An Unlikely Pair [Viri]

[Alexander Barett]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,431,bTable][atrb=style, background-color: #E9E9E9; border-top: 3px solid #151515; border-bottom: 3px solid #151515;][STYLE=font-family: times new roman; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -2px; color: #151515; text-align: center;]I TRY TWICE AS HARD AND I'M HALF AS LIKED,[/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; letter-spacing: 4px; font-size: 13px; color: #1E1E1E; text-align: center; margin-top: -3px; background-color: #C7C7C7;]BUT HERE THEY COME AGAIN TO JACK MY STYLE.[/style][STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp1_zps338be670.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp2_zps68f9384b.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp3_zps7595061d.png);][/style][STYLE=float: left; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; width: 88px; background-color: #C7C7C7; color: #000000; font-family: arial; padding: 8px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9px;]TAGS: Viri WORDS: 744 NOTES: I was half dead when I wrote this...[/style][STYLE=padding: 10px; background-color: #DEDEDE; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: -322px; margin-left: 115px; margin-bottom: 5px;] Lewiston, Maine; it's skyline certainly wasn't as tall as New York's. Buildings were shorter here and it didn't smell like an over-populated city. Alexander quite liked this city, but it was different from where he came from. Though New York wasn't his home, he did spend a lot of time there, of course why shouldn't he, the main population of assassins were there, it was like the main headquarters for the brotherhood. Assassins came and went every day in New York, ending missions and beginning them. Alexander's mission took him to Lewiston, where the cold weather was enough to put him in a bad mood... a very bad mood. He despised the cold, winter was the worst. The past week, the temperature had been rising, but Alex didn't expect that to last long, he knew that within the next week or two, it would return to freezing days and negative degree weather nights and thick snowfall. They had arrived two days ago by plane. Yes... they. Alex didn't come to Maine alone, even though he had wanted to, the elders had assigned him a partner to accompany him. They were both similar ranked assassins, a good pair in the eyes of the elders though they did not tell the two that. Where one assassin lacked in skill, the other picked it up, and vice-versa. They had a hotel room arranged for the during their stay. Alex didn't like the idea of bunking with a woman, it was just awkward to him. It seemed the order wanted to use as little money as possible, of course Alex could understand that, it wasn't like they had the money, not like the Templars who seemed so rich they had no idea where to put their money. The elders had been careful to send them on days where their own were occupying the airports as well as hotel staff. It allowed them to pass through security with their weapons and gear without questions. Their assignment was to infiltrate a Templar base, first acquire information on its residents as well as what they know of where the assassins are and their hideouts. Also to find information on other Templar hideouts in the area or in other cities, tows, states. It was a lot of work, but Alex was mainly waiting for the end in which they could then kill the Templars occupying the hideout. He still despised them for taking Julia from him, even if it was just his father that had done so, his father had made Alex an enemy of every Templar that night. His main mission he kept to himself was finding his father, who had all but gone invisible to the world. He'd hear bits and pieces of his whereabouts but when Alex got there, there was nothing. His traveling companion this time was Viri. He barely knew her, but for this mission, he'd certainly be glad for the extra help. Wiping out a large number of Templars by yourself was hard, if not impossible. Two helped lighten the load a bit. There were other assassins in the area as well, but having only been here for two days, Alex had yet to make contact with them, but he didn't expect to, he was avoided by others of the brotherhood just because of his past. He was surprised Viri even agreed to go along with him. The hotel wasn't run-down, but it wasn't rich either, it was somewhere in between, but Alex didn't mind. The rooms were spacious allowing personal space to be acquired.There was a small kitchen there, but Alex wasn't sure he'd even bother to use it. The bathroom was located by the room's door. His suitcase was currently at the foot of his bed, opened with it's top leaning against the bed, his clothes still neatly folded inside. He wore a long-sleeved shirt today, black in color with silver buttons going up the front, though the top two remained unbuttoned. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows exposing more of his lightly tanned skin and muscled arms. His jeans were dark denim blue and slightly flared at the bottom which lightly touched the ground. His shoes, simple tennis shoes. Outside it was growing darker, soon the two would head out to search around for the hideout. Alex barely talked during the trip, even now he remained fairly silent, only saying what needed to be said or if Viri spoke to him. [/style]

[STYLE=font-size: 9px; font-family: helvetica; text-transform: uppercase; opacity: 0.9; letter-spacing: 3px;]made by kiwii at btn and gs![/style]

[Viridiana Farley]

As much as Viridiana liked to travel, she couldn't say she enjoyed going up north very much. She was much more used to the warm, humid weather of Florida since that's where she had been born. Even in the winters, the temperatures often didn't drop below the 30s, which was pretty freakin' cold for a Floridian. Up north they consider 30s to probably be a nice walk in the park. Viridiana decided they were all insane. But she was up north for a reason, up to Lewiston, Maine; in all honesty, she was glad it wasn't New York again. She hated the smell of the crowded city and she was way too paranoid about who was who, whether Templar or Junaen. At least here in Maine she didn't feel so claustraphobic and the air didn't make you want to gag. It was actually quite a nice place. But way too cold for this assassin's liking.

