"No kidding," Shea said, grinning. When they got to the food cart, she let Harper do the talking. She was just there as the extra hands.

Harper handed a few things to Shea to hold, paid for everything, and took the last of it herself to head back to the hideout.

Shea followed.

"Smells good," she commented. She grinned. "I'm starving after training earlier."

"No kidding," Harper said, making her way inside and up. "Fortunately I don't have to do much with this."

"Good," Shea said. "Though one of these days we have to do a real shop and get you everything you need for real cooking."

"Soon," Harper agreed. "In a few more days." She shrugged. It would take her about that long to collect the necessary funds, after all.

"Sooner, if we can get some contract work," Shea replied. "Not sure how that works around here, though."

"No idea. We'll have to ask Ezio." Harper shrugged and started setting things up so they could eat.

"Yeah," Shea agreed. "But it's not a bad option to keep in mind."

"Not at all." Harper finished and stepped back. "Well, now we just need the guys and we can eat."

"I'll go find them," Shea said, heading for the door again. At the very least, she could find Desmond. He was fairly predictable.

Of course, before she could go anywhere the two thumped up the stairs, still chatting a bit. Desmond grinned at Shea when he saw her.

Shea grinned back, although she fought back the beginnings of a blush.

"I was just about to come and find you both," she said. "Dinner's ready."

"Oh good, I'm starving," Desmond said, letting her lead the way back up to the hideout. He knew that Ezio would follow.

Ezio did indeed follow. The smell of food was very enticing, he was very much looking forward to it. He followed all the way into the kitchen.

"It looks good, as always," he said to Harper.

"Thanks." Harper smiled a bit and took her plate, moving out of the way so he could get his food. "It'll get better once I'm able to get a few proper pots and pans."

"Tell me what you need," Ezio said. "I will try to acquire them for you." Because if this is what she could do with premade food, he definitely wanted to see what she could do with th proper supplies.

"Or just point me at a commission or two and I can take care of it," Harper said with a shrug. "Might be easier."

That made Ezio pause.

"Perhaps something can be arranged," he said, nodding. Because letting them take contracts wouldn't be a bad idea at all.

Harper nodded her satisfaction and picked a chair, settling in to eat.

The days fell into something of a routine. Shea and Desmond would work their trainees into the ground during the day, and then at sundown they would release their trainees and take on actual work, roaming the city for Ezio to get a feel for Templar movements and taking on a few lesser contracts for assassinations and such. It wasn't necessarily honest work, but it was enough to bring some money in, at least, and that was what mattered.

Harper settled into much of the same routine. Since Ezio had helped pick out the recruits, she pushed, but she was careful not to go too hard on them. The Templars, from what she'd seen, hadn't cottoned on to the Assassins in the city.

Which is why the attack came as such a surprise. They had started nighttime training with the recruits, to get them used to moving in the dark. Harper paused when she saw movement where there shouldn't have been, immediately going tense and whistling out a quick warning to Shea.

Desmond stopped when he heard the whistle, looking around immediately, his posture shifting as he looked for the threat. So, of course, the first attack came from one of the recruits, who threw himself at Harper in what proved to be a suicide run.

Shea stopped cold at the whistle as well, and fell into a defensive stance, glancing around. She saw the traitor run at Harper, and didn't get the chance to do more than shift forward before the man was sliding off of Harper's blade and onto the ground. A gold glint caught her eye as the pouch on Harper's belt holding the Piece of Eden flopped open and the artifact tumbled out.

The Templars around them chose that moment to run forward, hoping to catch the Assassins off guard. Harper swore to herself as one of the Templars got close enough to swipe at her with a sword, forcing her on the defensive, at least momentarily.

Desmond didn't even get a chance to go help Harper or grab for the Piece of Eden. He had two Templars on him as soon as he tried to move, and he had to fight them off first.

Shea didn't get a chance to help either of them. A pair of Templars were trying to back her into a corner, and she was fending off swords with both of her blades as she tried to win enough space to launch herself off of the wall and over their heads. She finally managed to get herself out of the corner, and darted in to stab her blades into any weak spots she could find on the Templars' armor.