Most people don't look up too often.
This, Desmond understands, is a fundamental fact of human nature. People look at each other, they look at the ground, they look at where they've come from, and they look at where they're going. 'Up' is pretty much the only direction they don't look.
Which is a good thing tonight, because the assassins are making no effort to stay hidden. They're waiting. Watching. Guarding. The hospital where they've brought Minerva is an older building, built up and added to over the years since it was first constructed. The inside was a confusing maze of hallways that led to unexpected places and elevators that went only halfway up the building. The nurses and doctors seemed to have a sort of sixth sense on how to get from place to place quickly, but that does little to help the assassins.
There are too many doors and windows to watch, so they watch from the rooftops instead. Six assassins, wings spread, armed to the teeth, watching the streets and the skies. It's only a matter of time until Juno comes, and this is the best way to keep an eye out for her. Inside, Shaun stands guard over Minerva's bed. He's not their strongest fighter, but Juno would have to get past everyone else to get to the two of them- by that point, the fight will already be lost. Rebecca walks the hallways outside, making sure none of the hospital staff is acting suspiciously. Juno's not the type to get other people to do her work for her, but that doesn't mean she's incapable of delegation.
"Desmond-"
He jerks a little as Haytham lands on the ledge next to him. Because of the piecemeal construction of the hospital, the roof is a multilayered monstrosity- the assassins are scattered on different levels of the roof, watching every available angle for Juno's approach, and so Haytham's arrival is sort of a surprise. "Hey," Desmond says, recovering himself a little. "What's up?"
"Something's wrong," Haytham says, and Desmond notes the way his eyes are constantly moving, scanning the streets below. "This is too easy."
"Easy?" Desmond asks. "This is easy?"
"Yes," Haytham says. "The last day I was at Abstergo-" two days ago, just after Minerva had been found- "I saw John."
"Yes," Desmond says. "He works there."
"He laughed," Haytham says. "John's a cocky bastard, but he definitely knows something we don't. That means Juno knows something we don't, and that means we should be extremely worried."
Desmond shrugs, uncomfortable. "I guess," he says. "But I mean… it's Juno. I'd be really surprised if things didn't go to shit. Didn't you notice our plan is basically 'wait for her to show up and do something'? We're just reacting to whatever she's going to do."
"Worst plan ever," Ezio comments, appearing out of nowhere to land beside the other two. Desmond jumps for a second time, and swears.
"Shit, guys," he complains. "Can you maybe stop doing that?"
"Pay more attention," Haytham says.
"I thought I was supposed to be watching the street, not you guys," Desmond grumbles, but when Edward flies over a few minutes later, he's paying enough attention to avoid being surprised.
"So I was thinking," he says. "About this plan-"
"It sucks but we don't have a choice," Haytham says. "Yes, we've covered that already."
"Then we should be doing something," Edward says. "Looking for her, anything!"
"We've been looking for her for what feels like forever," Haytham says. "We're not going to track her down now, and splitting our forces is a bad idea."
"We know she's coming here," Desmond says. "That's the only thing we know for sure, so this is where we have to be." He sighs, then adds "Hey, Connor," as their little group grows again.
"Hey," Connor says. "What's going on? I saw everyone over here and thought-"
"Nothing's wrong," Ezio says. "We're just complaining."
"Well, you can complain later," Connor says. "In case you forgot, we're still on the job."
But as he's turning to leave, Altair comes flying over from his perch on the other side of the roof. And while the others range from vaguely worried to outright bored by the long waiting game, he looks grim and almost afraid. "We're too late," he says. "Rebecca just called. Juno's already inside."
"What?" Ezio jumps to his feet, fists clenched. "We need to get in there, now."
"No." Altair grabs Ezio by the arm before he can take a single step. His mouth is set in a thin, tight line, and Desmond feels the bottom drop out of his stomach at the look in Altair's eyes. There's something there that Desmond had never expected to see from his surrogate father.
Defeat.
"What do you mean, no?" Ezio shouts, wrenching his arm away. "This is exactly what we've been waiting for, why wouldn't we-"
"She has a bomb," Altair says, and all the anger just drains right out of Ezio's face, replaced with surprise and then a numb kind of shock. "We've already lost."
That's when the building underneath them explodes. It's a huge, hot explosion, bursting out of the building in a burning hot fireball. Luckily- if a bomb in a hospital can be called lucky by any stretch of the imagination- it's several floors below them. Desmond feels the ground beneath him shift and buckle, and a second later he's been thrown clear by the sheer force of the blast. It resonates through him like a shockwave, and Desmond's vision starts to blur a little at the edges as consciousness threatens to desert him.
The seconds stretch out to an eternity, and the world seems to shift into slow motion. He shakes his head to clear it, and spreads his wings, looking around desperately to make sure everyone else is still alright. His heart is hammering inside his chest and he feels like there's a vice squeezing at his lungs so that every breath is a struggle. He can see the others falling around him, a flock of birds with broken wings, and the sight is awful. They are creatures of wind and air, best suited to the open air.
Fire is not their element, and Desmond can feel the heat below him eating at his feathers so that they start to curl up and mess with his flight. He swerves and almost falls, but manages to make it to the next closest rooftop just in time. Altair lands a few feet ahead of him, stumbling just slightly, and Edward slams into the wall a few seconds later, fingers scrabbling desperately for a solid grip. Desmond lunges toward him, grabbing the man and hauling him up as Altair jumps back off the roof.
Desmond is too worn out to do anything but sit back, panting desperately for air, but he watches as Altair dives for Connor. He must have been standing slightly closer to the explosion, or been hit by the shockwave in just the wrong way, because he's still unconscious and falling uncontrollably. His wings trail behind him as he falls, ragged and torn by the force of the wind and flames.
