"Where is this new person?" Robin asked as he stood up from the couch, turning to Desmond as the man stood up.

Desmond looked down at his phone and read over the map that Rebecca had programmed to some machinery in their own world that he couldn't even begin to fathom so he would be alerted whenever someone appeared and where.

After reading over the map, Desmond looked at the teens. "A place called Central City."

Wally immediately perked up at hearing his uncle's home city and ran up to the man with a broad smile, "Ooh, you're lucky! I can be your guide now!"

The man looked at Wally with a cocked eyebrow, but didn't protest at all. Instead he only turned to Kaldur and asked, "You're going to make more of the team come with, right?"

The Atlantean nodded sagely but smiled softly at him, "I cannot allow you and Wally to go alone. I do not think I would be able to live with myself if anything were to happen to either of you when you are on your search." He told the man honestly, then nodded at Robin, "Robin, you and Zatanna are to go with them as well. I shall stay in the Mountain with Ezio, Shay and the rest of the Team."

Shay quirked an eyebrow at Kaldur's decision because he found it slightly odd, but didn't question it. The teen was the leader of the Team and his decisions must have had reaason behind them and so shouldn't have been questioned. The Irishman didn't really want to stay in the same place as the Assassin, but he wouldn't mind it as long as he knew the kids were nearby.

"Are you sure, Kaldur?" Robin, though, did question the other teenager. "We might need M'gann if this is yet another foreigner."

"Nonsense." Desmond shook his head. "The only non-English speaking guy left is Altaïr, and I know enough Arabic to survive. The other likely candidate is from Revolutionary times and therefore you can assume he does speak English. We don't really have too much to worry about any of them anymore, actually."

Robin looked at Desmond for a minute, as if trying to search inside his soul for the whole truth, then shrugged and nodded at Wally. "Well, if you insist that you know what you're doing, I'm not about to let Wally vibrate a hole into the ground because we took too long discussing something."

Now Desmond glanced over to where Wally was standing and found the boy literally vibrating from excitement, which surprised the Assassin because he had literally never seen anything like that before in his life. Still, he didn't question it too much because this odd bunch of kids seemed to be both odd and competent. Besides, he was still kind of caught up with the fact that one girl was green and no one questioned it.

"Come on, then!" Wally jumped with a wide grin, immediately running over to the Zeta Station. "Desmond, I tell you, you're gonna love Central! Heck, maybe we'll be able to pick my uncle up!"

Robin chuckled at his friend's enthusiasm and followed after, albeit at a much slower pace. Zatanna looked at Kaldur with wide eyes for a moment, but smiled when he nodded at her. She ran after the two friends with a smirk on her lips, "Calm down, Speedy González." She remarked, receiving a feigned hurt gasp from Wally.

"Why Zatanna! I never! Anyway, I think you'd like my uncle." Wally remarked as he turned to Desmond.

Robin rolled his eyes at Wally's theatrics, but calmed both his friends, "Guys, slow your rolls. We still have to find Desmond's stray and make sure he's not a menace to anyone before we start making any additional plans."

The three continued their small quipping session as Desmond followed after, then, after a few minutes, all four were gone, leaving Shay in the giant room with the restof the teens and Ezio.

~/~

Shay turned to Kaldur then, about to ask the boy something, but the question in his mouth died down as soon as he noticed the worried frown pulling at the boy's face.

Without too much hesitation, Shay made his way over to the teen and whispered, "Are you okay?"

Kaldur seemed a bit taken aback by the question, but nodded and apologized, "I am sorry if I worried you. I was just... Deep in thought."

"In thought?" Shay repeated, cocking an eyebrow at the boy, "Just what were you thinking about, lad?" He asked, actually curious as to what could be bothering the boy.

The Atlantean looked up at Shay for a moment, then sighed and explained himself, "We are a team, as you have already seen. We are a group of extraordinary beings and we make great things happen, but..."

After having said that, Kaldur faltered for a moment. Shay wondered just what could have cut the teen off from continuing in the rhythm he had kept. But he didn't have to goad Kaldur to continue once more.

"As their leader, I am supposed to decide what is best for every single one of us. Along with what would be most beneficial to those we are trying to help." The teen paused for a moment before continuing. "Sometimes it is hard to decide what is the best for everyone when you have to think of every single person involved."

Shay pursed his lips for a moment in thought, then breathed out softly and nodded slowly.

"The burden of being a leader is quite the big one." Shay admitted, moving his hands so they were on his hips, "But I am sure you were given it for a reason, Kaldur. I highly doubt you aren't a capable boy to follow."

The boy took some time to fully digest Shay's words, but once he had, Kaldur nodded and told Shay, "Thank you. I had been having some trouble deciding on what to do, but I know now."

With this, Kaldur smiled at Shay and bid his leave. The Irishman watched the teen leave with fondness tickling at his heart, but soon he felt a presence behind him and he turned around. Ezio was standing behind him, chin in his hand with his head cocked to the side as his eyes traveled up and down Shay's whole body.

A sense of dread filled Shay up at that moment and he began to wonder if Ezio would be able to tell that he wasn't an Assassin.

"Tell me, Shay, from what year are you?" Ezio asked in English, and Shay turned his face to see if M'gann was anywhere nearby.

The Martian sat on the large sofa that faced a type of boxy contraption, nestled beside Conner's large frame. She had been watching whatever was interesting on the contraption, but when she felt Shay turn to her, she smiled comfortingly at him and tapped her temple. The girl was telling him she was still translating for them.

