Assassinations

Alright, alright, alright! How about a little more of AC:T now that Remnant and Dragon Princess are both at five chapters each?

Yes, that's how long it's been since I updated this story, considering the AN in the previous chapter is me talking about them.

It appears the FFN email fiasco is behind us, so hopefully the notification of this new chapter will hit your inboxes.

Also, since it's past Thanksgiving now, Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone! I gave thanks for all the support you guys have given me through the years.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or AC

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Inspired by historical events and an over-active imagination, this work of fiction was designed, developed, and produced by a single-cultural team of one religious faith and belief, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

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Thanks to Lou Ellen's spell, it was determined that Piper was in a hotel close to the broadcasting studio from which her recent interview had been aired live, up in one of the expensive suites near the top of the building.

Due to the fact that it would look extremely strange for a number of teenagers to come walking out of the wall, especially all of them dressed for tactical combat, it was decided that only Percy would exit the door the Labyrinth made for them in the hotel, and also with a layer of Mist wrapped around him that simply made him look well-dressed, as opposed to his current outfit, consisting of steel-toed black boots, black jeans, an orange camp shirt underneath Cheyenne's black prowler coat, her dual eight-barreled pistols at the small of his back, his magic storage Minotaur horns on either side of his waist, gauntlets on his arms, and Cheyenne's air rifle and the Sword of Destiny sheathed over his right shoulder.

He was quite the intimidating sight, actually.

"I need to learn how to do this Mist thing myself," Percy said as his appearance rippled and shimmered. Thank to Lou Ellen, He was now wearing a white polo shirt tucked into charcoal grey pants with black shoes, a black belt around his waist.

Nico, Bianca, Thalia, and Robert all nodded. The ability to just change your whole appearance was obviously invaluable to people like them.

Lou Ellen smiled. "Sure thing. There's a lot to learn, though."

"I look forward to your teaching."

Percy exited the Labyrinth's door in the wall, stepping into a clean and pristine hotel hallway.

He went down the hall and found the door to Piper/Connor's room, and knocked.

Back in the Labyrinth, Nico couldn't help but offer his commentary. "That is so awkward."

"What is?" Lou Ellen asked.

"You and my dad," he said, trying to be nice and failing. "It's just…I know him as Virgil Cavaliere, married to my mom, Claudia, and watching him flirt with you as a teenager is just…weird."

"I think it's sweet," Bianca said, showing her Mary Read side as she thought of Percy as little Jake finally getting himself a little girlfriend.

Thalia was in a similar boat to Nico. "I saw him live as a pretty transgender woman married to a transgender man. Seeing him like this…"

"That's just being straight with extra steps," Lou reasoned.

Robert threw in his two cents as well. "I knew him when he actually was a woman. And he still looks almost exactly like her. And is wearing her main outfit…and carrying her three main weapons…."

Thalia patted his shoulder.

Back in the hotel, Percy mentally prepared for the butler, Piper's father, and most hopeful, Piper herself.

He was blessed with the latter.

The door swung open to reveal the girl from the TV show, only she was now in her pajamas, consisting of some black shorts and a t-shirt with a bald eagle on the front displayed with epic fanfare. The cameras didn't do Piper justice, because she was beautiful in person, even at the age of fourteen. Fair skin, lustrous chocolate hair with a short, feather-decorated braid down the right side of her face, an athletic, muscular, feminine frame, and eyes that seemed to keep shifting colors from sparkling blue, to dazzling green, to warm brown.

She smelled nice, too, like strawberries and mangos, like she had left the shower long enough ago to have dried out, but not so long that the scent of her shampoo or body wash or whatever to have faded.

Percy couldn't help but not so subtly check Piper out, looking her over from head to toe and back up, his teenage hormones causing his eyes to linger a little longer about her thigh area. Just as well, really, since Piper was doing the same to him.

Now, you might be wondering how it came to pass that Piper believed Percy when he said that he was Jake Swallow. Perhaps some quote from their former lives, or some in-character critique or joke at Piper's expense in a way that only Jake could pull off. As it happened, no words needed to be shared at all.

Percy looked at Piper, the corners of his lips trembling as he tried not to smile, tried not to burst into laughter at the buff Connor's new petite frame, though his eyes sparkled with unbridled mirth.

That was all Piper needed. Her face reddened and she crossed her arms with a huff, stamping her foot in a way that definitely did not identify her as being a hulking Native American muscle man in a previous life. "It's not funny!"

Percy could no longer contain the Jake in him. "You're right, boy—it's hilarious!" He broke down into raucous laughter that was definitely not appropriate for a hotel hallway.

