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September 12, 2014; Indianapolis, Indiana

So, the following summer was mostly spent helping the cops and the Eagle Eyes hunt down the Templars and keep them off the streets. There was still plenty of them scurrying around Indianapolis like the rats they were, but at least we managed to get to a point where they're the ones running from us instead of the other way around. It also got much easier to assassinate targets once Henry was on our side. He was able to pull just the right strings to keep the Assassins hidden and out of trouble.

Chelsea kept her promise. She helped me on missions for another month. But after that, her pregnancy had gotten to a point where she couldn't be out killing Templars or climbing buildings or anything like that. She started staying home with her mom and occasionally her fiance. Still, she kept in touch and provided info on the Templars’ activities whenever she could.

She also taught me how to ride her motorcycle after the incident with Patrick Lawrence. I started calling the shiny red bike “The Cardinal”, though Chelsea rolls her eyes whenever I say the name. My skills are still a bit rusty, but I feel like I have a decent grasp on it. The bike definitely helps with getting around the city. Originally, I had to either walk everywhere or hitch a ride.

...Well, there was that one time when I had to hijack one of those horse-drawn carriages that they trot around the city to give people little rides in, but that's a different story.

Anyways, by that day in September, the streets were pretty well-equipped to fight off the Templars. And it got to a point where my services weren't required as much. So I had much more time to go on my own personal missions. That Friday, I went to the Assassin warehouse after school. I like to drop by every once and a while to check up on the place. We started doing a lot of tidying up and upgrading to the place, making it look more and more like a proper base each day.

Chelsea and I managed to reserve a room for each of us, which we both spiced up with our own personal possessions. Sometimes we get stuck staying at the hideout, either because of weather or because of Templars, so it's nice to have a little corner of the place to myself. We made the actual warehouse portion of the warehouse into a much neater training area, which a lot of the Assassins that come to rendezvous use as a place to socialize when the arena isn't in use.

We reserved a room for financial workings. We've started renovating various places around Indianapolis, so part of their income comes to us. It really helps when we need money for weapons and resources.

There's also this one room that I've kinda made my own. I've been trying to take up sewing as a hobby, and to practice, I created replicas of the outfits of some of the really famous figures in Assassin history like Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad or Ratonhnhaké:ton or Jacob Frye. I also made some for Chelsea, like the outfits of Shao Jun or Aveline de Grandpré or Élise de la Serre. We store those outfits in that room, which we've called “the Legacy Room”.

...I'm getting off topic again, sorry ‘bout that. Haha.

As I said, I went to visit the hideout after school. I went to the room where most of the strategizing is done, where we lay out our plans on who to kill, how, when, and where. And there in the room, looking over some papers with a couple of other Assassins, was Angie, Chelsea’s mom and the leader of the Hoosier Assassins. She noticed me come in. She smiled and waved.

I smiled back and gave a small mock bow. “Mentor,” I greeted jokingly. Angie rolled her eyes and motioned for me to give her a quick hug, which I did. The Assassins used to have a relatively formal ranking system. Mentor, Master Assassin, Novice, all those kinds of things. But apparently after an incident with some Templar named Daniel Cross, the Brotherhood dropped a lot of those formalities. Now we just kinda judge “ranks” loosely. There is technically a global Mentor, a guy named Gavin Banks. But based on what I've heard, he's clearly not happy with the position. I've heard he's been trying to get his predecessor, a guy named William Miles, to take his place again. So yeah, our rank system is kind of a mess.

Angie was just the person at the head of this sect. So, technically Mentor here, but not really. She hated those formalities and really just wanted to be recognized as just another Assassin. It was still fun to tease her about it every now and then, though.

“Chelsea here?” I asked. Angie shook her head.

“No. She's staying home today. That kid in her gut’s giving her a bit of a rough time.”

“Ah.” I looked over to the papers that she was looking at with the other Assassins, who had backed up a bit to give us some space. “What's all this?” I asked.

“We've tracked down another major target,” she said.

“Oh?”

“Yep. A master Templar named Steven Harrion.”

“What's his role in all this?”

“He was appointed the Templars’ main lawyer after Chelsea killed Ruben Wolfgang. He keeps all of their questionable actions away from the eyes of the law.”

“So why are we targeting him now and not earlier?”

“Well, according to our spies, he's on the brink of losing it. The Templars are pulling such awful crap that he has to work day and night to make sure they're covered. He's sleep-deprived, stressed out, has developed a bit of a drinking problem, and sloppy. He's become the perfect target. And if we can get rid of him…”

“Then the Templars won't be able to wriggle their way out of sticky situations for a while.”

“Exactly!”

“Sweet. I'll take on the mission if you want.”

