[closed] Beginning Anew

John continued to follow Gabe to where his "friend" was, before they got there and John saw that she had swapped her assassin robes for quite a...rich and regal looking dress, which since John had lived a life where people who wear dresses like that would look down upon him, annoyed John quite a lot and grunted at this. "If I'm really gonna be wearing a fucking guards uniform, I at least hope it doesn't look as ridiculous as....that." John said, jokingly before pointing at the dress. "And before you tell me, Gabe, I'll keep under control....maybe." John said, facing Gabe.

As the men approached, her gaze fell to her home for a long moment. She doubted she would be back for some time. Not that she couldn't come back. It was just that lately, so much had happening that this felt like it might be a longer goodbye than normal for her trips. Hearing the two men approach closer, she turned to face them, offering them a faint smile.

Nodding to Gabriel, she gave both the men a curtsy as greeting. As John spoke however, she raised an eyebrow to the man. Either way, people that were choosing to escort her were able to choose what they wished, not what she dictated. The woman sighed heavily as John turned back to face Gabriel.... she felt this was going to be a long ride to New York.

Her gaze fell over to the carriage, noting what was inside of it yet again. Between what the boys had brought along, and now this, they had well more than what they needed. However, she wanted enough to stock the house for themselves and any guests she may have to entertain. As tedious as it was, to keep up funding the assassins where she could, she did have to keep her appearance up. That and other reasons, she now had plenty for anything they would need. And for lumber and anything else they would need, she now had the means to get it. It was apparent John seemed to change his demeanor to her now that she was dressed like this. Granted, she had been leery to trust them... but she was not sure what was prompting that reaction. But it did not matter.... they had a job to do, so the woman pushed it from her thoughts for now.

"I have not been waiting long. If needed, I am sure we could always tie one team to the other carriage , and we would only need one to drive."

The woman really was trying to bring no one with her..... but it wasn't working out. She trusted these men with her life.... but still, to have them in something they did not sign up for was almost something she did not want to do. The offer stood as she moved over to her carriage and began to climb on. With as much as they had packed, and as level as the road now was to New York, they should have no problems between the three of them and just two carriages. The horses were all well trained and would follow easily enough.

John listened, beginning to focus a lot more, before simply asking "Okay, so where are our guard uniforms then, or are we gonna get changed later?" John asked, but John also noticed that something just seemed...off, about this woman. Upon realising this, he began to frown as his eyes narrowed, while he continued to stare at the woman, suspicously. He couldn't really exactly pinpoint what it was, but his gut feeling was just telling him that something about her was....just off. John shrugged it off "Probably nothing, can't trust your gut feeling all the time." he thought to himself.

"You are wearing your uniform already John." Gabriel said. They wouldn't need to change their clothes to act the part. Mercenaries were hired for bodyguards all the time.

Gabriel had to think for a moment. What was the best way to do this? Since Felicity didn't quite trust either of them yet, most of all John, if they hitched both the wagon and the carriage together the two would be in close quarters with each other. Gabriel wouldn't have time enough to teach John to ride his own horse just yet now either.

"Why don't we do this then... I'll hitch both of our personal horses together and drive your carriage and John can continue behind us with the supplies."

That way they could speak freely and Felicity could dismiss her own driver and not endanger him to the perils of traveling with two full on Assassins.

It seemed a reasonable compromise from where Gabriel sat.

"I do not require you to change your appearance for my sake...."

Felicity tried offering another faint smile towards them. Since they would all be together, she was trying to ease what tension had crossed them. Mercenaries had accompanied her before. They were less likely to betray her..... Redcoats had offered before, but she knew what that was all about. More than likely they were either trying to kill her or threaten her. However, that thought was for another time.

As the other assassin spoke, she listened carefully, thinking over her options. She liked this idea... in this way only people who had dealt with the attacks and fighting before would be traveling with her, and it would make things easier and set her conscience at ease. She gave a nod to Gabriel, and then went and spoke with her driver. Between them, there were a few words exchanged but then the driver finally gave up and got off the carriage, and after a few moments, he had freed the team and was leading them back to the barn. For better or for worse, she now was traveling with another assassin and his friend..... at least there was help. The woman almost felt as if she was going mad while she was alone for so long with thinking those she had worked so closely with were all dead. Letting out a sigh, she brought her horse towards the front of the carriage.

"Well.... I think we are all set then. No one should bother us now...."

Gabe returned the nod with a smile. As the driver led the team away, Gabriel brought his own horse around, dismounted and unsaddled the beast and hitched it up to Felicities carriage. Repeating the process again with his new companions horse as well.

