•Discombobulate• |An Assassin's Creed Syndicate Fanfiction|

•V |Of kindness and collaboration|

The silence reigned supreme in that isolated,dark and dirty alley where only the squeak and the rattle of rats in the slime strewn on the floor,was the only perceptible sound in the ears of the Assassin who,with the hood cautiously lowered on the head,looked around with careful and discreet look.
The unpleasant odor emanating from the putrid and dirty waters of the Thames could also be felt,and above all,from that forgotten place of God:the most absolute filth and poverty characterized the streets of London's most shabby district,Withechapel.

Nothing new for her that,making sure she had the package under her clothes,looked around: it was certainly not the first time she was in front of a horrible and depressing spectacle like that.
Even though the Frye had liberated Withechapel from the Blighters' outlet,that neighborhood remained the same,and the twins certainly could not change the degradation and poverty that had always denied that place.

The sudden and unexpected sound of loud,rusty and scratched coughs echoed in some echoes in that alley,made Tessa turn who,busy looking at the rats running frantically from side to side with a certain amount of attention,got a little frightened.Raising her gaze from the ground,she went in search of the person who coughed in that bad way,trying not to be distracted by an old man who,with his shoulders heavily resting on the cold and damp wall behind him,drank from a bottle of wine now completely empty.
With his head hanging down,his eyes and face flushed,his clothes now reduced to rags and with a face marked by long and endless years of misfortune,he watched with a half-closed eye the inside of the glass bottle,hoping to find a few more drops of that reddish liquid.

The young woman sighed heavily,slowly turning her gaze to the other side,only to find herself in front of a worse scene:another man was at that moment in front of her,certainly not in the best condition of that old man who was still lying on the ground and ranting incomprehensible words.
The forehead of that man,more or less middle-aged,was beaded with small and numerous drops of sweat;his eyes were almost injected with blood as were his chapped and dehydrated lips.

Then,all of a sudden,the man began to cough uncontrollably in front of Tessa who,finally realizing where those powerful coughs came from,frowned in an expression of worry and confusion as she watched him lean against a wooden chest and letting himself fall heavily to the ground,caught by the evident pain and fatigue that could be read clearly in his eyes.
And the young Assassin was already ready to bend over and help the poor man quickly,if it had not been for a small hand that,gripping her long white robe,jerked it gently.
Tessa whirled around on the other side,and her serious and worried expression soon changed into a sweet and reassured smile.

"I was waiting for you,lads" she said patiently and serene,looking down at the three children and smiling affectionately,while they looked at her from below with purely innocuous and kind eyes.
"Excuse us for the delay,Miss Knight,but today the work at the factory was more" politely excused the biggest of the children,a little boy of just over thirteen,bringing his gloved hands behind his back.Tessa frowned in a confused expression when she heard the boy's words.
"More did you say?How is possible,Walter?" asked the female Assassin,kneeling in front of the second child,Wade,and gently stroking his sooty cheek,not distracting her gaze from the other.

"Yes,ya got it right,Miss Knight.The boss says that if we work harder,he will pay us more" Walter answered firmly,the firm conviction of his words made Tessa's heart tremble.And again,the young woman woman found herself displaced by how the pure and genuine innocence of a child could go beyond the caress and the lies of an avid man.
"Yes or no,he will pay a few more pennies" she murmured with a faint voice,and with the corners of her mouth that rose slowly in a sad smile,trying not to be heard by the three children.
Continuing to kneel in front of Wade while gently stroking his face,she resumed talking: