Chapter 2: Jagged, Like Thorns
Shin Assassins Outfit: GeeksNGamers — Cowboy Assassin by Diana Da Costa
Assassins Creed: Outlaw main theme played in the Assassin outfit equip: /QOncv49VsmQ
First Assassination scene theme: Hell Broke Luce
-Saturday afternoon-
Joshua was in his kitchen as he got the things he needed for his dinner with Ororo together. He got a call from her earlier asking what kind of date they'd be having, and he replied that he preferred a date at home so he could make her dinner with his own hands. She accepted and said she'd be at his door at six twenty five in the evening, like she said before.
He decided to get everything ready in advance since some of this would require an hour to make, particularly the dough for his hamburger buns and the burger patties themselves. Before that, he was going to prepare the appetizer: spinach puffs.
These bad boys were going to be just like the Oh so iconic spinach dip stuffed puff pastries that were on one of his favorite movies: The Emperor's New Groove. In fact, he was watching one of his favorite YouTube channels on the recipe: Babish Culinary Universe.
He made sure to follow the whole thing, pausing and waiting during the particularly long parts of the recipe so he could follow them. After they were done cooling off enough, he covered them in aluminum foil to keep them warm for when it was time to eat them.
After that came the big challenge: Homemade Smash Burgers. Again, he referred to Babish Culinary Universe for directions. The dough for the buns was a bit of a chore and made him glad he began working on this at two in the afternoon so he could have time to deal with everything else.
But the end result was definitely worth the wait, especially with the homemade sea salted sweet potato fries and homemade doughnuts which he made for dessert. And he managed to finish it all with half an hour to spare so he could get himself cleaned up since, like usual, there was a mess in the kitchen as he worked. Once he was all refreshed, all he had to do was wait.
'This meal took a lot of prep work. It has to turn out okay.' He thought to himself as he waited for Ororo to arrive. He was currently dressed in a blue shirt and some black jeans as his two living cats sat with him on the couch.
About twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and the kind, sweet and intellectual voice of Ororo spoke from the other side.
"Josh? Are you in there?" She called.
"Yeah! One sec!" The man called back before he got up and walked up to the door. When he opened it, he froze.
Ororo was dressed casually, but that didn't seem to matter since she still looked amazing. Her clothes consisted of a white shirt, blue jeans and a pair of sneakers.
"Oh my, something smells good." She smiled as the aroma of Joshua's coming hit her nose. Her words made him snap out of his stupor.
"Oh yeah. Come on in and I'll introduce you to my cooking." He said as he stepped aside, granting her entry as he closed the door behind her.
"What'd you end up–Oh." The woman said as she saw the burgers, fries, spinach puffs and doughnuts. "... A homemade fast food feast, definitely not the craziest thing I've seen on a first date." She noted.
"Oh, so this is a date then." The man teased.
"Oh hush." The woman huffed before she sat down in front of her food as Joshua sat across from her. She decided to try a spinach puff and was surprised by how good it tasted. "Oh my. This… this is a good appetizer." She commented before deciding to eat some more of them.
"I watched Babish Culinary Universe for directions." Joshua shrugged as he ate a puff.
"Well, you certainly followed them to the letter, it seems." Ororo smiled as she finished off her spinach puffs. Looking at her burger, she was about to pick it up to take a bite when she felt something brush against her leg. Looking under the table, she saw little Kali looking back at her.
"Let me guess: one of my cats got your attention?" The tall man asked knowingly.
"Um, yes. Short gray hair and amber eyes." The woman nodded as Kali let out an adorable squeaky meow. "And is also a squeaker." She added with a smile.
"Yep, that's Kali. She's an adorable little sweetie." Joshua smiled. "And she's also pretty squirmy, too." He added.
"Well she's cute anyway." Ororo chuckled as she gave the little fireball some chin scratches, which she appreciated.
After Kali went back to sleep with River on the couch, the two continued their dinner and Joshua–wanting to avoid an awkward silence–decided to start a conversation.
"So… How did you meet the others? Did you always know about the Assassins and Templars?" He asked.
"No, actually. I just happened to be approached by the Assassins one day and they told me everything." The woman explained. "I wanted to deny it, but they had too much proof." She continued as she thought back to those days before she joined the brotherhood.
"I think I got pretty lucky. By the looks of things, I was lucky to make it through my teens without incident." Joshua commented, thinking about the scale of the war as he took a bite out of his burger.
"I found out that I was also from the same family line as Esmarelda Palacios. But only very distantly." She continued. "Mael used to be friends with Shaun Hastings, the History expert from Desmond Miles' crew. Emma was college roommates with Rebecca Crane and even helped her come up with the upgrades to the Animus 2.0." She added.
"And what about Cal?" Josh asked.