“You sure?”

“I've got nothing better to do.”

“Well, alright then.” We looked over the various papers in front of us. Angie looked at me. “Now, we can't just go sticking blades in him just yet,” she said. “He's not necessarily positively viewed in the public eye, but he isn't really hated enough for the people to want him dead.”

“Okay. So you want me to tail him first and dig up some dirt on him?”

“That would probably be best.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

“We've heard he's going to be attending a meeting with Natasha Wolfgang next week,” said one of the other Assassins. “Chances are, you'll be able to dig up some dirt there.” I nodded to the Assassin. A plan of attack was already forming in my head.

“You're sure you're up to it?” asked Angie.

“I'm sure,” I said.

“Alright then. We'll let you know when we need to send you out and where.”

“Sweet.”

After going over a few more details, I eventually left the room. I had another mission, and I was eager to carry it out.

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September 20, 2014; Indianapolis, Indiana

Ugh. You know, it really ticks me off whenever I unexpectedly catch sight of my mom. Whether it's on a mission or just in general, it's just irritating. It's bad enough that the memory of her is still shouting at me in the back of my subconscious, making my life miserable even after I've arrived into a much happier environment. But when I have to see the actual physical reminder that she exists, that she actually did do all that crap to me, I can't stand it.

But yeah, it happened that following week. I'd managed to locate Steven Harrion (who did indeed look like he was half-drunk half the time) that night, and I tailed him to his meeting in an Abstergo Industries building. I had to climb a bunch of stairs and scale a bunch of scaffolding to get outside the meeting room's window, which was about ten stories up. I was expecting it to just be the Templar Grand Master meeting with him, but no. Her right-hand lapdog, my mother, just had to be there too. Of course.

I kept my camera ready to record anything to use to sabotage Harrion. Though, I had the feeling I'd have to wait a bit. Templars generally expect spies like me to be around during meetings, and they tend to only reveal their darkest secrets in private. Still, I waited.

Natasha looked unbelievably bored as Harrion sat down and put his face in his hands. “I can't do this crap anymore,” he said.

“Too bad,” said Natasha, who would clearly rather be somewhere else.

“Ms. Wolfgang, I can't do this anymore. Our Order's activities have gone way too far. I've been working day and night trying to cover us up, but it's getting to the point where I can't. The legal system isn't as flexible as…”

“It’s as flexible as we want it to be,” Wolfgang interrupted. “Always has been. Ever since the Colonial era, ever since the Crusades, ever since ever. It's your job to make sure that it stays that way.”

“But Grand Master… Our projects… So many of them are just terrible! Do I even have to mention Dr. Cassidy’s experiments with the Piece of Eden?”

My ears pricked up. This sounded promising.

“I trust Dr. Cassidy can handle her own projects. I don't care about the details, just that she does what she needs to do to help us form our new world order.”

“But these experiments… a lot of them are so inhumane!”

“I said I don't care. She could start turning mice into lizard monsters for all I care. As long as it aids us, it doesn't matter.”

“It'd be much easier if we had Carter,” Mom mumbled to herself. Natasha shot her an angry look. “Oh my god, Trina!” she said. “Drop it! I am so sick of hearing you whine about your little vendetta!”

“Natasha…”

“No! We've been over this! Your son is nothing important. So we're short one lab rat? Who cares? You're just ticked because the Assassins got their hands on him.”

“And look what that's brought us! He took out Tyson, Lawrence…”

“Their deaths are an inconvenience, not a setback. We still have dozens of men patrolling the streets, hunting down the Assassins. They may have beaten us back a bit, but we still have the power to crush them.” Suddenly, she turned to Harrion, forgetting he was there. “Why are you still here?” she asked, annoyed.

“I…” stuttered Harrion.

“Out!” Harrion nervously nodded, grabbed his things and left. I wanted to go after him, but I knew I still had some time to keep listening. So I did.

“We're probably more powerful now than we have been since the Crusades,” Wolfgang said to Mom. “We've got our roots in everything. And if you're too caught up in revenge to realize that, then I'd kindly ask for you to just go back to your Bible study. I'm sure Ms. Valerie Michaels can help you with your little angel armor goose chase.”

Mom seemed ticked, but she tried to keep it in. “I still say we shouldn't be assigning her to the task of running the churches,” she said.

“Well, too bad.”

By then, I decided to put my phone away and go after Harrion. As I was about to climb down the scaffolding, I heard Mom mumble, “I think you're just too arrogant to know that the enemy is upon us.”

“What was that?” demanded Wolfgang.

“Nothing.”

