Assassin's creed
Hello everyone. I'm terribly sorry for the extended leave of absence on Fanfiction. it was not my intention to be away for so long. but I am back and with some new idea. I know I normally leave the Author notes for the end but there is something I want to address ahead of time here in the beginning before you start reading so everyone is informed ahead of time.
This Story will undergoing a title change. it has come to my attention and has been pointed out that the title no longer fits the story too well. keep in mind the original title was set before the story was set in stone like it is now. but the story has changed from the original idea so I need to change it. Anyway I will change the title to 'Comrades in Arms' from here on out guys. just so everyone is on the same page.
Alright well with that said I will see you at the end of the chapter!
Assassins Creed
Another storm had rolled in during the night, the pounding rain slowing to a calm and steady patter against the tin roof of the bureau and against the windowpanes of the main store room. The passing storm choked out the sun, resulting in darkness falling over the Bureau, which pleased the four assassins training inside the main storage room. The darkness as perfect for their current war game, which focused on stealth. There were two teams, Desmond and Altair against Kadar and Ezio. Desmond was perched atop a light, eyes flicking across the warehouse, searching for the faintest hint of a shadow moving in the darkness.
The score, as far as he knew, was currently tied. Desmond and Altair had managed to hit a few killing blows while Ezio and Kadar had managed to score several glancing and serious injury shots, making up for the difference in points. There was movement in the darkness, across the warehouse on the beams near him. Eagle vision wasn't allowed, seeing as Kadar didn't have the ability, so Desmond wasn't sure if the shadow had been his ally or his enemy. But he was pretty sure it wasn't Altair. The Syrian had said he was sticking to the ground. With that in mind Desmond tracked the shadow till it perched on a beam to oversee the warehouse.
With a wicked smile Desmond stood on the light he had been using as a perch and was about to jump to a beam when he felt a small brush of air against the back of his neck. His body twisted instinctively, one hand snaking forwards, smacking the wrist that held the gun upward. The paint gun discharged once, its round flying off harmlessly towards the ceiling. The American's other hand was already in motion, bringing the gun in his hand up and under his assailant's chin and letting loose a round into the soft skin there in a killing blow.
As it was only a paint ball, his assailant wasn't dead, only in pain, but that didn't stop him. A fist came flying at Desmond's head and smashed against his temple, making Desmond see stars. The blow left him reeling causing him to lose his footing on the light. He felt himself falling, but he snagged the lamp and swung toward where he knew the next beam was. As he swung the lamp went with him knocking the man who hit him off balance as the lamp swung with Desmond. The figure leapt off the lamp as Desmond let go of it and flew through the air towards the beam. The figure spun midair and aired a shot at Desmond, the shot rang out and pain blossomed across his shoulder blade. Catching ahold of the beam Desmond used the momentum to swing up and around the beam to land on his feet atop it and take off. The figured shadowed him and ran parallel to him on the beams.
Desmond reached into his pocket and pulled out two smoke pellets and threw them to where he figured the person's feet to be. The pellets exploded, and several curses followed a fit of coughing. HA! It was Ezio! Feeling victorious Desmond fired off one round into the smoke and heard Ezio curse again, falling to the ground. Well, that took care of one now he just had to...
Another presence made itself known behind him. Desmond threw himself forward as something slashed through the air. Kadar! Crap!
Desmond spun dropping his gun in favor of using his knife. A knife fight it was then. The two knives clashed in the darkness letting out little sparks when they connected. Kadar was pressing his advantage putting more force behind his attack, making Desmond stay on the defensive. A hidden blade glittered in the darkness and Desmond brought his own up to deflect it. They stayed like that for half a second, locked in a standstill waiting for the other to make the first move.
Ezio was suddenly back in the game when he swung his arm around Desmond neck and pulled him into a head lock. Desmond's hands clawed at Ezio's arm, trying to keep it from choking the life out of him. Kadar hit him hard in the stomach with a well-placed punch. They were teaming up against him. Where the hell was Altair?!