"Calvin was the guy who helped us with Abstergo. He was Desmond Miles's Cousin on his mom's side. She was the defendant of Ezio Auditore's sister and was the second cousin to Desmond's dad…" The woman replied. "They weren't a very close family, so he never knew his cousin–before he died." She added. The bespectacled man frowned at that.
"How… How did Desmond die?" He asked with uncertainty.
"He died when he activated a Precursor site to protect the Earth from a devastating solar flare. However, he also set a Precursor free in the process." The woman explained.
"Which one?" The man pressed.
"Juno, she's been a thorn in the Brotherhood's side ever since." Ororo replied. "And she left a sour taste in Calvin's mouth for obvious reasons." She added.
"Fuck." Josh cursed. "There has to be some way to trap her again." He said to himself.
"That's what we're hoping…" She nodded, eating fry casually. "But enough about that, what can you tell me about you, personally?" She asked.
"Not much to talk about, really." Joshua shrugged, grateful for the topic change. "I just went to college with Cal and I was planning on writing my own books so I could leave something behind when I die." He continued.
"What kind of books?" Ororo asked curiously. Given her public profession, it was natural for her to have an interest in books.
"Ones that have a few parallels with what H.P. Lovecraft wrote, but is otherwise different." The man replied. "No classism, no racism, none of that bullshit." He explained further. "That doesn't mean I won't have any horrors present, though." He added with a smirk.
This explanation caused the African woman to shudder rather aggressively. "What kind of horrors, exactly?" She asked with a gulp.
"Where's the fun in sharing that?" He chuckled. Oh, he had plans for that field, and he wanted them to be a surprise.
"Then I should probably tell you, I'm Thalassophobic." Ororo told him.
"Oh, don't worry, then. None of my horrors will be sea based. If anything, my current one is set in a mountain." Joshua assured her. It was true, since his plans would mostly take place on land in unexpected places. Some would probably be airborne, but that was about it. He also knew that Thalassophobia meant one feared large bodies of water.
Plus, he had some of his own fears to draw upon for his stories.
"Oh good." Ororo sighed in relief. After taking a moment to calm her nerves at the thought of waterborne horrors, she continued eating the homemade dinner that her date had cooked up.
"What about you? What can you tell me about yourself?" He asked.
"Well, part of the reason I'm Thalassophobic is because of a plane crash caused by some terrorists that were going to commit the nine eleven crashes. I was adrift at sea as a result of that." The woman explained with a shudder before she calmed herself. "That aside, my father was a historian who was obsessed with the Pharaohs and my mother was a magnificent tailor with her own boutique in Cairo." She continued.
"Okay, your Thalassophobia makes sense now." Joshua nodded before he shuddered violently. "I actually have Astraphobia. Not only is direction non-existent up in space, there's so many horrible things that could happen." He elaborated.
"You sound like Bones from Star Trek." The woman chuckled.
"Oh quiet, you." The man retorted. The rest of their dinner went on with them chatting about various things as they ate and before either of them noticed, the food was gone.
"Well… This was certainly nice. And filling." Ororo remarked before looking at the time. "And I think I can go for a movie before this date is over." She added.
"How does V for Vendetta sound?" Joshua offered.
"Alright." She nodded as the two decided to lay on the couch together and watch the film, the man's cats sleeping on a pillow on the far end.
(On Monday)
It was the first day of the week and everyone was setting up for tackling another Memory Cluster of Shin Malphur, and everyone was glad to have had a good weekend break between work spells.
Currently Joshua was leaning against Mael's workstation while Calvin–who was dressed this time in a pair of green 5.11 cargo pants, a pair of custom white Godzilla Tom David high tops, a pair of Expedition Everest socks, a brown bomber jacket and an Expedition Everest shirt–worked on checking the data of Shin's genetic memory for any abnormalities.
Taking a sip of his coffee and a bite of the biscotti Mael gave him, the Assassin in training turned to his historian companion.
"So, you're friends with Shaun Hastings?" He asked, taking a bite of his biscotti after dunking it in his coffee.
"Yeah, we got along pretty well since we both have a thing for history." Mael nodded. "We've had our fair share of hiccups, though, but that's a part of life." He added with a shrug.
"Uh-huh…" Joshua nodded as he looked at Sarah, who was loading the hard drive of Genetic Memory into the Animus 2.0, which Calvin handed her.
She was also dressed in something different today. Namely a pair of icy blue jeans, a pair of white heels, an icy blue business coat, and a white dress shirt that seemed almost skin tight and came up to her mid section–also pressing her chest up into a heart shaped cleavage. This look was also complimented by the sparkling ice breaker-like lipstick she was wearing made the gears in the man's head start turning.
"Okay… We should be good to go. Hopefully we won't have a scare like last time." Sarah said as she finished getting things ready.
"… Is it just me, or does she look almost exactly like Emma Frost right now?" Joshua asked Mael, who turned around briefly before turning back to his work station.
