The Shadow’s Endgame - teecup_angel - Assassin's Creed (2024)

Chapter 1: S.S.D.D

Chapter Text

Desmond remembered dying.

No.

That wasn’t exactly correct.

Desmond remembered burning.

He remembered the pain.

And then…

Nothingness.

His next clear memory was waking up in a bed with Rebecca, Shaun, and his dad looming over him.

They all looked older than he remembered.

And then there was the place he had woken up from.

It looked like some kind of bunker.

And there was a man with them.

A man that unnerved Desmond to the very core.

An Isu.

The moment his eyes met the Isu’s eyes, he knew…

His father and friends had made a deal with the devil to save him.

William Miles, Shaun Hastings, and Rebecca Crane revived Desmond Miles on March 13, 2021.

Nine years…

Nine years have passed since Desmond died.

So many things have changed.

Shaun and Rebecca were married now and Desmond wasn’t entirely sure how that had happened but, then again, nine years was a long enough time for relationships to change so what did he know?

Juno was dead although the details of her death were a little bit unclear. All three of them seemed uncomfortable talking about it and Desmond knew they were hiding something from him. He didn’t press it because, well… He was just relieved that Juno was gone. Whatever this secret of theirs was… it could wait.

Because there was a more pressing matter that he needed to focus on.

The Isu’s name was Loki but he preferred to be called Basim. The fact that they made a deal with someone who had been recorded as a trickster god was worrying and Desmond wasn’t comforted when he learned what they had done.

In exchange for Basim being able to access the Animus and the Assassin Database, he gave them the means to revive Desmond.

To be more exact, they brought back Desmond using the genetic memory of Desmond Miles that Abstergo had stored as Sample 17. The body itself was created by using a one-time Isu device that Basim had known about. It had been one of Tinia’s projects during the time they were trying to save themselves from the sun and it had proven to be successful in creating a body but it took too long.

Half a year just to recreate one body.

And it was nothing but an empty shell that they had filled up using Sample 17’s genetic memories.

So, Desmond was back with his old memories and…

A new body that he had to get used to it.

They made him do physical therapy.

They started small. A few minutes trying to walk while holding onto railings to stop himself from falling over.

It started slow. Desmond’s mind was sluggish and coordinating with his body took all of his focus.

But it was working.

Rebecca liked to say that he was healing.

Desmond knew that was wrong.

He wasn’t healing.

He was simply getting used to being alive once more.

Sometimes, Desmond would have dreams of a large glowing tree. He couldn't explain how he knew it but he was certain that the tree was a visual representation of the calculations.

In his dreams, he would be standing next to Minerva who looked at the tree with a content expression on his face. Minerva would turn to him and her mouth would move but Desmond could not hear what she was saying.

He would wake up confused by the dreams but… at the same time…

He knew that Minerva was trying to warn him of something.

He didn’t know what but it wasn’t like he had anything else to do whenever he wasn’t doing his physical therapy anyway. So he started to check what was happening to the world.

That was when he learned what the cost of his resurrection had been.

They were estranged from the Assassins. His father had been stripped of his title of mentor and the only reason why they weren’t dead yet was because they were more useful to the Assassins alive.

The Assassins didn’t want to make a deal with Basim, not when it was clear that he was a Sage (which Desmond was just going to summarize as reincarnated Isu in a human body) and that he was the reason why Layla Hassan was dead.

Yet, his team still teamed up with Basim.

For Desmond…

To bring Desmond back…

And now, Basim was gone with the information his team had provided them with and with a POE that housed another Isu.

The Assassins were scrambling to find him while his team had been ordered to provide assistance but to not do any field missions.

They were benched not because they wanted to be with Desmond but because the Assassins had lost trust in them.

Because of Desmond…

Desmond knew what he should do.

He needed to get back to the field.

He needed to make the Assassins believe that his team… his family had done the right thing bringing him back.

“It’s a simple recon mission, Desmond. Don’t get greedy.” Rebecca’s voice came out from the small Bluetooth earpiece he had on his right ear.

“I know, mom.” Desmond teased as he drove the black Bajaj Pulsar on the almost empty highway leading to the rendezvous point where their contact was waiting for them.

“You’re nearing the meeting point. Remember-”

“500 meters west of the main road, abandoned blue house, I got it, mum.” Desmond teased as he swerved his bike to move out of the main road and into the rocky uneven ground.

“Are you really going to keep calling us that?”

“Until I get bored.” Desmond lightly commented, finally slowing down when he was nearing the abandoned small town that looked like it had been hit hard some time ago.

“Nearing the meeting point,” Desmond mumbled and both Rebecca and Shaun grew quiet, letting Desmond focus. He drove his bike inside an empty home that had one wall completely destroyed, giving more than enough room for Desmond to park his bike without any problem. Desmond turned off the engine and blinked, letting the world be washed in gray. He saw three figures shrouded in white with the middle one having wisps of blue around them three houses away from his location.

“Think I found the blue house,” Desmond mumbled as he took off his helmet. He placed his helmet on top of the motorcycle before getting off.

“I would hope so. Blue is a very striking color.”

“Shaun…”

“What? It’s true!”

“Guys, focus,” Desmond mumbled as he jumped the broken stairs to reach the second floor. Ignoring the dirty and destroyed personal items still inside the house, Desmond entered a room that was facing the direction where the three figures were waiting. He quietly opened the windows and jumped off, kicking the wall just below the window to push himself to the roof of the next house. Desmond rolled twice before finally stopping on his knees and he quietly made his way toward the three figures. Using the Eagle Vision to see the direction they were facing, Desmond traversed the roofs to reach their blindside. Once he was just a jump away from their location, Desmond perched in the corner of the roof and focused.

The white glow of all three forms dimmed a bit, letting Desmond see the reds of their forms.

Guns.

It took a bit of focus but Desmond’s Eagle Vision could now differentiate people from their weapons.

To be more precise…

Anything that could harm or be of danger to Desmond.

Guns had a red tint to their form, usually swallowed by the white or blue glow of a person.

But Desmond could see their shape which gave him an idea of what he was dealing with.

“Three people, two of them carrying rifle-like guns but they’re all carrying pistols too,” Desmond mumbled as he scanned the immediate area. There was a white vehicle parked a few feet away, most probably theirs.

“Rifle-like guns…” Shaun repeated dryly, “Really, Desmond?”

Desmond shrugged as he mumbled, “It’s rifle-shaped. I don’t know what any of them are called, Shaun.”

“Considering the location and the viability of each type, there’s a high chance they’re holding AK-47-”

“Really, Shaun?” Desmond repeated the same question Shaun gave him earlier in the same tone.

“He googled it just now!” Rebecca said gleefully.

“Shut up, Rebecca!” Shaaun hissed before saying in a calm professional tone, “Just go there and act like a normal person, Desmond.”

“Yeah, don’t creep on them.” Rebecca said, “They might shoot you if you just appear out of nowhere.”

Desmond sighed and stood, finally blinking to deactivate his Eagle Vision as he mumbled, “Fine.”

Desmond jumped off the edge of the roof, legs first, and landed on one knee. He stood up and the dust off his pants before walking towards the blue house. There was a large hole to the right of the front of the house and Desmond could easily use it to propel himself up to the second floor where the three figures were.

Instead, Desmond ignored the hole and knocked on the still-standing door three times.

He waited for a few seconds before knocking again.

Just when he was about to knock for the third time, a man poked his head out of the large hole next to the door and asked in heavily accented English, “What are you doing?”

Desmond turned to grin at him as he replied, “My two moms told me to be polite.”

“Oh my god, Desmond.”

“This is why we don’t take you out.”

Desmond’s grin only grew as he heard his two friends’ embarrassed voices.

The man narrowed his eyes at him and stared at him which Desmond only answered with a grin. The man slowly stepped back inside and shouted in Arabic, “They sent an idiot!”

“Just get him here already!” A female voice ordered from inside the house.

The man poked his head back out of the hole and said in English, “Come on.”

“I prefer to be called eccentric,” Desmond said in Arabic as he followed the man inside the house, using the big hole to enter.

The man didn’t look sorry at all, only narrowing his eyes at Desmond again before stepping to the side as he held his rifle with both hands, as he said in Arabic, “Take the stairs to your left.”

Desmond glanced at the man’s right hand, noticing the point finger curled around the trigger.

Never a good sign.

Desmond kept his movements slow and made sure that he could always see the man in his peripheral vision as he walked behind Desmond.

They ascended the stairs and Desmond walked to the second door to his right without the man’s prompting. He used his point and middle fingers to open the already slightly ajar door.

Desmond raised an eyebrow when a man was waiting by the door, aiming his rifle at Desmond. Desmond stepped inside slowly and turned his attention to the other person inside the room.

“Is this how you usually greet your allies?” Desmond asked curiously in Arabic.

“Only when they’re the ones who stay in the shadows.” The woman answered calmly before turning to face the man that had been behind Desmond, “Search him.”

Desmond raised his hands slowly as the man patted him down. He took Desmond’s burner phone, his switchblade, and his wallet from the pockets of his pants before pulling his white hoodie off. The woman hummed as she got a good look at Desmond’s face before turning her attention to the wallet and phone that her companion gave her. He returned the switchblade to Desmond’s left pocket which was nice of him. She glanced at Desmond as she opened his wallet and ordered, “Pull down his sleeves.”

Desmond didn’t react as the man came back and pulled both of his sleeves down.

But she did.

“You don’t have it.”

“Have what?” Desmond tilted his head as he slowly dropped his hands.

“The blade of the Assassins.” She answered before nodding, “Good. They will pat you down just as we have. They will find it if you were stupid enough to bring it with you.”

Desmond watched her as she checked his wallet, “You seem to know a lot about us.”

“We grow up hearing the tales of the Assassins in Masyaf.” She replied as she took out his fake ID, “And we also know Eddie Richtofen is not your real name.”

She threw the id to the floor before taking out an id from her back pocket. She slipped it inside his wallet as she said, “As of today, your name is Abbas Bashar.”

She noticed Desmond’s frown and asked, “Is something the matter?”

“Does it have to be ‘Abbas’?” Desmond groaned.

She simply shrugged as she replied, “You’re the one who decided to have a non-Arabic fake ID.”

“Would they even believe me if I say I’m Arabic?” Desmond asked as he waved a hand on his face.

She stared at him for a moment before shrugging once more, “If they ask, you have a European mother.”

“I’m sure she’ll like that.” Desmond mumbled.

She threw the wallet back to him and Desmond caught it in midair. He flipped it open and raised an eyebrow as he saw the face of this ‘Abbas Bashar’. He raised his head to stare at her as he asked, “How’d you find a guy that looked a lot like me?”

“You have a very generic face.” She replied dryly. Her lips twitched when she saw the offended look Desmond made and explained, “We got it from the photo Abstergo passed around ten years ago. We added the beard.”

“Looks good, right?” Desmond asked with a grin as he rubbed his five o'clock shadow.

She just raised an eyebrow at him.

Desmond continued to grin as he placed his wallet back in his back pocket, “And my phone?”

She looked at his burner phone and tapped the screen for a bit before she said, “This phone model is too old. They’ll find it suspicious. Also… your only contacts are…”

She looked at him with a disappointed stare as she dryly said, “Mum and stepmom.”

“Am I the ‘mum’?!”

“Why am I the stepmom, Desmond!?”

“Oh, you guys’ been learning Arabic? Cool.” Desmond commented, absolutely ignoring their questions.

She sighed and said, “Say goodbye to your handlers, Assassin.”

“Bye, mom, bye, mum.” Desmond cheerfully said in English before the man behind him plucked the small Bluetooth earpiece that had been in his ear. He threw it at the woman holding Desmond’s phone who caught it in midair at the same time she dropped the call from his phone. She pocketed his phone before taking out a plain black smartphone from her back pocket.

She threw the phone in his direction and Desmond caught it before it hit him in the face.

“That has call logs of you calling a few of my men. I’m your only speed dial.” She explained before nodding at the two men with her.

They finally lowered their rifles and Desmond checked his new phone, raising an eyebrow when he noticed, “Uuuhh… there’s a lot of… anime p*rn in this?”

She simply shrugged as she said, “They were easier to download than real p*rn.”

Desmond didn’t believe that one bit.

“It doesn’t have to have any p*rn in it,” Desmond grumbled, ignoring the two men covering their snickering by coughing.

Even the woman’s lips were twitching as if she was about to smile as she argued, “We couldn’t add photos of real people in it. Not when you won’t know who they are. But an empty gallery folder is suspicious as well so…”

She waved her hand in the direction of Desmond’s anime p*rn-infested phone.

“And if they ask which anime this is from?” Desmond dryly asked.

“Tell them you only searched by what you enjoy.” She suggested and that only made Desmond’s frown deepen as he swiped the folder filled with…

“Uuuhhh…” Desmond raised his head to say, “There’s… tentacles in a lot of these…”

“Then I suppose you enjoy that sort of thing.” She replied before sighing, “The point is to make the Americans not question your identity too much.”

“And anime tentacle p*rn won’t?” Desmond asked with a frown.

“It will make them feel awkward asking it.” She argued before walking towards Desmond, “The only reason why we’re able to slip you into their operation is because this is an urgent mission and they don’t have time to properly clear anyone. They requested one of my people because they trust me. We are risking our relationship with the Americans by letting you in.”

“So you will do whatever mission that was requested of you and you will do as the Americans request of you.” She said as she handed a gun to Desmond, “Do you understand?”

“Loud and clear.” Desmond nodded as he took the gun. He looked it over and checked the magazine.

He didn’t know what kind of pistol it was but that didn’t matter.

All that mattered was that it had a 7 round magazine.

“The location of your meeting point with the Americans is the last text I sent to your phone.” She began to walk out of the room together with her two companions, “Good luck, Assassin.”

“Thanks… uhhh…” Desmond quickly checked the messaging app on the phone and found the message log that had the coordinates. Desmond raised his head and ran out of the room as he shouted while the three were walking down the stairs, “Farah!”

She turned to look back at him as she reached the end of the stairs.

“Safety and peace, Farah,” Desmond said.

Farah stared at him for a moment before nodding, “I hope you find what you’re looking for, Assassin.”

Desmond took a quick look at what was on the phone they gave him. Other than the more than necessary amount of anime p*rn that they had saved in his gallery as part of his cover (Desmond just knew someone was just trying to screw with him), there was a small shopping list in the notes app and the list was definitely the usual things one would buy when they’re trying to lie low.

His team had a similar list back when they were with…

Desmond shook his head and focused his attention back on the phone.

There were a few calls made on this phone that only went as far back as two weeks. When he checked the messaging app, the first message was from the phone itself, sent to Farah.

“new phone old cracked while escaping AQ - Bashar”

Desmond was just relieved that he had an excuse to use the name Bashar instead of Abbas.

This did mean that they had started to prepare this phone the day Desmond’s team reached out to them.

Huh.

Interesting.

Desmond wondered if this was a special case or if Farah’s people had a lot of experience doing this sort of thing.

Regardless, there was nothing else that would be useful for his cover in the phone he had been given so he opened the message log with Farah once more and memorized the location that she had sent.

He knew immediately where the location was.

Desmond had spent the last few weeks preparing for this mission and Altaïr’s memories helped him familiarize himself with the area.

The location was just 50 kilometers from a village that Altaïr’s memories remembered as as-Sijn.

It was called by a different name now though.

Al-Mazrah.

Al-Mazrah… or, as Altaïr knew it, as-Sijn, had been a simple village during Altaïr’s years in Levant. They were under Saracens' rule and it was relatively peaceful. As far as Desmond knew, there was no incident or anything weird in the village that ever caught the Levantine Brotherhood’s attention.

But now…

The Assassins believed that the village was being used by Abstergo for some reason. A lone encrypted email from Abstergo that Erudito managed to intercept seemed to suggest that Abstergo had been using some kind of third-party company to send supplies to as-Sijn.

It took a lot of tense conversation for the Assassins to even agree to let Desmond take point in retrieving the item and he was sure Bill teaming up with another Assassin cell to check Abstergo’s movements in Russia had something to do with Desmond finally being approved to be back in the field.

A simple recon mission, just like Rebecca said.

Nothing fancy. Just something easy to ease Desmond back into the field.

If pretending to be a member of the Urzikstan Liberation Force to fool the United States Army Ranger into including him in their ops as their translator so he could check the village without raising too much alarm was supposed to be easy anyway.

But this was the only way they could come up with to check the village without accidentally letting Abstergo know that the Assassins knew about their dealings with as-Sijn and about Desmond’s ‘miraculous’ revival anyway.

They asked Erudito to send an anonymous vague tip to the ranger company nearest to as-Sijn, currently nearby for a joint training with the local military force. From there, they forced an urgency into the tip that would make them need the help of a translator that didn’t come from the local military.

Enter a member of Farah’s Urzikstan Liberation Force. They were a third party and Farah had proved herself to be an ally that the US can trust to keep this entire thing a secret, considering her dealings with the CIA.

Farah was also allied with the Assassins… distantly anyway.

The Assassins provided information to her but that was the most they could do. The Assassins were so focused on Abstergo and all these POEs that keep popping like f*cking co*ckroaches that they had forgotten their enemies weren’t the Templars.

Not really.

The Brotherhood’s enemies had always been those who abuse their power. Those who cripple the freedom and destroy the peace of others.

Yet, Desmond bit his tongue and stayed silent even as his Bleed of his ancestors whisper to him of how far the Assassins had fallen from their original mission.

He knew it would only fall on deaf ears.

Right now, the Assassins see Desmond as an unknown. They don’t trust him and they certainly won’t listen to him if he started to say that they were doing it all wrong.

For now, Desmond needed to focus on what he could do. He needed to complete this mission and make the Assassins see his team as allies once more.

He needed the Assassins to see him as someone worth listening to.

Chapter 2: Wolverines

Chapter Text

“Abbas Bashar.” The soldier read in his American accent the fake ID Farah gave him the moment he got off his motorcycle and approached the two trucks parked on the side of the road.

They were a few meters off the actual location they were supposed to meet but Desmond didn’t bother telling them that.

“I prefer to be called Bashar,” Desmond said in English, making the soldier stared at him.

“You don’t look-”

“Half.” Desmond cut him off, not wanting to take the chance that the soldier might say a word that would make one of his Bleeds want to punch him, “Mom’s Italian.”

The soldier hummed as a large soldier with dark skin briskly walked towards them and reported, “His credentials check out. He’s from the Urzik Militia. Farah Karim vouched for him personally.”

The first soldier nodded and handed Desmond’s fake ID back which he quickly slipped back into his wallet while the soldier explained, “You will be riding with Sgt. Foley’s team.”

The soldier who vouched for his fake identity nodded and Desmond assumed that meant he was Sgt. Foley.

“He’ll debrief you en route.” The soldier continued before turning towards the soldier standing next to Desmond’s bike, “Private Allen!”

“Yes, sir!” The soldier stood on attention.

“Take Mister Bashar’s motorcycle and-” He threw Desmond’s phone to the private who caught it easily, “phone back to base.”

“Yes, sir!”

He turned to stare at Desmond as he continued, “We cannot take the chance that your phone might be tracked by AQ. You’ll get it back once the mission is over.”

“That’s fine by me. Just…” Desmond remembered that he didn’t bother to add a passcode to the damn thing, f*ck, “Don’t look at the gallery?”

“Why? You have dick pics in it?” The soldier snarked, making Sgt. Foley turned to frown at his fellow soldier.

“I prefer my p*rn 2D.” … Apparently.

They both stared at him for a moment before the first soldier sighed, “Let’s get going.”

“Rog.” Sgt. Foley nodded at Desmond as he said, “Bashar, with me.”

Desmond followed him as he briskly walked to the truck in front where three soldiers were keeping guard.

Desmond hummed when he noticed that the truck was already running.

“Ramirez! Get our translator protection!” Sgt. Foley ordered and the soldier keeping watch on the left rear side opened the backdoor.

Desmond walked towards him and grinned as he said, “Hey, name’s Bashar.”

“Ramirez.” Ramirez introduced himself with an easy smile and grabbed a plain bulletproof vest, “Sorry it’s not as fancy as ours but it’ll keep you safe.”

“Do I have to?” Desmond frowned. It looked heavier than his normal clothes and, for someone like Desmond who heavily relied on speed, anything just a tad heavy was going to be a hindrance.

“As long as you are part of our team, you will play by our rules.” Sgt. Foley said in his loud booming voice.

“Here, let me help you.” Ramirez offered and Desmond let the young man put the vest on him, raising his arms to help Ramirez.

“310 miles from our position is a village called Al Mazrah. We received intel that a CIA operative might have taken shelter in the village after a run-in with AQ.” Sgt. Foley explained while Ramirez put on an earpiece on Desmond’s left ear that was connected to the radio strapped to his vest before he patted Desmond’s back which Desmond was going to just chalk up as his way of saying the vest was good to go. Desmond frowned when Ramirez handed him a helmet and Ramirez gave him another easy smile.

“Right now, you’re part of our team, Hunter Two-One Fireteam Alpha, which means wearing the goddamn helmet.” Sgt. Foley said in that booming voice of his that was actually pretty smooth all things considered.

Desmond took the helmet from Ramirez but kept his hood on as he placed it over his head. He clipped the strap on as Sgt. Foley continued, “We don’t expect any contact with AQ since everything we could find of the village marks it as clean but we can’t risk it. If we do get in contact with AQ, you’re to be treated as any other local translator we employ. You do not engage and you follow all our orders, do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Desmond said.

Sgt. Foley nodded at him before turning his attention towards the rest of the team, “Cpl. Dunn, you’re driving! Ramirez, Morgan, you two at the back with Bashar!”

“Yes, sir!”

They all got into the truck except Ramirez who held the door open as he said with a smile, “After you, Bashar.”

Desmond’s lips curved into a grin as he commented casually, “Such a gentleman.”

“It’s called regulations, now, get your ass in, Bashar!” Sgt. Foley shouted from inside the truck and both Desmond and Ramirez’s lips curved to an amused smile.

“Is he always like that?” Desmond whispered as he passed Ramirez to get inside the truck.

“Only when he’s ordering me around,” Ramirez whispered back and waited until Desmond was sitting in the middle before entering the truck as well.

The moment Ramirez closed the door, Sgt. Foley pressed something on the radio on his vest before saying, “Hunter Two-One Actual to Hunter Two-One Bravo, we are good to go. How copy.”

There was a beat before Desmond heard the voice of the soldier that vetted his fake ID coming from the earpiece that Ramirez had put on him, “Hunter Two-One Bravo to Hunter Two-On Actual, we’re good to go too. On your mark.”

“Rog.” Sgt. Foley replied before nodding at Cpl. Dunn.

The truck began to move and Sgt. Foley turned to look at Desmond, “Your job is simple. You’re here to translate for us anything we want to ask or tell the villagers. First and foremost, you will tell them that we are not there to hurt anyone or to do anything. We’re simply there to ask if anyone is hiding from AQ there.”

“And if they say no?” Desmond asked, already knowing that there was no CIA operative in the village. That entire thing had been a lie that Erudito had sent the Rangers so they would be forced to check the village.

“Then we start going door to door.” Sgt. Foley continued and added before Desmond could say anything, “We knock on each door and you tell them we’re looking for a fugitive that may be hiding in the village. For their own safety, we request that they leave their house so we can search it.”

“Sgt. Macey’s team will keep a secure perimeter so no one gets out while we’re checking every house.” Sgt. Foley continued, “We can’t deny the possibility that this intel of a person being a CIA operative is bogus and we’re walking into a trap.”

Sgt. Foley turned his attention to his entire time, “But we only engage when it is absolutely necessary. Engage to subdue only unless we find definite proof that they’re not civilians.”

“Yes, sir.” The entire team answered while Desmond nodded grimly.

f*ck.

He hoped this little lie they made Erudito do wouldn’t bite them in the ass.

As-Sijn certainly changed from what Desmond could remember.

To be more precise, what he could remember from his Bleed.

At this point, they were pretty much the same thing anyway.

They parked a few meters away from the village and let the other truck pass them by.

A few minutes passed and Desmond was already bored. He turned to face Ramirez who looked the friendliest of the people currently on his team and asked, “So… what’s your favorite color?”

Ramirez turned to look at Desmond with a confused expression on his face but he still answered, “Yellow, I guess?”

“Huh.” Desmond nodded before asking, “Want to guess what my favorite color is?”

Ramirez’s confused expression turned to amusem*nt as he asked, “Is it white?”

Desmond looked down at his white hoodie that was just a bit dirty now before raising his head to grin at Ramirez as he replied, “Actually, no. It’s red.”

Ramirez snorted before saying, “Why do I have the feeling that you’re lying?”

Desmond’s grin grew as he said, “I don’t lie.”

They both grew quiet when they heard the voice of who Desmond assumed was Sgt. Macey since he was the one talking for the other team announced, “Hunter Two-Bravo to Hunter Two-One Actual. We’re in position. Over.”

“Copy, Hunter Two-One Bravo. Alpha team, Oscar Mike.” Sgt. Foley answered and everyone opened the doors to the truck as Sgt. Foley said, “Keep the chatter to a minimum. You’re not on a blind date.”

“I was going to ask you what your favorite color is too, Sarge,” Desmond said with a grin as he followed Ramirez out.

Sgt. Foley stared at him for a moment before saying blandly, “Frost.”

Desmond blinked as Sgt. Foley turned around. Desmond stared at Sgt. Foley’s back for a moment before turning to stare at Ramirez as he asked, “Was that an answer or some kind of military jargon I don’t understand?”

“We’re not sure if there are any hostiles in the area so stay frosty!” Sgt. Foley ordered before Ramirez could answer Desmond, “Bashar! You stay with Ramirez at all times. Always stay behind him, on his seven, understand?”

“Got it.” Desmond nodded.

“Morgan, Dunn, cover our rears. Ramirez, with me!” Sgt. Foley ordered before turning around. Desmond couldn’t help but be impressed when the entire team moved in sync, boxing Desmond in the middle with Ramirez just a few feet behind Sgt. Foley’s right while Morgan and Dunn were behind Desmond. They began to walk to the entrance of the village, hands on their rifles but pointing them down.

A quick glance around him showed Desmond that all four of them had their point finger placed by the trigger but was not curled around the trigger itself.

That was better.

They entered the village and Sgt. Foley said quietly without looking back, “Now, Bashar.”

Desmond didn’t nod. Instead, he said as calmly but as loudly as he could in Arabic, “We come in peace! We heard that an American citizen might have hidden here to get away from people meaning them harm. We only wish to keep them safe and take them home. If you know anything, please let us know.”

Desmond glanced and noticed that Sgt. Foley had something in his hand right now that was…

“Is that translating what I say?” Desmond whispered in English.

“Just need to make sure there are no surprises.” Sgt. Foley replied without even a hint of being sorry, “We can’t risk you saying the wrong thing.”

“Oh. Okay.” Desmond shrugged, not really surprised by that, “So? How did I do?”

“It’s translating your words in an overly formal way but the words themselves are fine.” Sgt. Foley answered before saying, “We’ll wait for a minute if anyone steps forward. If they don’t, we sweep the village from left to right.”

“Rog.” Everyone said at the same time Desmond said, “Okay.”

The moment the minute was up, they all moved to the leftmost house, and Sgt. Foley and Dunn positioned themselves on either side of the door while Ramirez pushed Desmond behind him as he and Morgan positioned themselves a few steps back away from the door before they went on one knee and aimed their rifles at the door. Desmond crouched behind Ramirez and waited as Sgt. Foley knocked on the door before he nodded at him.

Desmond nodded back before shouting at the door in Arabic, “Please open the door and leave the building! We’re looking for a fugitive that may be hiding in the village! For your own safety, please leave the building while we conduct our search!”

There was a few seconds of silence before the door creaked open. Dunn grabbed the door and pulled it all the way, making the man on the other side shout in his native language, “What do you think you’re doing!? This is my home!”

“Sir, please calm down.” Desmond said calmly in the same language, “These soldiers are here to check every home for any fugitive that may be hiding in the village. For your own safety, we ask that you please step away from your home and wait for them to finish searching the home.”

“They have no right to do this!” The man shouted as he was firmly but not harshly pushed by Dunn towards Morgan.

Morgan patted him down before saying, “Clear.”

“Dunn, with me.” Sgt. Fooley ordered and the both of them entered the house while Morgan forced the man to turn and pushed him to sit on the ground.

“Hey, what’re you doing!?” Desmond shouted and took a step towards Morgan but Ramirez stopped him by placing a hand on his chest.

“It’s protocol.” Ramirez explained as Morgan quickly zip-tied the man’s wrists together and then his ankles before using another zip tie to tie both his tied wrists and tied ankles together, “This is the only way we can be sure that they’re noncombatants.”

“That’s…” Desmond frowned but kept quiet, seeing the logic behind it.

“House clear.” Sgt. Foley and Dunn returned and he nodded at the three waiting outside, “Next house, let’s go.”

It took three houses for Desmond to finally realize what has been bothering him when they entered the village. He had assumed the uneasiness he felt was connected to the fact that he was being escorted by soldiers with guns but no…

It wasn’t that.

It was the village itself.

And Desmond needed to know why.

But he knew that the Eagle Vision made his eyes glow gold so he couldn’t just use it in front of so many witnesses.

He needed an opening.

He soon got one when Sgt. Foley and Dunn were inside clearing their fourth house while Morgan was busy tying up the two young men occupying the current house and Ramirez had to focus on the two of them to make sure they don’t try to overpower Morgan. Desmond used that time to look around the village with his Eagle Vision activated.

f*ck.

They were all reds.

Every single person in this village with the exception of the white forms of Sgt. Foley, Dunn and Morgan, and Ramirez’s light blue form.

And…

A large golden glow deeper in the village, underneath the largest house that Desmond was sure had been used by the leader of the village whoever that may be.

Desmond blinked to deactivate his Eagle Vision and pretended to scratch his shoulder as he quietly clicked the same button he saw Sgt. Foley used to contact everyone. He mumbled quietly, “Hey, guys. It’s Bashar. I saw a few people enter the largest house just now. It’s in the middle of the village and it’s usually the one used by the village leader but that’s not important.”

Desmond wanted to bang his head. It was only a matter of time before he caught Shaun’s penchant for rambling about facts and trivia but this was the worst time to do that.

“Maybe they’re just going to complain to their leader or something but…” Desmond mumbled, “Something fishy is going on and, whatever it is, it’s connected to that house.”

“Uuuhh… Over?” Desmond let go of the button and scratched his cheek just to make it seem like he was just really itchy as he turned to face the entrance of the current house Sgt. Foley and Dunn were in.

He noticed Ramirez lightly tilt his head as he clicked the same button on his radio and mumbled, “Bashar’s right. We haven’t seen any kids in this village at all. That’s too fishy.”

Then louder, he said, “Outside clear. Over.”

“Hunter Two-One Bravo to Hunter Two-One Actual, we’re not seeing any movements on our position. If they’re planning something, it’s happening inside the village.” Sgt. Macey’s voice came out from Desmond’s earpiece.

“Hunter Two-One Actual to All Hunters, stay alert but act relaxed. Bravo Team, move to the house that Hunter Tango pointed but do not be seen by anyone. We’ll keep doing our sweep and meet you there. Bravo Team will breach from the back and we will provide cover and act as a decoy from the front. Understood?”

“Lima Charlie.” Sgt. Macey replied.

Okay. All this military jargon was starting to get annoying.

Desmond could sense how much more alert everyone was after he had told them about the large house. To be honest, Desmond was risking a lot by telling the rangers about it but there was no way they were going to let Desmond check out whatever that thing that glowed gold in his Eagle Vision without an escort and he couldn’t find any other reasons to use to get them to even entertain the idea.

Right now, all Desmond could do was to get them near whatever was glowing gold, and then he’ll find a way to slip out and check it, maybe even go ‘you gotta see this’ once he was sure that the gold thing wasn’t something dangerous.

And, hey, maybe Desmond would be lucky and it’ll be the smoking gun they would need for Abstergo to get into hot waters with the US government.

A man could dream, after all.

Finally, they were clearing the house just to the left of the large house and, this up close, Desmond could see movements coming from the windows of the large house.

They were watching them.

Bravo team was already in position while Morgan and Ramirez positioned themselves differently this time around. Instead of facing the door, they both knelt to the left of the door, their body slightly turned so they would have a clear view of the large house to their right.

Morgan quickly tied up the man and woman occupying the house while Sgt. Foley and Dunn entered the home. A few seconds after they had entered the home, Desmond heard Sgt. Foley’s voice in his earpiece, “Hunter Two-One Actual to Hunter Two-Bravo. You are clear to breach. We’ll provide backup from behind our current position. Over.”

“Hunter Two-One Bravo to Hunter-Two Actual, Oscar Mike. Breaching through back door.” Sgt. Macey’s voice was much softer this time around and Desmond wished he could just activate his Eagle Vision so he could see what the hell was happening.

“Ramirez, take point. Keep an eye on the front and engage only when we have confirmation that-”

“We’re in the kitchen. Took down two armed hostiles. I repeat, we have armed hostiles in the house.” Sgt. Macey informed them before Sgt. Foley could finish his instructions, “Approaching dini-”

There was a sudden rain of gunshots that came from both Desmond’s earpiece and the large house.

“sh*t! We’re compromised!” Sgt. Macey shouted and Desmond felt Ramirez grab his arm, pulling him closer. Desmond could barely hear Sgt. Macey shouts for reinforcement to someone with a callsign of Overlord.

“Ramirez, breach from the front! Morgan and Bashar, cover him!” Sgt. Foley ordered, “We’ll follow Bravo team’s route and rendevous with them!”

“Rog,” Ramirez said quietly. Without looking at Desmond, he whispered, “Bashar, stay close.”

Desmond nodded. A moment passed before Desmond realized that Ramirez probably didn’t see his nod so he said, “Got it.”

“Moving in from the front,” Ramirez said quietly and Desmond followed him.

Morgan followed after them by walking backward, keeping an eye on their back. He patted Desmond’s back and whispered, “Get your gun out, Bashar.”

“Gun?” Desmond repeated before realizing, “Oh, right.”

Desmond took out the handgun Farah gave him with his right hand at the same time he took out his switchblade with his left hand. He flipped the blade open and pressed the butt of the handgun against the back of his hand. He kept the gun trained at the ground as they proceeded slowly toward the front of the large house.

Just when they were a few feet away from the house, Desmond’s body moved and he shouted, “Get down!”

Desmond grabbed Morgan by his vest and pulled him to the ground with him at the same time he pushed Ramirez’s back. All three of them fell to the ground and a hail of bullets barely missed them.

Morgan cursed and grabbed Desmond’s head, pressing it to the ground as he used his body to cover him while Ramirez turned around. Both of them began to fire blindly while Desmond was too busy coughing out dirt.

He get that Morgan was trying to protect him but he didn’t need to kiss the f*cking ground.

Desmond pushed Morgan away and blinked, letting the world turn gray. He aimed his gun at the second floor, targeting the white spots behind the reds on the second floor. He pulled the trigger and each white spot shattered upon impact, letting the bullets hit the reds. Most of them were nonfatal but it gave them the seconds they needed for Desmond to shout, “Now! Run to the house!”

The three of them raced into the house and Desmond ran ahead, ignoring Ramirez’s shout, “Bashar! Stay back! It’s not clear yet!”

Desmond knew that.

He also knew their exact positions.

Desmond ignored the door and shot at the window right next to it, shattering it. He covered his face with his arms and jumped inside the window, letting his leather jacket and jeans protect him from the shards. He crashed inside the living room, rolling twice and taking down a nearby red by bodyslamming him. He used his switchblade to stab the red in the neck before using his body as a shield against the bullets now flying in his direction. Knowing the body wouldn’t last an entire magazine, Desmond pulled the switchblade out of the body and kicked it towards the red in front. He threw his switchblade at the red using the couch as cover and fired his gun at the red in front, piercing the body at the same place three times to finally get the bullet to penetrate the red behind it.

Both reds crumpled to the floor just as Ramirez breached the house. He and Morgan quickly entered and Ramirez trained his gun at the door to the left while Morgan looked around the carnage Desmond had created, “Jesus. You alright, Bashar?”

“Just peachy,” Desmond replied as he kept his head down while he crouched to the nearest corpse, taking his handgun all the while hoping his head and helmet would cover his glowing eyes.

He couldn’t deactivate them.

Not yet.

Not when the reds were still littered all around them.

As well as…

Desmond nodded at the hallway as he said, “Gunfires down the hall.”

“Sgt. and Bravo Team.” Ramirez said quietly before clicking on his radio while Desmond checked the handgun, “We’ve cleared the living room, going to your position.”

“Attack from that position. We’ll take these bastards down with a pincer attack!” Sgt. Foley ordered and Ramirez turned to face Morgan and Bashar.

Desmond stood, taking note of the fourteen bullets left in his new gun.

“I’ll take point. Bashar…” Ramirez grabbed Desmond’s switchblade and closed it before throwing it at Desmond who caught it in midair, “Stay behind me. Morgan, cover our six.”

“Rog,” Morgan said.

“There’s something here,” Desmond said instead of agreeing. He kept his eyes trained on the floor as he said, “They were protecting something in this room.”

“We sweep the entire house then we check whatever it is they’re protecting,” Ramirez said and Desmond knew that was the right move.

The safe move.

But Desmond was never one for safe.

He wasn’t a soldier.

He was an Assassin.

“sh*t! Reinforcement from the front!” Morgan shouted and crouched behind the couch while Ramirez stepped to the next room, pressing his back against the wall next to the open doorway while Desmond went on his stomach. The windows and doors blew apart by the amounts of bullets coming from the reinforcements from the front. Morgan fired blindly without breaking for cover as he shouted, “We’re pinned down!”

“Stairs!” Desmond shouted as he saw the reds upstairs starting to descend. There was a lull from the bullet storm as their enemies reloaded and Ramirez used that time to dash back into the room, sliding next to Morgan and throwing a grenade towards the stairs.

“Grenade!” Someone shouted in Arabic before an explosion shook the second floor. The floor creaked ominously and it took out two reds.

But there were still five reds above them.

And ten reds in front of them.

Another torrent of bullets blasted in their direction and Desmond noticed they were slowly making their way to the house so he shouted, “The gunshots’ getting close!”

“They’re coming to us!” Ramirez shouted back before he patted Morgan’s back, “Morgan, we fire when they come in! Bashar, come here and- Bashar!”

Desmond pulled the carpet off where the first red he killed had been.

And finally blinked as the white below him was shining too much that it was making his eyes bleed.

“Trap door!” Desmond shouted as the bullets continued to rain down on them, “They were protecting this trap door!”

“Damn it, Bashar-”

“We’ll hide inside here then surprise them when they come in!” Desmond argued and didn’t wait for Ramirez to say anything else, shooting at the wood near the lock to destroy it. He pushed the trap door open and jumped down, making Ramirez curse.

Desmond didn’t wait for Ramirez and Morgan to join him, quickly making his way to the direction where the gold had been in his Eagle Vision.

The trapdoor was situated above a tunnel that had lightbulbs lighting the way and it didn’t take long for Desmond to reach the end.

He almost wished he didn’t.

Because in the large basem*nt that had another door that most probably led to a secret passage outside of this house…

Was some kind of golden sphere as tall as Desmond…

With glowing white lines that Desmond was uncomfortably familiar with.

