Flight Of the Assassin

Chapter 1.

The year is 2020. Its been 8 years since Subject 17, otherwise known as Desmond Miles, died while saving the Earth. 5 years since the Templars came in control of the Observatory. Abstergo Industries has been enjoying the monopoly in everything, medicines, entertainment, you name it, it has their logo on it. The whole of North America is under their observation, literally. Thanks to the Obervatory. The American order has fallen. The British Order is on the verge of collapse with the death of its Mentor. Our numbers dwindle by the day, sanctuary for our kind is a very hard thing to find. 

My name is Raul Fornalini. I am an Assassin. 
This is my story.



"Stay and keep an eye out. Kill anyone who comes close. Okay?" I looked at the young boy who gave a fumbling whimper and nodded. They sure were getting young nowadays, I wondered. But then I wasn't much older than him. I guess being the part of a millennia old war since childhood makes me feel old, battered. Kyle was a new recruit, and this was his first time out of the sanctuary, his first mission. Being in the heart of the Templar neighbourhood, who wouldn't be whimpering? 
I stood up and pulled the hood over me. 
Time to get to work.

Infiltrating a Templar stronghold is not an easy job. Forget the state-of-the-art security cameras, they have pressure plates all over the floor, each one specifically updated with data of all the people in the complex. Specifically calibrated to only the worker's weight, anyone whose pressure density does not match the given data, the alarms are obviously triggered and the person standing on the plate gets stunned due to a short electrical pulse that paralyses the muscles. But of course, I would have to walk on the floors for that to happen. I walked out towards the ledge. 
"Remind me again, why are we doing this?" Kyle asked me just before I could start. "Revenge right?" 
I turned to my head, and replied, "Its never about revenge Kyle. That is not the principle we walk by." 
"Then what is? They attacked us last week and killed..." I stiffened, waiting for him to say the name. "And now we are here, attacking them back," he continued, lowering his voice after that little break. 
I massaged my neck gently and said, "No, its not the same as revenge. It is the Templars' job to attack us, and revenge is not the notion with which we attack them. Its not revenge, its redemption. Know our principles better Kyle, you will have a better understanding of our Order."
"And what principle is that?"
I sighed and spread my arms out.
Thousands of voices seemed to speak through my mouth as i said the next few words, voices of Assassins past.
"Nothing is true.."
I jumped, arms spread out, straight down into the darkness, a true leap of faith.


Everything is permitted.

Getting on the roof of the complex was the easy part. Getting inside to the main server room however, would be a problem. With no skylight, access to the the inside was practically zilch. I walked slowly on the roof, making as less noise as possible. I walked to one edge of the roof and looked down. Two armed guards stood in the balcony below. Presumably by a door. I crouched by the edge, extending the two hidden blades on each arm. Taking a deep breath, I focused my senses, concentrating on the enemies below. Quiet as a cat, i jumped and plunged the two blades into their necks. 
Instant death. 
No alarms triggered, no one noticed. I stood up and turned the light of the balcony down. The door needed a card key to open so after a quick search of the bodies, I found what I was looking for. Cautiously, I looked out first, not daring to put a step forward on the floor. A deserted corridor, but not for long. Pressure plates were everywhere. I looked up and saw just enough of a crack to hang by. i jumped up and slowly shimmied my way to a pile of boxes stacked on a non-pressure zone. There were bars and beams all over me. 
I smiled. Centuries of fighting, and they still put ample beams in their building, its like they choose to ignore us. I grabbed the nearest beam and pulled myself up. 
"Its right at the centre. Keep moving till you see a big hole below you. wait till I give you the go, and then jump." 

Zeus. Our eyes and ears everywhere. No mission would be a success without Zeus' help. 
He used to work for the Templars. But in an act of defiance, his family was killed and he was left to die on the streets. Our Mentor brought him in. He proved himself to be an asset worth saving. Being from the technician team of Abstergo, he knew exactly how to move about in their system without being detected. And the Templars? They think he died on the streets. 