"It's not just you, Joshua." Mael nodded, having come to the same conclusion. Shrugging, the bespectacled trainee sat down in the Animus so they could get to work.
"Alright, got the clusters isolated… No abnormalities so far… Should be good." Calvin nodded. "Let's get this show on the road." He added as he hit a button and let his friend start synchronizing.
Animus Active.
Finding memory cluster…
Memory Cluster found: Sharp Like Thorns.
Synchronizing…
-Pallamon, 1858-
The memory opened up with a now eighteen year old Shin chopping wood on his family's farmhouse, he'd managed to chop up a decent pile when his father came out to him with an envelope in hand.
"Hey, Shin! Got somethin' for ya!" The man called, getting his attention.
"What's up?" He asked as he walked up to his old man.
"Need you to take this letter into town to the post office." Samson explained as his son took the letter and looked at it.
"Who's it for?" Shin asked.
"Your uncle Dante, I'm trying to see how he's doing ever since he got exonerated from that court marshal he almost got a couple months back." The man explained.
"Oh yeah. The one that was due to him falling in love with a Comanche woman, right?" Shin mused as he recalled the details. Mind you, he had nothing against that. If anything, he actually found the concept appealing.
"Right…" His father nodded. "Anyway, you should get moving." He added, gesturing with his head over to his son's Tennessee Stud horse, Nashville. The horse was a long and lean stud with sun colored hair, a white mane and tail, green eyes and had a fiery and stubborn disposition.
"Right. Let's go." Shin nodded as he took the letter before getting on his horse and riding off into town. Upon reaching the main town, the young man soon took notice that Jaren and his posse that he usually had with him was missing.
The boy simply shrugged and figured that they were off trying to search for any bandits who may have to be camped out near the town. Tying Nashville to a nearby post, he then went into Palamon's post office to drop off his dad's letter.
"Hey, Shin. Need a letter delivered?" The postman asked.
"Yeah, my dad needs it brought to Fort Sill, to Dante Malphur." The boy nodded.
"Alright, that'll be a two week journey–add the minimal postal cost and stamps…" The man said as he started calculating things. "That'll be two dollars and a nickel." He added.
"Alright. Simple enough." Shin nodded as he pulled out the specified amount and gave it to the man. "There ya go." He said.
"And I'll take the letter." The man nodded as he did so, allowing Shin to leave. As he left, he stopped briefly when he heard the sound of sobbing coming from the nearby saloon, the "Mare's Mane".
The source of the crying was coming from a girl around his age. She was a medium to petite Canadian/Mexican girl that he knew, her mocha skin and ebony hair being well lit by the daytime sun. Which matched her green and black dress.
Walking up to her, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Laura, you okay?" He asked. The girl sniffed before she turned to him, tears running down her cheeks.
"O-oh. H-hi, Shin." She sighed as she tried to reign in her emotions. Her emerald green eyes were still puffy from the tears.
"Why're you crying? What's happened?" The boy questioned as he adjusted his lever action rifle on his shoulder.
"M-my boyfriend, he…he…" Laura choked out.
"He…?" Shin prompted with narrowed eyes as his anger started spiking.
"He cheated on me!" Laura cried as she threw herself into the man's arms, causing him to hold her on instinct while his blood boiled in rage.
"That bastard–where is he now?" The boy questioned.
"In the saloon, his name is Lester. He wears a black gambler's hat with a peacock feather in it. You can't miss him." The girl told him.
"Thanks." Shin nodded before he turned and went into the saloon and looked around before spotting the black hat with a peacock feather he was looking for.
Side Mission Started
Mission Title: Your Cheatin' Heart.
Objective: Confront Lester
The person it was attached to was a nineteen year old Caucasian boy with a black goatee and brown eyes, he was dressed in all black and was gambling with a few other guys and had a blonde dancer in his lap.
'Bingo.' He thought before walking over to the cheating fucker and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey." He said before he let the man turn around before he socked the man in the jaw.
"AGH! What was that for?!" Lester grunted as he held his face.
"For cheating on Laura, you little bastard!" Shin growled angrily as he glared at his target.
"You little punk!" The man yelled and he tried to lunge at Shin, but the boy was easily able to sidestep him, nail him in the stomach, grab him by the sides of his head and slam his knee into the cheater's face. Grunting, Lester tried to punch him again, but his attack was caught and he got another blow to the face for his troubles before he was judo tossed into a wall, staggering him.
"Now get out of here, and don't let me see you around my friends ever again!" Shin yelled as he kicked Lester out the door by shoving his boot up his ass.
"As much as I don't like fights in my saloon… I'll make an exception if it involves a cheater getting a good blow to the head." The bartender commented.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Obadiah." Shin chuckled nervously as he tossed the man a few quarters before leaving.
As he left the saloon, he went back to where Nashville was, but stopped briefly when he was nearly bowled over by a five year old blond haired boy that he also knew.