His right hand twitched as he walked towards the golden sphere, eyes widening as he could hear the telltale whispers…

Of a Piece of Eden.

f*ck.

Of all the things it had to be…

Of all the things that could go wrong…

This large-ass golden ball that was probably around five feet in total width, maybe even more, was not on his list of easy missions.

What the f*ck was this even…

A gunshot echoed all over the room and Desmond grunted as the force of the bullet piercing his right shoulder slammed him against the POE.

“f*ck…” Desmond growled as blood began to drip from his shoulder to his hand, he used his bloody hand to push himself off the POE, evading another shot that had been aimed at his neck while he turned around and fired his gun, emptying his entire clip as his assailant hid behind one of the metal crates. Desmond gritted his teeth and quickly went toward the other side of POE, using it as his cover as he dropped his gun and looked over his wounded shoulder.

He didn’t notice how the glowing lines of the POE were now pulsing lightly, too focused on berating himself for getting too distracted by the POE.

Damn it.

He was never going to get the blood off this hoodie now.

The bullet pierced clean through though which was nice.

Was this shock?

Was Desmond in shock?

f*ck if he knew. This would be the first time he actually got shot.

21st-century weaponry sucks ass.

Desmond took a deep breath to focus and blinked, letting the world turn gray once more.

Only to immediately blink once more because, holy sh*t, this POE was burning his eyes.

Left with no choice, Desmond clicked on his radio as he whispered, “Guys, there’s a hidden passageway underneath. We can hold our position here. There’s only one guard but I’m out of ammo. I’ll try and take him-”

“What’s the hostile’s position from the entrance?” Ramirez cut him off and it took Desmond a moment to actually understand Ramirez’s question.

“Uhhh… 2 o’clock?” Desmond guessed.

“Copy. Keep him there.” Ramirez said.

When nobody else spoke, Desmond peeked slightly as he shouted in Arabic, “So, you guys terrorists?!”

“You are talking to a Quds Force officer, American dog!”

Shaun had given him a brief background of the current situation in Al Mazzrah and its neighboring areas so Desmond knew what the Quds Force was, “Well, you assholes are supporting terrorists so you’re terrorists too!”

“I can say the same to you!” The man shouted back.

Before Desmond could continue (probably make a ‘yo mama’ joke just to offend the asshole), Ramirez entered the room and immediately fired in the direction where the guard was.

“Bashar! You good?!” Ramirez asked as he quickly rushed towards Desmond’s side while firing in the guard’s direction.

Desmond placed his right hand on the POE to help himself get up, wincing when he remembered that, oh yeah, he did get shot in his right shoulder.

Idiot.

The guard stood from his cover and aimed his gun at Ramirez at the same time Ramirez aimed at him. Before either of them would fire, the POE enveloped the room in golden light, forcing all three of them to cover their eyes.

Desmond recovered first.

No.

His Eagle Vision had activated on its own and the blinding golden glow of the POE had changed.

It was now blue.

What.

Desmond blinked to deactivate his Eagle Vision and his eyes widened when the sphere began to open like a lotus flower. Desmond and Ramirez took a few steps back to not get hit by the golden metallic petals slowly opening. Inside was a chair…

No.

A throne.

A simple metallic throne with the telltale lines of a POE.

Desmond froze as he heard the POE directly in his mind.

Diagnostic complete.

Stored energy at 400%.

Dispersal of energy required.

Calculating Anima targets.

Targets?

The POE began to glow and Desmond could feel the heat slowly building up in the room.

Oh sh*t.

“We need to go.” Desmond said and grabbed Ramirez’s vest, “Now! Everyone needs to go now!”

Ramirez didn’t hesitate and they both ran towards the other door in the room while Ramirez shouted at his radio, “All units, get out! Get out now!”

They didn’t even know what happened to the guard.

By the time they reached the end of the passageway, the sun was already setting and they were just outside the village. A second later, a large beam of light pierced the setting sky as the shockwave threw them off their feet.

Desmond grunted as he landed on his wounded shoulder while Ramirez quickly rushed towards him, covering him as the beam of light let out a dozen smaller lights that seemed more akin to comets, falling in an arc. The comet-like light pierced the grounds near them and a small pillar of light, the width of a person erupted for a few seconds before disappearing into a golden mist.

The beam lasted for only a few seconds but…

Desmond could hear it.

The painful screams coming from the village and from his earpiece.

“Sgt! Dunn! Morgan!” Ramirez called out as he slowly got up. Desmond held his wounded shoulder as he tried to get his breathing to normal.

That was the POE.

That was the POE’s power.

That was…

“sh*t. Bashar, Bashar. Stay with me!” Ramirez shouted as he grabbed both of Desmond’s shoulders.

Desmond’s vision was becoming blurry. His breathing became shallow and faster.

He was back in the Grand Temple again.

Minerva was with him, pleading with him to let the world burn.

Telling him…

Blood splattered his cheek and Desmond’s eyes widened as his vision cleared once more.

Just in time to see Ramirez fall to the ground next to him.

“Ramirez!” Desmond shouted but his body moved, grabbing Ramirez’s rifle and aiming it in the direction where the gunshot had come from. Five men with their own rifles ready.

Desmond didn’t think.

He fired at the rightmost man, planning to take them all down by firing in a large arc.

Instead, he let out a pained yelp as the recoil made the rifle bump his wounded shoulder and he fell on the ground, making the men miss their shots.

The rightmost man fell to the floor, gurgling as Desmond shot him in the neck.

He was aiming for his chest.

Desmond tried to aim the rifle while he lay on the ground with only his left hand.

That was when all four men crumpled to the ground as Desmond heard the sound of bullets being muffled by a silencer.

Desmond could barely keep his eyes open as people in black tactical gear rushed to their position. One of them pushed Ramirez to his back and Desmond tried to aim the rifle but was stopped when a man with a co*ckney accent said as he grabbed Desmond’s hand, stopping him from curling around the trigger, “Stop. We’re here to help.”

The man with a short-sleeved black shirt looked over Ramirez before saying in a Scottish accent, “He’s breathing. The bullet hit his shoulder. Applying first aid now.”

Desmond wasn’t sure if he should laugh at that.

Ramirez got hit on his left shoulder on the same day Desmond got hit on his right shoulder.

Jesus, that wasn’t even funny.

“7-6. get us through to Laswell.” The man next to Desmond ordered as he pushed Desmond to the ground. Desmond’s vision was becoming blurrier every second and holy sh*t.

Was that a skull?

“Roger, stand by…” Someone a bit farther from them said, “Bravo 7-6 Charlie to Watcher-1, how copy?”

There was a pause that Desmond assumed meant that they had one of those earpieces too.

“Laswell, this is Ghost.” The man pressing against Desmond’s wounded shoulder said calmly, “No visual on Hassan but we found two friendlies. One American, Ranger according to his uniform and…”

“One unknown.”

Not liking being called that, Desmond tried to tell him he was part of Ramirez’s squad (technically).

Instead…

He vomited over the man’s pants before finally passing out.

Chapter 3: No Assassin

Chapter Text

It was the smell that woke Desmond.

Antiseptic.

Desmond developed a hatred for that smell.

It had been the smell that clung to the small room he had woken up in when they had revived him.

It had been the smell that clung to him for the first few months he had to stay in that room while they conducted tests to make sure his body’s immune system could handle the outside world.

His mind felt heavy.

He couldn’t even form any complete thoughts.

Everything felt like it was slipping from his grasp.

Drugs.

He had been drugged.

f*ck.

Someone was coming close.

The light was too bright.

He couldn’t make out the face.

“Ah, you’re awake. That’s good.”

A man’s voice.

English.

What else?

He couldn’t focus.

The drugs were keeping him floaty and…

Thoughts were hard.

“Can you tell me your name?”

He opened his mouth.

“Don’t.”

He spoke but it was not him.

Not English.

Arabic.

“Do you remember your name?” The man tried once more, this time speaking in Arabic as well.

Desmond’s brows furrowed.

“Yes.”

Desmond replied in English this time.

… with a British accent.

“What’s your name?” The man asked, returning to English once more.

“It is not for you to know.”

Another language.

Kanien'kéha language…

Desmond turned to look at the blurry man looming over him.

“f*ck off.” He mumbled in Italian.

Before closing his eyes once more.

The next time he woke up, his mind was clear.

His body was also aching all over and both of his hands were chained to the railings of the bed he was in with handcuffs.

f*ck.

Well, if Desmond was to look at the bright side…

At least they had the courtesy to bandage his shoulder.

Desmond looked around.

It was a simple room with all those screens and devices that monitored him using the wires and sh*t attached to him.

Desmond absolutely had no idea what they were called but they look really similar to equipment used by that hospital soap opera that he watched because he had been so bored.

Maybe he was in some kind of hospital then?

Desmond took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. He slowly exhaled as he opened his eyes, letting the world turn gray as he activated his Eagle Vision.

The room he was in was covered in gray.

A red mist covered him and almost the entirety of the room, only leaving a few inches uncovered to the southeastern side of the room (if Desmond was right in thinking he was facing north). On top of that uncovered area was a half-spherical thing that glowed red.

A camera.

Okay then. He was being watched but, from what he could see…

They shouldn’t be able to see his glowing eyes as long as he didn’t look at the camera directly.

Besides that, there was nothing special at all.

The hallway outside had two white forms and, from the way they were standing, Desmond assumed they were guarding the door leading to this room.

Okay then.

So either they were there to guard him or they were there to make sure he stayed in his room.

Maybe even both.

Not enough information.

Desmond’s brows furrowed once more as he focused, widening the range of his Eagle Vision. His hands began to shake but he persisted, already dreading the headache and sting in his eyes that he would have once he stopped doing this.

In exchange for widening the range, Desmond needed to stay perfectly still and calm. Not only that, his eyes would hurt for a few minutes afterward and he would have a slight headache for the rest of the day.

But that couldn’t be helped.

He needed more information.

Desmond’s breath shuddered when his Eagle Vision showed him that he was surrounded by too many people. Most of them were white but some had red wisps around their mostly white forms and there were a few with blue wisps clinging to their glowing white forms.

Okay then.

Not Abstergo.

But Desmond was definitely not in a safe place. So…

Where was he then?

Hospital seemed unlikely. The building he was in was too small to be a hospital.

A small hospital or a clinic then?

Desmond entertained the idea for a few seconds before throwing it out.

As far as he could see, there were only two more people who looked like they were lying in a similar-sized room as he was.

The only other people he could see lying down were all in the same area and, from the way they were positioned, Desmond would bet they were lying on bunk beds.

Someplace for the people in this building to sleep then. Bunk beds would indicate that the sleeping areas were needed in this building which meant many (if not all) of the people here were supposed to stay here.

A base then.

Desmond groaned and finally shut his eyes tight. He let the not-that-fluffy bed take all his weight as he rode out the stinging of his eyes.

He was on a military base.

That was the conclusion he could come up with considering every form he saw had the telltale lightly red glow of rifles and guns.

Even knives.

So…

He had been captured by the military.

This was bad.

Considering how his shoulder didn’t hurt all that much anymore, it could only mean that he had been here for a significant amount of time.

Enough time for them to check and find out that his identity was f*cking fake.

Okay then.

What should Desmond do now?

Desmond has no idea what to do now.

f*cking hell, he has no idea how he should play this.

Even after his eyes finally stopped making him know that they did not appreciate this kind of abuse, he still has no concrete idea other than…

Play it by ear and wait for a chance to escape.

At this point, Desmond was just hoping that someone would come to see him so he can get a feel of what to do.

And he finally got his wish about three hours later when a man wearing what Desmond assumed was military gear (probably) came inside. He didn’t look surprised to see Desmond was awake which didn’t surprise Desmond as well.

They had probably been monitoring him using the camera installed in his room.

The man was wearing a boonie hat which was, okay, Desmond was a bit confused about why he was wearing a hat inside a military base but he was just going to chalk that up as his own personal style.

But, if Desmond was going to be completely honest, his most striking feature had to be those mutton chops he had.

Oh.

And the smell of cigars that assaulted Desmond’s nose once he stood by the foot of the bed. He was sure that normal people wouldn’t notice the smell this far away but Desmond’s senses had been heightened by his constant use of the Eagle Vision.

“So… Abbas Bashar…” The man started and Desmond noticed his voice had a natural rough growl to it.

The accent was definitely some kind of English accent, probably somewhere in London but Desmond wasn’t entirely sure where.

Definitely not the same as Shaun’s accent though.

“You should know that we checked your credentials and…” The man pierced him with his blue eyes and Desmond could feel his fight or flight instinct kicking in.

And it was definitely telling him to retreat.

That he was too much at a dire disadvantage right now to gain any upper hand if he was to try his luck.

“We learned that the real Abbas Bashar died two weeks ago, during a skirmish between Farah’s people and AQ.”

Ah, so he was using a dead person’s identity.

That was both creepy and douchy at the same time.

And he gave a small apology to the dead guy when his first thought was “His name was Abbas, he was probably a douchebag anyway” when he learned that there was a real Abbas Bashar.

“But Farah should have known that.” The man continued, placing both his hands on the railings by the foot of the bed as he continued, “Farah’s fingerprints were on your phone and there were records of you talking to her as well. Which leaves us with two options…”

“Either Farah willingly helped you infiltrate a US military operation or…” The man’s eyes narrowed as he growled, “You got her to help you. Maybe you offer something in exchange. Maybe you blackmailed her. Either way, Farah is trying to protect you by keeping quiet.”

Desmond stared at him silently although internally he was just freaking out just a bit.

It was pretty clear to him that whoever this man was, he was definitely here for Farah.

He was trying to protect Farah by finding out the truth.

In his eyes, Desmond was…

“So you’re going to tell me everything you know.” the man growled, “Who you’re working for… why you infiltrated a US military operation that should have been top secret and cobbled together too quickly for you to be able to prepare for weeks… what you know… and what you have on Farah.”

“And, if you don’t talk now…” The man let go of the railings and slowly made his way to Desmond’s side, “I can assure you, I have many options…”

Desmond kept calm even as the man slowly raised his hand towards the many pieces of equipment that Desmond was sure was in charge of monitoring his vitals.

And administering drugs to his system…

Before the man could touch any of the equipment, the door opened and a large man wearing a skull ski mask entered the room, calling their attention, “Price.”

“Not now, Ghost.”

“We just received a direct order from General Shepherd.”

Desmond recognized his voice and the co*ckney accent.

He was the man who saved him and Ramirez.

sh*t.

Where was Ramirez?

“Shepherd has ordered no one is to speak to him until he gets here.” The man called Ghost informed him. When the man kept his hand hovering by the equipment, he stressed, “He’s DIA, Price.”

That made the man turn to stare at Ghost and Desmond tried not to show his confusion.

Did Shaun and Rebecca manage to scramble together a better cover for him?

The man turned to stare at Desmond and quietly said in his rough low tone, “I suppose I will just have to get my answers from Shepherd then.”

With that vague statement said, the two of them left the room with the masked guy staying behind to stare at him for a moment before leaving, closing the door behind him.

Desmond stared at the door for a few seconds before groaning as he hit the back of his head on the pillow.

Okay.

So what the hell does being called a DIA mean that the growly man decided that Desmond needed that look of understanding?

It only served to confuse the f*ck out of Desmond even more.

After that, he only had three visitors and one of them was someone who introduced himself as the doctor in charge of him. He checked the screens and asked Desmond if he was in any pain which he said no to because he was fine and there was no way he was getting drugged again.

It was clear that the doctor had been curious about him but he must have been ordered to not ask any questions.

The other two people who visited him were the guards outside his door. One of them stayed nearby while the other uncuffed him and let him eat from the tray that they brought before cuffing him back to the bed.

Desmond was definitely blocking the memories of how he was able to pee while being cuffed.

Yeah.

Nope, filing that one next to reliving Ezio’s birth in the dark abyss in his mind he liked to call ‘sh*t Desmond Miles does not want to think or remember’.

The following morning, Desmond was just bored enough to try and see if dislocating his thumb would be worth it to slip out of the damn cuffs when the door opened and a man who looked around William Miles’ age came inside.

He wore one of those military uniforms that had a name on the right side.

Shepherd.

So this was the man who told everyone not to talk to Desmond.

The man with graying hair and mustache (that looked a bit like a caterpillar to Desmond) raised his hand as if to stop Desmond from speaking before glancing at the camera behind them.

Silence weighed down on them for a few seconds before he said, “Use your vision now.”

Desmond blinked and activated his Eagle Vision out of reflex. He blinked once more, deactivating it, as he frowned.

The red mist of the camera was gone.

Someone had disabled the camera.

And…

The man in front of him glowed blue.

“Nothing is true…” The man started.

“Everything is permitted.” Desmond finished.

Holy sh*t.

“You’re in deep sh*t now, son.” Shepherd said as he stepped closer, placing one hand on the railing by the foot of Desmond’s bed, “And our Brothers are not happy that you’ve gotten yourself captured. Again.”

“Hey, at least it’s the military, right?” Desmond joked.

Seeing the unimpressed expression Shepherd was giving him, Desmond tilted his head as he asked, “Okay, how f*cked am I?”

“We had to quickly make a better fake identity for you than whatever garbage Hastings and Crane begged from Erudito,” Shepherd explained as he walked to Desmond’s left side.

“Hey.” Desmond glared at him as he unlocked the cuff.

“You’re here because your cover didn’t last.” Shepherd reminded him before dumping the folder under his armpit on Desmond’s lap. Desmond flipped it open using his newly freed left hand while Shepherd walked to his other side, “And they panicked and contacted one of our distant... very distant… ally who, as it turns out, was also in charge of the unit that retrieved you.”

Desmond’s frown deepened and his right hand fell to the bed when Shepherd uncuffed his other hand, “It says here I’m both DIA and CIA?”

“Quite a colorful history you have now, Desmond Miles.” Shepherd said as he stayed standing on Desmond’s right side, “Laswell made you a cover the same day I did. Now, she has proof that I’m connected to the secret shadow organization that’s been giving her tips about Abstergo for years. Worst case scenario, she realizes I am a member.”

“But if Rebecca and Shaun contacted her then she’s a friend, right?” Desmond asked as he flipped through the pages filled with so many black lines it would have probably been cheaper to just buy black paper and paste it on the pages.

“Laswell is CIA. She’s dangerous, that’s what she is.” Shepherd stressed, “In the eyes of the world, the Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, remember?”

Desmond frowned and flipped to the last page, eyes widening as he read his supposed file, “You made dad a soldier?”

“Congratulations, you’re now a military kid.” Shepherd dryly stated and pointed at the notes section, “I also made sure to include that you ran away from home when you were sixteen to find your brother.”

“I don’t have a brother?” Desmond turned to stare at him as he asked, “Do I?”

Shepherd’s expression seemed to be warring between being amused and annoyed before he lifted a copy of the ‘Have You Seen This Man’ poster that had popped up during Abstergo’s hunt for him back in Italy from the folder itself, “This is your brother. You don’t want to talk about him. He’s a disgrace, joining a terrorist organization and dying in 2012.”

“Ouch,” Desmond mumbled but he supposed that made sense. The timeline worked as well. If he was using his current age right now, running away at sixteen meant that he would have run away in the year 2012. Looking exactly like the photo but with a bit of facial hair also meant that no one would bat an eye if he was to say he was the younger brother of this terrorist.

“But why would I be using my supposed dead terrorist brother’s name?” Desmond asked with a frown.

“Because you want to clear your brother’s name.” Shepherd continued, “As of today, all you’ve done has been undercover work to find Abstergo’s dirty laundry. You believe that your brother became entangled with them and his death was caused by a complication during the human trials Abstergo had done for their game console. They covered his death by providing false information that he was a terrorist.”

“Wow, that’s…” Desmond figured he wouldn’t appreciate the first word he wanted to use so he said instead, “… very detailed.”

“All eyes are on you right now, son. Anything else will fall apart and will put, not just you, but the entire Brotherhood in danger.” Shepherd explained, “Now, here’s what’s going to happen.”

Shepherd closed the folder and took it from Desmond as he explained, “This is the folder I’ll send to anyone that requests for your information but you have to be careful. Anyone asks you about your past, you say you’re not at liberty to say anything. Or just straight up lie to them. They all know you worked for the CIA before working for the DIA so they won’t be surprised if you lie to them.”

“I can do that.” Desmond nodded, “They need to talk to me about what happened with the POE, right? I think I can handle a few interviews.”

“Son, they’re not going to debrief you then let you go now.” Shepherd said as he placed the folder under his armpit once more, “The firefight that led to the activation of the POE killed two American soldiers and injured three more. Four if we count you. The American government wants blood and they’ve demanded that the retrieval of the POE be a joint mission. I was lucky they allowed me to keep on leading this operation at this point.”

“And because I need to make sure no one finds out about us, I can’t focus on retrieving the POE. That’s where you come in.” Shepherd continued before Desmond could ask anything, “I’m transferring you to Taskforce 141. They will lead the hunt for the POE on the ground. Your mission is to retrieve the POE before it reaches the Templars and…”

“Keep Taskforce 141 and everybody else from learning about the Assassins and the Templars.”

Desmond’s next visitor was a soldier he didn’t know who handed him a black shirt, dark gray fatigues, and combat boots. He didn’t seem surprised to see Desmond had been uncuffed which meant that he knew of Desmond’s ‘identity’. After Desmond changed from his hospital gown to the clothes he was given, he was escorted to a meeting room that had a large screen in front of a long table. Desmond’s eyes widened and he immediately walked towards one of the men sitting. He stood in front of the empty seat to the man’s right and said, “Hey, Ramirez. Good to see you’re okay.”

“Bashar…” Ramirez said with a smile before correcting himself, “I guess I should call you by your real name now, huh, Miles?”

“Desmond.” Desmond corrected, relaxing slightly when he saw no anger or hate in Ramirez’s eyes. He sat next to Ramirez as he said, “I don’t like being called Miles.”

Still, Desmond couldn’t help but say, “Sorry, by the way… For not telling you guys I was… you know…”

“Why didn’t you?” One of the other two men in the room asked as he stared at Desmond. He was sitting on the other side of the table, two chairs to Desmond’s left.

Desmond recognized his Scottish accent as the man who had performed first aid on Ramirez. His tone was questioning although Desmond could see more than curiosity in his expression.

He was definitely observing Desmond more than what should be considered 'alright'.

Desmond remained relaxed as he answered, “I can’t let Abstergo know I was poking around as-Sijn. If they find out I was going there, they’ll most probably destroy everything.”

And make a trap just to capture him again.

“As-Sijn?” The Scot asked.

“It’s an old name for Al-Mazrah.” The man wearing a cap who sat next to the Scot answered for Desmond, nudging the Scot as he said, “And you already know he was undercover. Shepherd told us that already. The rangers even vouched for him.”

They did?

Desmond glanced at Ramirez who simply patted his shoulder in a manner that made Desmond feel a kind of comforting warmth envelop him briefly.

“I know. Just wanted to see if Spooks would tell us that.” The Scot replied with a co*cky grin, taking Desmond’s attention away from Ramirez.

Desmond just knew that the co*cky man would be trouble.

Before they could continue their conversation, the door opened once more and three more men came inside. He recognized the three of them immediately.

Shepherd sat on the other end of the table, facing the screen.

The two other men, the man with the mutton chops that threatened Desmond and the large man wearing a skull ski mask sat on the same side as the Scot and his companion with the large man sitting on the Scot’s other side while the older man sat on the other side of the soldier wearing a cap.

They all remained quiet although Desmond could feel Mutton Chop’s piercing stare.

Shepherd nodded at the one in the mask who pulled the open laptop towards him and typed on it.

The screen turned on and showed a woman with brown hair so light it looked a bit like dark blonde thanks to the lighting of the room she was in.

“You’re on, Laswell.” Skull guy said.

The woman named Laswell nodded and her video became small and moved to the top left side of the screen while the rest of the screen showed pictures of…

The aftermath of the POE attack.

“We’re giving this unknown weapon the codename ‘Soma’.” Laswell started, “As far as we can see, it releases beams of light that have the same temperature as the sun.”

The screen showed photos of burned bodies and Desmond noticed Ramirez didn’t flinch. From the scraps of clothing that weren’t completely charred, Desmond could see none of them were wearing the same gear that Hunter Two-One wore which meant all of those photos were showing the ones who attacked them.

“We can’t be sure if it has a targeting system or it’s similar to mortar fire.” Laswell continued, “What we are sure is that ‘Soma’ looks like this.”

There was a sketch of Soma both in its ball form and in its…

Desmond was just going to call it ‘chair’ form because f*ck if he knew if any of it had actual names.

“These are based on Private Ramirez’s description. Can you confirm, Desmond?”

Desmond didn’t let it show how Laswell’s tone seemed to suggest that she knew Desmond had surprised him. It shouldn’t, of course, since he used to work for the CIA.

Apparently.

“Yeah, that’s pretty spot on.” Desmond nodded.

“We don’t know how Soma works and Abstergo is insisting they have nothing to do with the attack in Al-Mazrah.” Laswell continued, “And, since we didn’t find any evidence that Abstergo was in Al-Mazrah other than some boxes filled with Abstergo medicines, we’ve come to a dead end on that point.”

“As you all know…” Shepherd cut her off, “Soma is missing by the time 141 reached ground zero. We believe Hassan-”

The screen changed to show a photo of the guard that had attacked Desmond.

Desmond quickly read the file on the screen about Hassan Zyani and, holy sh*t, he was definitely more than just a guard.

“-took Soma and is now on the run. We believe he’s going to make his way to America, either to take revenge for Ghorbrani or to give Soma to Abstergo.” Shepherd continued and the screen changed, showing different locations, “He didn’t give us any real leads to where he’s going next but… we have two possible leads.”

“One of them is Amsterdam.” Laswell continued and one of the smaller photos grew, taking over half of the screen, showing a map of Amsterdam, “It might be a long shot but Hassan needs help smuggling Soma to wherever he plans to go next. Amsterdam is a smuggling hub. Ports and canals are insecure. Iran has friends there and there’s an AQ cell in the country that we’ve been surveying for a while now.”

“The other is a Russian airbase in Tian Shan Mountains in Kazakhstan.” Shepherd continued and the photo of Amsterdam became smaller once more. Another photo covered over half of the screen.

It showed the blueprint of some kind of base although it was a bit sparse on the details, “We recovered a corrupted file in Al-Mazrah. We couldn’t fix it but we found out that whatever information it had stored came from this location.”

A small red dot appeared in one of the large buildings that Desmond was going to guess was some sort of warehouse, “We’re not sure if it’s connected to Soma or if Hassan is dipping his fingers in more pies than we know of but we need to be sure as well.”

“Since both are viable, we’ll be pursuing both of them.” Shepherd turned to face the man with the mutton chops, “Price. Take Garrick and Hunter Two-One and find out if Hassan has any friends in Amsterdam.”

Mutton Chops (who was most definitely named Price) nodded while Shepherd turned to Skull guy, “Ghost, I’m leaving the Russian base to you. Take Soap and Desmond with you.”

“Yes, sir.” Ghost replied.

Really?

Skull guy’s nickname was Ghost?

“Oh, and Soap?”

“Yes, sir?” The Scot answered.

“Keep an eye on Desmond,” Shepherd said dryly.

Soap turned to grin at Desmond as he said, “With pleasure, sir.”

…

Okay.

So Shepherd was definitely angry at Desmond for getting caught by the military.

Chapter 4: FNG

Chapter Text

After the meeting, Desmond was led to some kind of warehouse that had a shooting range inside by Soap. Soap guided him through one of the firing points where a rifle and a handgun were on the counter. Two clips of magazines for each of them were lying just below them on the counter as well. Desmond stood in front of the counter, freezing slightly when Soap crowded him, resting his arm against the panel separating each frame, making half of his body press against Desmond’s back.

“Know how to use these, Spooks?” Soap asked too closely for Desmond’s comfort.

Before Desmond could reply, the soldier that seemed to be in charge of the shooting range shouted, “That’s against safety regulations, Sarge! Only one gunner allowed! Back away!”

Desmond could feel the way Soap's chest vibrated as he chuckled before he took a few steps back. Desmond turned his upper body slightly to have a clear view of Soap as he stood a few feet behind Desmond. He crossed his arms as he said, “Take the rifle, Spooks.”

“My name’s Desmond,” Desmond said as he turned around and took the rifle on the table, humming slightly as he had no idea what make or model it was but he definitely knew how to use it.

“At least you know how to hold it.” Soap teased, making Desmond roll his eyes but kept quiet as Soap continued, “Now.”

Five targets flipped up on the other side of the training range, each one having an adult human shape with a scoring ring on the chest. Each of them was distanced differently from one another and one of them was so far Desmond knew he would need to aim a bit higher than usual just to hit it dead center.

“Shoot each target, while aiming down your sights.”

Desmond quickly took down all five targets, shooting each mark on the head twice.

Soap let out a whistle before saying, “Beautiful kills, Spooks.”

Desmond relaxed slightly as he tried not to show how the recoil of the gun had surprised him at first, making him hit his first target a few inches higher than he wanted to.

It was a different feeling from firing muskets, that was for sure.

“Now, shoot at the targets while firing from the hips,” Soap instructed, making Desmond frown.

Shooting from the hips would lessen his accuracy though.

Which meant…

Desmond did as instructed and shot from the hips this time, feeling a bit silly because he looked more like he was trying to be Rambo more than anything.

All of his shots managed to hit the target’s inner circle in the chest area but Desmond could feel the residue of his Bleeds of Altaïr and Ratonhnhaké:ton being annoyed at such inaccurate shooting.

“Good call.” Soap commented before large pieces of wood suddenly spring up, covering a good half of each target, “Each of the targets’ now locked by a sheet of plywood. I want you to shoot the targets through the wood.”

Desmond grimaced.

He had a feeling this little shooting session was going to be long.

“You two took your time.” Ghost lowly stated with a slight growl to his tone when Desmond and Soap finally reached what seemed to be some kind of obstacle course that had been set up in one of the bigger warehouses.

“Miss us, Lt?” Soap asked with a co*cky grin as both of them stood next to Ghost, “Had to see if Spooks here can shoot and throw.”

And by that, he meant he made Desmond shoot a rifle and a pistol, watched him reload for some reason, and then they went to an open part of the base where he made Desmond throw grenades in what looked like some kind of half-demolished building and the charred remains of a car.

Okay… behind the charred remains of a car.

If that made any difference.

Desmond turned to look at Ramirez who was lying on the ground, breathing heavily.

“Uh… you okay, buddy?” Desmond asked and Ramirez just weakly raised his arm and gave him a thumb’s up.

“He tried to beat our record.” Ghost explained when Soap raised an eyebrow at him. He pointed at the scoreboard that had the following written:

#1 Soap (141) 18.26 sec

#2 Ghost (141) 18.28 sec

#3 Ramirez (75th Ranger) 18.31 sec

#4 Allen (75th Ranger) 27.22 sec

“Hey, you’re top 3, nice,” Desmond said as he crouched and patted Ramirez’s arm, making the man let out a grunt.

“Look alive, Desmond. Shepherd and the team are watching.” Ghost said as he nodded at the second level. Desmond stood and turned, seeing Shepherd, Price, and the one Shepherd called Garrick on the second level, watching them.

Desmond grinned as he waved at them, making Garrick snort before lowering his head to hide his smile while Shepherd and Price just stared at him with that unimpressed look on their faces.

Desmond shrugged and turned to look at Ghost once more as he explained, “They call this The Pit. We’re going to be using this to check how well you handle your equipment.”

Ghost turned to point at the area to the left of Desmond as he explained, “That’s the entrance. You’re only allowed to use two weapons and a knife. No grenades.”

Ghost glanced at Soap who looked back at him with an innocent expression on his face which didn’t look believable at all. Ghost turned his attention back to Desmond as he continued, “There’s civilian targets as well. Don’t shoot them.”

Well, that wasn’t helpful.

“Timer starts as soon as the first target pops up.” Ghost took a step to the side and nudged his head, “Check your gear then head to the first area.”

Desmond nodded and quickly checked over his rifle and pistol (or, sidearm as they liked to call it) before turning to look at Ghost as he asked, “Can I have another pistol instead of a rifle?”

Soap raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t say anything. His eyes widened when Ghost took out his pistol and handed it to Desmond, “Don’t waste the mag.”

“Thanks,” Desmond replied with a grin, placing the rifle onto the table filled with other types of guns and taking Ghost’s sidearm. He hummed when he noticed it was lighter than the gun Soap had given him.

“You sure about this, Lt?” Soap asked with a slight frown.

“No rules say that you can’t have two handguns. As long as you don’t try firing both at the same time like a f*cking twat, it’ll be fine.” Ghost said as he crossed his arms, “Speed over firepower then, Desmond?”

“Pretty much.” Desmond agreed with a nod before placing Ghost’s sidearm on the thigh holster that came with his new ‘uniform’ and turning to face Ghost once more as he said, “I don’t have any knife.”

Ghost took out a familiar switchblade and offered it to Desmond as he asked, “Will this be more to your liking?”

Desmond grinned as he said, “Very. Thanks, Ghost.”

As Desmond took the switchblade, Ghost added, “There’s only one camera on the pit and it gets a full view of the entire course which means we’ll only be looking at your back… unless you turn around and look directly at us.”

Desmond nodded as he said, “Good to know.”

Desmond walked to the first area as he said, “Wish me luck!”

“You can retry it as many times as you want, Spooks!” Soap teased while Ramirez let out a grunt that Desmond was going to assume meant ‘good luck’ as well.

Once Desmond reached the first area, he took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. He exhaled slowly as he opened his eyes, letting the world turn gray. There was a mist of red all around the pit, indicating the scope of the camera. Desmond kept his attention forward to not let them see his glowing eyes although he noted how Ramirez and Shepherd both glowed blue while 141 was varying shades of light blue, with Ghost and Soap being the bluer of the four of them.

He took a few steps forward, readying his sidearm with his right hand while he held his switchblade using his left hand.

The targets glowed either gold or white and Desmond immediately knew that his Eagle Vision had tagged which target he had to take down and which he didn’t have to.

The moment he stepped to the next area, three golds popped up and Desmond was already firing at each of them twice, focusing more on speed than accuracy by hitting each one on the chest with the exception of the one farthest in the middle, hiding behind some kind of plywood-constructed shield. That one he shot on the head.

Desmond ran across the first area, vaulting over the cover that one of them had been using and quickly taking out the target further ahead that was moving to Desmond’s right where a white target was moving to meet it. He ignored the white target and stepped over the cover it was using, shooting another golden target to his right.

Six more targets popped up. One of them just ahead of him, two on the second floor, one on the doorway that he was going to go through, and two golds on the right of that plywood building.

Desmond threw his switchblade to the one just ahead of him, and vaulted over its cover while quickly shooting the two on the second floor. He picked up his switchblade as he shot the target in the doorway before rushing to the building just as he heard Ghost’s voice coming from the PA system, “Area clear. Move into the building.”

Instead of going through the door, he vaulted over the large open window, shooting a golden target that was a bit hidden by a white target before vaulting over the table in front of those two targets.

As he slid to the other side, he shot at the two golden targets to his right and ignored the white target just next to the stairs.

A second later he heard Ghost say, “Up the stairs.”

He ascended the stairs two steps at a time and stabbed the target that popped right in front of him as he reached the top of the stairs right, his switchblade making a loud thunk sound as it hit the side of the target’s neck. He quickly took out the four golden targets on the second floor, starting from his left and swiping his gun to the right before ending his move by holstering his pistol back to his waist holster before grabbing Ghost’s gun just as Ghost’s voice came from the PA system, “Area clear, jump down.”

Desmond vaulted over the cover where a small white target was glowing and jumped down the building.

Knowing the camera had a direct line on his face now, he blinked and deactivated his Eagle Vision.

It was fine.

He memorized where the last six gold were going to pop up.

He made sure he would fall on top of one of the golds, quickly slamming his switchblade on it before it could even pop up. He continued without any pause, taking out the gold just behind it before taking two steps to his right, taking out the two other golds to his right, on the other side of the charred car they had put in the middle of the course just Ghost’s voice resounded on the PA system once more, “Last area. Take them out.”

Desmond rushed passed the charred car and slammed his switchblade at the gold standing by another charred car. As the target fell, Desmond shot at the last gold just in front of him, between the exit where the words ‘Sprint’ was written on either side of the hallway with an arrow pointing at the hallway itself.

“Area clear. Tick tock, Desmond.” Ghost’s calm voice announced and Desmond sprinted to the finish line.

There was even a ‘FINISH’ painted on top of an open doorway with a red light next to it and it let out a loud beep-like sound once Desmond passed through it.

Desmond walked towards them and blinked when they were all looking at the scoreboard, “Uh… so…”

Desmond raised his head up and blinked once more when he saw that the scoreboard had already been updated.

#1 Miles (141) 16.54 sec

#2 Soap (141) 18.26 sec

#3 Ghost (141) 18.28 sec

#4 Ramirez (75th Ranger) 18.31 sec

#5 Allen (75th Ranger) 27.22 sec

Oh f*ck.

He didn’t realize that he was being too quick. He just got into the zone and his body just acted like he was participating in a modified version of the Collect the Flags 'games' Altaïr had to go through because some of his brothers were assholes who wanted to see the Eagle of Masyaf work for the information they have.

He should have realized that relying on the Bleed of an overachiever like Altaïr would bite him in the ass.

“Beginner’s luck.” Desmond tried with a sheepish grin, making Soap and Ramirez turned to look at him while Ghost snorted.

“Well, beginner’s luck or not, you made the course your bitch.” Ghost said blandly.

“I bet you fifty pounds you can’t clear it under 16 seconds again,” Soap said lightly with a grin on his face.

“Not a betting man.” Desmond shook his head even when he could feel a distant bleed that felt a bit foreign perking up at the prospect of gambling.

“It’ll be fun. Just a little competition between mates.” Soap pressed, making Ghost sigh.

“Competition?” Desmond repeated before nodding, “Ooohh, you just want to be on top again.”

Desmond chuckled and waved his hand as he said, “Go ahead, man. I don’t like being the top anyway.”

Ramirez covered his snicker with a cough while Soap’s grin grew bigger. Ghost smacked the back of Soap’s head lightly as he said, “You know that’s not what he means.”

Desmond grinned this time and teased, “What’s not to say I meant that kind of top as well?”

At that, Ramirez covered his mouth as he coughed even louder while Soap laughed as he said, “Careful, Desmond. Ghost might think you’re being serious.”

Desmond’s grin brightened as he realized this would be the first time Soap actually called him by his name. Before he could react, Soap pressed, “Come on, one more round. Show us what you can do, Desmond.”

Maybe it was the fact that this was the first time he could joke and relax around people who didn’t know the real f*ckery that was Desmond Miles’ life.

Maybe it was the fact that Soap said his name so casually and without any hidden agenda or any hidden pain.

Maybe it was Desmond’s own Bleeds wrapping around him, making him want to put Soap in his place for daring to doubt Desmond’s abilities.

Maybe he just wanted the 50 pounds anyway because he had developed a liking for shiny things and money.

Whatever the reasons may be, Desmond’s grin grew into a challenging smirk more natural on his Syrian ancestor’s face than his as he said, “I’ll bet double that I can go below my current time.”

“Now that’s the spirit!” Soap exclaimed and they shook on it.