He quickly ran back to John's wagon and retrieved his hat, dusting it off lightly and replacing it where his hood had covered him prior. Appearances would be everything if they met someone on the road.

Perhaps either falling into the role or because he was a gentleman anyway, Gabe opened the carriage door for Felicity and offered her his hand to help her in. Once she was inside, Gabriel stood where both she and John would see him.

"Okay, traveling at night is dangerous enough as it is. Keep your wits about you. I'll get us a couple of hours down the road so we will stop around eleven or thereabouts, rest for the night and then back on the road early tomorrow morning. John, follow behind us at a span about a full length of your wagon, in case I need to stop suddenly you will have time to react and not crash into us."

He pulled his katana from his belt and climbed up to the drivers bench, setting it on the seat beside him for easy access.

"And then... off we go... into the unknown.." he said more to himself than to the other two companions. Gabe snatched up the reins and set them off into the night at an easy pace.

John listened, before nodding at the instructions. "And here we....GO!" John said to himself quietly, as he followed Gabe with his wagon, at around roughly the same speed as him and at the distance Gabe said. However, ever since the general store incident, John had been thinking a lot, but out of everything that was in his head, one question stood out..."Am I a good man?" John kept on asking himself in his head, finding reasons for why he is...and isn't. But of course, he isn't a great man, he knew that. But he hoped that if Gabe's answer to his question he wanted to ask him was "yes"...then it could be his journey to becoming a great man. Only time would tell though, for now, he had a job to do.

As Gabriel offered his hand, the female assassin cast him a quick glance. Though it wasn't uncommon for this to be offered to her, it still surprised her a bit that another assassin did so. Not that assassins weren't gentlemen.... it was just a bit strange to her for some reason. Still, she gave him a smile and took his hand to help her in. There was no need to be rude to such kindness. Once inside though, the woman had no intention of just sitting there. There were things she needed to go over.

As he spoke, she listened carefully. It was true that she had never traveled like this at night..... but as an assassin, she was used to the perils that came with the job. Working in the shadows, night could be more favorable when the option was available. She gave a nod to Gabriel for understanding, and then waited for the familiar feel of the carriage being set in motion. It was then that she went to a small case that she had loaded herself in her own seat. Slipping a key from her pocket, she unlocked it, and opened the case. Inside were papers..... but another thought had just crossed her.... she'd have to struggle greatly with trying to read them. She didn't dare bring her glasses out here.... her fellow assassin wouldn't take her so seriously anymore and the other man whom already didn't seem to care for her much would think her to be a complete waste of time..... sighing, she knew she would just have to work her eyes hard.... it would not be that much of a struggle as she had done it before.

Pulling the papers close to her, the woman began to look over the papers. It was notes and reports on actions of the Templars and redcoats. Things that she herself had taken note of, as well as information that she had heard as gossip. Being in the social glass that she was had it's advantages for information. Young men looking at her company often told her things when they were trying to speak with her, as well as the other young girls gossiping about what they had seen. As much as it pained her at times, it did help the order, and that's what she had to remember. Now all she had to do was put these together. Luckily, with just a few marks, she knew what the paper was about. Her sight might not be the best, but her memory served her well.

"..... thank you...... for coming. It must have been a long journey for you..."

She had barely spoken to this man, and yet here she was going on a long mission with him. Even if they would never be on the same terms as she had been with the assassins here, he at least deserved her kindness. And she was thankful that he had come.... to have another assassin with her at least gave her hope again.

Gabriel smiled ruefully to himself without turning around. He sat stock straight on his bench and kept his eyes on the road before him. The clatter of the wheels on the dirt road and the sound of the horses and movement would be enough to shield their conversation from John, behind them. Not that he wanted to sincerely hide things from John, but at the end of the day, John Ambrose wasn’t part of the Brotherhood and shouldn’t be privy to certain information.

“…I’m just sorry I didn’t make it in time, Felicity. The journey is a long and arduous one. Months at sea. And it had taken equally as long to get word to us that help was needed.” He said somewhat quietly, still not turning around to indicate that they were speaking.

“There was supposed to be more of us, you know…” He continued. “Twelve of us were training over there, most of us were born here though, but there were a few students native to Japan. When we got the message, the seasoned and experienced members were already scattered all over the country on assignments, and the Mentor made the conclusion that I was the only one ready to face what lay over here. I can’t claim to agree with that decision…. Sending one to help many.”

His Master had been a hard man to please. Hell, he’d just been a hard man period. Steeped in tradition, a no nonsense kind of man. Gabriel held little love for him but love had never been a requirement for his training. What he did have, was copious amounts of respect. Gabriel Winters would not have been half as successful in his work if it hadn’t been for the hard training he’d been put through. When Master Tanaka had told Gabriel of his decision to send one man to ‘assess’ the situation in America, Gabe had been dumbfounded. It had showed a profound short-sightedness very uncharacteristic of his Master.