"Big brother!" He exclaimed happily. Yes, this kid saw Shin like a brother, and he was just fine with that.
"Fritz, what're you doing outside? It's dangerous out in the street, you could get run over." Shin said to the boy.
"Look!" Fritz said as he held up a box of feathers from various birds. "I'm trying to get a Red Tailed hawk feather for my collection!" He continued.
"Oh, getting that kind of feather? That's gonna be a chore." Shin commented as he looked at the collection.
"I saw one that had a nest up in the bell tower of the church." The five year old said, pointing at the St. Peter Catholic church in the town. "I was just about to get it."
"Uh, I think you better leave that to me, little buddy." Shin said as he looked at the tower and immediately decided that it was too dangerous for Fritz to handle. "Wait here." He told him.
"Alright." The boy nodded as Shin went to the Church.
Side Quest Started
Quest Title: A Feather To Many
Objective: Obtain five Red Tail Hawk feathers.
Looking at the tower for any leverage point, he soon spotted a good starting point and took a running start before he started to run at the side of the tower. When he was close enough, he ran up the wall and quickly grabbed the first leverage point.
Swinging a few times back and forth, then vaulted up onto the ledge of one of the stained glass windows of the chapel, and then saw a rope dangling from a support beam for a window washer's platform that was right below the bell tower–where the nest was.
'Okay, let's get some feathers." He said before pulling himself up, and saw that the nest was empty for now and had a fair amount of feathers surrounding it. Glad that the occupant was absent, he grabbed five feathers before he climbed back down to give them to Firitz.
Walking back towards the small boy, he handed him the feathers he gathered. "Here you go buddy, this should do for now." He said, getting a smile from the small boy.
"Thanks!" Fritz smiled happily as he ran off with his box in tow.
(Later)
Several days after this journey to town later, Shin was busy trying to help his mother take a few small pieces of supplies to the local prison for Jaren and his new deputies to keep the people they detained fed.
As they did this, Delilah was trying to talk to her son about finding different outlets for his energy, constructive ones, that was.
"I have plenty of outlets, why are you so worried?" The boy questioned.
"I mean besides gun barrels." The woman returned knowingly.
"Mom." He groaned in exasperation.
"I'm just saying, having more outlets would do you good, Shin." Delilah told him.
"Except I feel content with what I've got, so I don't feel the need to find any more outlets." The boy sighed. As they stopped at the sheriff's office, one of the deputies, a twenty one year old man by the name of Wyatt Earp met them at the door.
"Hey there Mrs. Malphur, these are the supplies you said you had extra of?" The man asked.
"Yes they are, Wyatt. Shin, come on. Let's get these unloaded." The woman said as she started unloading crates.
"Got it." Shin nodded as he helped his mom out. After this, the boy looked around and noticed a man in dingy clothes with an almost sickly look to him leaning against the side of the saloon, trying to stay in the shade from the hot sun. And on this man's hip was a hand cannon—like Jaren's—but this one was black, jagged, with a series of green orbs on it, a bladed turbine-like cylinder and a clawed handle which was wrapped with deteriorating leather strips.
Shin frowned as his body's instincts felt something… Wrong, with the man. Like he was something that shouldn't exist. He shook it off before he went back to helping his mom unload the supplies.
"Go on and get you something to drink, I'm sure you're thirsty." His mother told him.
"Thanks." The boy nodded as he went to the saloon, and as he got himself a sasparilla and went back outside, the man leaning against the wall looked at him from the corner of his eye—which was a sickly green.
"That a Winchester you got?" He questioned, his voice almost making Shin choke on his drink.
"U-um… What?" The boy asked, trying to avoid shivering from the aura this man seemed to have about him.
"Your rifle there." The unknown gunslinger clarified, gesturing to the rifle slung over Shin's shoulder. "That a Winchester?" He repeated again, more clearly this time.
"Yeah. I got this as a gift from my old man. Why?" Shin asked, wondering what this guy's angle was.
"Lever action then, am I right?" The man continued, dodging the question asked.
"Yeah." Shin nodded, taking a sip of his drink.
"Thought so." The man said as he turned back to the street.
"Who—Who are you?" The boy asked.
"They call me, Yor." The man responded. "Dredgen Yor." He added. As he said this, Shin couldn't stop his gaze from gravitating towards the piece on Yor's hip. "I see you've noticed my piece." He stated knowingly, never looking at him.
"That… That doesn't look like a normal piece." Shin noted, feeling a strange sense of unease as he looked at the gun.
"That's because it isn't." The sickly looking man stated. He then took the gun out and then held it out. "I used to think of it as a Rose, focusing on its bloom." He continued. "But after years of use, years of fighting, years of killing, years of death. I see now that it is only like that of thorns, jagged—with a singular purpose." He added before putting the gun away, and unknowingly drawing his attention to the rusted and unused wrist blade on his arm.