I started making my way down. Thankfully, I managed to locate Harrion on ground level pretty quickly. I tailed him for a bit. He rubbed his eyes. “Can't believe this crap,” he mumbled. “I need a drink…” He pulled out his phone and looked at the time. “Eh, why not? Seems like a good night for a trip to Purple Shades.” I assumed that was a bar or club or something. It sounded like a perfect place to take him out. I stopped following him and dialed Angie’s number.

“Hey,” I said when she answered.

“Hey,” she said. “Did you get anything on Harrion?”

“Not yet. But I have a plan.”

“Oh?”

“Do you know a place called Purple Shades by any chance?”

“Purple Shades? Yeah, it's a club downtown. One of those techno-dubstep places. They have a great bar. Why?”

“Templars drove Harrion to drink again. I overheard him say that he's heading there tonight.”

“Really? If that's the case, I know someone who could help out.”

“Who?”

“There's an Assassin that works as a DJ there. A woman named Vienna Joel. Go around back, she'll most likely be there if you knock. Tell her I sent you and she'll help.”

“Sweet! That actually helps me a lot! Thanks, Angie.”

“No problem, kiddo. Go get em’!”

“Will do.” I was about to say goodbye and hang up, but I paused. “Hey,” I said. “Do you have any info on a Dr. Cassidy or a Valerie Michaels?”

“Hmm… No not really. I could try to dig something up about them if you want.”

“That'd be really helpful. Thanks.”

“No problem, Carter. Bye.”

“Bye.” We hung up. I had what seemed to be the perfect plan. I went over to Chelsea’s motorcycle, which I had parked in an alley, hoped on, and revved up the engine. Then, after looking up the location of Purple Shades, I put the pedal to the metal and made my way to the club.

------------

Once I finally arrived at the club, which was surprisingly large, I went around the to the back of the building and knocked on the back door. Sure enough, a moment later, a girl opened the door. She was probably in her early twenties. She had neon blue streaks dyed into her hair and wore a blue t-shirt with a white sleeveless hoodie. She smiled brightly, energetically waved at me, and pulled out her phone.

She quickly typed out “‘Sup?” and showed it to me. I gave a bit of a confused look.

“Um… Angie Stagge sent me,” I said to her. “I'm looking for someone named Vienna Joel.”

The girl smiled and typed in “That's me” into her phone and showed me.

“Oh. Cool. Um…” I looked down at her phone, still unsure of why she was typing everything. She clearly caught my confusion and typed out another message. She showed me: “I'm mute. I gotta use my phone like this.” I suddenly felt bad for being so outwardly confused.

“Oh! I'm sorry,” I said, hoping I didn't offend her in some way. But she just smiled and shrugged. She typed, “Ah, don't worry. It's cool. You here on Assassin business?” I nodded. She typed, “Cool. Come on in!”

So I did. I followed Vienna into the room beyond. Even from outside, I was able to hear the rhythmic thumping of the music. But once I entered the building, it was as if the music was somehow in the walls, vibrating the building like a mini earthquake.

Vienna led me to what I guess was her office, though it was kinda hard to tell due to how messy and cluttered it was… kinda like my desk at home now that I think about it…

But anyway, she turned to me and typed, “So what's up?”

“I've got a target visiting this place,” I said, “and I need your help. Guy's name is Steven Harrion.”

“What's your plan?”

“Well, based on what I saw when I tailed him earlier, he's gonna get hammered here. And I want to use that to get some reputation-destroying information on him. And then I'm gonna end his life.” Vienna nodded as she leaned back in her chair a bit. She put a finger on her chin as she thought. Suddenly, she made an expression as if a lightbulb appeared above her head. She grabbed her phone and started typing again. My God, this woman types fast.

After a few seconds, she showed me: “I could keep him distracted while you watch from afar. I'll keep him drinking until he starts revealing his secrets. And when he does, you can record him.”

I smiled. “Sounds good to me,” I said. “And once all that's done, you could lead him into the back alley and I'll sneak behind him to deliver the killing blow.”

Vienna grinned and gave a double thumbs up. She got out of her chair, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the main room of the club. The music was blasting through the speakers. Multi-colored lights were flashing all around to the beat of the songs. People were crowding the enormous room. Some were happily dancing. Others were just sitting or standing around, mostly drunk. And one of those people was Steven Harrion. He was sitting at one of the bars, head resting on one hand and a glass in the other.

Vienna pointed to where she wanted me to sit. I nodded and went to sit at the bar. I pulled out my phone and got it ready to record. As Vienna was taking her position next to Harrion, the bartender walked up to me.

“How old are you?” he asked. I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of the fake IDs Chelsea made for me. “Twenty-one,” I lied as I showed the card to him. The guy just kinda glanced at it, then at me, then back at the card. He shrugged. “Alright,” he said. “Can I get you anything?”