Ezio unexpectedly released him. He looked up, Kadar's arm which was already swinging forward to hit him again. Desmond jerked to the side and rammed his shoulder into Kadar's stomach forcing the other back several feet on the beam. Desmond stumbled back, gasping, and his back connected with a hard warm body. Altair. He had been the one who made Ezio release him.
They stood back to back on the beam, Altair facing Ezio on his side and Desmond facing Kadar on the other. This was it, a show down in the blackness. All four of them took in a collective breath, released it at the same time, and the second they did they launched at each other.
Kadar and Desmond launched into their fight, exchanging punches and kicks. Altair and Ezio danced with hidden blades, Ezio's two against Altair's one and his knife. Desmond punched his half-brother in the stomach before grabbing his head and bringing his knee up hard into his face.
But still the young Al'syaf wasn't down for the count yet. He surged up again, landing a strong upper cut to Desmond's chin, knocking his head back and his body backwards. Desmond stumbled back knocking into Altair. There was a half second pause between them, a silent conversation and agreement. Altair ducked down and Desmond swung over him and launched himself at Ezio, hidden blade ejecting as he did. This caught the Italian by surprise giving Desmond the upper hand. After a faint an attack with the hidden blade, Desmond landed a stinging blow to Ezio's stomach bringing the master assassin to his knees. Desmond followed it up by slamming his fist hard into Ezio's cheek, performing the exact same move Ezio had knocked him out with some time ago during their training session.
Out of the blue the bright lights came on in the warehouse blinding all four assassins on the beam. All of them winced in at the sudden onslaught of light. They turned towards where the light switch was, there in the doorway with his hand on the lights switch was Shaun.
"Oh, so that's where you four are," Shaun called across the warehouse. A shot ran out then and Shaun rocked back on his heels. When he gained his feet again a paint ball now colored his forehead.
"Real mature there Ezio!" Shaun yelled across the floor. Ezio snickered.
"Then next time don't interrupt us in the middle of a training session, idiota." Ezio snapped back.
"For the record I was told to retrieve you four by Malik! Also Desmond the Animus is up and running and if at all possible we would like to run some tests." Shaun informed him.
"We will be down in a minute Shaun. Tell Malik to just wait," Altair called back. Shaun nodded and walked away, disappearing into the office area of the Bureau. Desmond surveyed the damage they had done to each other. He had several large bruises and minor cuts across his body. Kadar was sporting several paintball hits, bruises, and a bloody nose with blood running down his face, chin and front of his shirt from Desmond's knee to the face. Altair and Ezio had many cuts on them as well as bruises, but nothing major. Each of them slowly made their way down from the beam to the bedrooms to get cleaned up.
Desmond brought up the rear of the group. To be perfectly honest he hadn't thought about the idea of going back into the animus since he had made his decision 2 month ago. But then again, everyone had been keeping busy in those two months leaving little room to think about anything else. Desmond, Altair, Ezio and Kadar's time was taken up with training sessions and several key assassination missions. Desmond, Ezio and Altair had assassinated Abu'l, a corrupt Templar mayor in a nearby town. Desmond also had had his first solo mission, which was to kill a Templar politician with dark intentions by the name of William. Kadar's determination mission with Altair had been to assassinate a Templar called Majd, a judge who loved the death penalty and was going to execute one of the Assassin Order's members. Kadar had his initiation ceremony during those two months. Then all 4 of them had been sent to deal with Jubair, a would be dictator who believed all books were evil. Ezio, Desmond and Altair had just recently returned from a mission to assassinate a Templar called Sibrand, a Templar that was the overseer of a shipping yard. With the word of his fellow Templars' death spreading like wild fire, the man had become paranoid and killed anyone he thought to be an assassin.
Shaun, Rebecca, and Lucy were all busy working on the computers and upgrading them to take on the Animus programming. That meant many late nights working on the software and building the machine itself. Malik had been overseeing the building and work behind the scenes, mostly because they were all still very wary of Lucy. Nobody trusted her anymore, even Shaun and Rebecca had come to Altair expressing their doubts about Lucy's loyalty to the Order.