The elders had flown her up in a plane with a partner, some guy she had only heard of, never really met personally. It was a little strange to be paired up with someone she barely knew but the elder's knew best, didn't they? She only agreed to such an odd thing because she liked to kick Templar ass. And there'd be plenty of ass-kicking with their new assignment. Even if it was with Alexander, she was confident he'd make a good partner. She had faith the mission would go smoothly.

Viridiana was actually really looking forward to this mission. It was a big one: infiltrate a Templar base. It'd be a good challenge and interesting to do, especially with a partner at her side. She wasn't sure how well the whole partner thing would go, but...she wouldn't want to be taking on this job alone. It'll be requiring research and some intel about the place and finding it would be difficult by oneself, especially one such a place. And at the end they'd be killing plenty of Templars. Lovely way to end such a mission.

She couldn't deny, however, she was a little curious about her partner. Rumors always flew around in the Order about others but Alex was a curious one. She heard bits and pieces but mostly people were unwilling to talk about him. Strange, really. As far as she knew, most people avoided them, and told her that she should too, for her own good. But what good was it to ignore a member of her own Order simply because of something he might have done? She had no idea what it was but it wasn't like she cared.

The hotel they arrived at was pretty decent, certainly nowhere near the worst that Viridiana had stayed at. It was a sort of hotel she liked; she never really liked the overly-lavish hotels since they were always so materialistic and usually housed those stuck-up snobs of the richer side of society. But, of course, the cheaper hotels were usually dirty and had terrible employees that were rude or didn't give a care about their jobs. And the room was nice as well, though she couldn't deny just a slight bit of an awkward feel to be sharing the same room with a guy, even if he was an assassin like her and even if they were in two separate beds. Currently Viridiana was laying down on her back on her own, hands behind her head, chilling until it was time for them to leave. Currently she wore a shirt that was a mixture of different shades of blue with one long sleeve down her left arm and no sleeve on the other. The shirt was transparent and flimsy, so she wore a white tanktop beneath it. A pair of dark-colored jeans were on her legs that hugged the curves of her legs and flared out some at her ankles. The shoes she was wearing, a pair of plain white tennis shoes, were next to the bed and her socks were a funky mixture of different colors in different shapes on a main black color. Just one of those odd things Viridiana amused herself with.

The silence in the room was killing her slightly. She hated silence, especially since all she could think about was the upcoming moment when they'd be leaving, and thinking about that was making her nervous. She stared up at the ceiling in the silence and lifted one knee to cross her other leg over it. With a huff, she turned her eyes over to Alex. "So, Alexander, out of curiousity, where're you from?" she asked, just asking the first question that came to mind. Simple small talk to hopefully get to know her partner a little better, even if this would be the only time they'd partner up for a job.

[Alexander Barett]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,431,bTable][atrb=style, background-color: #E9E9E9; border-top: 3px solid #151515; border-bottom: 3px solid #151515;][STYLE=font-family: times new roman; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -2px; color: #151515; text-align: center;]I TRY TWICE AS HARD AND I'M HALF AS LIKED,[/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; letter-spacing: 4px; font-size: 13px; color: #1E1E1E; text-align: center; margin-top: -3px; background-color: #C7C7C7;]BUT HERE THEY COME AGAIN TO JACK MY STYLE.[/style][STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp1_zps338be670.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp2_zps68f9384b.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp3_zps7595061d.png);][/style][STYLE=float: left; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; width: 88px; background-color: #C7C7C7; color: #000000; font-family: arial; padding: 8px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9px;]TAGS: Viri WORDS: 419 NOTES: Was eating Hersey kisses while typing this... yum[/style][STYLE=padding: 10px; background-color: #DEDEDE; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: -322px; margin-left: 115px; margin-bottom: 5px;] Alexander's eyes stared out at the setting sun, it's dimming flares painted the sky and its clouds in an array of yellows, pinks, and purples. It was pretty, probably one of the few things left in this world that man couldn't touch. He had remembered how, just a month ago, his future, along with the rest of the world's seemed non-existent. He had watched that night as a great aurora covered the sky as the sun flares sparked threatening to burn the earth. It had been prevented though, and Alex soon discovered it was because of Desmond's sacrifice. He certainly appreciated the man more now than he had before. Light drops of water hit the glass window gently. What was this? Rain? It was raining? Damn this weather. He sighed deeply, but silently in the room as his eyes watched the sunset. That is... until he heard Viri's voice come from her bed. He frowned, did she not know? It seemed the whole Order knew of Alexander and what he had been. Did this woman seriously know so little of him? Well... it was nice, in some ways; nice to actually still have to tell someone something about him, to have people still ask him about his past without just blabbing it out to the whole world. His head turned slightly just to glance over his shoulder before he turned more. This time, fully. He pressed his back against the corner where the wall met the window sill and crossed his arms as his eyes looked at Viri. "Bay City, Michigan." he answered straightly. It had been so long since anyone had really bothered to strike a conversation with him, he was beginning to forget how to even talk to other people. Sad really, but it wasn't really his fault... was it? "Born and raised there, neat city... " he trailed off a bit as his head turned towards the window to look out it, not to break off the conversation, but just simply because he wasn't used to this... type of thing. Conversation that is. "I liked living by the water..." he finished after a short few seconds pause. There were times he wished he could go back, back to the city he had met Julia... but the city also had bad memories, memories Alex wished sometimes he could forget. He turned his head back to Viri again, well... might as well continue. "You?" he asked, his eyes holding a curious expression even if his lips remained straight and blank. [/style]