Moreover, it had wasted valuable time. The difference of a day could have saved the men and women now sealed beneath the vault in Boston.

And now, Gabriel was forced into a position of action. He had to be better than the score of men that should have been sent with him. Had to be faster, smarter, his blades sharper, his senses keener. Because they would not receive help for at least a year. But he did intend to send for aid, once their new home was built up, and when he could actually take time to assess the situation.

From what he could tell so far though, the situation was catastrophic. The branch of the Brotherhood he’d been sent to reinforce had been obliterated, their home desecrated, their surviving members scattered to the wind. He would need to have a talk with Felicity about exactly how much she knew on the men they were after. But that was likely a talk to have alone, away from prying eyes and ears.

That makes two talks now I need to have quietly. When did I become the village counselor? he thought to himself.

”You are a tool of necessity, Winters.” his Master had once said. ”You do what must be done, be that dealing death in the night, or sweeping dust from a porch. Drawing water from a well, or toppling governments. We do as required of us, for the betterment of all. Nothing is True, Everything is permitted…”

He bolstered his resolve. They would do what needed to be done. The Templars needed to be ended. That there were two branches in the same area was bad enough. But Gabriel would do what he had to. He would do what he was trained to do. He would find the hardest, most secure section of their hierarchy and structure, and he would tear it to the ground in a storm of blood and fire. Gabriel would fill the role of counselor and hard point for his people, but he would also simultaneously embody the Archangel of Death, for the Templars.

Gabe had been raised for a singular purpose. And he was pretty good at fulfilling that purpose. That purpose was dealing death to the unworthy of the world.

His hand reached over and idly traced a line over his sheathed Katana on the bench. Like all great swords, this blade had been given a name. It had been passed down from Master to the first among trainees for generations. It was a rite of passage, to earn the privilege to carry it. The fact that he had been entrusted with this very sword spoke volumes of how his Master viewed Gabriel. To anyone who had seen a Katana before, it looked like any ordinary weapon. But this one had differences that only the educated would see.

The hand guard was a work of art. The smith had shaped steel into the depiction of a mythical dragon, surrounding the base of the blade and breathing fire up to the sword itself where the blade married with the hilt. The steel of the blade itself had been folded over on itself hundreds and hundreds of times, reinforcing the integrity and strength of the sword and creating the light wave effect on the edge. The edge itself was honed to a razor, if one tried, one could shave with it easily. Typical of the sword style of Japan, this Katana like all others had an emblem pressed into the hilt under the crisscrossed cloth. Most would commonly see a lion or a dragon in the center of the hilt. But this sword had a two inch carving of Death himself, hood pulled low over a featureless face, his scythe held proudly to the side.

The name of this blade, was Reaper.

Gabriel had held Reaper for three years now, and they had collected the death toll from many of the unworthy Templar pawns together. But it had yet to taste the blood of a full member of their Order. An issue that Gabriel would remedy, once he got the branch reestablished in New York.

He removed his hand from the sheathed blade and returned his grip to the reigns. After a couple of hours of travel, he glanced to the night sky. The moon was full and the light on the road was good. He had much too much on his mind to think about sleep at this point, but he had others to think about now as well.  

With reigns in one hand, he stood and looked backward, one foot propped up on the bench seat, and called back to their secondary driver.

“How’s your rear end doing John? We should have gotten you something soft to sit on. If you would like to stop and rest just say so. Our lady friend here can sleep in the carriage if she doesn’t mind a few bumps here and there, but I’m much to alert to think of sleep myself. What say you?”

It was then that Gabriel realized that Felicity still hadn’t given her name or any alias to John. As far as John Ambrose was concerned, they were traveling with a no-named stranger.

John looked at Gabe, considering it for a second and nodded. "I would like to stop, my ass feels like it's made of stone." John said with a laugh, before slowly stopping the wagon, John had been thinking about what he was about to say for hours now, although the thoughts began to be more taken seriously from the general store and onwards. He hoped that the answer would be "yes", but living a life like his, it was hard to not be pessimistic, since John was also a person who thought more realistically than what he maybe wanted. So John wasn't holding his breath here, he just wanted to say to himself that he was able to ask Gabe the question.

Then he looked at the woman...the woman with no name. "Hey, so I haven't heard your name yet actually, and I don't think I need to say that we need to trust each other if we want this to work. You know my name is John...what's yours?" John asked her, patiently waiting for an answer.

