CH 32: La Volpe

As we once again stood in front of Leonardo's workshop, Ezio sighed once again with nostalgia :"I can't believe it has already been two years since we escaped from here. I wonder what has Leonardo been up to? He helped us a lot back then. I hope he has been well."

I chuckled as I grabbed and held her hand while nodding :"a lot has happened since back then, but I have a feeling that Leonardo has been well. He had a brilliant mind, so I think he probably had some way of passing the days in creative ways."

She nodded as she smiled under her half hidden face :"you're right. I would be quite sad if a friend such as Leonardo was harmed after helping us back then. dai, non dovremmo più perdere tempo (come on, we shouldn't waste time anymore)."

I nodded before we walked to his door and walked in after knocking it. The design of the shop had changed quite a bit and there were a lot of new things that were added. The standing Leonardo turned to us and had a shocked face.

He immediately walked to us with a smile :"Ali…? Ezio? You two are still alive!" I chuckled as he grabbed our arms excitedly :"yeah, we are luckily. But damn, my friend. You have had quite the luck yourself in these years!"

Ezio also nodded with a smile :"yeah, Look at this place! The past two years have been kind to you." A sudden look of sadness took over Leonardo's face after he let go of us :"But you are not the same at all, are you...?"

I sighed as a tired smile took over my face, but I shrugged and kept tilting my head :" a lot has happened, a lot has changed." I chuckled as I jabbed his shoulder gently :"but our natures stays the same. So, eh, whatever."

Ezio also nodded at my statement before she patted Leonardo's shoulder :"I was hoping you might be able to help me with something."

Leonardo :"Anything for you, my friends!"

We both smirked as I took out the codex and held it up for him to take, which he did with an excited look :"Aha! You've found another! How exciting!" he immediately opened it and began to examine it as he moved to his desk.

We followed him after shaking our heads at each other with chuckles :"Hmmm. This one is tricky to break... Clever in its use of ancient languages. Maybe if I just... Oh... Oh! It seems to be a manual of sort for different assassination techniques."

Ezio :"May I see it?"

Leonardo :"Wait! What's that?! It's not so much a design this time... Just a series of sketches. Hmmmm. What to make of all this… Hoho! Of course! And why not! What an inspired idea!"

Can he grabbed onto my hidden blade on my left hand with an excited look. Ezio looked at him with seriousness as he pointed at the parchment :"Can you make it for us while we try what's in that manual fragment?"

He nodded as he called out for someone :"Take it, I'll have my assistant set up some dummies for you to practice with. Eh, Vincenzo!" after Leonardo called his assistant over, he came in and took us to the courtyard next to Leonardo's workshop.

After moving to the courtyard, we took a look at the assassination techniques that I was all too familiar with and practiced them on the dummies that Leonardo's assistant had prepared for us. It was obviously the assassination from a hidden spot, air assassination and killing from below techniques.

After learning practicing the techniques that will definitely be extremely useful in the future, we decided to head back to Leonardo's workshop. When we walked in, Leonardo turned to us with excitement while our items were on the desk in front of him.

Leonardo :"I've done it! Come quickly! Look! Take it-- try it!"

He held the new hidden blades and bracers for us to take, which I did with excitement as I quickly equipped it :"haha! Thanks for the help once again, mio amico (my friend)! It's really appreciated!" and started playing with my hidden blades.

Ezio sighed and rolled her eyes with a smile at my childishness at some stuff as she nodded at Leonardo :"Thank you, Leonardo." Which he immediately responded with a smile :"Non c'è di che (No problem)!"

After equipping her own second hidden blade, she told him our other reason for visiting :"There's someone we need to "see" while we're here. we cannot approach him publicly... Would you know a way-"

Leonardo raised his hand for her to keep quiet as he said quietly :"La Volpe."

Ezio :"The Fox...?"

Leonardo :"Sshhhhh!!"

Ezio :"Capisco... (I understand) But do you know where a fox might roam...?"

Leonardo :"Perhaps, near the Mercato (market) where the thieves dwell... Sta attento, miei amici! (Be safe, my friends)!"

After that, we parted ways with Leonardo and made our way to the market. Once there, Ezio turned to me :"so? Do you have any idea where our fox is?" I shook my head at her :"as I have said, the shown area might not be exactly it. This is just like those time. An area is shown to me where I must find the target myself. So, let's get to looking already. As always, use your eagle vision."

As we began to look around, she chuckled while still keeping her focus :"you really like that name, huh? Eagle vision. You got stuck with it the moment it escaped your mouth." I chuckled as I glanced at her :"well, what can I do? It suits it, especially with how your name means "eagle". And besides, I can't help that my mouth does wonders, eh?"

