You had been awake for what you figured must have been at least an hour, listening to the sounds of London waking up with you as you watched the morning light slowly fill your room. It had been a long night; you and Evie had almost lost your target due to a few more Blighters than the number expected. Thankfully you fell in love with the best knife thrower in London. Making easy work of the other Blighters and your target, you both decided to forgo heading back to the train, as your little apartment was closer. You both practically fell into your bed and almost instantly fell asleep. You were just about to close your eyes for a few more minutes of blissful calm and quiet with Evie hanging onto you before you had to start the day, when a terribly loud and frantic knock was coming through your door. Evie woke with a start and jumped out of bed, a side effect of being an assassin was always being ready for danger even if you were asleep.
“It’s just someone at the door love, sit, I’ve got it” You pulled Evie back to the bed, knowing that it was probably futile now that she was awake but you figured it couldn’t hurt to try. Making a mental note to kick whoever was at your door down the bloody stairs for disturbing you in such an obnoxiously loud way, you opened your door, and once you saw who was on the other side you just as quickly closed it. But the knocking came back just as fast.
“Why did you close the door love? Who is it?” Evie asked you looking confused at your abrupt dismissal. You shook your head at Evie.
“Someone I want nothing to do with. Someone who is not worth either of our time, and someone I absolutely refuse to let into my house.” You kept as even a tone as you could because you didn’t want to alarm Evie, but you knew she would see past it. She knew you far to well for you to get anything past her at this point.
“Rookie. Who is at the door?” Evie sounded more concerned now. When you didn’t answer her she got up and started towards the door, but you cut her off.
“No one who deserves any help, especially from us.” You held your arms wide hoping Evie wouldn’t bother, but of course she wouldn’t let anything drop that easy. She moved your arms and you aside and opened the door. Once she saw who was on the other she gave you an understanding, if not worried look and then greeted your unwelcome guest as nicely as she could.
“Heather, it’s uh, good morning.” Evie moved back from the door and gave you another look asking if she could invite Heather inside. You could see Heather lean forward a little to also silently ask your permission. You rolled your eyes and shook your head, figuring nothing good could come from this; you waved her in and went to sit on your bed.
“Oh alright, come in. But I’m protesting to this entire thing before we even start. You don’t exactly have the best track record to begin with, and the shit you’ve pulled in the last little while hasn’t helped either.” You said annoyed as you pointed at Heather. It was your way of warning her that she better be careful, as well as letting Evie know she didn’t have to worry about you when it came to Heather, or that you would be easily talked into helping her. She gave you a nod this time and closed the door as she offered Heather your desk chair.
“Thank you.” Heather said as she sat. “I’m sorry to have disturbed you, I know I’m the last person either of you want to see.” Heather sounded sincere, but you were weary to believe her just yet. Evie sat next to you on your bed and across from Heather. You weren’t sure which one of you should do the talking, so you sat silent instinctively taking Evie’s hand in yours and waited for whatever was to come next.
“You both look well.” Heather smiled hoping that she hadn’t burned every bridge connected to the two of you. Evie felt your grip tighten and she knew that your ability to be civil was going to be rather compromised. Thankfully Evie was well versed in keeping her cool regardless of the situation.
“Heather please don’t take offence, but what exactly do you want? Rookie and I have a busy day ahead of us and we really don’t have time for your games.” If you weren’t so focused on keeping a level head, you would have been looking at Evie in awe. You could barely hear her shake to keep herself even, and you were listening for it.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have even come in the first place. Honestly, it’s not that bad, it’s my problem. I’m sorry again. I’ll go now, thank you for at letting me in at least.” Heather got up to leave and that’s when you noticed her tilt slightly as if she was favoring her one side, but then you saw a distinct stain that was definitely not supposed to be there. You reached for her right arm and lifted it slightly when she winched you swore under your breath.
“Who shot you and why?” You asked calmly. You would be the first to admit that you were not exactly a fan of Heather, but at one point she did mean something more than just smudged mark on your past. So regardless of what you mind was telling you, you offered to look after her wound.