Without facing him, the woman spoke to the other assassin once again.

"It is not your fault all this has happened......"

It was true that they had needed help. Perhaps they had been a bit stubborn realizing this. Still..... such a long time passed before they had heard anything. If any consolation was brought about by this it was the fact that help did come. The woman fell silent for some time herself, reading what she could by the lantern she had for herself inside the carriage. She was much too alert to sleep.... that had never crossed her mind right now. What she wished was that she could change into her robes.... they felt much more comfortable and natural to her. However, if anyone were to find them on the road, they would be suspicious. Acting her part granted them freedom for now.

What brought her out of her train of thought was when the other assassin called out to his friend. She had been in the position for so long that when she moved she felt her body protest for acting as she had for those hours of traveling. She stretched, thinking a stop would be good for them all. As the carriage stopped, she stood, and opened the door, slipping out of door and standing straight. As John approached her, she watched him for a long moment as he spoke. If Gabriel could trust him, she felt she could too. Offering a faint smile, she held her hand out to him.

"My name is Felicity Mercer...."

What infamy her name seemed to carry among the nobles in Boston. Years of chasing off suitors had done that to her after all. The fact that she could hold an intelligent conversation often drove the men from her. Or the matter of concerning herself with the business and bookkeeping.... most said they would take that burden from her. The truth was that she enjoyed it at times, and would trust very few to take this role on. She did not trust it to fall into another's hands. More so, she knew some of them favored the Templars, and that, she wouldn't stand for.

"Forgive me for being cautious...."

The night was quiet.... which was good. There hopefully wouldn't be much traffic on their way. As long as she could prevent from running into anyone, she would take it. Moving over to the front, she moved over to Clover and produced a small chunk of sugar from her pocket that she had saved from tea earlier and held it out to the horse. Clover let out a sigh, and she stroked the horse's muzzle gently. A moment later, she pulled out another chunk for the other horse and fed it to him as well. She adored her horse, or any animal for that matter. Letting her hand graze across the beast's neck, she moved silently back to the others, glad to walk a bit and stretch her legs.

Gabriel nodded to John and pulled off to the side of the road. He stretched his own legs, standing up on the bench and found himself yawning slightly. Maybe he did have a lot on his mind, but it had also been a very long day. Judging by the position of the moon, he figured it was about 9 o'clock. It was as good a time to turn in as any.

He hopped down from the carriage and looked around. It wasn't very cold out so they probably wouldn't need a fire tonight. He elected instead to find a cozy looking tree and get comfortable leaning against it's base. Beforehand though, Gabe went to the wagon and pulled a blanket from the supplies John had gotten, if only to hide the fact that he was armed should someone stumble along and try to rob them in the night.

His back to the tree, he slid down and threw the blanket over himself, one knee still up while the other was tucked under him. Reaper was propped up with the hilt on his shoulder, his arms wrapped around his precious sword under the blanket so no one could take it from him.

There had been a lot of distrust between Felicity and John for some reason ever since they'd met. Granted they didn't exactly meet in the best of situations, Gabriel and Felicity both bleeding at the time, didn't exactly serve as an inspiring first impression to John.

John was a painfully blunt man. But he had to admire the tenacity of a man who used the direct approach every time and got results.

At the sight of him and Felicity talking, Gabriel just smiled quietly to himself and tilted his hat down over his eyes. Tomorrow as going to be a new day. And things were looking up so far.

"Since you two seem to be on speaking terms now and are still wide awake, no sense in wasting the night. You can both take first watch. Rouse me when you get tired and I'll finish out the night."

No sense in having all three of them tired in the morning after all.

John looked at Gabe and nodded. "I rarely sleep nowadays anyway, sleeps for the dead in my opinion" John chuckled to himself. "So, Felicity, tell me about yourself. We got quite a few hours to talk. We might as well get to know each other. Why exactly did you become an assassin, if I may ask?" John asked, since the question was related to the question he wanted to ask Gabe. He wanted to hear another side of the story, since it was obvious that it wasn't just poor and pathetic bastards like him who had joined the assassins, it was also rich and spoiled brats as well.

She gave a nod to Gabriel and was considering slipping away to change into her robes. She would feel much more at home and ready to go if this were the case. But finding a good spot to do so would be the hard part. What stopped her were John's words. Pausing for a moment, she mulled over her thoughts before speaking. It had been a long time....

"The people of Boston have suffered...... since my money alone couldn't help, I found another way that could. My father left my mother to die..... and though I don't have proof, it has been rumored that he was a Templar..... if such vile behavior exists in their ranks, I want them to vanish as quickly as possible. They treat the people of Boston like dogs....."