[STYLE=font-size: 9px; font-family: helvetica; text-transform: uppercase; opacity: 0.9; letter-spacing: 3px;]made by kiwii at btn and gs![/style]

[Viridiana Farley]

Viridiana's attention was caught from a soft pitter-patter noise coming from the window. Her gaze shifted from Alex to the window where she saw it had begun to rain. Lovely! One of her favorite sorts of weather. Of course...up here in Maine, she just hoped it wouldn't turn into snow. She smiled slightly to herself but it quickly vanished. Glancing at Alex for a moment, she turned her gaze back up to the ceiling, comforted now by the sweet sound of rain. It definately cooled the edge to her nerves about the mission. It was only then that she realized, as she was looking along through her thoughts, that she also felt a little worried about being with a partner. Eh...it was necessary, wasn't it? But she had to tell herself not to worry over Alex: she was certain he was smart enough to take care of himself. It wouldn't be her fault if he got himself hurt.

Michigan, huh? Viridiana turned her attention back to Alex. Michigan was one of those northern states...probably got pretty cold there. She wondered slightly what Alex thought of the cold but then pushed the thought aside. Such a random thing to ponder over. Why should she care what he thought of the cold? 'Sheesh, you're trying to be way too nice to this guy,' she thought to herself with a grimace that quickly vanished so Alex wouldn't notice.

She listened to the few things he said afterwards and nodded her head to show she heard him. She really didn't expect him to speak up again since he didn't seem like one of the people that enjoyed conversation; Viridiana wasn't either, but she was trying her best to make a good impression. Who knew if they'd be partnered up again in the future? She almost didn't hear his single-worded question and was silent for a few long moments after it was asked before perking up a bit, startled. She looked at him before settling down on the bed again.

"Tallahassee, Florida," Virdiana told him simply. "Pretty decent place. Though just a simple, small town." She never thought there was anything special about the place; even if it was considered a city, the buildings were low, nothing like the sky scrapers of New York City or the ones in the city she and Alexander were at now.

[Alexander Barett]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,431,bTable][atrb=style, background-color: #E9E9E9; border-top: 3px solid #151515; border-bottom: 3px solid #151515;][STYLE=font-family: times new roman; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -2px; color: #151515; text-align: center;]I TRY TWICE AS HARD AND I'M HALF AS LIKED,[/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; letter-spacing: 4px; font-size: 13px; color: #1E1E1E; text-align: center; margin-top: -3px; background-color: #C7C7C7;]BUT HERE THEY COME AGAIN TO JACK MY STYLE.[/style][STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp1_zps338be670.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp2_zps68f9384b.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp3_zps7595061d.png);][/style][STYLE=float: left; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; width: 88px; background-color: #C7C7C7; color: #000000; font-family: arial; padding: 8px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9px;]TAGS: Viri WORDS: 743 NOTES: What a badass...[/style][STYLE=padding: 10px; background-color: #DEDEDE; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: -322px; margin-left: 115px; margin-bottom: 5px;] Alex chuckled, Florida huh? "You must care little for this weather than." he stated, though it seemed on the edge of being a question. He frowned as his eyes looked out the window again, "I don't care much for it. Even if I did grow up in Michigan, the snow makes travel so difficult, it's cold, wet..." he trailed off realizing he was beginning to ramble on in this conversation. He hadn't meant to do that. He glanced at Viri, if only to see her reaction to his words before his eyes looked back out the window. The rain was getting heavier now. Alex didn't mind the rain, though it was certainly better than snow, it still made things difficult. The cellphone in his pocket vibrated, signalling that he had received a text message. Pulling it out, an iPhone, he looked at the text, his eyes reading it over carefully. It was from an unknown number, no ID, but Alex knew who it was. It was one of the elders. Alex had literally no contacts on his cellphone, and every text message was deleted after he read it. Safety precautions should Alex ever get captured by the Templars, they would be unable to easily track down his kin. "The elders have given us a lead. Seems there's a hidden door in a bar a few blocks from here, Dave's Bar they call it I guess. It's run by regulars allied with Templars. It's a hideout, though not the one we're here for, said to contain information not only to the hideout we're after, but also... information on the whereabouts of some of the Assassins and their dens." Alex spoke clearly but with a quick tone. He put his phone back into his pocket before glancing out the window. Getting darker. "We should get ready..." Alex said and went to his suitcase, picking up his other clothes and stacking them atop each other to reveal the bottom of the suitcase and his gear. He paused as his hand grabbed his robes as well as his belts. Viri could change in the room, Alex would go to the bathroom. "You can stay here." he said and without another word walked the short distance to the bathroom to change. He slipped on a simple black t-shirt just to protect his chest and shoulders from any irritation and he switched out his jeans for black cloth pants, though slightly thick, they provided the stretch needed to do his job. He strapped on his waist belt, though it lacked the daggers and sword, those were still in his suitcase. The belt was leather with a simple silver buckle. His leather vest went over his t-shirt. Yes he had light mail armor as well as a thinner version of a bullet proof vest, but he only wore those when he knew the missions were deadly and he'd need the extra protection. It slowed him down too much. His robes went over his vest, he tied the red cloth belt around his waist, over his robes to keep them in place, but the buttons on the robe itself were left alone. Another belt went across his shoulder, holders for his throwing knives, which buckled across his chest. It took him fifteen minutes to get it all one before he left the bathroom. His previous clothes, folded, he dropped in his suitcase, his attention complete ignored Viri for the moment as he pulled out his weapons and his leather boots. The boots went on first before he then slipped a dagger against the leather and the buckles on the inside of the left boot. The two remaining daggers he put in their sheathes along his waist. His sword joined them too. Five throwing knives went into the belt across his shoulder, their holders rested just behind his back, three more he put on the strap itself. His gun, he rarely used it, but he stuck it underneath his robe and behind his back. Hidden from view but there should it be needed. It was dark now, dark enough to move at least. Alex opened the window and gently popped out the screen of it before looking out. There was no one in sight. "You ready?" he finally spoke, his head turned to look at Viri only briefly before he pulled his hood up and kept watch on the streets below, waiting for her response before he'd climb out the window and down to the ground. [/style]

