A/N: Okay get guys, it's brilliantmemories here. Googleit6 is already asleep, considering we have a four time difference between us. So, I finally got my ass around to writing my bit. I think... things have taken an interesting turn. I've beaten Brotherhood so I know for sure that the Modern Assassin's take in Italy. Though... I guess before we started writing this, we were believed it was in New York City. Huh, anyways, hopefully I can try and get googleit6 to get a few pointers from me about locations, since she can't play the game until Christmas. The end was a complete mind fuck though.

PS: I wrote the first bit, she wrote the second. Enjoy!

Also, just to clear something up, someone said something earlier about the title, Plug in Baby. It's nothing to be taken seriously, it's just a title I made spur of the moment as a joke. Plug in Baby by Muse. Baby = the Animus. Desmond gets plugged in? Har har har, I'm just so funny.

Chapter Seven

The streets weren't busy at all, but eerily empty. People were trickling into taxis and trying to get home so they could meet their family for dinner. Shaun, instead of having dinner, was out in the freezing cold, searching for the pain in the ass assassin, Desmond.

Really, how old is this guy? Shaun asked himself, sighing as he pulled his trench coat around himself tighter, as he could see his breath in front of him. Trudging through the freshly fallen snow, Shaun tried to pick up his pace as the thought of losing Desmond began to run through his mind frantically. What if a Templar caught him? What if Vidic was back at the warehouse, taking Lucy and Rebecca hostage? Or even worse, killing them?

With a scowl, Shaun turned a corner, yelling Desmond's name as loud as he could.

"Desmond, you twat! Where are you? Desmond!" He called out for the assassin, hoping the idiot would respond to his simple commands. The snowflakes began to fall thickly, quickly becoming relatable to a winter desert. Then out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something among the rooftops of the shops across the street. Focusing his gaze, he saw as another blur of white jumped on the roofs, trying to decide on which way to go. Finally, Shaun growled under his breath and began to cross the street, making sure he wasn't hit- that could have been quite unfortunate. There was no sense in slowing down their operation now – they had to decipher that shit ton of information they had received from their last run through – who was Minerva? What were these people called Those Who Came Before? These... Gods? With the message to Ezio, it put an urgency stamp on everything they did. Every single move counted and if they screwed up, recovering from the booboo wouldn't be as simple as it been before.

Stepping onto the sidewalk, Shaun dipped into an alleyway and looked around, finding he had walked right into a tight space. It reminded him of when Desmond had run away from him, the bastard. But that couldn't have been Desmond – he was a twat, but he wasn't clueless enough to completely stray from another Assassin, even if he didn't like Shaun that much. Plus, he had been too eager to get away from Shaun back at the warehouse; like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it all seemed too suspicious.

"Desmond?" Shaun called out again, feeling an odd sensation of claustrophobia begin to kick in. Last time he had been in an alley like this, he had been significantly hurt and he didn't want to go through that again. What if Templars appeared at each end? Once again, Shaun hadn't prepared himself and left his gun in his drawer somewhere in his room. Oh how useful it was sitting in there. Shaun took a deep breath and continued walking when he heard fast footsteps approaching him. Within a second, he turned around, eyes wide, ready for whatever was coming for him. But no one was there. However, that's when he saw a shadow leap out in front of him then disappear again, like a by passing bird, except it had been much larger.

More human like.

"Desmond!" Shaun shouted again, as loud as he could manage. And then suddenly, everything seemed to drop into slow motion as something strange happened.

He hadn't even heard him, nevertheless seen him, until he glanced upward for a quick second to see if the shadow had disappeared. A man jumped on him, crashing all his weight onto the historian's body that had no time to brace its self. The impact felt shattering as Shaun fell backwards, his head smacking hard against the wet cement. With a small cry of pain, he was silenced as he settled on his back, body aching, a hand covering his mouth. Shaun had no strength to struggle as the hooded figure drew his fist back, ready to strike. All sense of awareness evaporated as a fist collided with his jaw, causing a muffled shout of pain.

"How do you know who this Desmond is?" The voice shouted and Shaun immediately recognized who it was; then all his strength came back to him. With a hard, powerful shove, Shaun managed to fling Desmond off him and into the alleyway. Immediately he followed up and grabbed the front of Desmond's hoodie, smashing him into the wall. Quickly, Shaun became light headed and dizzy, leading him to conclude that he had suffered a mild concussion. Either that or he had just gotten up way too fast.