Piper glared at the wall. "I knew I shouldn't have called you out."

Percy sobered up. "Speaking of that, that was incredibly stupid. You get a second chance at life, and you still haven't figured out how to use that mouth yet."

Piper blushed. "U-Uh…that sounds really wrong…"

"That it did," Percy conceded.

"Anyway, why was that stupid of me?"

"Why was it not stupid of you? Claiming that the American icon is back from the dead because some spirits told you is A) really not helping Native American stereotypes, B) just sounds really crazy, and C) attracts the wrong kind of attention."

Piper's brow furrowed. "The wrong kind of—you mean-?"

"The Templars are still around? Yes. Today, they go by the name of Abstergo."

Piper's face almost turned the color of her sclera. "My dad works for Abstergo. Their entertainment branch. Abstergo Pictures. He's an actor, producer, and director for them."

"Does he know?" Percy asked, all traces of mirth now gone from him.

"I don't know," Piper admitted. "I mean, I didn't even know Abstergo were the Templars until you told me, but that doesn't mean my dad doesn't know and didn't tell me."

"Well, to be fair, I doubt he would if he did know he was working for the Templars."

A subdued air came over Piper. "I'm going to have kill my father in this life, too, aren't I?"

"If it comes to that, I will handle it."

"You'll handle it?" Piper looked Percy up and down again, mentally comparing his frame to her father's and concluding that Tristan was going to whip Percy's ass if it came to fisticuffs.

"I remember my life as Jake Swallow. I also remember the lives I had before him as Faris Ibn-La'Ahad and Virgil Cavaliere da Roma, along with the lives I lived after him as Cheyenne Nightshade nee Cormac, and Pris—Peter Frye."

Piper's jaw dropped, knowing well who Faris and Virgil were, only vaguely recalling hearing about an Assassin-turned-Templar called Shay Cormac, therefore making the Cheyenne connection all but meaningless, and Connor had died long before the Frye siblings had been born. Though Piper caught how Percy had to catch himself on his past life as someone called Peter.

"Which is really great," Percy continued, "because the Assassins are still alive and getting better."

"Getting better?"

"We're in for a long talk. Do you have the time?"

"I should, yes. Father shouldn't be back here for another seven hours at least."

Percy nodded. "Do you mind company?"

"How much company are we talking about?"

Percy turned his head back to the Labyrinth door and motioned with his hand. Outstepped Lou Ellen, Nico, Bianca, Thalia, and Robert.

"Oh." Piper blinked. "Yeah, we should be fine."

"Then let's begin."

The seven Assassins from across time convened in Piper's hotel suite.

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Introductions were conclusive.

Nico being Virgil's son Giovanni didn't mean much to Piper, nor did Thalia being Evie Frye because Evie hadn't been born until decades after Connor passed away, and Arno only caught Piper's attention because of a report she remembered Connor eventually receiving about the destruction of the French Brotherhood. Word didn't travel all that fast in the early 19th century.

On the other hand, Bianca being Mary Read, the adoptive older sister of Captain Jake Swallow definitely piqued Piper's interest, and revealing that one Desmond Miles was the reincarnation of Edward Kenway, Connor's pirate grandfather, definitely got Piper's attention, as Connor had ever met Edward but heard several good things about the man.

When Lou Ellen introduced herself as Percy's girlfriend, there was a brief, minute flash of disappointment that went through Piper's eyes that everyone noticed, being experienced Assassins, but no one commented on it. The only further interaction down that avenue was how Piper caught Percy's eye, and she basically mentally communicated that her new teenage girl hormones were messing with her. Percy basically responded that he knew all about teenage girl hormones since he had once been a teenage girl.

More detailed explanation to follow when they had more time to catch up as opposed to talking shop.

After introductions about past lives as Assassins was over, Piper finally got around to asking this question, "How did you guys even get up here?"

"We used the Labyrinth," Lou Ellen answered.

"As in the maze from Greek mythology?"

Everyone paused.

"Uh, the exact same," Lou Ellen answered.

Piper blinked. "Excuse me?"

Percy looked at Lou Ellen, who returned his look, and then Percy looked at Piper, who did not look comfortable.

Percy dove right into it. "We're demigods. Poseidon is my father, Zeus is Thalia's, Hades is Nico and Bianca, and Robert is actually fully human, but he can see through the Mist."

Piper looked pale and lightheaded. "Wha-wha?"

And Lou Ellen surprised everyone with this statement, "And you're a demigod, too. Daughter of Aphrodite, to be exact."

Piper recoiled. "The love goddess?"