[STYLE=font-size: 9px; font-family: helvetica; text-transform: uppercase; opacity: 0.9; letter-spacing: 3px;]made by kiwii at btn and gs![/style]

[Viridiana Farley]

Viridiana smiled in agreement to what he said about her not caring much for the weather. Yes, that was quite true; she liked the warm, humid weather of Florida, though she also hated it with a passion. It flucuated almost every week, if not every day, and it was the only state that could be in the 50s one day and in the 80s the next. She remembered making up a joke to herself that Florida was mother nature's way of relieving stress though never shared the joke with anyone else. And she'd still continue to keep it to herself for now.

She was thoughtful of his own thoughts on cold weather and thought it peculiar; she'd think someone born and raised up north would like the snow, but she could understand his point of view. Her attention was caught, however, by the heavier sound of the patter of rain outside and against the window. She did like the rain, though now wasn't so sure about it: raining during a mission? Hopefully they wouldn't have to go outside too much. But then Viridiana's thoughts were pulled away from the rain and she looked at Alex with interest as he explained a message the elder's had sent them. Good, at least now this mission wouldn't be just one big wild goose chase. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and was just reaching down for her suitcase when Alex told her to stay here. She looked at him suspiciously as she tried to decode exactly what he meant. Did he mean 'stay here' as in not coming along on the mission, or 'stay here' as in he was going to go into the other room to change? As he walked to the bathroom, she thought it safe to decide that the latter of those two possibilities were the truth.

Shaking her head, Viridiana zipped open her suitcase, which was larger than she needed. However, after moving aside her normal clothes, her gear was there beneath, and under that were her weapons. The reason for a large suitcase? To fit her sword into it. But she just worried about getting changed for now as she got up on her feet and slid off her shirt, and the undershirt followed shortly after. She did her best not to notice the scars on the inside of her forearm but the thought still nagged at the back of her mind. She let out a breath and then slipped on a simple white shirt and swapped her jeans for ones that hugged her legs though were still flexible enough for her to move easily and were so dark they almost looked black. She tucked her shirt into her pants and then slipped on her sleeves on either arm and attatched her hidden blades into place--she slid them in and out a few times to be sure everything was where it ought to be. She clipped her black belt around her waist with the few extra clips of ammo she always kept in it and then slipped in her five extra throwing knives.

The sound of footsteps behind her made her glance over her shoulder to see Alex return into the room. Viridiana went back to what she was doing and pulled her gun out of her suitcase, clicking the safety off and checking it was loaded, and then clicked the safety back on before sliding it into its holster on the back of her belt; the way the holster was designed and the way the gun fit into it made it look like a black pouch from a distance. By the time anyone would notice it was a gun, they'd probably be dead.

The last of her weapons was her sword, which she gently eased out of her suitcase and layed onto her bed before neatly folding up her clothes again and putting them back into the suitcase. She wouldn't be wearing her kevlar vest since she was certain this mission wouldn't be life-threatening, but that meant she wouldn't be able to use the usual clip it had on the back for her sword, but she had come prepared for that, too. From the front pouch of the suitcase she pulled out a red ribbon and tied it around the hilt of her sword tightly, just at the base of the blade and the end of the grip. Taking one end of the ribbon, she draped it over her shoulder and diagonally across her chest and to her hip and she tied the other end of the ribbon to it in a loose knot. With just a simple tug, the ribbon would come free, but in its current state it would hold firmly.

Viridiana was checking herself over when she heard Alex's voice again. She turned to face him and gave a sarcastic grin. "I was just waiting on you," she told him in an amused tone before following him out into the night.

