"Are you still braindead!?"

"Come on, Rebecca! Let's go!"

"Oh now you want me to hurry!? Fuck off, Shaun!"

Out of Abstergo, Shaun and Rebecca raced through the parking lot to their car, struggling to stay upright as they slipped on patches of ice across the pavement. They were both out of breath by the time they reached it, their bodies shivering uncontrollably in the freezing wind. They dove inside as soon as it was unlocked and took a moment to catch their collective breath while they warmed up.

Shivering gave way to restlessness while they waited for signs of either Desmond or Abstergo security. So far, there were none, and they felt a mixture of both relief that Abstergo hadn't found them, and concern that neither had Desmond.

"Well, this certainly is a pleasant change of events from this morning," Shaun said, his voice a bit higher than usual as he struggled to keep it even. Rebecca appreciated his attempts at staying calm, but his fingers incessantly tapping on the steering wheel betrayed his otherwise calm demeanor.

"Only if we all get out of here."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He's been in tighter spots than this."

"Yeah, but with our help."

Shaun shrugged. "He's resourceful. He'll figure it out." He turned away to look out the driver's side window again, but not before Rebecca caught the worried look on his face.

They sat in silence, every noise outside the car drawing their attention. Minutes passed and the longer they waited for Desmond to emerge, the more uneasy they felt.

"Do you think we should go back in?" she said.

"And do what?"

"I don't know. Find Des? Give him a distraction? Help him get out?"

"We don't even know where he is. He could be running around the far side of the building for all we know."

"But then he would've found us by now. I knew we never should have left him again." Rebecca paused for a moment. "I'm going back in."

Shaun grabbed her hand. "Please don't. He'll be fine. You saw him earlier. He's still the same old murder machine that he's always been." She gave him a dubious look. "Okay, murder machine that we helped create. Either way, I don't think he'll have any problems getting out." He turned and looked away again.

"Even you don't believe that."

"I do, or else I'd be in there looking for him myself right now. Instead, I—what was that?"

The impact of metal loudly crashing into the concrete next to the building sent a cloud of debris into the air.

"Look," Rebecca said, pointing to where the untethered ropes that had once held a scaffolding rig now swung freely in the wind. "You don't… you don't think Des was on that when it fell, do you?"

"No, I doubt he's all the way up there. He'd be stupid to climb up the building. There's no way out from there."

Rebecca tensed and Shaun jumped in his seat as the sound of bullets came from a balcony near where the scaffolding had once been.

"Then again, not sure who else they'd be shooting at—oh my god!" Shaun did a double take then stared at something falling through the air from the balcony. No, not something. Someone.

"Oh my god," Rebecca echoed, recognizing it as Desmond.

Her mouth hung open as he hurtled towards the ground at an alarming speed. Shaun floored the gas pedal and they raced forward to meet him, letting out a sigh of relief when they saw a large splash of water as he landed in the nearby pond.

Shaun slammed on the brakes and Rebecca threw the back door open just as Desmond pulled himself out of the water.

"GO!" Desmond yelled as he dove headfirst into the backseat as another hail of bullets rained down. The jerk of the car when Shaun drove off forced the back door shut and the tires slipped and squealed as they peeled out of the icy parking lot, leaving Abstergo behind for good.

"Are you insane!?" Shaun shouted at Desmond into his rearview mirror. "Have you gone completely mad? What the hell were you thinking?"

"What? It's not like I haven't done that before!"

"'Haven't done that before?'" he mocked. "Do you know how many bones you could've broken? And then we'd have to fish your lame arse out of the water, all while getting shot at."

"You sound like my mother. No, worse. You sound like my father."

"Oh, if your father was here you'd be—"

"Will you two stop bickering like an old married couple and pay attention!?" Rebecca shouted when Shaun had to swerve around a car going much slower than they were, missing their rear bumper by mere inches.

"I am paying attention," Shaun countered. Though he did stop arguing with Desmond and started focusing more on the road ahead of him. "It's all this bloody traffic that's the problem."

Desmond shrugged. "Could always be worse, right?"

Shaun rolled his eyes in the rearview mirror. As he did, his gaze slid from Desmond to something else behind them. Desmond turned to see five armored Abstergo trucks quickly bearing down on them.

"You just had to say something, didn't you?" Shaun said through gritted teeth, slamming his foot down on the gas pedal again.

Desmond tumbled around in the backseat as the car weaved through the morning traffic. More than once, Shaun pulled the wheel just a little too hard and the back end would begin to slide out. He quickly corrected the car, but not before other drivers around them blasted their horns in indignation.