I looked at her with a teasing smirk, causing her to blush under her hood and slap my arm gently :"you pervert. Keep your mind out of the gutter. We should focus on finding our target… which I think we did…"

Noticing a thief, we started to walk towards him. But the thief ran at us and bumped into Ezio's shoulder before just running away. Ezio and I looked back at him with confusion before Ezio checked out her small amount of money which she kept with herself and hadn't given me like all of her money to keep :"What!? My pouch-- my money!"

He looked back at us as he smirked and mocked :"Oh... your money... I don't have your money! Hahaha!" we started to run after the thief who seemed to be way too good at his job as he ran away. But well, it was just a matter of time before we caught up to him.

After we eventually caught up to him and cornered him, Ezio pointed at him with a warning look :"I really have no interest in hurting you. So give me back my money and we'll call it even." But a voice from the side interrupted :"not so fast."

I immediately recognized him by the clothes that he was wearing as the person that we were looking for while Ezio just glared at him :"What do you want? Who are you?!" he started to walk nonchalantly towards the thief :"They call me many things: Murderer. Tagliagole (Cutthroat). Thief. But you may call me La Volpe. At your service, Madonna Ezio, Messer Ali."

It was normal to have at least heard of Ezio because of her looks, but it was interesting how he knew me. So with an amused smirk, I raised an eyebrow :"I won't ask how you know Ezio since she is pretty famous, but how do you know my name, fox?"

He chuckled as he nodded :"It is my business to know everything in this city. Isn't that why you're here?"

Ezio :"Indeed. we need to find someone; to know where he'll be before even he does."

Volpe :"Who?"

Ezio :"Francesco de' Pazzi."

Volpe :"There's word on the street of a caravan just arrived from Roma. A secret meeting, to be held at sunset tonight. You can learn something of Francesco's whereabouts there."

Ezio :"Do you know where it is to be held?"

Volpe :"Ma certo (Yes). Let me know when you're ready and we'll go. Oh, yes hehehe. Here's your money."

As he said that, he turned around and took the money pouch from the thief's hand and threw it back at Ezio who easily caught it. She looked at me with a confused but alarmed expression which I just shrugged at.

We nodded after taking a moment to breath :"Follow me. But we must move fast! Think you can keep up?"

Ezio :"Nessun problema. (Not a problem)."

Ali :"I think me being so young can help me in this situation."

La Volpe moved ahead of us, and damn he was fast. We tried to catch up with him, but even Ezio who was the expert between us had a hard time in following the man who ridiculed :"What are you doing back there? I said to keep up with me!"

But he stopped and we eventually reached him on a building just near Santa Maria Novella. La Volpe didn't pay any attention to our slightly panting form :"Here we are! Francesco de' Pazzi is meeting his people inside that church."

Ezio :"How do we join them?"

La Volpe :"There are catacombs that run under the city. They'll lead you to a place where you can eavesdrop on the meeting. Grip that stone handle, turn it, then slide it down."

Ezio :"Thank you for all your help, Volpe."

La Volpe :"Buona Fortuna. (Good luck.)"

He nodded and patted our shoulders before walking away and leaving us. I looked at Ezio as I folded my arms in front of my chest and pointed at the street :"if his words weren't trust worthy of Francesco being there, then those guards on guarding the entrances are."

She looked back at me with a serious face :"I would rather avoid bloodshed, so let's just sneak in from the rooftops instead of getting surrounded by that many guards." I rolled my eyes with a smile :"alright, but don't talk as if we couldn't take care of those guys like they're nothing."

Ezio smirked with a scoff :"I didn't say that nor did I mean it like that. I'm just saying it's better to avoid trouble. Now, let's go." And I was too much of a nice lover, so I lowered my thirst for blood and did as she said.

When we sneaked behind those guards using the rooftops, I whispered as I looked at the all too familiar tomb sign :"hey, look at the way its made. It's just like our Assassin marks. Just that a skull is in the middle."

She nodded as she whispered back :"yeah, you're right. Do you think it means something? It's not normal to just see one of our symbols here and there." I nodded back with a slightly serious look :"yeah, really weird. Wait… you think it has something to do with what uncle Mario said?"

Her eyes went a bit wide at my sentence :"what?! You mean that this can be related to one of those protector keys?" I shrugged :"I don't know, maybe, maybe not. But since we are already going, we might as well explore a little just in case we might find something."

She nodded before she put her index and middle finger in each eye socket of the skull inside of the assassin symbol and pulled. When she let go, she took a step back as the gadgets behind the symbol came to life.

The skull turned upside down and went back to its place as the floor of where the symbol was placed in opened up with a way down. I looked at her and nodded at the passage way :"normally , I would say ladies first. But now, it might be dangerous down there, so I will take the lead this time."

She just chuckled and smiled before bowing a little after grabbing onto her assassin robe :"well thank you, perverted gentleman." And I just shook my head with an amused smile before I lowered myself and started going down.