Chapter Text
A lot had changed in Natalie's mind about how things would work out from now on after last night's shitshow the Good Samaritan put them through - and Natalie certainly had a front row seat for that - yet if something stood the same, it was the fact that she still hated the puzzles she couldn't solve.
The sunlight filtered through the high windows, cutting soft stripes across the gray stone floor. Natalie sat at the small desk in the corner where she once studied mathematics or coding all day, hoping to catch a break from her training as a nurse – it felt odd to be in the room where she spent her childhood in, especially after being begged to stay for so long. And now, The Good Samaritan had single handedly accomplished what a bunch of Assassins couldn't. Now, she was going to stay in the Gray House.
Natalie's elbow rested on the desk with a coffee mug in one hand, the other one still wrapped in a bandage. She had spent the entire night trying to sleep, yet she didn't know which kept her awake: Last night's shitshow? The secrets? Or was it her uncomfortable bed with creaking frames when she shifted?
She heaved a sigh and tried to make sense of all the unexplainable events that happened in the last two weeks – she had been getting uncanny messages from an unknown enemy who had sworn to destroy both them and the Templars. Her mother and Izar were practically begging her to stay here for some reason. Not to mention the fact that Izar, her one and only teacher, could be lying to everyone about something and it probably had to do with an Assassin - Templar truce in the past. They had a girl named Jennifer Hope to protect – God only knew what she was capable of and what the Good Samaritan had planned for her. Oh, and, Haytham Kenway was back from the dead.
Blankly staring at the computer screen in front of her, Natalie bit inside her cheek and read the message she received yesterday – Want the truth, Natalie? Just wait. Your friend and foe, The Good Samaritan. [RECEIVED: 09:12 A.M.]
She couldn't stop bouncing her leg the longer she stared at the screen, like she always unintentionally did whenever she had a hard time deciding something. In this case, it was the worst dilemma ever – would she trace the message, hoping to find a clue about its source, or would she wait and be a good girl like she had been told? But then again, was there ever a time she acted the way she was expected to?
Her weary eyes stared at the windows, she could hear the cheerful sounds of birds outside – it was the kind of morning that felt like time was stuck and the world hadn't decided what kind of day it was going to be yet. Was she going to do what she was told?
"Not today, not ever." Natalie whispered and quickly lit a cigarette. The smoke went up in air as her fingertips started pushing the keyboard mechanically.
Now, it was time for her to get creative.
"Let's see what you're made of..." She muttered, and quickly wrote two words: open Silversnare. It was a tool she created long ago for tracing invisible or disguised messages – like the one that ended up informing them about Jennifer Hope's existence. She pasted the exact message the Good Samaritan left for her into the tool's input line which would trigger an auto-scan. "Analyze source layer..." Natalie took a breath from her cigarette before clicking. "Here goes..."
The screen flashed after a couple of minutes that felt like a lifetime, then lines of data suddenly unfurled like spider silk.
No traditional sender signature. No Server ID. Detected: 3 phantom delays. Final origin: Unknown.
"You wouldn't make it easy, would you, you piece of shit..." She inhaled and stared at the screen a while longer. Natalie forced herself to think as her arm throbbed faintly beneath the bandage. Hell, even Violet da Costa's voice rang in her head after last night – smug, clipped, superior. Could Violet be able to pull this off? All by herself?
Natalie exhaled, the stubborn, disobedient child inside her refused to give up so easily.
Her fingers found the keyboard again, maybe it was time that she played a little dirty. "Traceback..." She murmured as she typed the word, causing a chain of events that would simulate the possible route the message could have taken, in theory.
It was as if time had slowed down. She bit inside her cheek, waiting for something. Anything.
The screen abruptly showed three locations, causing Natalie's heart to pound faster with excitement and fear. Cairo. Montréal. Unknown Node: YGG-L.
"Cairo?" Natalie asked herself, knowing there would be no logical explanation for it. Unlike Montréal, there were no Abstergo facilities or Templar activities in Cairo, as far as she knew – though she remembered hearing something about a very old Assassin cell located in there. And what was that unknown node about? She quickly wrote down those letters on a piece of paper, hoping to find a clue. "What the hell is YGG-L?" She whispered as her fingers found the keyboard again.
The screen flickered, small like a glitch. Natalie wondered if she had done something wrong, surely if there had been a system error, she would've seen that coming. Was it her code? Or the tracing?
Suddenly, the truth hit her in the face. It wasn't a system error. Not a flicker in the power grid. Not a bug in the software.
Like a breath down back of her neck, the code suddenly started writing itself.