'Wait, didn't Jaren have two of those things?' Shin thought, making sure to put that thought in the back of his mind. "Uh, what purpose would that be, if I'm allowed to ask?" He questioned carefully.
"To kill, of course." Yor responded simply as he sat back up straight before walking past Shin and patting him on the head. "Keep your rifle true, boy. The Templars won't show you any mercy—when they come around again." He concluded before walking away out of the town, his tattered cloak flapping in the wind.
"So I was right. He's an Assassin." Shin muttered to himself as he watched Yor leave. He wondered if he should tell Jaren about it or not, but he figured one thing was certain: He'd need his rifle for when the Templars came back to the town.
(Timeskip)
Several weeks later, the scene of the town changed drastically. It was razed to the ground, buildings burned, shops trashed, supplies destroyed, and the sky and ground stunk with the smell of smoke and the texture of ash. While the sky was dark with smoke and the incoming of a rainstorm.
Everyone was being gathered up by the Templars and killed en masse. The deputies and Jaren were all gone somewhere else due to something that they received in a telegram, leaving Palamon vulnerable.
Right now, Shin was hiding behind the church and breathing heavily. He was dirty, covered in dried blood, ash and mud, and his shoulder was dislocated from when he was disarmed by a Templar soldier who was twice his size.
"Damn you…" He cursed, coughing as he felt that his ribs may have been injured. Taking his knife into his mouth, he faced the church wall, took a deep breath—and slammed himself into it—relocating his shoulder. "Rgh!" He growled before he looked around to see if any Templars were close by.
Seeing that there were none, he ran to the prison by getting on the rooftops—fighting the urge to look as people were being hung and shot to death all around him. When he got there, he jumped and landed on the window ledge of the prison and hung on the bars—seeing his parents in the cell inside.
"Mom, Dad!" He exclaimed quietly, getting their attention.
"Shin?! Oh thank god! You're still alive." Samson sighed in relief before looking serious. "Listen, you need to get out of town! You saw what the Templars are doing to the town! It's not safe here anymore!" He told his son.
"But—But what about you? I can't just—." The boy said, tears threatening to get to him. His father and mother shushed him by placing a hand on his cheek, which he leaned into.
"Forget about us, Shin. Save yourself." Samson told him.
"Go to our house and use this key on the chest in the attic, there's something there of our family's we want you to have." Delilah added as they both kissed his forehead. "We love you, Shin."
"Go. You're a Malphur, a fighter." His father nodded with a smile. "So fight." He added. Shin looked like he really didn't want to leave them, like any child would, but he nodded all the same.
"I will." He nodded before he let go of the bars and landed on the ground. As he did, he hit the ground running—tears running down his face as he forced himself not to look back.
As he made it to his house, he managed to find his rifle and get to the attic, and as he walked into the room, he saw a chest that was locked with a key. It had a symbol on it, one that he recognized—it was the symbol of the Brotherhood!
He quickly put the key in the lock and turned it, allowing the chest to open. Inside was an Assassin's outfit meant for the current era. It consisted of a white front pinched gambler's hat that had a red ribbon on it, a red neckerchief, a white coat with a hood, a gray button up shirt, a brown dress vest, a pair of brown gloves, gray pants, and brown square toe elephant skin boots. There was also a brown belt that had the Brotherhood's symbol on it alongside a pair of equally brown ammo belts.
The weapons it came with were two Smith and Wesson Model 3s with white mahogany handles, a series of throwing knives, and lastly—two Assassins wrist blades.
After putting the outfit on and slinging his rifle back over his back, he got up and then started heading downstairs.
But before the boy could try and head back to town to try and save his parents, before he could even go downstairs—he saw a group of men with Templar crosses on their vests ride up to the house through the window.
"Shit!" He cursed quietly. He knew that he would have to fight his way through them to get to his parents, there was no way around it. Deciding to face the music and take what would more than likely be his first human kills, he walked over to the window—and deployed his wrist blades.
"Do you see anything?" One of the men questioned.
"No, I'm not seeing anyone, kid or otherwise. Just that horse that's carrying on." Another added as Nashville carried on in the distance.
"Hm, guess there's no one here, but let's check around inside just in case." A third suggested. However, as he came to the spot under the window that Shin was standing on—he unknowingly sealed his fate.
Dropping down from above, Shin landed on the man and stabbed him with his wrist blades, killing him instantly. Getting back up, he then drew his revolvers and shot two more guy's in the face on his left and right side.
"What the–! Damn shit!" The leader cursed as he got his gun out. Time seemed to slow down as Shin's vision became darker and the Templar was highlighted in red, but the thing was that there was a spot on his body, specifically just above his right knee, that was highlighted in white. Acting on instinct, Shin shot the white spot on the soldier, causing him to howl in pain as he dropped his gun and fell on his back, clutching the wound which roared in agony.