“No thanks,” I said. He shrugged and went to attend to his customers. By then, Vienna had already introduced herself to the drunken Templar. She ordered a few drinks for him. I started recording.

“I'm just sick of them,” I heard him say. He took a long drink. “I mean, some of the crap we pull, I just can't cover it up! Even with all our order's resources, I just can't.” He took another drink. I don't think he even really noticed that Vienna was there anymore. She kept listening though. “I mean, seriously?” continued Harrion. “Natasha wants me to hide experiments involving human testing… when they're right in the open at some university? Not some secret lab. A goddamn university! I mean, is she really that cocky? Does she really expect me to cover up everything our order's cooking up? I mean, I'll try. God knows I'll try. It'll give us our control and it'll give us our order, but my god! They just make it so difficult for me!”

Bingo.

He grabbed a nearby bottle and chugged it for a moment. He drunkenly stared at Vienna, who gave a subtle signal to me. I nodded and stopped recording. I put my phone back in my pocket.

“You doing anything later tonight?” Harrion blabbered to Vienna. She gave a fake smile and nodded no. Harrion gave as much of a grin as the alcohol in his system would allow him. Vienna kept smiling and moved her finger in a way that said, “follow me”. She stood from her seat and helped up Harrion as he stumbled out of his seat. She gave a quick glance at me before leading my target to the back of the building. I nodded. I patted my forearms to check my hidden blades, and then stood and followed close behind.

Vienna led Harrion to the dark alley behind the building. I waited around the corner behind them, my fingers flexing on the mechanism of my hidden blades. Harrion was having a hard time keeping his balance.

“So,” he blabbered, “what’re we gonna do now?” I think he was trying to sound sexy, but it didn't sound like it at all. Vienna just smiled, teasing the drunken man. I started quietly walking towards them. As I did, I pulled out my phone. I emailed the video sabotage to Harrion’s phone, along with a virus that would cause it to loop without stop. Harrion felt his phone buzz. He pulled it out and just kinda stared at it, not really able to tell what it was in his current state.

“Sorry, babe,” he said. “Stupid phone's always bugging me… Now where were we?”

Vienna’s smile turned into a smirk as I came up behind them. She quickly typed another message onto her phone. She held up the message to Harrion: “Requiescat in pace.” It took a second for Harrion to realize what that meant. His eyes widened, and that's when my hidden blade slid into his spine.

I covered his mouth as he screamed in pain and I lowered his body to the floor. What little life he had left had just been sobered up by fear. He stared at me as I knelt beside him.

“Oh… Oh god… Assassin!” he painfully stuttered.

“Yep,” I said.

“I… I’m not sure whether to thank you or hate you right now…” I raised an eyebrow.

“On the one hand,” he said, “you've just saved me from a life full of depression and booze… but on the other, you've just hit my order hard.”

“Well, that's the idea. We can't have you Templars running around and infecting the world.”

“We're curing it, not infecting it. We bring order and peace.”

“You bring control and oppression. Peace comes from freedom, from the people.” Harrion gave a painful chuckle. Blood started pouring from his mouth as he coughed.

“People are stupid,” he wheezed. “People don't know order. They'll burn the world… without their puppeteers…” After that, he died.

“People know more than you think,” I said. “Rest in peace.” I pulled out another post-it note calling card and placed it on Harrion’s phone, which had fallen next to him and was still playing the sabotage video. I stood from his body and looked at Vienna. We nodded to each other.

“I should probably get going,” I said.

She nodded in agreement

“Thanks so much for your help.”

She just smiled and shrugged. She typed, “No problem. Happy to help. If you need my help again, just text me.”

I nodded. “I will,” I said. “Definitely.” I reached out to have my hand shaken. She shook my hand hard and patted me on the shoulder. We exchanged our goodbyes and went our separate ways. She went back to the club and I went back to the Cardinal. I phoned Angie to tell her the news.

“Harrion’s dead,” I said. “Templars are gonna have a much harder time covering up their crap now.”

“Great!” she said. “You gonna head back to the hideout or are you heading home?”

“I'm gonna head home. I'm calling it a night.”

“Alright, kiddo. Great work today. Goodnight.”

“‘Night. Oh, hey, did you manage to dig up anything on those names I gave you?”

“Not yet. But now that Harrion’s out of the picture, it should be a bit easier. I'll let you know when Chelsea or I find something.”

“Alright. Thanks. Goodnight.”