So really there had been little time to think about having to return to the Animus, but now Desmond was facing it again. So after cleaning himself up, bandaging his wounds, and changing clothes, Desmond met everyone in the computer room. Altair was leaning against Malik's desk with a hard scowl set on his face. Desmond noted that Altair did have his actual hand gun in his pocket and his hidden blade and knife on his person should, god forbid, something for wrong while he was in the Animus.
Malik was sitting at the desk, his chin resting in his hand, his face a mirror of Altair's. Ezio was sitting backwards in a rolling chair he had commandeered from Lucy's desk. The Italian wasn't scowling but his face was eerily blank and he was sitting in a position where he could see if anyone was doing anything wrong. Kadar was sitting on the ground against Rebecca's desk, closest to the Animus. There he had a clear view of Animus itself and was ready to jump into action.
The fact they were all willing to jump anyone who tried to hurt him was touching, but honestly they were going just a bit overboard, and acting more or less like mother hens. But then again Desmond was grateful because really when he was in the Animus he had no idea what was happening in the outside world and had no way to defend himself should everything go south.
"Alright Desmond! You ready for this?" Rebecca asked from where she sat at her terminal.
"Ready as I ever will be, let's get started," Desmond replied, mentally steeling himself for what he knew was going to happen inside the animus.
"Now Desmond are you sure you want to do this? There is still time to back out. We can find someone else." Malik said.
Desmond shook his head.
"No I don't want to risk someone else being effected with the Bleeding Effect. Besides, after what those Templar bastards put me through I'm ready, willing and able," Desmond said, his voiced loaded with determination and resolve. Malik sighed in resignation, and settled into his chair.
"Right, well, its best we get straight to work Desmond, time is precious... doubly so these days," Shaun announced, but not before briefly flicking his eyes over to Lucy.
"I still don't like this," Ezio grumbled from his chair.
"You don't really have a choice in the matter, this was Desmond's decision and we should honor that," Lucy reprimanded without even looking up from her computer. Ezio glared daggers at the back of her head and flipped her off when she wasn't looking, causing Kadar to snicker.
"Lo ancora non mi piace questo. Giuro su Dio, se questa cagna cerca di fare di tutto per Desmond io ... (I still don't like this. I swear to god if this bitch tries to do anything to Desmond I'll...)" Ezio snarled under his breath knowing only Altair and Desmond could understand him.
"Ezio, watch it." Altair warned.
"Well ignoring Mr. Johnny Rain Cloud over there, Baby is set and ready go for you Des." Rebecca announced merrily.
"Baby? You mean the Animus?" Desmond asked.
"Actually I prefer Animus 2.0 since Baby is twice as awesome as anything you will find in Abstergo! The Templar's might have deeper pockets than us, but they've got no ambition, no compassion, no competitive edge. That's why, even with all their resources, anything they can do, I can do BETTER and faster too. Anyway take a seat, when you're ready we can get started." Rebecca explained in a slight sing song voice. Desmond couldn't help but laugh, it was good to see Rebecca so excited about something again. Anything technical or mechanical she loved and with this Animus she was like a kid in a candy store.
Desmond took a moment to look at the Animus he would be using. This one was dramatically different from the one he had used in Abstergo. This one had a chair like configuration as opposed to the table Animus they strapped him into. At the top where, on the table version a screen would appear, there was a device that looked like it would cradle his head and pad connected to different areas of his head to make him see the images of the memories. But it was the strange device on the arm of the chair like Animus that made him uneasy. It looked like one of those devices you found at stores that measured your blood pressure, but he reminded himself they needed some way to hook up to his vitals and make sure he didn't die.
Taking a breath, he sat down on the Animus and settled in. To be honest it was more comfortable than he first thought it would be, not that he was complaining. The red cushions built into it hugged his body and made him feel like he was sitting on a cloud.
