"Apparently, we have a traitor among us."

Numerous gasps and hysterical 'what's filled the cramped space of the van as it raced down the lonely line of the Interstate. All eyes that could go to Shaun as he typed away on his laptop did. Rebecca stared at him in her position next to the Animus before she scrambled to get back to tending to it as Desmond deactivated his Memory Sequence and sat up from the red velvet. Rebecca shook her head, lips tightening as she shut off the animus. Lucy was in the front of the van, driving.

"What do you mean traitor, Shaun?" the blond woman questioned, eyes narrowing as she continued to follow the road north. She was on the lookout for a particular exit. The other three were crammed in the back, but Shaun unseated himself and squeezed his way to the passenger seat up front. He set the drives originally in the seat on the floor before sitting himself awkwardly and slipped on the seat belt, laptop resting on his thighs.

"Not exactly a traitor, per se, at least not against us. I did a little search through Desmond's files from when you two were still with Abstergo. It seems that there are some tidbits you might have missed. It's quite intriguing really," Shaun glanced up briefly from his laptop, "Take this next Exit. There's a gas station not far off the road--I can show you there right quick while we fill up the tank."

"That's a risky move, Shaun. It'll have to be quick," Lucy sighed as she signaled upon the coming exit and wandered to the right and slowing down as they came upon a light and a fork in the road. "It won't take a few seconds. All of you should see this. I don't think it can wait, quite honestly. There might be something we can reap from this after all." Shaun began typing furiously, searching through one of the Templar databases ripped from one of Abstergo's stolen files, courtesy of Rebecca. "I'll do some quick searches on this woman... see if maybe she has a descendant..."

"Woman? What woman? Is it Maria?" Desmond turned in his position on the Animus next to Rebecca. He hadn't met any women other than Maria during his time with Altair, except the few beggars in the streets that at first asked for coin he didn't have, then assaulted him with rocks once he took to the rooftops. He had felt awful for them, yet began to loathe them overtime.

"No, no," Shaun shook his head, voice quiet and trailing off, "...A crusader? Very interesting indeed. Abstergo doesn't have much on her, but she has an entry at the very least and a brief history leading up to the events of the nine's assassinations. But it doesn't go much further than that..."

"Ooh, let me see!" Rebecca stood as best she could, hunched over and looking over Shaun's shoulder at his laptop screen. "What's the file number? Maybe I can find something in Subject 16's Memory Core!" She cheerfully sat back down, opening up her laptop as well. Desmond glanced between the two of them.

"File Code 309134538," Shaun relayed.

As Rebecca and Shaun made their searches, Lucy pulled the van up into the gas station. It was old and rinky-dink, but had cheap prices, which lightened Lucy's spirit, if only a little. As Lucy got out to fill up the van, Desmond slid himself off the Animus and opened one of the van's back doors, getting out and stretching his legs, "Ah!"

Lucy looked over at Desmond as she prepped the nozzle and smiled at him, "Desmond." The man looked over at her as he stretched out a bit and popped his knuckles. She nodded her head to bring him over, and he followed her lead. "How are you?" she asked.

"Uh--I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Desmond replied, smiling back.

"Just... long drive. All these things that are happening... It's scary. What if they're waiting for us there? They shouldn't be, it's left in secrecy. Our base was practically out in the open. Just, all this... You know?" Her smile faded as she looked back at the small screen that displayed rising gallon and price numbers.

"I know what you mean. But don't worry. Things will be alright. Weren't you there when you beat up all of Vidic's guys? We'll be fine," he said, trying to assure her. In reality, he was frightened too. But from what he learned from being with Altair and Ezio, it was that acting upon fears brought nothing. "It's... it's okay to be scared. We just can't let that impede us," Desmond said, scooting his shoe a little.

Lucy looked up at Desmond, surprised at his words. She shouldn't have been, really, now that she thought about it, eyes glancing own at nothing in particular. She looked back up at him with a smile, "Thanks, Desmond."