> I told you to wait.
"Motherfucker..." She watched the screen with anxiety rushing through her body. The Samaritan has gotten past every firewall. That thought alone made her want to burn the laptop and throw it out of the window.
> curiosity kills the cat.
> the dog.
> the mouse.
> burns the house.
> and nukes the damn city.
Natalie's palms were sweating as she kept reading the message, yet her body was trembling with the cold she felt.
> you talk to william or izar, and i'll know.
> you try to run this again, and i'll know.
> you try to leak this, your team will not live long enough to regret it.
> you won't get a second warning.
> _cache_memoria_070890.jpg
The cursor twitched and started to move by itself, without Natalie even touching it. Then, it moved with an eerie precision toward the attachment and clicked on the file with the long, meaningless name.
A photograph covered the screen. Old, sun-worn, tinted slightly green at the edges as if it had been left inside a book for too long. At first glance, it was just a woman smiling under the summer sunlight.
Natalie's heart stopped as her eyes focused. She kept staring at those blonde curls, fair eyebrows and the round face...
Natalie gasped with fear, because she was directly looking at her mother, Irina.
Now she could see the uncanny resemblance Irina's young face had with her's, and her twin brother's. Something about seeing how young Irina was broke Natalie's heart into a million pieces – she was maybe nineteen or twenty, maybe younger. Her hair, the short cut with a grim purple dye Natalie had known growing up was nowhere to be seen – instead Irina's natural honey blonde curls were shining under the bright summer sun. She wore the faded brown robes of an Assassin initiate, sleeves shoved up to her elbows.
Natalie felt her stomach twist when she realized she had never seen her smiling like that in her entire life – fierce, gritty. It was nothing like the formal, pressed-lips smile she gave at the Brotherhood meetings, no, this was real. And no matter how much Natalie tried to convince herself to not feel anything, here it was, this photo. It stood as a reminder of who Irina was before she was a strategist, a nurse, a mother. Back when she wasn't the iron-willed woman who raised Natalie with that military silence.
It was as if Natalie's blood was slowly turning ice cold in her veins. She had never seen this photo before – it was not in the family archives or the restricted files. So how the hell am I staring at it, she kept asking as she stared at the screen, how could anyone find this photo?
Curiosity kills the cat, Natalie thought as panic started to kick in. It's not just a picture. It's a threat. She had to burn everything. The computers, the system, the software. She had to get rid of it all. There was no running from this...
How could she be so stupid? How could she be so childishly naive? How could -
The abrupt knock on the door hit Natalie like a gunshot. Her body jolted, almost tipping her chair backward. For a split second, she thought it was them, somehow standing right outside to come finish what the message promised. Her palms went damp, and she quickly closed the screen, feeling the slickness of the mouse under her grip. "Come on in."
Fuck this shit, she bit inside her cheeks when her voice came out too thin. What if he asks a direct question? It's impossible to lie to him. Fuck this shit.
The door creaked open and William stood outside the room. He looked calm – grounded, in that quiet way of his. Still, Natalie felt like there was a heaviness clinging to him, whatever that was. Connor's whole situation? Last night's fall? Izar's unexplainable behavior? That Jennifer Hope girl he seemed to be so caring about suddenly, perhaps? It was impossible to tell.
His curly black hair was tidy and parted now, each coil neatly brushed and tamed for this morning's meeting. He stepped inside slowly, his gaze studying Natalie's tired face.
"Hey." William silently stood beside the table. "How are you holding up?"
"Hey kiddo," Natalie hoped her answers didn't sound too creeped out. "Look who's alive." Natalie avoided looking at his eyes after hearing how fake her own voice sounded, but it was as if she couldn't run away from his stare. Fuck, she thought, he knows. He always knows.
William's gaze lingered on her, steady like he was sifting through her words for what she wasn't saying. Yet he didn't push. "Barely. How's your arm?"
"Better than before." The small silence felt like forever. "What about you?" Natalie asked him, trying to distract herself from the fact that she was still dizzy. "Long night, huh?"
Now, William seemed like he wanted to avoid remembering. "I was with Connor, for a while."
Natalie exhaled as she leaned back in her chair, hugging her good arm across her ribs. The photo of her mother was still clouding her mind, but she tried to keep her voice casual. "Right... So, how do we even play this?" It wasn't surprising to see the obscure expression William had on his face. "I mean... Haytham shows up out of nowhere, takes a swing at his own son... and doesn't even remember who the hell he is... How is Connor taking it?"