“Before you two idiots start your dick-measuring contest, make sure to reload first, Desmond.” Ghost interjected with a hint of resignation in his tone.

“Oh, right!”

“Good work,” Shepherd said when Desmond approached him on the second level of the pit.

“Thanks…” Desmond paused before adding, “Sir.”

“It’s fine, son.” Shepherd patted Desmond’s right arm as he said, “I know military regulations aren’t your thing. Just act how you normally act.”

Desmond nodded, feeling it would be too awkward to thank him again.

“I’ll leave you in Ghost’s hands then.” Shepherd said, “I have a meeting with Company Headquarters concerning Hunter Two-One’s involvement in our operation.”

“I expect good news from your mission, son.” Shepherd nodded and began to walk away.

As he passed Desmond, he whispered, “Safety and peace, brother.”

“Upon you as well,” Desmond whispered back, turning to watch Shepherd leave the pit together with two guards. He finally turned around once he could no longer see Shepherd and walked towards Price and Garrick.

Garrick turned to smile at him as he said, “Great job out there, Desmond. You cleared Soap and Ghost’s records clean.”

“Thanks, uh…” Desmond smiled as he said, “Garrick, right?”

“Kyle Garrick.” He introduced himself as he continued to lean against the railing, “People around here usually just call me Gaz.”

“Thanks, Gaz.” Desmond nodded and leaned his elbows against the railing as he asked, “So… what’s your time?”

“Never bothered.” Gaz admitted as he shook his head, “The Americans are the ones who use The Pit. Soap just decided he and Ghost were going to show them how it’s done.”

“I feel like Soap is a very competitive person then,” Desmond commented lightly, making Gaz chuckle.

“I’m sure he just wants to make Ghost do all kinds of sh*t with him.” Gaz replied before turning so he could grab the railings as he stood straight, “Since I’m sure Soap forgot, on behalf of everyone, welcome to 141, Desmond.”

Desmond’s chest felt warm as he saw the welcoming smile on Gaz’s face and he swallowed before replying as calmly as he could, “Thanks, Gaz. I’m looking forward to working with you guys.”

“Desmond.”

They both turned to stare at Price as he stared at Desmond with that impressive poker face of his. He nudged his head slightly as he said, “Come here.”

Gaz patted his back as he passed him while he tried not to fidget as those eyes…

They were the eyes of a man who was willing to trust him because he had been ordered to.

But also the eyes of a soldier who wouldn’t think twice about killing him if he ever jeopardized the team.

Price was definitely the one Desmond needed to worry about the most.

“We need to talk about your record.”

Was he going to interrogate Desmond about his fake past missions here?!

Noticing how Price was staring at The Pit, he realized…

He meant Desmond’s record in The Pit.

Oh, thank god.

“Is something wrong with my time?” Desmond asked as he tilted his head while he grabbed onto the railing with his right hand.

If Price was going to chew on him for doing the course three times, he was going to draw dicks on Soap’s arms later.

”No, not at all. Quite the opposite.” Price replied and they watched as Soap reached the finish line.

“Time!” Soap croaked out as he panted heavily, hands going to his knees as he tried to get his breathing back to normal.

“17.36.” Ghost replied with a sigh while Ramirez had long left to meet up with the rest of Hunter Two-One.

Desmond glanced at the scoreboard and winced as it had been updated already.

#1 Miles (141) 15.09 sec

#2 Soap (141) 17.36 sec

#3 Ghost (141) 18.28 sec

#4 Ramirez (75th Ranger) 18.31 sec

#5 Allen (75th Ranger) 27.22 sec

Ouch.

Desmond heard Soap shout something he absolutely did not understand at all before he turned to point at Desmond as he shouted, “I’ll get 14 seconds! Just you wait, Desmond!”

“Still waiting for the 100 pounds you owe me, Soap!” Desmond shouted back, making Soap flip him the bird.

Desmond chuckled and shook his head while Soap started the course once more. As Soap quickly and efficiently took down all the targets in the first area, he turned to smile gingerly at Price as he said, “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Don’t be. This is good.” Price said and Desmond couldn’t help the warmth that enveloped him as he heard the approval in Price’s voice, “I’m sure you and Soap would work well in the field.”

“I… hope so…” Desmond replied and turned to stare at Soap as he entered the building.

The building had enough lighting that they could see what Soap was doing inside and this far, he knew that no one on the second floor could have seen his golden eyes.

Just as Soap slammed his combat knife to the target that popped on top of the stairs, Price asked with a sad*stic smirk on his face, “Think you can top your score?”

Desmond kept his attention on Soap as he jumped down. Even if he was too far away for normal human vision, Desmond could still see the clear determination in Soap’s eyes as he quickly cleared the final area with the precision of a man too stubborn to admit defeat.

“I can make it 10 seconds,” Desmond said confidently, already planning on how he was going to make that happen. His lips curved into a mischievous smirk as he added, “But let’s wait until he gets his 14 seconds.”

Price let out a burst of loud laughter that seemed to have surprised Soap enough that he stopped to stare at the second floor with wide eyes and an open mouth, only finally moving again when Ghost’s voice echoed in the PA system, “Clock’s ticking, Johnny.”

Both of them watched as Soap rushed through the exit once more, letting out a frustrated groan when Ghost told him he had been slower this time thanks to that brief moment of surprise.

Seeing Soap start the course once more, Price patted Desmond’s back as he said, “Looking forward to it.”

The warmth of Price’s hand and voice made Desmond briefly freeze.

With just a few words and such simple actions…

Desmond realized why he feared Price the most.

Underneath the distrust and wariness, Price reminded him of Umar Ibn-La'Ahad and Giovanni Auditore.

More than William Miles ever did.

Chapter 5: Cliffhanger

Chapter Text

Desmond didn’t really think he would hate the cold but, yeah, he definitely did now.

He had experienced the bitter cold in his ancestors’ memories but this… this was different.

Maybe the Animus had lowered the temperature for him. Maybe it just wasn’t built to recreate the cold at its fullest. Maybe it was because his ancestors’ bodies were used to the cold but that should mean that Desmond should be able to take the biting cold as well.

Because there was no way in hell the freezing temperature of a snowy mountain while he was wearing clothes made to battle these exact conditions should be colder than when Ratonhnhaké:ton had to suffer through the snow in his Assassin robes.

But here Desmond was, feeling the cold enveloping him in its freezing uncaring embrace even when he had worn four layers already. He was also wearing a beanie that covered his ears and a mask that shielded his nose and lips underneath a white hoodie with white fur lining. The goggles he was wearing already had frost all around them and that was never a good sign.

Still, he and Soap continued to crouch on the edge of a cliff in Tian Shan Mountain, staying a few feet apart from one another. Desmond would have said that it would be better if they huddled together but Soap said that their combined weight might cause the small trail they were using to crumble underneath them and there was no way in hell Desmond was going to die here.

Ghost had debriefed them on the way and Desmond wanted to curse the large bastard for staying with their exfil team because of his ‘weight’. From the smirk that Soap had on his face, Desmond knew that excuse was sh*t although it seemed this mission had truly been prepared with Desmond and Soap in mind alone.

Ghost had also been the one to assist him in gearing up, showing him how to use his silenced ACR equipped with a heartbeat sensor and a red dot sight.

Or, as Desmond liked to call it, an unnecessary heavy piece of crap.

For one, he didn’t need a heartbeat sensor, the goggles had enough tint in them to be able to stop people from seeing his glowing golden eyes if he was to use his Eagle Vision (he checked in front of a mirror himself).

… As long as the people watching him were at least a few feet away from him.

For another, the red dot sight might be useful to many people but Desmond wasn’t used to it. All he needed was a clear sight and he’ll be good to go.

No need for all this fancy tech.

God. His Bleeds were making him sound like a grouchy grandfather who don’t know and didn’t want to know how to use a computer to send an email.

He will admit, he liked the silenced USP.45 that Ghost had given him as his sidearm. It was light with a 12-round mag and Ghost even gave him five more magazines which were nice.

Honestly, if Desmond didn’t know that he was going to get yelled at, he would have already thrown the ACR off the cliff and go “Oops” but it was strapped to his back right now so he couldn’t make it look like an accident.

Also… Ghost stressed that the heartbeat sensor was more expensive than what most infantry could make in a month and that definitely made Desmond feel guilty just thinking of chucking over the cliff.

He still hated the damn bulky thing though.

Desmond wanted to sneeze when he smelled the recognizable scent of Price’s cigar. He turned to look at Soap and blinked when he saw him take a long drag of the cigar he just lit.

“Hm?” Soap hummed as he offered the cigar to Desmond who shook his head.

Smoking had never been a vice of Desmond’s and his heightened senses only made them more undesirable in his eyes.

… and nose.

“Price knows you stole one of his cigars?” Desmond asked, seeing the white puff of smoke he made when he talked.

Soap chuckled and Desmond was so jealous of how casual Soap looked right now. He wasn’t even wearing his goggles and he didn’t even have a damn mask, just that beanie that covered his ears, yet he didn’t look at all cold.

He must have a body heat of a furnace.

God.

Desmond was getting desperate enough to scoot closer and hug Soap just to leech off his body heat.

Ghost probably had a similar heat reserve of a tea kettle like Desmond and that was why he didn’t join them for this mission.

Lucky bastard.

God, his mind was going to places just to take his mind off the cold.

This was the prelude of him just starting to talk about random sh*t which was dangerous since Soap looked like an observant kind of person.

Thankfully (probably), some kind of fighter jet took off from the top of the cliff, its loud engines making Desmond wince as the area surrounding them shook enough to break a few pieces of ice.

Soap took one last drag of his cigar before throwing his cigar off the cliff.

Desmond would have made a weak ‘no littering’ joke but Soap’s expression turned serious as he said, “Break’s over, Desmond. Let’s go.”

Desmond nodded and they both slowly stood. He followed Soap as they walked carefully to the ledge on their right side and Desmond focused on his breathing. The height didn’t scare him but the cold definitely wanted to take a stab at him.

He really, really hoped their next target would be somewhere warm.

Soap stopped just as they were nearing the side of the cliff that had completely frozen over, encased in ice.

“Stay here and spot me.” Soap instructed as he took a few steps towards the frozen side before taking out his two ice picks, “Wait for my go.”

Desmond wasn’t sure what ‘spot me’ actually meant but he was going to assume that Soap wanted him to keep an eye on things so he blinked.

The mountains turned gray while Soap’s form glowed in blue.

The blue was more vibrant now than it had been when he first saw Soap in his Eagle Vision.

Desmond couldn’t even deny the warmth in his chest at that.

He watched as Soap used the ice picks to climb the frozen side of the cliff, making Desmond let out a hum as his Eagle Vision was showing that the entire side of the cliff was glowing white instead of the normal gray.

Something useful.

Something he can climb.

Good to know.

Soap pierced the cliff about two to three times with his ice picks as he climbed slightly, even using the spikes on their snow shoes to kick the ice a few times before saying, “All right, the ice is good. Follow me.”

Desmond didn’t need to be told twice, taking out both of his own ice picks that had a short leather rope attached to the handles that wraps around his wrists just to be sure that he wouldn’t lose them even if he dropped them. Desmond took a few steps towards the glowing portion of the cliff before slamming his right ice pick against it. He tugged it lightly just to be sure it had dug deep enough before he quickly turned as he pulled himself to face the ice-covered side, planting the spikes of his shoes against the ice as well. He took a deep breath before beginning his climb, staying alert as he quickly found his rhythm.

Okay.

This was exciting and Desmond was definitely interested in this kind of thing.

After… well… decades of climbing using his hands and feet thanks to the Animus, this felt a lot like the Ottoman Brotherhood’s hookblade.

His lips curved into a small smile as he started to enjoy himself.

Only to feel like his heart was about to stop when another jet fighter flew above them, causing snow and ice to fall above. The shockwave was strong enough that Soap’s left ice pick lost its grip on the ice. He dangled above Desmond far too long for Desmond’s comfort before recovering and slamming his left ice pick once more. He continued to climb like nothing dangerous just happened and Desmond let out a bated breath he didn’t even know he was holding.

They finally reached the second to the top of the side of the mountain they were in Soap didn’t waste any time, nodding at Desmond as he turned to face the steep cliff to their right, “Good luck, mate. See you on the far side.”

Desmond could only watch as Soap ran before taking a giant leap to the other edge of the cliff. They were already being covered by a heavy white mist but Soap’s blue form shone brightly and Desmond was able to see him slam his ice picks into the cliff, hugging the left side of the cliff as he started to climb.

Desmond hummed and walked further than Soap did.

If Desmond was ever going to be confident over something.

It would be his jumping skills.

… also his ability to ignore every traumatizing experience he had ever had but he was just going to ignore that like usual.

Desmond did a few little hops to get his blood circulating before charging the edge at full speed. Holding both ice picks tightly, Desmond jumped off the edge as if he was about to perform an assassination from above.

For a brief second, he felt as if he was in Jerusalem, in Rome, in New York…

Then he felt his ice picks slam against the ice, keeping him stable as he landed on one knee a few feet further than Soap.

His heart was beating fast and his lips curved into a grin.

For a second, he felt his ancestors.

He was one with his ancestors.

The Bleeds had taken over.

“f*cking beautiful jump, Desmond,” Soap said with clear enthusiasm when he reached Desmond. Desmond pulled both of the ice picks out of the slippery ice and turned to face him.

“Thanks, I learned from the best,” Desmond said with a grin as they both unclasped the leather straps of the ice picks from their wrists and clipped them back to their belt. Desmond copied Soap as he took out his obviously decked-out rifle that looked heavier than Desmond’s heartbeat freeloader which he was now holding in both hands. They climbed over a small ledge and crouched once more as he heard Soap use their comms instead to tell him, “Desmond, use your heartbeat sensor.”

Desmond frowned, not wanting to even look at the damn thing but flipped it open from the left side of his ACR anyway. He knew he should be looking at the screen but, to be completely honest, reading the weirdly cute logo of ‘Snowfinity’ on his winter gloves was more interesting than this useless piece of shi-

“You should be able to see me on the scope. The blue dot is me.” Soap explained and Desmond blinked.

He supposed it wasn’t all that surprising.

Blue usually meant ‘ally’ in a lot of things.

And that just made him wonder if they got the idea to associate blue with allies from someone who had access to the Eagle Vision.

“Any unrecognized contacts will show up as white dots.” Soap continued to explain, forcing Desmond to focus on the sensor-radar-whatever.

Desmond felt like using it was tantamount to betraying his Eagle Vision.

Instead of acting like a brat, Desmond simply nodded as he said, “Got it.”

They began to make their way to the glowing gold thing that Desmond was going to assume was their destination, the Russian base.

Desmond noticed the two reds before it even blinked on his useless space-waster and he mumbled as he kept their comms open, “Two in front.”

Soap looked down at his ba-dump sensor before saying over comms, “Good eyes. These muppets have no idea we’re here. Let’s take it nice and slow.”

They walked softer and slower as Soap continued, “You take the one on the left. On three.”

“One…” They both stopped moving and went down on one knee.

“Two…” Desmond focused on aiming his ACR, letting instinct take over as his brain quickly calculated the distance and wind direction before he could even understand what he was doing.

“Three.” Both of them squeezed the trigger once and the two reds fell forward.

“Nicely done,” Soap said calmly before they continued to make their way to the base. Desmond stopped in front of one of the bodies and the urge to loot it was starting to make his fingers itch.

Soap turned to look at him as he said, “Be careful about picking enemy weapons, Desmond. Any unsuppressed firearms will attract a lot of attention.”

Desmond sighed, understanding the logic behind it, and mumbled as he walked away from the body, “I was thinking of looting them for shinies.”

“Like… their dog tags?” Soap asked curiously.

“Like money.” Desmond corrected. Soap turned to look at him once more with a confused expression on his face but he didn’t get the chance to ask anything else as Desmond said, “Two more up ahead.”

Soap’s expression turned serious once more and he turned to face their front as he ordered, “Same plan. On three.”

They began to move slower and quieter to shorten the distance between them and the two-man patrol.

“One…” They both dropped to one knee once more.

“Two…” Desmond ignored the red dot as he instinctively aimed a little more to the left to compensate for the change in wind direction.

“Three.” Both of them took down the two guards with a headshot each.

“Nice work,” Soap said and Desmond wondered if he was going to develop some kind of fondness for Soap before all of these were over.

Soap had pretty much praised him more times than his father ever did and this was not the right time to remember that.

It seemed like the weather was on their side as they continued on their way to the base. The blizzard was starting to pick up and Desmond was cursing it silently for reminding him of the cold once more even though he had already f*cking forgot about it because of all the walking and shooting they were doing. At the same time, he was thanking it because this meant that their enemies would have decreased visibility while Desmond’s Eagle Vision would remain unaffected.

He was confident he could lead Soap safely even if he would be rendered pretty much blind as well.

Just as they reached the base, Soap kept his eyes on the entrance as he said, “Let’s split up. I’ll use the thermal scope-”

His rifle had thermal scope? Why was Desmond just hearing about this now?

“-and provide over-watch from this ridge.” Soap continued, not noticing the frown Desmond was giving him underneath all the layers of snow and covers on his face, “Use the cover of the storm to enter the base. You’ll be a ghost in this blizzard-”

Desmond grinned and it took all of his self-restraint to not make a joke that Soap wouldn’t even get.

He was sure Rebecca and Shaun would appreciate it though.

“-so the guards won’t see you until you’re very close. Keep an eye on your heartbeat sensor.”

Yeah, Desmond was going to smack that sh*t close as soon as Soap couldn’t see him anymore.

“Good luck.”

“I think you’ll need it more than me,” Desmond said lightly, making Soap chuckle.

“We’ll see about that, Desmond,” Soap said and patted his back twice before pushing him forward.

Well then.

Time to show Soap how he does things.

Just as Soap expected, Desmond managed to slip inside the base undetected. He closed his weak-ass heartbeat whatever and returned the ACR to his back as he heard Soap’s voice on his earpiece, “What are you doing?”

“Relax, Soap.” Desmond took out the switchblade that Ghost had returned to him as he said, “I got this.”

With the cover of the blizzard, Desmond made his way deeper into the base. The Eagle Vision worked perfectly in making sure Desmond stayed clear away from any of the reds. He wasn’t sure if it would be okay to take them all down and he could do it if he wanted to but it would take too much so he focused on keeping out of sight. The buildings were too far from one another so he couldn’t use the roofs, instead, he made use of the cars and the side of the buildings.

It was when Desmond had his back against the wall on the side of one of the buildings to not get spotted by a red that was leaving a small building with another red sitting inside that he heard Soap’s voice, “You’re doing f*cking fantastic, Desmond. I’ve tapped into their comms. Head southeast and plant your C4 at the fueling station.”

Oh, right.

He had C4. He totally forgot about them.

“We may need to go to ‘Plan B’ if things go south.”

Plan B has C4?

Plan B sounds fun.

“Got it,” Desmond mumbled as he stepped away from the building the moment the red turned around to face the inside of the building.

“There’s a truck- never mind. You’re too far for them to see you anyway.” Soap said just as Desmond reached another building.

Desmond grinned, enjoying the way he was imagining Soap’s confused expression.

Before long, he finally reached the glowing gold that only appeared after Soap told him to go southeast. Desmond quickly planted the C4 and he was just about to leave when Soap said, “Hold up. I’m seeing activity on the runway. Looks like twenty-plus foot-mobiles heading your way.”

“I see them,” Desmond mumbled before making his way to hide behind the fuel tank nearby.

“No kills, no alert. Bloody beautiful, Desmond.”

Yup.

Becoming fond of Soap already.

“I’m picking up more radio traffic about a data breach. Might be the same data Hassan took from them. Standby.”

Desmond made his way toward the fighter jets, making sure not to get close to any that were glowing slightly red, most probably his Eagle Vision’s way of indicating a slight difference in temperature.

Which probably meant those with slightly red tints were being worked on or prepped.

“Got it.” Soap said, “Sounds like the breach came from the far hangar. They’ve just finished checking the data terminal there so it should be empty. Race you there. Oscar Mike. Out.”

Desmond’s lips curved into a smirk.

How cute.

He really thought he could outrace Desmond.

Of course, Desmond got to the hangar before Soap did. He had to cut through the fighter jets and stay far away from a large radius of red mist which he assumed was a visual representation of the radius of some kind of camera or radar that would have found Desmond, regardless of the blizzard.

Either way.

Red mist = danger.

That was enough information for Desmond anyway.

By the time Soap got to the entrance, Desmond had already opened the door and was busy looking over the lockers. Soap walked inside and took off his goggles as he said, “They’re not going to stash it in one of the lockers.”

He watched as Desmond opened a wallet and took out the cash inside, making Soap blink at him, “Are you… are you stealing?”

“I developed an attraction to shinies.” Desmond shrugged as he took out a wallet from one of the pockets of his winter jacket and placed the bills inside together with all his ill-gotten gains. He kept his head down as he blinked to deactivate his Eagle Vision.

Even the goggles wouldn’t be able to hide his eyes in this enclosed space if he continued to use his Eagle Vision.

The area was clear for now anyway according to his Eagle Vision.

He pocketed the wallet once more and took off his goggles. He kept his face mask on though as he said, “Don’t open the locker to your left, I stashed one of them inside.”

“Oh?” Soap squinted his eyes as he stared at the grating of the locker, humming as he barely saw the slumped man inside, “Killed him and stashed him. Very… spooks of you.”

“It was a cool ice pick kill too,” Desmond said with a grin.

“I’m sure it was.” Soap said lightly before nodding as he said, “Let’s get going.”

“Sure.” Desmond turned to face the corridor that would lead them to the main room of the hangar. Soap placed a hand on Desmond's chest, stopping him from stepping forward and making him turn to face Soap as he frowned.

“Ready your rifle, Desmond.” Soap ordered and Desmond sighed, taking out the ACR from his back. Desmond let Soap take point, following after him. He watched as Soap quickly looked from the left to the right once they entered the hangar.

There were a lot of boxes all around the hangar, seemingly stacked together according to size.

Maybe the boxes of the same size had the same things stored inside them?

“Clear.” Soap said as they reached the foot of the stairs that would lead to the second floor. Soap kept his eyes on the second floor as he said, “The signal is coming from a computer upstairs. I’ll copy that computer. You stay here and keep watch. Use the boxes for cover and give me a head’s up if anyone comes in.”

“Got it.” Desmond nodded and watched for a moment as Soap started to make his way upstairs before turning around. He walked towards the boxes and, as soon as he was sure Soap wouldn’t see his face unless he was to face Soap directly, he blinked to activate his Eagle Vision once more.

As he expected, the entire hangar was bathed in gray with the exemption of Soap’s blue form and the glowing gold thing on the second floor that he was now standing in front of which Desmond was going to assume was the computer that Soap needed to copy things in.

Desmond walked the hangar just to be sure they weren’t missing anything when he noticed a small white glow in between two boxes by the other end of the hangar.

Desmond tilted his head.

It was quite small so he wasn’t surprised that he didn’t see it when he scanned the hangar from the backdoor earlier.

Desmond walked towards it and blinked to deactivate his Eagle Vision. They just looked like all the other boxes though…

So why was there only a small part that was glowing white?

Desmond grabbed the top box and placed it on the ground next to him before using his icepick to pry open the second box.

“What are you doing, Desmond?” Soap’s voice came out of his earpiece.

Crap.

How was he supposed to answer that?

f*ck it. He’ll wing it.

“This box’s different.” He replied, “It’s been opened before.”

Sorta. All boxes had to be open to put sh*t inside, right?

“Okay?” It was clear Soap didn’t buy that reason.

Not that Desmond could blame him.

“And…” Desmond’s eyes widened as he recognized what was inside the box, “It’s an Abstergo box.”

“A what?”

“Pills. Abstergo’s sending them…” Desmond looked one of the bottles over and winced as he continued, “Painkillers.”

“You can buy them anywhere, hell, they’re my go-to painkillers myself. They probably ordered an entire box or something.” Soap argued before sighing, “Look, I know your main mission is to find proof that Abstergo’s dirty but that’s not a smoking gun-”

Desmond let Soap continue to talk about how he should focus on the mission and how he was a 141 now and Desmond truly got what he was trying to say but something was white inside this crate and Desmond needed to find it.

So he blinked once more and used his Eagle Vision to find the small white glowing thing, whatever it was.

“Oh.”

“What? Did you find the receipt?” Soap snarked.

“Better.” Desmond plucked the white glowing thing as he deactivated his Eagle Vision, “I found a bug.”

“A bug?” Soap repeated and Desmond heard him finally walking out of the second floor. He quickly reached Desmond and frowned as he said, “Aw, sh*t. That’s a bug.”

Desmond turned to look at him and asked, “Should we take it with us?”

“It’s probably a GPS tracker.” Soap said as he rubbed his chin, “If Abstergo planted that, they’ll be able to track us if we take it with us.”

“Yeah, but can we like… reverse search where it’s sending its location to or something when we get back?” Desmond asked.

Soap thought for a moment before shaking his head, “It’s too dangerous. We’re not even sure who put that bug in the box. Like you said, it’s been open. The Russians could have put it there and they were planning on shipping that box to someone they want to track.”

Damn. His lie had come to bite him in the ass.

“My suggestion is that you contact your DIA handler about this and let them handle what to do with it.” Soap said, “We can’t compromise our mission, Desmond.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Desmond sighed and placed the bug back into one of the corners of the box, a few inches from the bottom of the box, “Got what we need?”

“Affirmative.” Soap patted his right hip before saying, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Lead the way…” Desmond’s lips curved into a grin even though he knew Soap wasn’t going to see it as he said, “Sarge.”

Ghost led the exfil team that met with Desmond and Soap. He greeted them inside with a gruff, “Good work. The Russian didn’t suspect a thi-”

Ghost stared at Desmond for a moment before turning to look at Soap as he asked, “Why is Desmond pouting?”

“‘m not pouting,” Desmond grumbled as he sat on the nearest chair and covered his not-pout with both his ski mask and the high collar of his winter jacket.

Soap’s lips curved into a grin as he explained while handing Ghost the external hard drive he had used to copy everything in the computer, “He’s sad that he didn’t get to blow up the fuel tank.”

“That’s a good thing.” Ghost dryly stated as he took the external hard drive from Soap, “It means the Russians didn’t find you and chase you down.”

“It would have been cool though,” Desmond grumbled.

Ghost sighed and shook his head as he dryly said, “I’m sure you’ll see your fireworks in our next mission.”

“Shepherd and Laswell already told us where we’re going next?” Soap asked as he sat next to Desmond. Ghost sat on the other side while the soldiers who had joined them as their heli’s squad sat on the other seats.

Desmond felt the heli start to take off as Ghost explained, “Price and his team found evidence that Hassan was taken back into cartel protection in Las Almas and the Mexican Special Forces confirmed. Hassan is moving something large toward the US and everyone is sure it’s Soma. We’ve been ordered to link up with the Mexican Special Forces.”

“Hunter Two-One coming with us?” Desmond asked curiously.

“Negative.” Ghost answered, “Sending in an entire Ranger squad could be seen as an act of war by the Americans. Shepherd’s sending us a different kind of backup.”

“They’re sending in the Shadow Company PMCs to assist us.”

Chapter 6: Los Fantasmas y Los Vaqueros

Chapter Text

“Desmond…”

Desmond opened his eyes and the glowing golden tree stood in front of him once more.

“Desmond…”

Desmond turned to his right and Minerva was standing next to him just like in every other dream he’d had of this place.

But this time…

“It cannot be stopped, Desmond.”

He could finally hear her.

Her expression was one of contentment yet her words…

Her words brought nothing but dread.

“This must happen. For you to have a future… for humanity to push further than we ever could…”

Desmond’s red arm began to grow hot and he took a shuddering breath.

“Horus’ Lotus must not be stopped.” Minerva turned to look at him and her expression changed to one that pleaded for him to listen, “If you try to stop Horus’ Lotus…”

“It will take your life instead.”

“Desmond.”

Desmond let out a gasp as he was shaken awake. His body moved on its own, grabbing the arm on his shoulder and pulling his assailant towards him as he raised his left hand, switchblade already aiming for the neck.

His assailant grabbed his left hand and pushed Desmond, slamming his back and hands to the wall behind him.

“Stop, Desmond!”

Desmond stopped just as he was about to knee the assai-

No.

Soap.

It was Soap.

“Fuuuccckkk…” Desmond groaned as he relaxed, smacking the back of his head against the wall.

No.

The hull of the plane they were in.

Because he was in a military transport plane with Soap and…

Desmond turned and saw the squad assigned to protect the plane they were in staring at him. He turned away and groaned once more.

“You with us?” Soap asked as he kept a firm hold of both of Desmond’s wrists.

Desmond took a deep breath before replying in a monotone voice, “Yeah. Just… let me go?”

Soap let go of his wrists and slowly backed away, hands in front of him as if he was ready to pin Desmond to the hull once more. Desmond just collapsed on his chair and flipped his switchblade closed before pocketing it once more. He sighed and rubbed his face as he said, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Ghost said as he continued to sit on the other side of the plane, staring at Desmond as he said, “I told him not to touch you. This is on him.”

“You told me to throw a mag at him.” Soap argued as he frowned at Ghost.

“That would have been better actually,” Desmond commented, making Ghost look at Soap.

It was hard to guess what kind of expression Ghost was giving Soap but Soap seemed to have an idea (or maybe they knew each other long enough for Soap to know the expression Ghost was making even with that ski mask on his face) because he gave him an annoyed smile as he said, “Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to be so smug about it.”

That was Ghost being smug?

He just looked… like his usual self though?

Desmond knew he wasn’t going to understand whatever silent conversation they just had so he asked instead, “So… are we already in Mexico?”

“We’re an hour away from Las Almas.” Ghost replied while Soap sat next to him, “You should take the time to check your gear before we land.”

“Can I leave my rifle?” Desmond asked hopefully.

“No.” Ghost and Soap answered at the same time, making Desmond sigh.

They let Desmond pout for a bit before Ghost said, “I’ll allow you to strip the red dot and heartbeat sensor off.”

Desmond stared at him for a second before he nodded, “I’ll take it.”

Desmond knew things were a bit awkward with him and Soap right now.

That tended to happen whenever someone attacked the other person.

And Desmond knew it would be bad if he let this fester.

As soon as he was sure of his gear (and stopped looking at his ACR in annoyance) including exchanging his nice white winter jacket and hoodie for a black hoodie and fatigues underneath a brown tactical vest, he sat on the chair to Soap’s other side and nudged the side of his leg against Soap’s own as he said softly, “Hey.”

“Ready?” Soap asked as he turned to look at Desmond.

“As much I can ever be.” Desmond replied with a shrug before saying, “Soooo… about earlier…”

“I get it,” Soap said, making Desmond frown at him. His lips curved into a mirthless smile as he said, “Ghost did warn me not to wake you like that and… I understand. Actually… it makes me understand your kleptomaniac tendencies…”

“I don’t have-”

“The first step to healing is admitting you have a problem,” Soap said with a grin and Desmond snorted as he nudged his knee against Soap a little harder than normal. Soap chuckled softly before saying gently, “You don’t have to explain anything, Desmond. I get it. I’ve seen a few soldiers like you.”

Desmond frowned at that.

He wasn’t a soldier.

Not really…

“Sometimes, we dirty our hands and we have to live with the nightmares but…” Soap’s smile turned softer and a little fragile as he said, “It’s our duty, right? To save and protect everybody else?”

For a brief moment, the Grand Temple flashed in his mind.

For a brief second, he felt the burning pain in his right arm once more.

Desmond took a deep breath and focused on Soap’s clear blue eyes.

“Yeah.” Desmond’s lips curved into a small smile as he said softly, “Some things are worth the pain.”

Soap nodded in understanding and turned to look in front of them once more. Desmond felt Soap’s knee nudge his knee once more lightly.

Both of them turned to look at one another and their lips curved into easy grins.

That was when a large shadow loomed over Desmond so they both turned to look at Ghost who was now standing in front of Desmond. Desmond grinned as he asked, “What’s up, Ghost?”

Ghost took out an empty black bag and said, “Give it here.”

Desmond tilted his head.

Ghost let out a tired sigh before saying, “Everything you stole in the Russian airbase. Throw them all here.”

“Me? Stealing from a Russian airbase?” Desmond asked as he made his eyes bigger and blinked.

Ghost just stared at him.

Soap leaned closer and whispered loud enough for Ghost to hear while he kept his attention on the man standing in front of Desmond, “That’s his ‘I’m not amused’ face. Keep pushing him and he’ll make his ‘I’ll call Price on you, don’t think I won’t’ face.”

“Johnny.” Ghost growled and Soap leaned away from Desmond and raised his hands slightly.

“Just trying to help.”

“Okay then… I see your ‘I’m gonna call dad’ card and I raise you with my ‘I’m gonna call grandpa’ card.” Desmond joked with a grin.

“Shepherd would hit the back of your head and make you run the entire airfield five times if you do.” Ghost dryly stated, making Soap snicker.

“I can be very persuasive,” Desmond said although he actually agreed with Ghost’s assessment.

To be completely honest, Desmond just wanted to poke Ghost for a bit.

He wanted to see what makes him tick.

That was the only way Desmond knew how to get to know Ghost.

How to be able to read him.

Because Desmond certainly didn’t enjoy not being able to read someone with such firepower and authority like Ghost.

They were the most dangerous of all.

Ghost sighed tiredly once more before taking out two flashbangs, “Throw everything you took from the Russian base and I’ll let you throw all your reserve ammo for your ACR and give you two more flashbangs.”

Desmond perked up at that while Soap opened his mouth.

“Two flashbangs and less weight.” Ghost cut off whatever Soap was about to say, shaking the empty black slightly as he said, “But only if you throw everything inside this bag.”

Desmond stared at the two flashbangs for a moment before staring at Ghost’s darkened eyes.

He kept his eyes on Ghost’s face, ignoring Soap’s curious stare turning to surprise and concern as Desmond began to drop the items he stole from the base.

Three different wallets that had been stashed in three different locations: his left pocket and back pocket of his fatigue pants and his hoodie’s pocket.

He unclipped one of the extra ammo pouches he had that should be empty since he didn’t pick up any mags during the last mission anyway and opened it, upending it and shaking it lightly so it would drop 3 energy bars, five rings that were most probably wedding rings, a nice looking ballpen (that Desmond had picked up because it had a sharp end) and a pair of sweet looking gloves.

Soap’s mouth dropped when Desmond clipped back his extra ammo pouch and unclipped another extra ammo pouch. He opened that one and upended it as well, shaking it lightly as it dropped 5 pieces of candies, a stick of gum, a small coin purse that looked ready to burst already, and a simple gold necklace.

“Mate.” Soap said in a similar tone as someone who would say ‘dude’.

Desmond shrugged as he clipped that back as well, “I got bored waiting for you. Lockers are the 21st-century equivalent of chests.”

Desmond took out the three magazines for his ACR and dropped them in the bag as well before making a grab for the two flashbangs. Ghost pulled them away and Desmond frowned at him.

The entire time, his body posture and eyes didn’t change.

None of them changed at all.

He still looked as alert as Desmond had seen him before.

“All of them, Desmond.” Ghost repeated in that calm tone of his.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Desmond sighed and leaned down. He slipped his hand inside his right combat boot and used his point and middle fingers to take out a few folded rubles and dropped them into the bag as well.

Ghost handed him the two flashbangs which Desmond placed in his now empty ammo pouch with a satisfied grin on his face. He nodded at Ghost as he said, “Pleasure doing business with you. We should do this again next time, big guy.”

Ghost let out a sound that was too deep to be a snort but Desmond was pretty sure it was a snort. Ghost turned to Soap who was just staring at them with an open mouth and growled, “Not a word to Price. Understand, Johnny?”

“Yeah, Johnny.” Desmond grinned as he teased, “Dad must never know our illegal dealings.”

That finally got Soap to stop gawking at them and he shook his head as he said, “Don’t. Only Ghost can pull that off.”

Desmond raised an eyebrow at that and turned to look at Ghost who remained quiet. He turned to look back at Soap and shrugged, “Alrighty then. Guess I’m sticking to Soap.”

“We’re ready, sir.” One of the soldiers said and Desmond hummed.

He barely felt them land, being too focused on the two near him.

“Let’s go,” Ghost said before walking towards the exit. Soap and Desmond stood and followed him, waiting behind him as he handed the black bag filled with Desmond’s goodies, “Send that to Shepherd. Tag it as Desmond’s loot from the Russian base.”

The military transport plane’s main door began to open and Ghost stepped to the side as Desmond leaned closer to him, “So you are snitching me to grandpa!”

Soap chuckled and went on ahead, followed closely by Ghost and Desmond.

A man wearing a similar military getup to them was already waiting on the ground with his hands behind his back. He took a few steps towards them as Soap said, “Alejandro…”

“Sergeant MacTavish.” Alejandro, their main Mexican Special Forces contact according to the file Ghost shared with him and Soap, greeted back as they shook hands.

“Call me Soap,” Soap said loudly so he could be heard from the loud engines of the plane they just got off from.

“Lieutenant…” Alejandro nodded at Ghost as he said, “Laswell says they call you Ghost.”

“Actually, I believe he prefers to be-”

“That’ll do.” Ghost cut Soap off and, from the small grin on Soap’s face, Desmond knew he was about to make a joke and had been hoping Ghost would react.

Alejandro turned to nod at Desmond as he greeted, “Sergeant Miles.”

Desmond took a step forward and shook Alejandro’s hand as he said, “Call me Desmond.”

Alejandro nodded at him before turning to face all three of them as he said, “Welcome to the ‘city of souls’.”

Alejandro turned slightly to point at the cars behind him using his chin before turning around. They all followed him as Soap said, “I’ve never been to Mexico.”

“This isn’t Mexico…” Alejandro corrected as he swung both of his hands to his front, “This is Las Almas.”

Desmond kept quiet, observing Alejandro’s posture. He tried to look relaxed but Desmond could see the tension on his shoulders.

There was also a hint of wary in his voice.

He wasn’t hostile to them.

But he definitely didn’t like the place they were in right now.

Was it too open?

Or was he worried that it had been infiltrated as well?

“Shepherd’s contractors are inbound to reinforce.” Ghost explained calmly and Desmond noticed how Soap’s attention immediately turned to Ghost even when he was supposed to be looking at Alejandro. Desmond raised an eyebrow when Soap casually turned away to look around them while Ghost continued, “They’re bringing hardware, they’ll need room.”

Alejandro turned to look at Ghost as he replied, “My base is your base.”

“Good.” Ghost said as they reached the jeep in front of the parked vehicles that were already running. Soap went to the other side of the back and Desmond was about to follow him but Ghost grabbed his hood and pulled him back, making Desmond let out a surprised splutter while Alejandro raised an eyebrow at them. He could hear Soap’s soft snickering as Ghost asked calmly without even looking back at Desmond as he dropped his hand, “Now, where’s Hassan?”

Alejandro walked towards the passenger side of the jeep and replied, lips twitching slightly as he glanced at Desmond who adjusted his hood while glaring at Ghost, “Cartel safe-house, ten clicks from here.”

Alejandro opened the door to the passenger’s seat as he said, “Get in.”

Ghost opened the door to the backseats before turning to face Desmond, using his chin to point at the inside of the jeep, “You’re sitting between me and Soap.”