"What the hell was that…?" Shin wondered to himself as he quickly rolled out of the way of a large man who tried to grab him. Looking at the guy, the boy quickly saw that he'd most likely be able to tank a few bullets. So he decided not to waste the ammo.
"I'll snap you in two, kid." The man growled as he cracked his knuckles. Looking at a wood ax next to him, the lone Malphur picked it up and took a stance.
"Come and try it, punk." Shin retorted. Picking up a sledgehammer that was next to him, the hulking Templar then went swinging at the smaller Assassin, who dodged the swings and wails of the weapon with nimble agility—before nailing his opponent in the side with his rusted, but still sharp ax.
As the brute fell to the ground, dead, Shin felt his stomach churn as bile rose in his throat. He forced it down, though, telling himself that there would be time for that later. He decided to put the soldier he shot earlier out of his misery with a shot to the head before he got his horse and rode back to town, hoping to save his parents.
But as he got back to Pallamon, he reached it—only to witness the absolutely unthinkable. His mother and father were both on two horses, had their hands bound, and nooses around their necks. Two Templars behind them and one in front, the one in front being dressed like a judge.
"Samson and Delilah Malphur! You have been found guilty of association with a notorious criminal, and shall henceforth be sentenced to death by hanging!" The Templar judge exclaimed before giving the signal to hang the two. The parents saw their son and their eyes held a single message…
"Keep fighting."
The horses dashed out from under them, the force snapping their necks and killing them instantly. Shin could only watch helplessly as his parents were killed by cruel people. The two people he loved with every fiber of his being, the ones who helped make him who he is now… were gone from this world.
Gripping the ax he had in his hands, he glared at the five Templars and the judge—who he recognized as the judge of the town, Judge Gallows. And his vision turned red as his eagle vision activated again.
Once his targets were marked along with their weak points, he ran at them with the intent of killing them. One of the Templars saw him coming and alerted the others, prompting all of them to take out their weapons of choice.
"Well, looks like we missed one." Gallows sneered as he held up a dagger. "Kill him." He ordered. His men then started pulling out their guns, but before they could get them—Shin threw knives at their arms, making them drop them in pain.
This allowed the boy to run at them and swing his ax at one of them and take his head clean off, before swinging around again and slamming the flat back of the ax into his head and causing his neck to snap from the impact. Shin swung at another, cutting an arm off before burying the ax in his head and killing him right there. One of the others managed to remove the throwing knife from his hand before he tried to charge at the younger boy, but he ducked a punch and swung at on of his legs, cutting them off in the middle of the shin (the part of the leg, not the boy) and knocking him down before one of Shin's hidden blades stabbed him in the throat.
That then left two more people, the last of the goons, and Gallows himself. Twirling his splitting ax, the boy then adjusted his grip on the weapon and then threw it at the man next to Gallows, causing the ax to bury itself between the man's eyes and spray the treacherous judge with blood.
"Now… it's your turn to die." Shin growled, his breath ragged as his eagle vision—which now made his eyes glow red—highlighted two weak points on his target, one being on his right shoulder and the other being over his left lung.
Gallows was silent, his eyes were as wide as saucers as he looked at his now dead men and the enraged Assassin in front of him. He didn't know what to do, so he decided to go for broke and try something desperate.
Grabbing Shin's ax, he then hurled his dagger at the boy while charging at him—Shin quickly deflecting the blade with his wrist blade's protective sleeve and getting ready to retaliate. When Gallows swung the ax down on him, he dodged and the cutting object was buried in the ground. Before the corrupt man could pull it back, Shin quickly stepped on it and backhanded the man away from it, causing him to fall on the ash covered ground.
Deploying his wrist blade again, he then knocked out his knee caps with the ax he tried to kill him with, causing the man to cry in agony as he tried to crawl away—terrified of the demon that was attacking him. Tossing the ax down, Shin then stomped a foot on top of the judge to stop him from moving, wrist blade ready.
Without a second thought, Shin stabbed his blade into the man, hitting a critical spot.
Inside Animus Corridor
"Ugh… To think that a mere boy would kill me." Gallows groaned as he started bleeding out.
"Says the man who killed innocent people! How the hell do you justify this?!" Shin barked angrily.
"The Assassin brotherhood has stood in the way of us bringing the human race back to a state of peaceful obedience for centuries–so I won't try to justify myself to a foolish half-breed child who's immaturely thrown his lot in with the wrong side." The man spat, causing the boy to throttle him by the throat.
"Wrong side?! You say I'm in the wrong, yet you raze a town and butcher innocent people for their choices?! Racist Bastard!" Shin roared furiously as he kept throttling the man.
Outside Animus Corridor
"Bastard! Bastard! BASTARD!" Shin continued roaring as he kept throttling the now dead man.