Though her voice seemed to hold calm, she unconsciously clinched her fists tightly by her side. Such hatred for them.... if it were not for her friends, they would have treated her mother's funeral badly. They killed the townspeople, threw them to the ground. Money mattered little to her for how you treated someone.... and it made her angry. She did her best to help out how she could. For now though, her alone wasn't enough..... sighing, she took a seat, falling silent again, and thinking.

"If I may ask, you do not appear to be an assassin yourself. If you are not, why are you helping us? Most dare not risk their lives for such a thing....."

She wasn't trying to be rude. It just was odd to find a person who would be helping in such a way. Sure there were some that offered their support through funding or information, but to put their life on the line when they were not really in the order.... it just was very uncommon.

John looked at Felicity and with a small yet almost...sad chuckle, John said "Well, there's a few reasons behind it. A huge reason is simply that I'm an insane psychopath with nothing to lose, but the biggest reason is the fact that..." John sighed before taking a deep breath "I've lived a life that I'm not exactly very proud of. I've lived my life at the bottom of a bottle with that bottle in one hand and a whores tit in the other. My life so far has had absolutely no purpose, my childhood is filled with only the memories of the mistakes my family made. The biggest mistake I've ever made is living a life without purpose. Now, the best way I can put this in...is like this. My name is Johnathan Ambrose. I've lived on this planet for over 27 years...and almost none of them were good. I've made many mistakes in my life...it's about time that I did something about that." John said, in a more serious tone, his voice actually sounding a lot more coherent and normal than his raspy and slightly maniacal voice he usually had.

An amber gaze fell upon John, and for a long moment, the woman was silent as she looked over him. His words seemed honest, and she had no reason to doubt him. Anyone who was willing to go this far to help an assassin was either sincere about helping them, or a traitor. Since the woman didn't have the heart at the moment to believe in the worst possible outcome, she had to trust this man was really wanting to help them. He didn't falter in any way when he spoke, so he must be telling the truth.

After a long pause, she gave him a nod, and her gaze fell to the area around them. Not that she had heard something.... but she wanted to be aware of everything at the moment. However, the area was quiet tonight. It wasn't that the woman was being rude or looking down upon the man.... it was the fact that she had so much on her mind, she wasn't sure actually what to say. Her family of assassins were almost all gone, save for the other two that were missing, and no where to be found. She had been devastated. After the initial attack, she had to lie low for a few days, and then the hideout was being watched over. She wasn't even able to put them to rest. She had to entrust that to two complete strangers..... some assassin she seemed to be at the moment.... but for now, she had to stay strong, as much as it pained her. Letting out a deep sigh, she turned her back to John, and spoke quietly.

"I think I will take a short walk around our area......"

It was more to clear her mind than anything. Also to make sure that no one would have their eyes upon the traveling trio. Not that she thought anyone had been following them.

John frowned, his eyes narrowing but he nodded. He noticed that she spoke pretty quietly, which aroused his suspicions slightly. But he began to think a bit about what Felicity had said. It became apparent to him that not all rich people are people who treat the poor as if they were mere peasants. There were some good people who were rich. Now, he admittedly actually liked the suits they wore, he just never wore them because he would feel like "one of them".

But now that his psycho facade was half gone (he was still very insane, but not as insane as he made himself to be) and the more dark, coherent and broken man had been unleashed...he decided he needed a change in clothing from the typical vest, black trousers and arm wraps he usually wore, which made him look scruffy and like his psycho self. He needed a more classy look, he decided but not exactly the typical suit, he wanted something more out of the ordinary still. So he began to look through the bag of clothes he got from the general store. He was able to find a black suit jacket with a black vest with a wing-tip white shirt and a cravat. John discarded the cravat since he knew jackshit about putting them on properly. So he settled for the suit jacket and vest with a wing-tip white shirt which would fit with the black trousers John usually wore.

John put the items on, with the suit jacket top button done up, so when brushed back (which John decided to do whenever putting his hands in his pockets), it showed the vest underneath. Before he then took a small comb he had also asked for and put his hair in a side parting.

"Well, this actually isn't that bad. Out with the old and in with the new fellas!" John thought out-loud to himself, before he then sat down, leaning against a tree, patiently waiting for Felicity to come back.

Unknown

Gabriel Winters had pulled the small convoy off of the road only a short distance when they had decided to stop for the night to rest. The group could easily see the main road, though it was admittedly in the middle of the woods. Thick, tall trees surrounded on almost every side. Tall, unkempt bushes littered the woods. Plenty of places to hide in the moonlight.