“‘Night, Carter.” We hung up. I put my phone back in my pocket and hopped onto the Cardinal. I revved up the bike's engines, and rode through the night back to my apartment

Description
September 12, 2014; Indianapolis, Indiana

So, the following summer was mostly spent helping the cops and the Eagle Eyes hunt down the Templars and keep them off the streets. There was still plenty of them scurrying around Indianapolis like the rats they were, but at least we managed to get to a point where they're the ones running from us instead of the other way around. It also got much easier to assassinate targets once Henry was on our side. He was able to pull just the right strings to keep the Assassins hidden and out of trouble.

Chelsea kept her promise. She helped me on missions for another month. But after that, her pregnancy had gotten to a point where she couldn't be out killing Templars or climbing buildings or anything like that. She started staying home with her mom and occasionally her fiance. Still, she kept in touch and provided info on the Templars’ activities whenever she could.

She also taught me how to ride her motorcycle after the incident with Patrick Lawrence. I started calling the shiny red bike “The Cardinal”, though Chelsea rolls her eyes whenever I say the name. My skills are still a bit rusty, but I feel like I have a decent grasp on it. The bike definitely helps with getting around the city. Originally, I had to either walk everywhere or hitch a ride.

...Well, there was that one time when I had to hijack one of those horse-drawn carriages that they trot around the city to give people little rides in, but that's a different story.

Anyways, by that day in September, the streets were pretty well-equipped to fight off the Templars. And it got to a point where my services weren't required as much. So I had much more time to go on my own personal missions. That Friday, I went to the Assassin warehouse after school. I like to drop by every once and a while to check up on the place. We started doing a lot of tidying up and upgrading to the place, making it look more and more like a proper base each day.

Chelsea and I managed to reserve a room for each of us, which we both spiced up with our own personal possessions. Sometimes we get stuck staying at the hideout, either because of weather or because of Templars, so it's nice to have a little corner of the place to myself. We made the actual warehouse portion of the warehouse into a much neater training area, which a lot of the Assassins that come to rendezvous use as a place to socialize when the arena isn't in use.

We reserved a room for financial workings. We've started renovating various places around Indianapolis, so part of their income comes to us. It really helps when we need money for weapons and resources.

There's also this one room that I've kinda made my own. I've been trying to take up sewing as a hobby, and to practice, I created replicas of the outfits of some of the really famous figures in Assassin history like Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad or Ratonhnhaké:ton or Jacob Frye. I also made some for Chelsea, like the outfits of Shao Jun or Aveline de Grandpré or Élise de la Serre. We store those outfits in that room, which we've called “the Legacy Room”.

...I'm getting off topic again, sorry ‘bout that. Haha.

As I said, I went to visit the hideout after school. I went to the room where most of the strategizing is done, where we lay out our plans on who to kill, how, when, and where. And there in the room, looking over some papers with a couple of other Assassins, was Angie, Chelsea’s mom and the leader of the Hoosier Assassins. She noticed me come in. She smiled and waved.

I smiled back and gave a small mock bow. “Mentor,” I greeted jokingly. Angie rolled her eyes and motioned for me to give her a quick hug, which I did. The Assassins used to have a relatively formal ranking system. Mentor, Master Assassin, Novice, all those kinds of things. But apparently after an incident with some Templar named Daniel Cross, the Brotherhood dropped a lot of those formalities. Now we just kinda judge “ranks” loosely. There is technically a global Mentor, a guy named Gavin Banks. But based on what I've heard, he's clearly not happy with the position. I've heard he's been trying to get his predecessor, a guy named William Miles, to take his place again. So yeah, our rank system is kind of a mess.

Angie was just the person at the head of this sect. So, technically Mentor here, but not really. She hated those formalities and really just wanted to be recognized as just another Assassin. It was still fun to tease her about it every now and then, though.

“Chelsea here?” I asked. Angie shook her head.

“No. She's staying home today. That kid in her gut’s giving her a bit of a rough time.”

“Ah.” I looked over to the papers that she was looking at with the other Assassins, who had backed up a bit to give us some space. “What's all this?” I asked.

“We've tracked down another major target,” she said.

“Oh?”

“Yep. A master Templar named Steven Harrion.”

“What's his role in all this?”

“He was appointed the Templars’ main lawyer after Chelsea killed Ruben Wolfgang. He keeps all of their questionable actions away from the eyes of the law.”

“So why are we targeting him now and not earlier?”

“Well, according to our spies, he's on the brink of losing it. The Templars are pulling such awful crap that he has to work day and night to make sure they're covered. He's sleep-deprived, stressed out, has developed a bit of a drinking problem, and sloppy. He's become the perfect target. And if we can get rid of him…”

“Then the Templars won't be able to wriggle their way out of sticky situations for a while.”

“Exactly!”

“Sweet. I'll take on the mission if you want.”