"Did you forget how to drive while I was dead!?" Desmond yelled over the noise as Shaun drove into oncoming traffic to pass two slower cars driving side-by-side.

"Oh I'm sorry. Would you like to take the wheel, Mr. I've-Never-Driven-A-Car-Before? If you—"

"Look out!" Rebecca shouted, pointing to a truck pulling out of a driveway right in front of them. Shaun jerked at the wheel to avoid the collision but the car began to fishtail out of control and it took all of his skill to get the car pointing the right direction again.

"How're we doing back there?" he asked.

Desmond glanced back. By now the trucks had closed most of the distance. They had only seconds until the first truck would be on their rear bumper. "Not good. They're gaining on us. Can't you go any faster?"

"You know, not sure if you can tell but the road is icy and crowded and I'm doing my best up here. Alright, hold onto your breeches. Things are about to get a little risky."

Desmond and Rebecca braced themselves as Shaun sped into the open left turn lane and flew past another three cars. The first two Abstergo trucks followed while the other three stayed back. Just as they entered the next intersection, Shaun jerked the wheel hard to the right, sending the car skidding across all three lanes of traffic and making the turn onto the cross street. Behind them, the two trucks that had followed them into the left lane were forced to go straight to avoid hitting anyone, but the other three weren't caught unaware and were rapidly gaining ground. Shaun tried it again at the next intersection, but all three managed to follow him.

"Shaun… what are you doing?" Rebecca asked dubiously, clutching the handle above the door and bracing herself as they sped towards a red light. Cross traffic was heavy despite the early morning hour and yet, Shaun only pressed on the gas harder. His face was hard and focused as the needle on the speedometer crept higher and higher.

"Shaun…?" Desmond said, bracing himself for impact as the car barreled towards the busy intersection.

Two hundred feet left.

The point of no return. There was no stopping in time.

One hundred feet.

A semi truck entered the intersection. It was too late to turn now.

Fifty.

They weren't going to make it.

Twenty.

Desmond shut his eyes and gritted his teeth as he waited for the collision…

A chorus of horns and metallic crunches echoed out behind them as they miraculously passed through the intersection unscathed. The pileup forced the Abstergo trucks to slam on their brakes to avoid adding to the pileup as Shaun, Rebecca, and Desmond disappeared around the next corner.

Shaun looked at Rebecca, a triumphant grin on his face.

"If you ever do something like that again—" Rebecca threatened, looking a bit green underneath the red in her face.

"Oh, please. You both know I'd never let anything happen to you!" He looked to Desmond for reassurance, who only glared back in response. "Or… maybe not."

Things were quiet on the roads for a few minutes, until—

"Shit," Desmond said, a note of alarm in his voice.

"What?" Rebecca turned around in her seat. "Oh no."

The trucks had pulled out onto the same road only a few streets behind them. Worse still, the first two trucks Shaun had duped were right behind them, and traffic ahead was slowing down.

"Can't you go any faster?" Desmond asked, as the trucks quickly advanced on them.

"Do you not see all the cars I'm dodging, here?" Just then, a break appeared in the traffic and Shaun gunned it through. Horns blared as he wove between cars, leaving only inches between bumpers.

But the Abstergo agents were relentless. Giving up all pretenses of subtlety, they started ramming cars out of the way.

"Shaun…"

"Yes, Desmond. I see that," Shaun said, his eyes flitting between the road in front of him and the rearview mirror.

Desmond squinted as the passenger side window of the front-most truck slid open and a hand holding a gun emerged from the window.

"GET DOWN!" He pushed both of their shoulders down when he ducked below the seat as a hail of bullets shattered the rear window.

The car swerved and Desmond tumbled around the back seat as they side-swiped another vehicle. The chaos it seemed to cause had forced the trucks to back off enough that Shaun was able to sit up just enough to see over the dashboard.

"Everyone okay?" Desmond asked. He peered over the backseat. Three of the trucks were still forcing their way through the pileup, but the other two were closing in once more.

"Oh yeah, just peachy!" Shaun shouted back. "I really missed this!"

Rebecca stayed crouched low in her seat. "What do we do now?"

"Des, pull down the center seat cushion. There should be a latch that opens the panel to the trunk. There's a gun in there. Have fun."

"When did you get a gun?" Rebecca asked.

"I thought it might come in handy one day," Shaun said, pulling the car into oncoming traffic again. "Turns out I was right."

