Finding Strength (CLOSED)

Quickly, Julian said, "Yes, Assassins!
That was the name! They were the main kinda guys hiring ne for hits on Abstergo. Didn't say they were Assassins, but with the hoods and outfits it was damn obvious." . He sighed, wondering what hes got himself into. "Well," he said, "they inadvertently lost an asset and gave their enemy one by coming after me. I'm just slightly worried they'll come after me when I least expect it.". He looked around the couch, noticing only the throw pillow and some others. He asked, "By the way, I assume you have a spare blanket? Not for now, just later."

"Yeah, no problem. I've got quite a few spare blankets, some spare pillows too." Katherine froze when she came to the realization that everything was real. Yep, she had a slight nervous breakdown. As she bolted up, the cat ran, and the ferrets leapt onto the bean bag. "OH MY GOD! It's real, ALL OF IT! Abstergo is owned by the Templars! I thought it was just an Easter egg. I'VE BEEN WORKING FOR TEMPLARS!" She lit a cigarette, and double clutched it, before taking a sip from a bottle of rum to try calm herself. "Please tell me the aren't gonna kill me."

Julian stood up, slightly concerned. He put his hands on her shoulders, and said "Hey,
hey! You'll be alright. The worst thry can get you for is accidentally harboring me, which I doubt they'll find out, since I doubt they have cameras and shit at one of their animator's houses. They underestimate you, Kat. That's their downfall.". He held on to her, a bit worried. This, he thought, was likely the toll the room took on her.

Katherine took a deep breath to calm herself, and wiped her face.
"I suppose you're right. Hell, they don't even have my address. I just got the week off anyway. I was gonna spend the time working, but now that I know..." Katherine looked at the door to her studio, and chuckled quietly. "I suppose they're gonna be real pissed when they find an animus missing" she said with a nervous laugh. "Please, stay as long as you need to. It'd be nice to have some human company for a while."

He smirked."Now, how do you steal an Animus? Aren't they b-. He was interrupted by a solid three knocks on the door, followed by "Julian. We need to talk. Come out, alone.". from a deep, smooth voice. Looking at the door, Julian paused, saying "...I recognize that voice.", before advancing towards the door. He looked at Jatherine, and said, "If you hear a thud or a yell from me, hide."

"Ugh, fine." Katherine pulled on her clawed gloves, and grabbed her baseball bat. "Don't let yourself get hurt, please" Katherine said before stepping out of sight. She wasn't about to lose a potential friend, not a chance in hell. For some reason, Draco followed Julian to the door, growling. "Damn you, you little fuzz butt" Katherine whispered with an annoyed groan.

Opening the door as little as possible to get out, he shut it behins him before the cat could follow."Cal! Old pal! Long time, no see,
huh?", Julian could be heard saying, to which the response was "I saw you five hours ago. Speaking of which, I heard it went south. How much do they know, Julian?""Nothin',
I swear. I told him he should bathe and spat in hos face when the lady who lives here distracted them." . The man grunted, pleased. "Good. I expecyed to be out tracking those who got you cornered." He raised his voice, making sure Katherine could hear - "Mind if I come in?"

"Come in, and mind the ferret" Katherine said loudly before letting out a sigh as she watched Draco scratching at the door. She put her baseball bat on the counter, and watched curiously. She didn't take her gloves off, just in case something went wrong. "Let's just hope he's friendly too" Katherine said to Molly as she sat on her shoulder.

The door opened, and Julian entered, followed by a man with hair oddly gray. He sported a fair beard, and stood slightly above Julian. He looked around, checking out the decor, before closing the door and extending a hand at Katherine. "Calum. Thanks for savin' him." His hand was robotic and black. It was cybernetic of some sort. Julian idly walked over and sat back on the couch.

"Katherine. I just did what was right" Katherine said with a smile as she shook his hand. She knew the craftsmanship the second she saw it, and she knew the reason it was made. "You were there that night, weren't you? When the bomb went off" Katherine asked quietly, seeming slightly nervous. She grabbed some beers, tossed one to Julian, gave one to Callum, and opened her own.

Calum stopped opening his bottle. He paused, thinking. Eventually, he said, "I, uh... Yeah. I was. Some of my friends too, but... I got the worst of it. Kept a forearm, my torso, and everything else. Did that incident make the news, or she a Templar?" he jokingly asked. Julian, putting his beer bottle down, said "Close. Abstergo aninator, just learning Assassin's and all are real." . Calum nodded, eventually taking a sip of his beer. "So which source told you bout it first, though?"

"I don't know anything, I promise. I just make games, I swear." There was a hint of fear in her voice. She took a sip of her beer, and looked down at the floor. "My friend, Jack, told me about it once before, when he was helping me after a really bad day at work. He doesn't really like to talk about it" Katherine said sadly.

Calum nodded. "Hates talking of it as do I thinking of it, I would imagine, and fret not - I won't hurt you just cause you work at Abstergo. Can't go 'round killing janitors, can I?" he said as he followed suit with Julian. Calum idly looked around at the animals. "I miss feeling stuff, really. Useful in combat, but still." He shrugged, taking a swig. Julian, slightly confused, asked "Hey, how come you have so much time, Calum?" Calum chuckled, and said, "Ah, I booked three hours for rescuing you. Katherine was a... unfactored variable. Wrench in the gears, if you will. Speaking of which - how much of this war do you know of, Katherine?"

