Tori stepped from the car and shivered. She hated the cold, the snow, the wind that froze the snot right inside her nose, and she really hated working in said weather. That was when at all possible, she was down in the southern part of the world, trying to not wear so many layers, and could feel her fingers and toes at all times. Even as a child, she hated the white death, and that was that.
Shouldering the small bag that she carried at all times, her destination was laid out in front of her. Maneuvering around the people that stood like statues, yelling things into the cell phones that she thought they had permanently attached to their heads, she could see William sitting on a bench near a frozen fountain, head bent down, reading the paper.
Taking a seat next to him, she rubbed her hands together, trying to rid the chill from them with no avail. "You couldn't have met in a warmer place, like a restaurant, or a hotel lobby?" Snow began to fall around them, and out of a reaction, she sighed, pulling her hood tighter around her face.
Looking up, William had a ghost of a smile on his face. "You seem, not yourself. You're actually irritated."
Her eyes narrowed at the master of their group. "Yeah, you could say that. I was on my way to New Orleans when you called to divert me here to help with a snatch and grab. It had better be worth it."
That must have set something off in him, because his eyes became mere slits in his face. "You will do as you are commanded. You are not the grandmaster, so you do not get to choose where you go. I tell you what you are to do and when you are to do it. Got that?"
She had never seen him this pissed before. "Got it." Giving her normal emotionless answer, Tori tucked her hands into her pockets. "Now what are we here for?"
Pointing to the hotel across the street, he spoke. "Our target is in there. His name is Olivier Garneau, and he is the COO of Abstergo Entertainment in Montreal. He has flown down here for a shareholder's meeting and now would be the best time to grab him. That's why you're here."
Looking around, she let the sixth sense take over and the crowd lit up in a variety of colors. Blue on a few, white on most, but a few men that stood across the street were red hued denoting them as her enemy and ones they would have to watch out for.
"Three men to the left of the door. The guard, the valet, and the bellhop are it. Those are the only ones I see, but knowing the Templars, there are more around that I can't see." Then the realization dawned on her. "You didn't bring me here because I can fight. You brought me because I can see things that you or the others can't." And that in itself was kind of hurtful.
There was only a nod from William as she stood and folded the paper under his arm. "You're the only one at this time that can find the enemies that we can't see."
The only other person on the planet would be Desmond, but no one knew where he was at that time. No one, save for the people across the street that were hell bent on wiping out everyone like her. "So what is our course of action? Are we going to study his movements, and then grab him, or will there be others joining us?"
He motioned her to follow and so she did. "I have two others coming and a friend figuring out the best way out of the city undetected. I have to meet up with her tomorrow morning." A ringing came from his pocket. Pulling out the phone, he looked at the screen. "Hold on a minute, I have to take this."
She stood there, watching the snow begin to fall on the streets of the Windy City. Now, she couldn't help but admit that it was pretty in a way, but the cold was what threw her from the beauty. Christmas carols could be heard playing from stores around them, and she tried to tone them out. It wasn't that she disliked the holiday, it just didn't hold good memories for her.
William's voice raised a bit, and she turned her attention back to him. "Yeah, I hear you. Look, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call, Isabella. I know you'll do the right thing." And he hung up the phone.
Tori knew why the man dealt with her. It was because of his grandson. No one had much interaction with Isabella since she went completely off the deep end last year. She wouldn't admit it, but since what happened to her did happen, the girl was a better assassin, and frankly, it worried her to no end. Give a nut job the ability to completely fuck another person's life up. Yeah, that was not the smartest thing she had ever heard of.
"Problems on the home front?" She asked as he came back to her side, his hand running worry lines through the thick gray hair that topped his head.
"Isabella found Desmond." And with that, he walked off, leaving her to follow if she so chose. But this was something that she wanted to know about.
Catching up with him was easy. "Now, can you tell me about that? How did she find him when no one else had been able to?"
His eyes looked over at her, and then back to the walkways ahead. "A few days ago Desmond called me. Told me that he had managed to escape, and asked for her number. He wouldn't tell me where he was, but somehow she got it from him, and of course, with the help if her mother, managed to get to him. Now, they are on their way back and if everything goes right, which knowing their track record it won't, they will be back in the states tomorrow afternoon."
"You don't have much faith in them getting back here, do you?" She asked as she stepped over a small pile of snow, and continued on with him down the sidewalk, the cold all but forgotten, until a gust blew at the edges of her coat, going right through the jeans she had on.