"So… how does this work?" He asked. Rebecca stood up from her station with a small device that was connected to a wire. His eyes followed the wire till it disappeared into the computers at her station beside Kadar.
"Of course," he moaned.
"Deep breaths Desmond," Kadar reminded him as Rebecca snapped the device onto his finger. Something pricked his skin making him gasp in surprise.
"Oh what are you, a tiny child?" Shaun teased from his station across the room. Desmond stuck his tongue out at him in response.
"Shaun!" Rebecca yelled back at him. Shaun shrugged and turned back to his laptop.
"Well..." he mumbled. Rebecca turned back around and clicked the device that was round Desmond's head into place and walked back to her desk, out of Desmond's line of vision. The second the device touched the skin of his head, the ceiling and room began to stretch out away from him like in the movies when something looked like it was about to go into light speed or hyperspace.
"Here we go!" Rebecca announced, and that was the last thing from the outside world Desmond heard before his vision finally went black.
Altair tensed when Desmond suddenly went slack in the chair, his eyes fluttering closed.
"What happened?" He asked, slightly worried.
"Nothing to be worried about, he is just entering the Animus mainframe. It's completely normal," Rebecca assured him.
"It's creepy." Ezio said as he craned his neck to get a better look at Desmond's still form on the Animus. Even now, with all his allies around him, and knowing full in well that Desmond wasn't in the hands of the enemy, he still hated how still his charge was on that thing.
"Okay, everything's going well. Desmond is officially online. Rebecca I'm going to start the loading sequence and inserting the memory core," Lucy announced. Altair stood and walked over to Rebecca's station, curious to see what was going on.
"Go ahead, I'm ready. I'm also starting to upload the tutorial program as well," Rebecca replied, ignoring the master assassin looking over her shoulder. The raven haired technician reached into her drawer and pulled out a head set with a mike attached and put it. She adjusted the mike so it was in front of her mouth while she inserted a disk into her CD- Drive. Her screen came to life in a flash of white.
The white dimmed and an endless expanse of white appeared on her screen along with the figure of Desmond standing in the vast whiteness. Altair stared in amazement at the smaller, exact copy of Desmond on the screen.
"Whoa, buon Dio! (good lord!)" Ezio breathed, as he watched Rebecca's screen.
"What on earth… is that Desmond?" Malik asked slowly getting out of his seat for a better view.
"Yep, the one and only. Now hush, I need to focus," Rebecca hissed before turning her attention back to the screen.
"Desmond? Desmond can you hear me?" Rebecca asked slowly over the mike. The Desmond on the screen sat up from his lying position on what should have been the ground with a groan.
"Ugh, yeah I can hear you fine," Desmond said, looking upwards as if trying to find out where her voice was coming from.
"Sweet that means sound is a go. Lucy, Shaun, check your mikes and make sure Desmond can hear you," Rebecca ordered.
"Desmond, this is Shaun, respond if you can hear my voice," Shaun spoke into his mike.
"Unfortunately yes I can hear you," Desmond answered with a smirk. Shaun muttered something to quiet for anyone to hear.
"This is Lucy, Desmond," Lucy spoke up.
"Yep, I can hear you too Lucy," Desmond answered again.
"Okay good, everyone is working. Now Desmond try moving around for me in the loading screen while we finish loading the tutorial programs to get you familiar with the movements." Desmond nodded in response and started walking in a random direction on the screen, he walked a few feet, then started to jog then into a full out sprint.
"Feels good Rebecca, I don't feel so sluggish like in the other Animus." Desmond called out.
"Okay doki, the tutorial program has loaded Desmond, I want to run it to make sure that there are no major issues," Rebecca announce after her computer chirped alerting her to the fact the program had loaded.
Assassins creed
Everyone watched as Desmond ran through the small tutorial course that Rebecca and Lucy had programmed to familiarize Desmond with the control of the Animus again. So far everything was going well, and there seemed to be no problems, which helped calm the tense members in the room.
"So how exactly does this work?" Altair asked as he watched Desmond jump across several gaps. Rebecca typed a command into the computer before she spun around in her chair to face them.