Even Percy was thrown for a loop with that one. Though his time in camp had been admittedly brief, he had been exposed to the Aphrodite girls enough to know that they were not fighters by any stretch of the word. So, when thinking of Connor, who was absolutely a fighter, perhaps one of the greatest to ever grace the Assassin Brotherhood, as a skinny teenage girl was a foil enough by itself, but it got monumentally worse now that it was revealed that Piper was also the daughter of the goddess that produced daughters that were the complete opposite of fighters.

Piper switched gears a little. "I'm a demigod? You're demigods? Gods are real? What?"

"Huh," Lou Ellen wondered aloud. "I honestly thought you knew. Everyone else already knew that they were demigods. Sorry to spring this on you like this."

Piper honestly looked like she was having a crisis, unusually more so than you might expect.

"Are you okay, Piper?" Percy asked.

"I'll…I'll have to process this later," she said, shaking her head a little. "We were talking about how the majority of the greatest Assassins to ever live were now back in the modern day, and the Templars have become the most powerful secret entity in the world? Again?"

They got back into the conversation of Assassins and Templars, and Piper revealed a lot about Abstergo Pictures.

Pretty standard stuff that no one found surprising, really. The point of this particular branch of Abstergo was control through division, with the studio releasing movies in theaters, and shows on their streaming platform Abstergo+, that kept the populace fighting against each other over contemporary issues. Common methods included, but weren't limited to, adapting books that featured White characters played by non-White actors, adapting beloved videogame franchises in the same way, creating historical dramas about real life people and casting actors that were a completely different ethnicity than said real life historical figure, acquiring the rights to beloved movie franchises and rewriting beloved and iconic characters in completely OOC ways so the newly introduced lame and gay female hero could make all the men look completely inept and moronic, and creating genuinely gripping and entertaining movies and/or series only to cancel them without explanation.

If there was one positive thing to say about Abstergo Pictures, it was that they were actively anti-pedophile. Whenever they had child actors on their sets, they were guarded at all times, and the guards themselves wore permanently active body cameras that also recorded audio. It even happened that Abstergo Pictures managed to expose not just one, but three different underage prostitute/trafficking rings in Hollywood, and through a series of unfortunate events, the guilty never saw a courtroom.

Because they were found dead in a variety of different ways.

The Templars did have standards after all, and their end goal was to create a world of justice and order.

Just at the expense of everyone's free will and freedom of thought.

That was the problem the Assassins had with the Templars. They both wanted world peace, and they both wanted a world of fairness and equality for all, it was just that their methods towards this world weren't compatible.

So, let it not be said that the Assassins and Templars were complete polar opposites. They both actively hunted and executed pedos.

Insert Predator meme of Dutch and Dillon clasping arms, with "Assassin" and "Templar" captioned over either, and then over the clasped hands add "killing kid-diddlers."

Percy could honestly say he wasn't surprised by the Templars' strategy of using entertainment to control the populace. It was just disturbing how easy and effective it was in this modern day where practically everyone was logged in the majority of the time they weren't asleep. The desire for escapism was too strong these days, and the Templars were right there to kind of provide that escape.

Kind of.

"Well," Thalia said after the current situation was mostly summed up. "What do we do now?"

Everyone looked at Percy, and he couldn't help but almost get lost in the moment.

Here he was, surrounded by family from across time: his son was returned to him, as were his twin daughters though they weren't present; both of his big sisters were here with him; the boy he had loved as a son, now a girl, was also here; the man he once loved when he was a woman was back; his big brother, who was also his brother-in-law, who was also his best friend, was also alive and well again; and to top it all off, he was thinking he had somehow managed to once again find love in the form of the witch girl with a minor bedwetting problem.

And all of them were here together at the height of the Templar's control over the people, all of them ready to once again take up the fight.

Percy looked at Lou Ellen. "Anything from Chiron about Luke?"

"Nothing new. His location his currently unknown."

Percy nodded. "In that case, I think it's clear what we do now, Thalia…"

He flexed his wrist, and his Hidden Blade popped out with a distinct SHNIKT.

"We go on the offensive."

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Being the superior of the official Mentor of the Brotherhood meant that Percy was able to get away with certain things, like authorizing his own assignments, and authorizing other people's assignments.

Thanks to years of espionage and Lou's own magic, the Assassins were in possession of many of Abstergo's secrets. Not all, but many, including the names and locations of several high-ranking Templars, their bases of operations, secret or otherwise, their projects, and so on. Percy issued targets to his Assassins, gave them access to the Labyrinth, and they scattered across the planet in a matter of seconds.