"Only what I've animated. And I've read all the books they've given me, but I assume that's mostly propaganda. I mean, the whole bloodthirsty pirate thing? That I know was a lie." Katherine took a sip of her beer, finally calming down. She couldn't remember any chatter or incidents, aside from the files that were destroyed. She looked at the floor again before speaking sadly and quietly, "I'm not a janitor, I'm an animator. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your plans." It seemed like someone had done some serious damage to her on an emotional level at some point in her life.

"Ah, sorry," he said, "just a general phrase, y'know? First general occupation I thought of." He blinked a bit, rubbinh his eyes. "Ah... Man, I don't kniw which of you have been in an animus before, but don't go in without someone knowing you did. Yesterday, I was in for almost 8 hours. Dunno when ah'll- I'll go into a Scottish accent or what. My ancestor, Damian Butcher, physical embodiment of all things Scot."

"I've spent some time in one, actually have one upstairs. We use them for research. But Ethan..." Katherine looked up at Callum, figuring he was a good person, even if he was an Assassin. "The Templars don't only use the Animus for research, they use it to torture people too. Well, that and the beatings." She took another sip of her beer. The doorbell rang, and Katherine headed out, only to return a moment later with five boxes of pizza. "Jack said he might be coming around later, so I ordered more. Looks like it was a good thing too."

Calum raised an eyebrow, and said, "Torture, now? That's... concerning. Aswell as the beatings. Who runs that whole operation, now?". Julian piped up, "Ah - Ethan Sinclair, fifth and main,
in some sort of penthouse. Kat told me." . Calum nodded, taking out a phone and typing a note before putting it up. "So, Pizza, you say? Nice." Calum and Julian stood, looking around for somewhere else to sit, as they doubted everybody could fit on one couch.

Katherine took a seat on the bean bag, and started to eat her pizza: an extra large Hawaiian, crispy base, cheese crust, extra cheese and garlic. She looked at the door, then back to her pizza.
"I still can't believe it's all real, and I'm involved in it" she said before returning to her pizza. Katherine may have been a small woman, but damn could she eat.

Calum grabbed a random pepperoni slice and ate it slowly, taking his time, as he'd just ate. Julian, however, was scarfing it down as if it were a last meal "Sho whens...", he swallowed the food, then began again."When's this Jack guy coming?
I need my mandatory three hour prep to look stunning.". He flaunted a terrible pose, but quickly went back to eating.

"He should be here any minute now. I must warn you, he is a bit odd, and please try not to stare" Katherine said before taking a bite from her pizza. Jack was here only friend, and their weirdness just seemed to work. A few moments later, a man who looked a hell of a lot like the Joker burst into the room.
"Kitty, darling, I'm home!" Katherine leapt up and hugged Jack.
"Jack! It's good to see you again." Jack plopped down on the beanbag, and was about to take a bite of pizza when he noticed the guests.
"Oh my bats! Callum? I haven't seen you in forever! How are you?" Jack turned to face Julian, and smiled as he stretched out his hand. "Jack Napier. Delighted, I'm sure. And you are?"

Julian shhok the hand in response. "Julian Fierro, conman extroidanaire.
Not really, I got caught, but still! Conman none the less.". Calum tried to wave in response to Jack, but his right arm just kind of twitched. "Ah, damn..." he looked over at Katherine, then said, "...there a sort of charger port nearby? My arm's dying. Haven't had it hooked up in days, and the new enhancement a friend's been working on has not finished yet..."

"A man after my own heart" Jack said with a laugh, "I'm surprised we haven't met before. Anyways, a friend of Kitty's is a friend of mine." Draco grabbed the end of Jack's slice of pizza, and tried to pull it away. "Back off, fuzz butt. It's mine." The ferret let go of the slice, and scampered off, growling.
"Of course we have a spare charging port. We have loads of them" Katherine said happily. "We've got loads of cables too."

Calum nodded, saying "Thanks. Im just lucky my arm died first." As he said that, he sat down next to a port and plugged the dead arm in with the live one through a small port in his arm, and the same with his live one. These were connected by one box with two cords, and the same was done to his legs. Julian grinned at the ferret's attempt, and said, "So, you just a conman aswell,
or d'you got dealings with Cal's people aswell? I assume hes known ya quite a bit."

"Conman, thief, hit man, criminal mastermind, and apparently a terrorist according to some." Jack took a bite of his pizza before turning to face Katherine. "Kitty, dear, would you mind giving us a moment alone?"
"Of course, Jack" Katherine said happily before heading off to the kitchen with her pizza, ferrets in tow. Jack let out a sigh.
"My sister was one of Callum's people, an Assassin, so naturally, being the saint that I am, I helped. Some shit went down, and she almost died. Well, now that she's the bloody Grand Master, she's pretty much dead to me." Jack looked at the kitchen, and wiped his face. "I've been trying to protect Kitty from all this madness, but with her working at Abstergo, there's only so much I can do without revealing myself to my sister. Kitty has always been so kind and gentle, took me in knowing what I was... She's to pure for all of this, but she has found herself in the thick of it."

Julian nodded. "Ah. I was some boat as 'er. Especially the pure part, I was a glorious angel. Joking, of course. But still - got tangled in with this entire Templar and Assassin mess. Luckily,
Assassins are better people. If I had Calum come after me... I'd probably be decomposing. Hell, any Assassin would kill me probably one on one. But your sister being Grand Master... Damn. Is that a family thing - who becomes a grand master, like a Dynasty?". He started eating another slice of pepperoni pizza, idly thinking of the current conflict.