The Linchpin

"You can have these" Ember said happily as she handed Terry a pair of guns, and two extra sets of magazines loaded with black talons. She picked up on his concern, and chuckled quietly to herself. "Don't worry, they won't come after you. They're only after me and my teammates, the Carrion Crows. They're not after Abstergo employees."

The cab weaved back and forth through traffic. Building after building passed as Bugsy thought about how he was going pay. He was also thinking how bad everything must be fore the rest. If both Daz and Patches were hurt and Michael was covered in blood he could only image how bad it was and if they got into another fight Bugsy didn't know if he was going to be much help.

Terry happily accepted the guns and began inspecting them with practiced ease. With the weapons in his hands he felt more confident and safe. As he did a field inspection of the guns and clips he spoke what he thought earlier. "No offense ma'am, but I don't think these thugs are going to stop to double check if I'm a part of your security team or not." He frowned as he inspected the barrel of one of the guns, it seemed to have a bit of residue in it and he didn't have his kit with compressed air in it. With no other option, he blew into as hard as he could, which left him wheezing hard from the effort. Once he caught his breath, he reassembled the gun and prepped it in case of a fight.

"Trust me, Terry they won't hurt you. Doing that would be going against everything that they stand for." Ember noticed that they were nearing the shore, and set about clearing up. The minute they reached the docks, Patches and Daz were loaded into an ambulance, and raced off. Ember fixed the seats, and looked up at the buildings around her. "Terry, why don't you catch a ride with us to Abstergo?"

Yeah, these people definitely knew more than they were letting on with the comment on a 'code' these assailants followed. He knew the best chance he had to learn about what was going was to stick with this group as long as he could. While being near them was clearly a life threatening ordeal, the same could be said for him walking in a brisk wind with no jacket. This decision made for a quick response when he offered to have him ride with them back to Abstergo. "Sure, I'm kind of tired anyways. I was walking around for a little bit before I'd even gotten on the ferry."

"Marvellous! Now, since I do have some business that I must tend to at Abstergo, I'll have Marco show you around." Ember climbed into the car, Marco sat in the middle of the backseat, Richard sat to the right, and since Michael was the tallest, he would be sitting in the passenger seat. "Have you managed to find somewhere to stay, Terry?"

Terry climbed into the left backseat of the car and nodded at Marco. He almost didn't hear Embers question as he began taking in the passing sights and finally enjoying a moment to sit down. "Yes I have, management provided me with a company hotel room for the duration of my stay. St. Ermins Hotel to be exact." Terry would lie, he loved the hotel. While he was no stranger to comfortably living, the hotel was the nicest place he had stayed at in his life, there was no way he would have gotten the room if Abstergo wasn't footing the bill.

"Perfect, it seems like you are sorted then." Ember drove cautiously while Marco and Richard kept an eye out for any possible threats. Ember realised that there was still some things that she needed to sort out. She handed her phone to Marco who proceeded to dial a number.
"Abstergo entertainment, Richard Shay's office. How may I help you?
"Oh for fucks sake, Zadkiel! It's Ember! And it's not dad's office anymore."
"Oh my God! Ember?! When did you..." Ember rolled her eyes as she cut the woman off.
"Zadkiel, I need you to set up my stuff for me, but leave the Animus as is."
"It will be finished in about... Jaysus, fifteen minutes?"
"Perfect" Ember said happily before she ended the call. It would be at least ten minutes before they got to Abstergo entertainment. "I think you'll like it here, Terry. The people at Abstergo entertainment are lively, colourful, and different."

Terry watched with interest as Ember spoke. She seemed to go from calm and warm to shouting at the drop of a hat. he didn't know what this Zadkiel could have done to make her shout, but he figure it would best to be cautious around the woman. When she started speaking to him again he smiled. "Yeah I had a feeling about them being colorful, they hired me after all" he said with a chuckle as he thought about all the tattoos he had. If you can't laugh at your own jokes, then they just aren't funny enough.

"Some of them actually are colourful. Zadkiel has purple hair. We've been friends for years." Zuko grew restless, climbed out from under Ember’s hoodie, and proudly perched herself on Ember’s shoulder. "Oh yeah, and this is Zuko. As you can see, she's pretty chilled."

Bugsy could hear ambulance sirens in the back ground. "I hope that isn't for us" Bugsy thought to himself. Bugsy just decided to stare out the window hoping to be with his friends soon. Then the cab came to a sudden stop.

"Well here ya are mate." The cab driver said. "That will be about 9 pounds." he held out his hand.

Bugsy paused and then started to look for his wallet a little panicky.

"You do have money right," The driver said with a tone of anger in his voice as he cocked his brow.

"Yeah, yeah I do." Bugsy nervously responded. He wiped out his wallet and pulled out a 20 dollar bill. "This is all I got." he said with an awkward half grin.

"Good enjoy." The driver took the cash. "No get out"

Bugsy stepped out and the cab took off. There Bugsy stood looking up at the London Abstergo building. "I guess I wait now." He sat down against the building feeling even more awkward now.

Grinning lightly at the name, Michael said, "True. Never seen any animal like 'er. 'xept Coco the Gorilla, near human intelligence, if I believe. All she can't do is talk. Reacts the same as many did last year and in 2006. Grieved. Y'know, Robin Williams, Fred Rogers...", and sighing, said, "...I digress. Point though - Zuko is quite extraordinary, from what I kmow."

"Aye, she is quiet smart. Aren't you, Zuzu?" The bearded dragon bobbed its head twice in answer.
"She's not capable of sign language, like Coco, but she finds her own ways to communicate, and she can count in various languages. Zuko, count to ten." The bearded dragon bobbed its head ten times, and Ember rewarded her with a mealworm.