"Quiet. Which is worse than yelling." William exhaled as he put his walking stick beside the chair next to Natalie's, and slowly sat down. "But he'll swallow it down, in time. The question is whether we treat Haytham like a ghost that came back, or like an enemy waiting to strike again."
Natalie's mouth twisted. "Great. Light choices, as always." She drummed her fingers on the desk, then shot him a look that lingered longer than she meant it to.
William caught it. "Nat, you sure you're alright?"
"Sunshine and rainbows over here, kiddo." Natalie answered, shifting in her seat. "You know I go around radiating inner peace."
William only studied her as his head tilted slightly. "...Right." He still looked tired but steady, his usual calmness was masking whatever storm he carried underneath. "So. Any luck with the... things we talked about?"
Natalie exhaled through her nose, trying to keep it casual. The problem was, they both had so many secrets that even Natalie couldn't keep up with them anymore. It was as if they had their own little Creed between them or something. And now, she had more to hide from him. "Well. Some." She continued by whispering. "The truce files are buried deep, but I've pulled some older examples. The French Revolution, a brief one in Russia... Weird pockets of cooperation when the city was burning down. More pragmatic than friendly."
William's expression was hard to read. "So it's possible."
"I mean... in theory." Natalie tapped on her fingers on the desk restlessly. "Nothing in the modern day, though. No official ones, anyway."
"No official ones..." William murmured, with the same old calculating face.
Natalie sighed. "Still, we're not in Paris, Will. We're in the middle of..." She gestured vaguely, then pushed a lock of messy hair behind her ear. She couldn't stop thinking about those words – curiosity kills the cat and nukes the damn city. You won't get a second warning. "...whatever the fuck this is. But I'll keep digging."
Satisfied enough, William nodded. "Alright. If Izar's hiding something, it'll show."
"Speaking of, he was acting a little strange last night." Natalie suddenly started thinking out loud as she leaned back in her chair.
"Strange how?"
Now, Natalie felt like she didn't exactly know the answer to that question – Izar was the same person she had known her entire life, yet something about the shape of his face seemed off when the phone started ringing out of nowhere.
"He got a phone call super late. I asked if it was about Connor, you know, after he decided to go missing for a while. But Izar just didn't answer it until I left the room." She tried a smirk, but realized it came out thin. "He was like... high school crush kind of shifty. Maybe he has a secret girlfriend or something."
William stood thoughtful and unreadable, his gray eyes sharper now. "Any idea who it might be?"
"Not a goddamn clue."
There was a brief silence between them, it was as if they both were trying to reach something they couldn't wrap their minds around just yet. "You know, Izar never really dodges people. If anything, he answers calls he shouldn't." William broke the silence.
"I know right. Not exactly textbook Izar behavior. So either it was someone he really didn't want overheard..."
"Or," William finished her sentence. "He's hiding things." His tone was steady, yet carried a weight. "Is there any way you could possibly find out who he was talking to without him noticing?"
Natalie sighed. Yet another secret. "I mean, I could try." She folded her arms, trying to ease the pain. "But Will, you already know he's good at what he's doing. Even if he's keeping a secret, I'm sure he already found a way to erase everything by now."
And though William's eyes made it obvious that he didn't want to accept the truth, they both knew it. "First he tries to convince me to stay in the Gray House instead of fighting, then this. I don't like the timing." He paused and grabbed his walking stick before he stood up. "Any luck with the... Templar?"
Natalie knew who he was talking about right away from the way his eyes avoided contact. She could remember that man's harsh voice, and the way he convinced everyone to lay down their weapons. "Ah. Our new guardian angel."
A simple utterance escaped through William's mouth but it was impossible to hear, Natalie couldn't tell if he found her joke funny or ironic. From the way William stared at her, there was a great chance that it was both. "I doubt that."
"Well, still looking. Abstergo systems aren't what they used to be. Almost like they learned from the last time I broke in."
"I want to know who he is." William studied Natalie's face. "Names, records, anything that lines up."
"Already on it." Natalie could feel his suspicion hang in the air. "Funny, I even cracked the dusty old vault. I mean, the 2014 files that I laced with a little booby trap."
It was obvious that William had nothing else to say about it from the way he quietly observed outside the window, yet Natalie knew it was probably eating him inside – that Templar had saved his life last night after all, and William was clever enough to know nothing was a coincidence. "Thanks. You'll keep me updated."
"Done deal, Aguillard." She watched him as he moved towards the door. "Wait a minute." William turned to his back and their eyes met. "You look like you got two hours of sleep, tops. You almost broke your neck last night..." Natalie couldn't help but smirk. "So why the hell are you dressed sharp like that?"
