Italy, 2012
Two men walked along the floor of the airport. Backpacks were slung on their shoulders.
The one was tall, dark skinned. His black hair was combed back from his clean shaven face, blue eyes staring brightly from it. He was dressed in a green army jacket, red T-shirt, and jeans, high topped black combat boots covered by them to the ankles.
The other was almost a dwarf by comparison. A dust-colored jacket hung around his shoulders over a black Bob Marley T-shirt, loose jeans over beaten up Vans. They stopped in front of one of the men seated at the cafe in the airport lounge.
The man had a spikey head of red hair, his brown eyes flitting over lines of text behind black-framed glasses. He wore a gray sweatervest, a white, collared shirt under it, and black slacks with brown shoes. A wristwatch was strapped to his left arm.
"Hello, Guy Fawkes," said the tall man. The man snapped his head up from his work.
"You're Shadow Thief?" he asked, voice bearing a heavy British accent. He looked toward the other male. "Who's this then?"
"I'm a white-nosed Arab ninja," was the response.
"You're a looney," was Guy Fawkes' immediate reply. Standing, he said, "Well, come along. Work to do, places to go. How d'you Arabs say it?"
"Yallah." The dark eyes stared through the smudged lenses at the unison answer.
They were brought to a van parked outside and climbed inside. Guy Fawkes started the van and headed off, grasping at the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. Releasing, then grasping again.
"So, what're your names really?"
"Yours first."
"Shaun Hastings. Tactical support and historian. Yourselves?"
"Jameel."
"What, no last name?" Silence. "What about you, numptynuts?"
"Lex."
"Do you have a last name, or what?" Silence. "Bloody hell. So, what're you two to each other? Just Assassins?"
"No, not just Assassins," said Jameel. Shaun took a left and headed down the road into the downtown area.
"Really? And what's that mean, hmm? A little Master-Apprentice thing going on? Well, young paduwan, what do you say?"
"I don't think Annikin Skywalker ever banged Obi Wan." The two passengers were thrust forward against the seatbelts as Shaun slammed on the brakes, nearly rear-ending the stopped car in front of him.
"Right," Shaun whispered and began driving again.
X x X
The two entered the building with Shaun and walked through what looked very much like a warehouse. Moving up a ramp, they found the top floor was turned into a flat. Not unusual. Inside one of the rooms, however, was a bright orange and white chair, connected by wires to a computer. A woman with black hair was seated at the computer station nearest it, fingers flying over the keyboard, bobbing her head to the music on her headphones.
"That's the resident child of the operation," muttered Shaun. "Hello!" The woman glanced up from her work, pulling down the headphones. "We have guests."
"Oh, hi." The woman came over to them and shook their hands. "Rebecca Crane. I keep Baby running in our little operation."
"Baby?" asked Jameel. "Jameel."
"Baby. The Animus 2.0." She pointed to the orange chair with her thumb before shaking Lex's hand. "Who're you, short stuff?"
"Lex." The young man frowned at the jibe, but brushed it off. Shaun returned to his station. "So, what all're you guys doing here so far?"
"We're waiting for one of our contacts to come here. A bit of a rescue mission," mumbled Shaun. "Well, go and find a seat, gents, we've got a lot of work to get done." Jameel went to the back of the room, up the short flight of steps to one of the beds that laid there to rid himself of a few hours' jet lag.
Lex looked around the room for a few seconds before moving to Shaun's side and looking at the maps and diagrams and pictures there. Each had a tack pinning a string to it, connecting it to another part of the mess that seemed to make a confusing sort of sense.
"So, is all this..." He motioned to the vast array of stuff. "Historical or tactical or which part?"
"Tactical." Shaun placed a finger on a map of the world above his head without looking up from the screen. "Where all our members are at this time."
"What about the historical part?" Shaun placed his finger on the bigger half of the mess with pictures of people and maps, charts, and diagrams. Lex lifted up a page. "Isn't this..." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, God, what's his name? He has a video game all to himself, I read his books once..."
"You read The Divine Comedy?" Shaun immediately looked up. "Well, I suppose you're not a complete looney. There's a brain in there after all."
"And you have all your fingers." Lex leaned against the wall.
"Don't lean, please. And yes, I do. We quit that after a while."
"So, your parents were Assassins or what?"
"No, actually. I--" Shaun stopped as the door below opened. Jameel sat up. Lex tensed as voices and footsteps came from below, one familiar and one unfamiliar. A blonde haired woman in a white, form-fitting sleeveless shirt and jeans came up into the room, followed by a dark skinned, buzzcut man in a white hoodie and jeans.
Lex's eyes widened at seeing the woman from the Abstergo building before he grinned at Desmond. The bartender stopped, jaw dropping open.
"Dessy!"
"Keep him away from me!" Desmond threw himself behind the woman.
"Oh, c'mon! I've been in here for a good few minutes and nothing's happened." Lex went over to Baby and put a hand on the back of the seat. "See? Nothing happens."
"Hello, Desmond." The barkeep looked up from eyeing Lex suspiciously toward the familiar voice. His mouth fell open. Jameel smirked. "Where's your haystack?"
"Jameel?" The man worked his mouth. "Jameel? Jameel, what the hell are you still doing alive?"
"It's a long, complicated story, Desmond, that I'm sure you won't believe even after we explain it to you."
"Pieces of Eden doing their weird, magical thing," Lex summarized.
"Yeah... Lucy, did you know these guys would be here?" Desmond asked the woman. Lucy shook her head and folded her arms, saying, "Shaun. Becca. Explain."
"I asked them to come. Thought we could use some help," Shaun admitted. "Y'know, stealing a very valuable asset from the Templars about where the Pieces are located, running for your lives..."
Lucy shook her head and walked to her desk, leaving Desmond to get aquainted with the others. Lex leaned his arms on the chair and watched the interactions. Shaun was the first to get up and introduce himself briefly, then return to his work. Desmond followed him and talked a little until Shaun snapped at him that he was busy. He went to Rebecca next and talked until she took motioned for him to leave her alone, pulling up her headphones again. Finally, he went to Lucy and thanked her for her help. She muttered something Lex couldn't hear and Desmond finally came to Baby.
"I don't want any more Back to the Future s**t," he stated. Lex shrugged and patted Baby's side.
"Hey, nothing's happened so far. I don't think it will again." Desmond looked at him dubiously before Lex gave up and leaned up again, hands in his pockets. The barkeep sat down as Rebecca stood and came to him, placing a visor like that of a virtual reality game over his eyes before returning to the computer.
"Starting up now," she said. Desmond grasped the armrests as the screen began to load. Jameel sat up again as Shaun and Lucy leaped to their feet, sparks flying around the Animus. Rebecca threw herself back from the computer as a blinding light came from it. The Assassins covered their eyes.
When they opened them and had blinked the spots away from their vision, the two men were gone.
Jameel sat down on the bed again, lying back, his head pounding. He shut his eyes, intent on sleeping until it was worn off.
Shaun was the first of the new Assassins to react, screaming, "What in Sodding Hell's name just happened here?"