"What the bloody hell is your problem? What if you had fucking killed me? Are you turning psycho on us already, you fucking twat?" Shaun hollered, feeling a headache slam into his brain. But it only took one split second to lose his concentration for Desmond to fling him down, his body sliding roughly against the hard concrete ground. With a grunt, Shaun looked at him, shivering as he could feel the snow melting through his trousers.

"Who are you?" Desmond shouted and slapped his hand against his waist, as if he were trying to grab a sword that just wasn't there.

"Alright, obviously you're a little out of things, Desmond," Shaun laughed nervously, feeling a sore ache creep over his body. Since when had Desmond become such a strong fighter?

"Why are you calling me Desmond? I'm Ezio!" Shaun watched in wonder as Desmond, for once split moment, held an expression completely similar to Ezio's when he was frightened. A thought crossed Shaun's mind but he merely shrugged it off, trying to get back to his feet. But as he managed to get on his knees, Desmond's own knee collided with the bottom of his chin and he flew back, smacking his head against the hard, ice cold ground once again. Limbs sprawled out, Shaun felt fatigue combating his alertness; this moment with Desmond would pass – soon he would be his normal self again. Carefully raising his head, he looked at Desmond, who was looking around worriedly, as if a set of guards might patrol the streets at night like they had in the 15th century. These bleeds were to last thirty seconds and even then, they weren't full on hallucinations. How long had it been? A minute? Two?

"Desmond... You're in the 21st century, relax. It's okay, there's no Templars looking for us, your fellow Assassins are back at-"

"Assassins?" This caught Desmond's attention quickly. "You are an Assassin?"

"Haha, I find it amusing that you're so shocked, Desmond. Yes, I am an Assassin," Shaun slowly took off his jacket, then proceeded to roll up his shoulder. He had hated getting the tattoo done – it felt tacky and it hurt after the first while, but he needed it – just like the rest of the Assassin's did. Best to have it on the shoulder, somewhere it could be hidden easily. "And if I observed correctly, yours..." Shaun stepped closer to Desmond, quickly invading his personal space and he felt the man's body tense up. It got even worse when Shaun slowly began to push Desmond's left sleeve up, revealing his tribal tattoos. "Somewhere in this mess... Ah, here." He pointed to a small, intricate design in which, the symbol of the Assassins was hidden but revealed to the eye of one belonging to the Brotherhood. Much to Shaun's surprise, he began to thumb the tattoo, finding his mind go astray as he retrieved a memory he had repressed.

Meeting his first Assassin, a young man whose name he couldn't recall. Betrayed... A double agent that had nearly compromised Shaun's plans to reveal Abstergo for what they really were. That had been ten years ago. Without another thought, Shaun quickly filed away the memory, unable to rid of it at all.

When he became too focused on the tattoo, he was jerked back to reality when Desmond pulled his hand back, a bit too quick for Shaun's liking. "Desmond?" He tried again.

"I am Ezio Auditore, I must speak to Mario. Or Leonardo. Where are they?" Shaun watched as Desmond scanned the alley, still confused at his whereabouts.

"Perhaps I should take you back to the stronghold-" Shaun began when he was abruptly cut off.

"No! I must find my fellow Assassins!" He growled furiously and turned his back on Shaun before scaling the building right beside him. For a moment, Shaun didn't believe what he was seeing. Desmond was moving at such a fast pace – the pace of a skilled free runner, not that of a beginner or moderate level. No, he was moving like Ezio was, his fingers nimble and rapid on grabbing the next ledge and pulling himself up. Shaun wasn't sure if this was Desmond at all. But in fear of losing him again, Shaun jumped up at the wall, following the man as he body pleaded with him to drop and rest, like a sane human being. But Shaun couldn't – he had to stop Desmond or... Ezio- Whoever he was, Lucy would absolutely kill him if the assassin got killed or even worse, lost. Shaun couldn't even contemplate the damage Abstergo would deal him, because he was far too valuable to throw out just yet. Shaun hurried his pace as he watched Ezio climb over the ledge and onto the roof. Soon enough, Shaun was on the roof, watching as Ezio jumped across a roof top, his speed not faltering in the slightest. Shaun took a deep breath and took his jump of faith, praying that he wouldn't plummet to his death below him.

Instead, his feet landed safely on solid ground and he looked up to see Ezio was two buildings ahead. Was Shaun really that rusty?

