Assassin's Creed Imagines, Preferences, Theories etc.

Database Hidden Entry #3

1776

"Here we are." the driver states and I take a deep breath before stepping out of the carriage, the cold instantly hitting my face and making me pull my coat over my shoulders. Lee rubs his hands together and walks up to one of the guards. He takes out our papers and it isn't long before they open the gate for us to pass. I look at Kenway. "How the hell did Hickey end up here?" He raises his shoulders. "It doesn't take much to get arrested. It is New York after all."

"And with that face..."
"Hargrave, we brought you here to help, not voice your opinion." His voice is sharp, angry, but he soon realizes that I give him a frustrated glare. "I apologize. Hickey has caused trouble more than enough times before..."
"And you worry that he won't get his ass out of the crap he gotten himself into this time?"
"There are some good reasons for my discomfort, Hargrave..." He says while rubbing his hands. "But I do not see any reason to discuss it with you."
"Oh, yes. I forgot, you only play it friends when you need us... My bad..."

I wave towards the gate and Kenway joins me on the way into the prison. We meet Lee inside, and ignoring a guard's glare
I follow the warden into the stone mass, threatening to swallow us whole. We reach Hickey's cell. To be honest, it is not that big a surprise. It is common for him to be held. He is filthier and more disgusting than usual.
"Well, well" I say, a wide, but still fake, almost sardonic (as Kenway describes it later) smile on my lips. "Thomas, darling, you look shit..."
I can hear Lee snorting behind me, but it turns out it is a pre-laughter type of amusement. Hickey laughs dryly and stands up before approaching me. His face comes inches away from mine, only blocked by the iron bars of his cage. "My dear Etta... Always with a nice word to say..."
"Only for you, Tommie"
I jerk away from him the moment he tries to get his hand on my neck.
"Why the fuck would you bring her here?" he hisses.
"To enjoy the view, Tommie darling... not that you being neck deep in trouble is something unusual..."
He sighs and rubs his filthy hair off his forehead. "As you can clearly see I am alive and well... Or at least was until I saw you coming along with 'em." He waves towards Kenway and Lee with his head, but with the corner of my eye I can see them staring into the next cell.
"Gentlemen"
I get their attention back to the subject at hand. Kenway speaks first. "The Madame here agreed to help you..."
"I can see that, but I don't see how the hell a whore can help me get out of this pisshole." Hickey has steadied himself against the iron bars and he opens his palms to stress his point.
"'Whore'... 'Whore' is an ugly word... If my girls hadn't fished out the diddly dallying of the prison owner's you would stay in 'ere until the stench of your rotting ass made even the rats puke their innerds out..." I give him a wide smile, showing my once perfect, beautiful teeth, now a few missing, some fell out, others I sold. It is ironic how many a man can pay for a pair of teeth in his bare mouth. "at least show some respect..."
He rolls his eyes. "Nettie, for fuck's sake..."
"Tommie darling, if you want to stay 'ere just say it..." I look around at the dripping ceiling and the muddy walls. How the hell do they live here? "after all II'm pretty sure this filthy cell air will do wonders to your complexion... you won't need to powder your nose ever again after getting out of here"
"You think so?" he says, bored. I swear he would kill me if he wwasn't in a cell and in need of my help.
"Of course, darling... because the only way you are getting out of here is either in a coffin or on the way to the gallows... Do you know any corpses or dead men walking getting his arses powdered?"
Lee seems to be very amused by the whole situation, but soon Kenway interrupts our sweet talk and the three of them start quietly talking about other subjects. I start wondering what got Lee's and Kenway's attention a few minutes ago and I approach the next cell to take a look. Between the rotten iron bars I can see a dark figure lying on the filthy floor.
"What did ye do to get in 'ere?" I ask the man, more to get his attention. the reason he got in there matters as little as Hickey's rescue...
He doesn't answer, but he raises his head to look at me. "Thought you were deaf for a moment or so..." He keeps staring at me for a while before he then turns his head towards Kenway and the others.
I know the criminals' faces. So many years on the job, it is easy to distinguish the criminals from the common folk. As most of them are usually tangled in gangs and criminal organizations, they get in fights. Broken noses, scars, black eyes, bruises, swollen lips, more teeth missing than the usual, a hunger for blood in their eyes... They are really easy to tell apart. Hickey for example is easy to tell he is likely to get into deep crap. But this man? No, he is not a criminal... at least not a common one.
"How did you get in here?" I ask again. he remains silent. Again.
"Hargrave, we are done here... We are leaving..."
I look at the man one last time before following Kenway and Lee outside.
On the way back to the carriage both of them are mumbling to each other, as I follow after them. As soon as we are riding back to town, I have grown so impatient (and curious) that I simply can't keep my mouth shut.
"Mind telling me what this was all about?"
Both give me questioning glares.
"It was not only about Hickey... I am not so stupid to think that. I point my hand at Kenway. "Last time you showed interest about Hickey I was still a common strumpet and last time I checked you consider your time too precious to waste it on common prisoners. So tell me, who was that lad in that cell?"
They give each other a glare full of meaning. Lee decides to speak first. "We do not know what you are talking about..."
"Do you really think I am that stupid?" I snort. "Our deal was that if you want my help, you tell me everything I get myself into... I do not like surprises."
"First of all..." Kenway hisses and bends towards me, pointing at me with his finger. "I am giving the orders here. And the reason your little business did not fall out after that fire was that the Templar Order helped you back on your feet." He squeezes my cheeks with his hand. "So do not press your luck by playing it tough. We are telling you what we want and whenever we want to. And if you even dare start chirping anything to your clients or whatever vermin comes to your bloody brothel, I am going to be very angry." He releases my face and lays back on his seat. "Are we understood... Madame?" I rub my ached cheeks and jaw while nodding. Lee remains silent all the time. It seems like centuries have passed when the carriage pulls off in front of the building I've been working on for the past decade.
"Remember our little talk." Kenway orders as I step out of the carriage. The driver bids me farewell before setting off again and the wooden structure slowly disappears in the distance, leaving a trail of dirt in the air behind.