“If I was going to sit in the middle anyway, you didn’t have to stop me from following Soap,” Desmond mumbled as he took a step towards the backseats. Ghost grabbed his hood once more and pulled him back again.

Desmond turned to stare at Ghost with an annoyed expression on his face as he said, “Keep doing this and I’ll start thinking you just like manhandling me.”

“You’re the bloody idiot who decided to wear something that makes it easy for you to be grabbed from behind.” Ghost stated dryly before leaning close. Desmond resisted the urge to lean away as Ghost ordered, “You will follow every order I give and you will stay behind me at all times, understand?”

Desmond was tempted to push back but, this close, he could clearly see the seriousness in Ghost’s eyes.

Or maybe Ghost was just a naturally serious person.

Either way, it would be riskier for Desmond to annoy a person who seemed to have no problem using the heavy firepower he had on him right now. Not to mention, Alejandro was still staring at them and it wouldn’t look good if Desmond was to start questioning his authority so he simply nodded, “Got it.”

Ghost let out a sound that seemed to be half a grunt and half a hum before pulling Desmond’s hood over his head as he said, “Get in.”

Desmond adjusted the hood slightly so it would cover more of his head as he stepped inside the jeep just as Ghost said, “And Desmond…”

Desmond sat next to Soap who had been staring at them the entire time as he turned to look at Ghost. Ghost entered the jeep, forcing Desmond to scoot closer to Soap. He could feel Soap’s and Ghost’s arms pressing against him and he had to remind himself that he wasn’t any inferior to the two just because he didn’t have their large muscle arms.

He was built for speed, not for being able to explode a watermelon using one arm.

“Yeah?” Desmond asked instead of saying all of those out loud.

Seriously, Desmond was more muscular than Shaun and his dad but being pressed between these two men was doing wonders for his self-esteem.

“Don’t go looting every shiny thing you see.” Ghost grunted.

Soap snorted while Desmond looked at Ghost for a moment, debating with himself if he should even bother trying to defend himself. Seeing it as a lost cause…

… and thinking that getting more loot and having Ghost confiscate them would earn him another mission with more bombs… he meant flashbangs… Desmond simply turned to look at their driver and greeted, “Hi, my name’s Desmond.”

He heard Alejandro, who was still standing outside the jeep, turn to look at the other jeeps as he ordered in Spanish, “Vamos! Moverse! (C’mon. Let’s move.)”

Desmond tilted his head slightly as it took him a moment to understand why he understood Spanish.

Ezio…

Ezio knew Spanish.

He had been in Spain a couple of times, including that one time he had hunted down Cesare Borgia.

Desmond supposed it made sense he would know Spanish thanks to his Bleeding Effect.

Alejandro entered the jeep and closed the door. He turned to face Desmond as he introduced their driver, “This is my second in command. Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra.”

They began to drive out of the airfield as Rodolfo and Desmond’s eyes met through the rearview mirror and Rodolfo nodded to him before saying in Spanish, “Tengo miedo de los fantasmas. (I’m afraid of ghosts.)”

Alejandro smiled at Rodolfo before turning around to look at the back. He looked at Soap as he asked, “You know Spanish?”

“No,” Soap answered.

Alejandro was about to turn back around just as Rodolfo drove out of the airfield when his eyes met Desmond. Desmond could see the curiosity in Alejandro’s eyes as he said in Spanish, “Usted hable español. (I have a feeling you know Spanish.)”

Seeing no need to hide it, Desmond grinned as he replied in Spanish, “Solo un poquito. (Just a little bit.)”

Alejandro blinked at him before Rodolfo let out a small chuckle. Seeing their reaction, Soap’s lips curved into a grin as he asked, “What? Is our Desmond pretending to understand Spanish?”

“Yo se más español que tú.(I know more Spanish than you.)” Desmond snarked in Spanish and this time it was Alejandro who laughed as he turned to face the front.

Desmond frowned at the two men in front of them and Alejandro stared at him using the rearview mirror as he said, “His Spanish is fine. Fluent even. Just…”

“He sounds like the son of a hacienda owner in the 1500s,” Rodolfo explained in Spanish, making Alejandro chuckle.

“Where did you learn Spanish, amigo ?” Alejandro asked with a grin, “Spanish period dramas?”

Desmond’s lips curved into a sardonic smile as he replied dryly, “From a fallen Italian nobleman who just so happened to find himself in Spain a lot during the Renaissance.”

Ghost slowly turned to stare at him and Desmond couldn’t even fathom what that stare was supposed to mean while Soap looked amused.

Alejandro and Rodolfo laughed at that before Alejandro said, “That does sound like the plot of a period drama.”

“You like period dramas, Desmond?” Soap asked curiously.

Desmond shrugged as he replied, “I guess you can say I can relate to other time periods.”

Soap stared at Desmond for a moment before his attention was taken by something he saw from the window nearest to him, “White truck, four armed in the truck.”

Desmond saw him reach for his rifle but Alejandro stopped him as he turned to face Soap, “Hey, tranquilo . Easy.”

He nodded slightly as Rodolfo continued to drive them deeper into Las Almas, “That’s normal here.”

“Guns on the street is jurisdiction of the police.”

Desmond tilted his head.

He heard Ghost ask about the police and Alejandro’s explanation of the current situation in Las Almas. Unfortunately, Desmond wasn’t surprised by the corruption that had seeped deep into the very grounds of Las Almas.

Desmond had seen similar things after all.

The Third Crusade.

The Borgia Regime.

The Redcoats.

As long as those in power abused their authority, something similar to Las Almas would always happen.

El Sin Nombre was just another person abusing their power to trample on the weak and the innocents.

Not even being told that some of the troops from the military were siding with El Sin Nombre surprised him.

To be completely frank…

This entire place…

Las Almas…

It… was calling to Desmond.

In some way, this was the perfect place…

The perfect place for an Assassin to operate.

To strike from the shadows and bring justice and vengeance to all who had a hand in the current state of Las Almas.

Chapter 7: Cartel Protection

Chapter Text

The jeeps stopped by the outskirt of the village and Desmond followed them in getting out of the car. As ordered, Desmond made sure to stand behind Ghost as the quiet man put on some shades.

And also made sure to stand in his blind spot.

From the small smirk on Soap’s face, he obviously knew what Desmond was doing.

Ghost didn’t react though but Desmond just knew he was getting annoyed.

Even just slightly, Desmond was sure he was annoying Ghost.

He heard Alejandro order the rest of the Mexican Special Forces using their comms before walking towards the three of them as they stood next to Rodolfo.

“Where are they holding Hassan?” Soap asked.

Alejandro waved his left hand toward the direction of a house as he said, “White two-story building.”

Alejandro and Rodolfo bumped fists as he continued, “Back of town.”

Rodolfo moved towards the rest of the Los Vaqueros while Alejandro started to move from the other side. Desmond assumed they were going for some kind of pincer attack and followed Ghost as he led them toward a door with clear rust damage.

Desmond mirrored Soap’s movements. While Ghost and Alejandro stared at the door, he and Soap turned around and focused their attention on their front.

Alejandro stepped to face the door completely while Soap turned around to face the door as he whispered in Spanish, “All Victors, stand by… 3… 2… 1…”

“Execute, execute!” Alejandro ordered just as Ghost pushed the door open. Alejandro entered first. Ghost quickly followed after him and a brief nod from Soap was all Desmond needed to know that he was to go next.

He followed Ghost and Soap followed him. Desmond frowned.

He was too in the open.

He couldn’t use his Eagle Vision to check his surroundings.

But he could feel it.

There were people nearby.

Dangerous people.

They reached the next gate and Desmond could hear people shouting “Guys, here they come!” in Spanish before Ghost opened the gates. Soap followed Alejandro deeper into the village while Ghost followed after him.

Desmond didn’t even need to fire his ACR as the three of them managed to take down the advancing cartel members before he could even aim at them.

Ghost was obviously the best marksman in their group, being able to take down hostiles that were hiding inside the houses just as they were about to peek out.

But this would mean…

In their current formation, Desmond was now behind all three members of his current squad.

Which meant…

Desmond blinked and the world turned gray once more.

Ghost’s and Soap’s blue forms were glowing brighter than before, making Alejandro’s blue form dim in comparison.

But more importantly…

Desmond could clearly see the reds ahead of them.

The reds tried to pin them down by making their stand at the end of the road. Desmond let instinct take over and placed his ACR on his back before running towards the red brick house that Ghost and Soap were using as cover.

“Take them out, Desmond!” Ghost ordered and stepped forward as he let go of his rifle. He entwined his fingers in front of him and Desmond used his entwined fingers to boost himself up the roof.

“Keep them busy, Soap!” Ghost ordered and Soap blindly fired at the end of the road while Desmond quickly ran across the roof. Soap’s blind firing caught one of them on the soldier and Desmond ignored him as he was in the line of fire of Soap and Alejandro. Instead, he took out one of his flashbangs and threw it at the next street in front of him.

A loud bang and a flash of light were accompanied by screams of pain and Desmond jumped the nearest red just as Soap shot the wounded red right between the eyes.

Desmond stabbed the side of the neck of the red underneath him with his switchblade before quickly rushing towards the other two reds currently suffering through the flashbang. Desmond stabbed the side of the neck of the red to his left before quickly stepping towards the last remaining red. The red tried to aim his rifle at him but Desmond used his switchblade to smack the rifle away, letting his bleed of Ratonhnhaké:ton take over. He grabbed the red by the fabric of his shirt and pulled him, slamming his face on the brick wall behind Desmond before wrapping his arm around his neck and quickly running across the wall before throwing the red to the ground hard.

Desmond took control and finished the red off by slamming his switchblade into the red’s neck.

“Area clear.” Ghost said as the three of them reached Desmond. Desmond took note of the locations of the rest of the reds hiding in the house at the end of the street before blinking once more to deactivate his Eagle Vision.

Soap approached him first and patted his back as he mumbled, “Rifle.”

Desmond grabbed his ACR once more and stayed kneeling next to the last cartel member he killed as Alejandro took point once more, walking towards the last house with a white door. Soap stood behind him while Ghost tapped Desmond’s shoulder twice before passing him.

Taking that as his cue to follow Ghost, Desmond stood and stayed behind Ghost as he heard Alejandro’s voice on his earpiece while he crouched next to the white door, “Secure this house, then we go for Hassan.”

Desmond could hear the cartel members whispering even though he was the furthest from the house Alejandro wanted them to clear first. He couldn’t risk activating his Eagle Vision right now, not when any of the other three could easily turn around and see him.

Damn it, he should have worn shades like Ghost.

It wouldn’t fully conceal the glow of the Eagle Vision but he could easily pass it off as a trick of the light or something.

“Cartel will move him fast.” Ghost stated as Soap stood behind Alejandro.

“Then we move faster,” Alejandro replied quietly just as Soap glanced at Ghost. Desmond wasn’t sure if Ghost actually made any gestures or made any expressions but Soap nodded at him before stepping in front of the door just as Alejandro said, “Head’s up, they’re ready.”

“Take the door.” The moment those words left Alejandro’s lips, Soap kicked the door open. Soap took point, entering the house first, followed immediately by Alejandro. Ghost stepped inside next and Desmond was just stepping inside when Alejandro said, “Doorway, right side.”

Desmond didn’t see anything from his place at the door but Soap crouched as he pulled the trigger, letting out two shots as a volley of bullets hit the wall behind him, aimed at where he had been standing just a few seconds ago.

Soap immediately turned to aim at his right while Alejandro stepped forward, aiming at the end of the hallway. Alejandro covered Soap as he quickly checked the first door to their right before returning to the hallway, “Clear.”

Alejandro followed Soap further into the hall while Ghost stayed by the corner of the hall, aiming his rifle at the hallway. Desmond felt useless but Ghost pushed him back when he tried to follow Soap and Alejandro into the hallway.

Knowing it would do him no good to try and argue with his commanding officer (technically), he stared at the hallway as Soap and Alejandro cautiously walked to the other end. Just as they were near the second door to the right, a short burst of bullets shot through the slightly opened door, missing Soap by just a couple of inches. Soap and Alejandro took a few steps back and waited for the shooter to stop. Once they heard the sounds of a trigger being pulled but no shots were fired, Soap quickly stepped forward and shot the man on the other side of the now-destroyed door as the man tried to reload his gun. Soap kicked the remains of the room and quickly checked the room before stating, “Room clear.”

Alejandro nodded as he pressed his back against the right wall, his gun aimed at the last door to the left, as he said, “Good shots, hermano.”

“No signs of Hassan,” Soap said calmly as he stepped back into the hallway.

“Not yet.” Alejandro corrected as Soap entered the room to the left and Alejandro followed him. Ghost slowly walked towards the hallway and Desmond followed him. With Ghost focused on the door to the left, Desmond blinked and quickly checked his surroundings. He blinked to deactivate the Eagle Vision just as Soap stated, “Clear.”

Ghost’s pace became just a tad faster and Desmond followed him into the room to the left which turned out to be the living room with a small kitchen on the other side of the room. Soap cautiously walked toward the kitchen as he asked, “What happened to the families here?”

Desmond listened as Alejandro explained how the innocents were chased out of their homes because of what the cartels brought.

Alejandro used the word ‘violence’ but Desmond could hear what he did not say.

Fear.

Death.

The cartels were just like every other organization the Brotherhood had fought.

No matter how many years have passed.

This aspect of the world hasn’t changed at all.

Desmond walked towards the window to the right of one of the couches while Ghost and Alejandro were focused on the other side of the room where Soap was cautiously making his way toward the door to the right of the kitchen.

Desmond blinked, letting the world turn gray once more just as Ghost pressed his side against the wall between the window that Desmond was standing next to and the next window. Soap was by the door and Alejandro was on one knee at the window next to the door where Soap was. He heard Alejandro order his men to deploy smoke which Desmond assumed was smoke bombs.

No.

They called them smoke grenades.

Just as he expected, the open area outside was soon shrouded in smoke yet Desmond could see everything clearly.

He could see Alejandro’s men as they made their way to the house in front of them. He heard Soap ask about Alejandro’s family and the vague reply that Alejandro gave about how they were hidden for their own safety and Desmond’s heart ached as he remembered his mother and sister.

No.

They were Ezio’s mother and sister.

Not his.

Desmond’s family…

His parents…

They were out there, doing whatever was needed of them.

His father was in Russia, doing something for the Brotherhood in exchange for allowing Desmond back into the field.

Look how that turned out.

And his mother…

They told him she was deep undercover somewhere in Russia but they didn’t say where exactly. Desmond was pretty sure his dad had agreed to the mission in Russia because it was connected to his mom in some way.

“We have concealment.” Ghost’s voice brought Desmond back to the present and he quietly watched as Alejandro nodded at Soap.

“Let’s move.” Alejandro stood and Soap took a few steps back as Alejandro stepped towards the door.

“On me, Soap,” Alejandro said as he opened the door. Desmond watched as Soap followed Alejandro.

Ghost kept his attention on the window and seemed to have waited with his rifle aimed outside for Alejandro and Soap to enter the smoke before taking a step back. Desmond immediately blinked to stop his eyes from glowing as Ghost ordered, “On me, Desmond.”

Desmond nodded silently and followed Ghost outside. They stepped into the smoke and quickly rushed towards the white house in front of them. Desmond glanced around just as they exited the smoke and saw the other entrances being covered by the other members of the Mexican Special Forces. Desmond followed Ghost towards the door to the side of the house where Soap and Alejandro were on one side of the door. Desmond followed Ghost on the other side of the door and blinked when Ghost switched out his rifle for a shotgun. He nodded at Alejandro who ordered in Spanish, “Go! Go!”

Ghost quickly blasted the doorknob and effortlessly changed back to his rifle as he turned around and kicked the door. Alejandro threw a grenade as Ghost turned back around and aimed his rifle at the now open door. They waited for the grenade to go off before Alejandro entered the house, followed by Soap. Ghost entered next and Desmond stepped inside as well.

This time, Alejandro took point in clearing the rooms and Desmond felt that his presence was not needed once more, especially when they entered what seemed to be a large dining room. Alejandro focused on clearing the left side, Soap cleared the door to the right and Ghost took one step into the room and immediately fired on the door in front of them.

Desmond wasn’t sure if Ghost took a shot or if he saw or heard something because one of the other teams of the Special Mexican Forces walked into the same room using a different entrance and they opened the door that Ghost just shot at, revealing a dead cartel slumped to the floor, still holding his gun and bleeding from the shot between his eyes.

“Damn.” Desmond whistled, “Okay, now I’m impressed.”

Ghost simply grunted at him that Desmond wasn't sure how to interpret.

Soap stepped back to the room as he said, “Bathroom clear.”

“Clear. No Hassan.” Alejandro said as well as he finished his sweep of the kitchen on the other side of the room.

Ghost nodded to the left as he said, “Second deck.”

“Si. Vamos. Let’s move upstairs and get Hassan.” Alejandro quickly approached the stairs hidden by darkness and Soap followed him.

Seeing this as routine by now, Desmond stayed behind Ghost as they followed Alejandro as he ascended the stairs, “Holding at the stairs.”

Just as they were about to reach the second floor, Ghost placed his hand on Desmond’s chest and pushed him against the wall just as there were shots fired from the second floor. Alejandro used the wall behind them for cover as he raised his rifle above his head, firing blindly.

They heard a thud and waited for two seconds before Alejandro start to ascend once more. They walked towards the first room to their right as Alejandro said, “If Hassan’s here, he’s in this room.”

They reached the door to the first room and Soap and Alejandro stood to either side of the door while Ghost and Desmond remained by the final steps of the stairs. They both crouched when someone from the room started firing.

Since Ghost was looking away from him, Desmond blinked quickly before blinking once more. Once the barrage of bullets stopped, Desmond quickly peeked out of their cover and pulled the trigger of his ACR, taking down the man on the right that had been on his knees next to the couch then fired just enough bullets to finally penetrate the couch and hit the other man hiding behind the couch.

The two men hit the ground with a loud thud and they waited for a second before Alejandro said, “Move in.”

Soap took point, entering the room. Alejandro stepped inside as well as he said, “Secure the room. I’ll cover.”

Ghost knelt by the door and aimed his rifle in the general direction where Soap was heading while Desmond stayed behind him.

Soap used the butt of his rifle to bash the door opened and did a quick sweep of the room before saying, “Clear. No Hassan.”

Ghost went inside the room and Desmond followed him but didn’t join the four of them as they stood next to the door Soap just cleared. He opened his mouth but didn’t say anything once he noticed that Ghost was walking straight to the table where there seemed to be an open notebook and a few papers.

Desmond tilted his head when he heard the soft sound of an engine becoming louder fast. He walked towards the window and made sure his back was facing the three as they talked about how Alejandro’s intel was good since they found evidence that Hassan was here recently.

More importantly.

He could see the approaching reds.

Lots of reds.

“Hey, uh, guys… we have company.” Desmond said, “And not the good kind.”

As if hearing Desmond, they all heard Rodolfo’s voice coming from their earpiece, shouting in Spanish, “Commander! Army is rolling in!”

“sh*t!” Alejandro exclaimed in Spanish as he walked towards one of the windows. Desmond quickly kept his distance and ducked his head, taking a risk as it was more important to keep an eye on the incoming reds.

Luckily, Ghost stood next to Desmond, his back turned to Desmond as he stared at Alejandro. Desmond wasn’t even surprised when Alejandro explained that the incoming army worked for the cartels.

Desmond would be more surprised if they weren’t.

The current situation in Las Almas was the kind that attracted and bred corruption.

Desmond wasn’t even surprised when the army started firing at them without any warning or announcement.

None of that mattered.

They were red.

They were his enemies.

Desmond took position on one of the windows with Ghost while Alejandro and Soap covered the other windows.

The main objective was to fight them until Alejandro’s men cleared the area.

But it proved to be more annoying than it should be.

“They’re armored!” Soap shouted as the first wave of reds tried to breach the house.

“Target the helmets! They’re weak!” Alejandro shouted back as bullets continued to hail in their direction.

Desmond would have thought that helmets should be one of the strongest armor soldiers should have but he supposed being in bed with the cartels would mean they weren’t handling their military funds correctly.

Probably.

It was fine. Between him and Ghost, they were taking out reds by shooting the small unprotected area of the face.

Desmond was definitely impressed. Alejandro and Soap usually needed two to three bullets to neutralize their target but Ghost’s shots were all quick deaths. Desmond was the same, shooting every single red in the eye or near the eye.

Even if they were to survive that shot, they weren’t going to be getting up any time soon.

With how precise Desmond’s shots were, mostly coming from Ratonhnhaké:ton’s deadly accuracy, he wasn’t even low in ammo yet and this was still his ACR’s first mag.

… It did help that he barely used it anyway.

“They’re using shields!” Ghost shouted as another wave came at them.

“Use grenades!” Alejandro shouted back and Desmond threw one of his flashbangs, hitting the head of one of the reds with a shield.

A flash of light erupted just as Alejandro shouted, “I meant frags!”

“Oooohh. That makes more sense!” Desmond shouted back as he took down the reds that were wobbling from the flashbang.

“I got this!” Soap shouted as he used the grenade launcher attached to his rifle, focusing his shots on the direction of the reds with the shield. He didn’t need to be precise with his aiming as the grenades had enough of a radius blast to take them out even if Soap was a few inches off.

Finally, they heard Rodolfo’s voice from their earpiece as he informed them in Spanish, “Commander, we’re clear!”

“Copy! Rally at the safe house!” Alejandro ordered in Spanish before slowly backing away from the window as he told them in English, “Okay! My men are clear!”

Soap followed him in backing away as he shouted, “Then we need to move!”

“Fall back! This way!” Alejandro ordered and turned around, running out of the room. Soap immediately followed him while Desmond deactivated his Eagle Vision, just in time for one of the soldiers to throw something into the room.

“Fall back, Desmond! That’s-”

Desmond grabbed the thing in midair and threw it back before running to the window that Alejandro just smacked open with the butt of his rifle.

“… tear gas.” Ghost finished dryly.

The storm of bullets stopped and they heard a lot of coughing coming outside.

Ghost stared at Desmond with those dark eyes and Desmond tilted his head. Instead of answering his silent question, Ghost just shook his head as he muttered, “f*ckin’ hell.”

Desmond followed Ghost as he jumped out of the house and they ran to a narrow dirt road behind the house with Alejandro leading the way, “Down the hill!”

Along the way, they meet up with two of Alejandro’s men and he ordered, “We’ll lose them in the mountains! Fan out and stay close.”

Desmond heard one of them ask in Spanish, “The old route?”

“Straight to the bridge,” Alejandro answered in English.

Just as they were running down the hill, Desmond’s Eagle Vision activated even without him blinking before deactivating once more.

Just a fracture of a second.

But that was all Desmond needed to know why his Eagle Vision activated all of a sudden.

“Desmond! Stay in formation!”

Desmond ignored Ghost’s order and ran passed Ghost and Soap. He ran passed Alejandro who shouted at him as well.

And tackled one of Alejandro’s men.

Desmond grunted when he felt a bullet graze the back of his tactical vest as they come under fire once more. Alejandro’s other man fell nearby as well and Desmond’s heart stopped as he wondered if he made a mistake.

“Desmond!” Soap and Ghost shouted at the same time Alejandro shouted, “Rodriguez! Sanchez!”

“We’re fine!” Desmond shouted as he rolled off the man, unsure if he was called Sanchez or Rodriguez.

“This way!” The man shouted in Spanish and Desmond followed him as they quickly rushed behind the nearest big rock for cover.

“Cover! Cover!” Alejandro shouted as he grabbed the other man to the same rock that Desmond was. Soap and Ghost hid behind other covers and began to return fire. Desmond joined them but kept an ear on what was happening with Alejandro and his men.

“Where were you hit, brother?” Alejandro asked in Spanish as he quickly looked over the panting man he had dragged into their cover.

“Backplate.” The soldier replied, taking a deep breath, before slowly getting up, hands already gripping his rifle tightly, “I’m good.”

“Sanchez?” Alejandro turned to look at the man Desmond had tackled who was returning fire next to Desmond.

Sanchez turned and sat down to fully hide and quickly reloaded his rifle as he replied in Spanish, “I’m fine, commander. Desmond saved me.”

Alejandro nodded at Desmond as he said, “Thank you, Desmond.”

Desmond simply shrugged as he replied, “Just glad everyone’s safe.”

It wasn’t long before they took out all the reds above them and Soap asked, “Are we clear?”

“For now.” Alejandro replied, “We gotta move! Go!”

They began to run down the hills once more but Desmond stopped when Ghost shouted his name, “Desmond!”

Desmond groaned, already ready to tell Ghost that he can lecture him later once they weren’t running for their lives but Ghost just threw him two mags while they continue to run.

It was only because of Desmond’s honed reaction time that he was able to grab them. Desmond blinked, recognizing them as the two mags that he had given Ghost.

But wait…

Didn’t he put these mags in the black bag together with-

“Change mags, Desmond. Your current mag’s too low.” Ghost ordered as Alejandro ordered Rodriguez to call for an extraction.

“How’d you even-”

“Now, Desmond!”

Desmond quickly changed the magazine of his ACR as they continued to make their way down. Just as he finished reloading, Desmond felt the telltale sign of one of his Bleeds taking over and didn’t fight it. He quickly turned around and threw his empty mag, diving into the ground as his mag took the full force of the bullet aimed at his head. Everybody else quickly took cover except Ghost who grabbed him by his hood and dragged him to the nearest rock while Desmond fired his ACR and took out as many as he could.

“Contact!” Ghost shouted as he slid Desmond next to him before returning fire as well.

Desmond blinked, taking back control of his body, and quickly went to his knees, firing from the other side of the rock cover Ghost had dragged him to.

Desmond barely heard Alejandro’s order for them to take cover and take down their pursuers.

Desmond wasn’t going to let any of them live anyway.

He barely heard Rodriguez shouting at his comms, requesting for an extraction.

Even after they took out their pursuers and continued downhill, it seemed Rodriguez had been unable to connect with the rest of their team.

So they kept moving as Alejandro explained that the mountain was blocking their comms.

Just as Alejandro told them that their destination was a bridge at the river, Desmond’s Eagle Vision activated once more. For a fraction of a second, Desmond saw a large area in front of them, a little to their right, shrouded in a glowing red mist. His Eagle Vision deactivated soon after and Desmond ran ahead once more, grabbing Rodriguez’s tactical gear and pulling him back just as some kind of projectile pass over their heads.

It hit the center of the glowing red mist and the impact threw Desmond and Rodriguez off their feet as Ghost shouted, “Contact! RPG!”

Oh. So that was an RPG.

Good to know.

Also…

Jesus f*cking Christ!

“Army on the ridgeline!” Alejandro shouted and they took cover once more with Desmond and Rodriguez scrambling to hide behind the rocks.

Desmond grabbed another flashbang and shouted, “Flash!”

He hoped they all understood what that meant as he threw the flashbang, aiming it right in front of one of the reds standing by the ridge. Desmond timed it so that the soldier’s shots would hit the flashbang instead, causing a flash of light and sound to erupt before it hit the ground. Desmond and Ghost quickly took out the ones unlucky enough to get affected by the flashbang before the rest of their team fired as well with Soap focusing on anyone with RPGs.

Who the f*ck brings RPGs to take out people?!

Once it became clear that they had taken all of them out, Alejandro shouted, “Anyone hit?!”

“Negative!” Ghost answered quickly.

He checked everyone that quickly?!

“Good to go!” Soap answered, making Desmond realize that Ghost had answered for himself, not for the team.

Oh, that made more sense.

Sanchez and Rodriguez also shouted that they were good while Rodriguez patted Desmond’s back and nodded gratefully at him which left Desmond as the last one to answer, “We good!”

And immediately regretted it because he just answered in Spanish with a ‘we’ instead of an ‘I’.

f*ck.

He hoped they would assume that Desmond just made a mistake and that it wasn’t an indication of how his Bleeds were taking control at times to give Desmond a helping hand.

Nah.

There was no way they would ever think that.

“Copy. On me!”

They reached a trail with Alejandro taking point, followed by both Rodriguez and Sanchez. Soap followed behind while Desmond ran next to Ghost, covering their rear.

The trail led them to a large gap just as Alejandro shouted, “We’ll have to jump here.”

“Can we make that?” Soap asked with a slightly wary tone.

“Do or die, brother,” Alejandro answered in Spanish before jumping. Sanchez and Rodriguez jumped after him without any hesitation and they all skidded across the next trail.

Soap jumped next, skidding across and quickly getting up to follow Alejandro and his men. Ghost and Desmond jumped at the same time and skidded across the other trail, quickly getting up and following the rest of their team until they reached the end of the trail. Alejandro ordered Soap to push forward and Rodriguez to keep working on getting someone on their radio while the rest of them watched out for snipers.

It wasn’t long until Desmond got the hang of it. Soap was always sent ahead to provide them cover while they held their position as waves and waves of hostiles tried to take them down.

By the third wave, as they continued their way down the cliffs, Desmond had to wonder at the inefficiency of the soldiers hunting them down.

Sure, they had the firepower but it seemed like they were…

A bit disorganized?

Wouldn’t it be more efficient if they just simply marked their position and fired at them with everything they had?

Was something else happening that they didn’t know?

Or…

Did the cartels find corrupt soldiers who weren’t really good at their job? That relied on their numbers instead?

That seemed more possible since Alejandro and his men appeared so much better in Desmond’s eyes.

Or maybe Desmond was just being biased since they were on their side.

Finally, they reached a narrow ledge overlooking the river. Before they could cross, Desmond’s head turned and his eyes blinked without his permission. Desmond froze as his Vision widened and he could now see the telltale red from far away. Desmond went on his knees as the rest began to shimmy their way across the ledge and took a deep breath.

“Ratonhnhaké:ton.” Desmond whispered and blinked.

His entire posture changed and his expression grew grim.

Quickly checking the wind direction and adjusting his aim to compensate for gravity and the difference of arc between an arrow and a bullet, he ignored Soap’s shout for him to get moving.

Instead, he fired three times in quick succession just as a bullet pierced a few inches above Rodriguez’s head.

“It’s done.” He said in his native language before closing his eyes. He took a deep breath and Desmond opened his eyes.

He nodded and stood, making his way toward the narrow ledge as Ghost said, “Bloody good shot.”

Desmond simply nodded and they continued to descend the mountain, performing jumps that made Desmond feel more in his skin than in any other location he had been since he woke up.

They finally reached a cliff and Ghost looked down. He glanced at Desmond before turning to tell Alejandro, “You led us to a dead end, mate.”

“We jump from here! Don’t lose your weapon!”

Oh.

Hell yeah.

Desmond couldn’t help the excitement coursing through his entire body as he watched Alejandro jump off the cliff.

Rodriguez and Sanchez soon followed just as a bullet missed Ghost by a couple of inches, making him crouch.

“Your turn, Sergeant!” Ghost shouted and Desmond thought he was talking to him but Soap jumped next.

“Desmond!” Ghost shouted as he ducked as another bullet hit the wall, missing him by a foot.

Desmond rushed to his side and Ghost grabbed both of his hands, making sure Desmond held his ACR tightly as he ordered, “Don’t you f*ckin’ let go! Understand?!”

“Yeah!” Desmond nodded.

“Go!” Ghost ordered and pushed him.

Desmond didn’t hesitate, taking a leap of faith off the cliff.

The urge to spread his arms was almost too much but Ghost’s words kept his arms tightly around his ACR and he fell into the water feet first.

He didn’t waste any time, swimming upward and taking a huge gulp of air just as he heard Ghost hit the waters near him. He swam towards Soap as Alejandro asked if they were alright.

Desmond was fine.

And he couldn’t help the manic grin on his face as the rush of freerunning that needed with a leap of faith made him feel…

Alive.

More alive than he had ever felt ever since they brought him back.

Well. That was definitely not a good sign for his health.

As they swam down the river, Rodriguez tried the comms once more.

This time, they heard someone answer back.

The signal was too weak and they couldn’t reply before they were once again under heavy fire from the army. They dove under to escape the bullets, swimming to one end of the river where there was enough cover for all of them. Desmond stayed near Ghost and fired at the army until there was enough lull in their activity that they could push further upriver.

They kept using the edges of the river as cover but the river and their heavy wet clothes and equipment were definitely not a good mix.

Finally, Alejandro led them to a shallow part of the river where they were supposed to hold for extraction but…

“We can’t do sh*te against that armor!” Ghost shouted as they were bombarded by a barrage of bullets coming from the troops and armored vehicles stationed on the bridge.

Desmond looked around and his Bleed was telling him that there was enough cover.

“Keep them busy!” Desmond shouted, “I’ll circle aroun-”

“No!” Ghost cut him off, “It’s too risky.”

“It’s our only ch-”

“This is Shadow-1!” A voice with an American accent suddenly spoke in their earpiece, causing Desmond and Ghost to stop arguing, “Engaging the bridge north of your position. Danger close!”

“Who the hell is that?” Alejandro asked, needing to shout just to be heard over the barrage of bullets they were hiding from.

“Commander Graves, Shadow Company. They’re with us.” Ghost said as he raised his head.

Desmond looked at where Ghost had focused his attention and his eyes widened as he saw bursts of lights quickly moving to their position.

No.

To the bridge.

Whatever those lights were, they struck the bridge itself, destroying it and taking down everything and everyone that had been on the bridge. The bridge collapsed in front of them as Ghost shouted, “Shadow-1, Bravo 7-0! Good shots! Fire for effect!”

“All stations, no enemy movement detected. You’re clear.” The same voice that Ghost identified as Commander Graves said, “It’s good to see you boys.”

“Likewise, mate.” Ghost replied.

“This way!” Alejandro shouted. They followed him out of the water and into a trail that led directly to the broken bridge.

Or…

Desmond was about to when he heard a familiar voice.

“Desmond?! You okay?!”

“Ssshhh! Don’t ask him that right now! You’ll distract him!”

“He knows how to multitask!”

“Oh my god, Graves is gonna kill us!”

Desmond stayed in the river, staring at the sky where he could see some kind of plane circling around them.

He didn’t answer any of the calls from Ghost or Soap, too surprised that all he could was say…

“Shaun?! Becs?!”

Chapter 8: Close Air & Hardpoint

Chapter Text

“What the hell are you-” Desmond turned away from the direction that Alejandro and the others were in. He rubbed his face as he groaned, “Please tell me you guys didn’t hack our comms.”

“That’s a negative, brother.” Desmond’s eyes widened when it was Graves who answered, “Hastings and Crane are currently on loan from the agency. Shepherd’s orders.”

Desmond blinked.

Did Shepherd get Shaun and Rebecca into this supposed Shadow Company?

But Shepherd made a big deal about how hard it was to get Desmond a cover that would stand any background check the military and other government agencies could do.

Then again…

Didn’t Ghost say that Shadow Company was PMC?

If they were a private military company, then perhaps their security would be-

Wait.

Graves just called him brother.

It can’t be…

Desmond blinked as he looked up and the world became shrouded in gray.

He ignored the blues on the ground and stared at the sky.

At the glowing blue form of some kind of aircraft flying overhead.

Holy sh*t.

“Nothing is true…” Desmond mumbled.

“Everything is permitted.” Graves finished and his confirmation surprised Desmond enough that his Eagle Vision deactivated.

Holy f*cking sh*t.

The Brotherhood had a f*cking private military company?!

What the f*ck?!

Why didn’t Desmond know about it?

Desmond shook his head.

Now was not the time to think about this.

And it seemed Graves thought the same thing as he said, “Ghost, we got a possible hit on Hassan, two klicks north of your position.”

Taking that as Graves’ way of telling him that it’s not safe for them to talk about their possible connection right now, Desmond finally turned around and made his way toward the small trail where everyone was waiting near an empty vehicle.

“Roger that.” Ghost said while staring at Desmond as he approached them.

“That’s cartel land.” Alejandro informed them, “They have a compound there.”

“Load in!” Ghost ordered, “Shadow-1, stand by…”

“I’ll drive!” Alejandro said as he went to the driver’s side of the truck.

Rodriguez and Sanchez jumped into the back of the truck while Soap sat on the passenger’s seat. Ghost opened the door to the backseat and nodded at Desmond. Desmond entered the backseat and scooted to the other end so Ghost could sit as well.

“You boys good to roll up Hassan with some fire from the sky?” Desmond heard Graves ask just as Ghost sat next to him and closed the door.

Everyone inside the military truck nodded as Soap said, “Let’s wrap this f*cker up, Graves.”

Alejandro turned on the engine as Graves said, “Solid copy. We are pushing to the target di-rectly. Shadow-1 out.”

A tense silence enveloped the vehicle as they traveled the unfamiliar landscape of Las Almas which was soon destroyed when Soap looked at Desmond using the rearview mirror as he said, “Didn’t think you’d be into video games.”

“Huh?” Desmond tilted his head at the randomness of Soap’s comment.

“Nothing is true? Everything is permitted?” Soap repeated and Desmond froze, wondering if Soap was also-

“That’s the tagline of the villains in Abstergo’s History is Our Playground games, right?” Soap asked before frowning as he realized, “Oh, right. You’ve been investigating Abstergo for years. Would make sense if you play their games…”

Desmond looked away and tried to keep calm even as his grip on his ACR tightened.

History is Our Playground.

That f*cking insulting-

“The last few games were sh*te.” Ghost commented all of a sudden, surprising Desmond enough that he turned to stare at him.

“You play, Lt?” Soap asked curiously. His lips curved into a grin as he asked, “So what’s your favorite?”

“Murder in Levant.” Ghost dryly replied and Desmond frowned, unsure if Ghost was answering honestly or being sarcastic.

Not to mention, depending on Ghost's definition of what counted as the last few, that one could be counted as part of the last few games as well.

“The one with the cold and ruthless assassin, huh.” Soap hummed, “Yeah, I can see you enjoying that one.”

Desmond’s frown deepened. He had tried it for a bit.

Hell.

He had tried every game just to see just how Abstergo had f*cked them up so badly.

Altaïr’s ‘game’, Murder in Levant (which was such an uninspiring title in Desmond’s honest opinion but, then again, all of Abstergo’s titles ranged from ‘meh’ to ‘totally came from a movie or book’), was…

It was mediocre.

That was the kindest word Desmond could use for it.

Abstergo had focused more on his assassinations, removing any talks Altaïr had with Al Mualim or any of the Rafiqs and manipulating some scenes to lessen or, outright change, the wrongdoings of his targets.

Due to this, the game itself painted Altaïr as a ruthless killer who kills because he was ordered to.

Desmond didn’t even bother to finish it. Or, to be more exact, he couldn’t finish it at all. His Bleed of Altaïr kept resurfacing the more he played and Desmond didn’t want to drown in his Bleed’s anger so he never bothered to finish it.

He did check online for a summary of what happened and it seemed that the story itself ended after Robert’s assassination.

From the way it was framed, Abstergo might have been trying to make it a downer ending that painted Robert’s death as a tragedy.

Considering how many fans of the games were ‘simping’ for the supposed villains though…

Desmond was sure the reason why Abstergo was no longer publishing games based on Desmond’s ancestry was because of the popularity of the Assassins.

It also didn’t help that a lot of fans think that the story of each game seemed to be missing something.

That was what happened when an evil organization publishing mediocre games for profit needed to edit or completely cut out memories pertaining to the Isu and their advanced technology.

