*AND ONCE AGAIN, I LIVE. Another stressful year of life has happened and I lost my drive to try writing anything, so I hope anyone who is still interested in this story wants to see what happens. Small time gap, but I'll fill it in as I go.*

It's been almost five days since Altaïr's first mission, and for now he's been letting his work occupy his time. Ever since that night, Vale has been surprisingly quiet for some time. No signs of shady activity to be heard of anywhere. Not that all that time has been boring for Altaïr, Summer has been keeping his life exciting to a degree, and he can't help but find it warming in a way.

For now, Altaïr just casually walked down a street in Vale. Wearing a normal white hood jacket and blue jeans, with the hidden blade at its normal place on his wrist. He just enjoyed the weather of the day and the sight of people having a peaceful afternoon.

After taking a moment to come out his thoughts, he noticed he was a street across from the docks. Looking through the fences he just saw workers doing their daily routine. Nothing seemed amiss. The sight of how normal it seemed just didn't make Altaïr feel right. The fact that whoever these guys were, being able to completely wipe away all traces of their presence was concerning.

Altaïr stared out there for what seemed like an eternity, and in the midst of his thoughts, something came to him he hadn't thought of in quite awhile.

Roman Torchwick.

Roman was the one who gave him the information he needed for his mission that night, but he hadn't seen him since. He didn't even have a way to call him on a scroll. He needed to find him again. Altaïr wished he had thought of this earlier, but he had been trying to relax himself mentally for the past while.

Altaïr looked up in the sky, telling he still had plenty of time in the day. So he headed to a place no one could see him and climbed to the rooftop. After taking it his surroundings for a bit, he stared running along the roofs, planning to head to the part of town he first met Roman in. Hoping he could start a trail and find him from there.

*****

After running for a good while, Altaïr eventually made it to the part of town where he first met Roman. Now came the harder part, actually finding him.

His gift hasn't evolved enough yet to where he could see a targets trail yet, so he needed to track with his normal senses. He jumped to the ground and looked around real quick. Making sure it was clear he started walking down the street.

This area had a plenty of people that were into some shady dealings, so sooner or later he would be able to find Roman among them.

As Altaïr walked further, he noticed how much this part of town was really in disrepair. Lots of the buildings around him had windows broken and large pieces of them scattered. Wooden boards holding up falling apart areas. And he also noticed the people around him now were becoming more suspicious.

Altaïr already figured if he couldn't find Roman on his own, he would find someone who could tell him where to go. At this rate he was now looking for anyone who could lead him down the right path.

As he walked more, he figured now was as good as place as any and walked down one of the darker alleys. Altaïr knew that this is the kind of thing someone shouldn't do, dark places like this is where low-life's wait to mug random individuals. To help him see, Altaïr activated his Vision. Sure enough, three people were laying low up ahead, one of them must be waiting to rob someone. All of which glowed white with his Vision.

Slowly, Altaïr walked along the alley, waiting for anything to happen. He passed one, who was sleeping, and kept moving. The furthest one looked up and noticed him, and quickly left the alley. Figuring he didn't want any trouble, Altaïr kept walking to the second man, who was wearing a really used and dark jacket, making him blend in with the dark and rough look of the alley. He passed him and kept acting normal.

And what he was hoping for happened. The man thought he was silent, but Altaïr could hear him due to his trained senses.

Altaïr heard a pocket knife open. "Bad idea kid, you made a big mistake coming here."

Before he could say another word, Altaïr quickly turned around and punched the guy in the face. After that he punched his arm and made him drop the knife, Altaïr then grabbed him and punched two more times in the face. Finally he pushed the guy against the wall.

"Your going to answer my questions, and if you don't then this place will be your grave." Altaïr stated to intimidate the man.

"Why should I tell you anything?" The man struggled to say.

"Cause I could kill you here and no one would care." Altaïr said back. "Roman Torchwick, where is he." He demanded.

"How the heck should I know who that is?" The man arrogantly asked.

Altaïr punched him across the face again. "Man my age, orange hair. I'm sure someone like him stands out in this slum." Altaïr demanded again, tightening his grip.

"Okay, Okay. I think I know who that is, if you go a bit west of here, you should find a gang hideout. They run this part of town, I think I've seen someone like that walking around with them. I wouldn't go there though, those guys don't like outsiders." The man explained, still struggling to speak.

"I'll take my chances." Altaïr retorted, and then he let the man go. He quickly left the alley, running as fast as he could.

Altaïr felt that was a bit too easy, but he figured the man thought he would get himself killed by these guys anyway.

Altaïr knew he could handle anything that would come his way. So he left the alley-way and started walking in the direction the man pointed too.

*****

It had almost been an hour since Altaïr had been walking to the direction of the gang hideout. He had realized a along the way though that while he had a direction to go, he didn't have a exact location. He was also keeping his eyes and ears open for anything strange to make up for that.

Altaïr did feel a change in the atmosphere of the place, it felt more dangerous then before.

The streets were slightly more empty of people then before, meaning he probably crossed the line for their territory.

As Altaïr kept going further on, he started hearing loud noises to his right. Thinking it could be a point of interest he headed to the source of it. It lead to a dead end street with a large segmented building at the end of it. With several men causing a commotion outside.

They seemed to be just having a good time and had loud music playing. Altaïr slowly started approaching, keeping close to the side buildings leading to the end of the street. He pulled the hood up on his jacket.

Drawing closer, several men took notice of him. They clearly didn't like trespassers, and wear immediately direct with him. "Hey what the heck are you doing here? Get lost, this place isn't for outsiders."

"I'm looking for Roman Torchwick, and I was told to look here." Altaïr plainly stated.

"There's no one here you need to see. Now beat it."