"Sh- shit," Edward pants. His eyes are wide and scared, all traces of his normal bravado completely wiped away. He makes it to his knees, crouching on the very edge of the roof, but he doesn't move any farther. By the time he makes it to Connor, there won't be enough time to slow down safely.
But Altair is close enough, and he manages to grab Connor around the waist and slow his fall. Between him and Haytham, who seems the least injured from the blast, they manage to haul Connor onto the roof next to the other three.
And there they stand, the five of them, staring at each other like the world has just come crashing down around them, and they can't quite believe that it's happened so quickly.
Because it has. And they can't.
Finally, Desmond speaks. "If Juno was in there, she's dead now, too." But he doesn't really believe what he's saying, and obviously no one else does, either.
"It's her bomb," Haytham says. "She'll have had a way out, she's too smart to get stuck in her own trap." There's a ventilation system a few feet away, and he lashes out suddenly, kicking at the metal so hard that it dents under his repeated blows. "Damn it! Damn her!"
The rest of them only watch, too tired and defeated to interfere. Haytham very rarely gets angry, but when he does it's a sight to see. When he finally finishes lashing out at the architecture, he collapses, panting and still scowling, onto the roof between Edward and Connor. "Shit," he mumbles, apparently for emphasis.
"Um…" Desmond suddenly frowns. "Where's Ezio?"
"I saw him," Edward volunteers. "When we were falling. He looked okay, but I guess…"
Almost as one, they turn to stare at the rubble of what had been a hospital building less than five minutes ago. There's no question that if Ezio had survived the blast, that's where he must have gone. With Shaun and Minerva inside when the bomb went off, there's nowhere else on Earth he would have gone.
"They might have survived," Edward says. "We did."
"We were on the roof," Altair says. Connor starts to twitch and moan softly, putting a hand to his head and sitting up, obviously in pain. "They were in the middle of…" he gestures at the rubble. "Of that. That means not only the initial bomb blast, but all that rubble, falling on top of them. And the fire, the fall… no, it's too late. We messed up. We failed, and we let her win."
"Dad…" Desmond's protest dies in his throat as Altair turns his back on the others, crossing his arms and hunching his shoulders like the weight of the entire world has settled on him. Desmond can practically see him mentally assigning himself responsibility for all those deaths, for the nurses and doctors crushed under rubble, for long term patients burned alive, for newborn infants that will never get to live. And suddenly he's angry.
Desmond gets to his feet, surprised that he doesn't shake at all as he does so. "You said it yourself," he says. "Juno has to still be alive, so we have to stop her. Okay?"
"We don't know where to find her," Haytham protests. "Altair's right, this is over. She's won."
"Not yet," Desmond says. "We don't need to find her." He takes a deep breath. "Juno's going to come find us."
The others look at him with blank, uncomprehending faces, but Desmond doesn't wait for them to put it together. He knows they'll try to stop him, and there's no time for that. He can hear a crowd starting to gather below them, ambulances from other hospitals and news crews ready to film the carnage.
Desmond takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and does a leap of faith off the roof. The fall seems to take forever, and Desmond can hear the people below him shouting as they catch sight of him. When he's close enough, he lets his wings snap out, slowing him down enough so that when he lands safely instead of crashing into a fresh crater in the rubble.
And the people stare. At him, at his wings, at the intense expression he can feel forming on his own face. He strides to the nearest newscaster, a blonde woman with her mouth gaping over in shock. She holds her microphone loosely in one hand, and Desmond grabs it from her before turning to the camera.
"You missed," he says, and smiles at the imagined look of fury on Juno's face when she sees the broadcast. Behind him, he hears several quick thuds, and doesn't have to look behind him to know the rest of his family is standing there, silently supporting him. "But feel free to try again, any time you want. We're done hiding."
"And we'll be ready next time," Altair growls from behind him.
"Sir!" The newswoman calls after Desmond as he starts to turn away from the camera. "Sir, are you claiming responsibility for this explosion?"
"Absolutely not," Desmond says, without elaboration. He doesn't want anyone else going after Juno. They wouldn't have the slightest idea how to stop her, and he doesn't want any more pointless deaths in this war.
"And the- the wings?" the woman asks. "How- what are you people?"
This time, Desmond doesn't stop, just walks away with the others to blend into the crowd. This is perhaps the only place on Earth where five men with wings can walk around without attracting attention. It's not that nobody notices, it's that nobody cares. For now, at least, the recent disaster is the only thing anyone cares about.
Desmond pulls his wings back in, following the example of the others just ahead of him, and suddenly it's like he really is invisible. The cries of the sick and injured are a horrible chorus in his ears, and the stench is enough to make him want to throw up. Dust and dirt clogs the air, and Desmond has to switch to eagle vision just to keep his family in sight.
And it's lucky that he does, because that's when he notices the flash of blue in the corner of his eye. Three figures, half obscured behind a pile of rubble a little way away from the epicenter of the explosion, glowing with a soft, reassuring aura. Desmond gasps and breaks away from the rest of the group. He's fighting his own brain the whole time, trying to fight down the sudden burst of hope that's rises up in him.
But sure enough, when he rounds the corner there they are- Rebecca, Shaun, and Minerva, the latter two with wings spread, all three looking burned and scraped but alive. Conscious, even.
Desmond stares down at the group on the ground, uncomprehending (he feels like he's missed a step or two) but unbearably relieved. This isn't over yet. Not by a long shot.
-/-
Next chapter: What happened inside the hospital