[Alexander Barett]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,431,bTable][atrb=style, background-color: #E9E9E9; border-top: 3px solid #151515; border-bottom: 3px solid #151515;][STYLE=font-family: times new roman; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -2px; color: #151515; text-align: center;]I TRY TWICE AS HARD AND I'M HALF AS LIKED,[/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; letter-spacing: 4px; font-size: 13px; color: #1E1E1E; text-align: center; margin-top: -3px; background-color: #C7C7C7;]BUT HERE THEY COME AGAIN TO JACK MY STYLE.[/style][STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp1_zps338be670.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp2_zps68f9384b.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp3_zps7595061d.png);][/style][STYLE=float: left; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; width: 88px; background-color: #C7C7C7; color: #000000; font-family: arial; padding: 8px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9px;]TAGS: Viri WORDS: 1675 NOTES: Did I go a bit overboard...?[/style][STYLE=padding: 10px; background-color: #DEDEDE; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: -322px; margin-left: 115px; margin-bottom: 5px;] Alex had given a snort of slight humor at Viri's sarcasm, but he said nothing as he hopped out the window, holding onto it long enough only to get positioned before dropping down. The hotel room was on the 2nd floor, the jump wasn't that hard, but out of caution, as his feet hit the pavement he angled his body forward into a single, simple roll. Every jump he made he took with precaution, a broken leg wouldn't do him much good on a mission. The water that had settled on the street dripped slowly off of his robe. The outer material was semi-waterproof, kept him from getting slowed down due to water, the inside though wasn't waterproof. The rain drops that hit his hood echoed into his ears, but his eyes kept to the streets as he waited for Viri. Normally he wouldn't wait, but to return to the elders and having their reports taken, Alex didn't want any bad statements from Viri, nor any to add to his already growing collection of remarks from the other members. When his partner was down on the ground, he proceeded towards the bar's location. He knew it was going to be busy, but walking in the front door was out of the question. Most had back doors, perhaps that would be easiest. He kept his head down as they walked but as they grew nearer to the bar, he could hear more than just the voices inside. His head lifted to stare down the street. His body turned as he stepped to take shelter against a building. They were less than a block from the bar now, Alex looked around the corner at the group standing by the door. Even in the darkness and the rain, Alex could pick out each individual. Nothing extraordinary about them, to the regular eye they looked like any other group of humans enjoying a night out, but one caught his eye more. There was a lump against the back of his jacket as the wind began to blow, it pressed the man's jacket against his body. The lump could be a number of things, but taking into consideration about who this bar homed, Alex thought it safe to assume it was a gun and the group of guys by the door? Templars. He sighed and pulled back, his attention turning to Viri. He locked gazes with her only briefly, long enough to nod his head in a direction before moving away, around the building to the back street. Alex walked swiftly, but even against the wet pavement, his steps were quiet. The bar grew closer, but this time, Alex had a view of the back of the building. There was indeed a back door, probably just to use to empty trash without having to stomp through the main part of the building in front of customers. Good. A few steps from the door, Alex extended his hand, there was no one around, but it was too difficult to pick out if a man stood on the inside since the bar was filled tonight. He aimed to grab the knob gently, enough to test if it was locked. A slight turn of his hand guaranteed that but as he was beginning to plan a way to open it, the knob turned and he moved quickly, grabbing Viri and pulling both her and himself around the corner of the building and out of view of whoever was exiting. His back pressed firmly against the wall as he peeked around the corner. The door was wide open, blocking his view from whoever stood around it, but footsteps came later as well as a male voice, mumbling curses about the rain and other things Alex cared little for. The door began to close as the man walked away to a row of dumpsters against the side of the bar. There was no trash in the man's hands though. With his back to the two assassins, Alex grabbed the door before it could close and motioned Viri to follow him. He peeked in just to make sure no one else was there. Clear. He caught sight of the man outside zipping open his pants and shook his head in disgust. That was what bathrooms were for. As Alex entered the bar, the smell of alcohol hit him strongly as well as all the noise and music. It practically overloaded his senses, but with a single breath he began to tune out the noise. There was nothing back here but a dead end. Alex frowned, would they really have to enter main part of the bar? No... his eyes turned to the floor as he noticed a rug laid out neatly over a section of the floor. That was odd, why would one put a rug where no one would walk. He would understand if it was by the door but... this was right in the middle of the room. He raised a brow, his mind already putting it together as he walked forward. With his foot he nudged the rug out of the way. "Figured." he mumbled, his voice almost lost in the noise of the bar. He pushed the rest of the rug out of the way, revealed a trap door. He bend down quickly, wanting to get down there before the man outside returned. He pulled the knob and lifted the door open. It was dark inside, no signs of anyone being down there. He could just make out the small staircase. Glanced back at Viri he then hopped down onto the stairs and proceeded to enter the dark basement-like room. Empty of people for sure, but it was kept warm so it obviously wasn't a deserted part of the building. A small light fixture hung from the 'ceiling' down the other side of the building. It highlighted a small desk that was piled with papers. Alex continued forward, one slow foot at a time. The dim light made it difficult to spot anything on the floor, but everything seemed safe to him... so far. He felt his foot step on something that gave a small resistance to his weight. he withdrew his foot, but the action alone was enough to set off a chain of events. His eyes caught the gleam of a thin string that ran the length of the floor. Something clicked, his eyes darted to it's location. Should they leave? His mind raced to decipher this situation before it was too late to do anything. The sound of a string snapping filled the quiet room and Alex could hear the rush of wind against a moving object. What- His body reacted quicker than his mind could catch up with him as a smooth silver surface rushed past him. His body jumped forward, turning as it did so. It... it was a blade, a large blade. It swung from a single point as it nearly hit it's mark. As it swung away from him, missing it's intended target, another click and rush of air came again, but not from the same source. Alex guessed easily what it could be and moved his body back into the path of the previous blade as a second one swung itself at him. Another miss but that wasn't the end of it as the first blade began to head back. Alex dove forward, pulling his body into a roll as he escaped the two blades completely. All of this happened within a matter of seconds and though Alex was used to this, adrenaline still pumped through his veins. The heavy weight of the blades slowed them to a stop in less than a minute, Alex chuckled under his breath. "Even with all the advanced technology, the Templars still enjoy their ancient tricks." With the blades no longer a worry, his attention returned to the desk against the wall. He walked towards it more carefully this time, ever step he took was carefully examined. He reached the desk in a minute without any other surprises and glanced over the stacks of paper. "The blades already have given away our presence should a Templar return, no need to keep things neat anymore." Alex grumbled as his hands picked up a stack of neatly stacked folders which he fingered through, his eyes glanced at each title. Countless papers on assassin hideouts. How on earth did they even manage to get all of this. Names, locations, down to the very coordinates and weather it was underground or not. Something wasn't right. He then came to a large, bulky folder that seemed related to the Templars. He didn't have time to read it though, the Templar information went with them, this other information... Alex would burn it. He set the Templar folders down on the chair and turned to the other papers, removing them from the desk and dropping them to the dirt floor. He turned to the light fixture. A candle, as there was no plug-ins down here, no point in them anyways. He picked up a lone piece of paper and waited until the rest of the documents on the Assassins were piled on the floor before he lit the paper and set it on top of them. The dirt prevented anything from catching on fire, but Alex still wanted this hideout terminated. He began to plan a way to take care of that, when the hatch opened. They had been down here perhaps a total of 15 minutes, that was more than enough time for someone above to notice the moved rug. Alex cursed, that was their only way out of here unless they busted up through the 'ceiling' and into the main floor of the bar. Alex darted for a shadowed area of the room and hoped Viri would do the same. They hadn't been noticed yet, but the fire definitely would be. The man cursed as he rushed forward, his voice was loud, it would alert the others if he kept it up, not to mention he was kicking dirt onto the burning papers. [/style]

