"The end of an era" –Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad

Desmond sat down, perched atop at the remanent of the Statue of Liberty, clutching his wound; the sun was obscured by the thick smoke from burning wrecks that stretched beyond what the eye could see. The Assassin looked across the vast expanse of what was New York City, it was in ruins. Desmond was in no greater condition, his armour was breached, his left shoulder dislocated, a gaping wound below his left ribs and third degree burns on his left arm.

Bruce and a group of Hybrid Assassin's soon joined the Grand Master. The Assassin's instantly formed a protective circle around their Mentor while Bruce tended to Desmond's wounds.

"Are you ready to go, they'll be back soon Desmond," said Bruce urgently.

"Give me a moment," Desmond inhaled and finally exhaled, "the end of an era."

"We did our best Desmond, but our allies were cut down before we could help them," said Bruce sadly.

"Though more would have died if we hadn't allowed them the chance to leave," Desmond said softly, "Humanity came crashing down, but not of its own doing. Long have the Templars questioned me what would happen when humanity fell, some said that I would stand proudly and say that 'I stayed true to the Creed' when humanity went to ash. Yet it was the Creed that allowed others to endure, other species."

Bruce was becoming concerned; Desmond must be on the verge of death to be rambling on like this. The Grand Master eyes began to blink rapidly, his posture began to sway.

"Desmond, hang in there, we'll get you out," Urged Bruce

Desmond smiled softly.

"Remember Lucy, remember that promise you made to her?"

Desmond nodded.

"Rally the remaining Assassin's and head to the Grand Temple."

The Assassin's activated a homing beacon, and minutes later a V22 Osprey MkII touched down on the charred island, the doors opened and Desmond was rushed aboard.

Bruce sat next to his friend and distant relative as the Osprey took off. He remembered the sacrifices given by those who remained. When the attack first came, Humanity took the brunt of it, billions died on the first day of the attack, and finally all that remained were soldiers and few civilians, and up until the last day, the Assassins sent the remanent of humanity with the Amazon and Justice League to safety. Humanity would continue, but it had indeed fallen. The Assassins stayed on Earth to delay the enemy, and they had succeeded in doing. Bruce wondered what the next moves of the Assassin Order were, it would probably be an all-out attack to remove humanity's greatest threat.

XXxxXX

Elsewhere…

Clark could help stop the flow of tears, his strength had failed humanity, and a short few volunteered to stay behind. Clark would have been honoured to have died fighting with the Assassin rearguard, but Bruce didn't allow it. The former Dark Knight had dragged the Kryptonian away from the battlefield when he was incapacitated by Kryptonite, and sent him with the Assassin escort, to The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary had been offered as a safe haven to the Amazons and what was left of humanity, by Greek Gods. Clark was grateful for them, truly.

John Stewart, Warhawk and Terry came by to see how the Man of Steel was holding up.

"How you doing big guy?" asked GL.

"I've had better days," said Superman trying to brighten the mood.

Terry just smiled sadly.

"Your Dad's a hero Terry," said Warhawk, placing a hand on Terry's shoulder.

"I know, but there's no going back to Earth now, is there?"

"No," said John softly.

The air of defeat still hung greatly. In the distance, the screams of the wounded were still heard. Amazons were frantically rushing to help injured soldiers and civilians. Normal the Amazons would have stayed away, but after the great sacrifices humanity had given in protecting Themyscira and fighting alongside the Amazons, they were compelled to help.

XXxxXX

The Sanctuary…

Diana felt like she had betrayed her friends by running away. Her mother had ordered her to return to Themyscira to aid with the evacuation, Diana refused to abandon the World of Men, but Hippolyta had convinced her to go, "Fight another day," she said. The Princess rubbed her temples, soon the evacuees will arrive and they would figure out their next steps.

The first of ships landed softly on the docks, the walking wounded were the first to move out. The soldier's clothes were stained with the blood of their own or their brother's in arms. Next were the severely wounded, being rolled out by Amazons and the uninjured. Diana felt a pang of pain in her heart; these were people who fought while she ran. Finally it was the surviving Justice League members. All in all, there were ten million humans left. But as she looked around, she couldn't find Bruce or Desmond anywhere, infact, there were very few Assassins at the Sanctuary.

She quickly grabbed the attention of a Hybrid Master Assassin.

"Hi there," she began, "I am…"

"Princess Diana or Wonder Woman," finished the Assassin, "I am Phillip Eldrin, how can I be of service?"

"Yes, do you know where Bruce Wayne and Desmond are?" she asked.

"The Mentor and his Apprentice stayed behind on Earth with the rest of our Order to delay the enemy advance so we could escape through the portal," he answered.

Diana promptly left and ran to a secluded area of the beach. There she began to cry.

"Oh Hera, Bruce, I'm so sorry."

XXxxXX

One year earlier…

Diana was watching the news at her penthouse located in New York; it was currently covering the story on a major business deal going on between Wayne Enterprises and Abstergo Industries. There was a lot of attention focused on Bruce Wayne as he was helped out of the car by his son. Behind them was Abstergo's CEO, Desmond Miles. Diana watched as the bodyguards formed a protective circle around the three men.

But in a short moment, every all went to hell.

The Bodyguard standing to Bruce's left collapsed in an instant, spraying blood over nearby camera crews. The Bodyguards began to react, each moving to bring the men to safety while the crowd began to scatter. Yet the Bodyguards were too late, blood began to flood out of the bullet hole in Bruce's chest as the old man fell onto the concrete. Desmond Miles was then pulled away by the remaining guards, it was a stroke of good timing to as a bullet just grazed his forehead, had he not moved it would have slammed into his temple and topple him over.

Wonder Woman saw all of this on television, the shock of watching her old friend die was numbing, but soon her sense came back, she had to go help Bruce. But she couldn't, Wally was blocking her way.

"Dee, you can't go,"

"Why can't I?" she said, her voice hoarse.

"Not in your current condition, what would the world think of you if they see you like this because of old bats?"

"I don't care," she hissed as tears ran down her cheek.

"You might drop the hint that Bruce was bats once, what happens then?"

Wally was indeed very wise when he was playing pranks. Diana broke down uncontrollably as Wally held her. All of the Amazon's bottled up emotions about Bruce just broke out instantly. She cried until no tears flowed, she cried as breaking news interrupted the world. She cried as Wally calmed her down in vain. She cried until the sun set and night touched her balcony.

"I never really told him how I felt," she said, "even though he pushed me away after he left the league, those feelings were still there. I thought we could've been together when he retired."

"He kept to himself to long, I doubt anything would have brought back the guy."

"I could've helped him, things could've been different."

XXxxXX

A/N: New territory of writing for me, I'll see if I can do better in a rewrite which will be released in a year… or two. I'm starting college soon (not a big jump, I'll still be at the same school).