Felicity had stepped away from the group and was now just out of sight of the other two, though Gabriel was unlikely to notice, as he'd just slipped into a meditative state close to sleep.

The night was eerily silent, save for the constant chirping of crickets hidden in the brush. For this reason, it was almost missed when there was a sudden rustling in the tall grasses not far from where Felicity had been walking.

Perhaps a wild animal? A deer maybe? Oddly enough though, the rustling stopped immediately after it had been heard. Maybe whatever had moved in the bushes had spooked itself at it's own noise.

Back at camp, John was too busy rustling through the wagon and changing to hear anything else other than himself. Gabriel however was only just about to let himself drift off into true sleep when he heard a distinct sound.

Snap!

The sound of a twig or branch being broken. Something heavy had been moving around behind his tree. Instinctively, his ear twitched at the sound, but he made no move to check. He made no sudden movements as to give away that he'd heard anything. It could be something as simple as a curious animal finding out what was invading it's home. But animals normally stayed away from noises that frightened them, and the wagons stopping had been anything but silent.

His eyes opened to slits and he flicked his eyes left and right under his hat, seeing what he could see.

Nothing of course.

He couldn't warn John either, for fear of announcing to a possible attacker that they were aware of their presence.

Slowly, Gabriel slid his hand higher up on his sword under the blanket, moving like a snail so as not to rustle the blanket itself.

Damnit John... Why must you be so oblivious! He cursed silently to himself. His changing had made enough noise to cover most anything if they were being snuck up on.

What was behind John and Gabriel? And what was the rustling in the bushes by Felicity?

Having changed however, he then began to hear rustling...John then noticed that there was another bag...which was odd, since it was one extra. He took a look inside quickly to see...a machete?! "Here, you were unarmed at the fight with the redcoat guys, I think you're gonna need this." a note on the side read. John quickly took it, which was in it's sheath, strapped it to his side before unsheathing it and rising his sword, getting into a (pretty terrible) fighting stance. "Hello...hello, idiotic person or people who are rubbish at stealth. If you're trying to sneak up on me, while I'm changing, then you're making a pretty huge mistake. Especially if you're so dumb as to think that we don't hear your rustling. So how about this, how about you come out of those bushes so I can take this machete here and shove it so far down your throat you'll be pissing steel for a week?" John said, smirking and seeming pretty confident.

The assassin did not walk far from camp. She just wanted a few moments alone to clear her mind. Not that it was bad company.... but she dealt with so many people, that at times having the quiet moments alone were very welcome and appreciated. Closing her eyes, the woman silently tapped her hidden blade against her hip. It was silly to think that it would suddenly disappear, but the fact that she could feel it there put her at ease. When she did not have it she felt nude....

As a million thoughts ran through her mind, she was caught a bit off guard by the rustling noise she heard towards the woods. Rocking foot to foot, it was the best she could do to pretend she hadn't heard. As it settled, so did she, listening for anything else. Whatever it was though, had fallen silent. It was here the woman hesitated, wondering if she should play the role she was dressed for at the moment, and scream as a silly girl would, or hold her calm and pretend not to notice. For now, she held her tongue, wondering if she really were over thinking this. What if it really was just a small animal? Taking a deep breath, the woman turned back to camp.

In a dress, it would be more complicated to do anything if this really were something to worry about. Turning her back on it, she started walking back to camp, a slow pace, just as she had arrived. The closer she got back to her friends, the better. What worried her more was if they were experiencing any of this as well. She tried to clear her mind for the moment though, hoping she was once again thinking the worse.

At John’s outburst, Gabriel did indeed hear a rustling in the bushes. It was moving away at high speed, two sets of heavy footfalls. Much too rapidly to be a human being.

Gabriel sighed audibly. It would have been humorous, had Gabriel Winters ever been seriously taught what humor was. Instead, it was agitating to him. His irritation showed in his speech, though he didn’t open his eyes, and remained on the ground leaning on his tree.

“Congratulations John Ambrose, you just scared a deer. Had that actually been a human that had wished us harm, your shouting and sudden movements would have taken away any element of surprise that we may have held, which could have very well meant the difference between life and death for one or both of us. Consider your moves before you act upon them in the future, for they now enfold more than just yourself.”

It was harsh, even if he hadn’t even looked up. His expression was hidden by his tilted hat and blanket. The ease at which that anger had coiled up in him had taken Gabriel off guard. His little speech rang familiar to that which his Masters used to berate him and the other inductees with when they created a blunder. The words were unlike Gabriel. They felt strange coming from his lips. And yet, the lesson needed to be learned. He could no more apologize for saying them than he could suck them back into his lungs. If he said that he was sorry for his tone, then this man whom he had known for little more than a day, may take him for being too soft later on. A leader didn’t apologize for his orders.