“No, no, you know what. I don’t want to know why you were shot or by whom. Just take off you jacket and shirt and let me look at that. Evie hand me my med kit in the drawer please.” You said as pulled the other chair beside hers. Evie had your kit out and open standing beside you to help if needed.
“I’m fine, really, I can’t even really feel it anymore. Besides the bullet just grazed me. I wouldn’t have even got shot had those damn Templars been there.” Heather started as you began cleaning her wound.
“No, no don’t you even start Heather. I told you I do not want to hear about it. This isn’t the first time you’ve gotten yourself into trouble, and knowing you it will not be the last. So just sit still, I don’t want to hurt you. As surprising as that may seem.” Half smiling, at least your tone was serious. She did as she was told and you cleaned it the best you could.
“My stitching skills aren’t exactly the best. You should go downstairs and have Miss Jones look at it. I find it hard to believe she wasn’t actually a nurse at some point in her life. But nevertheless she’ll be able to sew you up very well, and might even fix you a cup of tea if you ask nicely. We’ll be on our way shortly now. So, nice to see you I suppose.” You got up to dispose of the trash and wash your hands hoping that when you got back she took you your advice and was gone. You decided to take your time figuring being the person she was she’d find a reason to linger, even for a moment. You could hear some indistinct chatter and rolled your eyes at yourself for being right.
“That was very nice of you, all things considered love. I’m proud of you.” Evie smiled and gave you a kiss on the cheek. “Though, what happened to her may not have entirely been her fault.” Evie took your hands so you couldn’t turn away.
“You cannot be serious right now, really Evie. After everything she has done? She nearly broke us apart for Christ sake!” You tried to wrestle your hand free, but you had to admit she had one of the strongest grips when she chose to. She pulled you close and hugged you. Wrapping your arms around her, you took a moment to breathe. Evie was smart; you knew that, she must have a reason for wanting the both of you to at least hear Heather out.
“I’m not saying we have to help her, love. But my curiosity got the best of me, so I asked her what happened.” Evie started.
“I knew I could hear the two of you talking, I should have never left you two alone. Fine what did she get herself into this time?” You asked pulling away from Evie and crossing your arms. You loved Evie more than anything but sometimes you were certain she put some sort of weird spell on you, all it took was one look with that way she would smile and you were ready to do anything she said. It made you question if you ever had resolve.
“Fine. I don’t want to, but fine. If it will make you happy, we can at least see if we can try to help her. Okay?” Evie let go of you and gave you another kiss. She didn’t even say anything just gave you a smirk and opened the door for you. You found Heather downstairs with Miss. Jones having a cup of tea and chatting about nothing in particular.
“Alright, don’t ask me why but Evie has convinced me to at least hear you out. But firstly are you okay? I know you’ve been shot at before, however to my knowledge you’ve never actually been hit. So what happened this time?” You started out serious but couldn’t help fall into old habits and take a jab at Heather for a moment.
“You’re right I have never been hit, first time for everything I suppose. And I am okay now you are right Miss. Jones does know her way around a needle and thread, she also makes a lovely cup of tea.” Heather nodded at Miss. Jones to show her appreciation.
“Don’t mention it dear. It’s not like I have been out of practice what with Rookie living here.” Miss Jones laughed. “I’m going to the market to get some things, it was nice meeting you Heather, remember to keep that clean you don’t want an infection.”
“Thank you again.” Heather smiled at your landlady as she left and then turned to you and Evie. “And thank you both in advance for agreeing to listen to me.” You gave her a small nod so that she would continue.
“I don’t want to take anymore of your time, so I will make a long story short. About two weeks ago I noticed someone following me. Before you say anything I promise I hadn’t been getting into any trouble since the last time we saw each other. At first I wasn’t sure who they were because they did a very good job at keeping themselves hidden. I was cautious but today they caught up with me as I cut through an alley. Apparently the Templar order has been following me hoping they would find you, and they seem to have gotten impatient. I told them we were no longer speaking; they deemed that unacceptable and tried to force me to locate you. That’s when things took a bit of a turn. Obviously they shot at me and I ran, they followed but I lost them. I hid until nightfall then slowly made my way here.” The recounting of the events practically fell from Heather’s mouth. If it weren’t for the gunshot wound and the fact that she looked genuinely scared, you probably wouldn’t have believed her.
