A/N: Sorry it took a while to update, I had two exams on the SAME DAY. And it's not even finals week yet!
Waiting for William to respond was the hardest thing Shaun had ever done. Everything in him was screaming to just fuck the others, and go to Abstergo Industries. Even with those things crawling around and not even sure if Desmond was alive... Shaun squeezed his eyes closed.
Desmond was alive, he had to be. The man was an idiot half the time, but he was good at what he did, not to mention having two lifetimes worth of skill cramped into him, there was no way he was dead.
It took at least 20 minutes before he finally got an answer. It wasn't one he liked.
"What do you mean we have to wait for someone higher up to approve! We just lost a bunch of people and are about to lose anothe-"
"Hastings, we can't just send out more people and have them get killed by... whatever that was. And what's more, whatever you sent me..."
"What, you think I bloody photoshopped it or something! You fucking bastard, you sent out this team to their death, and you're just going to sit there and wait?"
"..."
Shaun grunted in frustration, spinning before getting off his chair. Gripping his phone in a death grip, he tried to get himself together. He knew William did not want to leave Desmond behind. The reason why wasn't something Shaun liked, that being that Desmond was needed for future Animus use, but the reason was big enough that the higher ups would give in.
Taking a deep breath, he continued trying to convince William to fuck approval. "William... I don't like you, and you don't like me, but please just..."
"Hastings... we don't have many people I can send out. I have about five assassins I can send out-"
"Is that counting me and Becca?"
"...I need you two-"
"Fuck that!"
Shaun jumped at that and turned around to find Becca standing there, looking fired up and pissed as hell.
"I have no idea what's going on but if something happened to Desmond, there's no way we're leaving him behind. We already lost Lucy..." She paused for a moment, and Shaun felt his chest ache at the thought. "We are not going to let Desmond die too."
The fact that William was not responding was proof that he had heard Becca yelling. Shaun had never been so glad for Becca being such a loud mouth in his life.
"There you go." Shaun continued before William said anything else. "Seven people, maybe eight if you come along. All we have to do is plan this out better. Bring guns this time, have a way out of the bloody building-"
"I know... can you get to Abstergo Industries on your own?"
"We'll be there!" Becca shouted as she took off to gather supplies. "Better hurry up, old man, we're going in there with or without you!"
"We'll be there." Shaun hung up before William changed his mind. Becca was right though, they would go in that building with or without their help.
–
William and the other assassins got there before Shaun and Becca, and were setting up in the parking lot. There were less than five assassins, but Shaun had expected that. William had always been a shady bastard, always thought of people as expendable and never wanted to bend to other people's opinions. But that didn't matter now, what mattered was that at least he HAD brought others and he did bring guns and supplies, and was planning out alternative ways out of the building. Shaun was confident that things be okay.
Before going in the building, William made Shaun explain what had happened, like he had actually been there... Shaun had lost reception for 30 minutes. The last thing he heard was a female assassin teasing/flirting with Desmond, who was embarrassed by this, and the others were laughing at the two. Shaun was teasing Desmond about it as well, which was probably why the other man had become so nervous, and before Shaun got the chance to tell Desmond that he should go for it, the connection went out. It came back with Desmond panting and swearing in a panic and... well, Shaun never got the chance to ask Desmond if he knew what happened.
"So he sent out the pictures, and was attacked by one of those things. He took off running but lost his headset on the way. He didn't say anything about those things, and I'm certain that he did not know anything anyway. He was demanding answers."
"Any questions for Hastings?"
The others looked at each other before gathering around the laptop again, wainting to see what they were going up against.
"What the fuck is that thing?"
"Shit... fuck...fuck."
"Heheh, is that what all Templars look like now? It's hot."
"It looks like your girlfriend, Tim."
"Hey fuck you!"
"Enough!" William snapped. All of them stopped talking and looked at the man, suddenly all professional like. Becca was still looking at the pictures, head turning again and again, trying to understand what she was seeing, before finally giving up.
"Okay, well, whatever it is, we're going to have to kick its ass-"
"There's more than one Becca."
"-and get Desmond out of there. And then we blow up the building!"
"..."
"Or not?"
While William looked unhappy at the lack or order, the others looked more relaxed at Becca's outburst, and Shaun couldn't blame them. He had been near a panic attack earlier, but now he felt more like they could do this.
And they would.