"To put it simply it's like a video game. Have any of you played a video game before?" She asked looking between Altair, Ezio, Kadar and Malik. Each of them shook their head and she blinked in surprise.
"Wow, none of you guys played video games? Whoa, bummer… anyways a video game has 2 points of view, first person and third person. Desmond is seeing everything through first person perspective, like he is seeing everything through his own eyes. What I am seeing here on my screen..." Rebecca pointed to her own where you could see Desmond still running across the obstacle course.
"This is third person, I can see a lot more than what Desmond is seeing, like his health, synchronization rate, the money he has, the current weapon he is using, and a small map of where he is and also his current status or state of exposure." Rebecca pointed out each one on the screen.
"Wow, that's pretty cool. But why can't Desmond see that?" Kadar asked.
"He sees exactly what his ancestors would have seen. Nothing more nothing less, but we did program it so that Shaun can provide Desmond with a virtual database of places, events, people and important points and any other information he really needs to know," Rebecca continued.
"Rebecca, as much as I know you love telling them about how everything works, please try and focus. Desmond is almost done," Shaun pointed out. Rebecca spun back around in her chair and returned her focus to the task at hand.
"Can you believe this? Never in a hundred years would I have imagined being able to do something like this," Malik said, waving over to where Rebecca was working. Altair nodded and folded his arms across his chest. The image of Desmond on Rebecca's screen shimmered for a second, making his heart skip a beat for a moment afraid something had gone wrong, but then another figure took Desmond's place. Altair's eyes widened a fraction at the figure. Desmond had described the other Altair to him once before and the figure on the screen had to be him.
"Hey Altair! It's the other Altair Desmond talks about!" Ezio commented pointing at Rebecca's screen from his seat. Desmond, as Altair, waited on the screen as Lucy plugged in the memory core for the old Animus into the main computer.
"Now Desmond, we are going to go ahead and put you into the memories. We're going to put you in just before the fight with Al Mualim so we can see what the blackout was," Rebecca informed him as she typed on the computer.
"Shaun initiate the genetic memory just before the big fight with Al Mualim. Get ready Desmond!" Rebecca ordered, Shaun followed her command and hit enter on his computer. Rebecca's screen flickered and the world around Desmond pixilated and the world of Holy Land slowly constructed around him. Desmond, as Altair, materialized in the middle of Masyaf but suddenly alarms screamed and the screen flashed red. Desmond cried out in pain. The words "desynchronization" flashed on the screen. Desmond began to thrash on the Animus.
"What the hell is going on?!" Malik demanded as Ezio and Kadar moved to hold Desmond down on the Animus.
"I don't know! He shouldn't be having this reaction! His synchronization rate was perfect there is no reason he should be rejected!" Lucy responded as she frantically typed away on the computer.
"Pull him out of the memory Rebecca!" Shaun yelled. Rebecca was already on it, typing in several commands. The screen blinked out again and Desmond calmed down and stopped thrashing. He reappeared again in the loading screen panting.
"Rebecca what the fuck was that!" Desmond yelled up at the sky.
"I don't know, you seemed to reject the memory we were trying to load you into." Rebecca said as her eyes scanned the data flying across the screen next to the monitor with Desmond on it.
"The same thing happened in Abstergo, they said something about me needing to be eased in and finding a memory I was stable with. I ended up in the memory of when Abbas' father killed himself after begging Altair's forgiveness," Desmond said. Rebecca was quiet for a moment before sliding over to one of her other monitors and bringing up the memory sequences that Desmond had completed as Altair, trying to find one he was compatible with.
"Rebecca..." Altair called, his voice harsh.
"Shaun answer them so I can focus on this!" Rebecca snapped over her shoulder.
"Look we were trying to upload Desmond into a specific memory, this one right here," Shaun pointed at the screen.