Is that what I see myself as now? A leader? Lord knows, Felicity is probably more senior than I am in terms of authority. Granted I’ve been trained since I was able to walk, but maybe she has the authority to lead?

He really didn’t know anything about Felicity. He knew that she was a Sister of the Order and that alone would convey his trust. He knew she was pretty. And apparently she had money, judging by the house that they’d picked her up at, the servants that had been bustling around, and the luxury of the carriage in which she rode in. Save that, however, nothing. Part of Gabriel wanted to get to know her as a person. But the other, stronger part, said that it wasn’t necessary for cooperation. He didn’t need to be nice to someone in the Order to have their respect and skill at his side.

John, by contrast, was someone Gabriel could read pretty easily. He wanted to ask Gabriel if he could join the Assassins in an official capacity, to become one of them. At least that was what all speculation on Gabriel’s part had pointed to. Why else take orders from a man you didn’t know? Why else join two full-fledged Assassins in their pursuit of revenge? John claimed to be close to the Assassins that had fallen. But then, why didn’t he know Felicity?

Maybe she was new. Or maybe John was lying. Either option presented its own problems

If Felicity was new, then it would mean that Gabriel was the most seasoned Assassin in America right now. Which didn’t bode well for their chances of survival. And if John was lying, he might be dealing with a Templar spy. He could deal with one of those issues. Time would deal with the other.

And this was the reason why he didn’t have friends. As kind as he could be, as good of a man he was at heart, Gabriel was paranoid. He had been taught that love was weakness. Weakness of character and weakness of mind. Love for a friend meant that you had a liability. Love for an emotional partner meant you would go to suicidal lengths to protect them, instead of paying attention to the greater good of the world.

Gabe Winters kept himself at a distance from his peers. He could train people. He could cooperate with anyone on a mission. But he couldn’t let people get close to him. He couldn’t get close to anyone himself. No one had ever even tried to be his friend before. It had been peers and mentors. Success for one, was not success for all. Favoritism was common. The most skilled got the most attention. Gabriel had gotten all of the attention and the other trainees had had to try thrice as hard to just keep up in exercises.

He’d never had a real friend before. He’d likely never have one because of his training. But there was always mutual respect among combatants. Gabe knew how skilled Felicity was with small weapons first hand. He had tremendous respect for her, if only for that fact. Had Gabriel been allowed to draw Reaper though, that fight would have ended very differently.

He shook his head silently to himself. Maybe he was just getting loopy due to lack of sleep. He didn’t even hear Felicity come back into their fold.

Gabriel just closed his eyes and embraced the dark.

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

It was around six in the morning when Gabriel roused Felicity and John. They had gotten him up to take watch probably sometime around midnight. He had already gotten the horses ready and the carriage and wagon staged and ready to go.

Wordlessly, he motioned for the others to mount up. They had a good full days’ worth of traveling ahead of them, but should likely arrive in New York before the sun went down. Plans needed to be made though.

He’d absent-mindedly offered his hand to Felicity again as she approached the carriage. Ever in the mind of his role. Or maybe that wasn’t his role. Maybe Gabriel just felt the need to be a gentleman sometimes.

Maybe an hour into their day, he began speaking. The road was rather wide in this part of the country so he waved John up to pull the wagon beside the carriage as they traveled.

“We need to figure out where we are going tonight. Felicity, I take it you have a place to stay due to your cover? I wouldn’t impose upon you to allow us to use your home as a base of operations. John had had a place in mind that is away from prying eyes. Pending the outcome of the state of that place however, we may need to start from scratch and find hirelings to help build a new place for us. I will be leaning on you heavily in the days to come, Felicity. You have more knowledge about western Assassin designs and traditions than I would of course. I would like to stay in line with them, rather than implement what I know, as it would stand out to anyone from around here.”

He looked around at John and then back to the road.

“Ideas?” he asked openly.

John listened to Gabe intently, learning his lesson and nodding slightly, before swallowing his pride, sitting down and just remaining quiet, thinking to himself as that...question, "Am I a good man?" kept on ringing through his head.

He still didn't know, and the time hadn't come for him to ask both questions to Gabe, who is the one person he's trusted ever since his mother died. The reason for this being that he had been scared, scared that if he got close to someone in any way shape or form...they would in some way break him like how his mothers death broke him. John was at a terrible conflict with himself, his psycho side and his broken, wiser side fighting for control of his brain. It wasn't possible to have both, he had to learn to ditch one side of himself. But he could sense just how much he had changed since he got back to America. He could sense that his sense of humour was changing, and he was beginning to be a lot more...serious, but also have a more sarcastic sense of a humour.