"Wait!" Shaun shouted and tried to keep his running steady but he was finding it hard. With the lack of sleep and mundane tasks he did on a daily basis, it was hard to concentrate- To keep one foot ahead of the other. He felt absolutely lost in controlling his body and as he went to jump for the next roof, he couldn't put all his effort and strength into it. "Ezio!" He called out, his arms reaching out for the ledge that he calculated he wasn't going to land past. With a loud grunt and a hard collision with the wall, Shaun barely managed to grab the ledge, and he felt as if his arm sockets were going to be yanked out. This is how Ezio must have felt at the beginning. It was as if the air was knocked out of him as he struggled to hold onto the frozen solid ledge, trying to kick his feet against the wall to haul himself up. But he was exhausted, sore and still recovering from earlier. Shaun stole a quick glance at the ground and ran a scenario through his head.

If he fell, yes, he would certainly die.

He wanted nothing more than to scream for Ezio to come back, but he would remain dignified and try to help himself up. But slowly, he knew he was losing grip and that any moment now, his fingers would let go and Desmond would have some major explaining to do to Lucy and Rebecca. Suddenly, a warm hand grabbed onto his.

"Give me your other hand!" Ezio yelled and Shaun did so without reluctance and soon found it grasped tightly. "Now!" Shaun gasped as Ezio pulled him up, and he felt the tension and agony in his shoulders as he was rescued. But within a second, the pain was over and replaced with a firm warmth. Shaun opened his eyes to see that he was on top of Desmond, not exactly in a suggestive pose but exactly enough to feel how warm he actually was, despite wearing just a hoodie.

"You saved me," Shaun said blankly, staring at Ezio who was looking right on back at the man on top of him.

"…It would appear I did." Ezio seemed just as surprised as Shaun was.

"Why?" Shaun was too exhausted and shocked to formulate a more complex sentence.

Ezio opened his mouth, and then closed it.

"I don't know…" His eyes were uneasy, darting sporadically around.

"Well…" Shaun wasn't used to saying "thank you", even to people who save him from a date with gravity and reservations with the cement, but he figured he could choke it out this one time, considering that Ezio was almost as lethal as a three story drop, and probably even quicker than one. "Thank you. I guess."

Ezio regained his trademark cheeky expression as Shaun's apology reached his ears.

"Don't think that action will go unrewarded. It would appear that you have the answers I have been searching for." Ezio surveyed Shaun as if he had the answer written on bits of scrap paper in his pockets.

Shaun felt himself grimace, getting the feeling that Ezio would be the one getting all the answers, and his questions would still be hanging in the air like a helium balloon that's almost given up hope. After all, Ezio could snap Shaun's neck at any given moment- he's seen him do it to tons of guards in the Animus, and he sure as hell wasn't any different- and Shaun could type one hundred twenty words a minute. Unless he threw the keyboard at Ezio, he wasn't going to be out-threatening him anytime soon.

"There's a safe place where we can- Are you okay?" Shaun looked down to see Ezio, wide eyed, staring at him. His face was bright red, and he seemed to have just realized he was in what some would call a "compromising" position. Quick as Shaun could think of a reason to call Desmond a twat, Ezio had shoved him off, almost sending him flying back over the edge of the building again. Shaun, who wasn't ready to relive that experience quite so soon, managed to stop himself right before the edge, forcing a strange, matrix-like move out of his body. If he hadn't been the professional historian/assassin that he was, Shaun would have let himself revel in the fact that that was one of the coolest moves he had ever done.

"What the hell, Ez-Des… Ezio!" Shaun choked on the subject of his sentence, unsure of what to call the man who looked like Desmond, but spoke and seemed to think like Ezio. (Though, to be fair, Ezio and Desmond could have passed as brothers if you could overlook the fact that one was the great-great-something-son of the other.) But hearing an Italian accent being spoken out of Desmond's trademark white hoodie threw Shaun through a loop. He didn't have time to contemplate the seriousness of it, as he and Ezio, or Desmond, or whoever the hell he was, had to get back to the stronghold.

Ezio's face had returned to its original color, but he was still extremely wary.

"I…uh…" Ezio scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, searching for words.