Desmond loaded the gun and attempted to peer over the backseat again just as another spray of bullets hit the car. He covered his face as the rear passenger window shattered inwards. Desmond blindly pointed the gun over the backseat and fired two shots to where he thought the closest truck was. He glanced over the backseat again and fired one more, this one aimed at the driver, but the bullet just ricocheted off the windshield.

When an arm holding a gun extended out from the passenger-side window, Desmond aimed and fired, hitting his target square in the wrist. The gun fell to the ground and the mangled arm retracted back into the truck.

"I don't think they appreciated you leaving very much," Shaun teased.

"They never do," Desmond responded, picking his next target. The first truck retreated for the time being and another took its place. This one veered side-to-side behind them, preventing Desmond from getting a lock on either shooter.

"Slow down and pull next to the driver's side of the truck."

Shaun turned all the way around in his seat, looking at Desmond like he'd grown a second head. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, just do it!"

"Are you still braindead!? We're trying to get away from them, Des. Not bloody closer!"

"Look out!" Rebecca shouted.

Shaun whipped back around in his seat in time to veer out of the way of a semi truck driving half the speed they were.

"I know what I'm doing!" Desmond yelled over a loud honk from the semi. "Trust me!"

"You sure about that? Because that's got to be the stupidest—"

"Just do it!" Rebecca screamed as they ducked down once again as more bullets flew by.

"Alright, alright! Bloody mental, both of you."

Across the back seat, Desmond laid face up, both his hands clutching the pistol just above his chest.

Shaun swerved the car into the next lane and slammed on the brakes to bring the car in line with the closest truck.

As the driver rolled his window down, Desmond sat up and fired two quick, successive shots, one each into the heads of the driver and the gunman.

"Punch it!" Desmond shouted.

Shaun slammed his foot on the gas pedal. "Bloody backseat drivers," he muttered. The car lurched forward and out of the path of the swerving truck just as it veered into the median with a resounding crunch.

Shaun, Rebecca, and Desmond took a moment to catch their breath as they started crossing a bridge. But their relief was short lived, as the three trucks that had been caught in one of the many accidents their chase had created had reappeared. If the Abstergo agents cared about their comrades' safety, they didn't show it, choosing instead to drive past the wreckage as though it wasn't even there.

Shaun swerved around another vehicle, throwing Desmond off balance and sending his next shot wide.

"Damnit, Shaun!"

"You know what? Next time you can drive while people are shooting at us!"

"Will you two stop yelling at each other? Shaun, drive! Desmond, shoot!"

Another round of gunfire coming from the Abstergo trucks meant they had to duck down low again. As if Shaun was reading Desmond's mind, he slammed on the brakes and pulled the car next to one of the trucks again. Another shot from Desmond, this one landing in the driver's temple, forced the truck to careen out of control. This time, it veered off into the side of another truck, sending them both skidding across the road. Desmond sat up in time to see them both flip over the outside guardrail and fall into the river below.

Two more trucks remained as they drove through the outskirts of Montreal, where the suburbs gave way to open farmland. The traffic had thinned considerably, but the roads themselves were, if possible, even more treacherous than they'd been in the city. Slick patches of black ice covered the highway and Shaun struggled to maintain control as he sped along the open road.

As the two trucks drew closer, Desmond raised his gun and waited for an open target. Even as Shaun tried to pull up next to the nearer of the two, they backed off a bit, leaving their windows closed. Desmond tried to shoot through the window but, like the windshield, it was bulletproof.

"Nevermind about that," Shaun said, pulling the car ahead again. But before he could get too far ahead, the truck swerved, ramming their front end into the back quarter panel of the car just as they hit a patch of ice. Everyone held on tightly, the car spinning wildly out of control as it slid off the road and across the snow. Everything whirled around them in a blur and all they could do was close their eyes and hope for the best.

Shaun and Rebecca's heads crashed together as the car came to a rough stop in a snowbank. Rebecca opened her eyes to find her side of the car nestled up against a thicket of trees, blocking her way out. She moaned and rubbed the sore spot on her head where it had collided with Shaun's. Her neck was stiff and sore from the impact, and looking around only made her head hurt worse.

"Shaun… " she mumbled, giving him a slight push on the shoulder.

He groaned in response. "'M here. You alright?"

"I think so. Des?"

Nobody answered. Rebecca painfully craned her whole body around to see the backseat was now empty. Her head cleared a bit as the adrenaline kicked in. "Des?" she repeated, panic rising in her voice.

There was no sign of Desmond anywhere, like he'd vanished into thin air.