Bugsy sat there waiting feeling alone. It was the feeling he normally felt, but didn't really express to anyone. He also felt bored, another feeling he felt a lot. Not many jobs actually challenged him now-a-days. Meeting the crows really brought happiness to Bugsy's life, but by feeling the void of loneliness and they also made it exciting.

Well he wasn't going to fix loneliness, but he could try to fix boredom. He grabbed his Ipad from his bag and started tapping, "Might as well try to hack some of London."

He first need to get some WiFi. He pulled up the options. All looked boring expect for one. It was untitled. Bugsy tapped on it and started to try to get in, but the more he worked the more detailed the code got.

"What the hell is this," he mumbled to himself.

Terry watch the bearded dragon crawl out of the womans hoodie. Its name was Zuko apparently, it sounded foreign, probably something from Asia. He was impressed the creature had some basic levels of communication, not many animals he had ever seen could do that. "Cool pet, never had any myself. Might be able to use my nice new job to pay for one of those hypoallergenic pets. Everytime I check the prices on them they are quite pricey"

(Bit of a lackluster post here, Should pick up when we actually arrive at Abstergo. Also sorry I haven't been on for a few days, the cut on my finger got infected and made my entire right hand hurt. That'll teach me not to take my medicine)

"Well, I'll give you a list of reputable breeders when we reach Abstergo. It shouldn't be too long now." Ember smiled happily to herself as one of her favourite songs played on the radio. Even Richard, who normally hated Ember’s choice of music, seemed to be tapping his fingers along to the beat. He loved it. Ember smiled when they reached Abstergo entertainment, it was her company now, and she was going to make her mark on the world. "Welcome to Abstergo entertainment" Ember said happily as she parked her car. She needed to speak to some people before she could finally get started. "Terry, I'll let you get to work. Don't worry, I'll see you later." Ember rushed off to get started.

(No worries)

Bugsy was still tapping away when the car pulled up. He was so busy working through code that he almost missed Ember run pass him. "SHIT" He bolted up, his backpack half pulling him down. "Hold up!" He ran after her, not wanting to be left behind again.

Upon hearing Bugsy's voice, Ember skidded to a halt, and smiled. She spun around, and tightly wrapped her arms around Bugsy.
"Thank God, you're alright. After everything that happened, I was so sure that they would target you too" Ember said sadly as she simply held onto Bugsy. Daz and Patches were in intensive care, and things didn't look too good for the two Crows. People were running in and out of Ember’s office as they prepared for her arrival.

Bugsy gave Ember an awkward hug back. It made not seem it, but he was really happy to see her especially since he didn't know what was going on.

After letting go of her, "I don't think many people even know I'm with you guys yet, so that might be a plus for us, but I kind of would like to know what is going on. From what Michael said, it isn't going so well."

"I'll explain everything to you now" Ember answered before she took Bugsy's hand, and led him into her office. Ember waved a hand, and everyone raced out of the room. Ember handed Bugsy a can of Mountain Dew, and sat on her chair before opening her own can of Mountain Dew. "How much do you know about the Assassins and Templars?"

Bugsy sat down across from Ember and cracked open his can then took a sip. "I have done my research on them. My ancestors seem to cross path with them all the times it seems. Nothing is true,Everything is permitted. is the way of the assassin and May the Father of Understanding Guide Us is the way of the Templar. They have been fighting each other for centuries if not longer. They always seem to be trying to gain the upper hand by something called the pieces of Eden, but I'm not really sure what they are, but from the sounds of it they could not only win a war, but it sounds like they someone could rule the world with them."

He took another sip, "In short that is what I know on the general topic I guess," Bugsy sucked down into his chair. "Oh and I also know that you are I think a Templar if you are working for Abstergo, but that is just a guest. There is a lot of rumors about Abstergo."

"Working for Abstergo doesn't make you a Templar, Bugsy" Ember sunk further into her chair, and sighed. "Besides, I own Abstergo. Look, up until last night, I was an Assassin, and a damned good one too. Then, I was granted the title of Grand Master of the Templar Order by my father, and also became the owner and CEO of Abstergo and her subsidiaries. We were all out having a celebratory pint when the Assassins attacked. They shot Dazzi and Patchie, their fellow Assassins, while they were having a smoke outside!"

Bugsy sat up. He hasted, a little confused, "So you aren't an assassin anymore, and you jumped straight to Grand Master as a Templar,because your father said so? Also are Marco, Patches, and Daz assassins then?" He took a big drink of his dew. "And what about Micheal what side is he on?" That actually worried Busy a bit.

"Marco has been a Templar since we were let out of Bethlem Royal Hospital. Daz and Patches are technically Assassins, but they're more like rogues. Michael? Well, he's a Templar too." Ember sat back, and thought quietly to herself. Naturally, Bugsy would have no knowledge of how the Templars ran themselves. "Look, there are nominations for the title of Grand Master within the Templar Order. Bloodlines are given high priority, and the Grand Master is allowed to submit ideas too. I'm not a daddy's girl, I earned this, Bugsy."

Bugsy finished off his drink, "I no doubt think you earned it." he was not going to cross Ember on that. He had she her, well her ancestor angry.He didn't want to think of what would happen when she is stressed and angry. "Okay one last question and then I got something to show you," Bugsy had almost forgotten about the weird wifi he found. "What side do you actually sit on morally and mentally? I just want to make sure I am not fighting against you down the road." Bugsy had learn from his ancestors, what hell is was to have partners turn against each other. He didn't want that to happen to him.