“I’m guessing you don’t want help out of the city. You have enough connections and means to do that on your own. So am I to assume you want me to, what, kill every Templar in London?” You asked more flustered than you wanted to be this early in the morning. “Seriously Heather, I am truly sorry that you knowing me has cause you to be put in harms way. But I don’t understand what I am supposed to do.”
“Actually, I might have an idea.” Evie said and both you and Heather looked at her surprised.
“And what might that be?
“Well I’m sure that even though you lost them, they must assume that you would have gone to Rookie for help. Although they don’t know exactly where Rookie is they’ve probably put more Blighters out around the area they lost you on the off chance they find either of you off your guard.” Evie sounded almost excited about this.
“I don’t know where you’re going with this Evie, but continue.” Heather looked at you slightly confused and you had to admit you were on the same page as her, not having any idea where Evie was going with this.
“I’m proposing that you and Rookie go for a walk.” Evie finished.
“I’m sorry what?” The two of nearly said at the same time, looking at Evie as if she had gone mad.
“Go for a walk around the area the we know the Templars last saw Heather. I’ll be on the rooftops following you and eliminating any threats of course. This way you can focus on your surroundings. If Rookie is who they are after they will probably try to corner you two. That’s when we find out what they want and then dispose of them as well.”
“That’s actually not a terrible idea Rookie. We already know they have no problem killing me. I’m sure they feel that if they have the numbers they can succeed.” Heather pointed out.
You couldn’t help but laugh at the whole thing. Truthfully you weren’t surprised anymore, after Evie suggested you help Heather, you knew the day was going to be interesting.
“Alright, I can’t argue with either of you at this point. Let’s go.” You got up from where you were sitting and opened the door for the girls. Evie gave you a quick hug and then shot her rope launcher to make short work of the tallest building around.
“After you.” You extended your arm in for Heather to lead the way. But instead she hooked her arm into yours and started walking. You rolled your eyes and decided that protesting would just make this day even longer than it already felt.
The two, technically three, of you had been walking for a short time before you started to notice more red jackets on the streets than normal. You could see Evie sitting on the edge of roof and you knew she saw them too. Nodding your head to indicate where you were going next she began making her way to the section of rooftops to the right of you.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it appears as though we are being slowly pushed towards that alley.” You said quietly not wanting anyone but Heather to hear you.
“Is that why we’re going this way? And here I thought you just wanted to have me all alone in a dark alley.” Heather replied cheekily.
“Is it impossible for you to be serious?” You asked annoyed.
“No it isn’t. But is it impossible for you to not be so serious? You used to laugh more you know. What ever happened to the light hearted Rookie I once knew?” Heather asked surprisingly seriously, probably to show you that she could be. She knew exactly how to get under your skin and it took everything in you not to just climb the closest building and leave her to her own devices.
“It might come as a surprise to you to learn that I have changed since then. And if we’re being technical you never knew me as Rookie, because I wasn’t Rookie back then. Unlike you Heather I grew up. But we don’t have time for this now, we’re coming up to a corner and I’ve counted at least twelve Blighters in this circle alone.” You were actually happy that you were outnumbered; you needed to get out some frustration out and kicking Blighter arse seemed like the perfect way.
“Well hello there love. You must be Rookie. Pleasure to meet you, we’ve been sent on behalf of a few of our Templar friends. They would like to have a word with you, so if you’ll kindly come with us. We promise no one will get hurt.” You had failed to notice that you were being cut off and surrounded my many more Blighters than you had first counted. And of course the “leader” of their group had to be the biggest most ugly bald man you had ever seen in your life. What the hell did they feed these guys?