[STYLE=font-size: 9px; font-family: helvetica; text-transform: uppercase; opacity: 0.9; letter-spacing: 3px;]made by kiwii at btn and gs![/style]

[Viridiana Farley]

Viridiana waited patiently as Alex dropped out of the window and glanced out to see him, that way she knew when it would be safe to jump down without landing ontop of him. As funny as that would be in her mind, she knew that both of them would probably end up getting hurt that way. Her eyes followed him as he did a roll at the ground and then swung herself out of the window and held tight to the ledge with her fingertips. She held still for a moment before letting go and she landed on the ground in an easy crouch to absorb the shock of hitting the ground. She stood back up in one fluid motion and hurried silently after Alex as she noticed he had begun moving.

The rain was coming down quite a bit now and Viridiana was silently thankful for her short hair; had she been like almost any other female out there, her long hair would be all over her face. But her bangs were just short enough to just stick to her forehead and not get in her eyes. Very helpful. Her eyes narrowed some as Alex took sudden shelter next to a wall and followed quick to his side, straining her ears to hear since she hadn't really seen whatever it was Alex was. She could barely pick out voices coming from the direction of the bar but the words weren't clear due to both the distance and because of the sound of the rain. She stood silently where she was, eyes on Alex, only since he was the one that was able to look around the corner to whomever it was speaking outside the bar.

She caught the nod he gave and was close on his heels as he moved again. Her footsteps were shadows of Alex's and as silent as his; stealth was her specialty. She followed him to the back of the building and hid just at the corner, taking up the part of look-out since her partner had gone straight for the door. Viridiana peeked around the corner and then sweeped her eyes around. Everything seemed clear; the voices only came from inside the bar, loud shouts and jests and such. Her eyes drifted over to Alex just as he suddenly grabbed her and pulled her around the corner and she bit on her tongue to keep from gasping in surprise. She pressed her back firmly against the wall next to the other assassin and just breathed calmly in through her nose and out through her mouth to slow down her heart that had started thumping suddenly from Alex having grabbed her so suddenly. But she was quick to follow, like a shadow, after the man as they slipped inside.

It was much warmer inside and she shivered some at the sudden temperature change. She was sure it was much hotter within the bar, but this room's temperature was fine for now. She did wrinkle her nose at the strong smell of alchohol and shook her head to clear it before focusing on looking around the room. It appeared as no more than a storage room...but then why had there been a man back here? Either he had been up to something or he was guarding something. And instincts told Viridiana it was the latter of those two possibilities. She looked around the room, seeking something that perhaps would be some sort of hidden entrance or something of the sort. There had to be something of interest within the small room. Of course, Viridiana didn't bother casting a glance in Alex's direction, but as she heard him mutter something, she looked over her shoulder and blinked in slight surprise to see he had found a hidden trap door beneath a rug. Smiling slighty, she strode over to him and followed behind him as they descended the stairs.