1781

By that time I knew that the man I had seen in that prison cell back then was no other that Kenway's illegitimate son. And his latter killer.
It is a cold October morning but I know that the cold is the last of my problems. So I just wait, rubbing my hands, walking back and forth on my veranda that has a view to the Saint Trinity Church. How ironic. A sinful brothel next to such a respected establishment. it reminds me of a time when I would visit the Holy Service every Sunday with my father. When life was still good. I hear faint footsteps behind me, I know he is here.
I turn around to face him and here he stands tall, strong, his face hidden behind a shawl - no, hood. He looks nothing like the man I saw in that filthy and muddy cell. That one had a bravado, even fallen, he had his chin up. This one is filled with... grief?... hatred?... I don't think I'll ever know for sure.
"I was wondering when you would show up... Cause I knew you would come..."
"Then you also know why I came to you.." He has a weird accent.
"It's about Lee, isn't it?"
"It always was about him..."He takes a deep breath. "Where is he?"
I know what had happened to him. I know why he is so fixed on finding Lee. In a case of an unusually bold drunken state late Kenway told me everything, so much that when he questioned me about it the next day I played it dumb for I was smart enough to understand. I knew simply too much. And admitting that to Kenway would mean my death.
"We saw each other at Kenway's funeral. Nothing special to be honest. After all he is the last one of them left. You killed the rest." I stare at him, knowing that I will soon go meet them in heaven. No, not heaven... in hell.
He stays silent. I keep talking.
"He mentioned he would go to Philadelphia for a while, but I cannot tell if he was just bluffing. I bet my last teeth he knew you would come for me..."
"So give me anything you have. Names, addresses... I will take care of them myself."
I sigh.
"Then Michael Adams is your man, boy..."
"Where will I find him?"
"He works at the Port... If you ask, you gonna learn..."
He stays silent for a while, probably processing all these informations I gave him.
Cold wind starts howling between the leaves of a nearby tree.
"Boy..."
"What?"
"I know you came to kill me... So, please, do not let me live in this agony... Just be quick.."
"I did not come to kill you."
I gasp. He turns to leave, but I get over my surprise soon enough.
"Hey, boy! When you find Lee,"
He stops in his track and looks back at me. "...please send him my deepest regards."
He nods and disappears behind the corner of the veranda.
It takes a lot of time to make my hands stop trembling.
.............................
Henrietta Hargrave, or for family, friends (and later, costumers) 'Nettie' was one of those people you pity for their life being so damn miserable. She was born the daughter of a merchant who did not know how much gold he had in his safes. When papa died, Nettie was 15 years old and still naive enough for her big cousins to snatch her whole fortune away, leaving her with nothing and finally letting her in the streets of Quebec... literally... and like many girls before and after her, she turned to prostitution. Eventually her new job paid off and she became the Madame of the most successful brothel in New York... with a little help from the Templars of course. Surprisingly enough considering her trade, Nettie died from old age, in her bed, with all the girls working in her establishment weeping around her.
What a life...
-Shaun