FLIGHT FROM LONDON TO HILLAH

"So you have to have some kind of skills. You can't tell me the whole time you've been a part of the Templar that you have not once been trained?" Cyril interrogated feeling a bit frustrated.

Maria looked at Cyril and shrugged. “I keep telling you, no. My father kept me extremely sheltered. Work was Work, not play time. I simply hooked the people up to the animus and collected the data.”

“What about using the animus? Did you not ever hook up into one yourself?”

“Actually yeah. I did...kinda.” Maria blushed. "Well.. I wouldn't go as far as to say learned skills or anything.. um.. My ancestor was very.. charismatic..?" She said with a nervous laugh. "She was a Master Assassin and ran a very different type of brotherhood."

Cyril sat back. "Oh. OK. so you have tapped into the animus. I'm sure you picked up a few hand to hand techniques. We can go over some stuff if you want. We got a good empty shipment dock we can train in."

‘I know hand to hand with women and cocks..’ Maria thought to herself and her cheeks burned even more red. She started to give a pouting expression.

Cyril noticed her very embarrassed state. "What's wrong? Do you not want to train?" Cyril stood up from his seat and offered his hand. "I'll be sure to go easy on you. I might even have Seraphina spar with you."

"What!? I don't even know how to spar!" Seraphina looked at Maria, being a little intimidated. “I need to learn some things too. I can't keep using my powers or it'll kill me.”

Maria shook her head ridding her mind of the lewd thoughts from her animus experience. “It’s not that, I just don’t think I’ll be very good at this form of physical training.” She said with a nervous laugh

"Well we have a few hours to get something going. I'm sure you can at least pick up some self defense techniques from me."

The group headed to the cargo area, it was big enough to put 2 boxing rings in. "This is a perfect size for practice. OK, first i need to see if you can at least throw a punch." Cyril held out an open hand for her to hit.

Maria followed him in and she almost ran into his hand as she was looking around “wait.. you want me to punch you? In your hand.” She said and looked between him and his hand

"Yeah." Cyril nodded and smiled. "I just want to see if you can throw a punch. Go ahead and hit my hand. Easy enough, right?"

“This seems like a trick question to me..” Maria said with a light laugh then she balled up her fist and aimed to punch his palm.

Cyril giggled. "It's not a trick. I promise I will stand perfectly still. Just punch the damn hand."

She rolled her eyes and threw a hard punch into his hand

Cyril felt a hard pound on his palm that emitted a loud clap. He started to nod and smirked. "OK OK." He started to shake his hand. "So the new girl has a punch. Not bad." He held up his other hands. "So we are gonna go old school boxing for starters. I want you to keep your guard up and focus on hitting my hands as i move them around. We'll do this for a few rounds to develop your aiming."

She stuttered then crossed her arms in defiance “No..! I will for sure punch you in the face!” She snapped “I don’t want that kind of guilt.”

"You think they will feel guilt when they hit you." Cyril reached out and play slapped her. "C'mon. I can take a hit. Can you you?"

“Okay..You actually touch me again, I will beat you worse than an angry Italian grandmother would.”

“Then don't let me hit you.” Cyril snapped at her.

Maria glared at him angrily and raised her fists up “Fine. Let’s go.” She said as she punched his palms as he moved them around. The 2 continued to go over a few drills making her develop better control of her punches.

Cyril spotted an opportunity when her guard was down and slapped her lightly. "OOOOOH. I hit you. What now?" He mocked her wanting her to get angry and more aggressive.

Maria gasped in shock when he hit her across the cheek. She started to charge him down, swinging her fists wildly and even went as far as to beat him with her shoes. Cyril laughed, not expecting her to literally attack him like an angry Italian grandmother. As he ran away from her. She threw the shoes at him with precision and accuracy, hitting him mid back and on the back of his head.

Cyril went to pick up her shoe and gave it back to her. "Good. A bit wild, but good. Next time, keep your shoes on."

As soon as Cyril handed over her shoes, Maria quickly grabbed him by his ear. “Next time don’t hit me.” She said as her Italian accent became thicker with annoyance and she muttered some Italian curses under her breath

Cyril screamed in pain as he tried to break free from the ear grab, completely forgetting that no matter how big you are, that's one grab you can't exactly break away from. "OK. I won't do it again. Just don't let me hit you and keep your cool if i do."

She let go and rested her hands on the curves of her hips “Don’t try and make me mad then.” She said while looking up at him.

"How about you just dodge my swinging arms. Will that make it easier."

“Sure.” Maria answered back with sass and then prepared herself.

Cyril got into stance and started to punch and swing his arms slowly, giving Maria a chance to dodge and evade his punches. As the training started to progress, Maria was dodging Cyril's fast punches effortlessly. She smirked then swung her foot out sweeping his leg, making Cyril fall hard on the ground. She stepped on his chest with one foot, claiming herself victorious. “I win.”

Cyril laughed. "you think so?" He grabbed her leg and swung his around her in a leg scissor take down. "now we need to work on your take downs and grappling."

Seraphina just sat there and giggled in amusement. She had never seen combative training first-hand.

Maria hit the ground with a thud and laughed. “I’ll still kick your ass.” She smacked his leg off her her.