Tires squealed to their left, drawing their attention to the two remaining trucks now coming to an abrupt stop only a few feet away. Six masked men poured out of the trucks, guns drawn and heading straight for them. Rebecca and Shaun, pinned inside the car, could only look on in wide-eyed panic.

"There was a third one. Find him," one of them said. Another nodded and broke off from the main group to search through the trees.

Shaun and Rebecca fought to get out of the car, attempting to free themselves one last time. Their efforts were futile. They had nowhere to go as their executioners bore down on them, weapons raised.

They closed their eyes…

The first two never saw him coming. One moment, their guns were aimed at Shaun and Rebecca, fingers curling over the triggers. The next, they lay dead in the snow, one with his neck broken, the other with a slashed throat. Desmond was already bearing down on his next target by the time any of them knew what was going on.

It was all over in less than ten seconds.

"You both okay?" Desmond asked, stepping over the six bodies laying in the snow. He yanked Shaun's door open and helped pull them both out.

"I think so," Shaun said, wiping a small trickle of blood making its way down his forehead. "Thanks, mate."

"You alright, Rebecca?" he asked as she crawled out of the driver's seat, looking a little nauseous. Desmond held out his hand and helped her stumble her way to the nearest tree, where she sat back on her heels for a minute and took several deep breaths.

She nodded and gave him a halfhearted smile. "I'll be fine. I just need a minute."

"Okay, good. Hey, Shaun?" Desmond called out over the car. "You think this is driveable?"

"Only one way to find out," Shaun said.

The car appeared to be in rough shape, with several of its windows shattered and the rear window missing entirely from where Desmond had pulled his Houdini. But the snowdrift had softened the crash and it looked like most of the damage was cosmetic.

Together, the three of them managed to push the car out of the snowbank and with the help of some supplies found in the back of the Abstergo trucks, they were able to get the car back on the road.

"You sure you're okay to drive?" Desmond asked a banged-up Shaun. The blood was still trickling down his forehead, albeit much slower, and pockets of swelling were starting to appear across his face. He stepped towards the car, grimacing when he put weight on his left foot.

"I can drive," Rebecca offered.

Shaun shook his head. "Um, no. Even on my worst day I'm still a better driver than you, Bex. Besides, it's not my driving foot that hurts."

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes.

They piled into the car, which was now taped up with plastic sheeting where several windows had been shot out.

"Come on baby, work for me," Shaun said to the car as he turned the key in the ignition. "Everybody buckled in? No?"

Desmond threw him an annoyed look as his seatbelt buckle clicked in place.

"Safety first, Desmond."

"If I'd been buckled in when you crashed the car, we'd all be dead right now."

Shaun opened his mouth to argue, but after seeing Rebecca's done-with-you face, he thought better and instead just shrugged before driving off.

While the plastic sheeting kept the worst of the wind out of the car as they sped along the highway, it was thin and flimsy and the heater struggled to keep up.

"Aren't you freezing?" Rebecca asked Desmond, pointing at his still-soaked clothes.

"Not really," he said. "I don't think I have full feeling back yet."

"That's mildly concerning." Shaun raised an eyebrow in the rearview mirror.

Desmond looked out the window for a moment until he felt eyes boring into him. He glanced over to see Rebecca fully turned around in her seat, staring at him intently.

"What?"

Rebecca grinned ear to ear. "I just can't believe you're back. It doesn't seem real."

"Indeed," Shaun agreed, albeit with more skepticism in his voice.

Desmond met his eye in the rearview mirror. "Sorry to disappoint."

"No, no. Don't take my disbelief as a bad thing. I'm in no way disappointed. I'm just… concerned is all."

"Concerned about what?" Rebecca sounded slightly offended.

"Rebecca, how many people do you know have come back from the dead?"

"You mean apart from Jesus?"

Shaun looked at her disparagingly.

"Okay, none."

"Exactly. This is entirely unnatural and I just… I worry that there'll be some sort of hellish price to pay for this."

"You watch too many movies," Rebecca argued.

"Yeah, well, when your friend becomes a zombie, it's better to be prepared for the worst, right?"

"Again, too many movies. And coming from me, that's saying something…"

Desmond's attention drifted away and out of the car as the two of them continued to quarrel over the potential disasters that could result from his return. Whether he was a zombie or something else entirely, he wasn't sure. Either way, he had to agree with Shaun that this supposed miracle almost certainly didn't come free of consequences. What those consequences would be, he'd just have to wait to find out.