He shook his head. "Not that much, no. Desmond was always one that could get himself into all kinds of trouble, and it seems to follow him like a shadow. Isabella, from what I've heard from her family is almost the same way." He pulled her to a stop as a car passed, spraying slush up onto the sideway in front of them, narrowly missing them both. "If they make it back, without attracting attention from Abstergo, and also without a large body count, I will be amazed."
She had seen pieces of the girl's memories from the past, and as much as she didn't want to admit it she had become a force to be reckoned with, as did Desmond. With the two of them together, she didn't doubt that if cornered, the body count would be high, but even she wasn't sure if they would make it out alive.
Snorting, Tori looked at the Desmond's father. "You do know that what she did was kind of stupid, right?" It was beyond stupid. It was plain out retard.
"I know that, and you know that, but don't even try to tell her that. Honestly, I'm thankful that she went to retrieve my son, but for her to do it alone was beyond dumb." She heard him exhale. "But enough of that. We have a job to do, and not much time to plan. All we have to do is wait for Damien and his son before we can begin."
And that was when she lost her composure. "What?!" She screeched. "Seth is going to be here?" After rubbing his ear, William nodded. "You do know that putting us in the same area, hell, let alone the same state is dangerous on its own, correct?"
A smile lifted the edges of his lips. "Tori, I know you will so the right thing when it comes time. I believe that you value the mission more than you will want to kill Seth. Now, if it's going to be a problem, I can have you reassigned. I hear Rebecca and Shaun need a lookout up in Canada."
Just the thought of going deeper into the frozen north was enough to make her want to scream. "No, I will be fine. Just do not stick him with me, or I will kill him for sure."
*/*/*/*/*/*/*
"Damn Isabella! Don't you have any type of bedside manner?!" Desmond yelled as he cringed as Isabella cleaned the wound on his arm.
She snorted as she began to clean it some more. "Oh would you shut up. Look, I'm doing the best I can here, you whiny ass. I only know simple first aid, and since we can't go to a hospital, you're just going to have to deal with this for now."
Yelling once more, he grabbed a pillow from the bed, and shoved a corner of it into his mouth, trying to keep the profanities he wanted to hurl at her inside for now. She had gone out of her way to get him the things that he needed, like antibiotics, bandages, and fresh clothes. The clothes were easy and you could get them anywhere, but from what she had said, there was a pharmacy a few miles away that was missing a few different types of antibiotics.
"Des, I'm sorry alright. I really am trying my best." Her voice was soft, and pulling the pillow from his mouth, he cringed when she ran some cool water over it.
He knew he shouldn't be snapping at her, and at that moment he felt bad for what he had said. So, with a sigh, he apologized. "I know, and I shouldn't be snapping at you. I don't make the greatest patient do I?"
Hearing her chuckle, he knew that she wasn't taking it too badly. "No, not really. I guess I would make a really shitty nurse. Guess that's why I never went for that."
Trying to think of anything to take his mind off of what she was doing, he began to ask her things. "So, since I missed a year, what happened in that time frame?"
Her hands stilled on his arm for a moment, then the cleaning continued. "Well, there's about a month I don't really remember a lot of. I tried to hide from the world, and forget everything that happened. I thought I had imagined it all for a while there, until I found out I was pregnant. Even then, it was hard not to think about that time, and still be able to function.
"Your dad and the others held a memorial for you, but I didn't go. My mom and dad thought I was not well enough, and truthfully, I wasn't. I was a mess, but the one thing that really pulled me out of that was hearing Collin's heartbeat for the first time. That right there told me that I had another life, besides mine, that I had to worry about." Her smile said it all. Their son was her world, and he didn't blame her. He knew nothing about him up until four days ago, and already he knew he wanted to be there for him.
"So tell me about him. All you said was he has my hair and eyes but your complexion. Hell, I don't even know his full name." He watched her grab for the gauze and begin to wrap it around the wound.
"After I'm done here, I'll show you a picture. I don't go anywhere without one." She smiled. "But his full name is Collin Ezio Miles. Your dad demanded a DNA test be done, because he didn't believe me when I said Collin was yours. Instead, I let them hook me to the Animus and showed them my memories. That changed their minds real fast. Then, when I was able, I wiped the floor with my dad, Seth, Tori, your dad, and another guy whose name escapes me, at once. Yeah, that was a fun day. I think I bruised their egos, because before I left, I wasn't that good of an assassin. I mean, I excelled at parkour, but the rest was, well, sub-par." Putting a piece of medical tape at the end, she stood. "There, all done."
Sitting up, he moved his arm around a bit. The area was still sore, but he knew it was going to be like that for some time. "Thanks, and I'm sorry I missed so much."