Assured that M'gann and Conner were both nearby if Ezio decided to do anything, Shay answered noncommittally, "1760."

Ezio nodded, and continued, "Desmond had told me he was from the present time, but you were not. Yet he didn't tell me from what time period or what country."

"Well, now you know I come from 1760. Now, tell me, had America already been found when you were taken from your home?" Shay asked his own question, hoping he would make Ezio see he was not some kind of pushover.

The question actually managed to confuse Ezio a bit, and Shay was gladdened to see that the man could at least stop smiling and his face wasn't stuck in that one expression, "America?" He asked, looking at Shay with wonder stirring in his eyes, "What is that? And where is it? I myself have only heard of the new lands in Asia Christopher Columbus discovered."

Shay nodded softly, now understanding from what precise time period the other man came from, but didn't answer afterwards. He didn't want to mingle with any of the Assassins because he didn't want to to accidentally give anything away that would make them think he was the enemy. Which he was, but they didn't need to know.

If only he could tell the kids the whole truth about his own life so they wouldn't allow themselves to be enamored with the righteous ways of the Assassins.

Maybe he could take now that they weren't too busy to at least tell M'gann. He turned away from Ezio, who seemed as if he were about to ask more questions, and made his way over to the couch where M'gann and Conner sat.

The green skinned girl looked him over for one minute then smiled and stood up from the couch, "Hey, Conner, you can watch after Ezio, right? I mean, the G-Gnomes did give you some knowledge of the Italian language?"

Conner looked at her with slight bewilderment, but nodded, "Yeah, they wanted me to know the most used languages in the world, so I also know a bit of Mandarin, French, and Spanish... Italian is one of the languages they paid the least attention to, though..."

"But you can tell him to not do anything stupid, right? And stop him from say... sticking his tongue in a place it doesn't belong?" The girl asked as she made her way to stand beside Shay only to turn to Conner with a small smile.

The clone smirked at her and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I can. Just hurry back before gets angsty about not being understood by Artemis and Kaldur and starts looking for you."

M'gann nodded and looked at Shay, "Come on."

~/~

Really, Shay wished he could say he wasn't too surprised by the girl seemingly knowing he had something to tell her, but that would be a lie. Maybe he would never be able to get past the small nuances in this future. He knew she was a mind reader, so he should expect for her to know when he needs to talk to her. But it just felt so hard to actually integrate himself and get used to this time.

And he didn't even want to begin thinking about all the technology he had been ignoring ever since he had arrived and the Team had taken him in.

"So, what do you need, Mr. Shay?"

M'gann had led him to what he guessed must have been her room. He didn't feel comfortable to be in such an intimate place.

"M'gann, is this your room?" He asked, looking around the four walls that held different types of plastic like posters. She nodded and Shay tensed, "I don't feel too comfortable in here, M'gann. It is not proper for a man to be in a lady's room."

The girl honestly seemed confused by the explanation, but shook her head and stood up, "If you say so. It was just the most quiet place I could think of. But if you're not comfortable, I guess we can head over to the gym. I'm sure no one else should be using it by now."

"Thank you."

Once more the girl led her down the narrow hallways of the compound they found themselves in, and now Shay found himself inside of a large room with odd types of bulky contraptions all over. This had to be the gym.

"Is this more comfortable?"

Shay nodded and looked at the girl. "I didn't mean to offend you, M'gann, it's just that it's not-" He was about to excuse himself for having been raised in a time when men had no place in the room's of teenage girls unless they were their fathers, but M'gann interrupted him with a small and shy smile.

"Please don't apologize. I kind of forgot for a second that you aren't from this time and so don't have the same values to uphold. It's just so normal for my friends to somehow or another wind up in my room that I just find it normal by now." In her own way, she was apologizing for making him feel uncomfortable. "But, you wanted to tell me something. What would you like?"

Shay looked at her for a moment, really looked at the girl, and found that when the time came that he would have to leave this world to go back to his own, that he would miss this girl. Not only her, but the rest of the teenagers as well. They were all odd, but had somehow managed to make him see they were more than kids in just the day or two he had known them. And he would even miss this peace. When; because it wasn't a question of if, but one of when; he had to go back, he would be thrust once more into a life of blood spilling for the Templar Order. He would miss all of this.

With a sad smile, he admitted, "I haven't been completely honest with you kids. I am not an Assassin."

"Your memories led me to believe that." M'gann admitted after a second, a soft and reassuring smile playing on her lips. "I saw when you became an Assassin, and a few of your missions beside Liam... But then I saw memories of you going against him and other friends of yours I had seen... And strange men that weren't wearing hoods."

"Aye."

Shay didn't really know how to continue. How was he supposed to say he had murdered his once great friends to make sure he kept the world safe? How could he excuse himself from the monster he had become to keep the rest of humanity ignorant and protected?

"If you can't find the words for it, Shay, I could always enter your mind again. And it would only be the memories you want me to look at." She offered, clearly having sensed the man's desperation.

The Irishman smiled down in gratitude at M'gann's caring words, then agreed to have her delve into her mind once more. Maybe it would be easier for her to see everything he had experienced, rather than him having to explain it.

So she sat him down on the floor and sat down in front of him, her eyes began to glow green, and he was back in his own mind once more.

I ask for reviews because I honestly love criticism. I love knowing what people liked from the story and what I should fix up. It's one of those small things that make you proud of having written a story. So when I ask for reviews at the end of a chapter, it always is so I can read the review and get to know what others think of my story. And I gotta tell you, Guest of Eden, your reviews always make my day.

Please review.