“You sure?”

“I've got nothing better to do.”

“Well, alright then.” We looked over the various papers in front of us. Angie looked at me. “Now, we can't just go sticking blades in him just yet,” she said. “He's not necessarily positively viewed in the public eye, but he isn't really hated enough for the people to want him dead.”

“Okay. So you want me to tail him first and dig up some dirt on him?”

“That would probably be best.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

“We've heard he's going to be attending a meeting with Natasha Wolfgang next week,” said one of the other Assassins. “Chances are, you'll be able to dig up some dirt there.” I nodded to the Assassin. A plan of attack was already forming in my head.

“You're sure you're up to it?” asked Angie.

“I'm sure,” I said.

“Alright then. We'll let you know when we need to send you out and where.”

“Sweet.”

After going over a few more details, I eventually left the room. I had another mission, and I was eager to carry it out.

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September 20, 2014; Indianapolis, Indiana

Ugh. You know, it really ticks me off whenever I unexpectedly catch sight of my mom. Whether it's on a mission or just in general, it's just irritating. It's bad enough that the memory of her is still shouting at me in the back of my subconscious, making my life miserable even after I've arrived into a much happier environment. But when I have to see the actual physical reminder that she exists, that she actually did do all that crap to me, I can't stand it.

But yeah, it happened that following week. I'd managed to locate Steven Harrion (who did indeed look like he was half-drunk half the time) that night, and I tailed him to his meeting in an Abstergo Industries building. I had to climb a bunch of stairs and scale a bunch of scaffolding to get outside the meeting room's window, which was about ten stories up. I was expecting it to just be the Templar Grand Master meeting with him, but no. Her right-hand lapdog, my mother, just had to be there too. Of course.

I kept my camera ready to record anything to use to sabotage Harrion. Though, I had the feeling I'd have to wait a bit. Templars generally expect spies like me to be around during meetings, and they tend to only reveal their darkest secrets in private. Still, I waited.

Natasha looked unbelievably bored as Harrion sat down and put his face in his hands. “I can't do this crap anymore,” he said.

“Too bad,” said Natasha, who would clearly rather be somewhere else.

“Ms. Wolfgang, I can't do this anymore. Our Order's activities have gone way too far. I've been working day and night trying to cover us up, but it's getting to the point where I can't. The legal system isn't as flexible as…”

“It’s as flexible as we want it to be,” Wolfgang interrupted. “Always has been. Ever since the Colonial era, ever since the Crusades, ever since ever. It's your job to make sure that it stays that way.”

“But Grand Master… Our projects… So many of them are just terrible! Do I even have to mention Dr. Cassidy’s experiments with the Piece of Eden?”

My ears pricked up. This sounded promising.

“I trust Dr. Cassidy can handle her own projects. I don't care about the details, just that she does what she needs to do to help us form our new world order.”

“But these experiments… a lot of them are so inhumane!”

“I said I don't care. She could start turning mice into lizard monsters for all I care. As long as it aids us, it doesn't matter.”

“It'd be much easier if we had Carter,” Mom mumbled to herself. Natasha shot her an angry look. “Oh my god, Trina!” she said. “Drop it! I am so sick of hearing you whine about your little vendetta!”

“Natasha…”

“No! We've been over this! Your son is nothing important. So we're short one lab rat? Who cares? You're just ticked because the Assassins got their hands on him.”

“And look what that's brought us! He took out Tyson, Lawrence…”

“Their deaths are an inconvenience, not a setback. We still have dozens of men patrolling the streets, hunting down the Assassins. They may have beaten us back a bit, but we still have the power to crush them.” Suddenly, she turned to Harrion, forgetting he was there. “Why are you still here?” she asked, annoyed.

“I…” stuttered Harrion.

“Out!” Harrion nervously nodded, grabbed his things and left. I wanted to go after him, but I knew I still had some time to keep listening. So I did.

“We're probably more powerful now than we have been since the Crusades,” Wolfgang said to Mom. “We've got our roots in everything. And if you're too caught up in revenge to realize that, then I'd kindly ask for you to just go back to your Bible study. I'm sure Ms. Valerie Michaels can help you with your little angel armor goose chase.”

Mom seemed ticked, but she tried to keep it in. “I still say we shouldn't be assigning her to the task of running the churches,” she said.

“Well, too bad.”

By then, I decided to put my phone away and go after Harrion. As I was about to climb down the scaffolding, I heard Mom mumble, “I think you're just too arrogant to know that the enemy is upon us.”

“What was that?” demanded Wolfgang.

“Nothing.”