A thick fog had settled in the foothills as they began their ascent into the mountains north of Montreal. It made Desmond uneasy, and not just because he couldn't see more than a hundred feet in any direction and thus couldn't tell if Abstergo had managed to track them this far. No, something else about it put him on edge, and he found himself shrinking into his seat as he desperately tried to shake a feeling of déjà vu.

"What do you think, Des?" Shaun looked in the rearview mirror. "Des?"

Hearing his name pulled him from his reverie. "Huh?"

"Hey, you alright?"

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Just… lost in thought I guess." He tried to shake the uneasiness from his mind, but like the fog, it pressed in even closer.

Shaun gave Rebecca an "I told you so" look.

She rolled her eyes. "That doesn't mean anything." She turned to face Desmond again, flashing him her usual optimistic smile. "Anything you want to talk about?"

He could only muster a half-hearted smile in return as he answered. "Nope. Nothing really to talk about."

"Alright," she said, her smile fading ever so slightly. "Well if you change your mind just say so. Frankly I'm curious to know what you may have, uh, experienced on the other side."

"Bex…" Shaun warned.

"What? I'm just asking. If you don't want to talk, you don't have to. Just know that we're here for you."

"Thanks." He mumbled, pausing for a moment while he rubbed his hand over his burnt arm, massaging out a dull pain that had started to flare. "To be honest I don't really remember much. I remember using the key and going through the door and then… nothing."

The other two shared a troubled look but seemed satisfied enough with his answer.

"That's probably for the best. I wouldn't want to remember it either," Rebecca said matter-of-factly.

"Rebecca," Shaun warned again.

"No, I just meant—I can't imagine remembering your own death would be a pleasant experience no matter what. Maybe it's a good thing you don't."

"Yeah," Desmond agreed quietly. "Maybe."

"But again, if you want to talk about it, or if anything comes back to you, we've got your back."

"Thanks. Both of you. It's uh… I really appreciate it."

"'Course, mate."

Desmond looked out the window again, trying to ignore the growing ache in his arm. He thought about the file he'd found back at Abstergo. He wished he'd had more time to look over it, to read it more in depth rather than just skimming through the photos. Perhaps it would've given him some answers.

"I have a question for you guys," he said.

"What's up?"

"While I was running around Abstergo, I came across a file called Sample 17. I was wondering what you guys knew about that."

Shaun and Rebecca shared an uncomfortable look.

"Sample 17 is what became of their Subject 17 project after you were gone," Rebecca explained. "Right around the time you, uh, left, they found a way to use someone else to analyze a person's genetic memories. Like if Shaun or I used the Animus to relive Ezio's memories, that sort of thing."

"They were already close to figuring it out when they took your father last year," Shaun added.

"Yeah, I remember him talking about it."

"I'd wager that was what pushed it to the top of their priority list. Without his cooperation they were dead in the water, but now they don't need it. Why use the actual test subject when you can just get a sample of blood and have one of your lackeys do the work? No need to house and feed a prisoner or deal with a potential breakout from your facilities. Hell, no need for them to even be alive, as it turns out."

"How convenient."

"Quite."

"So that's what you two were doing there? Working on the Sample 17 project?"

"Sort of, but not really," Shaun said. "A few months ago we heard Abstergo was opening a new location here. Obviously a big move like that meant they were up to something so we thought we'd look into it. We went undercover trying to get whatever information we could."

"We were also trying to find you. A couple hours after you—you know—once everything calmed down a bit, we went back to the Temple, but by the time we got there Abstergo was all over the place so we couldn't get in."

"That's how I ended up here?" Desmond asked.

"You didn't think we dropped you off at Abstergo, did you?" Shaun joked.

"No, I know you wouldn't do that. I just didn't realize how close they'd been to finding us."

"We're still not sure how they got there so fast either, to be honest. But before we could get back they took everything we hadn't already packed so we had to move on pretty quickly."

"Well at least you guys made it out okay, right?"

"Yeah, but we didn't want to leave you there."

"Not like I knew. And besides, you eventually did find me."

"I don't think 'find' is quite the right word," Shaun pointed out. "More like, stumbled upon."

"Ran into," Rebecca added.

"Almost fled from for fear of being stabbed."

"I get your point," Desmond said with a slight grin. "Still, I'm glad you were both there."

"Likewise."

A few minutes later they pulled off the main road and onto a long gravel driveway. They passed through a dense thicket of trees which eventually opened up into a small clearing, where on the far side a small, cabin-like house sat near the edge of a lake.

"Here we are," Shaun said as he pulled the car through the carport around the back of the house. "Home sweet home."

A/N: You didn't think they'd get away from Abstergo that easily, did you? ;)