“It’s a pleasure that I’m sure is all yours. You must be some of the fools who shot at my friend here. Now unfortunately for the lot of you, I find Blighters to be some of the best, if not the least challenging sparring partners London has to offer. So who would like to be first to get more acquainted with my blade?” You were as cocky and cool as you could be for someone staring down a mob. You made sure to move Heather behind you as you flicked your wrist readying your hidden blade.
“Lovely little speech there love. But you’ve got to be kidding right? Look around you’re surrounded. There are twenty of us and one of you.” You could hear the not so subtle whispers and laughter make its way through the crowd of Blighters. While he was technically right, you had something they did not.
“This may be true, tall bright and shiny. But I’ve got Evie on my side.”
“Who’s Evie?” As if on cue four Blighters went down with knives to their skulls and Evie was beside you cane sword in hand ready to fight.
“I’m Evie.” You had no idea how she managed to kill four guys and land on her feet so ready to fight, but you decided since you weren’t the enemy you didn’t have to worry about it.
“Shit it’s one of the Frye twins!”
“We right screwed now!”
You heard a bunch of worried Blighters sound off when they realized just who had killed some of the friends. You couldn’t help but laugh hearing grown men cower at the thought of fighting your girlfriend. You didn’t get to enjoy the moment long however because tall bright and shiny gave out a yell and suddenly you were in the middle of fight. The two of you were split up quickly something you didn’t like because now you had to try watch your back and front at the same time; something that was much more difficult than you would care to admit. You also lost sight of Heather in the middle of things, but you heard a couple shots ring out and two Blighters fell in front of her. Shaking your head at yourself forever doubting her preparedness you continued to fight off red jackets from every direction.
It was going really well, you were certain by the end of it that both you and Evie would be cut and bruised; but that was really nothing new considering. The crowd was thinning quickly and you were sure Jacob would be furious with the three of you later for not inviting him to a brawl like this. Just then you heard a gunshot that pulled you back into the fight not realizing your mind had drifted for a moment. You looked up and saw a Blighter fall with a hole in his chest and looking across from him you saw Heather gun in hand pointed toward the fallen man, trading nods you went back on the offensive realizing that you would have to thank her later.
When the last Blighter hit the ground the three of you looked at each other and breathed a collective sigh of relief. You started walking towards Evie and Heather with a slight smile on your face happy that it was over. All of a sudden Heather looked like she had seen a ghost, and in the same second jumped at Evie knocking her down while yelling at her to look out. That’s when you heard the shot, instinctively you turned to see a barely standing Blighter gun in hand pointed at where Evie was just standing. You shot him faster than you think he could register your movement, and ran to where Heather was laying on top of Evie.
“Are you both okay?” You half yelled your voice cracking as you reached them.
“I’m fine save being landed on. Thank you Heather, are you okay?” Evie said a little out of breath.
“I think I’m all right. I think I ripped my stitches out, other than that nothing to report.” Heather said as she stood up. You helped Evie up and wrapped your arms around her so fast you nearly knocked her over again. She did the same and you didn’t care at all if she could feel you shaking.
“Christ I hate that feeling. I have to thank you twice now, so thank you. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to have you show up at my door this morning, and I can’t believe you just jumped in front of a bullet for Evie. Thank you, again.” You wouldn’t admit it out loud, but for the first time in a very long time you weren’t opposed to being in Heather’s company.
“I suppose we both owe you one now don’t we, though I think you’ve earned it.” Evie said with a smirk. “I have to thank you as well, for saving both of us. Here I thought we were supposed to be protecting you today.”
“You’re both quite welcome. Personally I think we are even, I haven’t exactly given you two many reasons to help me. So thank you.” Heather smiled as she grabbed at her side. “Yes I definitely ripped the stitches.”
“Miss. Jones isn’t going to like that you know. I’ll go get carriage; I doubt any of us are up to walking back right now.” Evie offered as you helped Heather stay steady on her feet.
“You really have managed to surprise me today, I would have never thought you were the “sacrificing yourself” type. But I’m actually glad to have seen another side of you.” You half joked.
“Well Rookie, it seems you aren’t the only one to have changed.” Heather smirked.