"I know it wasn't your fault." She threw the towel into the bathroom, and the other things into the trash. "I was never mad at you. Hell, I thought I lost you forever, until my brother told me about the file they had found with your message in it. Oh I could have killed him for hiding it from me."
Grabbing his shirt, Desmond slipped it on, and stood. "Well, what do we do from here?"
Shrugging, Isabella took a seat in one of the chairs. "Don't know. I mean, we can try and get out of here through the airport. I have Seth's passport. You can claim to be him, but the hair color is wrong, and so is the eye color." Picking up a small bag of chips, she opened them and popped one in her mouth. "My return flight is tomorrow. Mom only gave me two days to find you, grab you and get back."
"Did you think you were going to do it in that amount of time?" Russia was a big country, and he could have been anywhere when she showed up.
"I really didn't know, but I was going to give it my best. I had to try at least. I mean, you had a phone, and I did what I was going to do, and that was call you and find out where you were. That saved me time from having to try and track you down." She held out the bag, he took a few chips. "I'm glad it worked and I found you, but now the problem is trying to get you on the plane."
He didn't know either. The idea of using Seth's passport was a good one, but they would have to dye his hair, and tell everyone that his eyes were brown because of contacts. "What about dying my hair red? I mean, we can tell them that I am wearing colored contacts."
She shook her head. "Problem there. It's really hard to get dark brown hair like yours to a copper red like Seth's. I mean, you and he have the same build. The lie about the contacts, sure, but we could also say you died your hair. It could work, but the law will be called if this goes south."
"We're just going to have to chance it. We have to get out of this country and back to the states." He knew it was going to be a long shot, but it was something that they were going to have to try.
"If you're up for it." She handed him the chips, and sighed. "I get you a ticket and pray for the best."
And that was what he was going to do. If they made it out of this with their lives, he was going to make sure that he never left her side again. Her and their son's. He was not going to be like his father. Collin would have the choice of being an assassin, or not. Either way was fine with him.
So, after the flight had been booked and the phone calls made, she held out a photo. "Here." She said. "It's a picture I took of Collin a few days ago. I thought I was the funniest thing when I put him in a bouncy seat for the first time. He had a blast and just laughed every time something moved."
Reaching out, he took the photo in his hands and looked at the little boy that was his, and if he didn't know any better, he would have sworn he was looking at a baby picture of himself. "You weren't kidding. He really does look like me."
Laughing, she moved his arm, and took a seat on his lap. "You have no idea." Her smile grew when he wrapped his arms around her. "Welcome back Desmond." And leaning down, she kissed him. He knew he was home.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Shaun laid in his bed, ideas running around in his head as he thought back on the day that had just transpired. Finding out Tori was most likely the descendent of Eve was something he was not prepared to find, but that was not even the tip of the iceberg. It was the fact that he was finding out things that had been buried in the sands of time that had his mind racing. He was always a fan of puzzles and conspiracy theories, so for the chance to uncover something far older, and possibly more sinister than that of the Templars, sent his blood racing, and his mind doing calculations.
Not being able to stand it any longer, he grabbed his glasses from the nightstand, and wandered into the living room. Something was itching at the back of his brain, and he had to figure it out before he went completely mad. It was the Templar hunt all over again, but this time he knew to be careful as to how far he dug, and not to leave a trace of him being in that database.
Becca's laptop sat on the table, small white light blinking slowly, letting him know that it was just asleep. He had to figure out the puzzle, the key to what all of this meant. He remembered having a chat with Desmond shortly after he awoke from his coma about what had conspired in the Temple of Juno under the Coliseum. They talked about what she had said, and what she had told him he must do. Then, Juno decided to try and end his life before he had finished what he was to do.
The daughter of Eve had been found, and now was the time the end of the tale was to unfold. Together they were to bring back the Ones Who Came Before, the First Civilization, the slavers of the human race. Could they allow that to happen? That weighted heavy on him, for he was the one that found the truth. He was the one that had placed the pieces in place.
It was driving him mad to no end, thinking about the puzzle that was in his head. At least there was nothing to worry back Desmond and Tori getting together. He wasn't even sure that she liked men, or people in general, and he was pretty sure Desmond was not going to leave Isabella once he came back. He had seen how he was through her memories.
Letting his head roll back, he stared at the ceiling, and sighed. He knew he was missing something, but it was escaping him. Something so small, but it was going to have a large impact on all that were involved. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew it was only a matter of time until all of that came into the light, and fucked them all once more.
Hello once more! As you can see, I did not post a preview of the next chapter. Let's see how it rolls for a little bit. If you guys want me to bring them back, let me know, but they will be shortened. See ya later.