Al Mualim’s use of the Apple, Rodrigo Borgia using the staff to fight off Ezio’s doubles, and other Isu-related bullsh*t that were integral to the ‘story’ were left out, making each game feel incomplete by many fans.

Although, there were also fans who insist they were just playing for the chance to ‘relive’ history.

And the fact that they kept publishing games set in the point of view of the ‘villains’ just made more fans like them more than the supposed good Templars.

The one time they tried to focus the game to a Templar had simply divided the fans and then there were the last few games that went absolutely-

“My favorite is Ezio.” Graves spoke, cutting off Desmond’s wandering thoughts, “Shadow Company is a huge fan of Ezio’s accomplishments in Rome.”

“You mean Florence.” Soap corrected casually, “I remember Ezio. His game was set in Florence, wasn’t it?”

There was a moment of silence before Graves answered, “You’re right. The game is set in Florence.”

Soap didn’t seem to get or notice the way Graves stressed the word ‘game’ but Desmond did.

If there was any doubt that Graves and Shadow Company were Assassins or close allies of the Assassins, it dissipated by that insistence.

This could only mean that Shadow Company wasn’t ordered to support Taskforce 141 and the Special Mexican Forces.

They were there to support Desmond in retrieving Soma.

His musing halted when Alejandro parked their vehicle in the middle of some kind of barn filled with empty barrels.

“Ghost.” Graves called out before informing them as they got out of the truck, “Orbiting the compound now. Standing by for visual…”

With their guns at the ready, they cautiously walked out of the vehicle with Alejandro and Soap in front, Ghost, and Desmond in the middle, and Sanchez and Rodriguez guarding their rear.

“We’ll mark our position with IR laser. Over.” Ghost stated.

“Roger that, 0-7.” Graves said in a more professional tone.

“How do we find Hassan?” Soap asked.

They quickly took cover at the various equipment and vehicles lying around the open area as Alejandro explained, “He’ll have an armed guard. Cartel protection.”

“Lotta places to hide…” Soap commented while Desmond joined Ghost in hiding on the other side of the truck that Alejandro was using as cover. Sanchez and Rodriguez took cover further behind, by the open barn with the barrels.

“Graves covers with close air. We clear the buildings.” Ghost instructed.

“Copy that, Lt,” Soap replied as he continued to keep an eye on the area in front of them.

“Mark us.” Ghost ordered and Desmond watched as Soap took out something that looked like a flashlight and raised his arm, waving it in the air, as Ghost said, “Shadow-1, we’re east of the compound. Position is marked.”

Ghost turned to stare at him as he said, “Stay close. Do not wander off. And, no matter what happens, do not break formation. Got that?”

“Got it.” Desmond nodded.

“0-7, copy your mark.” Graves informed them which Desmond was going to assume that whatever Soap did marked them for Shadow Company.

Maybe.

Ghost turned away from Desmond as he said, “Shadow-1, be advised, Hassan is moving with an armed guard. You cover external, we’ll clear the buildings. How copy?”

“0-7, good copy. Armed guard.” Graves repeated before informing them, “We’ll secure the area so you can move in. Stand by.”

“Roger that.”

Okay.

Desmond now understood why Ghost had insisted that he stay in formation.

He almost felt sorry for the cartel members and army soldiers who got mercilessly gunned down by Shadow Company. Most of them didn’t even know what hit them, so focused on trying to kill the ones on the ground, they didn’t notice death coming from above.

Even those who did notice Shadow Company didn’t stand a chance. Even when they did know about Shadow Company, Shadow Company simply had enough weapons to take them out whether they were out in the open or cowering somewhere.

But that didn’t mean they had it easy.

To ensure that they didn’t kill Hassan by accident, Shadow Company was only allowed to take down hostiles out in the open or in the buildings that they had already cleared.

And they were mercilessly efficient at it too, taking down the entire building whenever they were informed that there were still hostiles inside.

Although, due to the fact that Shadow Company could only engage targets when they were given the signal, this meant that Desmond and the others were on their own once they enter a building to clear it, otherwise they risk the chance of becoming collateral casualties if Shadow Company was to attack nearby.

But it wasn’t all that bad.

Desmond was getting a hang of this.

He could instinctively know how everyone would move now. He knew where they would focus their attention when clearing a room, where he should be so he wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire while being able to provide backup if necessary.

And…

He was getting used to the weight of the ACR.

Which, considering how much he loathed the damn thing that it wasn’t exactly a lie to say it was ‘hate at first sight’, was perhaps the most surprising piece of revelation he had received this entire day.

Okay, maybe not.

But it wasn’t like he could talk to Shaun and Rebecca out in the open.

Sure, Desmond knew how to contact specific members of their team. It was part of the quick rundown Ghost gave him before he went on the Russian airbase with Soap after all.

But he didn’t know if Rebecca and Shaun had their own frequency he could use.

Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he could trust Shadow Company.

If the Assassins had such an elite squad (with such firepower), why the hell didn’t Desmond know about them?

… Then again, so many years have passed. It was highly possible that Shadow Company had been created after his death. Not only that, it was also possible that Shadow Company’s affiliation with the Brotherhood was kept a secret.

It would be too dangerous if Abstergo learned of the Brotherhood’s connection with a private military company that had ties with the US government.

“Breaching,” Soap announced, forcing Desmond to focus.

They finally reached the last building they haven’t cleared which was the main villa. They blew open the doors and entered the villa, quickly going into covers as the cartel members inside started firing at them.

They quickly took them down and began to clear each room. Just as they were on their way to clear the second floor, they heard Graves say urgently, “0-7, we have visual on Hassan! He just exited the second floor, northwest side! I repeat, Hassan is exiting through the northwest side!”

At those words, they ran to the second floor and quickly took out the hostiles on their way.

Just as they reached outside, they heard Grave tell them, “Hassan’s hidden in the southwest building. We’ll keep you covered.”

With Shadow Company providing air support, they reached the southwest building with minimal resistance.

They took out the men inside the building, clearing each room until they reached a large room with an upturned table. The rug was haphazardly pushed aside and they came inside just in time to see someone jump down an open hatch underneath.

“sh*t! Hassan’s using a tunnel to escape!” Soap shouted.

“We’ll go check the tunnel, clear the building! Make sure Hassan isn’t on the second floor! If he’s not, follow after us!” Ghost ordered, “Let’s go, Desmond.”

Desmond nodded and followed Ghost into the tunnel.

Desmond briefly froze as he realized that the tunnel felt a lot like the tunnel back in as-Sijn. He didn’t have any time to think about it though because Ghost was already running ahead as he informed Graves, “Shadow-1, Hassan might be taking a tunnel out of the compound! Keep an eye on the outskirts! How copy?!”

There was only silence on the other line and Ghost growled, “f*ck. The tunnel’s blocking our comms.”

Just as they neared the corner, someone started shooting at them, forcing them to back away and press their back against the wall. Desmond looked away from Ghost and blinked, activating his Eagle Vision to see the other side of the wall when Ghost said, “One gunman. Right side.”

Ghost was right.

Desmond could see his red form kneeling behind some kind of wooden beam to the right of the next corridor. Desmond blinked to deactivate his Eagle Vision and turned to face Ghost as he asked, “What’s the plan?”

“I’ll light him up to make him take cover.” Ghost said quietly, “Rush in and take him down.”

Desmond nodded and blinked when Ghost grabbed his arm.

“Do not kill him until we’re sure he’s not Hassan.” Ghost stressed, “Got it?”

“Got it.” Desmond nodded and waited until Ghost let go of his arm before he stepped away from the wall. He bent his knees slightly and nodded at Ghost.

Ghost nodded back at him before blindly firing in the direction of the corridor in front of them.

Desmond waited just enough seconds for their enemy to duck and stay hidden, making them believe that Ghost was planning to empty his mag, before finally running towards the last location he saw the red. The moment he stepped into the corridor, Ghost stopped firing.

The corridor was too dark to properly see the person that had been firing at them but Desmond’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness so he could see the figure’s silhouette. Desmond grabbed the figure’s wrist just as they raised their arm to aim their gun once more before quickly stepping to their side. He placed his other hand on the figure’s shoulder and kneed them on the side as he grabbed their handgun. He felt their hold on their gun lessen as they coughed and bend slightly. Using their distraction to his advantage, Desmond snatched the gun from their hand before kicking them in the chest. They fell to the ground while Desmond aimed the handgun at their chest as he quickly pressed one foot on their chest, applying enough pressure to stop them from moving as he ordered, “Don’t move!”

Ghost quickly rushed towards them, aiming his rifle with the flashlight attachment on as the person pinned to the ground shouted, “Don’t shoot! I’m not- Desmond Miles?!”

Desmond blinked as he recognized…

“Oh f*ck.”

“You know this man, Desmond?” Ghost asked as he continued to aim his rifle at the man Desmond was currently pining to the ground.

The man had his hands up and he was staring at Desmond with wide eyes.

“Sorta.” Desmond grimaced as he said, “His name’s Berg. He works for Abstergo.”

Before anybody else could say anything, they heard the sounds of footsteps rushing to their position.

Ghost turned to face the corridor they had come from just as they heard Soap’s voice coming from their earpiece, “Ghost! Desmond!”

They could hear his voice echoing as well and Soap stepped into the corridor, breathing heavily as he said, “Hassan’s not on the second floor! Graves didn’t see him leave the building!”

“sh*t. This means he’s further in the tunnel.” Ghost said, “We’re moving. Soap, get Alejandro and his men down here. Desmond.”

Desmond quickly hit Berg on the side of the head with the butt of his own handgun, knocking him out cold. Desmond looked at Ghost as he suggested, “Consolation prize?”

Ghost stared at him for a moment before he said, “Tie him up and…”

“You’re dragging that load yourself.” Ghost dryly said.

Desmond grinned as he said, “With pleasure.”

They made their way deeper into the tunnel with Desmond dragging Berg behind him after making sure he was tied up with his mouth covered as well just to be sure that he couldn’t make a sound. By the time Alejandro and the others reached them, the tunnel had widened considerably.

Widened enough to fit a vehicle as large as a jeep.

Desmond went on one knee at the same time Ghost did and they both said, “Tire tracks.”

They looked at each other for a moment before Ghost turned to look ahead of them as he said, “Tracks’ fresh.”

“They’d be long gone by now,” Desmond noted as he couldn’t hide the frustration in his tone.

“Not yet.” Soap said, “Graves and his men could have seen the vehicle. They had eyes on the compound.”

“If the exit is still in the compound.” Ghost reminded him before he stood. He turned to face Alejandro as he asked, “Have any idea where this leads?”

“Cartels have been using underground tunnels for years.” Alejandro explained, “After that solar flare in 2012, everyone got into digging underground and the cartels took over many of the underground bunkers and tunnels. Even connected some of them… Doesn’t matter if they were finished or not.”

Ah.

Desmond read about that.

A few new stations caught wind of how bad the solar flare could have been and that made a lot of people worried about a more devastating repeat performance.

A lot of people got into making their own bunkers. The more ambitious and richer ones went as far as digging underground tunnels.

It finally died down after a few years of experts warning everyone that digging underground without seeking professional advice first was dangerous and could lead to cave-ins.

It took more deaths than necessary for people to finally listen.

“We seem to be heading…” Alejandro’s face darkened as he said, “Away from Las Almas. This leads to the Gulf.”

“sh*t. Think Hassan’s making a run to international waters?” Soap asked Ghost.

“We can’t be sure and, at this point, we don’t have enough intel to even f*ckin’ guess.” Ghost replied before stating, “We won’t know until we can contact Graves. We’ll push on.”

“Copy.” They all replied as they continued moving deeper into the tunnel.

Once they reached the end of the tunnel, there was no sign of Hassan or any cartel vehicles.

Connecting with Graves and Shadow Company had also been a bust.

They’ve lost Hassan once more.

Chapter 9: Recon by Fire

Chapter Text

Desmond wasn’t sure where they were. All Graves gave them were GPS coordinates which were far enough from where Rodolfo had exfiltrated them with the cartel and the army hot on their tails that, by the time they had parked their vehicle, it was already in the middle of the night.

The vehicle where Sanchez and Rodriguez had entered in didn’t follow them and, from what Desmond heard over their comms, Alejandro had ordered them to return to base and secure the perimeter, just in case the cartels or the army decided to do something stupid in retaliation.

Alejandro didn’t think they would though. Right now, both of them would be too busy licking their wounds to even try.

Which gave the others the time to do this clandestine meetup.

Well…

As clandestine as such a thing could be considering all the guns and headlights.

Rodolfo stayed in the vehicle while Desmond followed the others outside. He stayed behind all of them and blinked twice quickly.

It was enough for him to see that the other vehicle had four passengers although only Graves exited the vehicle.

Soap and Alejandro dragged Berg into the middle of their vehicles, pushing him to his knees as Soap ordered, “On your knees.”

Desmond stayed in the darkness together with Ghost, noticing that Ghost had Berg’s phone in one hand, connected via some kind of USB cable to another phone that seemed to be copying data if the screen of the second phone was any indication.

His focus returned to Berg when he heard Graves ask, “Y’all got a clear picture?”

Desmond watched as Graves typed something into the laptop that he had placed on the ground.

The laptop showed a group video call between them, Laswell and Shepherd. There was a pause before Laswell and Shepherd said “All set.” and “Crystal.” respectively.

“All right.” Graves turned to walk towards the bound Berg as he announced, “We are live, folks.”

Berg remained quiet even as Graves stood in front of him.

“Now, then.” Graves looked around as he placed his hands on his tactical vest while he asked casually, “Care to tell us why an Abstergo employee was in a well-known location owned by cartels?”

Berg raised his head slowly to look at Graves before lowering his head as he remained quiet.

Graves sighed and crouched in front of Berg as he said, “You are in bed with the cartels, my friend. If you disappear, no one would know where to look for the f*ckin’ stain.”

Berg raised his head once more as he said, “Abstergo does not deal with cartels.”

“That’s rich, coming from the one who aided a known terrorist in escaping with the cartels.” Graves countered with a raised eyebrow.

“I was not aiding anyone. I fired because I thought you were hostiles.” Berg glanced at Desmond who was standing behind Ghost before adding, “It was self-defense.”

Before Graves could continue, Laswell asked, “If you were not there to help Hassan or the cartels then why were you in the same place that Hassan was?”

“I don’t care why he was there, I want to know where Hassan is going and where Soma is,” Shepherd ordered.

“Take a look around you, Berg.” Graves said as he stood. From the distance, Desmond could hear the sounds of coyotes which he knew from experience not his own, “Now you can either become part of the food chain or you can start talking.”

“I’ll talk.” Berg turned to stare at Desmond as he said, “But he asks the questions.”

They all turned to look at Desmond who stared at Berg for a moment.

What was he planning?

Was he going to try and drag Desmond down with him? Pin something or another to take him out of the task force?

Desmond raised his head to stare at the laptop. A grim expression appeared on Shepherd’s face as he nodded and Desmond walked towards him. He stood next to Graves so that he would be in front of Berg. Graves turned to look at the laptop where Shepherd nodded once more and he took a few steps back, crossing his arms as he stood just behind Desmond.

“Desmond Miles…” Berg said as he stared at Desmond, “You should be dead.”

Desmond didn’t hesitate, walking forward and bending his upper body until his face was a few inches away from Berg. He tilted his head while looking down at Berg as he asked, “How old do you think I am?”

Berg frowned at those words and Desmond stood straight once more. He took a few steps back while keeping his hands behind him as he said, “You saw Desmond Miles’ body. You saw what Abstergo did to it.”

“Elijah?” Berg asked and Desmond tilted his head at the unfamiliar name. Berg shook his head as he said, “No. You’re too old to be him.”

“Brother.” Berg’s eyes widened in realization, “You’re Desmond Miles’ brother.”

Desmond kept quiet, letting Berg fall deeper into that lie all on his own.

“And now here you are… as your father’s soldier.” Berg snarked, “Just like your dead brother.”

“If you’re done complaining about my family tree…” Desmond took out his switchblade as he said, “How about we talk about your connection with Hassan and Soma.”

Berg glanced at his switchblade before raising his head to stare at him. Instead of answering him, he asked, “Did your father or your minders tell you about the position of ‘Black Cross’?”

Desmond could see Alejandro and Soap looking at Berg with curious eyes.

And how Graves briefly stiffened behind him when he heard the title.

Desmond didn’t bother to look back at the laptop. Instead, he mused out loud, “I knew you were the director of Abstergo Medical and I thought that maybe you’re here for the cartels, not for Hassan but… no.”

“You’re a Black Cross.” Desmond repeated as he returned his switchblade inside one of the pouches of his utility belt, “You’re Abstergo’s very own hunter. You’re here to take out a traitor.”

“Someone working for Abstergo is working with Hassan.” Berg explained, “Gave him all the information we have about Soma and took…”

There was a brief pause before Berg continued, “… everything we had. Documents, tests…”

“Abstergo has been working on a WMD.” Laswell calmly said in cold fury.

“Soma can harness the power of a solar flare in a matter of seconds.” Berg argued as he stared at the laptop, “With enough time and resources, Soma can make solar power more efficient and more-”

“For the betterment of mankind, huh.” Desmond dryly said, making Berg turn to face him once more.

“So you’re here looking for the traitor.” Desmond recounted before saying, “But I’m sure recovering Soma is your priority.”

“Soma is Abstergo property-”

“Soma killed two American citizens and injured more.” Shepherd cut Berg off, “Whatever spiel Abstergo wants to turn this into, they have no leg to stand on. The death of those soldiers is in Abstergo’s hands.”

“The death of those soldiers is in the hands of the person who activated Soma.” Berg retorted as he continued to stare at Desmond.

Desmond didn’t react but the way Berg was staring at him…

How Soma didn’t react until…

Desmond touched it.

Oh, f*ck.

He activated Soma.

Whether it was by accident when he touched it or if his genes had something to do with it…

Desmond was the reason why Soma activated back then.

“And right now, I am being illegally detained by both the US and the Mexican government.” Berg announced, turning to look at the laptop as he said, “Nobody wants an international scandal, right?”

“You’re a prisoner of war,” Alejandro stated, making Berg turn to look at him.

“I am a Finnish citizen.” Berg reminded them, “Last I heard, Finland is not at war with Mexico.”

Berg turned to stare at the laptop as he added, “Or the US.”

Berg turned to stare at Desmond as he said, “I killed no one and I only reacted in self-defense. It was dark and two men with guns were chasing me. Or so I believe…”

Desmond kept quiet as Berg continued, “If anyone is breaking any laws here right now, it would be everybody else and their commanders.”

“Especially you, Miles,” Berg added as he stared at Desmond.

“Strip him of everything he’s wearing and in permanent custody. Make sure he doesn’t contact anyone.” Shepherd ordered.

“General, keeping him is illegal.” Laswell argued but the frustration was clear in her voice, “Right now, he’s too hot to hold.”

“Tell me you’re getting something actionable, Laswell,” Shepherd growled.

“Working on it. Stand by.” Laswell replied.

Desmond saw Graves walk towards the laptop. He grabbed it and placed it on top of the hood as he said quietly, “Actual, let me finish this.”

Desmond’s attention was taken by Berg who asked him, “How is William Miles these days?”

“Still alive,” Desmond replied vaguely with a shrug.

Berg hummed before saying, “Shame.”

Desmond’s lips curved into a mirthless smile before Berg leaned toward him. Soap immediately grabbed his shoulder to stop him from moving but Berg ignored him, staring at Desmond as he said, “I’m not the enemy here, Miles.”

Desmond stared at him for a moment before he walked closer, making Soap warn quietly, “Desmond…”

Desmond raised his hand to stop Soap from saying anything else as he crouched in front of Berg. Berg stared at him as he repeated, “Desmond? So they made you take your brother’s name?”

“They made you to replace him then?” Berg stared at him as he asked quietly, “Tell me, Desmond Miles… How many voices do you hear?”

Desmond’s lips curved into a small gentle smile as he placed his left hand on Berg’s neck. He felt Berg freeze, could feel the fast beating of his pulse against Desmond’s palm. Desmond leaned close and whispered back, “Only my own.”

“Let him go, Desmond.” Shepherd ordered, “Laswell’s right. Without proof, we need to turn him loose. See where he leads us. We cannot risk our mission.”

Desmond kept his hand on Berg’s neck as Soap walked towards the laptop, his words said in a growl, “He’s hiding something, Shepherd.”

Oh, he definitely was.

But Berg’s secrets were too connected to the Templars.

To the Assassins.

Keeping Berg with them…

With the military…

They weren’t just risking the government knowing too much about the POEs.

They were risking the government knowing about the Brotherhood.

Desmond slowly let go of Berg’s neck and stood. Berg only relaxed once Desmond had taken a few feet away from him.

“I’m afraid we have no choice, Sargeant,” Shepherd replied in a low growl.

Desmond didn’t hear Ghost speak out loud but he heard his voice in his earpiece as he asked, “Did we get anything from his phone?”

“Affirmative. We got a hit.” Laswell replied even though, this time, her video didn’t move nor did her voice come out of the laptop’s speakers.

Desmond wasn’t sure if that was intentional or not but Shepherd’s next words were heard from the loudspeakers, “You have your orders, soldier. Take him back and let him go.”

Everyone glanced at one another before Ghost nodded from behind Berg. Alejandro placed the black sack back onto Berg's head before pulling him to his feet while Soap closed the laptop. Ghost slipped Berg’s phone back into his jacket’s pocket just as Berg and Alejandro passed by them. Graves and Soap walked into the middle of their two vehicles as Alejandro pushed Berg into the back of the truck they were using.

“He’s using a burner phone but our tech team was able to get the data from his calls and texts. Many of them went through a cell tower in Petropavlosvk.” Desmond heard Laswell’s voice in their earpiece.

“What’s in Petropavlosvk?” Desmond asked with a tilt of his head.

“The Gulag.” Shepherd answered through their earpiece, “We don’t know if it’s connected to Hassan or if this is a different thing altogether but… considering we have proof from your mission in the Russian airbase that Hassan copied the latest floorplans of the very same Gulag that is in the same place that Berg has sent texts and called in…”

“It’s too much of a coincidence,” Soap said with a nod.

“Price and Gaz will lead Hunter 2-0 and any other teams we can spare to check the Gulag.” Shepherd said, “You three will remain there. Coordinate with Colonel Vargas and find information on where Hassan could be hiding or where Soma is. Graves.”

“Sir.” Graves straightened.

“Your orders remain the same,” Shepherd stated, making Graves nod.

“Copy that. Shadow Company will provide support any way we can.” Graves replied.

“Take the rest of the day off, boys.” Shepherd said, “And wait for Mexican Special Forces’ next intel.”

“Roger.” Ghost and Soap replied while Desmond just nodded his head.

“Let’s go.” Ghost ordered and Soap nodded at him. The two of them began to walk towards the vehicle where Alejandro and Rodolfo were waiting. Desmond hesitated, glancing at the vehicle that Shadow Company was using before biting his bottom lip as he started to follow them when Graves called out as he patted Desmond’s back, “Ghost.”

It was just a quick pat but it was enough to stop Desmond and make him turn to face Graves with a curious tilt of his head. Graves kept his eyes on Ghost who had stopped to face him. Soap had also stopped and was glancing at the both of them. Graves kept his hands on his tactical vest as he said casually, “I’m asking on behalf of our two ‘interns’ if Desmond can sit with us on our way back to base?”

Desmond turned to look at Ghost with wide pleading eyes as Graves continued, “They worked with Desmond as his handlers and they’ve been worried. I’m sure they’d count it as a favor.”

Ghost stared at Graves for a moment before turning to stare at Desmond as he said, “Mute your comms if you want but do not f*ckin’ take it off. Understand?”

“Yup!” Desmond nodded eagerly.

“No detours, Graves…” Ghost growled.

“Our convoy will be following yours the entire time.” Graves replied with a nod.

Ghost nodded before turning to walk back into the vehicle, “Move out.”

“Roger,” Soap replied, as he glanced at Desmond one last time before following Ghost.

Desmond turned to look at Graves and Graves tapped his neck, reminding Desmond of how his earpiece was connected to the small communication device on his neck. Desmond pressed one button that he was sure was the mute button before asking, “Uh… did that work?”

Graves leaned closer and Desmond leaned back out of instinct, watching as Graves stared at his neck for a moment before stepping away as he nodded, “You’ve muted everyone.”

His lips curved into a charming smile as he introduced himself, “I suppose I should take this time to properly introduce myself.”

Graves nodded as he said, “Safety and peace, brother.”

“Upon you as well,” Desmond answered instinctively as Graves’ smile grew.

They began to walk towards Shadow Company’s vehicle and Desmond was sure that Graves was walking slower than he should as he casually noted, “So… never heard of Shadow Company before.”

“William Miles doesn’t know about us.” Graves answered as he slid the back door open.

“We didn’t know about them as well.” Desmond heard those words said in a familiar voice with that distinct British accent that Desmond was most used to hearing.

Desmond’s lips curved into a huge grin as Rebecca suddenly stepped out of the van and hugged him, “Desmond! You’re okay!”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Becs.” Desmond returned her embrace tightly, “I’m glad you guys are safe too.”

“You three can talk while we’re on the road.” Graves suggested, “Best not to get into Taskforce 141’s bad side right now.”

“Oh, right.” Desmond nodded and he entered the van, followed closely by Rebecca. Graves slid the doors closed and Desmond hummed when he noticed that there was a black cover separating them from the front of the van.

“Nice of them to give us a bit of privacy,” Desmond commented as he felt the vehicle begin to move.

“Or they don’t want us listening in on them.” Shaun dryly retorted, making Rebecca sigh.

“Ignore Mister Grumpy Pants, he’s still annoyed that we didn’t know about Graves and his PMC,” Rebecca said.

“Graves said that dad didn’t know about them?” Desmond asked with a frown.

“Shepherd was one of the last mentor’s acolytes together with Bill and Gavin,” Shaun explained before Rebecca could even open her mouth. Desmond turned to face him as he continued, “After the end of the Great Purge, Shepherd refused to be the mentor even though, from what I hear, a lot of the remaining Assassins wanted him to be the mentor. So the mentorship fell to Bill…”

“And Gavin!” Rebecca added.

Shaun made a seesawing motion with his hand before continuing, “Rumors were Shepherd spent years trying to find any survivors of the Great Purge, mostly surviving orphans and people on the run. He used his connection in the army to give them new identities and…”

Shaun waved his hand toward the front of the van.

“Shadow Company are all survivors of the Great Purge.” Desmond realized with wide eyes.

“Survivors, babies who lost their parents in the Great Purge…” Shaun replied before leaning close, “I hear Graves lost his entire family but, well… everyone in Shadow Company has the same or a very similar sad story like that.”

“To keep them out of Abstergo’s eyes, Shepherd made them into a PMC.” Shaun continued, “They even worked for Abstergo once or twice, providing security details.”

“What the f*ck?” Desmond hissed.

“They did it to stay safe from Abstergo.” Rebecca stressed before adding, “And I looked into their mission history. They haven’t worked for Abstergo since they started getting regular missions from the US.”

“Still…” Desmond frowned, unsure of how he could explain how painful and frustrating it must be for them to work for the people who killed the people they loved.

“But enough of that!” Rebecca grabbed the small backpack that had been sitting on the floor in front of Shaun, “We brought you a present!”

Desmond raised an eyebrow as he took the backpack from Rebecca and zipped it open. His breath hitched and he gently took out the single item inside, cradling it gently, as his voice cracked, “You guys…”

“Figured you’ll want that back,” Rebecca said with a grin.

“Oh, I miss you so much,” Desmond whispered and rubbed the cool metallic cover of his hidden blade against his cheek.

“Wow.” Shaun dryly said as they stared at Desmond, “Would you like us to give you two sometime alone?”

Rebecca chuckled and placed an arm over Desmond’s shoulder as Desmond began to strap the hidden blade to his left arm, “You missed us too, right, Desmond?”

“Of course.” Desmond turned to grin at Shaun as he said cheekily, “I missed you too, mum.”

Shaun spluttered for a second before letting out a sigh while Rebecca chuckled once more.

“So, Desmond…” Rebecca poked Desmond’s cheek as she asked, “How’s military life treating you?”

Desmond turned to grin at her as he replied, “Oh, you know…”

“It’s definitely not boring, that’s for sure.”

Chapter 10: El Sin Nombre

Chapter Text

“Had fun catching up with your handlers?” Soap asked casually without looking away from the small journal that he had been writing in when Desmond came into the room that they would be staying in. It was a simple room with two bunk beds on either end of the room and a desk between the two bunk beds.

Very barebone.

Very safehouse-y.

Desmond looked around and noticed that there was already a duffel bag lying on the top bunk of the bed where Soap was sitting on the bottom bed.

Assuming that was most probably already being used by Ghost, Desmond simply took off his tactical gear, being careful not to juggle any of the items on it, before placing it on the side of the other bed. He sat on the bottom bed and began to unlace his boots as he replied, “Yup, it’s good to see them.”

Soap simply hummed at that as he continued to write something in his journal. Desmond took off his boots but kept his hoodie and pants on. The Hidden Blade felt comforting on his arm and he lay on the bed as he asked, “Soooo… you write about everything that happens in that little book of yours?”

“Just the interesting parts,” Soap replied vaguely and Desmond turned to his side to face Soap.

He stared at Soap’s face as he asked curiously, “Am I in it?”

Soap raised his head to stare at Desmond as his lips curved into a small smile. His eyes gleamed with amusem*nt while his tone was more questioning as he asked, “You think I find you interesting?”

Desmond’s own lips curved into a grin as he replied cheekily, “I’m the most interesting person you’d ever meet.”

Soap chuckled as he closed his journal. He placed the journal into one of the pockets of his tactical vest that had been lying on the side of his bed before turning to stare at Desmond once more as he asked, “You’re a wee bit co*cky, aren’t you?”

“Just a bit,” Desmond replied before turning to lie on his back.

“Which makes it all the stranger when it’s clear you don’t want to talk about yourself,” Soap commented lightly as he lay on his bed as well, hands going behind his back as they both stared at the bottom of the beds above them.

Desmond forced himself not to react, simply letting out a short hum to indicate that he had heard Soap. As he had expected, Soap didn’t press, instead saying, “It’s fine. I’m used to having mates who keep to themselves.”

“Like Ghost?” Desmond asked as he turned his head to the side to look at Soap.

Soap turned his head to the side slowly before replying, “I was talking about Price…”

“Oh.” Desmond blinked before asking, “Wait. Does that mean that Ghost tells you things?”

Soap raised an eyebrow as he asked back in a teasing manner, “Does that mean that you want to know more about Ghost?”

They stared at each other for a moment before Desmond turned his head to stare back at the bottom of the top bed once more before he admitted, “Maybe just a bit.”

“Why?” Soap raised his upper body just enough that he could press his elbow against the mattress and rest the side of his head on his open palm.

“I’m not… sure…” Desmond replied with a frown. He rested his hands on his stomach as he spoke the words as they appear on his head, “There’s something about him… that just… calls to me, I guess?”

“Calls to you?” Soap asked as he stared at Desmond with unblinking eyes.

Desmond nodded as he tried to explain, “I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s like… uuuhhh… you know when you hear the cry of a bird and you look up? It feels like that every time he talks to me.”

“Can’t say I get it.” Soap admitted as he lay on the bed once more. He stared at the bottom of the bed above him as he said, “But I can work with that.”

“Work with what?” Desmond asked as he turned his head to face Soap once more.

The door opened but both of them only slowly looked up, unsurprised that it was Ghost. Ghost quickly scanned the room as he closed the door before announcing, “Alejandro believes they have a lead. We’ll leave at 0700.”

“Uh… it’s already like two in the morning?” Desmond said as he blinked slowly.

“And we’ll wake up at 0500 to prepare.” Ghost stated as he took off his tactical gear and placed it next to Soap's. He sat on Soap’s bed and began to unlace his boots as he said, “Best sleep now, princess.”

Desmond turned to look at Soap for support but Soap only chuckled and closed his eyes while Ghost stepped out of his boots. He began to walk while taking off his black long-sleeved shirt, leaving him half-naked with only the balaklava on his head. Before Desmond could say anything, Ghost announced, “Lights out.”

He flicked the light switch off and shrouded the room in darkness. Desmond heard him walk back towards them before he heard the telltale sounds of the bed frame creaking.

Desmond let his eyes adjust to the darkness and only caught Ghost’s foot slip onto the top bunk of the bed Soap had commandeered by the time his eyes had adjusted.

He wasn’t even sure that Ghost had taken off his baklava at all.

Oh well.

Desmond closed his eyes.

It was more important that he finally get some sleep after all.

“‘Morning.” Desmond greeted as he walked towards Alejandro and Rodolfo while they talked quietly among themselves.

To be more exact, he walked passed them and stood in front of humanity’s one true god, even saying his morning prayers of ‘God, yes’.

“Sleep well?” Alejandro asked as he watched Desmond fill his cup with the dark ambrosia of humanity’s true overlord before dumping enough milk and sugar in it that Rodolfo looked a bit concerned.

“Nope.” Desmond replied as he stirred his unholy concoction like the true heathen that he was and turned to face them as he sipped the sweet abomination that he had created before saying with a grin, “But I’m used to having little sleep anyway. I’ll be fine.”

“We hear you’re with the CIA?” Alejandro asked and Desmond just let out a hum as he sipped his sweetened wake-up call, “Is that how you learned to speak Spanish? You’ve been to Mexico before?”

Desmond continued to sip, staring at Alejandro’s impressive poker face.

His voice though…

Definitely gave him away as to what he was truly feeling.

Desmond couldn’t even blame him.

American spies in foreign countries definitely sounded bad, no matter how the US try to spin it.

Thankfully, Desmond could say with complete confidence, “Never been to Mexico, actually.”

Desmond placed his cup back onto the table and added more milk and sugar much to Rodolfo’s growing concern as he continued, “Missions were in Spain.”

Desmond deliberately didn’t specify that they were his missions as he sipped the second iteration of his unholy sweet abomination before continuing, “That’s how I learned Spanish.”

“Huh.” Alejandro’s tone grew curious and his brows furrowed slightly.

Desmond nodded as he admitted, “Most missions were in Europe…”

Desmond shrugged as he added, “Or the Middle East.”

“I see.” Alejandro nodded at that, coming to his own conclusion based on Desmond’s vague words.

“‘Morning, lads.” Soap greeted as he walked towards the table, his shoulder bumping against Desmond lightly as he grabbed the handles of the true god of mankind.

Desmond saw Ghost walking towards them as well and whispered to Soap, “Does Ghost drink coffee?”

Soap turned to stare at Desmond as he raised an eyebrow, “He’s a f*ckin’ Brit.”

“Ah.” Desmond let out and grinned when Ghost stood in front of him, “Hey, Ghost. I think they have tea. If not, I know someone who definitely hav-”

“Desmond.” The sound of his name made Desmond stop talking immediately as Ghost’s eyes narrowed slightly. Ghost lifted his right hand, showing three mags for Desmond’s ACR which only made Desmond groan.

“Can’t I just get extra flashbangs again?” Desmond asked as he glared at the mags.

“We can’t risk it. You’re lucky Johnny’s a hoarder-”

Soap opened his mouth, most probably to object to it, before thinking about it and shrugging instead.

“-so we were able to give you more mags when you needed them. We’re not making the same mistake again.” Ghost stated.

Desmond stared at the magazines for a second before turning to face Ghost as he said, “1 mag and 1 flashbang.”

Ghost simply stared at him silently.

Desmond turned to face Soap who raised his hands and shook his head. Desmond turned to stare at Ghost once more as he sighed, “2 mags and 1 flashbang?”

Ghost let out his own sigh and took out one of his flashbangs, handing it and two of the magazines to Desmond. Desmond took the flashbang quickly but took the magazines slowly, much to everybody’s amusem*nt except for Ghost’s.

Probably.

Desmond would get to him.

He’d grow on Ghost soon enough.

… Like a benign tumor.

“La casa de Sin Nombre?” Soap asked as he stared at the villa far away from them, using his scope to look at it.

Desmond had asked for shades like the ones Ghost had yesterday (he wasn't even sure if they weren't the same shades to be completely honest) to hide his glowing eyes whenever he used his Eagle Vision but they proved to be useless in the end since their mission would start at night time anyway.

He would just look like a douche if he wore shades now.

It took them a few hours to travel to their base of operation, another hour just to clear the small building they were and more hours were spent prepping up the base. At least they had lunch too which was nice.

It seemed the other members of Alejandro’s force had also checked the nearby buildings to gather intel which Alejandro presented to them and Graves on the rooftop of their main base of operation.

Soap handed his scope to Desmond which he took quietly. He let out a hum as he noticed how…

Unsecured the villa was.

Jesus Christ.

He already counted ten entry points and he was just checking the right side of the large villa at the moment.

If he had an idea of who this el Sin Nombre was or what he looked like, he could totally-

“No.” Alejandro corrected, “One of his Lugartenientes.”

“A cartel lieutenant.” Soap translated.

Desmond felt Graves tap his shoulder and Desmond quietly handed the scope to him as Alejandro nodded in approval, “Órale, güey. Estás aprendiendo.”

Desmond kept his eyes on the direction of the villa even though they were too far away for him to see it clearly…

Unless he was to use widen the range of his Eagle Vision.

“My sources tell me all the VIPS in Las Almas will be there tonight.” Alejandro explained, “Some are invited, others are…”

When it became clear that Alejandro wasn’t sure of the correct word to use, Graves put away the scope and turned to face him as he suggested, “Volun-told?”

“Yes.” Alejandro agreed.

“What’s the meeting about?” Graves asked.

“Nosotros.” Alejandro answered and Desmond assumed they were all part of the ‘us’ that Alejandro spoke of, “Las Almas is burning, and they want to know who lit the fire.”

“Sin Nombre will be there, yeah?” Ghost asked as he stayed a bit further from the three of them, keeping watch.

“No guarantees…” Alejandro replied as he turned around and began to walk towards Ghost. Soap joined Alejandro and all three of them stood around in a vague circle as Alejandro continued, “… But this is our best shot.”

“Then we take it.” Graves said as he walked towards them, “I got enough Shadows here to take over the whole damn country.”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t,” Alejandro stated as he turned to Graves with narrowed eyes.

“I’m just sayin’…” Graves said lightly, “One house shouldn’t be a problem.”

“We need Sin Nombre alive.” Ghost reminded Graves as he turned his head slightly in Graves’ direction.

“Well…” Graves turned to look back in the direction of the villa and stopped, noticing that Desmond was still staring in the direction of the villa while he was crouching on top of the parapet.

Graves walked towards him and Soap tried to follow him but Ghost placed a hand on his shoulder, keeping him still.

Graves placed both of his hands on the parapet, making him slightly bend his upper body, and asked, “Think you can find Sin Nombre and take him alive?”

Desmond blinked, letting the glow of his eyes disappear before he turned to stare at Graves. Desmond felt uncomfortable by the awe in Graves’ eyes but the confidence in them warmed his heart, reminding him of the eyes of Ezio’s recruits back in Roma.

“I can.” Desmond stood on the parapet, making Soap take a step towards them out of concern. Desmond turned to face Ghost as he grinned, “But you’re not going to like how I’ll have to be dressed for it.”

They didn’t have any concrete information on the identity of El Sin Nombre but that was fine. Desmond could improvise.

Sorta.

And Desmond couldn’t help but feel right at home right now, making his way to the villa all on his own.