I started making my way down. Thankfully, I managed to locate Harrion on ground level pretty quickly. I tailed him for a bit. He rubbed his eyes. “Can't believe this crap,” he mumbled. “I need a drink…” He pulled out his phone and looked at the time. “Eh, why not? Seems like a good night for a trip to Purple Shades.” I assumed that was a bar or club or something. It sounded like a perfect place to take him out. I stopped following him and dialed Angie’s number.

“Hey,” I said when she answered.

“Hey,” she said. “Did you get anything on Harrion?”

“Not yet. But I have a plan.”

“Oh?”

“Do you know a place called Purple Shades by any chance?”

“Purple Shades? Yeah, it's a club downtown. One of those techno-dubstep places. They have a great bar. Why?”

“Templars drove Harrion to drink again. I overheard him say that he's heading there tonight.”

“Really? If that's the case, I know someone who could help out.”

“Who?”

“There's an Assassin that works as a DJ there. A woman named Vienna Joel. Go around back, she'll most likely be there if you knock. Tell her I sent you and she'll help.”

“Sweet! That actually helps me a lot! Thanks, Angie.”

“No problem, kiddo. Go get em’!”

“Will do.” I was about to say goodbye and hang up, but I paused. “Hey,” I said. “Do you have any info on a Dr. Cassidy or a Valerie Michaels?”

“Hmm… No not really. I could try to dig something up about them if you want.”

“That'd be really helpful. Thanks.”

“No problem, Carter. Bye.”

“Bye.” We hung up. I had what seemed to be the perfect plan. I went over to Chelsea’s motorcycle, which I had parked in an alley, hoped on, and revved up the engine. Then, after looking up the location of Purple Shades, I put the pedal to the metal and made my way to the club.

------------

Once I finally arrived at the club, which was surprisingly large, I went around the to the back of the building and knocked on the back door. Sure enough, a moment later, a girl opened the door. She was probably in her early twenties. She had neon blue streaks dyed into her hair and wore a blue t-shirt with a white sleeveless hoodie. She smiled brightly, energetically waved at me, and pulled out her phone.

She quickly typed out “‘Sup?” and showed it to me. I gave a bit of a confused look.

“Um… Angie Stagge sent me,” I said to her. “I'm looking for someone named Vienna Joel.”

The girl smiled and typed in “That's me” into her phone and showed me.

“Oh. Cool. Um…” I looked down at her phone, still unsure of why she was typing everything. She clearly caught my confusion and typed out another message. She showed me: “I'm mute. I gotta use my phone like this.” I suddenly felt bad for being so outwardly confused.

“Oh! I'm sorry,” I said, hoping I didn't offend her in some way. But she just smiled and shrugged. She typed, “Ah, don't worry. It's cool. You here on Assassin business?” I nodded. She typed, “Cool. Come on in!”

So I did. I followed Vienna into the room beyond. Even from outside, I was able to hear the rhythmic thumping of the music. But once I entered the building, it was as if the music was somehow in the walls, vibrating the building like a mini earthquake.

Vienna led me to what I guess was her office, though it was kinda hard to tell due to how messy and cluttered it was… kinda like my desk at home now that I think about it…

But anyway, she turned to me and typed, “So what's up?”

“I've got a target visiting this place,” I said, “and I need your help. Guy's name is Steven Harrion.”

“What's your plan?”

“Well, based on what I saw when I tailed him earlier, he's gonna get hammered here. And I want to use that to get some reputation-destroying information on him. And then I'm gonna end his life.” Vienna nodded as she leaned back in her chair a bit. She put a finger on her chin as she thought. Suddenly, she made an expression as if a lightbulb appeared above her head. She grabbed her phone and started typing again. My God, this woman types fast.

After a few seconds, she showed me: “I could keep him distracted while you watch from afar. I'll keep him drinking until he starts revealing his secrets. And when he does, you can record him.”

I smiled. “Sounds good to me,” I said. “And once all that's done, you could lead him into the back alley and I'll sneak behind him to deliver the killing blow.”

Vienna grinned and gave a double thumbs up. She got out of her chair, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the main room of the club. The music was blasting through the speakers. Multi-colored lights were flashing all around to the beat of the songs. People were crowding the enormous room. Some were happily dancing. Others were just sitting or standing around, mostly drunk. And one of those people was Steven Harrion. He was sitting at one of the bars, head resting on one hand and a glass in the other.

Vienna pointed to where she wanted me to sit. I nodded and went to sit at the bar. I pulled out my phone and got it ready to record. As Vienna was taking her position next to Harrion, the bartender walked up to me.

“How old are you?” he asked. I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of the fake IDs Chelsea made for me. “Twenty-one,” I lied as I showed the card to him. The guy just kinda glanced at it, then at me, then back at the card. He shrugged. “Alright,” he said. “Can I get you anything?”