However, he was soon stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Shin, Shin stop! Now!" The voice ordered, causing him to whip around and almost stab Jaren in the face, his Assassin blade just mere inches from the unintended mark.
Shin's arms slacked, his breathing heavy as he just registered what he'd done before he started throwing up his last meal. Jaren, while displeased with Shin's lack of respect for the dead currently, let him be while the boy got himself back together. As the young man recollected himself, he looked around at the carnage he'd caused before his eyes landed on his parents' hanging bodies.
"Ah, damn it…" He cursed as he tried to catch his breath while he looked down.
"Ya lost your cool in all this, didn't you?" The Assassin asked softly.
"I literally just lost my whole home to a bunch of control freaks. How could I not lose my cool?" Shin sighed before he went up to his parents' bodies and cut them down. "Come on. Help me give them a proper burial." He requested as he picked up his mother's lifeless form.
"Where do ya want 'em to rest?" Jaren asked as he picked up Samson's body.
"At my old home… it's what they would have wanted." The boy replied as he, Jaren and Wyatt brought the two back to their home.
(Later)
Shin sighed as he got back up after he paid his respects to his parents, before turning back to his horse, and got on him to meet Jaren outside of town–Wyatt having gone ahead of them to tell the next town what happened.
After a long silence between the two, the new Assassin finally spoke up. "...Did you know?" He questioned.
"Know what?" Jaren asked.
"That my parents were Assassins. Did you know, before I met you?" He asked again.
"... No. We didn't." The older man replied after a moment of silence. If he'd known that they were, he would've rejected that telegram and helped stop the Templars. "But for what it's worth, I'm sorry I was gone when they attacked." He added with a sigh.
"We knew that they were coming, we just didn't realize they'd come at night." The boy said. This made Jaren become concerned.
"How… How did you know?" He asked.
"There was a guy I had a small chat with several weeks before the attack. I figured he was one of you guys because of the hidden blade I saw on his person. He tipped me off a bit about the attack." Shin replied.
"Shin, what was this guy's name?" Jaren questioned.
"He said his name was Dredgen Yor." The boy replied. "What? You know him?" He asked.
"Oh no…" The Assassin whispered in worry, much to the younger man's confusion.
"What? What is it?" Shin questioned, now feeling really worried and confused.
"Shin, listen. Dredgen Yor hasn't been a member of the Brotherhood for a few years now, not since a mission of his went wrong." Jaren told him, shocking the boy.
"Wh-what? But what about his hidden blade?" He got out with wide eyes.
"He hasn't used it since an injury rendered him unable to use that arm anymore, so we gave him that gun you saw instead. On a mission he took, the one that went wrong, something happened that corrupted him, made him someone completely different." Jaren explained. Pieces suddenly started fitting together in Shin's mind as he recalled Yor's appearance and the aura that surrounded him.
"Then… What do we do about him?" The new Assassin asked in worry.
"That'll have to wait. For now though, we're taking a little trip." His friend told him.
"A trip? Where?" Shin questioned.
"Heh heh, tell me, Shin. You ever been to the capital?" He asked with a chuckle.
"Uh, no. Never had the chance." The young man replied with a small frown.
"Well, that's where we're headed." Jaren grinned as they kept riding. "You're gonna meet the Brotherhood's American branch Grandmaster, and our benefactor, President James Buchanan." He added.
"Whoa… Not what I expected after today." Shin said with a blink. Then again, who expects to meet the President after what he just went through?
"Well saddle up. It's gonna be a long trip there." Jaren told him as they continued their trek.
Shin sighed as he pulled out his father's old pocket watch from his vest pocket, which had the Brotherhood's symbol engraved on it and a picture of the family inside it–rubbing the picture with his thumb before putting it away.
And around his neck was a weathered bronze pendant of a Chinese guard lion with a jade orb under its paw–a talisman of protection from his mother.
'I'll miss you both.' Shin thought sadly as he and Jaren kept on riding toward the capital. 'But I will keep fighting. And I will avenge you. That I promise.' He added as they kept riding.
Memory Cluster Finished
No New Memories have been found for analysis.
Saving Progress and current data…
Data Saved.
Would you like to desynchronize?
[Yes/No]
[Yes]
Choice accepted. Desynchronizing…
-New York, present day-
Back in the present day, Joshua shot up with a gasp as he tried to snap back to reality.
"Damn it, no matter how many times I do that, I still can't handle it that well…" He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Don't worry. You'll get used to it after a bit." Calvin told him. "Trust me, I know." He added.
"I'm aware." The second tallest man in the room sighed as Ororo gave him a bottle of water and some Tylenol. "Thanks." He nodded.
"OK, so far we've figured out that Shin went to the capital after Pallamon was destroyed." Mael noted, marking the spot on the map. "So at least we have a starting point." He added.
"I also noticed that his eagle vision activated in the process." Sarah noted as she went over the footage. "And it seems to be able to highlight weak points on an opponent's body for maximum damage." She added.
