The legacy

Austin popped a couple of the pills into his mouth and drank a mouthful of water before swallowing. At the mention of Ember's birthday, he looked over at her, putting the cap back on the bottle. "Happy birthday," he said softly, offering Vixen a lap of water from his hand, which she accepted eagerly.
"Sorry it took a bad turn," Ben said softly.

"Thank you, Austin. It's quite alright. At least I didn't have a Harry Potter birthday" Ember said with a laugh. She never really had any birthday celebrations since she was raised by the British Assassins. Since all her friends, with the exception of Ben, were dead, she never really saw the need to celebrate. Then there was the two years she spent in an institution for the mentally ill. "At least we're alive, and that's all that matters." Zuko crawled out from beneath Ember’s shirt, and looked at the others; her eyes were now a beautiful shade of gold. Ember smiled, and pulled a small box below of mealworms from her bag before feeding Zuko one.

Ben watched the lizard closely, noticing the eyes. He could have sworn that, when he saw the lizard before, her eyes weren't gold. Maybe he was hallucinating. Austin chuckled softly and gave a small nod. "It's good that you have someone to celebrate with you," his voice had a tinge of sorrow clinging to it like vines clinging to a tree. Vixen sensed her master's sadness and gave a soft cry. Austin gently shushed her and produced a small mouse from a bag attached to his belt. Austin handed the mouse to the young fox and watched as Vixen jumped from his lap to the ground and proceeded to eat the dead mouse.

"I suppose it is" Ember said with a smile as she turned to face Ben. She noticed that he looked rather confused about Zuko's appearance, and chuckled softly. She knew she didn't have a gift as impressive as Ben's, but it was a gift nonetheless. "I suppose you're wondering why Zuko looks different now as opposed to earlier? It just so happens to be the very same reason that I went blind earlier." Ember picked Zuko up, and smiled warmly as she held the bearded dragon against her. "You see, I am able to see through her eyes as if they were my own, and control her body like a puppetmaster. With her, it's easy. With other creatures, not so much."

After the smoke had died down, Michael sighed, and, reaching towards his back pocket, remembered he gave his phone to one of the men. Mumbling, he picked up the flashlight, and continued his search. Having no clue as to where the Assassin could be, he simply held the gun in his right hand, looking straight ahead. Then he remembered some thing. Heading to his truck eagerly, he pulled out a walkie-talkie, and, turning it on, said, Tree to Lines, I repeat, Tree to Lines - Do you have the footage from the pub? Over.". A brief pause in between the question, he was given the reply. "Positive. Took longer, due to having to restart and check the owner's back up Data. Over.". Smiling, he replied, "Perfect. Tree out."., as he tossed the walkie-talkie beside him, and poppeg in a CD into the radio, simply labeled 'Good Day', as he pulled out from the spot, turning around the buildings, and drove back to base, smiling.

Benjamin chuckled softly and looked to Vixen. "Have you tried with a small mammal?" He asked, giving a nod to the fox cub. Austin looked over at the two for a moment before frowning.
"Don't even think about puppeteering Vixen," he said rather seriously. Then his eyes softened and he looked down at his companion. "She's....the only thing I have left."

"Don't worry, Austin. I won't do anything to Vixen, she's too sweet. Besides, I only want to be able to finally make a stable connection with a bird. But it seems like I have to have a strong bond with the creature." Ember chuckled softly as Zuko climbed under her shirt for warmth. She reached into her backpack, pulled out a handwarmer, clicked the metal plate and held it against her chest where Zuko was sleeping. "Zuko has helped me through a lot, and I don't know what I would do without her." Ember took a deep breath, and pulled a box of pills from her backpack; Venlor, an antidepressant. She quickly swallowed two pills, and returned the box to her backpack.

