Assassin's Creed: Modernity - Book 1

XII

Location: San Fransisco Docks 

PST 15:47 February 25

Mission: Decipher the files and formulate a plan

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Dakota and Ethan eyed each other, fists raised. Alex sat at the make-shift coffee table and plugged in the USB.

"Wow, I've never seen this kind of encryption before!" 

"Can you crack it?" Dakota asked, without taking her eyes off of Ethan.

"Of course I can." Alex pressed a few keys, then let out a cry of success. "I'm in!"

"Really?!" Dakota and Ethan asked at the same time, looking at Alex.

"No. Hacking is slow and boring. This will take a while."

Dakota and Ethan sighed and turned back to each other. Ethan jabbed at Dakota who ducked it and came up under Ethan's arm. She flipped him onto his back with apparent ease. Ethan groaned. His back was already bruised from the three other times Dakota had flipped him n his back. He slowly climbed back to his feet.

"Can I flip you this time?" Ethan asked hopefully, massaging his injured back. 

"I don't know. Can you?" 

Ethan fake a punch to the gut and kicked with the opposite foot. Dakota ignored the feint and grabbed Ethan's leg. She twisted it so that he was forced to turn around.

"Oh come on!" Ethan said, just before Dakota kicked his other leg. He landed painfully on his stomach. 

Ethan lay on his stomach, with his head on his folded arms, thinking over his life choices. "Yeah, sure Dakota, I'll spar with you," he muttered too himself. "What could go wrong?" 

Location: San Fransisco Docks

PST 18:00 February 26

Mission: Formulate a plan

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"I got it!" Alex yelled excitedly.

Ethan and Dakota rushed over. They peered over Alex's shoulder as he scrolled through the correspondence.

"It looks like the Templars moved to an Abstergo Industries building in the outskirts of Boston," Alex commented as he read through. "Whatever it is, it had collapsed and they spent the last several years digging it out. It's right under the Abstergo Industries building."

Dakota was taken aback. If this Piece of Eden they were after was what she thought it was, the remaining Assassins were in big trouble. She and her partner had gone to great lengths to bury - literally - the Temple. 

"Does it say what they were looking for?" she asked, hoping her suspicions were incorrect.

"Well, they don't exactly spell everything out." Dakota sighed, still hoping she was wrong. 

"So what are we going to do?" Dakota asked. "They moved over half their force there. This has to be pretty important."

"Yeah, but half of the force! Half!"Alex commented. "There are bound to be hundreds, thousands, maybe more. We can't expect to face a force like that with just the three of us."

"How 'bout the three of us and a high functioning mob?" Ethan asked with a smile. "Think Richard would help us with that?"

"The Templars do have a pretty tight hold on the criminal underworld as well," Dakota put in, hoping to convince Alex. 

Alex sighed, giving in. "I'm not going to change your minds, am I?"

Both Ethan and Dakota shook their heads solemnly. "Alright, I guess we have to start a war."

Location: San Fransisco

PST: 20:38 February 26

Mission: Recruit Richard

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Richard eyed Ethan who was sitting across the table. The underground bar was empty, except for Alex, Ethan and Richard. Dakota had been sent to procure a vehicle for the trip.

"Alex said you have a proposal."

Ethan nodded. "Your biggest competitor is the Red Cross mob, correct?" Richard nodded slowly, cautious and curious about where Ethan was going with this. "Well, it just so happens, that at the moment, we want them gone too."

"And what could you two do that would possibly make a difference for me?"

"We can tell you where over half of them are located. At this moment. In fact, we're headed there soon."

"Why would I want too attack more than half of them? That's suicide."

Ethan smiled. "Maybe for you. But not for us. All we need is fifty of your members and a mini arsenal."

"Just fifty? To take down half a mob?" Richard asked in disbelief. 

Ethan nodded, a lopsided grin on his face. "And a mini arsenal. And we take down half of you biggest competitor."

Richard slowly leaned across the table. "You're crazy." He held out a hand ad Ethan shook it, while beaming. "And I know where to find your mini arsenal."

Richard cut the lock to the shipping crate. He pulled it out and opened the doors. Inside the large container sat a myriad of weapons. Assault rifles, pistols, holsters, grenades, knives, even a few rocket launchers lined the walls. 

"And there's our mini arsenal," Ethan said, grinning.

Location: San Fransisco Docks

PST: 24:23 February 26

Mission: Prepare

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Dakota drove into the warehouse with the large shipping truck she had procured. It was completely empty and had enough space for them and all of their weapons. 

"How'd you manage to find this?" Ethan asked, astonished. 

"It fell off the back of a truck."

Ethan and Alex had picked up several gun racks on the way home from meeting Richard. Dakota had also picked up a bunk bed for the trip. The last trans-America trip had been very uncomfortable with the U-haul truck they used. It took a few hours to load everything into the truck. There were racks upon racks upon racks of weapons. 

Ethan had decided to  update his combat gear. He painted the armor a black with grey highlights. He added and extra belt for his tomahawk and it also held to holsters in the back. He strapped holsters to the legs of his armor and to his chest. He also decided to switch out his left hidden blade for the gauntlet that Ella and Clark had given him. Ethan added several spots for throwing knives and added a sheath for a kukri knife. Finally, with Dakota's help, he added a magnet so he could attach an assault rifle to his back. 

When he was finished, he had holsters for six pistols, he could carry four grenades, twelve throwing knives, a kukri, a tomahawk, an assault rifle and two Uzis. 

"This means war."