Iris had to admit that Anna had a point, and nodded as well.

"It will shame them that much more later," Ezio added, "when they realize they were fooled." And he kind of liked entertaining that notion. It would show the modern Italians just how much they needed to learn.

Anna nodded. "Alright. Well, we have a couple options now: we can keep walking around and see how far they follow us, we can head back to the hotel and get some rest, or we can go knock down the door and talk to that liar again." Although she personally was voting that they do the last option tomorrow, after they'd gotten some rest.

"I vote hotel," Iris said. "They've followed us around this long, I think we should assume they'll keep doing so until they're called off."

"We should give them until tomorrow to contact us," Ezio mused. "If they have not done so by then, then I agree we should pay them another visit." And the second visit wasn't going to be quite so tame and polite as the first.

Anna nodded. "Alright, sounds like a plan. Back to the hotel it is." Because now she wanted to shower. She was still enjoying modern plumbing to its fullest.

Altair nodded and shifted a little closer to Iris, starting to make his way back to the hotel. He didn't trust these Italian Assassins at all, and he'd be more than happy to intimidate them into cooperation.

Ezio nodded as well and moved a bit closer to Anna as they walked.

Rather than wait to be contacted, the group found themselves back at the front door of the villa. Just glancing around, Iris could tell they were being watched far more closely this time than they had been before.

Anna noticed the heightened security as well, but she didn't let it bother her as she knocked on the door. The man from the day before answered, looking at them for a few moments before he sighed.

"I assume you have more questions today," he said, not letting them in just yet. "Might I point in the direction of public records?"

"No, that's not why we're here." Anna looked at him for a moment before she slid her sleeve up, showing just a part of her tattoo.

The man blinked. "Ah. Perhaps you should come inside again."

Anna nodded, keeping her expression mild, although she knew they'd already won a small victory. Now everything would be a little easier.

Iris followed her friend into the house, although she made sure to keep an eye on Altair. There was no way he would be comfortable at the moment. As they were led into a sitting room, and made note of the people she saw along the way. She pinned at least half of them for active Assassins, and the rest were either apprentices or just not.

"Clearly you are not from this area." The gentleman switched his gaze to Ezio. "Although you at least grew up here." Turning his attention back to Anna, he raised an eyebrow. "What is it that you wish to know?"

"Oh, I can think of a few things," Anna said airily. "Like how the Order is doing. Why you sent newly-initiated after us. Who fudged the records, although we might know that one already." She shrugged.

"I see. Anything else?"

"We saw all of them," Iris spoke up. She was standing next to Altair to keep a better eye on both him and everyone else. "From the gelato shop on. It wasn't hard to find them."

"Oh. Well, then... well." The gentleman stood for a moment, looking at them. "This is... mildly embarrassing."

Anna nearly facepalmed. Mildly embarrassing?! She was embarrassed for him.

"I think this is more than mildly embarrassing, Signore," Ezio replied, raising an eyebrow. "I find myself appalled that standards were allowed to get so lax."

The gentleman bristled, just a little. "Oh? And what would you know of the standards? You are clearly not from around here, and I know we are better than our American branch of the Brotherhood."

Anna winced at that. Oh yeah, they were going to have to do some major retraining.

Iris winced as well.

"Why does everyone hate Americans so much?" she whispered to Anna. "Do we really suck that much?"

"I think I would know quite a bit about where the standards should be," Ezio replied, giving the man a level look. "Considering I set those standards where they should have been."

"And how could you possibly have done that? I have never seen you before, and I know every Master this side of the equator." The gentleman's eyes narrowed.

Ezio continued to give the man his even stare.

"Signore, my name is Ezio Auditore da Fireze," he said, finally giving the man his full name. He paused for a moment to let that sink in.

The gentleman stared at him for a moment before he put his face down in his hands.

"Dio, io sono un deficiente."

"I have said much the same to myself before," Ezio said sympathetically to the man. "I understand." He glanced at Altair and back again. "However, the training I have witnessed thus far is lacking terribly, and that must be corrected."

The gentleman shrugged. "This is how I was taught," he said. "This is simply how it is done now. Things are different from your time."

"Too different," Ezio said. "It seems standards have gone lax. It must be fixed. I know I have trained better Assassins than what I have witnessed here."

The gentleman sighed. "What do you suggest?" He sounded more resigned than upset.

"Bootcamp," Iris piped up. She'd stayed quiet up until now, but now seemed like a good time to bring the focus back around from 'oh god legendary Mentor' to 'Italians need training.'

At that, Altair grinned slowly. It was his creepy evil grin, the one he reserved for when he really wanted to scare someone shitless.

The gentleman looked at him for a moment, paled just a little, and clearly put two and two together to make pi. "Mio dio," he muttered, looking at Altair.

Anna just grinned.

"I share your sentiments this one time," Ezio murmured. "I had a similar reaction."

Iris rolled her eyes and nudged Altair slightly, but didn't tell him to stop. He wasn't doing any harm, really.

"But yes, bootcamp is a good idea," she said, looking back at the Italians. "It works."

"I think Altair should take the advanced group," Anna piped up. "He's better prepared to whip them into proper shape."

When Altair raised an eyebrow at her, she just shrugged. "What? They're more likely to be able to dodge when you get pissed off and start throwing things at them."

"It's not a half-bad idea, actually," Iris mused, glancing at Altair. "They would be slightly less incompetent, less likely to irritate you with it."

Ezio just snorted. Not likely, but the girls could dream.