(Sorry, movie night with the boyfriend (*_*))

After arriving back at base after ten minutes, Michael found Q, the man with the footage. Standing behind the man in front of the screen, he asked, "So... the footage?", and, the man spinning in his chair to face the man, he said, "I have it, but... just take a look., as he scoot aside. Stepping where the man once sat, Michael bent over, and watched. "You see - One runs out, face barely caught. The second - female, guessing by the wider hips - soon after, then the third, following the others. Attacked soon after.", said Q, as he watched the footage. Smiling, he said, "Good... in fact, i've seen all of these Assassins before. The first one confronted me, the second - the Shay - and the third, even shot him. We find the Shay, we might die. That's why...", and, rewinding it to where it showed a lightly blurry form of Ben's face, he said, "...we go after him. Afterall..." and, smiling like he heard a good joke, he said, "...we have his face."

(it's okay, Void. ^_^ don't worry about it)

Austin nodded and studied Ember for a moment before he looked away, his eyes staring into the darkest corner of the warehouse. Vixen's head perked up, ears alert and eyes flickering across the outside of the empty building. She spun around and gave off a high pitched cry. Austin's head spun toward the door and his hands tugged his hood down quite a lot before he shushed the others, his hidden blades exposed in the darkness. Austin inched toward the entrance, where he stood silently.

Quick as lightning and silent as a shadow, Austin reached around out of the warehouse and grabbed the collar of someone before hoisting him inside and slamming his back against a dark wall. "Scream," Austin hissed quietly, one of his blades to the intruder's neck. "And I cut your throat."
"So that's how you treat your messenger?" Austin relaxed upon hearing the voice and released the man, who rubbed his throat for a moment.

"What're you doing here?" Austin asked quietly, glancing around the edges of the doors to the abandoned building. "You could have been followed!"
"I bring news from hostile territory," Austin froze and tilted his head toward the messenger, eyes sparkling brightly.
"Great," he said quietly, glancing behind him at Benjamin and Ember. "Thanks for endangering these two further." Austin ran a hand through his hair under his hood before turning back to the casually dressed man. "I swear to God, if I wasn't an Assassin right now, I'd spilt your head open!"

"I need to step outside for a while. I'll be back later." Ember pulled her hood over her face, shrugged on her backpack, and went outside.

Ember lay on the roof, and looked up at the stars. Everything seemed so peaceful even though she was breaking down inside. Zuko crawled up Ember’s shirt, and gently touched Ember’s chin with the tip of her nose.
"I'm alright, Zuzu" Ember said softly before she put her earphones in, and listened to Sadness and sorrow from the Naruto soundtrack as she smoked a cigarette while tears flowed from her eyes.

Benjamin tilted his head after seeing Ember go and decided to join her, drawing his hood tight around his face before he climbed up the roof and set down a little ways away from her. He said nothing. He just thought that his presence might help her.

"I assure you, Donnelly," said the man. "I wasn't followed."
"I can't be sure," said Austin with a shake of his head. "What news have you brought back?"
"I overheard a couple Templars speaking," he said softly, dropping his voice. "They've seen one of your faces. And I'm pretty sure it's the Australian fellow whom they saw."
"Fuck," Austin, slamming his fist into a wooden crate. The noise made Vixen start and Austin apologized. "Sorry, Vixen."

"He'll have to go into hiding,"
"Funny," said Austin, turning back to the messenger. "He said he came to America because the Australian Templar Chain knew him too well."
"And it looks like our Chain is getting to know him," Austin ran a hand through his hair again, tugging down his hood after he was finished.
"As long as they don't find him," he said softly. "Then we should be okay."
"I'll let you know if they've tracked your friend down," Austin merely gave a nod in acknowledgement and watched as the Assassin ran off, leaving the warehouse and taking a dark route out.[/color][/color]

"Do you ever just feel like you've lost everything, and you don't know what to do anymore" Ember asked as she turned her head to look at Ben. Zuko wiggled back beneath Ember’s shirt since she was getting cold. "I've never told anyone about what happened when I disappeared for almost three years. Zuko doesn't judge me, so I tell her everything. Christ, I only bought her the day before I came to the states." Ember sat up, and wiped the tears from her eyes, accidentally smudging her makeup, and put on a fake smile. She still had to check in with her father every night so he knew that she hadn't killed herself. In every sense of the word, she was a nutjob, a few plumbs short of a fruitpie. She was never the same after the incident. Ember may have been a Shay, but she didn't have a fraction of the strength of her ancestor, Elizabeth (Shay) Donnelly.