Well, not truly on his own anyway.

“The guards would be wearing masks and suits.” Desmond heard Alejandro’s voice coming from his earpiece but he didn’t say anything as he continued to make his way to the villa using the large rocks surrounding the villa to hide his approach.

The villa itself was almost blinding with the amount of light shining all around it but that only meant that it was casting large shadows all over which only helped Desmond.

Soon enough, he reached the back of the villa and climbed inside. His Eagle Vision showed him the current locations of all the red and slipped inside the room nearest to him that was empty and, luckily, open before whispering, “I’m in.”

“Copy.” Ghost’s voice came out of the earpiece before he said, “All set here.”

“Copy.” Graves’ voice came out of the earpiece next before he said, “Shadows on station.”

“Copy.” Soap’s voice came out next as he said, “Bravo team in position. On your command.”

“Desmond. How copy.” Ghost asked in his usual gruff voice.

Desmond looked around using his Eagle Vision and before saying, “I’ll start looking for El Sin Nombre.”

“Affirmative. You are clear to engage but do so quietly.” Ghost reminded him, “If you’re compromised, find your way to the RV point and we’ll go in hot. How copy.”

“Clear,” Desmond answered before finally making his way to the highest floor.

Big bosses were usually on the highest floors anyway.

So…

Desmond was used to infiltrating hostile locations to search for his target thanks to the Bleeding Effect but he usually know who his target was before he would do something like this.

Unfortunately, El Sin Nombre’s true identity was a secret that Alejandro and his team had not yet cracked.

Which sucked, sure, but Desmond was fine with that.

The VIPs and any important documents were usually stored in two general locations: the top or the secret basem*nt.

Considering his Eagle Vision saw what seemed to be a torture session in the basem*nt, Desmond was going to assume people there were busy at the moment.

Which meant that he should try his luck on the top floors for now.

Which was fine with him.

The villa seemed to have three floors (not counting the basem*nt) and some kind of guard tower that Desmond was just going to ignore for now.

Just as Alejandro told them, the elevators needed keycards to be operated.

Desmond didn’t plan to use it anyway. He learned his lessons after his last visit to Abstergo’s Rome facility.

So, he climbed the walls instead.

“You’re one crazy son of a bitch.” Soap mumbled, probably seeing him from his position using a scope or something.

“Thanks.” Desmond grunted as he jumped to grab the balcony of the third floor, “I just call him ‘dad’.”

Desmond’s lips curved into a smile when he heard Rebecca’s soft giggling coming from his earpiece. He kept quiet as he pushed himself up and quickly vaulted over the large window. Desmond pushed it open but remained dangling on the edge as he heard someone mumbling in Spanish, “What?”

He waited until the red was nearby before he pushed himself up, surprising the lone guard in the room long enough that he was able to tackle him. They fell on the floor with Desmond on top and Desmond quickly slammed the guard’s head against the floor hard enough that he heard a loud cracking sound. Desmond slammed his hidden blade on the side of the neck of the guard just to be safe before getting up and sheathed his hidden blade once more. He looked around, humming when he saw that there was no other red nearby. He grabbed the guard by the arms and dragged him to a dark part of the room, lightly hidden behind a table. Desmond walked inside the next room and looked around at what seemed to be some kind of meeting room. There were a few stacks of papers on top of the table and he took one, looking it over to check if there was any information that could help him figure out who El Sin Nombre was.

Ugh.

It was a report on where their profit from drugs and other illegal activities was going.

Now Desmond just felt dirty reading it and he didn’t even get anything useful.

“Jesus Christ.” Desmond mumbled as he placed the report back on the table, making sure it was in the exact position as before, “They’re paying off the mayor too.”

“He’s probably there as well.” Desmond heard Alejandro note from his earpiece, only making Desmond feel more disgusted.

“The cartels have sunk their claws in Las Almas too deeply,” Desmond mumbled as he made his way to the room to the left.

They would probably have a better time taking every ally out first before trying to take down the cartels themselves. Drive fear into the hearts of any who would help the cartels and hack off any support the cartels had.

“Focus, Desmond.” Ghost reminded him, “Our mission is to take Sin Nombre alive.”

“I know, I know,” Desmond mumbled as he walked inside what seemed to be a private office that had a large bookcase and an office desk.

With an open laptop.

Bingo.

“Alright, let’s see what we can find here,” Desmond mumbled as he went straight for the laptop on top of the desk.

It was asking for a password though and Desmond knew that most people would pick a password that they know of.

Desmond also knew that typing the password continuously would make the letters on the keyboard be more worn out than usual.

Which meant they glowed slightly gold in Desmond’s eyes.

Sure, the password would be hard to guess if the laptop was used regularly.

… And if it wasn’t asking for a ‘pin’ instead.

Passwords were harder but this laptop was asking for a pin.

Which meant this laptop was looking for a number combination.

Which became easier since only four numbers were glowing slightly gold, meaning this laptop had only been regularly typing those four numbers out of all ten numbers.

And people usually used passwords and numbers that meant something to them.

“Hey, Alejandro…” Desmond mumbled as he typed the first combination he thought of.

“Yes, hermano?”

“Does the year 2017 mean anything to you?” Desmond asked as the laptop accepted his password.

Alejandro was quiet for a moment before he let out, “Puta!”

“I’m gonna take that as a yes,” Desmond mumbled as he looked through the browser history.

“I know who El Sin Nombre is,” Alejandro said with clear anger in his tone.

“Someone who uses the email [emailprotected]?” Desmond deadpanned.

“Her name is Valeria Garza.” Alejandro growled, “She… she used to be one of us. She left the Special Forces after we tried to take the son of La Araña in 2017.”

“Are we sure she’s Sin Nombre?” Ghost asked, “The year 2017 as a password is not enough. Anything else, Desmond?”

“Well, whoever has been using this vg44 email definitely sent messages as ‘El Sin Nombre’.” Desmond said as he quickly scanned the sent folder, “Oh. There are pictures, that’s for sure.”

Desmond shook his head as he closed the explicit photos, “They’re not pretty photos too. Oh, hello.”

Desmond hummed as he checked the email’s sent folder, “Hey, Becs. Remember when you told me that everything we send gets a copy on the sent folder so we should delete the sent folder regularly if we don’t want anyone finding an email we sent?”

“Yeah?” Rebecca replied although she sounded a bit farther away, most probably because she was using the comm line of one of the Shadows nearby.

“Someone didn’t tell El Sin Nombre that.” Desmond said with a grin as he began to skim through the trash folder, “And… there’s pictures here too.”

Desmond focused on one of the emails that had the photos that was showing a large stack of what Desmond was going to assume were drugs, probably cocaine or something.

That wasn’t important.

What was important was that there was a small mirror just by the edge of the photo, showing who was taking the photos.

“This Valeria… she has tattoos on her upper arm?” Desmond squinted, “And black hair?”

“Si.” Alejandro replied.

“I think it’s her.” Desmond said before looking at the other emails in the sent folder with photos, “I can see her holding the phone used to take a lot of these photos.”

Desmond made sure that the laptop was the same way it had been when he saw it before locking it. He checked the desk as he added, “And, even if she’s not El Sin Nombre, she would definitely know who’s the head honcho of this joint.”

Desmond took out a phone from one of the drawers, most probably a burner phone of some kind, and tried 2017 as the passcode.

He got in.

Desmond let out a small hum as he checked the contacts on the phone.

There was not a single contact on his phone.

That wasn’t surprising.

He checked the messaging app and the call logs.

One number was called regularly and Desmond’s lips curved into a grin as he said, “I have a plan.”

“Care to share?” Ghost asked.

“Nope.” Desmond cheerfully said, “You’re not going to like it but it’ll work anyway.”

“Desmond.”

“Let him try, Ghost.” Graves said, “We’ll back him up from our side.”

“Thanks,” Desmond said, lips curving into a small smile.

Maybe this was what it felt like to actually have fellow Assassins having his back.

… Brothers he could depend on.

Desmond pressed the call button and pressed the phone on his ear.

“Who’s this?” A man’s voice asked in Spanish.

Desmond let Ezio’s bleed guide his words as he spoke his Spanish, “Hello. Shall I assume you would be one of your boss’ best men? Seems so considering how many times…”

“She called you.” Desmond stressed as he tapped the side of the laptop, “Put her on the phone.”

There was a muffled conversation happening on the other line that he couldn’t understand but one of them was definitely angry.

And had a feminine sort of voice.

“Who the f*ck is this?” A woman asked rudely in Spanish.

“Hello, Valeria.” Desmond greeted before asking in a deceptively calm tone, “Did you really think that you could take over Las Almas without facing any retribution from La Arañas?”

“I don’t know what you’ve been snorting, you piece of sh*t, but La Arañas is long gone,” Valeria said.

“Or so we made you believe.” Desmond replied, mixing Ezio’s bleed with the arrogance of Haytham Kenway as he continued, “You’re not the only one who knows how to hide, La Sin Nombre.”

“And your men aren’t loyal to you as you think.” Desmond closed the laptop as he said, “Why, one of them even gave me your laptop.”

There was silence on the other side of the call but Desmond didn’t mind as he tutted, “2017. Such an easy passcode.”

“And your emails have been enlightening.” Desmond goaded.

“What do you want?” Valeria growled.

“Your head dangling behind my car as I ride all over Las Almas to remind everyone who we are.” Desmond growled before returning to the calm slightly condescending tone that was more Haytham than Ezio as he continued, “But I’ll settle with knowing I’ve gotten under your skin just by f*cking both your idiots and your military lapdogs yesterday.”

“You-”

“I’ll see you soon, Valeria.” Desmond said in a low tone, “And next time… I’ll take more than just your laptop and phone.”

Desmond ended the call and quickly turned off the phone. He placed the phone inside the front pocket of his pants just as Soap commented, “Damn, Desmond.”

“Did you get what he said?” Graves asked curiously.

“Not all but that voice just screamed ‘upper-class twat’,” Soap replied.

“Thanks. I was going for that.” Desmond mumbled as he pressed against the part of the wall next to the door. This part of the wall would momentarily hide him when someone opened the door which he was expecting…

“There’s no way he’s connected to Las Aranas!” A male voice said loudly and they were quickly walking towards his location, “We killed everyone who wouldn’t join. We even killed their family just to be sure!”

They must have already been on their way before Desmond ended the call.

Maybe the moment they recognized the number, they were already on their way.

It didn’t matter. It only meant that Desmond didn’t have to wait long.

His Eagle Vision showed him that there were five people walking quickly toward him.

“It doesn’t matter if he is part of Las Aranas or not!” A familiar female voice shouted back in Spanish, “That asshole knew who I am and he had a hand-”

They all stopped in the room that Desmond had used to enter the third floor.

“Where’s the guard stationed here?” The woman that Desmond was sure was Valeria asked in a low growl.

“He… should be…”

“Find him!”

Desmond quickly stepped out of the room and began to make his way back to the room they were all in.

Just as one of the men with Valeria found the corpse, letting out an aborted “Sin Nobre! I-”, Desmond threw a smoke grenade inside the room, quickly filling the entire room with smoke. He took a deep breath before stepping inside the smoke as the five reds inside began to cough. He quickly took out the one standing near the corpse by piercing his nape with his hidden blade before walking toward the remaining four.

Valeria glowed in gold so he ignored her for now even as she ordered “Get out of the room!” and they all tried to scramble out of the room…

Unfortunately, they all decide to run in the direction of the meeting room which meant they were running toward Desmond.

Desmond didn’t waste his chance, taking down two more reds by quickly puncturing their right lungs with his hidden blade, its slim blade managing to pierce between the ribs thanks to Desmond’s precision.

Desmond dropped another smoke grenade near Valeria, half to make sure that the smoke wouldn’t dissipate before he was done clearing all her guards and half to just f*ck with her.

He took out the last red that had been nearest to Valeria by slamming his hidden blade on the side of the red’s neck before stepping right behind her blind spot. He quickly wrapped his arm under her chin as he whispered, “Salve, Valeria.”

Valeria began to choke as Desmond squeezed her throat from behind, dragging her away from the smoke and into the meeting room. She trashed and tried to claw his arms with one hand while her other hand tried to aim at him. Desmond just quickly grabbed her pistol as he tightened his chokehold on her with his other arm just to make sure she won’t get away while he disarmed her. She dropped the gun on the floor and he returned his attention to applying enough pressure on her that she finally grew limp in his arms.

Desmond dropped Valeria to the floor and said, “Got the package.”

He thought about it for a moment before he said, “I’ll drop her off Soap’s side.”

“Think you can get to the other side of the villa with the package without being seen?” Ghost asked and Desmond’s lips curved into a grin when he could only hear the curiosity in Ghost’s question.

“I think I can manage.”

Twenty minutes later, with no alarms raised and only a growing confusion on the radio of the other cartel members about not being able to contact Valeria or someone by the name of Diego, Soap, Alejandro, and the rest of Alejandro’s team watched as Desmond dropped Valeria’s unconscious body on a nearby bush before jumping off the wall himself.

Desmond looked at the bush that had cushioned Valeria’s fall and hummed, “Well… better than a haystack, I guess.”

Chapter 11: Dark Waters

Chapter Text

A splash of cold water jolted Valeria up, making her gasp as she tried to get up. A hand grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her back down to her seat just as she tried to move, making her growl as she looked around.

“‘Morning.” Graves greeted her with false politeness as he circled around the empty cargo container where they had brought her, standing right behind Valeria. Ghost stood by the entrance which had been closed once they entered and was now being guarded by two Shadow Company soldiers on either side. Graves and Alejandro’s weapons were on either side of the container, pressed against the wall. Soap was standing by the same area as Ghost, only on the other side, while Desmond stood in the middle of the two of them. Rodolfo stood a little further in, hands on his rifle while his full attention seemed to be on Valeria. Alejandro took a few steps back, standing near Rodolfo.

“Resorting to kidnapping now, Alejandro?” Valeria snarked in Spanish as she relaxed in her seat.

Alejandro let out a growl and took a step towards her but wasn’t able to say anything, most probably to correct her, because Graves cut him off by asking, pointing at the two of them repeatedly with his point and middle finger, “Alright. How do you two know each other?”

“Know is a strong word,” Alejandro answered in English with a restrained tone as he started to walk away from Valeria.

“Strong words are important.” Valeria retorted in Spanish, bending her upper body slightly to the left and a bit forward as she told Alejandro, “Our word is our worth, right?”

Desmond opened his mouth but he was too late, Alejandro had taken the bait and shouted as he briskly walked towards her in Spanish, “Go to hell, you f*cking sonuvabitch-!”

Rodolfo and Soap quickly rushed toward him as he continued, “I’m going to kill you!”

Rodolfo and Soap grabbed his arms and pushed him slightly.

“Alejandro…” Soap said in a soft but firm tone.

“Calm down, Commander,” Rodolfo said at the same time in Spanish.

“Yeah!?” Alejandro said to Rodolfo before he took a few steps back, turning to repeat the same word as he turned to face Soap, “Yeah?!”

Alejandro turned around and began to walk away from Valeria, followed by both Rodolfo and Soap.

Alejandro turned to face Valeria as he grabbed the straps of his tactical vest, almost like he was holding on to it to stop himself from charging Valeria, as he said in Spanish, “Go on.”

Alejandro’s next words hid his obvious anger as he said in English, glancing around them, “Tell them.”

“I don’t take orders anymore,” Valeria said as she kept her attention on Alejandro. She moved her eyes to look at Soap up and down as she said, “Even the dogs in Las Almas know not to bark at me.”

“Look at this-” Alejandro said with false cheer to Rodolfo, causing Rodolfo to glance at him without saying anything, before turning to look at Soap as he explained to everyone, “She’s ex-military. We served together.”

“Different squads, same unit,” Valeria added, placing an arm on the back of her seat and crossing her left leg over her right. Her voice turned a bit playful as she said, “You were the wild ones…”

She nodded at Rodolfo as she asked playfully, “Huh?”

Rodolfo didn’t say anything and she turned to look back at Alejandro, saying in a tone that sounded both like an insult and a compliment in Desmond’s ears, “Los Vaqueros.”

Alejandro’s lips curved into an animalistic grin at that title.

“My squad was clean-cut…” She continued as she turned her head to glance at all of them before switching to Spanish to add, “... Gentlemen and ladies…”

“Until the raid on the son of La Araña.” Alejandro interrupted as he nodded his head repeatedly before asking Valeria in Spanish in a louder tone, “Do you remember?”

“I remember perfectly,” Valeria replied calmly.

“Her team was told to cordon off the city to keep out La Araña’s enforcers and prevent the bloodshed,” Alejandro explained to Soap.

“That’s exactly what we did.” Valeria countered in a condescending tone.

“Well, you kept out his enforcers…” Alejandro asked in the same condescending tone she used, “Because you were his enforcers, huh?”

“He was escorted to the mountains without incident.” Valeria continued in a calmer tone before her tone turned more condescending as she repeated Alejandro’s own words, keeping her attention on Alejandro with a mocking expression on her face, “Also to prevent bloodshed.”

Seeing Valeria’s lips curved into an amused smile, Rodolfo cut in before she or Alejandro could speak, most probably to keep Alejandro’s rage contained, “He was supposed to go to prison.”

Rodolfo’s tone was calm yet Desmond could see the way his grip on his rifle had tightened ever so slightly.

Before anyone else could say anything, Graves grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back to the chair as he walked behind her while summarizing, “So you killed him and you took over.”

“I created a power vacuum…” Valeria corrected as she turned to her left where Graves had leaned against the wall of the container with his hands crossed before adding, “And I filled it.”

She turned to look at Soap as she added, “Las Almas needs me.”

“Las Almas needs soldiers, not sicarios…” Alejandro corrected before he said in Spanish, “And you…!”

Alejandro lowered his upper body to stare directly at her eyes as he said in English, “You disgrace the army.”

Alejandro glanced back at Rodolfo before turning his attention back to her as he spoke in Spanish, “And your brothers, no?”

Valeria didn’t look at all affected by Alejandro’s words. If anything, the small playful smile on her lips seemed to show how stupid she thought Alejandro was.

“Why’re you doin’ this?” Graves asked as he remained behind Valeria.

Valeria rested her left arm on the backrest of the chair this time as she turned around to face Graves and asked calmly, “You tell me…”

She used her open right hand to point at Graves briefly as she continued, “You’re a contractor, no? What you don’t do, your competitors will.”

“You’re a narco, harboring a terrorist…” Ghost reminded her as they all turned to face him.

She simply shrugged with an expression that showed that she didn’t count that as an insult nor did she deny it. Instead, she replied, her eyes briefly meeting Desmond’s, “Terrorism is good for business.”

Valeria turned her attention to Soap as she continued, “It’s insurance.”

“What the f*ck does that mean?” Alejandro asked in an annoyed tone.

This seemed to have finally set her off and she began to shout at Alejandro in Spanish as she leaned forward with her hands waving in front of her angrily, “Can you get your f*cking head out of your ass for a second? For f*ck’s sake, Alejandro!”

Grave grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her back so her back would be against the back of the chair. She shrugged his hand off hard and he backed away silently.

“As long as there is a war on terror,” Valeria continued in a more composed tone in English, leaning closer to stare at Alejandro, “There will be no real war on drugs.”

“To find your so-called terrorist and the WMD…” She turned her attention back to Graves as she said, “You need me.”

She turned back to stare at Alejandro as she said in a condescending tone once more, “To prevent bloodshed.”

“No…” Alejandro began to walk forward, turning to Rodolfo as he said, “I’m not doing this…”

Just as Alejandro grabbed his rifle, Soap said calmly, “Doesn’t change anything.”

Alejandro turned to face Soap as he began to walk back and he shouted, “It changes everything!”

“f*ck!” Alejandro shouted as he completely turned his back to Valeria and walked towards the entrance. Desmond stepped to the side quietly to not get in his way and Alejandro ignored him, instead turning once more to glare at Valeria. He glanced at the other men in the room as he warned, “Don’t make a deal with her…”

His eyes focused on Graves as he said solemnly, “It won’t end well.”

Desmond leaned against the wall of the container, just behind Soap, as Alejandro stormed out of the container. He kept his face blank and his lips sealed.

It wasn’t his place to talk. Not when it would bring attention to him.

But…

His eyes met Graves and Graves lowered his head.

It almost looked like a bow.

Soap took a step forward before he said, “Looks like it’s your turn to tell the truth.”

Graves leaned forward from behind Valeria as he said calmly, “We want the WMD, we want the final destination, and we want Hassan.”

His voice remained calm but Desmond saw how Graves placed his left hand on Valeria’s shoulder, close to her neck.

Close enough to be pierced by a hidden blade that he knew for a fact Graves did not have.

It still made Valeria stiffen for a second before she relaxed once more, just as Graves continued, “And you’ve got ten seconds or I’m gonna show you the difference between the military and us.”

“I don’t know the final destination,” Valeria answered as she turned her head slightly in Graves’ direction while keeping her attention on Soap.

No.

She was staring behind Soap.

She was staring at Desmond.

Desmond kept his expression blank but he couldn’t help but be impressed.

It seemed that she had seen the quick silent communication between him and Graves and interpreted it as Desmond being of higher ranking.

Well, in terms of military rankings, that was probably incorrect.

But in the hierarchy of the Brotherhood, however vague it was at the moment…

Desmond was definitely of higher ranking than Graves.

She kept her eyes on Desmond as she explained, “I’m a courier. I move things.”

She leaned closer to Graves but her eyes were still on Desmond as she continued, “I can tell you where Hassan is planning to go. When you return, I’ll tell you where the WMD is. In exchange…”

She turned to glare at the four men in front of her as she growled, “You will let me go. And get the f*ck out of Las Almas-”

Before she ordered in Spanish, “Now leave.”

Soap looked at Rodolfo and then at Desmond before his eyes turned to Ghost. Soap and Ghost stared at one another for a fraction of a second but it was definitely longer than the look Soap had given Desmond and Rodolfo which only made Desmond more curious.

Soap turned to look back at Graves and nodded.

“Deal.” Graves stepped away from Valeria before he began to walk away from her, “Until then…”

“You’re stayin’ right here.” Graves ordered as all five of them left the container.

When Desmond reached the parking lot void of any vehicle near their base after a Shadow Company logistics officer made sure he had been restocked (which Desmond was pretty sure wasn't actually part of her job), he approached Soap and the others. Ghost told him to stand next to Soap who was standing next to Rodolfo while Ghost stood a few feet in front of them together with Graves and Alejandro.

Desmond knew something was happening, he just wasn’t sure what it could be.

And it seemed Soap noticed it because he leaned towards him to whisper, “It’s nothing new. General Shepherd likes leading from the front whenever he can get away with it.”

Desmond was afraid of that.

The moment they had sent word of Hassan’s location, they were ordered to stand by and wait for Shepherd to arrive.

And now they were all geared up, ready to move as soon as Shepherd’s helicopter landed.

It wasn’t long before it did land and Desmond knew immediately that he was being escorted by Shadow Company and not the US Army.

Which only made Desmond warier.

They didn’t say anything but Desmond was sure Shepherd was here to ‘persuade’ Valeria into giving the location of the POE while everyone would be busy with Hassan.

They all remained standing tall as Shepherd approached them, the sound of the helicopter’s blades annoying the hell out of Desmond’s more honed senses.

“General Shepherd!” Alejandro greeted as he shook hands with Shepherd, needing to shout just to get everyone to hear him.

Soon the helicopter’s blades began to slow down as Shepherd greeted back, “Colonel Vargas! On behalf of TF141 and the United States, we are grateful for your support and assistance!”

The helicopter finally grew silent as Shepherd continued, “Hopefully, we’ll finally be one step closer to achieving true peace once this is over.”

“That would be wonderful,” Alejandro replied politely although Desmond could sense that Alejandro didn’t think that would be possible.

Valeria may have been arrested but that only meant that there was a need for a new leader.

Or the cartel would stage a rescue attempt…

That was why the Mexican Special Forces and the bulk of Shadow Company would be staying here in Alejandro’s base.

Under the command of both Shepherd and Rodolfo.

But Desmond knew that wasn’t exactly right.

Shepherd would definitely take command.

“I’ve been briefed on the situation.” Shepherd continued, “We will provide support from here.”

“Desmond…” Shepherd turned to look at Desmond, “Guide me to the command center while these gentlemen make final preparations.”

Desmond glanced at Soap and Ghost. Soap didn’t say anything and Ghost simply nodded.

That was all Desmond needed as permission and walked towards Shepherd.

He didn’t bother to salute nor even bow and simply said, “This way…”

There was a beat before he added, “Sir.”

They walked side by side and began to walk away from everybody else, the sounds of orders coming from Graves and Alejandro seemingly muted to Desmond.

They began to walk towards the command center in the middle of the building by entering from the nearest entrance which was on the other side of the base in silence.

Only for the silence to be killed by Shepherd’s casual comment, “You’ve been making a name for yourself.”

“Oh?” Desmond hummed as they passed by men rushing to make final checks. It was only after they passed by a member of Shadow Company for the third time did Desmond realize that they haven’t seen any of Alejandro’s men for a while now.

Were they all busy helping with the preparations?

“They’re calling you a ‘roach.”

Desmond frowned as he turned slightly to see Shepherd’s face more clearly and asked, “Like the horse?”

Shepherd glanced at him as if checking if he was joking or simply an idiot before clarifying, “Like the co*ckroach.”

“Ah.” Desmond’s lips curved into a mirthless smile as he was reminded of things he’d rather not remember. Still, he was unable to stop himself from snarking, “I am hard to kill.”

Shepherd hummed before he asked, “How’s Soap and Ghost treating you?”

“Pretty good,” Desmond replied as they turned the corner, walking into an empty hallway. He glanced at Shepherd before asking calmly, “Aren’t you going to ask how Shadow Company is treating me?”

“I know how they’re treating you.” Shepherd answered with the same deadly calmness that was present in Desmond’s voice, “They know their place. If anything…”

Shepherd finally stopped in the middle of the empty hallway, forcing Desmond to stop as well and turn back to fully face Shepherd. Shepherd took out a cigar and lit it, making Desmond scrunch up his nose briefly.

It was a different smell from the one that had clung to Price.

Not bad…

Just… different…

“The ones who don’t know their place are Hastings and Crane,” Shepherd stated before taking a drag of his cigar.

“Then why put them in Shadow Company?” Desmond asked calmly although he could feel the anger simmering underneath his skin.

Shepherd stared at Desmond for a moment before replying, “It was either we intervene or they start doing reckless things like hacking into the Pentagon to contact you.”

Shepherd’s voice was still calm but Desmond could hear the disappointment in his tone nonetheless as he commented, “At this point, they’re just a step away from being rogues.”

Shepherd stared at Desmond as he added, “The same can be said about you.”

“I am loyal to the Brotherhood.” Desmond calmly stated even though his speech pattern and accent were both wavering as he spoke.

“Which Brotherhood? Your father’s?” Shepherd asked coldly before taking a step toward Desmond as he stated quietly, “William Miles is a failure of a mentor. Years have passed since the Great Purge and we are still hiding in the darkness like rats running from cats. The Templars believe that they have won. That they are just cleaning house. We must remind them of our strength. Of our-”

“Enough,” Desmond ordered with echoes of accents not his yet completely his at the same time. He took a step towards Shepherd and growled, “Do not mistake our purpose, brother. Our blades do not exist to fight the Templars. Our blades exist to protect the innocents and to fight the unjust.”

Shepherd stared at him for a moment before he stepped back. His tone was calm yet there was a hint of disappointment in them as he said, “You hold the memories of three master Assassins, two of which were legendary mentors, yet here you are…”

“Playing soldier for an unfit leader.”

Desmond knew he was not, in fact, talking about Desmond's current cover.

Desmond clenched his fists tightly but did not make any other movements, simply glaring at Shepherd as he calmly stated, “I’m not here because of anyone’s orders. I’m here to make sure the POE won’t be used.”

Shepherd was quiet for a moment once more before he said, “Or so you say.”

Desmond kept quiet, wondering if Shepherd knew that the main reason why he had returned to the field even though everyone told him he should focus on healing for one more year was because he wanted to mend the broken bridge between his team and the rest of the Assassins.

“There will come a time when you will have to choose between being an Assassin and being their comrade.” Shepherd stated and Desmond didn’t need any clarification on who he was talking about, “And when that time comes…”

Shepherd handed Desmond his cigar as he said, “You will betray them because you are an Assassin.”

Desmond held the cigar in his hand, unsure of what else to do with it, as Shepherd continued, “Because you…”

“You know what must be done.” Shepherd’s tone held a passion that he repressed with his usual calm tone, surprising Desmond, “You are more than William Miles will ever be, Desmond.”

Desmond’s eyes widened at those words.

“And that is why I trust you to do the right thing when the time comes.” Shepherd continued before nodding, “Safety and peace, mentor.”

Desmond remained standing as he watched Shepherd walk out of the hallway and into the room where the command center was stationed.

Desmond must have remained standing there for a few minutes before he heard the muffled voice of a Shadow Company member calling out to him, “Desmond!”

The Shadow Company member had a strange accent, almost like some other accent pretending to be American, but Desmond didn’t ask anything as he was told, “Graves and the others are looking for you. It’s time to go.”

“Okay.” Desmond nodded and looked at the cigar in his hand.

“You smoke?”

Desmond dropped the cigar by his feet and crushed it with his left foot as he said, “No.”

“It's a fire hazard.”

Chapter 12: Crew Expendable

Chapter Text

“We’re nearing the location our dear cartel leader provided us and I’ve been asked quite nicely to remind everyone of the mission.” Shaun’s voice came from their comms as they were being transported to the location.

His voice was comforting for Desmond but also just a tad strange to hear considering how different he sounded when compared to the other operators Desmond had gotten used to. The only way Desmond could explain it was that Shaun just had the kind of voice that sounded like he was insulting everyone for being an idiot even if that wasn’t what he was trying to do.

“Just in case some of you forget.”

Okay.

So he was definitely trying to annoy them.

And Desmond was just so used to it by now that all he could do was let out a soft chuckle even as everyone heard Shepherd’s voice in their comms in a warning tone, “Hastings.”

“Sorry, sir.” The blatant disrespect in Shaun’s voice was so clear that Desmond felt the need to apologize for his behavior.

“Coordinates obtained through our dear tried and tested military persuasion…”

Oh god, Desmond felt the need to wince at how blatant the snark was in Shaun’s last two words.

It was like he was deliberately trying to pick a fight.

Knowing Shaun, he wouldn’t put it past him.

“… has been checked and verified that the coordinates are approximately 400 nautical miles in the Gulf of Mexico.” Shaun continued, “It seems that she gave us the drop-off point as satellite images show that there are two ships about to meet in that location. We cannot confirm if Hassan will be dropped off on the other ship or if there are some other illegal items that the cartel plans to move to the other ship. So the plan is to strike both ships after they've passed each other. The further they are from one another, the less chance they'd have of contacting each other once we start the operation.”

“Both ships are medium freighters with an Estonian registration number.” Rebecca added, “They’re clean as far as we can see.”

“Since we don’t know which ship will have Hassan, we will split our forces and attack both ships at the same time.” Shepherd took over, “TF141 and Colonel Vargas will infil the ship we marked as Tango-1.”

“Desmond and Shadow Company will engage the other ship marked as Tango-2.” Shepherd continued, “We have confirmation that both ships have a small crew and a security detail on board.”

“Rules of engagement, sir?” Ghost’s voice asked from their comms.

“Crew expendable.”

“Gold Eagle, this is Phantom One-Four.” Their helicopter pilot announced, “We have visual on the target. E.T.A. sixty seconds.”

“Copy One-Four,” Shepherd answered briefly.

Graves tapped Desmond on the shoulder. Desmond tilted his head in silent question but didn’t move when Graves grabbed his radio and changed the frequency.

“This is our frequency, exclusive to Shadow Company. You can still hear everyone but they can’t hear us unless we change frequencies again.” Graves explained before turning to face the other four members of Shadow Company with them, “Listen up, Shadow Company. For this operation, Desmond will be leading us.”

Desmond’s eyes widened as he uttered, “Wha-”

“If he tells you to take down a hostile, you take down the hostile. If he orders for a strike, he gets a strike. Desmond Miles is our mentor and he will be treated as such.” Graves continued, cutting off whatever objection Desmond might have, “Understood?”

“Yup-yup.” An almost cheerful chorus answered him from the helicopter and the comms.

“You have the floor, mentor.” Graves nodded at Desmond, making Desmond rub the back of his neck.

“Uh…” Desmond halted only for a brief moment before he took a deep breath.

He couldn’t let this chance get by.

Shadow Company was one of the elite groups of the Brotherhood.

Perhaps even the most elite of whatever remained of the Brotherhood. They had the resources, the training, and the firepower that most of the Brotherhood didn’t have.

Gaining their trust and respect would help them get back to the graces of the rest of the Assassins.

… If Shaun stopped trying to sabotage any goodwill Shepherd had left, of course.

Since it felt like he was going to have a headache similar to what a Master Assassin would have when he had to deal with a mouthy recruit, Desmond tried to focus on what was happening right now.

“Thank you, brother.” Desmond nodded at Graves solemnly before turning to face the rest of the squad inside the helicopter as he stated, “We go in fast and quiet. Do not use your firearms unless it’s completely necessary.”

“Roger.” Everyone replied except one who simply grunted.

“Ten seconds.” Their pilot informed them, “Radio check. Gold Eagle. How copy? Red Eagle. How copy?”

There was a pause for a few seconds before the pilot announced, “Jamming signal confirmed. We have lost contact with command and Red Team. Switching to secure channel. ”

“Our radio sign is Blue Eagle. You’re Blue Eagle Actual.” Graves informed him, making Desmond raise an eyebrow at that.

Okay then.

“Blue Eagle 1.” Graves pointed at himself before pointing at the other four members, “2, 3, 4, 5.”

Desmond returned his radio to the default secure channel that Ghost had set up for him even though he knew from the debriefing back in Alejandro’s base that they would only be able to hear the other team if the jamming stopped working before continuing, “Graves, Dipaolo and I will infiltrate the ship first.”

He could see the way Dipaolo straightened slightly as if surprised he remembered his name. Desmond remembered all of their names, of course. It was a habit he learned from his Bleed of Ezio and it seemed to be giving him brownie points now if Dipalao’s slightly puffed chest was any indication.

"Velikan…" Desmond turned to face the quiet bulky soldier who simply looked at him. He wasn’t even sure if Velikan was truly large or if it was simply because of a lot of paddings.

“Stay here with Erikson and Vance and wait for my signal.”

Velikan grunted while Erikson and Vance nodded at him before the pilot said, “Green light! Go! Go! Go!”

Desmond followed Graves as he, Graves, and Dipalao fast-roped down from the helicopter, landing on the main deck of the ship. They quickly took off the clip to the rope just as Graves announced, “Weapons free.”

Seeing both men aim their rifles at the unsuspecting men inside the outside bridge, Desmond raised his hand toward their direction as he said quietly but quickly, “Let’s do this quietly, fratelli mio.”

“Yup-yup.” Dipalao and Graves answered and they quietly but quickly walked towards the door leading to the outside bridge just a few feet to their right where there were four crew members still oblivious to their presence. Dipalao turned the door open and pushed inside quickly before going on one knee, letting Graves and Desmond enter the bridge.

Graves immediately took down the nearest man standing by the door by covering his mouth with one hand and slicing his throat with his combat knife while Desmond walked further inside, placing his left hand on the neck of the man reclining on a chair. The man let out an almost inaudible gasp as his neck was pierced by Desmond’s hidden blade while Graves and Dipalao took down the other two just as they were about to turn around, hearing the chair creak as the corpse slumped over it. They were quick and quiet, slamming their knives into the men’s guts to stop them from screaming as the wind was knocked out of them before finishing them off with a quick slice to the throat.

They turned to look at Desmond who nodded at them, “Good work.”

Both of them bowed slightly before Desmond ordered, “Let’s go.”

Desmond took the lead, letting his world turn gray as he activated his Eagle Vision. They walked down the stairs and Desmond immediately saw a red on the hallway ahead of them as they reached the end of the stairs.

From the way the red was moving, it was clear that he was quite drunk.

“Take him out, Graves,” Desmond ordered and stepped aside, watching as Graves took out a smaller knife and threw it at the drunken red. The knife struck the man between the eyes and he let out a gasp before falling to the ground with a thud.

“Bene.” Desmond patted Graves’ shoulder as they continued their way to the end of the corridor. Desmond noticed the two reds sleeping in a bunk bed in the right room ahead of them and Desmond didn’t hesitate as he ordered, “Dipalao, make sure those two to our right don’t wake up.”

“Yes, mentor,” Dipalao whispered as he quickly walked toward their right. Desmond watched using his Eagle Vision as Dipalao took out both reds quickly, their red forms turning gray in a matter of seconds.

The three of them didn’t bother checking the corners like Desmond had gotten used to seeing from 141 and the Los Vaqueros and Desmond could feel pride swelling inside him at the complete confidence the two had in him.

Desmond looked around as they reached the end of the corridor which led them back outside once more. Remembering the schematics of the ship they were on, this should mean that they have cleared the forward deck of the ship without raising an alarm.

They continued to make their way to the other side of the deck as Desmond planned to clear it first before moving to the lower floors where Hassan would be staying if he was on this ship.

It was better to clear each floor to ensure they wouldn’t get caught in a pincer attack, after all.

The next set of reds was a pair of guards on a platform a few meters ahead of them and Desmond quietly led them to their location without being seen as they used the many large containers and the sound of the heavy rain to hide their approach.

“Graves.” Desmond pointed at the stairs to their left just as they stood just below the platform. Graves nodded while Desmond turn to look at Dipalao, “Boost me.”

“Yes, sir.” Dipalao interlocked his fingers and moved into position while Graves quietly made his way up the stairs. Desmond timed his jump to Graves, jumping off of Dipalao and grabbing onto the railings of the platform just as Graves reached the platform. He grabbed the back of the guard standing in front of him and yanked him down to where Dipalao quickly stabbed him thrice in the chest before slicing his neck just as Graves grabbed the other red and pierced his neck with his combat knife.

None of them bothered with saying any of the usual ‘clear’ or other military terms that Desmond had gotten used to.

No need for it after all.

Not when Desmond already knew that thanks to his Eagle Vision.

And it was his Eagle Vision that they were all relying on.

They were relying on Desmond.

And Desmond would make sure they would not regret it.

Graves and Desmond jumped off the platform and Dipalao followed them as they made their way to the end of the ship.

Once they were near the end of the ship, Desmond immediately ordered them to take cover using the same hand signs he had seen Ghost and Soap use before and both of them immediately understood it, crouching behind the containers all around them, far enough that they wouldn’t be taken all at once but close enough that they could see one another.

“Five reds on the second floor. Three reds on the balcony on the third floor.” Desmond counted using his Eagle Vision and he glanced around before ordering, “Velikan, Erickson, Vance. Take out the reds on the balcony.”

There was a grunt that came on his comms which he assumed was supposed to be a confirmation from Velikan and he turned to Graves as he whispered, “Quiet guy, huh.”

“The results speak for themselves.” Graves replied with a proud tone.

They watched as their helicopter flew above the end of the ship with all of its lights still off. Together with the rain, it was almost invisible.