“No thanks,” I said. He shrugged and went to attend to his customers. By then, Vienna had already introduced herself to the drunken Templar. She ordered a few drinks for him. I started recording.

“I'm just sick of them,” I heard him say. He took a long drink. “I mean, some of the crap we pull, I just can't cover it up! Even with all our order's resources, I just can't.” He took another drink. I don't think he even really noticed that Vienna was there anymore. She kept listening though. “I mean, seriously?” continued Harrion. “Natasha wants me to hide experiments involving human testing… when they're right in the open at some university? Not some secret lab. A goddamn university! I mean, is she really that cocky? Does she really expect me to cover up everything our order's cooking up? I mean, I'll try. God knows I'll try. It'll give us our control and it'll give us our order, but my god! They just make it so difficult for me!”

Bingo.

He grabbed a nearby bottle and chugged it for a moment. He drunkenly stared at Vienna, who gave a subtle signal to me. I nodded and stopped recording. I put my phone back in my pocket.

“You doing anything later tonight?” Harrion blabbered to Vienna. She gave a fake smile and nodded no. Harrion gave as much of a grin as the alcohol in his system would allow him. Vienna kept smiling and moved her finger in a way that said, “follow me”. She stood from her seat and helped up Harrion as he stumbled out of his seat. She gave a quick glance at me before leading my target to the back of the building. I nodded. I patted my forearms to check my hidden blades, and then stood and followed close behind.

Vienna led Harrion to the dark alley behind the building. I waited around the corner behind them, my fingers flexing on the mechanism of my hidden blades. Harrion was having a hard time keeping his balance.

“So,” he blabbered, “what’re we gonna do now?” I think he was trying to sound sexy, but it didn't sound like it at all. Vienna just smiled, teasing the drunken man. I started quietly walking towards them. As I did, I pulled out my phone. I emailed the video sabotage to Harrion’s phone, along with a virus that would cause it to loop without stop. Harrion felt his phone buzz. He pulled it out and just kinda stared at it, not really able to tell what it was in his current state.

“Sorry, babe,” he said. “Stupid phone's always bugging me… Now where were we?”

Vienna’s smile turned into a smirk as I came up behind them. She quickly typed another message onto her phone. She held up the message to Harrion: “Requiescat in pace.” It took a second for Harrion to realize what that meant. His eyes widened, and that's when my hidden blade slid into his spine.

I covered his mouth as he screamed in pain and I lowered his body to the floor. What little life he had left had just been sobered up by fear. He stared at me as I knelt beside him.

“Oh… Oh god… Assassin!” he painfully stuttered.

“Yep,” I said.

“I… I’m not sure whether to thank you or hate you right now…” I raised an eyebrow.

“On the one hand,” he said, “you've just saved me from a life full of depression and booze… but on the other, you've just hit my order hard.”

“Well, that's the idea. We can't have you Templars running around and infecting the world.”

“We're curing it, not infecting it. We bring order and peace.”

“You bring control and oppression. Peace comes from freedom, from the people.” Harrion gave a painful chuckle. Blood started pouring from his mouth as he coughed.

“People are stupid,” he wheezed. “People don't know order. They'll burn the world… without their puppeteers…” After that, he died.

“People know more than you think,” I said. “Rest in peace.” I pulled out another post-it note calling card and placed it on Harrion’s phone, which had fallen next to him and was still playing the sabotage video. I stood from his body and looked at Vienna. We nodded to each other.

“I should probably get going,” I said.

She nodded in agreement

“Thanks so much for your help.”

She just smiled and shrugged. She typed, “No problem. Happy to help. If you need my help again, just text me.”

I nodded. “I will,” I said. “Definitely.” I reached out to have my hand shaken. She shook my hand hard and patted me on the shoulder. We exchanged our goodbyes and went our separate ways. She went back to the club and I went back to the Cardinal. I phoned Angie to tell her the news.

“Harrion’s dead,” I said. “Templars are gonna have a much harder time covering up their crap now.”

“Great!” she said. “You gonna head back to the hideout or are you heading home?”

“I'm gonna head home. I'm calling it a night.”

“Alright, kiddo. Great work today. Goodnight.”

“‘Night. Oh, hey, did you manage to dig up anything on those names I gave you?”

“Not yet. But now that Harrion’s out of the picture, it should be a bit easier. I'll let you know when Chelsea or I find something.”

“Alright. Thanks. Goodnight.”

“‘Night, Carter.” We hung up. I put my phone back in my pocket and hopped onto the Cardinal. I revved up the bike's engines, and rode through the night back to my apartment