After gearing up and walking to the garage where his truck and four other cars were, he turned to the group of twelve men behind him, and s id, "Listen up. We are on a special assignment, and, i'll be blunt - over a half of you are likely to die tonight. I'm not filling your head with whart some of you have pastly been told, about 'fighting for and being the sole reason your country isn't overrun by Commie scum.' The truth - which all of you better damn well know - is you are not one in a million. You all have the same training, experience, and foe. In your cars, I will allow you to call any relatives, just in case all that training would have been better given to a fourteen year old dog than useless 185 pound slabs of meat. I will debrief once we arrive at the destination.", and, on that cheerful note, all of the men, Michael first, pulled out of the garage, heading towardsthe location Michael last seen the Assassin.

(Grammar correction: last saw the Assassin)

Benjamin gave a dip of his head. "Yeah," he said softly, tilting his head to the stars. "I do. I lost a father and father figure back home. Father's death under false charges and then Lucien's betrayal of the Assassins made me feel like horse shit. I still blame myself for what had happened back home, yet Altair has made it very clear each time I question myself that it wasn't my fault and that there was nothin' else I could have done." Benjamin gave a quiet chuckle that sounded rather nervous. "At one point, before I met you, that I had thought about early retirement. Then that mission with you....it made me realize and remember what it is I fight for and why I'm an Assassin." Benjamin turned back to look at Ember and gave a weak smile. "You're the reason I didn't retire once I came here. You made it possible for me to continue my fight."

"That's so sweet, Ben." Ember rolled up into a ball, and sighed. She didn't know if she should tell Ben about what happened to her just yet. "Mum died during childbirth, and dad... the Assassins don't like it when I speak with him. So I was raised by the British Assassins. Went on a mission with a team of twelve others..." Ember seemed to freeze for a moment, she had finally cracked. She rubbed her wounded wrist as tears flowed from her eyes, and she was barely breathing.

Benjamin gently laid a hand on her arm before withdrawing, expecting her to swipe his hand away. "It's okay," he said softly. "You don't have to tell me jus' yet." In fact, he wanted to hear what had happened to her, but he wouldn't force her to tell him just yet. He wanted to hear it when she was feeling better. "Jus' know that I'm here for you."

Ember seemed to just barely come around, and wrapped her arms around Ben for comfort. Perhaps talking to someone would finally help her start to accept what had happened.
"I'm the reason they're all dead, Ben." Ember stopped to take a deep breath to calm herself down, but it didn't really work all that well. "Three years ago tomorrow, I was part of a team of thirteen Assassins sent to examine a precursor temple. None of us touched anything, but the temple collapsed around us. My friend, Marco, dragged me out at the last second. We were never the same after that. We were sent to Bethlem Royal Hospital, an institution for the mentally ill. Marco hung himself about a month after we were checked in. After that, I became a wreck. Put in a straightjacket, locked in a padded cell, and constantly medicated. They only let me out a few months ago." Ember broke down, and buried her face in Ben's shoulder as she sobbed quietly. She blamed herself for everything since she was the team leader. Every day, she would punish herself for the death of her friends, for being so weak and useless, and for being the only member of the team who was still alive.

Benjamin felt his heart ache in his chest and his arms wrapped slowly around her trembling body. His eyes cast down to the roof beneath them and closed while he held her. Silence filled the air around them until Benjamin decided to speak, his voice quiet and barely audible. "I," he began quietly, his grip tightening slightly around her. "am sorry to hear your loss." He could feel tears burn the back of his eyes as he cast his gaze out across the city. "I've dealt with loss before, back home. I....had to kill the man who had been like a father to me. Granted, it was for the good of everyone there. But he'd been my Mentor since father's death."