William blinked, caught off-guard for a second, but pulled himself together. "I've got somewhere to be."
"More like you've got someone to look nice for."
William didn't reply, but Natalie could see him trying to hide his smile before he left the room, shaking his head side to side with irony.
*
Connor really hated the fact that everyone was staring at him with pity in their eyes.
It wasn't like he had never experienced those glances through boyhood, no, they had followed him for a long time and he had learned to despise them. And now that Haytham was back - alive, unaged and unknowing - he felt the weight of those eyes now more than ever. It was as if every face across the long table of the Headquarters had the same question in their minds, yet none dared to speak it out loud.
The table stretched before him, filled with faces clouded by last night's chaos. William sat rigid, shoulders taut, his eyes shadowed from the lack of sleep. Right next to him stood Natalie, pretending she was at ease with her arms crossed too loosely. Connor felt the quiet tether between them and wondered why they didn't speak with one another as they usually would. Something unspoken hung in the air, yet he couldn't know what. He had too much on his mind to wonder about that, anyway.
Izar stormed inside next to Mentor Gabriel's side, his voice breaking the silence in a commanding way. "We begin."
Gabriel sat at the head of the long oak table, his posture was stiff, and his hands folded neatly over one another. "Last night left us with more questions than answers." He spoke, his French accent getting more obvious as words left his mouth. "But answers we must seek."
Connor clenched his jaw. The voice inside his mind told him to go back to the woods instead of looking for some answers.
"We're lucky that none of you were fatally hurt." Izar stood by Gabriel, his eyes were scanning the room. "You all fought courageously. But we have to be more careful from now on."
"Oui. But first." Gabriel cleared his throat. "We must speak of Haytham Kenway."
A silence fell as all eyes inevitably turned toward Connor. He felt the undeniable weight those stares had on him, bringing with it too many emotions he wouldn't normally let surface – pity, doubt, curiosity. It was as if Haytham Kenway's shadow had followed him across continents, and now it sat across the table too.
He suddenly felt the warmth of a hand touching on his shoulder briefly. Connor raised his head only to see it was Irina, who sat right next to him. She had a silent kindness in her eyes, one that felt like a once in a lifetime sight. "We're here." She whispered. "For you."
Connor couldn't help but turn to Natalie, whose eyes were now focused somewhere else in the room. It was too difficult for Connor to accept Irina's supportive words so effortlessly, knowing that deep down they were all Natalie wanted to hear for years. He nodded quickly and lifted his head, forcing his voice to be steady. "He's alive... as you all saw."
From the other side, the sharpshooter Felix Clarke scoffed softly. "Alive? More like dragged out of some grave. Man looked like a walking ghost."
"Careful now, Felix." Irina said, sharp and measured. "He almost killed one of us."
Connor sighed, he had no wish for Irina's defense, nor Felix's barbs. "He fought as though he remembered nothing." He said, trying to remember all the details about Haytham. "Not me. Not his place. His eyes were empty like a man pulled from sleep."
Amelia broke the silence with a bitter laugh. "So what then? The dead rise, the Sages return, and now we’re supposed to do... what exactly?” Her gaze darted toward William. "Sounds like a curse more than a gift."
William’s expression didn’t move, though Connor saw the faintest flicker of regret tighten his eyes. "It's not about gifts or curses." His voice cut cleanly through, rational as usual. "What matters is why. Why him. Why now."
"Yup. That, my friend, is exactly what a curse sounds like." Natalie murmured. Connor suddenly noticed how oddly quiet she was today. Her usual bantering and sarcastic comments were nowhere to be found, and Connor didn't know if it had to do with Irina's supportive attitude toward him or not.
"Last night proved what we should've already known." Izar let his gaze flick across the table. "Our enemies have no intention of playing by rules. Which means we can't afford recklessness of our own. Master Gabriel and I..." His eyes lingered over William and Connor for a little before he continued. "We came up with some new priorities for all of our safety."
Connor's eyes met William's, seemed like he was surprised to hear the news as well.
Mentor Gabriel continued. "The Sages, if we come across any others, do not leave the Gray House without escort. Not for missions, not for personal errands." He fixed his glasses as he usually did whenever he was uncomfortable. "Their safety is too valuable to gamble with."
Connor felt his face burning. The problem was, he was the only Sage in the room. "Great. So now I'm under curfew?"
"It's probably the safest option. London is already alive with rumors after last night." Irina responded.
"You really want me to stay here while everyone else is risking their lives?" Connor turned to Izar, his voice was filled with a passive-aggressive anger.