The air was warm down here as well so she was certain something important was probably stored down here. She was careful where she placed her steps and ended up falling a couple of stairs behind Alex rather than being right behind him. However, when she saw him suddenly tense and step back, she retreated a few steps up the staircase, nearly falling over her own feet, and watched with wide, surprised eyes as the blades came swinging for him. And what was she supposed to do? Risk her neck for him? Of course not. So she stayed a safe distance back from the blades and watched cautiously as Alex moved swiftly to avoid the trap. Soon enough the blades stopped and she was a little impressed, though also not since she expected an assassin of his rank to be able to pull something like that off.

She gave a small smirk at his comment, silently agreeing with him, and then headed down the last few steps to the room now that the blades had stopped swinging. With a nod to acknowledge Alex's words, Viridiana went to the papers and began to go through them, searching for anything of interest. There seemed to be a little too much information about the assassins and she scowled at those documents and tossed them aside. She paused as she caught a few of Templar goings-ons, just some responding e-mails and such, and she thought for a moment she saw a very familiar name but she tossed the paper aside before she could read any further. Other than that, there was really nothing of interest. She realized Alex was making a pile of papers and thought that he was probably going to burn them, so she did the same thing. Burning them would make the most sense.

She watched the flames for a moment before freezing and flicking her gaze towards the stairs, swearing she heard something. Mentally telling herself to keep calm she slid into one of the nearby shadows, somehow easily blending in despite the white shirt she wore. She watched with cool eyes as the man that had left the room came rushing down again, cursing while he tried kicking dirt onto the fire. Viridiana coiled her muscles for a moment before she slid forward, quick as a snake, and wrapped an arm around the man's neck in a strong grip. She had no idea if he was human, Templar, or Junaen, so she wasn't taking her risks; she held on long enough until he passed out from oxygen deprivation and allowed his body to thump to the floor. Her eyes flickered to Alex's hiding place before jerking her head in the direction of the stairs. "We better get moving quickly," she stated before hurrying along up the stairs, careful to not run into the hanging blades.

[Alexander Barett]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,431,bTable][atrb=style, background-color: #E9E9E9; border-top: 3px solid #151515; border-bottom: 3px solid #151515;][STYLE=font-family: times new roman; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -2px; color: #151515; text-align: center;]I TRY TWICE AS HARD AND I'M HALF AS LIKED,[/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; letter-spacing: 4px; font-size: 13px; color: #1E1E1E; text-align: center; margin-top: -3px; background-color: #C7C7C7;]BUT HERE THEY COME AGAIN TO JACK MY STYLE.[/style][STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp1_zps338be670.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp2_zps68f9384b.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp3_zps7595061d.png);][/style][STYLE=float: left; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; width: 88px; background-color: #C7C7C7; color: #000000; font-family: arial; padding: 8px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9px;]TAGS: Viri WORDS: 545 NOTES: shorter than I wanted but my tummy is cramping and distracting me. ;-;[/style][STYLE=padding: 10px; background-color: #DEDEDE; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: -322px; margin-left: 115px; margin-bottom: 5px;] Alex watched with careful eyes as Viri slipped from her shadow and quickly took care of this man. Alex was unsure what side he was on, he acted the way most humans would react to walking into a room to see burning papers, nothing odd was given off, but Alex was sure he was a Templar, why else would he be guarding this part of the bar? He moved from his hiding spot as the man's body thumped to the floor, the fire was still burning but he had no intention of leaving without the Templar files. He glanced only briefly at Viri as she spoke, recommending they get out and quickly. He wanted those folders though. Stepping over the downed man, he picked up the heavy folders before turning to follow after Viri, the folders held close to his chest as they ascended the stairs. Upstairs was empty, no one else had arrived... yet. He frowned, they would be coming back for sure though to take care of this bar, one way or another. Rain still poured heavily outside, and Alex had to shove the folders inside his robe to keep them dry. With one hand inside the folds of his robe and the other gripping the hilt of his sword, he jogged quickly back towards the hotel beside Viri. They took the same route and arrived back at the hotel quicker than when they had left and reached the bar. The window of their room was still open, the light still on. Good. Alex waited for Viri to go first as his eyes scanned the streets, looking for signs of anyone following them or if they had been seen. When Viri was safely back in the room, Alex began his climb. One would think climbing up with one had would be difficult, especially with the rain making surfaces wet. It didn't effect Alex. He took a running start, gaining about three good feet up the side of the building before grabbing hold of the side panels with his free hand, his feet pressing firmly down against another. He looked stuck almost, but Alex didn't think so. He kicked himself upwards, scaling the wall one foot at a time, being careful, until finally his hand grabbed the window sill and he hauled himself up and into the room. "That wasn't so bad..." he muttered and took out the folders. For the most part, they were dry. He set them on the edge of his bed before he slowly began to remove his belts and weapons as well as his shoes. It took him a few minutes, but he finally sat down on the bed and emptied the contents of the folders. Most were just communication letters, nothing of extreme importance, but a few caught his eye. Letter envelopes, with the delivery address still on them. If these were legit, they'd have the location of another of their bases. Alex was mainly looking for the one here. The bar was great and all, but there had to be a few more in the area. He looked up to Viri and offered her the second folder. "See if you can't find anything that can pin-point the location of the base here." he said before returning to his folder. [/style]