"Did you say jump?"
"Yes, I did. was I not clear enough?"
"If i recall the blueprint correctly, its a 3-storey jump. That the jump you're talking about?"
"Yes, why are you being dumb today Raul?"
I rolled my eyes. Its easy to forget how obnoxious he can be. 
I moved carefully along the beams, and reached the centre. A huge hole was below me, like Zeus said. It looked like it had no end.
Jump in there? That's a lot of faith i have to put in his words.
Leap of faith, the irony. 
"What are you waiting for? Christmas?" Zeus snapped, irritably.
Sighing, I closed my eyes and jumped. For a 3-storied jump, it took quite less time to hit the water. But then it didn't feel like water, it felt like cold, liquid fire. It was as if I just plunged head first into the coldest water in the universe. With me quickly losing senses in my toes and started ignoring the painful icy prickles all over my body, i began to swim towards the ledge. I climbed out of the pool and gasped for breath. I had to go a few more meters to reach the servers, and it was already cold as crap. Before letting the hypothermia set in, I took off, weakened beyond my imagining. The lower levels were heavily guarded, though no pressure plates, I doubt how many guards I could fight off in this condition. Suddenly, a slow gentle warmth spread through my chest and the rest of my body.
Thermal suit. Crap, totally forgot about that. Guess I owed Zeus another thing.
"Don't mention it," he replied gruffly, as if reading my mind.
Moving quietly along the wall, I peeked through the corner. Just two guards standing there, no one else in sight. Two guards? This was their heavily guarded lower levels? I flexed my wrists and the two hidden blades sprung out. Silently crawling out of the corner, I approached the guards from behind. On raising my hand, one of the throwing knives got loose and fell with a soft clang. S**t. The guards turned, and on instinct, I swept my right leg in an arc and tripped them. They fell with loud crashes and i sunk the blades in their throats. Or so I thought. While the guard on my left wasn't so lucky, the guard on my right held my hand millimetres away from his neck. Blood sprayed from the other guy on his face and mine, but he held fast.
S**t, again. He used his other hand and grabbed me by the neck and threw me against the wall. Jesus, he was strong. Massaging his neck, he stood up. 
"Ho aspettato a lungo per questo assassino!" he yelled. Waited a long time for this eh?
"Then let's not wait," I spat out blood and stood up. He grinned and lunged at me, I jumped sideways, but he was quick. He changed his lunge half-way and swung his arm at the last moment, catching me mid-jump. An unnatural amount of pain followed and I collapsed. He laughed and swung his arm in an attempt to punch me. I sprung my hidden blade out and punched his fist, the blade sliding smoothly through his skin and all the way inside upto his wrist. Howling with pain, he fell back, blood spurting from his hand. 
"Vaffanculo bastardo!" he yelled, falling against the wall for support.
I walked up to his slowly and stabbed him the hidden blade. 
"Yeah, f**k you too, you big b*****d" I replied and he sank down on the floor, dead. 
Clutching my right side, where he hit me, I walked up to the platform with the servers. 
"Which one?" I whispered, out of breath with the last fight.
"You okay? Your health visor shows you have a cracked rib." Zeus said, with a slight tone of concern in his voice.
"Which one?" I asked, more firmly. 
"Just plug it in any slot you see, I'll siphon off the data that we require. Just stay for a minute, it wont take long."
Taking the USB stick out, i walked up to one of the random black servers and plugged it in. The pain was slowly increasing. 
"Kyle, come in." I spoke into the mic. No reply. What now. 
"Kyle. Come in d****t."
No reply.
"Zeus, check in with Kyle. He isn't responding." 
"Kyle? Oh that new kid. Right, forgot he went with you. Alright, hold on, data transfer almost..and done. Checking on Kyle now. Get moving though."
With a new trouble on my head, i walked through the maze of black towers with lights. Needed to find the storm drain, it was the only exit out of here undetected. After reaching the edge of the server level, an opening to a pipe could be barely made out in the darkness. I looked up the two-man radius pipe and saw stars. Almost there. Grabbing the nearest iron girder, I started the climb painfully. After climbing out of the pipe, the cool wind did little to ease the pain in my side, but it felt good to be out of there. 
"Raul." Zeus whispered urgently into my ear.
"I'm fine, regardless of what my health status says on your screen man." 
"Raul," he pressed, more urgency in his tone, "Kyle's been compromised."
A deathly silence followed. Compromised? His death would be a better news. 
"Zeus, repeat what you said."
"I believe he said that I've been compromised." A voice behind me spoke. 
I turned slowly, facing Kyle. He no longer looked like the scared, whimpering kid I left on the roof. He looked more serious, more cold, more like a proper Templar. 
"Evacuate headquarters, pass the command Zeus. The whole Brotherhood is compromised."
Kyle laughed, "figured it out in two seconds? You are as good as the old stooge said you are. Would have loved to kill him though, but well others will get the pleasure. I don't know how good that evacuation order you gave is going to be. You see, I gave my order to attack the moment you left me here. All I had to do is lure you out of there."
It was Kyle who told us the servers might hold the info we needed. Though Zeus knew where to go, it was Kyle who joined us and this was the first thing he suggested. When did we become so careless? 
He pulled out a gun, and attached a silencer to the muzzle. "Well, no one is gonna know even if I shot you without this, its just for the nice quiet feeling. I give you assassins credit for teaching me the joys of silent killing."
Think. Think Raul. But I couldn't, not with the pain blinding my thoughts. D****t. Was this the end? Had to think of something. 
"Good bye Raul. May you be remembered as another assassin who failed." And then he fired.
The last thing I remembered was a searing pain spreading all over my chest, and falling backwards, into the river below. 

Author's Note

Vague at times' i Know.