beside Dupuis' corpse. He really should have consumed the man when he had his chance, because the man's mind was a gold mine of information, but now it was impossible with the brain splattered all over the ground. Alex removed the man's coat before he decapited the corpse covering it with the clothing. As an afterthought, Alex took the pendant Gabriel spoke of and tied it to his tomahawk.

When he got up, a shriek sounded behind him. Alex glanced over his shoulder to see a maid pointing at him and five guards behind. Time to go!

Alex dodged the first bullet that was fired at him, he growled angrily before he dashed towards his attacker, slamming his tomahawk into the junction between neck and shoulder, killing the man instantly as blood covered his face. The guards were shocked at the quick attack which gave an opening to Alex to eliminate them all. The virus slashed the throat of the one closest to him and imbedded his weapon into leader's vertebral column. Taking the sword from the downed leader, Alex swiped the blade underneath a guard before impaling the sword straight through his heart. When he turned to the last man standing, the guard was shaking as he muttered prayers and backed away from him, Alex smirked viciously as he threw the sword towards the screaming man. The bladed weapon imbedded into the man's skull as the horrid sound died down. The Blacklight virus went to retrieve his tomahawk from the corpse before he looked at the maid who was now knelt on the ground, frozen on her spot and her skin pale as his eyes focused on her. Alex, inwardly grinning like a Cheshire Cat, brought his index finger to his bloodied lips, a pleasant smile stretched his lips, and shushed her.

The simply act caused the woman to faint and Alex chuckled at the extreme reaction. He climbed over the wall and sprinted away before every guard within Dupuis Manor was notified of their employer's death and the appearance of Dupuis' killer. Alex safely reached another district, allowing him to carefreely walked towards Gabriel's house.

Alex's path was surprisingly empty and silent, but he guessed after what had happened last night, Smeagol must have warned everyone to keep away from his path unless they wanted to end up like his bodiless friends. The virus was pouting internally, because he had kind of hoped to kill something on his way to Gabriel.

Alex slammed the door opened when he arrived at Gabriel's house and threw the severed head on the thief's desk, Gabriel didn't even flinch when Dupuis's head rolled out of the cloth. Though the thief's eyes widened as he looked up at him and asked in astonishment, 'Already?'

'I work fast,' Alex replied with a grin.

Gabriel wore a satisfied smirk as he stood up from his seat and gave him an exagerated bow as he announced, 'It will be a pleasure to do business with you, my friend. I, Giry and our men will begin our search immediately.'

'Here's something for you to begin with,' said Alex as he pulled out the rolled-up papers on Birch. 'When I first came into Dupuis' office, he mistook me for this Assassin and these are some of the documents I have taken.'

Gabriel took them and scanned over them, nodding and mumbling to himself. 'Hmm. Reginald Birch? I shall see what I can find.'

Gabriel threw Dupuis' head off of the desk and brought the documents on his slightly cleaned desk, pulling papers, quill, inkpot and a signet out.

'One more thing,' Alex announced, drawing the man's attention. He approached the man and took Haytham's ring out for the thief to study. 'I need you to look into the secret of this ring. I spotted the same ring on Birch's ring finger. I want to know if there is something special about it.'

When Gabriel reached to take from his hands, Alex caught the man's wrist tightly as he whispered warningly, 'I want the ring back.'

Gabriel nodded before Alex released his wrist. The thief brought the ring closer to his eyes for a careful examination, the man nodded and replied, 'I will see what I can find. You will be the first to receive any news of our discovery.'

'Good,' Alex muttered as he left the house. In his mind, he wondered if he truly wanted to discover the secret of the ring. He feared that the truth would be just like the one he had found of him being the one who had released the Blacklight virus in Pennslyvania Station and infected Manhattan. What if this ring brought out some terrible truth that should have stayed hidden? Alex shook his head as if the action would get rid of the hesitation. Even if the truth isn't one I wan to know, I have to know. It is better than wondering every day and night about it.

Pretty please for reviews.