The worst part was how...so many people, who got close to him but he didn't get close to, thought they could read him like an open book. But what most if not all saw usually was only the cover of the book that was John's personality. He was dangerous enough when he let his psycho and animal side take over, but when John let out who he truly was...that was when he was dangerous, and no one even knew it.

John was woken up by Gabe, and got up, not saying a word, brushing the dirt and dust off of his new coat and slicking his hair to the side before grabbing his machete and following both Gabe and Felicity, quiet as a mouse, still deep in thought. He was so deep in thought that it took him a few seconds to realise Gabe had asked him if he had any ideas. Thinking for a second, he decided to simply say "I only know so much, I know most of America like the back of my hand but most of the stuff that goes on with the Assassins are stuff not even I know."

The woman let out a very heavy sigh as she had made it back to the camp with the others. The tail end of Gabriel's rant reached her ears, but she wasn't going to ask. She didn't ask though.... she wasn't one to pry into the business of others unless it was necessary. The rest of their watch, she stayed awake easily, keeping a close listen to the surrounding area. Though she had fallen silent, the assassin was fulfilling her duties as careful as ever.

When the time had come that John had awaken Gabriel, she stepped a bit away to sleep... or at least rest for the night. Ever since the Templars had attacked, she had had little sleep. Her body was fighting so hard.... the woman knew she needed rest, but confound it all, she was not able to peacefully sleep. Tossing and turning in the night, the guilt of having been sent away on a mission and not being there to help was bad enough, but when she did find herself slipping off, her visions were filled with the hellish nightmares of what had happened. She had to relive it over and over.... and when she awoke in the mornings, she had felt less refreshed than when she had first lay down. The night was long and silent, so when Gabriel came to awaken them, she was very welcoming of the wake up call.

More hours of riding were to come, but now that it was light, and she could see much easier, she did not mind how long it took them. She once again had been lost in thought, when their voices pulled her attention. Blinking, she let her mind set to the present before speaking.

"I do not mind if you wish to stay with me. Considering the guests I have hosted before no one would question it. Though I'm sure for the first day or two, I may be a bit busy..... still, it would be a place to stay."

This house wasn't nearly as large as her home in Boston.... but it was a decent size. She had hosted a few events there before and it worked out nicely. For two guests it would fit nicely. Now to make the plans so that no one bothered her too much. Lost in thought quickly again, she rapped her fingers along the wood in the carriage, thinking again of what they might need to do next, once they got there. There were still many matters to be settled, and her mind was racing with what would be best.

Gabriel nodded to himself. "I suppose Felicity's place would work for a couple of days. At least we would have a place to store gear until we get a base of operations set up."

It would give them time to breathe at least. With Felicity making her preparations, Gabriel would be free to take in the land. They could get a look at John's proposed spot and also start recruiting architects once they settled. That would be a task in and of itself. Finding trustworthy people to build secret rooms and keep said rooms an actual secret under duress was quite a task. If a builder was captured after construction by a Templar and tortured...

...well the entire project would be for nothing.

They would need to scout people. God it was going to take a long time to get things moving. Gabriel was a man of action. Patience certainly, but standing idle to watch how things panned out in this particular kind of situation was maddening. He wanted to go after this Mr. White. Of course they didn't know who White actually was, and would very likely need to pick through his underlings before making it to the man himself.

The rest of the journey passed without incident. They made good time and pulled in up to Felicity's home just before sunset.

"I suggest we get situated and fed before settling in. Felicity, we are at your disposal now." They would have to follow her lead in front of the helpers around her home. It would be noticed if she started taking commands from a complete stranger in her own house.

Gabe hit the brake on the carriage and brought it to a stop. Exhaustion was setting in. Traveling could wear a man down, and worn down he was. But there was still much to do and a short period of time in which to do it. If he had the chance, would he actually sleep soundly in this country? Ever paranoid about eyes on him as he was. Was it even possible to contemplate fitful sleep?

At some point Gabriel was going to need to recharge himself, else he might slip up and make decisions in haste. That could get people killed.

He shook his head to try to focus, then grabbed Reaper and hopped down from the drivers bench. As usual, he offered a hand for Felicity to exit the carriage.

Time to see where the dice landed for them today.

John stepped down from his own wagon, brushing the dust off his coat and straightening himself up. "Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask, what do you think?" John asked Gabe and Felicity, putting his hands in his pockets, showing the redlining on his suit jacket, gesturing almost towards the suit. Since he had gone through a change of clothing, he thought he might as well find out what the others thought of it.