"This is the memory where we watched the playback, the screen blacked out and there was nothing there. Desmond went through that memory but the file here is corrupt and we can't see it, so we were going to have Desmond relive it and see if we could see it that way. But Desmond's mind seemed to reject the sequence we wanted to place him in, sending everything off as you saw. So we need to find him a memory he can merge with that his mind will take," Shaun explained.
"Why didn't you just eject him from the Animus all together?" Ezio demanded.
"It won't let us. If we ejected him at that moment, we risked his mind not being able to cope and losing him for good," Shaun sighed.
"Yes! I found a memory Desmond can merge with Its the... oh... oh dear..." Rebecca trailed off
"What is it Becca?" Lucy asked.
"The only memory he can synchronize with is the one from Solomon's temple..." Rebecca replied in a quiet voice. Shaun twitched at his station. Ezio and Altair shared a look. They remembered Desmond's bleeds from inside Solomon's temple when they went and reactions he had there. They could only imagine how bad the memory must be. There was a tense silence as Rebecca explained the situation to Desmond; the American didn't respond right away.
"Do it Rebecca," Desmond finally said after a moment of contemplation.
"Are your sure Desmond?" Rebecca asked.
"I'll be fine. I've lived through the memories once, so I know what to expect. It will still be hard with Altair's raw emotions, but it's nothing I can't handle," he assured her. Desmond looked up at what would be the sky for him and flashed her a bright toothy smile. One that, from where Altair stood behind Rebecca's chair, didn't meet his eyes.
"Alright Desmond, as long as you are sure," she whispered as she hit enter and the screen flickered again as the world loaded.
"That has always been one of the more painful memories for him," Lucy said.
"Why is it so painful?" Kadar asked. None of the technical assassins answered his query.
"You'll see," Shaun finally said.
They all settled in after that. Ezio and Kadar switched place so Kadar was watching Rebecca's screen, and Ezio was beside Desmond. Kadar, Altair and Malik watched in rapt attention as the scene unfolded on the screen. Ezio refused to look and kept his eyes focused on Desmond's body.
The horrible scene played out and Kadar found himself shocked as Altair broke the sacred Creed. Everything snapped into perspective then, it made sense now why Desmond had been so relieved and tearful when he saw Kadar after the mission to Solomon's Temple months ago. It broke Kadar's heart to know this was why when Desmond first came back from Abstergo he acted like he was surprised to see Kadar even there.
Ezio watched as a single tear welled up in Desmond's closed eyes and slid down his cheek. The Italian reach over and took his ward's hand in his and rubbed soothing circled on the back of the hand, hoping that in the Animus Desmond could feel the comfort he was trying to provide. They stayed like that for a long time as Desmond continued through Altair's memories at his own pace, taking his time.
"Rebecca, the translation from Arabic to English is a lot better than before. Altair doesn't sound so American like he did in Abstergo, he actually sounds like he is from this time and place." Desmond commented once as he waited for the next memory to load.
"That's good to know, there are still some bugs I need to work out of it, but for the time being this will have to do," she replied. Night had fallen by the time Desmond had performed his first assassination and was working on his second. Rebecca alerted him to the time and they both agreed it was time to eject him from the Animus. Lucy started the ejection process. It took a few minutes but soon Desmond's eyes fluttered open and dilated as he tried to orient himself. Finally his eyes landed on his Italian mentor, who looked worriedly down at him.
"Hey Ezio." Desmond greeted in a rough voice but there was a smile on his face. His mentor's face broke into a wide smile as Rebecca came over and started to unhook him. When the device on his head was taken away Desmond tried to sit up.
"Take it easy getting up. Your body may not be accustomed to being ejected from this Animus so there might be some slight disorientation." Rebecca warned as Desmond sat up on the edge of the Animus; and sure enough the world started to tilt and swirl making him feel slightly woozy.
"Whoa." Desmond muttered. Kadar was instantly at his side.
"You okay?" Kadar asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just give me a second to reorient myself. It will take a few sessions before this goes away," Desmond assured him while leaning against his half-brother, reassuring himself that Kadar was still there. Altair's feelings and thoughts were still painfully fresh in his mind, like an open wound, and right now he just wanted to make sure his brother was still there with him and not dead at the bottom of an ancient temple.