He kept silent for a while longer, his hand rubbing Ember's back slowly. "No one back at home knows what I did before Lucien's betrayal." Benjamin's voice seemed to have gotten quieter, and his heart heavier. His arms trembled and he swallowed. "It wasn't as bad as what you've been through, Ember, but to me....it's bad." Silence again. Benjamin shook his head and focused on calming her down first. In truth, he didn't want to speak. After all, he'd been responsible for the death of a dangerous young Templar who had been tracking him since he became a great Assassin in Sydney and he'd failed to kill him. It was Benjamin's fault that Templar lived and was probably hunting the rest of the Sydney Assassins right now.

Upon arriving at the destination, Michael hopped out of his truck, quickly followed by the others. Once everybody was out and on the sidewalk, he said, "Alright - There will be three groups. Group One - En, Dill, Ollie, Stubbs. You four stick to the ground, search the surrounding area. If you find activity, radio the others. Group Two - John, Eye, Curly, Crumb, you four search the ally ways and such, do the same as the others if you find activity, Group 3 - Toaster, Cube, Chubs, Lime - with me, rooftop." as the three groups dispersed, each taking a different direction, as all thirteen men searched for the same thing, all armed with Flashlights and silenced 9mm pistols... yet Michael was armed with a silenced SMG - Small, yet better than lugging a huge rifle around.

"Thank you, Ben. It really means a lot to me." Ember felt her phone vibrate against her, and sighed before she pulled out her phone, and answered it. The deep male voice sounded incredibly worried.
"I'm still alive, daddy. I'll speak to you tomorrow" Ember said sadly before she ended the call. "After everything that happened with Shay Cormac, you'd think they stop with this whole temple business..." Ember put her phone in her pocket, and looked at Ben with reddened eyes. "Do you think they'll come after us? And do you think the British rite of the Templar Order has any control here?"

Benjamin gave a small shrug and gave a quiet chuckle. "From what I've read since bein' here," he said gently. "It's America. They've been free of the British for a long time. I don't see why the Templar rite there would have any control here." Then he went silent for a moment, casting his eyes over to where the Pub rested, to where he'd almost been killed....to where Butcher had taken a picture of him..... He couldn't answer her question right away. "Donnelly and I will protect you if they find us," he said at last, his voice quiet.

"Thank you, Ben, but it'll be you who needs protecting, not me. You're the one that they want, not me." Ember lowered her hood, and removed her black fabric mask before running her fingers through her hair. "I'm surprised that they aren't coming after me. I'm the only one who knows where all the temples are, and where every precursor artefact is." Ember thought back to her encounters with everything that had ties to the precursors, and trembled. "Just incase Altaïr or Ezio are wondering, most of the artefacts have been recovered, and moved."

"Where to?"
"It's okay if you don't tell him," Benjamin glanced up at the two Assassins as they seemingly spoke to Ember directly. "In fact, it's best you don't, just in case he actually does get captured."
"Altair thinks it best not to inform me of where the artifacts now reside," he said softly, turning back to Ember. "Just to be safe in case I do happen to get caught."

"Wasn't planning on it, Benji" Ember said with a laugh before continuing, "Don't want more people getting involved with them." Even though Ember was a highly depressed person, she cared deeply for her friends, and she would do anything for them. "Why don't we all head back to my place? It's safe, warm, and easy to defend." Ember had a place of her own (which she bought with money she stole from the Templars), but she didn't stay there very often simply because she didn't like being alone.

"If you do move," Austin said, Vixen in his arms as he sat on a box a little lower down from the roof. "You'll have to take care not to let anyone see you." Donnelly's eyes flashed for a moment and a grin spread across his face. "I know some hidden tunnels that lead all over the city. Since I came here, I spent most of my time exploring them when I uncovered an entrance near the place I call home. I can get you to your place quickly and quietly." Benjamin's face seem to light up at the mention of tunnels.
"America has their own tunnel network?"
"From the looks of it," Austin said softly. "They'd been abandoned for quite some time. I would guess that they'd been used for smuggling illegal stuff across the States. But that's just a guess."