Shaun was going to say something snarky when two thoughts entered his mind. Firstly, Ezio probably still wasn't opposed to snapping his neck. Secondly, and much more importantly, Shaun just realized how awkward the positions they were just in must have seemed to Ezio, a ladies man from the fifteenth century, whose closest contact with a man had probably been the hugs he received from Leonardo- and even those were considered out of the ordinary. Shaun had always figured Ezio had put up with them only because he liked Leonardo so much. (And Leonardo was the one who kept his hidden blade and whole arsenal in such good shape.)

Shaun felt his face heat up, realizing the impression Ezio got, and now was more sure than ever that he wouldn't make it back to the stronghold without a slit throat. As soon as Ezio saw Shaun's expression, he felt himself flushing again, and soon enough there was enough heat between them to pop a bag of popcorn.

Both men stood still for a moment, embarrassment radiating from them like UV rays from a tanning booth. Their stances were mirror images of each other: both Shaun and Ezio stood with their feet shoulder width apart, fists clenched by their sides, and looking off to the side like there was a particularly interesting speck of dirt that suddenly caught their eye.

Eventually, Shaun managed to shove the very pink, very gay elephant in the room aside, and tell Ezio to follow him back to the stronghold.

"Why should I follow you?" Ezio frowned, looking like he'd much rather be jumping between buildings like a great, overgrown frog rather than follow a man who he just had an unexpectedly intimate moment with.

Shaun sighed, trying to keep the condescending tone out of his voice. He was probably witnessing one of the most interesting scientific anomalies of this generation, and he was already annoyed. He wasn't sure whether that said more about him or about Ezio.

"You should follow because I have your answers, remember?" Okay, maybe he didn't really have a lot of answers, but he certainly had enough to keep Ezio placated… for now. Once Ezio realized that Shaun really knew about as much as he did, Shaun figured they would have some extremely quick thinking to do, but he pushed those thoughts out of his mind. There were more pressing matters at hand- like getting Ezio to not take off again, and figuring out what the hell was going on, and if Desmond would ever make another appearance, or was lost somewhere forever roaming in the grey matter of Ezio's mind.

Ezio considered Shaun's reason briefly, before nodding.

"Very well. Though be warned, I won't hesitate to attack you if I see anything suspicious. I'm only giving you warning because I really need those answers."

Shaun grimaced.

"I doubt you could outrun my gun…" He mumbled, before mustering up an almost convincing smile for Ezio. "Let's get back to the stronghold. If it makes you feel better, you can walk behind me or in front. Just make sure to keep up."

Ezio snorted. "I think I will be okay."

Shaun shook his head, a smile playing at the edges of his lips. If he wasn't so sore and exhausted, he would have taken Ezio up on the obvious challenge, even though he was guaranteed to lose. No matter how much he complained and soliloquized about how much his life sucked all night, it was rather liberating to be out in the fresh air for a prolonged amount of time- not that he would ever credit Desmond with something even remotely relating to his enjoyment. No, this was something he would keep to himself. No one needed to know that Desmond had given him exactly what he needed tonight.

"Let's go," Shaun said, making his way to the ladder of the roof, and climbing down with a groan.

"What is wrong?" Ezio asked, waiting for Shaun at the bottom of the ladder.

"GAH!" Shaun shouted, dropping the last few rungs and landing with gritted teeth. "How the hell did you get down there?"

Ezio smirked.

"It is like magic, no?"

Shaun rolled his eyes.

"Let's get a move on, Houdini."

"What's a Houdini?"

An hour and an almost near death experience later that involved a bus, a time travelling assassin, and an ignored stop sign, Shaun and Ezio stumbled into the warehouse, their boots squelching like offended ducks.

"Stay quiet," Shaun warned, realizing just now that he had never formulated a plan for dealing with Lucy and Rebecca.

"Right." Ezio mumbled, transfixed by the massive stacks of boxes in front of him shrouded in shadow that screamed "climb me" like a woman wearing fishnet stockings on a street corner screamed… something very similar to that, with a "pay me" thrown in for good measure.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Shaun snapped his fingers in Ezio's face, successfully getting his attention. "We've got to think of a plan."

Suddenly, Shaun found himself flying through the air, and coming to a crushing stop against one of the stacks of boxes. Ezio had grabbed onto his lapels, and was glaring at him, the heat from his eyes melting the snow in Shaun's hair.

"Do not do that. I startle easily." Ezio dusted Shaun off a little harder than necessary, rattling his teeth in his mouth as he did so. "There. Good as new."

Shaun sighed. He almost missed Desmond.