The three Shadow Company members would have been invisible as well had it not been for Desmond’s Eagle Vision. He watched as all three dropped down from the helicopter without any rope and Desmond assumed it was because they have dropped at a more manageable height thanks to their drop site being the third-floor balcony.

And having cushions in the form of the reds.

All three of them quietly took down the reds and Velikan let out another grunt which Desmond was pretty sure meant to say “done”.

“Good wo-” Desmond paused when he noticed that another red had appeared on the second floor, most probably having ascended from the first floor or maybe even one of the floors below.

The red was strange.

It was… more vibrant…

With the wisps of white around it.

And the red looked directly at their position.

“Oh crap!” Desmond exclaimed as all the reds start to fire on their location, making Desmond turn around to be fully covered by the container he was using as cover.

“How’d they find us?!” Dipalao asked loudly just to be heard over the bulletstorm and the heavy rain that was now becoming a full storm, making the ship sway dangerously.

“My guess?!” Desmond growled, “One of them is Berg! He has the sight!”

“Your orders, mentor!” Graves shouted.

“Velikan, distract them!” Desmond ordered and they heard another grunt before waiting for a few seconds then…

Boom!

A loud explosion surprised all of them, causing a lull in the hail of bullets they had been taking cover from.

All three of them cautiously turned to look at what was happening and Desmond blinked as he asked, “Uuhh… guys… Did you… explode the roof?”

“Velikan used a goddamn C4!” Vance shouted as the three of them took cover just as the reds on the second floor started to shoot at them.

There was an almost muffled laugh that Desmond was going to assume was from Velikan.

“Permission to use firearms, mentor.” Graves requested just as the three of them took cover once more as it seemed that the reds on the second floor had gotten reinforcement. Hell, Desmond could actually see more reds coming from the lower floors.

With their current numbers, they were able to pin both them and the Shadows on the third balcony. If those reds from the lower floors get to their location, things were going to get dicey.

God.

Desmond now realized just how annoying (and horrifying) it was for the Templars to have someone with Eagle Vision.

Even if Berg and the rest of his fellow Animi training alumni could only use it for a couple of seconds.

“Weapons free!” Desmond ordered, repeating the same military jargon he had heard before, and both Graves and Dipalao readied their rifles but Desmond didn’t bother to ready his ACR. Instead, he ordered, “Velikan, Vance, Erikson, keep the guys on the second floor busy!”

Desmond jumped on top of the container as he ordered, “Graves, Dipalao, keep the reinforcement away from me!”

“Yes, mentor!” They all answered together with a grunt from Velikan even as Graves and Dipalao were already firing to keep Desmond from getting shot at.

Desmond began to make his way toward the end of the ship by jumping from container to container while Graves and Dipalao moved to the other side and began to focus their shots on the ones at the same level as them, catching the attention of the reinforcement that was rushing the deck. On the third floor, Velikan threw another grenade, forcing the reds on the second floor to take cover.

Except one.

As Desmond had expected, that specific red threw something, shattering one of the windows that the red used to jump out of without sustaining any injuries.

Desmond quickly dodged out of the way of his surprise attack, mimicking the movement of an air assassination that Desmond was familiar with.

So, it was true.

“Hey, Berg! Fancy meeting you here!” Desmond shouted as he kicked Berg away from him.

Berg was one of the people from Vidic’s Animi Training Program, using the Animus to train their soldiers in both the memories of Templars and… Assassins.

Another way for the Templars to take what had been the Brotherhood’s as their own.

The ships began to sway dangerously as the storm continued but neither of them paid any attention to it as Berg took out a gun and aimed it at Desmond. Desmond quickly stepped towards him and grabbed Berg’s wrist with his left hand. He slammed his right fist onto Berg’s armpit before kicking him in the stomach. The pain forced Berg to let go of his gun and Desmond quickly swiped it away from him and took a few steps back. The container they were standing on began to make creaking sounds thanks to their movements but neither man paid it any attention as Desmond quickly dismantled the gun in his hands while dryly saying loudly, “So you being here not for Hassan but for a traitor was a lie. Color me surprised.”

“I am looking for a traitor.” Berg coughed before he readied himself, legs slightly parted with his right leg in front and arms going near his face.

Desmond tilted his head. When he had met Berg, he had requested all the information they had about him from Graves.

He knew that he was supposed to be paraplegic thanks to Layla but it seemed that their information was right and he had regained full control of his legs thanks to Abstergo’s experiments on the Hermes’ Staff.

And from the looks of it, he was also using the common Hokutoryu Jujutsu stance that Desmond had checked out prior…

Just to be sure.

He was, after all… ex-Finnish Special Ops…

Or whatever the hell they called it.

“Uh-huh.” Desmond hummed and stepped back when Berg tried to charge him. He jumped back from a knee strike from Berg as he said casually, “And you just happen to be on board the same ship that would be taking Hassan out of Mexico?”

Desmond stepped back to dodge the second knee strike from Berg as he added, “Or in the ship that had Hassan, either one.”

“You don’t know anything,” Berg growled, most probably getting annoyed by how unfazed Desmond was with any of his attacks. Desmond blocked the incoming hand strike but quickly backed away when he saw Berg’s other hand trying to grab his tactical vest just as Berg continued, “Hassan isn’t important.”

“Oh?” Desmond tilted his head and stared at Berg for a moment, thinking of his words. He continued to dodge all of Berg’s strikes, knowing that Berg’s strength lay on being able to take him down with one of his counters or throws.

Neither of which he could do if Desmond kept staying out of reach.

He tried to think about why Berg would be here if Hassan wasn’t his target.

Why else would he be here?

Desmond’s eyes widened as he realized the answer to his question, “Because the traitor wants Hassan.”

That realization was enough for Desmond to lose focus and Berg finally managed to grab him, pulling him close as he said, “The traitor is one of your soldier friends, Miles. One of them-”

Blood splattered across Desmond’s vest and the force of the bullet pushed Berg away from him, letting him go, and falling.

Straight to the uncaring wild waves below.

Desmond stared at the dangerous waves for a moment before turning to where the shot has come from.

Graves stared back at him as he lowered his rifle and asked, “You alright, mentor?”

“Yeah,” Desmond answered, realizing that the sounds of gunfire had already been silenced while he and Berg were busy fighting.

All five left in the ship shone blue in his eyes…

Yet Desmond could not feel any sense of safety.

Not when he remembered how Lucy Stillman once glowed blue in his eyes before.

Chapter 13: Agiamo Nell’ombra Per Service La Luce

Chapter Text

“Care to share what’s got you all looking like you just heard your pa killed your puppy?” Soap asked quietly as he tapped the side of his knee against Desmond’s. Desmond turned to look at him, wondering what he should say to that question.

“Dad never let me have a pet.” Desmond’s brain provided, being of no real use to the current topic on hand.

Soap snorted and Desmond wanted to believe the small huff that left Ghost’s lips to his right was some kind of laugh.

Alejandro, who was sitting on the passenger’s seat, and Dipalao, who was serving as their driver, chuckled.

“Come on, you’ve been quiet since we finished the mission.” Soap tapped him with his leg once more, “So… what’s on your mind?”

Desmond couldn’t exactly say ‘One of you betrayed the Templar Order’ now, could he?

And it wasn’t like it was necessarily a bad thing, all things considered.

Depending on the reason why they had betrayed the Templar Order, it was possible that the turncoat could become an ally of the Brotherhood.

Maybe that was the reason why every person he had checked with his Eagle Vision showed varying hues of blue.

Or maybe it was simply Desmond’s wishful thinking, hoping to find something ‘nice’ to cling to.

To find something that would make Lucy’s betrayal less painful.

There was no use trying to cling to the past. Not when he had more pressing things to think about.

Like the traitor that Berg had been looking for.

There was no need for a Templar turncoat to be their enemy…

Of course, it really depended on the reason why they had betrayed the Templar Order and their connection to both Hassan and Soma.

So the most suspicious person was the one who took the kill shot.

“Ghost killed Hassan, right?” Desmond asked, repeating what they had reported during their debriefing on the way back to Las Almas.

Soap glanced at Desmond’s other side where Ghost remained silent for a second before nodding as he emphasized, “To save me. He took the shot because Hassan got the jump on me.”

Which only complicated things for Desmond.

Who was more likely to be the Abstergo turncoat?

Ghost who had taken the shot and killed Hassan with a single bullet between the eyes?

Or Soap who, all of a sudden, needed to be saved from their main target?

Something didn’t make sense and Desmond knew it was because he wasn’t there and their communications had been cut off thanks to Shadow Company jamming both ships to make it harder for either ship to know what was happening.

And it wasn’t like Desmond could simply ask. Not when it would make the persons he was asking curious as to why he was so fixated on who had done what.

Of course, there was the possibility that Berg also didn’t have all the information. It wasn’t like they took the time to talk about it over tea and cake, after all.

Something happened.

Between the time they had detained Berg and Berg’s fight with Desmond, he learned something.

Something that he either deemed not that important that it was okay to share with Desmond or too important that Desmond must know.

Either way, Berg wanted the Assassins to know about the turncoat and their connection with Hassan.

Which begged the question…

Why?

It was almost as if-

Desmond’s thoughts came to a halt when he felt the vehicle they were on stop. Being in the middle, he could see that Shadow Company seemed to have fortified the gates that would lead to the base that Alejandro was letting them use.

One of the members of the Shadow Company placed his hand in front of him, a gesture that usually meant 'stop', which Desmond assumed was the reason why their vehicle had stopped.

Desmond followed his team as they got out of the car at the same time Graves and his men came out of theirs, and Desmond followed Ghost instead of Soap out of habit more than anything else.

Desmond took a step forward to follow Alejandro who had started to walk towards Graves but stopped when Ghost placed a hand on his chest, pushing him back slightly. Desmond turned to look at Ghost who simply shook his head at him almost unnoticeably while Alejandro loudly asked, “What’s this?”

“This is the immediate future.” Graves answered calmly, his tone having lost all casualness he used to show to 141 and Alejandro, “Step away from the gate.”

“What?” Soap asked with furrowed brows.

“You’re crazy, this is my base.” Alejandro reminded them as he raised his arms briefly in the direction where his base was.

“It’s not a base. This is a sizeable facility and I admire it.” Graves glanced at Desmond as he announced, “So we’ll be using it as our bureau for this operation.”

Desmond froze at those words while Graves continued, turning his attention back to Alejandro and Soap, “You boys have been relieved. Thank you for your service.”

“No, no, no.” Alejandro immediately spoke with growing fury in his voice, “I don’t tak-”

“Desmond.” Graves cut Alejandro off as he turned to face Desmond, “It’s time for us to do what we’re meant to do, mentor.”

Desmond’s eyes widened just as both Soap and Alejandro turned to stare at him.

“What does he mean by that, Desmond?” Soap asked, “Did you know about this?”

“Know about it? He’s part of it.” Graves answered for Desmond and Desmond could only watch in silence as Graves and the Shadow Company members near them took off a part of their patch, removing part of the shades and the rook and revealing a black Assassin insignia underneath.

Desmond barely heard Graves’ next words, “He’s been part of it longer than any of us.”

All he could focus on was the words written below the insignia.

Agiamo nell’ombra per service la luce.

For a brief moment he was back in the tower, surrounded by his allies and his uncle as a man he didn’t know if he should trust spoke, ‘We work in the dark to serve the light.’

“What does he mean by that, Desmond?” Soap’s voice shook Desmond out of his stupor and he turned to stare at Soap.

Why…

Why was Graves doing this here and now?

He had just broken the first tenet.

He just compromised them all.

“You’re with them?!” Alejandro shouted as he took a step away from Graves and pointed an accusing finger at Desmond.

No.

Desmond realized as he balled his hands into fists.

Graves had deliberately done such a stupid thing to specifically compromise him.

“Does Shepherd know?” Soap asked as he took a step towards the vehicle, most probably to use the radio that had been installed inside.

“Commander Shepherd sends his regards.” Graves answered and they all turned to face him once more. Graves stared at Desmond as he added, “And he told me to remind you…”

“Remember that you are a part of our Brotherhood.” Graves glanced at Soap as he stated, “Not theirs.”

Desmond couldn’t help the way his eyes narrowed. His voice was leveled and composed yet held the hint of accents that were his and not his at the same time as he finally spoke, “I’m loyal to the Creed…”

“But I am not loyal to any master.” Desmond quickly pulled out his USP.45, making everyone raise their main weapon at him by instinct.

Only Ghost aimed his rifle at Dipalao and took a step forward as if to shield Desmond, all the while ordering, “Get the f*ck back!”

Dipalao, who had been aiming his rifle at Desmond, took a few steps back as Ghost had ordered, slowly changing his target to Ghost.

“Hold your fire!” Both Graves and Soap ordered when they both realized that Desmond had aimed his sidearm…

At his own temple.

Once Soap and Alejandro realized where he was aiming, they quickly turned around to aim their rifles at Graves and his men. The members of Shadow Company behind Graves instinctively aimed their rifles at them as well.

“Desmond…” Graves called out and Desmond ignored the clear concern etched on his face.

“You talk too much, Graves.” Desmond took a step back as he used his left hand to show everyone his hidden blade, “You all know what this does, right?”

Soap and Alejandro looked confused so he flicked his wrist, unsheathing the hidden blade and making the eyes of both men widen. He sheathed the blade once more with a simple flick of his wrist before he placed his left hand on the side of his neck as he said, “Before anyone gets the idea of shooting my hand off so I can’t fire my gun, all I need to do is twitch and I’ll pierce my own neck.”

“Desmond…” Soap called out as he kept his own gun aimed at Graves’ men.

“Desperate times, Soap.” Desmond said with an obviously fake cheerful tone before glaring at Graves, “So, Graves. Don’t talk, just listen.”

“Shepherd needs me.” Desmond stated, “That’s the only reason why you would go to all this trouble to blow my cover right here and now. You’re trying to turn everyone against me. To make sure I come with you.”

Soap and Alejandro glanced at Desmond but kept quiet.

“Which means you need me to come to you willingly.” Desmond stared at Graves’ impressive poker face.

Then he glanced at the body posture of the men behind Graves who weren’t as great as Graves in keeping their emotions in check.

Their faces may be covered but their postures gave Desmond enough information.

They needed him to come willingly to them.

They needed him to do what they want and they were certain…

No.

Graves was certain that Desmond was going to hesitate if he knew he had a choice.

Which meant, whatever their plan was, they believed Desmond was not going to like it.

That could mean…

“It’s Soma.” Desmond realized, “You need me to find Soma…”

Desmond glanced beyond the gates before continuing, “You’ve got confirmation that Soma is in Las Almas but you don’t know where. That’s why you need me.”

Graves was quiet for a moment before he stated, “No.”

Desmond frowned at that.

“We’ve retrieved Soma and it’s now en route to General Shepherd’s location.” Graves informed him, lips curving into that co*cky smile of his that Desmond had actually liked.

Only for Desmond to freeze when Graves informed him, “You’re not the only one with Eagle Vision, Desmond.”

Who?

Who could ha-

Shepherd.

The reason why he had personally come here in Las Almas wasn’t to supervise Valeria’s interrogation…

It was to find Soma himself.

But if that was true…

“Then why do you need-” Desmond stopped, eyes widening as he realized, “You need me to activate it.”

“Only your genes can activate Soma.” Graves answered with a nod, confirming what Desmond had been wondering this entire time, “According to our research, the power Soma holds can be used as targeted strikes but it needs an Anima to initiate the strikes.”

Wait.

Did that mean the reason why Soma activated back in as-Sijn was because of him?

Did he… did he unintentionally order Soma to fire on Ramirez’s squad as well?

Desmond froze as he remembered Shepherd’s exact words back then.

The firefight that led to the activation of the POE killed two American soldiers and injured three more.

Shepherd never specifically said that Soma’s attack had been the cause of the death of those soldiers.

The way he worded it. The deaths of those soldiers could have been because of the firefight that had been happening before Desmond had accidentally activated the POE.

Bravo Team had been pinned down by the time Desmond and Ramirez’s squad entered the house.

That asshole.

Shepherd had been playing him from the start. All to…

“You want me to use Soma to take down the Templars.” Desmond realized, eyes widening even further as he added, “To attack Abstergo facilities!”

“There are innocent people there!” Desmond shouted as he took a step towards them, ignoring the hand Ghost placed on his chest to stop him, “Not everyone in Abstergo is a Templar, Graves!”

“And they killed children during the Great Purge!” Graves shouted back as he took a step towards him as well, uncaring of the way Soap and Alejandro twitched, “Do you think they were Assassins too, Desmond?! Do you think everyone the Templars killed during the Great Purge was an Assassin?! Fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters…”

“The Templars did not give us mercy then, why should we show them mercy now?!” Graves asked as he kept his weapon lowered while taking another step toward Desmond. Alejandro, Soap, and Ghost pointed their guns at Graves but Graves kept his eyes on Desmond, “You weren’t there to see it! You were safe in William Miles’ little Farm!”

“But we…” Graves took a step back and raised his arms as he announced, “We are the shadows that were left behind by that genocide! We are the shadows that will avenge the dead!”

“And you’re the sun that will make us larger than we have ever been.” Graves announced as he offered his hand to Desmond, “This is it, Desmond. This is our time to turn the tide. No more staying in the shadows, no more hiding from Abstergo or the Templars.”

“With you as the Anima…” Graves’ eyes were clear but Desmond could hear the fanaticism in his voice, “We will burn the Templars to the ground once more.”

“Just like Ezio Auditore did in Cappadocia.”

Desmond took a step back as he said, “No.”

For a brief moment, he could feel the grief and guilt weighing him down.

For a brief moment, he could feel the heat of the flames and hear the screams.

Desmond shook his head as he shouted, “No! Cappadocia was a mistake!”

“I won’t do it, Graves,” Desmond stated before staring at the people behind Graves. He blinked and ignored the sharp intake of breath from Soap and the way Alejandro froze for a brief second as his eyes glowed.

He needed to be sure.

He needed…

Desmond couldn’t help the horror that began to engulf his heart as he saw the hues of the Shadow Company.

Blue.

Different hues of blues.

With Graves and Velikan who stood behind Graves being the most vibrant of all.

And that was the most painful part of all.

Knowing that they still saw Desmond as their ally…

Knowing that the people in front of him…

They still believed Desmond would join them.

And Desmond still believed they were his allies as well.

“This isn’t our way.” Desmond stared at the people behind Graves, hoping they would see the truth, hoping they would understand why what Shepherd was planning was wrong, “This isn’t how our Brotherhood should be.”

“The Brotherhood we have now, the Assassins and their little cells, is nothing more than a bunch of rats scurrying in the sewers, bathing in their own sh*t!” Graves argued before slowly taking out a white phone from his back pocket.

“What’s that, Graves?!” Soap shouted as he aimed at the phone.

“Relax. I’m making a call to someone Desmond would want to speak to.” Graves said calmly as he pressed the call button before showing the phone to all of them, “Shepherd told me you wouldn’t see reason. That you’re too soft.”

“I was stupid enough to think he’s wrong. That you would have Ezio Auditore’s courage instead.” Graves stated as he stared at Desmond with a disappointed expression on his face.

“Don’t talk to me about Ezio. I know Ezio more than anyone in the world! He wouldn’t have approved of this!” Desmond shouted, trying to get the men behind Graves to see the truth.

“Ezio Auditore took Rome from Borgia rule by fire and blood.” Shepherd’s voice was heard from the phone and the phone’s screen changed to a close-up video of Shepherd, “And we will take the world back from Abstergo’s control.”

“Shepherd.” Soap growled as he glared at the phone.

“Graves, take everyone in.” Shepherd ordered, “If our Anima does not wish to take his proper place for the sake of the Brotherhood then he will do it for the people he cares about.”

“If you think we’re just going to let you take us-”

“You will.” Shepherd cut Soap off as he said, “Desmond will make sure of it.”

“What?”

“Have you forgotten?” Shepherd asked calmly, “The two transfers in Shadow Company?”

Desmond froze as Shepherd stepped to the side, revealing…

“Shaun! Rebecca!” Desmond shouted as he saw the slumped figures of Shaun and Rebecca tied to the chairs. He tried to run towards the phone even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything and only Ghost’s hand on his arm stopped him.

Ghost held his arm tightly and pushed him back as he shouted, “Focus, Desmond!”

Finally hearing Ghost’s voice shook Desmond enough that he was able to get ahold of himself, staring at the phone with growing dread.

“You saved the world once, Desmond.” Shepherd stated and stepped back to the frame of the video once more, “It’s time to save it once more, son.”

The video cut at that and Graves returned the phone to his back pocket. He aimed his gun at Alejandro calmly as he said, “You heard the commander, mentor. It’s time to come home.”

A tense silence fell on all of them.

Until…

“Take cover!” Ghost ordered and they all reacted immediately, falling to their stomach just as Velikan suddenly threw two smoke grenades.

“Left side, go!” Ghost ordered and all of them immediately rolled to the left just as they heard the sounds of gunshots erupting.

“Hold your fire! Don’t shoot Desmond!” Graves shouted from the smoke as everyone skidded downward. Ghost unpinned one of his grenades and threw it back to the road. Velikan grabbed it in midair and dropped it to the floor as they jumped off, skidding towards them.

“She’s with us!” Ghost shouted as Soap and Alejandro aimed their gun at Velikan, “Run! We’ll lose them in the buildings!”

Ghost took point as they all begin to run just as the grenade finally exploded, keeping Graves and his men preoccupied for a few precious seconds.

Velikan threw their helmet off and took off their balaclava and Desmond blinked when he recognized the blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Galina!?” Desmond shouted.

He had only seen her once, back when he had still been healing.

He also remembered how she had been reporting to his father and how she had been friendly with Shaun and Rebecca.

“Hello, Desmond.” Galina nodded at him as they continued to run, her voice still holding that exaggerated low voice that Desmond was used to hearing from the supposed large man named Velikan. Her next words were spoken in her natural Russian accent as she informed him, “William Miles told me to tell you if Graves and Shepherd did betray us...”

He could hear his father’s voice echoing Galina’s next words.

“Remember your training. Secure the POE. And…”

“Stay alive.”

Chapter 14: Alone

Chapter Text

They ran as far as they could, away from Shadow Company and Graves, until they reached the middle of Las Almas, taking refuge on the third floor of an abandoned building.

Ghost had led the way and Desmond…

Desmond had an idea of how he was able to do such a thing.

He walked towards Ghost and grabbed his tactical vest, pulling the larger man towards him and making Soap raise his rifle at him with only just a hint of hesitation as he hissed, “Desmond!”

Desmond ignored Soap and ordered with a low growl, “Show me.”

Ghost leaned so close Desmond could feel his warm breath against his skin yet Desmond ignored it, focusing on Ghost’s brown eyes.

He blinked and his eyes turned gold.

Desmond pushed him away and took a few steps back while Ghost didn’t even have the courtesy to pretend that Desmond’s push had been strong enough to make him take a few steps of his own.

He simply stayed still as he blinked once more, hands on his rifles but keeping it pointed to the ground as he stared at Desmond with his usual brown eyes.

Desmond stared at Ghost for a moment before he recited, “Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember…”

“Nothing is true.” Ghost answered immediately.

“Where other men are limited, by morality or law, remember…”

“… Everything is permitted.”

Desmond stared at Ghost for a few seconds in total silence, his mind replaying all of his interactions with him since they had met.

The way Ghost always wore shades or something that would cover his eyes.

The way Ghost always had an idea of where the reds were when it should have been impossible.

How he handled Desmond like he was both someone who needed guidance and needed to be protected…

“Dad sent you.” Desmond realized with wide eyes, “You’re working for dad.”

“That would be her.” Ghost used his chin to point at Galina who had now finished taking off all of the bulky padded equipment and fatigues she had been wearing as Velikan. She gave Desmond a small smile as she casually waved at him before putting on the hood of her white hoodie. Ghost stared at Desmond as he continued, “Officially, I’m one of Shepherd’s ‘children’.”

At that, Alejandro aimed his rifle at Ghost, making Soap turn to aim his rifle at Alejandro as he hissed, “Don’t do anything stupid, Alejandro!”

“He just admitted to being one of Shepherd’s men!” Alejandro shouted as he kept his attention on the three Assassins, “I’m not letting any of you out of my sight until you explain to me what the f*ck is happening!”

Before anyone could say anything, they heard the sounds of gunshots. It was too far from their location for the shooter to see them using the Eagle Vision or equipment that uses maybe heat signatures but it was near enough that they could hear it.

“It’s starting,” Galina said with a solemn expression on her face.

“What’s happening?!” Alejandro demanded as he aimed his rifle at Galina.

“Shadow Company is taking out everyone who helped or turned a blind eye to the cartel activities here in Las Almas,” Desmond explained in a tired tone that had a hint of an Italian accent to it. Desmond rubbed his forehead as he said, “Goddamn it, Graves.”

“Graves isn’t the problem.” Ghost stated calmly, “He and Shadow Company are just doing what Shepherd ordered. It’s Shepherd we need to take out.”

“Forget Shepherd, we need to retrieve the POE and leave this place,” Galina argued just as calmly.

“I’m not leaving! This is my home!” Alejandro shouted.

“Oh, you can stay all you want.” Galina said to him, “But the three of us don’t have the time or the necessary equipment to take down all of Shadow Company.”

“We shouldn’t.” Galina stressed as she turned to Desmond and suggested, “They’re not evil, Desmond. Shepherd’s using them. We need to get the POE and Hastings and Crane and leave. They’ll leave Las Almas once we have the POE and we can contact the council to take care of Shepherd.”

“The council will do jack-sh*t.” Ghost argued as he turned to face Galina, “All the reports I sent about Shepherd and Shadow Company’s questionable actions didn’t make them do anything. This is no different.”

Ghost turned to look at Desmond as he suggested, “The council will not do anything against Shepherd. He’s too valuable to the Brotherhood alive. We need to take him out ourselves then ask forgiveness from the council afterward.”

“Shepherd’s with the POE anyway so, even if our objective is to get the POE and leave, we still need to take him down.” Ghost argued calmly.

“What the f*ck are you talking about?!” Soap shouted, making Ghost turn to face him, “Leave?! Take out Shepherd?! Our priority should be to help Alejandro stop Shadow Company! If they’re really killing anyone who helped or turned a blind eye to the cartels then what they’re doing is a war crime!”

Ghost stared at him for a brief moment before he said in an almost quieter tone, “This is our way, Johnny.”

“And who the hell are you?!” Alejandro demanded.

“We’re Assassins.” Desmond finally spoke, turning to face Alejandro and Soap as he explained, “The three of us… Shepherd… Graves… all of Shadow Company. We’re all Assassins.”

“So you were hired-”

“Not that kind of assassin.” Desmond cut Alejandro’s question off and explained, “We…”

Jesus Christ.

How was he supposed to explain to the two of them the whole Templar versus Assassins thing in such a short amount of time?

“Don’t, Desmond.” Ghost said quietly and Desmond stared at him as he reminded him, “Remember the first tenet.”

“That got thrown out of the f*cking fifty-floor window the moment Shepherd and Graves made me choose between them and you guys.” Desmond dryly reminded him back before saying, “And they deserve to know the truth.”

Desmond waved his hand over the small window in the room they were hiding in as he said, “Considering what’s happening right now.”

Ghost stared at him quietly but didn’t say anything else which Desmond was going to take as his way to silently agree with Desmond but inform him that he didn’t like this one bit.

“On the other hand…” Desmond turned to look at both Alejandro and Soap as he admitted, “We really don’t have time to tell you everything so I guess… Uh… Remember the games Abstergo made? About the Assassins and the Templars?”

“Yeah…” Soap replied with a slightly confused nod.

“The main premise is the same, only the Templars want total control of the world even if it means destroying mankind’s free will while the Assassins want to protect mankind’s free will.” Desmond summarized.

From the tired sigh from Ghost and Galina’s snort…

He had summarized it quite poorly.

“Are you f*cking with us right now?” Alejandro asked with an expression that seemed to be both confused and angry at the same time.

“Well, it’s not like I can condense around 800 years’ worth of history in a few sentences, can I?” Desmond said with a pout before sighing as he rubbed the back of his neck, absolutely ignoring the whole 'Hidden One' thing that he just found out after his resurrection because, yeah, Desmond was still trying to process that part, “The important thing is the Templars are backing Abstergo and that’s why we’re-”

Desmond paused as he remembered Berg’s final words.

Oh, that motherf*cker.

Desmond turned to face Ghost and Galina as he asked, “Ghost, Galina. Shaun and Rebecca told me Shadow Company worked for Abstergo. How long ago?”

“During the first few years of their founding.” Ghost reported, “Shepherd’s orders. It was the best way to make sure Abstergo doesn’t realize Shadow Company and Shepherd had any connections with the Brotherhood.”

“So Shepherd also had dealings with Abstergo.” Desmond interpreted from Ghost’s words.

Ghost was quiet for a moment before he answered, “I never found any conclusive evidence that Shepherd had double-crossed us.”

“And that was your real mission…” Desmond’s eyes widened as he realized why Ghost had said ‘officially’ when he explained his association with Shepherd, “The council ordered you to find dirt on Shepherd.”

“To keep an eye on him.” Ghost clarified, “Shepherd’s not been himself since the Great Purge and he had been keeping to himself ever since 2012. My mission was to keep an eye on him and, if necessary, take him down if he had turned rogue.”

“The council…” Ghost paused for a brief moment before he corrected himself, “We never thought he would join the Templars.”

“I’m pretty sure he pretended to join them and double-crossed them just now.” Desmond explained with a tired sigh, “Oh, f*ck. This is why he wants Hassan dead. He and Hassan were working together. Hassan was a loose end.”

Desmond paused and stared at Ghost as he asked, “Did you kill Hassan on his orders?”

“No.” Ghost replied immediately. He glanced at Soap before he explained, “It was either him or the Sergeant. I made my choice as Ghost, not as a member of the Brotherhood.”

Well.

That sounded complicated all of a sudden.

“Okay then.” Desmond nodded, “I trust you.”

“You shouldn’t.” Ghost warned.

“Yeah, I probably shouldn’t.” Desmond agreed before turning to look at Alejandro and Soap, “The important thing we all need to know is that Shepherd is doing this without our approval and we want to stop him.”

And get the POE before the US government or Abstergo could get their hands on it but he wasn’t going to tell Alejandro and Soap that.

“So we need to make a plan.” Desmond continued, “Our objective should be to stop Shepherd. We stop him, Shadow Company stops as well.”

“We need to save my men.” Alejandro reminded them as both he and Soap finally lowered their rifles.

“And mine as well.” Desmond answered although it felt wrong calling Shaun and Rebecca his ‘men’. It seemed… insufficient to how important the two of them were to him.

“It seems to me that you’re calling the shots for your group, Desmond.” Soap said, glancing at Ghost before asking, “So what’s the plan?”

“They’re looking for me.” Desmond stated plainly before continuing, “And they have… the ability to find me if they get too close. And…”

“Shepherd’s not going to wait for too long to find me. Not when people out there could find out what’s happening here in Las Almas any time soon.” Desmond explained calmly, “So, before Shepherd does something drastic, we need to hit him.”

“My men-”

“I meant me and my fellow Assassins.” Desmond cut Alejandro off, “Shadow Company and Shepherd would be focused on me. During that time, you and Soap need to rescue your men and…”

Desmond turned to look at Ghost as he said, “Dad and the council need to know that Shepherd’s planning to do something dumb.”

“And what dumb thing are they planning to do?” Soap asked with a slight bite to the way he said the word ‘dumb’.

Okay.

Desmond probably deserved that sass.

“I can answer that.” Galina said as she placed both of her hands on the front pockets of her hoodie, “I was able to get some info off Shadow Company’s database thanks to Shaun and Rebecca. The POE, the one they call Soma?”

“Its real name seems to be Horus’ Lotus.” Galina explained, glancing at Alejandro and Soap for a moment before continuing, “It was meant to absorb the solar flare and turn it into a weapon that… its user can use to strike down… humans who don’t know their ‘place’.”

Oh, f*ck.

It was meant to kill the revolting humans after the catastrophe. Desmond would like to say he never expected the Isus to be that much of an asshole race but, really, it sounded more and more like Minerva was the outcast.

“It can only absorb a fraction of the solar flare, not enough to save the ones who created it but…”

“Wait.” Desmond frowned as he realized, “Are you saying that it absorbed some of the solar flare back in 2012.”

“No.” Galina shook his head, “If Rebecca and Shaun are correct, the POE’s energy reserves came from the solar flare that wiped out the Isus. It laid dormant until… two years ago.”

Two years ago.

The year Layla died to save the world from another catastrophe.

Desmond froze as he remembered.

Was it a memory?

Or was it something else?

A warning from someone in the Gray?

Or did he hear it from the Isu reborn as a human that had taken the name of Basim?

Back in one of the earliest days of his resurrection, when everything felt shrouded in mist and his confusion was dulled by sleep.

All he knew was that…

Whatever happens, no matter how much they struggle…

“Another catastrophe recurs. The node collapses, and the world is wiped out. The human race dwindles, and fade.”

That was the inevitability of the future of the world.

That…

Was what Minerva had warned him in his dreams.

And now… he knew the next catastrophe set by the calculations for the node of time to correct itself.

A catastrophe made by a man out for blood.

“Shaun believes that whatever Layla did, it turned on the POE. Made it possible for Abstergo to find it using its energy signature.” Galina continued to explain and Desmond didn’t bother to correct her.

To explain that it wasn’t Layla’s fault.

It was simply the f*cking calculations correcting themselves.

Desmond’s hands balled into fists.

Correcting itself into a future where Desmond Miles lived and humanity paid the price.

“And that’s how Shepherd learned of the POE.” Galina continued before pausing. She turned to look at Desmond as she said, “There’s more…”

“There’s always more.” Desmond dryly noted with a wry smile.

“Shepherd had an email correspondence with Sofia Rikkin.” Galina explained as her expression darkened, “Abstergo doesn’t want to use the POE. They want to study it and harness the energy stored in the POE but Shepherd is telling her… he’s telling the higher-ups in the Templar Order to use it.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Soap raised his hand slightly as he turned his attention to Ghost, “I thought Shepherd’s gone rogue. Graves definitely sounded like he wants to hit Abstergo.”

“Shepherd wouldn’t-” Ghost paused and looked at the floor for a few seconds before he turned to face Desmond as he said, “Unless he plans to target the locations of the council members…”

“Take out the council that he believes are a disgrace to the cause.” Ghost continued, his usually calm voice showing a hint of urgency, “And take over as the new mentor of the Assassins.”

“That’s not what Graves believe would happen.” Galina reminded him and nodded at Soap, “Just like Soap said, Graves and Shadow Company believed the plan is to use the POE to strike Abstergo.”

“Then his emails to Rikkin don’t make sense too.” Ghost argued as he turned to face Galina.

“It doesn’t matter what Shepherd’s plan is.” Desmond cut them all off before they started to go in circles, “Shepherd must not use the POE at all cost. We’ll find out what his plans are once we deal with him.”

Galina and Ghost nodded at him and Desmond turned to face Soap and Alejandro once more, “You two focus on finding Alejandro’s men and saving them. I’ll deal with Shepherd.”

“Do you have an idea where they could be detaining my men?” Alejandro asked with a grim expression, eyes focused on Galina instead of Desmond.

“I have a few ideas,” Galina replied.

Desmond turned to look back at Galina and said, “Good. Give the list to Ghost and Ghost-”

“I’m staying with you.” Ghost cut him off, “Galina will join Soap and Alejandro. Her Eagle Vision will be of help to them.”

“You also have an Eagle Vision.” Desmond retorted, frowning at him.

He had assumed that Ghost would want to stay with Soap, maybe try to mend this fraying bridge the two of them were holding on to that was about to snap thanks to Ghost’s true allegiance.

“And I’m the one the council listens to.” Ghost reminded him, “Galina’s one of William Miles’ Assassin. They won’t trust her words once we all clean up this clusterf*ck.”

Ghost leaned close and whispered to Desmond’s ear, “Just like they won’t trust you.”

Desmond’s face hardened and Ghost took a step back before continuing, “You need me as your witness, Desmond.”

Unfortunately, Ghost was right.

He did need him.

He needed the council on his side after Shepherd has been dealt with.

“Fine.” Desmond nodded grimly, “Ghost, you’re with me. Galina…”

Desmond turned to face Galina, “You’re with Soap and Alejandro. Help them in any way you can.”

“Got it.” Galina nodded.

“And… if you can… warn the Assassins.” Desmond ordered, “Tell them Shepherd’s gone rogue and he’s using Shadow Company.”

“That will be hard considering Shadow Company placed jamming signals all over Las Almas.” Galina commented before saying, “But I’ll see what I can do.”

Desmond nodded at her before turning to face Alejandro and Soap once more, “We’ll find Shepherd and take him out.”

“We’ll join you once we save Alejandro’s men.” Soap said, “And find a way to tell Price about this.”

Desmond simply nodded.

The truth was…

The plan was to kill Shepherd, take over command of Shadow Company, if possible, and retreat with the POE before Alejandro and Soap could join up with them.

The POE simply complicated things and he didn’t want to risk Alejandro or Soap having to raise their weapons at them to complete their mission of retrieving the POE for their joint task force.

Even if Shepherd had gone rogue, that only meant that the current leader of their joint mission was Laswell who was part of the CIA.

No.

It would be too risky.

Desmond needed Galina to help them but also stall them.

“Galina.” Desmond stepped closer to Galina and stated, “The POE must not fall into anyone’s hands, understand? Do what you need to do to help our friends without endangering the POE.”

“I understand.” Galina nodded, lips curving into a smile as she placed both of her hands on Desmond’s cheeks, much to Desmond’s surprise, “Relax, Desmond. I will keep our dear military friends safe and find our friends.”

“I will see you soon.” Galina held both of Desmond’s hands as she kissed both of his cheeks briefly before letting go, “Happy hunting, Desmond.”

Galina began to walk towards the door that would lead them out of the empty room they were hiding in. Alejandro stared at Ghost and Desmond for a few seconds before nodding as he said, “We’ll see you two soon. Don’t do anything too stupid.”

Desmond’s lips curved into a small smile as he noticed the worry that Alejandro tried to hide in his tone even though he knew that the colonel wasn’t entirely on board with this plan and whatever trust he had with Ghost and Desmond had been destroyed because of the truth of who they were. Still, Desmond tried to sound just as he always had been whenever he spoke to Alejandro as he said in Spanish, “We’ll try our best, brother.”

Alejandro didn’t reply and simply gave them a curt nod before following Galina.

Soap stayed quiet for a few seconds longer than Alejandro as he stared at Desmond. Desmond tried to smile at him but Soap didn’t react, instead turning to face Ghost. His lips opened but no words came out.

Whatever he wanted to say, he didn’t say it.

Instead, he turned around and began to walk away as he said, “See you on the other side.”

Desmond wasn’t even sure if he said it to both of them or to Ghost only.

“Johnny.”

Soap stopped just as he was about to reach the open doorway where Galina and Alejandro were waiting on the other side.

“Once this is all over…” Ghost turned his back towards Soap as he said, “I’ll tell you everything.”

Soap was quiet for a few moments before he replied in a forced cheerful tone, “Guess we both have a reason to stay alive then, huh.”

“Sure,” Ghost said nonchalantly.

Soap was quiet for a moment before he said, “It’s a promise then… Simon.”