"We better not have a repeat of today!" Malik growled.
"That was just a onetime thing, it should be smooth sailing from here on out." Lucy promised. Altair snorted from his spot on Malik's desk.
"Can we talk about this later? Right now I could really use something to eat and a nap." Desmond said. There was a nod of agreement around the room and they started shutting everything down and packing things up. Kadar helped Desmond stand up, seeing as he was still very unsteady on his feet, and he could tell Desmond still wanted to be near him anyway. Rebecca took her computer with her as they left and headed to the kitchen, intent on sending the new data and results of today's session to her master back in Masyaf.
Malik cooked dinner that night. He ended up making honey mustard chicken everyone's personal favorite. Dinner was relatively quiet and everyone was subdued.
After they had all eaten and gone to bed Desmond hadn't been in bed for more than a couple of hours before Altair's memories assaulted him. Both Altair and Ezio stayed up with him that night, keeping Desmond company, helping him through the painful memories. Around midnight, all three of them were sitting awake in bed when a knock came at the door. The three shared a confused looked before Altair called for whoever was at the door to come in. Kadar hesitantly opened the door and peeked inside.
"Kadar? What's wrong? Is everything okay?" Altair asked already starting to get out of bed to go to Kadar's side.
"No, everything's fine, I just wanted to check to make sure Desmond was okay..." Kadar kept his blue eyes glued to the floor.
"I'm alright Kadar, this will happen for a while until I get accustomed to seeing the memories again," Desmond said from where he sat against the head board, legs pulled up close to his body with his arms wrapped around his legs.
"I understand everything a lot better now," Kadar went on as he walked farther into the room. Ezio scooted over on the bed and offered a place on the bed for Kadar to sit, which the raven haired assassin accepted.
"Understand what?" Confused, Desmond tilted his head to the side regarding his brother. Kadar looked Desmond in the eyes.
"I understand now why, when Altair and the others rescued you from Abstergo, you were so shocked to see me at times, and why you were so jumpy, quiet and stand offish with Malik. Also I see why, when you returned from Solomon's temple a while ago you were so relieved to see me," Kadar explained.
"Oh, that, yeah. Sometimes the memories are strong, and the emotions linger, and it's hard to separate reality and memories," Desmond said. Ezio wrapped an arm around Desmond's shoulder and pulled him close his side. Desmond rested his head on Ezio's bare shoulder. Suddenly Kadar climbed across the bed and wrapped Desmond in a hug and pressed his face into his neck. The movement caught Desmond by surprise, leaving him only able to slowly return the gesture.
"No matter what you see or think, Desmond, I will always be here. I just want you to know I'm always here, and if you need to reassure yourself I will always be there to remind you," Kadar whispered into his ear. Desmond closed his eyes and tightened his hold on Kadar, thankful that he understood now. Desmond caught Ezio and Altair sharing a smile out of the corner of his eye, he smiled back.
Assassins creed
The next week followed the same pattern, each day after a quick training session and breakfast Desmond entered the animus and slowly worked through Altair's memories, working towards the point they were aiming for. Kadar, Altair and Ezio still hovered uneasily around the computer room the first couple of days until Shaun finally snapped and griped about their hovering distracting them from their work. After that, only one of them stayed in the room while the other two would go out on supply runs, or just go stretch their legs and get fresh air.
Exactly a week and a half later, Desmond just completed the mission where Altair fought Robert before King Richard and got the warning about Al Mualim being a traitor to their order. Desmond found himself ejected early from the Animus. The early ejection left him blinking in confusion up at the ceiling before sitting up and detaching himself from the Animus 2.0. Everyone was in the computer room standing around a large box.
"What's going on?" Desmond asked, as he got up from the Animus. Kadar spun around, a large smile on his face.
"Our new equipment finally came in Desmond!" Kadar announced almost vibrating in place with excitement. Raising an eyebrow, Desmond joined the assassins circled around Malik's desk; there was a wide arrange of items on the desk.