"I'm not leaving till I find him." Altaïr said coldly.

"I guess you don't get what we're saying. You asked for it kid." They got close and proceeded to throw punches at Altaïr.

These simple goon's didn't have any chance against Altaïr. He caught one of their arms and made him fall to the ground. He turned around and kicked the other in the face, then rotated back and punched the guy on the ground hard in the back of the head.

The rest of the men outside didn't take long to cover the area. Had to be about twelve or so, and none were at all happy.

Before anything else could happen however, everyone heard a gunshot. Behind the crowd stood the man Altaïr had been looking for. Roman had a pistol aimed at the sky.

"The boss said too pack things up, we're done for the day. And I also recall him saying to never cause trouble outside of our home base, didn't he?" Roman said in a sinister voice.

Less then a moment after, they all started clearing out. Roman walked towards Altaïr.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you could have caused me if you started kicking the crap out of all these low-lifes?" Roman calmly said, but Altaïr knew there was slight anger behind those words.

"I needed to find you, it was a slight guess that this was your base." Altaïr stated in his usual calm tone.

"Well isn't that just my luck." Altaïr thought the same thing.

Roman turned around and sighed heavily, looking up as he did. After a moment he turned back around.

"Fine, you want to talk, lets talk. But not here, follow me to my place." Roman sighed again in a tired voice.

He started walking off, not waiting for Altaïr. With no other choice, Altaïr followed.

*****

After walking about five miles opposite the way Altaïr came, they arrived at a slightly better but still worn down part of town. They were standing in front of a small apartment building that went up about three floors, Roman still not waiting as he started walking up the stairs at the side.

Altaïr noticed that the sun was almost gone, surprising him at how much of the day has passed. He didn't think on it long as he followed Roman up. They got up to the third floor, and turned to the doors on the left side of the building. He followed Roman to the last door on the floor, and Roman pulled out a key and went inside, Altaïr right behind him.

The place was pretty big for just Roman, having a spread out living room that had a large sofa in the middle and an projection TV across from it. There was a open door to the right showing a kitchen, and a door behind it that was closed. Two doors on the left that were closed as well. The place wasn't much on furniture besides a few tables place at certain corners, and large charts of the whole Vale region spread out. Notes and scribbles were riddled across the chart. Roman obviously kept himself busy.

Roman took off the worn suit jacket he had on at the corner of the sofa, showing a black dress shirt.

"So, what is it you want?" Roman asked, still in a tired voice. He sat down as he spoke.

Altaïr turned to look at him.

"Im guessing you know about the incident at the docks a week ago?" Altaïr asked.

"Everyone knows about it, especially people in my line of work. Why would a guy like you have interest in that?" Roman said as he leaned forward.

Altaïr walked around to face him, Roman looking straight at me.

"Wait. Don't tell me, You were the guy who caused the commotion." Roman said in a lackluster voice.

Altaïr stayed silent.

"Surprised by my lack of surprise. Well for one, All that stuff I told you, who else would know any of that. And all the other people I know who knew the same, they don't have the guts to try a stunt like that." Roman explained. " If your trying to play the righteous hero, your in the wrong field. There are no real heroes in this world."

"I never set out to be a hero, but I'm not trying to be a villain either. I do what needs to be done, not what people think should be done. I'm not afraid to kill." Altaïr simply put.

Roman leaned back. "I might have misjudged you."

"You know things I don't and I know your a smart person. So I figured this might benefit you as well." Altaïr explained.

Roman's mood seemed to change. "Well this is an interesting circumstance. You wipe away all these guys who are slowly making this city crumble, and I move up in the world."

"What makes you think I won't just give you up?" Roman asked with interest.

"Your someone who thrives off staying out of authorities. You would suddenly be on everyone's watch list more then ever. Your part of a criminal gang, and honestly, why would they believe you anyway." Altaïr explained.

After a moment of silence had passed. "Well your a quick thinker as well, your right though. Telling cops this stuff wouldn't really help me. How would that look, a criminal turning in another criminal. Whatever, you've got my attention now." Roman rambled, now in a better mood.

Altaïr now had Roman on his side, as long as this situation benefitted him for now.

"Now then, if your going to fight these guys head on, you need to know where to look. My best guess, as well as your best bet, is to look in the industrial district. There are tons of warehouses there. They got to be using one or maybe a few of them. Look there if you really want to." Roman explained.

"Okay, its a start, maybe now I can finally find something out." Altaïr said.

"If you plan on leaving already, give me your scroll." Roman asked.

Altaïr paused for a minute, but gave him his scroll anyway.

Roman typed into it and threw it back, which Altaïr caught. "If you need me, or if I need you, there's my number. Hopefully its something good."

Altaïr nodded. As he proceeded to walk out, he noticed one of the closed doors on his side of the room was open. Standing halfway out of the door was Neo, looking curiously at him. Then something that Altaïr knew wasn't a trick of his mind happened. She blinked at him, and her pale pink eye turned white. There was something special about her, but he didn't let it bother him.

Before Altaïr exited he stopped for a sec and looked back. "See you around Roman." Roman didn't look at him, but Altaïr could see a smile on his face. And so Altaïr left, feeling pleased yet cautious about this new situation.

Would he have to deal with Roman Torchwick someday?

*****

At the other end of the city of Vale, an Airship lands late into the city. And a young man stepped off the ship to look at the sight of the night setting of Vale. Pulling back his hood he smiled as he knew he was on the right path to finding his new start in life.

"Lets see where we go from here." He said aloud.

*And done, I hope this was worth the wait, and i promise that the next chapter will be up in about a week or so. Please leave any reviews you can, i read them all and appreciate all the advice i get.*