Desmond turned around and tried to give them some semblance of privacy even though it would be useless. He heard Soap's footsteps walking away from them and waited for a few seconds of total silence before he flipped open the small piece of paper that Galina had slipped him when she held his hands.

It felt like he couldn't breathe when he read what was written.

"Hassan was looking for your mother. She's the inmate they're looking for in the Gulag. Don't worry. Your dad is there to help get her out."

Chapter 15: Loose Ends

Chapter Text

“So, what’s the plan?” Ghost asked as he stared outside the only window in the room they were hiding in.

Desmond stared at the ACR in his hands and took a deep breath. He had no other info, so trying to worry about his mom would be useless and quite dangerous right now.

Yeah.

He would deal with that entire thing later once the POE was secured and Shepherd was taken care of. He kept his attention on his ACR as he asked calmly, “Know which of them has an Eagle Vision?”

“Shepherd has one. Can use it longer than most people…” Ghost glanced at him before adding, “Excluding you, of course.”

Desmond chuckled as he replied, “Thanks.”

“I’m not sure if the rest of Shadow Company can use it, but I’m sure Graves can use it for at least a minute.” Ghost continued, “If any of them can use it, they’ll have to stay still to keep it active.”

Desmond nodded, the earliest version of the Eagle Vision then. The bare minimum that the Levantine Brotherhood allowed before any of their recruits could be initiated into the rank of a novice.

That probably also meant that their range was only as far as their eyes could see, maybe even shorter than that.

Good.

“I need a viewpoint,” Desmond said as he placed the ACR on the floor. He began to take off his tactical vest as he continued, “Somewhere tall. We need to find the POE, and Graves specifically said that it was on its way to Shepherd’s location, which meant it’s still on the move.”

Ghost nodded before replying as he watched Desmond put the tactical vest on the floor as well, “There’s a church nearby. It’ll be high enough for you.”

Desmond nodded and walked towards Ghost as he said, “Yeah, church is a good bet.”

Ghost glanced at the equipment that Desmond had taken off before turning to stare at him as he said, “I’d advise against going out without protection.”

“Advise…” Desmond repeated with a grin on his face as he pulled the hood of his black hooded jacket on, “No more telling me what to do? Or trying to negotiate?”

“Can’t exactly be rude to one of a higher ranking than me.” Ghost dryly stated as he took out his sidearm and offered it to Desmond, “Here. It’s light, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Desmond stared at the sidearm Ghost had offered even though he already has his own before staring at Ghost as he said, “I’m not officially a mentor, you know that, right?”

“Considering the circ*mstances and experience between the two of us, you’re obviously of higher ranking.” Ghost argued before dryly stating, “Take the f*ckin’ gun, Desmond, or I’ll start calling you sir.”

“Alright, alright.” Desmond grabbed the gun while chuckling and looked it over for a brief second before putting it between his back and the waistband of his pants, inadvertently hiding it underneath his jacket. Desmond pulled the hem of his jacket once before nodding at Ghost as he said, “Let’s go.”

“Rules of engagement?” Ghost asked.

Desmond paused for a moment before stating, “Do not engage unless it’s the final option. Attack to subdue, not to kill.”

Ghost stared at Desmond for a moment before he stated, “Graves and his men aren’t innocent, Desmond. They’re following Shepherd’s orders, even after knowing what it means.”

“I know that,” Desmond replied as he looked outside.

He could still hear the sounds of screams and gunshots.

But…

They were still Assassins.

And they were trying to emulate how Ezio and the Italian Brotherhood used to operate in Rome during Borgia rule in their own misguided vengeance thirsty way.

In some way, Desmond felt a responsibility for how they were acting.

If they could be… reasoned with…

If they stayed true to the core of their Creed, to only take the lives of those who did ally themselves or helped the cartels…

Maybe…

Just maybe…

Desmond could help them.

“Engage to subdue, Ghost,” Desmond repeated his orders as he stared at the larger man.

Ghost stared back at him for a second before bowing his head ever so slightly, “As you command, mentor.”

“Not a mentor.” Desmond’s lips curved into a grin as he said, “So we told Soap and the others that we’ll be making a distraction, right?”

“Becoming decoys might be more accurate, but a distraction would be better if we don’t want Shadow Company to know our location.” Ghost commented with a nod.

“Good! ‘Cause you promised me fireworks.”

Ghost’s tone was a tad lighter than normal as he replied, “I did, didn’t I?”

Their fireworks came in the form of the C4 that Ghost had on hand together with all the grenades, flash bangs, and all the ammo Desmond’s ACR had, in addition to the bulky equipment and firepower Galina had while pretending to be a member of Shadow Company.

It was a beautiful, unnecessarily loud, and dangerous display.

A perfect funeral for Desmond’s most beloved/hated ACR.

They watched the explosion as far away as the range of the C4 detonator could give them. It would fail as a distraction if they were too close to the explosion that Shadow Company would find them after all.

“We should go,” Desmond said as he turned to face the direction of the church. Noticing Ghost was staring at him, he tilted his head in his direction as he asked, “What?”

“No ‘requiescat in pace’ for your poor neglected ACR?” Ghost dryly asked, making Desmond frown at him.

“‘Requiescat in pace’ isn’t some line we just throw at everything. It’s meant to show how we honor the life we just took. That, regardless of the crimes and atrocity they have committed in their lives, they still deserve to have a peaceful death.” Desmond explained patiently before snarking, “This is what happens when you guys play those Animus games.”

“I only played the Devils of the Caribbean.” Ghost dryly stated before he began to walk away, making Desmond follow him with wide eyes.

“You’re joking, right?” Desmond asked, unable to hide the way his voice had turned a pitch higher, “Please tell me you didn’t skip my ancestors!”

“Edward Kenway is also your ancestor.” Ghost reminded him.

“That’s different!”

The church was eerily quiet.

To be completely honest, Desmond had expected the church to become some sort of refuge for the people of Las Almas, filled with scared adults and kids.

But he supposed the people of Las Almas were too scared to even get out of their homes.

The good news was that this meant that they were able to reach the left spire of the church without any problems.

Although…

“It’s kinda annoying how you can be so fast even when you’re wearing so much stuff.” Desmond groaned.

“Military training.” Ghost dryly stated, and Desmond wasn’t even sure if he was kidding or not.

Ghost took position by the roof of the spire, using his sniper rifle to provide cover and keep watch as Desmond climbed to the very top. As he reached the top, he crouched and opened his arms to help keep his balance. Desmond took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. He opened his eyes as he slowly breathed out, letting the world be shrouded in gray.

He kept perfectly still and ignored the pain in his eyes and the aching of his head as he widened the range of his Eagle Vision.

Things became more complicated once Desmond got the lay of the land.

Shadow Company was sweeping each street and taking no prisoners. The light redness of the people they killed did not make Desmond feel any joy or relief.

It was brutal, but they weren’t killing innocents.

Desmond knew he could do nothing but ignore it. He had to.

There was no other way to it.

It was more important to take out Shepherd. Without Shepherd, Graves and the rest of Shadow Company could be reasoned with.

Or so he hoped.

The next problem came with the positions of their ‘targets’.

The POE was actually further than Desmond had expected, in the villa where they had apprehended Valeria. It was stationary, which meant Shepherd was there.

Probably.

The POE was glowing blue so brightly that it was engulfing everything around it.

There was no way for Desmond to know how many people were near it and if Shepherd was even there.

Shaun and Rebecca, on the other hand, were detained in Alejandro’s base.

The same base that Alejandro and Soap were planning to infiltrate together with Galina.

That meant that Desmond had to focus on the POE and trust Galina to save Rebecca and Shaun.

Las Almas was shrouded in many hues of blues, some brighter than others. It was hard for him to differentiate any of them.

Not when he couldn’t be sure what kind of hue Shepherd was now in his Eagle Vision.

If he was even still blue…

His best guess was that Shepherd’s form had been engulfed in the bright glow of the POE.

All that was left was to return to the villa and find out the truth.

It was risky, but they decided that they needed a vehicle if they wanted to reach the villa as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, they found a nearby pickup truck with lights on. They used the information Desmond gathered from his Eagle Vision to plot a safe-ish route for them to take and, just as a precaution…

They set fire to the church they had been in after Desmond was sure no one was truly inside.

That should get Shadow Company’s attention.

As Ghost drove them out of Las Almas, using the cover of the night and the general chaos and confusion of the suddenly burning church, Desmond wouldn’t help but relax in his seat next to Ghost. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to ride out the stinging of his eyes. He took a few deep breaths before he said, “You don’t have to come with me, you know. You can get off as soon as my eyes stop hating me and let me drive to the villa alone.”

“Is now really the time we should be having this conversation?” Ghost asked with a tired sigh that only made Desmond chuckle.

It would be easy to say that he was trying to distract himself from the pain of his eyes and the slight headache he now had.

But that would be a lie.

To be completely honest, Desmond knew they shouldn’t be having this conversation like this at all.

Desmond was so used to working alone, so used to the memories of his Bleeds working alone, that having Ghost with him made him both…

Off-kiltered and…

Happy may be the nearest word he could use for what he was feeling right now.

Maybe that was why it had been easy for him to care for Soap and Alejandro.

Why it had been easy for him to get attached to Graves and Shadow Company…

Knowing someone was there, with him on the field, risking everything just like him…

It was a dangerous thing.

Harboring such trust for people that could easily kill him.

“I’d understand if you want to help Soap.” Desmond said instead, “I’ll deal with whatever bullsh*t the council comes up with after this is all over.”

Ghost remained quiet for a few seconds, and Desmond wondered if he was thinking about his offer.

“Making sure you have a witness to back you up when the council comes knocking isn’t the only reason why I’m here.” Ghost finally said, and Desmond couldn’t help the way his heart began to beat just a little faster as he finally opened his eyes, so he could turn his head to look at Ghost.

“Oh?”

“As far as we know, you’re the only person who can operate the POE.” Ghost said solemnly as he drove them to one of the smaller alleyways of Las Almas to evade a patrol that Desmond had seen back in the church, “Normally, I would advise that you retreat and let us take care of everything. That would be the safest option.”

Desmond couldn’t help but agree with that. He had ignored it after all when his own mind thought about it.

“But you’re… you.” Ghost said vaguely as he kept his focus on the road ahead, his eyes glowing gold, so he could see the road clearly even without the headlights on, “If we tell you to leave, you won’t. Not when Hastings and Crane are in danger. Not when Graves and his men are dirtying the name of the great Ezio Auditore.”

The snark present when Ghost said Ezio’s name was unnecessary, but Desmond remained silent.

“And… you are the best.” There was no flattery or sarcasm in his words. He was simply stating the facts and Desmond wasn’t sure how to feel about that, “And you have the highest chance of taking out Shepherd and recovering the POE among the three of us.”

“So this is the best alternative. I’ll provide support any way I can and if things go FUBAR……” Ghost finally turned to stare at Desmond as he said, “I’ll kill you before Shepherd gets his hands on you.”

Desmond felt no surprise.

He felt no betrayal.

Instead…

He smiled as he said, “Thanks, Ghost.”

Ghost turned his attention to the road as he blinked, his eyes losing their golden glow.

Three minutes.

That was how long Ghost could keep his Eagle Vision activated.

It was enough, though, as they were now in the part of Las Almas that was lit enough for them to drive through without turning on their headlights.

“The final reason why I’m staying is because…” Ghost paused for a moment and Desmond couldn’t help but focus on him, curiosity filling him at the slight hesitance in his voice, “Desmond, I…”

Desmond didn’t hear what Ghost had to say.

As an armored truck crashed into the rear right side of their truck.

Desmond’s head hit the frame of the passenger’s side door.

And everything went black.

“Desmond! Wake up, Desmond!”

Ghost’s voice sounded muffled, almost inaudible against the loud ringing of Desmond’s ears.

He opened his eyes and groaned.

Something was wrong.

sh*t.

His head was spinning.

Where was he?

The truck.

They were hit.

He could hear the gunshots nearby. The sounds of the bullets hitting or ricocheting off the truck.

The truck that was now toppled on its side.

Desmond’s neck hurt like hell and his headache was threatening to split his head while his eyes continued to sting, making him unable to do anything but groan as he slowly unbuckled his seatbelt. He fell on the door and tried to make his way out of the truck using the open driver’s seat but stopped when Ghost ordered, “Stay down!”

Desmond crouched just as bullets began to hit the door on the driver's side. Ghost took cover against the windshield, and he shouted over the hail of bullets, “I’ll shoot! Kick it off!”

Desmond was confused by those words and instinctively ducked when Ghost aimed his rifle at him. Ghost shot above him, adding more cracks to the windshield.

“Kick it off, Desmond!” Ghost shouted before he began to blindly fire over their cover. Desmond pressed his back against the passenger’s seat before kicking the windshield with both of his feet. He bent his knees once more and kicked again, making the windshield crack and creak.

Two more kicks and the windshield finally fell out, breaking into smaller pieces into the ground and away from Desmond.

Ghost quickly let go of his rifle, making it dangle behind him thanks to its strap, and stood right on top of the broken windshield, grabbing Desmond’s arms as he shouted just so he could be heard over the rain of bullets, “I’ve got you, Desmond, hang on to me!”

Desmond would have done so even without his permission, as his legs gave out underneath him. Desmond was pretty sure they were banged up from the crash and his little kicking session didn’t help.

Ghost quickly dragged him out of the truck and placed his arm over his shoulder, so Desmond could lean against him.

“Take your gun, Desmond. Shoot anything you see moving ahead of us. They're trying to shoot us to keep us from moving, not to kill us… or their aim has gone to sh*t.” Ghost grunted as he pressed the both of them against the truck. Desmond took out his USP.45 and let out a breathless chuckle when he heard Ghost snark, “Bet you’re wishing you have a rifle right now.”

“We’ll make our way to the forest to lose them.” Ghost said, “Just straight ahead. Okay, Desmond?”

Desmond grunted, and they began to make their way towards the forest with Ghost blindly firing behind them without even looking.

Desmond stumbled as his headache only worsened by the close proximity of such loud noise.

“Desmond, hang in there!” Ghost shouted over the sound of bullets all around them as he pulled Desmond closer to him, “We’re almost there!”

Desmond let out a gasp as it felt like he was suddenly pushed back at the same time a painful burning sensation penetrated his abdomen.

“Desmond!”

Ghost caught him as he fell back and Desmond let go of his gun as Ghost cradled him in his arms. He could only let out gasps as his hands touched his abdomen.

Wet.

Pain.

Oh.

He’d been shot.

There was an almost distant clarity to that thought and Desmond wondered if he was going into shock.

“Desmond, stay with me! We’re almost there!” Ghost shouted as he pulled Desmond to his feet.

“Ghost…” Desmond grabbed Ghost’s tactical vest and pulled him close. His breath hitched at the pain of just a simple movement, but he persisted and gritted his teeth as he whispered, “Don’t let them use me.”

His body wasn’t working.

He wouldn’t be able to run.

Not anymore.

He was a liability.

They were going to get caught.

Desmond’s lips curved into a small soft smile as he whispered, “Kill me.”

Ghost froze, and they stared at one another for just a brief second.

Before he felt Ghost’s hand rest gently on his neck as he whispered, “Desmond…”

Desmond’s eyes widened when Ghost was suddenly pushed away from him just as another loud gunshot rang in front of them. They both landed on their backs near one another with Ghost’s head turned away from Desmond.

Desmond’s breathing grew shallower and more frantic as he tried to reach out to Ghost’s hand, “Ghost… Ghost…”

He barely saw the one who shot both of them walking calmly out of the forest they had planned to hide in.

He almost reached Ghost’s outstretched fingers when a shadow loomed over him, the telltale golden glow of the Eagle Vision bringing no comfort to Desmond. Desmond raised his head as his vision began to darken.

He barely heard him say…

“It didn’t have to end this way, son.”

Before Desmond lost consciousness.

Chapter 16: Second Sun

Chapter Text

“Are you sure about this?”

The voice was unfamiliar to Desmond, deep with a strange accent that Desmond could not place, some of the words sounded like they had been said with an American accent but other words sounded more British than American.

Yet, his lips moved as he answered, “Yes.”

The darkness was replaced by a sudden flash of light before he found himself in some kind of office with a view of a beautiful river on one side. He felt a large dog lick his hand and he patted the dog’s head, his mind telling him that it was a German Shepherd.

The man who spoke, wizened with neat white hair and clad in all whites, continued to stare at the river below them with his hands behind his back.

“Very well.” The man spoke and turned around, “I will inform William and Gavin of your choice. William will not like this.”

“Good thing he’s not the one becoming a soldier then.” Desmond snarked, making the man chuckle.

The man turned back around and said, “I will still expect great things from you as one of my acolytes.”

“I will not let the Brotherhood down,” Desmond replied with a slight bow.

The man sighed before admitting wistfully, “This does mean you can no longer succeed me. I will have to look for someone else to be my successor.”

“I’m guessing Bill and Gavin are out of the running then?” Desmond asked dryly.

“Gavin will never accept the position unless he believes there is no other choice.” The older man commented without looking away from the view outside, “And he believes that you and William are more qualified than him.”

“And Bill?” Desmond asked even though a part of him already knew the answer to that question.

Something inside him already knew the answer to that question…

The older man was quiet for a moment before he said, “A year ago, I would have answered that William has what it takes to take my place. But…”

“But?” Desmond prompted when the older man became silent for a few beats.

“I have heard rumors of how he treats his son.” Desmond could see the older man close his eyes through the reflection of the window, “Even I am not privy to what happens on his Farm but this concerns an innocent. I will have to look into this.”

“Just let me know if I need to kick his ass,” Desmond replied with a smirk.

The older man chuckled and turned to face him. A warmth began to spread all over Desmond’s chest when he saw the gentle fond smile on the older man’s face, “You focus on your newborn son. Let me handle William.”

“Yes, mentor.” Desmond bowed, and he could feel a painful throbbing in his head as those words left his lips.

“You’re dismissed.” The older man…

A mentor…

No.

Desmond had never met him in person before, but he knew…

This man was the mentor, the one who kept the Brotherhood unified and strong until…

“Safety and peace, mentor,” Desmond said with another slight bow.

“Upon you as well, my child.” The mentor said back and Desmond left the room, closing the door behind him. He took one step further and the walls of the hallway he found himself in began to glitch around him.

Desmond groaned.

He knew what this meant.

He knew something was wrong.

“Hershel.”

Desmond froze.

It had been years, so many years, since he last heard her voice.

But he still remembered it.

He still remembered how loud she had shouted as she begged him to come home.

He turned and the hallway began to glitch even further, his throat becoming tight as he saw her, younger than he remembered and clad in a white hood very similar to the one he had been wearing when he had been kidnapped by Abstergo all those years ago.

Their eyes met and Desmond felt like his breath was taken away from him.

He remembered how so many people back on the Farm had told him he had his mother’s eyes yet, seeing them once again.

He saw no warmth in her light brown eyes.

His lips moved but did not make any sound, staring at the woman in front of him for a moment before asking, “What name are you going by nowadays, again?”

“MacMillan.” the woman stated in a monotone voice, “Suzette MacMillan.”

“Ah, yes.” Desmond nodded before asking, “Irish?”

“Scottish, you bloody bawbag.” The woman replied, her accent changing from the usual one that Desmond had grown used to hearing since he was a child to a Scottish one that sounded so natural that Desmond actually forgot for a second that she wasn’t actually Scottish.

As far as Desmond knew…

“Well, have fun with your illustrious career in SAS then.” Desmond snarked before taking a step to the side, giving a dramatic bow to her as she started to walk past him to enter the room he had just been in.

He grabbed her arm just as she passed him, a firm grip that wasn’t meant to hurt but was meant to keep her still.

She turned to glare at him and Desmond’s heart skipped a beat when he saw so much similarity between her current expression to the one Altaïr would make whenever he was annoyed that his chest began to ache.

“Rumors have been circulating of how your ‘husband’ had been treating your son,” Desmond whispered.

“Our son is doing well.” She said calmly and shook his grip on her arm off, “Perhaps it would be better if you focus on your own family, Hershel.”

“And perhaps it would be better if you find the time to visit your son one of these days and actually try to act like a goddamn mother.” Desmond growled back, “Just because your marriage with Bill was arranged by crazy old Dezmund-”

His words died out as he felt her left hand cup the side of his neck.

Her hand was cold.

As cold as the blade that could easily pierce his neck with just a simple flick of her wrist.

Her expression was as blank as a porcelain doll yet her voice carried a warning that made the hair on the back of his neck rise, “Do not insult my father.”

“Will you truly strike down a brother for telling the truth?” Desmond challenged.

“I will do what the Brotherhood requires of me.” She replied as she slowly dropped her hand before opening the door.

Just as she walked inside, Desmond snarked, “Safety and peace, Macmillan.”

The cold monotone way she replied only made Desmond angry, “Upon you as well, Hershel.”

The moment the door closed, the entire hallway fell apart, almost as if the glitching had started to consume it.

Desmond’s head began to throb once more as…

“No! Hershel! Don’t!”

“Let me go, Gavin! I have to save them! I have to-”

“It’s too late! Shepherd, we need to go! Abstergo is still around here!”

“No! I have to-”

Desmond could feel a sting on his cheek, a sudden pain that left him surprised.

“Hershel.”

Warm hands on his shoulders…

A kind voice Desmond had never heard from William Miles before…

“There is nothing left there, Hershel. The fire… it’s…”

“I’m sorry, my friend, but your wife and son are dead.”

Tears began to fall from his eyes even though he knew he never cried.

No.

He knew that the owner of all these memories never cried.

“Where’s your wife?” Desmond asked with a blank expression on his face.

“Back on the Farm,” Bill answered as he stood next to them, both of them watching as more and more names were added to the screen in front of them.

An obituary.

It was a f*cking obituary.

“Her SAS cover wasn’t blown, right?” Desmond asked in the same monotone voice.

“No. She’s been given an honorable discharge.” Bill answered, “Took a bullet to the leg, but she’ll recover.”

“Taking a break from the field then?”

Bill was quiet for a moment before he replied, “No. We both agreed she would stay on the Farm… to… keep it safe.”

“You mean to keep your son safe.”

Bill was quiet for a moment and he hated his silence.

Because he knew…

Bill was keeping quiet because he didn’t want to admit it took the death of so many of their allies and friends for the two of them to finally realize just how important it was to keep their son safe.

While he…

While his own son…

… was nothing more than a single line in the f*cking screen in front of him.

“What’s your name, son?”

“Don’t have one.”

“The orphanage should have given you a name even if your parents didn’t name you.”

“Don’t like the name they gave me.”

“Is that so? Would you like me to give you a name then?”

“Depends. What name you thinking?”

“Graves. Philip Graves.”

“Philip’s my dad’s name.”

“I know… We used to work together. We were… friends.”

“Is that why you’re taking me?”

“Yes. I’ll be taking care of children just like you, but I need all the help I can get. Will you help me, Philip? Help me build a new family for us all?”

“… okay.”

More memories passed him and the throbbing in his head became more painful the more memories he saw.

Raising the orphans of the Assassins who died during the Great Purge…

Memories of climbing the ranks of the US military…

Shady deals with Abstergo in the name of the US government…

Secretly funding Shadow Company’s founding…

Until finally…

He received a spot in the Templar Order’s Inner Sanctum, finally being inducted after the death of Isabelle Ardant.

No.

Not him.

Shepherd.

These were all Shepherd’s memories.

But how?

How was Desmond…

Desmond’s thoughts fell to nothingness as a new memory appeared before him. This memory was painful as if someone was trying to shove it too hard into him, forcing it to the very depth of Desmond’s mind that all he could think of were…

Coordinates.

They were coordinates of…

All known and secret locations of various government facilities and random locations?

No.

Hideouts.

What?

That was when he saw them.

The first few faces looked familiar…

Their names even more familiar…

The council members.

The Brotherhood’s council members…

Desmond couldn’t even process how he knew that. He had only seen them in passing and those locations…

Then came more faces.

More names.

Politicians…

Not just from the US but other countries…

The next faces were… members of different royal families all over the world.

… CEOs of companies that were on par or near Abstergo’s level.

Their names and their faces continue on and on until…

He heard it.

Orders received.

Calculating Anima targets.

Warning: current number of coordinates would completely deplete remaining 390% stored energy. Continue?

N-

Before Desmond could even form that thought, everything was covered in blinding golden light.

When Desmond opened his eyes once more, he was standing in front of a glowing golden tree.

“Desmond.”

Desmond turned to look to his right and Minerva was standing next to him once more.

“Don’t stop it.” Minerva said in an almost robotic way, “This must happen. A disaster must strike for the Calculations to finally stop forcing more and more tragedy to come to pass.”

“But…”

“Your role does not end here, Desmond.” Minerva stated, “You are not meant to sacrifice your life. Not again.”

“Let it happen, Desmond.” Minerva said, her tone becoming softer, “This time, let the world burn.”

“You are not meant to save the world…”

“You are meant to heal it.”

It was the heat that made Desmond open his eyes, taking a shuddering gasp that only made his abdomen ache painfully. He could feel the weight of something on his head.

A familiar weight.

He had used one of these blasted things to see just how f*cked up those games Abstergo had published were.

A portable Animus.

“‘morning.”

“f*ck you.” Desmond tried to say but his words barely made any sense in his ears.

He felt the Animus be removed from his head and he came face to face with Shepherd kneeling in front of him.

As he sat on the throne inside the POE.

That was now glowing, and he could feel the heat slowly rising all around them.

He felt Shepherd grab his hands and he was too weak to stop him.

Blood loss.

He was suffering from blood loss.

He groaned when Shepherd pressed both his hands on his abdomen and said gently, “Keep applying pressure. We only slowed down the bleeding by giving you first aid before getting you here.”

Was he supposed to be thankful for that?

When he knew the only reason why Shepherd didn’t outright kill him was because he needed Desmond to operate Horus’ Lotus.

And he had used the Animus to get Desmond to do just that.

Had him watch a few sets of memories for Desmond to sync to his memories just enough that he could finally make Desmond ‘think’ of the list of targets.

The targets…

“This thing…” Desmond took a deep breath before continuing, “We can’t do this, Shepherd. Horus’ Lotus plans to bombard them and there’s nothing any military weapon can do to stop the pillars. It won’t just be the targets-”

“Good.” Shepherd stood and took out a cigar as he said, “The more collateral there is, the better. ”

Desmond glared at him as he shouted, ignoring the pain in his abdomen, “There are innocent people in those places! People who won’t even know about the Assassins and the Templars! Why…”

Desmond stared at him as he asked, “Why are you targeting them and not Abstergo?”

“I was never going to target Abstergo,” Shepherd said calmly, crouching down and pressing the end of his cigar into the floor. There was a slight sizzling sound as the heat of the floor served to light his cigar, “I've even tipped Abstergo off that Shadow Company is planning to target their facilities. By now, they would be evacuating their facilities and allies. Including the ones near those sites.”

“What are you…”

“Think, son!” Shepherd shouted as he stood and his next words could barely contain his rage, “Destroying Abstergo directly will only serve to bring them sympathy. For them to gain more power and support.”

“But striking government sites filled with their allies and useless men and women who don’t use their power properly?” Shepherd pointed his cigar at the lone laptop that was on the table just outside of the POE where Desmond could see an email that was scheduled to be sent with the title “From the ashes, a new world shall emerge - may the Father of Understanding guide us”.

Desmond’s eyes widened.

“That’s right.” Shepherd nodded as he turned to face Desmond once more, taking a drag of his cigar before continuing, “That email will be sent to every news outlet and journalists I know. They’d know that the man who activated this WMD is me.”

“Hershel Shepherd, Lieutenant General and member of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order.” Shepherd’s lips curved into a smirk as he added, “Made sure to target Abstergo’s competition too. Not that it was hard to target them anyway. Greedy men and women willing to destroy the lives of the innocents for profit.”

“They’ll learn about the Templars…” Desmond grunted as he started to realize what Shepherd had planned, “… The Templars’ connection with Abstergo…”

“And that will destroy Abstergo.” Shepherd added and took another drag of his cigar, “And will turn the people…”

Shepherd shook his head slightly before correcting himself, “… the whole world against the Templars!”

“And you, Desmond…” Shepherd crouched once more and stared at Desmond as he said, “Will play your part.”

“If you survive, you will tell them I was a Templar. That everything I've done, I've done for the Templar cause. I manipulated Shadow Company, used their trauma and grief to turn them into my personal army.” Shepherd said the words that Desmond had feared to hear, “Without the council to tie them down… the remaining Assassins would finally be able to act!”

“You’re risking the lives of other Assassins!”

“No.” Shepherd shook his head as he informed Desmond, “All council members isolated themselves since the Isu Loki was released into the world.”

“To ensure that the Isu will not find them and take them down.” Shepherd sneered before shouting angrily, “Cowards! All of them! They couldn’t even punish William Miles properly, just stripping him of his mentor rank!”

“He’s the reason why I’m alive.” Desmond reminded him and was about to remind him how the memories he showed Desmond made him feel like Shepherd once thought of William Miles as a close friend but Shepherd cut him off.

“That is the only good thing William Miles had done since the Great Purge. You are a miracle, Desmond. The missing piece that I’ve been searching for.” Shepherd stood once more and opened his arms as he announced, “I will be the Al Mualim to your Altaïr and you will take your proper place as the rightful mentor! You will lead the Brotherhood back to its former glory!”

“You're insane.” Desmond grunted.

“I lost so many in the Great Purge, Desmond.” Shepherd stated and Desmond tried not to recall the memories he had seen that had come from Shepherd himself, “People I loved, people I cared about…”

“I am not insane. I am doing what must be done to save the Brotherhood.” Shepherd announced and Desmond could only feel dread as it was clear in his tone that he truly did believe the words he was saying.

“To avenge the dead.” There was a slight crack in his voice when he said ‘dead’ but his next words were filled with conviction, “To protect the world.”

“And… if you die here…” Shepherd crouched in front of Desmond once more and took a drag of his cigar as he looked at Desmond’s bleeding abdomen, “Well, all the better.”

“Yeah, well, f*ck you too, asshole.” Desmond gritted even as his vision started to become blurry.

Shepherd simply chuckled and shook his head as if Desmond was acting like a child before he said, “If you die here, you will be heralded as a martyr. Your death will push the Assassins to act once more, to avenge your death. And now they will have the support of 141 with them.”

It took a moment before Desmond could process his words, eyes widening as he realized, “That's… that's why you got me to 141? To get them to like me enough to ally with the Assassins?”

“Price and his men are one of the best. My previous plan was to sacrifice Ghost instead.” At those words, grief threatened to overcome Desmond, but he couldn’t even hold on to it as Shepherd’s next words only served to make him angry, “Let Mactavish learn of his allegiance to the Brotherhood… Let his anger fuel him and make him and the rest of 141 easy pickings for the Brotherhood to recruit them but this is even better.”

“If you die, 141 will not stop until they learn the truth of your death.” Shepherd turned to look at the laptop once more as he continued, “The truth about this world.”

“Shadow Company is good, I made sure of that.” Shepherd continued as he turned to look back at Desmond, “But 141? 141 is the best task force I’ve ever seen. With them on our side, they will lead the charge in a world where the Assassins do not know the proper know-how or have the right equipment to win.”

“Of course, my children… Shadow Company… will do their part as well.” Shepherd was starting to breathe faster and Desmond couldn’t blame him. The temperature of the POE had been rising the entire time, and it won’t be long before it reached the right temperature.

The temperature of the sun.

“My betrayal will save Shadow Company's reputation, and they will work even harder to right my 'wrongs'. They will be the true shadows of the Brotherhood.” Shepherd announced louder than he needed to and Desmond wondered if the heat was finally getting to him.

It was definitely getting to Desmond.

He could feel it.

He could feel his mind already ready to slip away, to try and ignore the incoming pain that he had already felt all those years before when he died to save the world from the Solar Flare.

“And they will be loyal to you. To make up for their mistakes and to earn your forgiveness and approval.” Desmond’s vision was darkening too much that he could barely see Shepherd kneel in front of him, could barely feel his hands on top of Desmond’s as he said gently, “I’ll leave them in your care, Desmond.”

Desmond let out a grunt, and he wasn’t even sure if Shepherd heard him as he continued, “Because I’m sure you’ll live through this. You survived the Solar Flare, you will survive this as well. Just like a co*ckroach.”

“f*ck y…” Desmond’s last word only came out as a long growl.

“Remember, tell them I'm a Templar. All of these, I did for the Templar cause.”

Desmond’s eyes finally closed, but he was sure he heard Shepherd say…

“See you on the other side, Roach.”

Desmond remembered the scorching heat that had enveloped his entire body when he first died. He remembered how it felt to be burned from the inside out.

He was sure that was not what happened when Horus’ Lotus activated.

He felt something cool erupt from the throne he was sitting on, enveloping him.

It made sense, Desmond supposed.

Killing off the user of the POE was a huge drawback that no Isu would make the mistake of making.

But everywhere else…

It all burned.

The entire room, Shepherd…

Everything was engulfed in the burning white light that pierced the sky.

Desmond knew he lost consciousness before all of these though. He was sure of that.

So he wasn’t sure if he knew all of these because of his connection to Horus’ Lotus or if it’s connected to that dream he kept having about that golden tree and Minerva.

What he was sure of…

… was the smell of antiseptic.

Desmond really hoped he wasn’t in some kind of military base again because, at this point, he wouldn’t be surprised if his cover had blown to a gigantic sh*t storm thanks to Shepherd.

Still, nothing was going to happen if he pretended to be unconscious.

Might as well face the music…

When he finally opened his eyes, he was greeted by a familiar ceiling.

Oh, f*ck.

Desmond looked around, seeing nothing but an empty white room.

He was back.

In the same room he had woken in when they resurrected him.

Did… did he die?

Did they resurrect him again using a DNA sample from his corpse back in Las Almas?

Did they find another one of those Isu devices that Loki had given them before in exchange for their cooperation?

Desmond slowly sat up, grunting when he felt the piercing pain coming from his abdomen. He looked down and lifted the simple large white shirt that he was wearing, brows furrowing when he noticed the clean bandages wrapped around his abdomen.

The same place he had been shot.

If he had been resurrected, he shouldn’t have had this kind of wound.

Then that meant…

The door to the room opened and an unfamiliar man walked inside, wearing a black hoodie and a pair of comfortable-looking jeans. He walked towards Desmond and stood on Desmond’s left side. This close Desmond could see his brown eyes.

His familiar brown eyes.

“Ghost…” Desmond called out even though his throat was so dry speaking actually hurt.

Ghost took out a bottle of water from the pockets of his hoodie and twisted the cap off. He leaned closer and placed a hand on Desmond’s back as he pressed the bottle to his lips, “Drink slowly.”

Desmond was pretty sure that he could drink on his own, but he let Ghost guide him as he tipped the bottle slowly. Desmond drank instinctively, his entire attention focused on the scar on the left side of Ghost's forehead, a noticeable red that Desmond couldn’t help but touch with his fingers. Ghost grabbed his wrist just as the pad of his fingers grazed the raised skin.

“Sorry…” Desmond whispered as Ghost pulled the bottle away from his lips. Their position was quite awkward, with Ghost having wrapped his arm around Desmond so he could grab his wrist, but he was warm.

Desmond pressed his head on Ghost’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

He was alive.

That was enough.

“Desmond…”

The way Ghost had said his name…

The softness that he never remembered hearing him from before…

And the apologetic way he spoke…

Desmond knew that it was time for him to be Desmond Miles once more.

He took a deep breath before opening his eyes once more, making sure to keep his expression blank as he pulled away from Ghost. Ghost let him go and stood straight, waiting for Desmond to raise his head to look at him as he ordered, “Tell me.”

Everything went as Shepherd had planned. The email he sent and the manifesto they found in his home had pointed to him being a Templar who had done everything to further the Templar cause.

Abstergo’s connection to the Templar Order has been brought to light and, with it, the many atrocities that had been swept under the rug had also been pulled from the depths.

Horus’ Lotus had killed millions, many of which had been high-ranking members of the government and royal families all over the world. The fact that Abstergo had evacuated many of its facilities beforehand also came to light.

What remains of the government of each country had banded together in the face of such a devastating tragedy, trying to rebuild and heal from the attack.

All the while calling for Abstergo’s blood.

Desmond had awoken three months after being saved by…

Well…

It was complicated as f*ck, that was for sure.

Apparently, Graves and Shadow Company had received the same email Shepherd sent to the news outlets that showed his ‘real’ allegiance. Graves had ordered Shadow Company to go to Valeria’s villa where Shepherd had taken Desmond, and they got there at the same time that Soap and Alejandro had together with Galina, Rebecca, Shaun and the rest of Alejandro’s men.

When they got to Desmond, the POE was no longer active and Shepherd’s burnt corpse was lying a few feet in front of the throne where Desmond had been bleeding out.

It would have been a bloodbath.

Had Price and Gaz not come in…

Together with Desmond’s parents.

And this was where the story sorta got weird.

Apparently, Price knew Desmond’s mom from his time in SAS, and he trusted her enough that he agreed that Desmond would be taken in together with Shadow Company back to the Brotherhood. Desmond was pretty sure Price just got a crash course of what the Assassins were at that point and that helped make his decision to ‘trust’ Desmond’s mom.

Ghost, who was being treated by Shadow Company in a separate location by Graves’ orders was taken as well since… well…

Ghost had shown where his allegiance stood as well.

And now…

“Graves and Shadow Company are in the front lines.” Ghost continued his explanation, “The entire world is fighting the Templars but the Templars have many allies in very… strategic places.”

“A losing war…” Desmond noted in a monotone voice.

“A lot of military bases and facilities were hit by Horus’ Lotus.” Ghost clarified, “We believe the Templars are just waiting for the world to understand that they can’t win this war. Shadow Company is pushing back and many military forces have taken action, sending special task forces like 141 and Delta Force-”

“Ghost…” Desmond stopped him and stared at his brown eyes as he asked, “What have the Assassins been doing?”

“Waiting.” Ghost answered, “For you to wake up.”

“Why?” Desmond asked blankly.

“Officially? As you were with Shepherd until the end, you know the truth.” Ghost answered calmly, “Unofficially?”

“With the death of all the council members, the Assassins are split between two opposing factions: William Miles and Captain… I mean… Suzette MacMillan.” Ghost answered, making Desmond freeze, “ Miles wants us to remain in the shadows, to stay out of all of these. MacMillan wants us to join with 141 and to lead the charge against Abstergo while Shadow Company provide support and act as our main decoy. Miles isn’t supported by a lot of Assassins especially after MacMillan argued that Shepherd was only able to betray us because Miles and the Council did nothing even after I sent all those reports.”

“Majority of the Assassins are in the fence on who to support…” Ghost paused for a moment before he stated, “And most of us decided to wait for you to wake up…”

“Why?”

“… We…” Ghost paused for a moment before he said, “… The only compromise both MacMillan and Miles’ factions agreed on is to appoint you as the new mentor.”

Hearing those words…

Desmond finally realized…

This was what Minerva had meant when she said he was meant to heal the world.

Desmond gripped the sheet over his lap as he realized.

Shepherd had won and now…

“Desmond…”

It was up to him to decide…

Will the Brotherhood remained in the darkness and let the world destroy itself?

Or…

Was the time for them to stay in the shadows finally over?

Was it time for the Brotherhood to step into the light once more?

“What should we do now?”