"Okay, now that Desmond is with us, I'm going to go ahead and give these to you," Malik picked up a large black sling back pack and handed one to each of them.
"This is a Military Backpack from the States. It's large enough to hold most of your gear, plus the extra set of cloths." Malik explained as they each examined the backpack. Altair pulled at it, testing the strength of the material, and nodded when it didn't give under his strength. Desmond was surprised by the space inside the sling back pack, and when he pulled it on it settled naturally on his back and wasn't as bulky as he thought it would be.
"Next is this Combat Knife each of you gets two, and there are matching cases to go with them. Each of you should attach them to the front strap of your packs for easy access, and the other to your leg." Malik said. Desmond instantly set about attaching it to his back pack. It blended in well with the black of the bag and the flap covered the handle, so it was hidden from view.
"Here are your new throwing knives, each of you get a set of 15, put them away where you will. Each of you is getting a bottle of Chloroform and a ragand a set of 10 zip tie handcuffs should the need arrive for them," Malik handed them a two small boxes and a large brown bottle with a rag sealed in a zip lock bag. He then proceeded to give them duct tape and a small med kit. Kadar looked like a kid at Christmas as he opened the box and eyes the knives like a child would a fancy new toy.
"We are getting a whole new arsenal aren't we?" Ezio smiled impishly, obviously eager to go out and test all the new equipment.
"I'm not done yet brat, now shut up," Malik snapped. Ezio shut up instantly, obviously curious as to what else the one armed Rafiq had for them. Malik reached under his desk and produced new hidden blades.
"Oh cool!" Kadar exclaimed. Altair eyed them and raised an eyebrow.
"These were made by Leonardo. He felt the need to upgrade your current ones to match with the times," Malik handed one to Altair to test out first. The Syrian assassin removed his old hidden blade and slid the new one on in its place. It wasn't made of leather like the one he was used to, it was made of a tough fabric, much like the bagging on their packs, thin enough to make the material flexible but strong enough protect the wearer. The straps wrapped around and attached on the top of the forearm. On the underside there was a small bit of padding at the base of the hand to protect the appendage from the blade when it ejected. But there was a strange long white device underneath.
"What's this?" Altair pointed to the white rectangle.
"That is where the hidden blade and taser is located." Malik replied.
"Taser?!" Desmond gasped.
"Yep. Leonardo said he couldn't install a gun but he could put in a taser. All you have to do is aim and press the button underneath. When you're done, just hit the button again and the lines will retract. Also the blade has a serrated edge on one side to help cut other things," Malik pointed out each piece.
"Alright then," Desmond said as he took the one that Malik handed him. Ezio of course got two but only one was installed with the taser.
"You've been in contact with Leonardo?"Ezio asked.
"Yes, we've been in contact with him for some time now. In fact, he approached us. He has been worried about you since you don't visit him as much as you used to," Malik said. Ezio turned red at that.
"The reason Malik is giving you those new toys is because you four have a new mission. Our informants apparently have two sightings of Robert, and Al Mualim wants us to split up and check each location. So pack your bags boys," Rebecca said as she walked over to the group.
"Wait what are the teams?" Kadar asked.
"You and Desmond, and Altair and Ezio." Rebecca answered. Desmond felt a chill run through his body. He hoped this mission wasn't going to be like the one in Altair's memories.
Assassin's creed
Hey again everyone, once again I must stress how sorry I am for not updating. But I have been reading your reviews and comments for the story and must say I am very touched at how much everyone still supports and love this story even in my absence. So I'm pretty sure most of you are very relieved to know I am back and going to hopefully update more often now.
I also want to let everyone know I have played through Assassin's creed 4 Black Flags and have decided how I am going to incorporate it into this story. It will be interesting and fun to write and read everyone's comment when we get to that point.
Again I'm still looking for a cover art for this story, so if anyone had any ideas or pictures please let me know!
If there are any other questions, comments or concerns please leave it in your review!