"We can't afford the risk. You of all people should understand that after last night." Izar tried his best to sound subtle. "And until we assess the damage, no one acts without authorization. No fighting with Templars unless absolutely necessary. That includes provoking and engaging in open fight with them."
For a moment, silence weighed heavy over the table. Then, the chattering began with all its chaotic noise, every Assassin except Connor and William were murmuring or trying to make sense of this new situation.
Amelia shifted in her chair, her boot tapping impatiently against the floor. “So we sit and hide? That’s your brilliant solution? You’ve seen what’s happening out there.”
“What are we supposed to do if we don't prepare for the Templars?” Felix asked.
Irina still managed to reply to both off them in that cacophony. “They were in the trap as much as we were."
"Speaking of Templars," William finally cut in. The room stilled. Izar glanced at him from across the table, a subtle warning in his eyes. "One of them saved my life last night."
"Mine too." Connor hated those moments, but that didn't make them disappear. He also wanted to back William up after Izar's curfew decision. "Haytham could've killed me if that man wasn't there."
"Wait, that man with the rifle?" Amelia asked. "The one who stopped the fighting?"
"He seemed like a guy with some common sense. Violet didn't even blink when he told her to put down her weapon." Natalie replied. "Who was that guy? I don't think I've ever seen him before."
Izar didn’t move. He only looked at William for a long, quiet second, the kind that stretched too long to be casual.
Then, he nodded once, as if digesting something he already knew. "Well, I have no idea." He finally said, with a calm tone. "But whoever he was, he saved all of your lives. That makes him an ally for the night, if nothing more. I don’t know of any Templar brave or foolish enough to do that."
William’s brow furrowed. "You’re sure about that?"
Izar’s mouth curved in what might’ve been a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "William, if I knew of a Templar who fancied rescuing Assassins, I’d have sent him flowers by now."
A few people chuckled under their breath, yet William didn’t look convinced at all. His gaze stayed on Izar just a little longer, as if he was waiting for a flicker of truth to slip through that calm expression. But it didn't come.
"I guess we're all clear?" Izar inclined his head smoothly. "Precautions first. No unnecessary movements outside the safe zones. Keep the Sages under protection and limit contact with any Templar factions until we understand what’s happening." Connor could tell he was about to dismiss the meeting, but suddenly he turned back to William again. "Oh, and, before I forget. Any updates on our Sage, William? I do hope she's safe."
Connor could see William was not expecting that question at all, from the way he blinked cluelessly. Something about Izar's question felt off, as if Izar asked that on purpose. Connor and Natalie exchanged looks, waiting for his answer, yet Felix Clarke was the first person to speak.
"Wait, there's another Sage? Who?"
"She lives under a civilian identity. She doesn’t know what she is yet, which makes her vulnerable. And valuable." Izar replied. "William was tasked with her protection. From this point on, he operates under that order with full priority."
Amelia spoke with a sense of disbelief in her voice, and possibly, a slight tone of jealousy. "A Master Assassin reduced to shadowing a civilian?"
Izar wasn't late with his reply. "A civilian who was chased by the Good Samaritan through a public street. She survived only because a Master Assassin was tasked to protect her." Then, he turned his gaze toward William's face, which was in an unreadable shape. "Any news?"
William lowered his gaze as if he was still processing Izar's words. "I... I have a meeting with her later today."
"Good. Protect her, quietly. If the Good Samaritan tries again, we lose more than a civilian."
"So..." Felix Clarke seemed really confused. "Is he supposed to extract her and bring her here or something?"
"No." Izar sounded certain. "Not unless it's a hundred percent necessary."
"She's... unaware of any of this." William explained reluctantly as each and every face stared at him, watching as his awkwardness suddenly became so apparent. "She's not a player in this war. At least, not yet. And I intent to keep it that way."
Connor glanced at him, and spoke. "But she's in the game. Whether she knows it or not."
Mentor Gabriel dismissed the meeting a few minutes later, leaving Connor to enjoy the rest of his day and the first moments of his personal curfew. He watched William leaving the Gray House to meet Jennifer Hope as he climbed the stairs to his room.
It was impossible to forget Haytham's face, so he tried his best option – watching the mighty forest from his old window. Yet his eyes could spot the sight of smoke from far away.
He grabbed the binoculars right next to his table, and took a closer look to see where it was coming from. It wasn't too hard to spot at all, yet he just couldn't make sense of what he was looking at.
Because Natalie had an axe in her hand and she was destroying and burning what was left of her computers.