"Well I never had any signs of it so far. But with all this Animus work, that's likely to change." Joshua mused.
"I still can't believe he went Punisher on all those guys, and with only a wood splitting ax, no less." Ororo said with a shudder. "It seems that his reputation for being one of the most ruthless and merciless Assassins was not overselled." She added.
"Well, I haven't shown that kind of brutality, but I think I did come close to that one time back in college." Joshua said with a small shudder.
"Oh yeah. Forgot about that." Calvin shuddered as well.
The time these two were referring to was when some of the older students of the college they went to tried to haze them, saying it was a 'requirement' for initiation into a frat house.
Joshua called bullshit on them and when they tried to force it, he got violent and the aftermath was a lot of people on the ground, all covered in bruises while Joshua stood over them with a pissed off look on his face. Calvin was off to the side watching in shock as the whole thing happened. He was lucky the people he clobbered were already on thin ice with their demeaning antics, so he only got off with two months of detention while the would-be hazers were expelled. Joshua wasn't a fan of frat houses, anyway.
"Well, in any case, I'd say we're good to take the rest of the day off." Sarah said before she hugged her boyfriend's neck. "Come on, love, let's go home–I'll treat you to your favorite milkshake joint." She added with a purr as she scratched Calvin's chin to get his attention.
"Now you've got me interested. Let's get going." Calvin grinned as they left. Mael, meanwhile, stretched and grabbed his bag.
"Well, I'm headed home. See you later, gents!" He called as he walked out of the room, leaving Ororo and Joshua alone.
As the two stood there in silence, their stomachs growled. "... Wanna grab chili cheese cones and a couple milkshakes to reward ourselves?" The man offered his new date.
"I think I'll take you up on that offer." Ororo nodded with a smile. The two then left to go get their post work food, the whole session having left them rather famished.
(Later)
After grabbing their meal from a nearby sonic drive in, the two soon reached Joshua's apartment and went inside to have dinner.
Now though, the two were on the man's bed with the TV on watching a show together. And as they did, the two looked and smiled at each other with smiles on their faces.
As they continued to smile at each other, their eyes started to slowly close as they leaned closer and closer to each other–until their lips met. Either they didn't realize what they were doing or did and just enjoyed it, they ended up deepening it. After about a minute of them kissing, they pulled apart for air.
"... Wow…" Joshua breathed.
"Have you done that before?" Ororo asked, noticing Joshua had a bit of experience.
"Only once… The lady I was dating then cheated on me." The man replied a little bitterly before his date kissed him again.
"Don't go thinking about that." She told him. A second later, River and Kali jumped onto the bed and walked up to their faces, with the woman getting her face sniffed by the male turtleback cat before he started rubbing his face against it. "Aw, what a sweet boy." She cooed as she scratched his head.
"I think they're telling us it's time for bed." Joshua smiled as he scratched Kali's ears. "I have some pajamas you can borrow if you want." He added.
"No thanks. I'll manage." She politely denied. She then got up and started doing something that the bespectacled man did not expect–She started undressing right in front of him!
"WHAT THE–!" Joshua yelped before he looked away with a giant blush on his face. "What're you doing?!" He questioned.
"Getting undressed." The African woman replied simply.
"D-do you have to do that here, though?" He stuttered lightly, still looking away.
"Why? I do it whenever I sleep because I feel comfortable." Ororo said like it was nothing to make a big deal of.
"But in front of me? Isn't that something that you'd usually only do around a fiance or husband or boyfriend?" Joshua questioned, since he didn't think she considered him a boyfriend since they'd only gone on a couple dates.
"Well, you've certainly appealed to me as a good man for the past couple of dates, so why shouldn't you be my boyfriend?" The woman asked, now fully naked as she turned his face toward him and gave him a kiss.
Not really seeing the point in or wanting to argue with the beautiful woman in front of him, the man decided to follow her lead and also strip down, allowing the two to lie down together–with nothing separating them.
"Good night, Ororo." He told her as he held her close, River and Kali resting at the foot of the bed.
"Good night, Joshua." Ororo yawned as the two of them fell asleep together.
Session Complete
Next time: Brotherhood of Assassins DC
Dragon Emperor0: And there, that's finished. Ya know, at first I wasn't sure if I really wanted to add in the side quests in this chapter–but I'm glad I did. This chapter really gave me some AC 2 nostalgia, which I liked.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, and that date Joshua had with Ororo was pretty good. Homemade fast food feast? Why not? If anything, fast food gets better when it's made at home. V for Vendetta was also a good cherry on top since it has some parallels with Assassin's Creed when you think about it.
Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. And please guys, let us know if you think that we ended up fridging Shin's parents. Because honest to God, we tried to avoid that–it's a bad trope.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, it wasn't easy, trying to dodge that. We need to know if we pulled it off. Anyway, see you next time.