The Reign in Spain

Justinien had all of the supplies he needed in a single briefcase. He wouldn't need much, only his gun, blade, falsified documents, and first aid kit. He had already purchased a ticket to the Canary Islands, but the plane would need to make a stop in Valencia. As bad as Templar-occupied Spain was, it couldn't be any worse than France at the moment. He tossed a ticket over to Rogelio, "You ready?"

Rogelio lowered the brim of his hat as they walked through the terminal. As compared to Justinien he was packing twice as heavy with a suitcase and violin case. He didn't play a violin.

He caught the ticket with two fingers. "As ready as I'll ever be. Can't wait to see Valencia again. Hey maybe we can get some Paella during the layover. Greatest food to come out of Spain."

"Isn't paella horriblement cher {dreadfully expensive}?" Justinien scoffed as they boarded the plane.

A few hours later, shortly after the plane landed, some men stepped onboard. They wore official military uniforms. and brandished guns on their shoulders.

"Just a routine check," they assured the passengers, "Want to make sure no one is smuggling guns into the country."

Justinien eyed their rings. Gold and bearing a red cross against a white background. Templars.

"Si, but it is quite worth it mi amigo," Rog replied with a smile.

The flight was uneventful, but of course, somebody's always got to gum up the works. He mentally went over his options. He had his hidden blade, and could easily take the two down. No, there were too many people around, and a firefight might harm the civilians. The words of his mentor echoed from the depths of time in his head, "No causan daño a los inocentes. Esconderse a simple vista. No traicione nuestra confianza." (Do not harm the innocent, hide in plain sight, do not betray the order) There were better ways.

He smiled as the soldiers finally came to him and Justinien. They checked his suitcase, which of course was fine, then asked about the violin case. "What is this?"
"It is my instrument, I am a musician you see," he replied with a convincing smile.
"Open it," the soldier commanded.
"I'd rather not, you see it is a very rare Stradivarius and I'd rather not expose it to humidity if I don't have to." The soldier sneered, felt the violin case, then tossed it back at Rogelio, reacting precisely as if it held a priceless heirloom.

Justinien sighed with relief. That almost got ugly. It's a good thing the Templar couldn't tell the weight differe-

"Hey, what happened to your finger?" one of the men asked of Justinien.

"What do you mean?"

The man didn't need to answer. Justinien quickly realized that his ring scar had been identified when he saw down the Templar's handgun. Justinien quickly stabbed the man in the neck with his blade and used his gun to shoot another Templar.

"Browning! Don't hurt the citizens! We need to get out now!"

Rogelio hated when things got ugly like that. He grabbed the pistol off the other dead soldier and made to exit the plane. Luckily every civilian had ducked at the start of the shooting. He did pause to kiss the flight attendant on the hand with a smile, before Justinien pushed him out of the door.

Out on the tarmac more templars were rushing towards the plane to investigate the gunshots. Rog was quick to cap two of the closest ones before jumping over the side of the boarding staircase.

"Justinien, cover me while I get some heavier firepower," he called to his friend. He hid under the staircase as he opened the violin case and started assembling the Thompson M1 submachine gun he had brought along.

"Just hold still!" Justinien called out to both the passengers and his ally.

A handful of Templars out on the runway had begun firing shots at the plane. Justinien leapt out to divert their guns from anywhere the passengers may be. He kept is gun close to him, just in case a stray bullet may hit a civilian. He needed to find some cover quickly.

"Yeah yeah, hold your horses," Rog called back to his friend. He pulled the parts of his Thompson from the case, assembling the gun with practiced speed, and slamming the 100 round drum home with a satisfying "click!"

"Okay, come get some!" he yelled out to the soldiers, turning from the corner to fire a short burst at them. They dropped to the pavement, giving him the opportunity to run from cover and catch up with Justinien. "We've gotta get into the city and blend. I'm sure there'll be a lot more soldiers in the terminal"

Air raid sirens had begun blaring from nowhere as Justinien and Rogelio crossed through the airport gate.

"They'll certainly be checking us for our IDs. Besides, this blood will give us away. Our flight to the Islands is shot, so there's no point in taking that route. We need to impersonate a pair of pilots and commandeer a military aircraft. First, we need to get into the airport. That means getting past. . . them."

A platoon of soldiers greeted them just inside the airport. One stepped forward with a megaphone, "You are under arrest! Surrender now and be spared!"

"Hello to you, too," Justinien dove behind the ticket check. The soldiers opened fire. Justinien's pistol occasionally would peek over the edge to greet the soldiers in return.

"Have you ever flown a plane? because I sure... Hijo de perra!" Rog cursed, seeing that many soldiers. He shot a burst of fire from the hip before diving behind a counter. His muzzle would peek out at brief pauses in the fire, returning bursts at the soldiers. He hit a few, but he was mostly trying to keep their heads down till they could come up with a plan.

"Got any bright ideas Cabron?" he asked Justinien. "I didn't bring any grenades and only two magazines."

"Ever heard of the Eagle of Rouen? As long as Spain hasn't upgrade from biplanes, I can promise the safest dogfight in your life."

An explosion went off, nearly destroying their cover.

"Okay, I know where to get grenades. Follow my lead."

Justinien jumped from cover and shot off the last two bullets in his pistol. Three soldiers were preparing a firing squad. He grabbed another soldier to act as a human shield and continue his progression unhindered. Once he was close enough, Justinien snapped out his hidden blade and killed the firing squad. Luckily they had plenty of handgun ammunition and grenades.

"Browning! Let's move!"

"Well I'll take your word for it, but the Luftwaffe has been sending Sapin fighters and bombers since the revolution."

When Justiniene broke cover and took out that little group Rogelio was quick to follow, grabbing a few grenades himself and lobbing one at another group. This was going to get a bit easier, but it was still two against two dozen.

"Okay, new plan," he commented, ducking behind another counter. "I'll distract them, you flank them. With any luck we can take them out."

Justinien slipped to the side as Rogelio held their attention, which incidentally also killed a few of them. Thankfully, the Templars had the decency to evacuate the area before starting this shitstorm, but a crowd or two would have been nice to hide in. Another grenade would be needed to clear out the soldiers. Doubtful Rogelio could distract them much longer. Justinien tossed another grenade, killing. . . sacrebleu. Most of them. The rest decided to retreat.

"Merde. I've never flown one of the new fighters. I could try that, but.. . Do you have any other suggestions?"

They were finally coming upon a crowd.

Rog had to duck lower after the explosion of the grenade, bits of wood and bodies blowing past and over his cover. Soon as the dust cleared and he heard retreating boots be was quick to pack his Thompson back in its violin case and moved with Justinien.

"I don't think the concept is too much different really," he replied. "Though I'd imagine they might send some biplanes for reconnaissance and such. The British are still using them as torpedo bombers, so we might find a Fokker on the airfield."

Thankfully they were able to blend with the crowd. Everyone seemed panicked and fearful, trying to find the closest exit. Rogelio was careful to pick his way trough, maintaining appearances of being a civilian, as he made his way towards the other end of the airfield and the hangars. "Let's hope they're more concerned with finding us than securing the airfield right about now."

The airfield was secure. All that remained was to find those Assassin bastards. One of the men reported spotting bloodstained sleeves leading from the main terminal and toward the military hangar. They were hiding in the crowd, so it stands to reason that playing their game should produce results.

"Señor Serrano, we have them."

Excelente. Eso fue rápido. Tal vez demasiado rápido.