Bullseye

You know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t play this crap with me, Ashley.

The tall brunette rolled her eyes and made a point out of sighing loudly, as if she was so bored and annoyed with her company that she was just about ready to throw herself out of the window. “Jackpot, well done, love, you’re the regular old Sherlock Holmes, congratulations.” This was truly and unfortunate turn of events, especially because despite her cynical ways, Natalya had taken a slight liking to the blonde who had offered her a seat at her table one particular crowded night at City Space. Honestly she had found the girl quite pliable and had never suspected she would run into her on a mission, and definitely not like this.

"Well, sweetheart you’re too late. You snooze, you lose and all that, so why don’t you just scurry on back home to wherever you came from, and tell your "superiors" that you simply couldn’t find it, alrighty?" She said in an obnoxiously light tone of voice, clearly mocking her and clearly fed up and annoyed. "And you’re damn right no one has to get hurt in all of this, but believe me, Ash, I will not hesitate one second to fill your head with lead if you as much as think about Robin Hood’ing me, comprendé?” Every word she spoke was the honest truth, and she was pretty sure it came across as that as well, giving Ashley no false sense of hope.

"You're right," Ashley sighed, relaxing her aim and lowering her weapon. "This doesn't need to end in any bloodshed," she lied, knowing very well by the time this night was done one of them could very well wind up dead in a pool of blood. The girl had already made her decision awhile back. Talk to distract Natalya, fire off a quick arrow at one of her knees and hope it would hit, diving behind cover at the same time and praying that she'd only get grazed by a bullet at best. If she managed to pulled the feat off, and it was a big if, she'd draw her tranquilizer gun and put Natalya down for the night. It was the best possible outcome, if everything went off without a hitch of course.

Alyssa kept quiet after she’d brought Bradley’s work up, watching Ashley’s face intensely when she reacted and spoke from then on. Even if she hadn’t looked at her though, she would still have been able to detect the slight change in the mood. How Ashley immediately became guarded and somewhat suspicious, even though Alyssa had tried to go about it casually. As casually as possible when it came to something like that. She could tell immediately that there was something Ashley wasn’t saying, and that she was trying to decide whether or not to say it, and even though Alyssa definitely trusted Ashley, she was mildly surprised when she actually decided to open up and share it with Alyssa anyway. Surprised but proud in a way.

After all they'd been through together, the girl believed that her brother knew how much the freedom of choice meant, especially to her. If she weren't given that, Ashley knew the chances were she wouldn't even be standing here today; she'd probably have taken the easy way out a long time ago. Bearing that in mind, it seemed inconceivable to the girl that Bradley would join an organization hell bent on controlling everyone and everything around them, even if their ultimate goal was noble, at least a long time ago. Power corrupts, and Ashley had no doubt in her mind that the people pulling the strings of the Templars had nothing but their own selfish desires in mind.

"It sounds to me like something else might be bothering him and he’s just…using this whole thing about tripping over Shadow as an excuse to finally blow off some steam?" She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, still wondering what was going on with Bradley, because from what Ashley had told her previously about the man, he wouldn’t usually blow up because of a dog sleeping in front of his door. Of course she couldn’t help but wonder if he was upset because of something work related. Something Templar related? Not knowing his alliances was terribly irritating - mainly because Alyssa cared so much about Ashley, and for her sake, she really hoped he was just working for Abstergo, and not the Templars.

"Don’t take this the wrong way now, okay? I’m only asking, I’m not insinuating anything." 

That was never good. Ashley braced herself for what she knew was coming. She was aware that Robert had broached the subject of Bradley working for the Templars with Alyssa, though she was pleasantly surprised to see that her mentor had just a bit more tact regarding the matter. "No, I don't," Ashley said honestly. "Brad doesn't really like to talk about work, just as I don't like him to bring any of it home." The girl thought back to the rather odd incident a couple of days ago when she had found one of her brother's files in the kitchen cabinet. She struggled internally with the decision of whether to tell Alyssa about the incident. It was strange yes, but it also was more than likely nothing. She knew what Alyssa would think if she did tell her, but at the same time she trusted the mentor.

"Come to think of it though..." Ashley sighed, a look of guilt flashing across her features. "There was this strange incident a couple of days ago, when I found one of his files from work in the kitchen cabinet, but he took it away from me before I could read it." The blonde shook her head and sighed once more. "It's probably nothing, he said he'd just misplaced it. You know how we get forgetful sometimes right?" Ashley asked, though it sounded more like she was trying to reassure herself. She locked eyes with Alyssa, looking pleadingly at her.

"Let’s just talk about it later, alright? I know it’s not the best time to talk about these kinds of things, but I wanted to talk to you without Amber." He didn’t apologize for bringing it up, however, simply because he wasn’t sorry. Looking down at his meal, he realized that he too wasn’t all that hungry. He knew though that he’d regret not eating if he didn’t now. So, he began to dig into the food as Ashley cut into her own. "On a better note, let’s talk about the Riverside Roast. When I was talking to Mikaela, she was pretty interested in the place. Impressed, actually." He hoped bringing up the blonde again could possibly ease some tension. Ashley had seemed to like the woman. If she still seemed upset over everything after this, maybe he’d ask Mikaela out just to please her.

The girl's eyebrows were raised at the mention of Mikaela, and even further when Bradley told her that the woman had been interested in the Roast. "Really?" She asked, unable to keep the surprise from her voice. "Why would she be interested in that little old place?" Ashley added, still looking slightly wide-eyed. It was a huge compliment though, having the owner of the hottest restaurant in town taking an interest in her quaint little place, and the revelation went some way towards lightening Ashley's mood.