[STYLE=font-size: 9px; font-family: helvetica; text-transform: uppercase; opacity: 0.9; letter-spacing: 3px;]made by kiwii at btn and gs![/style]

[Viridiana Farley]

Viridiana was relieved but cautious when they found the room back upstairs to be empty. Either the Templars were waiting with a trap or they were on their way. Her hands rested on her throwing knives for comfort and she was the first to step out into the rain. One look around showed that the coast was clear. Once Alex was beside her, she hurried along back to the hotel at a jog, wanting to get back as quickly as possible and to not be in the open for any longer than they had to. She was sure the Templars would be in full-alert once they realized the fire had started. She imaged the shocked and surprised looks upon their faces and smiled slightly to herself.

The hotel was within sight now and her gaze went up to their open window. With a running start, she leaped at the wall and grabbed fast to it. With the ease of years of practice, she made her way up the wall and slid in through the window, doing a roll before standing upright. She shivered from how wet and cold she was now but she would deal with that later. As Alex was making his way up, Viridiana began to remove her weapons and place them back inside of her suitcase. It didn't take all that long and just as she was walking towards the bathroom for a towel, she spotted Alex make his way inside, though only spared him a glance and continued to walk. She grabbed a towel and began drying her hair out a bit before just draping it over her shoulders, feeling just a tad warmer.

Viridiana removed off her shoes as Alex was taking off his weapons. She looked curiously at the folders that he had grabbed and hoped they'd find something of interest. Nodding to what he said, she took the folder and stood next to her bed and placed the folder ontop of it since she didn't feel like getting her bedsheets wet. She opened it and began to scan along through the files.

There was quite some good information within. There seemed to be a few small dens in the area, including the one that they had just been at. The others seemed to be for storing and transporting different goods and then distributing them to the Templars that went there. Huh, perhaps it'd be good to burn those, too. But so far there seemed to be nothing on the base that they had been sent there to inflitrate. Not until she got to a few of the last few papers in the folder, however. There was some basic information: an address, list of employees, and recent documentation of what the Templars had been up to, such as where different ones had been sent off to, mostly within the state of Maine, though a couple of groups had been sent out-of-state. "Well...I've got an address, at least," Viridiana said as she turned her gaze up to Alex. "You find anything good?"

[Alexander Barett]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,431,bTable][atrb=style, background-color: #E9E9E9; border-top: 3px solid #151515; border-bottom: 3px solid #151515;][STYLE=font-family: times new roman; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -2px; color: #151515; text-align: center;]I TRY TWICE AS HARD AND I'M HALF AS LIKED,[/style][STYLE=font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; letter-spacing: 4px; font-size: 13px; color: #1E1E1E; text-align: center; margin-top: -3px; background-color: #C7C7C7;]BUT HERE THEY COME AGAIN TO JACK MY STYLE.[/style][STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp1_zps338be670.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp2_zps68f9384b.png);][/style] [STYLE=height: 100px; width: 100px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; border: 2px solid #1E1E1E; opacity: 0.9; background-image: url(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y513/mechanical8dragon/DBimages/temp3_zps7595061d.png);][/style][STYLE=float: left; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; width: 88px; background-color: #C7C7C7; color: #000000; font-family: arial; padding: 8px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9px;]TAGS: That one chick WORDS: enough NOTES: Meh...[/style][STYLE=padding: 10px; background-color: #DEDEDE; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; color: #000000; text-align: justify; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: -322px; margin-left: 115px; margin-bottom: 5px;] Alexander looked up when Viri spoke to him, "Just addresses, there is very little information in these letters and what information there is it's encrypted." he sighed, "Even those don't have much." finishing, he set the folders on the bed and stood up. He shrugged out of his robes and draped them over one o the wooden chairs at the small table to dry out. The absence of the robes left him in a simple black t-shirt which seemed dry. When he was done, "I'll send the addresses to the elders for them to double-check." he told Viri and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket to text the addresses. "In the meantime... hungry?" Alex asked. After the text was sent out he ordered food, which happened to be chinese. It arrived in about half an hour, Alex handed over the money and took the food, heading back to the room where he set the food down on the table. Settling down he dug into the food, but ate slowly as if he was thinking deeply about something. No doubt the Templars here new of their presence by now as well as the local assassins. Part of Alex wanted to search for them and ask them what they knew of Alex's mission, but none of the assassins treated him well. Perhaps with Viri here with him they would be more willing to listen and talk. He stared down at the noodles in the small white box and twirled his fork around in it. His father was here... he knew it. He had been just about everywhere searching for that man but every time he got close the damn fool would slip away or Alex would have to retreat. His father was always well-armed and heavy in numbers. He had to keep himself under control though, he always managed to do something reckless. [/style]

[STYLE=font-size: 9px; font-family: helvetica; text-transform: uppercase; opacity: 0.9; letter-spacing: 3px;]made by kiwii at btn and gs![/style]