AC Syndicate: Isolated Files [OS]

Late

Victoria's appointment time approached, but she was held up in a fight with the Blighters. They had ambushed her. The Assassin was a good fighter, but today she was too distracted and rushed. She wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible so she could get to Jacob at a specific point. She had already used up the few smoke bombs she had left, and she was running out of bullets. Another lapse in concentration and she was hit in the back of the head, knocking her out cold.

London, City of Westminster, 5:13pm

Standing on the roof, the tower of Big Ben in the distance, Jacob looked at his pocket watch. It wasn't usual that Victoria wasn't already at the meeting place where they generally met.

"What the hell is she doing?"

After reading the time for the umpteenth time, Jacob decided to go looking for her and climbed down from the roof. He was sure that something had happened to the dark-haired woman.

The Assassin knew where his colleague was, it was himself who had given her the mission. He headed for Pembroke Hospital in Whitechapel. He used his rope-launcher to get across the roofs as quickly as possible.

As he set foot on the ground, a group of orphans ran up to the Assassin, almost in panic. All three of them spoke at the same time, but Jacob understood nothing of what they said.

"Hey, kids!" he called in a firm voice. "It would save time if you took turns speaking," he said.

"Sorry, Mr. Frye."

"Victoria was taken away in a car by some Blighters," said the older of the trio. "There was nothing we could do for her."

"Where did they go?"

"They were heading for the Southwark docks."

Jacob simply gave the three kids some money and headed off in the direction he'd been told.

"Hang on, Vic, I'm coming," Jacob huffed as he ran towards the front of a building before activating his rope-launcher to climb it quickly.

Meanwhile, in the sewers under the Thames, the brunette took a big slap for being awake.

"Wake up, you bitch!"

Victoria regained consciousness and looked viciously at the rascal who had just hit her. All she wanted to do was slit his throat with her hidden blade. She shook her bound hands behind her back and growled in anger and frustration.

"You're not so smart now, are you?"

"Why don't you talk to me about what you want, instead of gloating about your cowardice?"

Victoria's insolence displeased the Blighters, who gave her another slap, more violent than the one that had woken her up. This time she held back her groan and gritted her teeth.

"Patience, little one. The boss will be here soon, he'll tell you what he wants."

Looking around, she saw nothing that would help her to free herself and deal with her captors. Slow footsteps could be heard in the sewers' corridors. From the look on the Blighters' faces, it was their boss.

"So that's the famous Victoria who's interfering with my plans," the newcomer said aloud with an audible smile.

The brunette recognised one of the targets to be killed, Terry Colson.

"It's a good thing Thomas stayed in your lousy Brotherhood to serve as my spy."

The man concerned stepped out of the shadows and stood beside the Templar, who turned to face him. Victoria began to see red. How could Thomas have betrayed the Brotherhood? Now a lot of things made sense.

"Well done, Tom. You've proven yourself worthy of my trust and therefore worthy of joining our Order."

"Thank you," the blond answered courteously.

The brunette still couldn't believe the betrayal of her brother in arms. With gritted teeth, she asked him why he had betrayed the Creed.

"I got you into the Rooks... I did everything I could to get you into the Brotherhood... And by rejecting me as you did, you thank me..."

"You betrayed our Brotherhood because of our break-up, which you yourself caused," she rephrased to make sure she understood. "You let your feelings override the values of the Creed!"

"I LOVED YOU VICTORIA!" he shouted. "I could no longer fight on the same side as you... I couldn't stand it."

"You could have just left the Brotherhood or become a Rooks again! You're a fool, Thomas!"

Colson cleared his throat, his gloved fist in front of his mouth.

"Not that your love affair is boring, but we've got work to do... I suggest we get back on track."

Jacob finally reached the end of the tunnel which led him to the large room where Victoria was being held, from whom information was being extracted. He could hear the screams of Victoria and her ex-partner. Just as the Templar was about to speak again, the Assassin from Crawley threw a smoke bomb. A sort of fog rose up and made the Blighters cough. Jacob charged at the redcoats, including the bruiser. He tripped them up and stuck his blade and kukri in their sternum or throat. Thomas put a hand on Terry's shoulder and led him away from the scene through a small corridor near them.

As the cloud dissipated, Jacob saw the two individuals fleeing. He wanted to chase them, but he had to take care of Victoria. He promised himself that he would not let the next opportunity to run them through his hidden blades pass him by. He moved towards Victoria and stood behind her to untie her.

She immediately stood up and massaged her wrists as she followed her dear Jacob's gaze as he picked up his weapons from the table beyond and handed them to her. Victoria felt ashamed to have been in such a situation.

"I'm sorry, Jacob... I-I got distracted, and I was stupidly tricked... I..."

"We don't have time for this," he said rather annoyed. "Put your gauntlet back on and let's get out of here."

She obeyed immediately and her hand was taken by Jacob's, who dragged her out. Once outside, the two Assassins went to isolate themselves on a roof. Victoria stayed behind, like a child afraid of being scolded.

Once at the top, Frye looked out over the London landscape. The sky was rather clear and greyish, smoked by the chimneys of factories. He slowly caught his breath as Reid stopped a few steps behind him, his eyes downcast. Silence began to fall between the two Assassins. After looking at the sky, the twin turned to the Londoner. He saw the slight injuries on her face. His heart then put aside the anger of Terry Colson and Thomas' escape to give way to affection and relief. Against all expectations for the brunette, Jacob ran to her and took her in his arms. The dark-haired woman slowly wrapped her arms around him, struggling to understand what was happening to her.

"I was afraid for you," he confessed half-heartedly.

This confession touched Victoria, who closed her eyes to savour the embrace of the man she loved a little more. She was relieved to hear that. A few seconds later, she opened her eyelids again and smiled wickedly.

"You're getting soft, poor Jacob. Where's the terror of the underworld I know?"

Still holding her in his arms, Evie's brother sighed, jaded by Victoria's joke even though it was funny.

"Shut up," he replied with a smile.

Without letting go, the two Assassins faced each other for a few moments before kissing lovingly. Soon after, Jacob ended the kiss and looked at the slightly damaged face of his beloved Victoria.

"Let's go back to the train, we'll treat your injuries."

"First to the train," she challenged, before darting to the edge of the roof and activating her grapple to get to the next one.

Immediately, with a smile on his face, Jacob began to chase her. Victoria was definitely unstoppable, like him. They had both found each other well.