"You have a better chance now than you did a while ago." Cyril rolled over and got back on his feet. "I already showed you weak points to aim for, now I need you to take me down quickly. So...um...yeah tackle me." He waved his hands for her to come at him

Maria smirked then she looked him over after she got up. She then swung her leg to kick behind his kneecap and as he fell back she grabbed his arm and swung him down to the ground hard, getting him into a pin with his arms above his head while straddling his lap to keep his legs pinned down.

Cyril blushed, realizing he was pinned in a somewhat lewd manner. "Umm...this is...an effective pin. I don't think I taught you this."

“I told you, Madam Maria Amaro trained in different ways.” She said as she let him go and got up to help him back up to his feet.

"Wait? Madam Maria?" Cyril started to blush

Maria’s cheeks went red. “Do you know my ancestor..?”

He scratched his head nervously. "Let's just say my ancestors, both of them, met her a few times."

Maria’s whole face burned red in frustration “o-okay training's over...!” She grabbed her bag and started to walk back to the seats.

"wait. you can't just quit like that." Cyril grabbed Seraphina's hand to follow her. Seraphina froze, making Cyril go into a trance and absorbing some of Cyril's knowledge. She snapped out of it and twisted his wrist and pulled with all her weight, causing Cyril to flip over and land hard on his back. Seraphina kept a hold of his wrist into an upright arm bar.

"Gaaaaaah...jeez...OK kid you can let go.” Cyril tapped on his arm rapidly. Seraphina let go with a big smile on her face. “I don't think I need to train you if you picked that up just from touch.” Cyril whispered to her.

“I refuse to train at the moment...! E-Especially with knowing how your ancestors toyed with Maria! I KNEW I recognized your features from somewhere...!” Maria kept walk and huffing angrily.

"It was a mutual situation and you know it.". Cyril got up from the ground and shook the pain from his arm off. "yeah. training is over for now."

Maria's cheeks stayed stained a deep red and she kept her back turned to Cyril. She refused to admit how much she enjoyed the situation in the animus but she figured she should stay on the defensive.

Cyril shook his head, becoming frustrated by the awkward situation at hand. He tried to ignore the fact that Maria was now giving him the cold shoulder treatment.

Seraphina started to look around the cargo bay with a look of confusion upon her face. "Cyril, Maria. it's the whispers again."

"oh..shit." Cyril glared at Maria still thinking that she is what is causing the whispers. They appeared only when she's around. "OK, try to focus on them kid. Maybe you can figure out what's causing them."

Maria looked over at Seraphina then noticed how Cyril was starring right at her and glared. “You think I'm the one doing this to her, don't you?" She hissed.

"I'm sorry it only happens when you've been around. What else can I suspect?"

Seraphina covered her ears and winced in pain. She dropped down to her knees and collapsed.

"Dammit not again. C'mon kid. Snap out of it." Cyril went to check on her. She still breathing but was completely unconscious.

Maria walked over to Seraphina and knelt down. "Haven't figured out a way to stop it." She said coldly.

"No. I've had her a few weeks and this has happened twice now. Both times with you around." He picked her up and started to carry her back to the seats. "I don't really know what's going on. She says it started as a series of whispers followed by loud echoing voices."

“You want me to follow or stay behind here. You obviously think I’m doing this so maybe I should stay here in the cargo bay.” She said keeping her arms crossed, pissed that he still didn’t trust her.

"I don't know. Just come with me. We need to keep her calm and comfortable otherwise she can bring this flight down and we all die."

“Sounds like fun.” She said sarcastically as she followed him.

He placed her back in the seat and reclined it. Cyril grabbed one of the blankets in the overhead compartment and covered her with it. "Now this is a game where we wait and hope for the best. The last time she was out cold for a few minutes, hopefully she doesn't freak out like the last time she woke up." Cyril sighed and went to sit back down in his seat. "That's all we can do for now. Sorry if I get pushy with you. I usually work solo or with my wife."

Maria sat looking out the window with her legs crossed remaining cold and stand offish “It’s fine..” She said and crossed her arms in her lap.

"Doesn't look like it." Cyril crossed his arms as well. "If we are to work together, we are gonna need to face the facts that our ancestors did some things. And even though I'm still having some trust issues with you, I've trusted you long enough to take you along and even help train you."

Maria laughed and gave him an annoyed look “You think this is about our ancestors actions? Don’t flatter yourself, I’m pissed because you still don’t trust me when I’ve never given you a reason to not trust me.” She said coldly.

"I think I have a good reason to. For starters, you were damned ready and determined to shoot me down if it wasn't for me holding an unconscious Seraphina." He sat back grumpily. "And I'm willing to back you up. The question is, will you back me up if I need it. Until then, I don't fully trust you."

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THE NEXUS

Seraphina found herself in a very familiar place. A place that would appear in her mind when she would push and manipulate the thoughts of others. The glowing traces of lights formed around in what looked like a shrine with a piece of Eden placed on an altar. As Seraphina explored this place, she could hear the whispers loud and clear.

She started to follow the voices throughout the temple and down long corridors. The further she went, the clearer the voices were being heard. Seraphina froze as soon she spotted something very familiar in the distance. A little girl with purple eyes and long straight hair flowing freely. “GENESIS!”