Assassin's Creed: Modernity - Book 1

V

Location: San Fransisco

PST: 13:34 February 9

Mission: Eat lunch and pour over the rest of the data

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Ethan eagerly shoveled spoonfuls of the beef stew into his mouth as he scrolled through the still endless amounts of data on the flash drive. Ella made a killer stew, Ethan thought. 

The mindless task of combing through the data, however, had given Ethan a chance to think. He had the vague idea of what he was going to do, but he was still a little hazy on the details. He knew he had to gather and rally the few remaining Assassins, but that could take months, even years. 

Ethan knew that every day, the Templars were using a machine called the Animus to relive the memories of Assassin ancestors to find mythical artifacts. These artifacts, called the Pieces of Eden, had great power. Some could control minds while others instantly healed the bearer. In the hands of the Templars, these artifacts could do endless amounts of damage. And the Assassins, in their weakened state, could not handle much more.

Ethan was snapped out of his reverie as he stumbled upon a folder labeled 'Hssassins.' Hassassins were the very beginning if the Assassins. He swallowed the chunks of bread and meat and opened the folder. Files labeled 'Aliases', 'Last Known Location,' and 'Skill Sets' among other similar folders were mentioned. He had no idea how much the Templars had known. But it did make sense, considering a good amount of the Brotherhood had been sleeper agents. 

All Ethan needed was active Assassins, he didn't care about their skills at the moment. He opened the locations folder and clicked on the United States sub-folder. A map of the United States appeared. It had markers and small descriptions near them. As Ethan peered more closely, he could see a date at the bottom right side: 12/6/16. This information was recent. 

He clicked on the marker that indicated California The image zoomed in and more markers appeared. There were dozens of Assassin bases scattered around California. Even if each only held one Assassin, a few dozen trained and active Assassins could do some damage. Ethan unconsciously grinned as he clicked on San Fransisco. As the map zoomed in, Ethan could see that there were three Assassins within a five mile radius. 

Hopefully the Assassins hadn't gone far. Ethan jumped out o his chair and grabbed his new jacket. He yanked the flash-drive out of the port and grabbed his hidden blade gauntlets and slid the mechanism into the jacket cuffs. He slid the other gauntlet onto his arm, because he needed the USB port. Plugging the USB into the port, he dash up the stairs and out of the house. 

The day was chillier than normal and Ethan huddled in his coat. He walked to the main street, following the map on the display of his gauntlet. Ethan picked the nearest marker and began winding his way around the streets and alleyways. The wind bit at the tops of his ears as he traversed the busy San Fransisco streets. 

He neared the marker. As he grew closer, he saw that it was a motel that had seen better days. A neon sign flickered above the door. Ethan silently thanked Ella and Clark for being so hospitable. Ethan pushed through the doors and a bell jingled above him. The smell of musty rooms and molded ceilings met his nostrils and he wrinkled his nose in disgust. 

A middle aged man with a pop belly sat with his feet up on the grimy table used as the front desk. He jolted awake and the holey cap fell off his head. The man glared at Ethan as if he had committed some unspeakable crime.

"What?" 

Ethan raised an eyebrow at the unfriendly manner of the owner.

"Are you the owner of this . . . fine establishment?" Ethan asked, straight-faced

"Yeah. What do you want?"

Ethan pulled up an image of the Assassin he was after on the gauntlet display. He showed the image to the man at the 'desk'. "Have you seen this guy? He's a friend of mine," Ethan added.

The man nodded slowly. "Yeah. He's in room 9 on the fourth floor."

Fourth floor. There were floor floors to this place? Ethan nodded his thanks and walked towards the staircase next to the 'desk'. As he began to ascend it, he glanced back at the owner, who was back in his first position. Ethan sighed as he began to climb the stairs. 

As he emerged onto the fourth floor, he heard a frantic stuffing sound. Several items fell to the floor as Ethan neared room 9. He knocked on the door and the noise stopped. 

"Hello. I have some eagle feathers for an Ezio Fry- I mean Auditore." Damn! Ethan thought.

Ethan waited several seconds but no sound came. Slowly, he began to open the door. He peered into the room, but it was deserted. Clothes and papers were strewn about the floor and there was a half eaten box of take out on the bed. A breeze tickled Ethan's skin. A breeze? Then he noticed the open window. Running to it he looked out and around it. 

A man was frantically dropping from level to level of the fire escape. 

"Wait!" Ethan called, "Gargh!"

But the man continued to descend the rusted escape quickly. Ethan climbed onto the railing, about to take the same route as the fleeing Assassin, but then he noticed a dumpster a few meters from the fire escape. Ethan's muscles tensed, as they did before every stupid thing he did. 

Ethan launched from the railing, extending to full length and spreading his arms out. Half way through the fall, he flipped onto his back and landed into the dumpster. The nearly full dumpster cushioned his fall, but he still groaned as he climbed out of it. Ethan hunched over as he looked around and saw Alex a hundred meters away, running like the devil.

Ethan shook his head as he sprinted after the Assassin. Alex ran down the alley, leaping and vaulting over the obstacles in his way. Ethan followed suit, clearing the obstacles in the most efficient way. Alex cleared the narrow alley and turned left, out onto the street. Ethan heard honks and the sound of angry people as he rounded the corner and saw Alex running on the tops of the cars in the deadlock. Ethan again followed the Assassin's track as Alex burst into a shop on the other end of the street. 

Ethan cursed under his breath as he too charged into the little shop and began running up the stairs, following the cries of alarm from the people upstairs. Bounding up the stairs, Ethan silently thanked his mentor for instilling in him the good habits of exercising daily. As he came to the top floor, Ethan heard shouts of alarm and anger from a room at the end of the hall. He dashed towards it, and slammed into the wall as he tried to turn without slowing down. 

Muttering something about 'damned walls,' he bolted into the room. He barely noticed the couple huddled in a corner, when he saw the broken window in front of him. He looked out to the roof top below, and saw the fleeing Alex sprinting like hell. Ethan backed up and ran full out, diving through the broken window. He flipped onto his feet before he landed, and rolled. Using the momentum of the jump, he ran full pelt at Alex who was clearing the obstacles and roof gaps with more effort than before. 

Alex went to vault a low wall on the roof, but his sweaty hand slipped on the smooth stone and he slammed against the ground. Ethan quickly caught up with him. Alex lay on his back, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"I . . . meant . . . to say . . . Auditore," Ethan panted as he lowered his exhausted body to the ground beside Alex.

"Dumb ass."