"Excuse me, but are you two finished? I has us stop for a reason!" Shaun called from the van before he got out as well, followed by Rebecca. He set his laptop down on the hood of the van as everyone else crowded around him, "Look. Here."

He displayed a moving file of Altair, running along the rooftops of Acre. The city's alarm had gone off, and Altair was fleeing the scene of his crime against the Teutonic Order. Behind him was a woman, facing the docks with a bow and arrow at the ready. She didn't seem to be turning to follow or attack him.

"Who is that?" Lucy squinted her eyes.

"I don't remember seeing her... at all," Desmond shook his head before looking back at the screen.

Shaun glanced at the other man, brows furrowed, though not through complete annoyance, "There are plenty of reasons for not quite remembering, Desmond. Perhaps the Memory Sequences you activated at Abstergo did not include her, and in this instance, you were in such a hurry to get away that you completely missed her."

"I don't remember seeing her either," Lucy said as she studied the screen.

"How long did the periods of these events last? It could have been months at the very least. Don't forget we just saw 23 years of Ezio's life," Shaun said quietly. "But we don't know anything from this one file. All we can do right now is assume. Look at the way she has her back turned to Altair. It's as if she's... No..."

"Subject 16 doesn't say anything about her, except that he mentions a numberless captive of the Templars. A prisoner, not like Lucy and Desmond and Subject 16, but like a criminal-type prisoner..." Rebecca piped.

"This doesn't seem right," Shaun said, "There is no indication that she was ever a Templar."

"Let's get going. I'll go in and pay so we can get out of here. Rebecca, see if you can find some sort of number or code or something--anything, for this prisoner." Lucy said as she removed the gas nozzle from the van after it clicked. She headed inside as the other three scrambled back into the van.

Lucy made it quick to go in, grab some food and drinks, pay and get out to the van. The clerk paid little comment to her, and had the goods stuffed into a couple of sacks. Lucy set the bags between the two front seats, but not out of reach of Rebecca and Desmond. "How much longer until we get there?" Desmond asked as he sat back onto the Animus, more for sitting purposes rather than getting back to Ezio.

"Still a ways, but we can use this time to look up on this traitor and hopefully recover the whereabouts of her descendant... if they're still alive. If Subject 16 mentioned this prisoner, then they could already be dead," Lucy said as she fastened her seat belt and started the van, "I got food and drinks here if anyone needs it."

"Alright!" Rebecca grabbed a bottle and opened it, balancing her laptop in her lap as she took a drink. As she screwed the cap back on and set it down on her feet, she studied the screen, listening to dialogue and reading notes, searching for some sort of code, or anything else that would give some kind of clue to this prisoner. "...It looks like the Templars kept this person in what used to be an old warehouse. But there was a fire and the Templars abandoned it. No word on the prisoner though... Probably died in the fire."

"Well that's helpful," Shaun sighed.

"Wait, wait. The warehouse is off on an old road along our route. Maybe we can check it out, just in case?" Rebecca looked over at Lucy.

Lucy sighed, not wanting to take another damn detour for someone who might not even be alive anymore.

"I don't see any reason why the Templars would be there anymore, or choose to return. It's probably less energy draining for them to just create a new base somewhere more convenient than to repair and renovate an older one. Let's take a look anyway. we could probably find something useful, person or otherwise." Shaun nodded.

Lucy was silent for a while glaring hard at the road ahead of her. She had just gotten back on the interstate and she didn't want to get off again. She gave a deep sigh before giving in, "Fine. We'll go check this out. But that's it. No more sidetracks or distractions. Got it?"

"No worries," Shaun said.

"Which exit is it Rebecca?" Lucy asked.

"Um... Exit 493. Should be a little ways ahead. But the road isn't too long. The warehouse isn't all that secluded," the other girl said.

"And if I recall, that area isn't too populated either. Seems a little too convenient," Shaun muttered.

"For both parties at least," Lucy said, "Let's just relax a bit until we get there."

"Let us know when you need to switch out, Lucy. You've been driving us for a while. If you need a break just give us the word," Desmond piped from the back. Lucy smiled as she kept driving, "No problem."