Sans Piper because she needed more time than what she had before her dad got back to the hotel in order to assassinate her target, even with the globe-spanning power of the Labyrinth.

While the others were given specific targets in specific locations, undergoing missions so reminisce of their times as adults that it was nostalgic, Percy had given himself a broader assignment. Years ago, when the sleeper agent Daniel Cross awakened upon meeting the previous Mentor and killed him, he triggered an event known as the Great Purge. It was the massive tipping point in the war that finally allowed the Templars to gain the humongous upper hand that they presently had by way of a global, coordinated strike against the Assassins.

The Brotherhood was almost wiped out in a matter of hours.

However, it wasn't like the Templars simply hit a button and Assassins started dropping dead. No, the Templars had a team at the ready, their own (ironic) group of assassins called Sigma Team. The group was mostly comprised of various combat veterans, all men who had killed others either for the pleasure of it, or because they were soldiers once. Today, they were highly skilled mercenaries in the employ of Abstergo, functioning as the front company's secret wet work operatives, armed with advanced weapons, grueling training, and chemical enhancements.

Percy walked in on the team in their secret training facility while they were in the middle of a very protein-rich breakfast.

None of them even fucked around (unless you count the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of Assassins as fucking around), they just found out (meaning that Percy didn't pause to look around and let everyone take in his intimidating appearance with his black coat and small armory strapped to his person—he pulled out the Sword of Destiny and left no one alive).

It was by no means an epic fight. The Sword in Percy's hands was just too powerful. A few swings this way and that, a number of golden energy arcs, some laser beams, a teleport over there and over here, a little bit of fire and high-speed movement, and then it was over. Didn't even take two minutes for Percy to wipe out the entirety of Sigma Team.

The building faired no better as Percy destroyed the whole place, wiping out the security footage and destroying all physical evidence of its presence. Luckily it was way off the beaten path in the third world, and so there was no collateral damage to speak of.

The Templars wouldn't even know exactly what happened. Only that the Sigma Team base was somehow destroyed, and they were going to have hell digging through the wreckage.

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A British accent full of smugness assaulted Octavian's ears.

"They're back~."

"So I have noticed," Octavian retorted shortly.

Around him in the temple were the mutilated entrails of several plushies. Why he was able to read the events of the past, present, and future through scattered cotton and wool he didn't exactly know, because this whole augur thing really didn't make sense.

Granted, not a lot of things had made sense to Octavian since that day he consulted the plushies and got to relive his past life.

"I told you they would be," that smug British bastard continued.

"Michael, would you so kindly escort the esteemed Fifth Cohort Centurion out of here?"

The buff Hawaiian boy started marching towards the interloper.

"Kicking me out of my own father's temple? Oh, the humanity!"

Octavian growled.

Michael drew his weapons, a sword and a dagger, and the interloper, grinning, produced a kukri knife. The skirmish was precise, with the interloper easily parrying and strafing Michael's attacks, before executing an offensive maneuver by slamming his elbow into Michael's chest.

Michael went flying.

"Superior son of Jupiter strength," boasted the interloper.

"Jason, is there particular reason you're here?" Octavian asked with a clipped tone.

"Well, yes, actually," Jason said. "I'm here to determine if you're going to be a problem. I know who I am, you know who you are, we both know where we stand and what's going out there, so the question is…what are we going to do about it?"

Octavian frowned. "I would say it's too early to tell."

"I would say you'd better come up with something sooner rather than later, because Reyna knows too."

Octavian tried to wince at the thought of the Latina firecracker that brought terror to the orderly and disciplined New Rome.

Michael got to his feet. "Someone else from the past, I take it?"

"Jacob Frye, at your service," Jason mock-bowed. "I was a bit after your time, gents."

"Indeed," Octavian grunted. "Let us call a truce, then. For now. Neither party will make any attempt to rejoin with our previous fellows. Not until this brewing war with the Titans has concluded."

Jason shrugged. "Sounds fair enough, but we'll see how it goes. Good luck, mates. Cheerio."

Jason left.

Michael huffed as he sheathed his blades. "I make my own luck."

Octavian sighed. "If I had a pound for every time you said that."

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Woooo! Templars getting their asses kicked by magic, pseudo time-travelling Assassins!

What did you guys think of Percy and Piper meeting? What do you hope for in Piper and Desmond meeting? And what did y'all think of brining in Jason, Octavian, and Michael Kahale, dropping a hint on Reyna, which doubles as a hint on Hylla because she was intentionally not mentioned?

Hopefully the email system on FFN is back up, but if not, there's always Ao3.

That being said, please continue to Fav, Follow and Review!