Chapter Text
“Try Italy!”
What a laugh. Everywhere so far have been different breeds of ugly, horrible and chaotic, so how could there be any better? Begrudgingly though Alex had obliged.
He trusted Dana, and his sister was normally right. He would have preferred to come home to see her since she surprised him with a phone call after awakening from her long coma, but after hearing him talk about his adventures to see the rest of the world she encouraged him to continue his ‘celebratory vacation’. After a lot of persuading, Alex reluctantly agreed to travel further. To ‘see where the best places were, so when quarantine fell less strict on NewYork enough to travel without sneaking out or killing he could show her’.
So here he was, leaving the Florence airport in a random direction, playing tourist for his sister.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder what horrible things he was bound to experience.
What he refused to tell Dana was his reason for travelling. To find a reason to ‘Fit in’.
Hope for finding this ‘anchor’, to find this ‘bright spot’ was fading quickly. After all his travelling he began to wonder if he even wanted to rejoin humanity anymore. All he saw was corruption, unfairness over ‘class’, over fucking money or even worce, over race, how someone chose to live or who they loved.
Why would he want to fit in? To ignore all mortal shortcomings and tragedies. Why would he, when he could change it… could make it better…
He shook the thought from his head. Shook out memories of the past month, of the past year, of the guilt and horrors in NewYork.
His sister would tell him to ’lighten up, look at it with fresh eyes’’. It was hard, but he could do it. For Dana.
He also never told her his reasoning as to why everywhere he visited was horrible, nothing about the warlord he ripped limb from limb, not the disgusting amount poverty of Moscow, the cartel he slaughtered that controlled that small town in texas or the long dead and rotting corpse of that old man, still yet to be found by his family or by anyone who cared about the horrible stench.
“It was just bad.”
He looked around, desperately in need of a distraction.
It was quite pretty, he supposed when he finally got to the heart of Florence city. The old architecture was unlike what he saw in NewYork, there was… stunning attention to detail instead of just structure or being grand. The Air also felt much cleaner here, not that he really needed to breathe. At least not as much as humans did, but it was nice to be able to pick up the scents people left behind without the smell of rot and garbage…
The citizens seemed friendlier too, whether it was a ruse or not though, he was yet to find out.
The streets were nice, long and busy from the weekend crowds. They seemed to glow in a gold hue from the overhanging street lights and sparkle from a light spring rain.
some of the more… intoxicated crowds noticed that he was foren and started to call out in broken English or their native tongue. Alex could only understand parts of what they called out, thanks to a few victims taking some classes in Italian. Instead of insults Alex automatically expected due to NewYork, they called out warm greetings, questions like 'Are you American?'. There were even occasional invitations asking him to join them, and the occasional… flurt?
He quickly decided to abandon the streets and take to the rooftops, mainly for his own… comfort.
He stood atop a castle-like tower, a clock tower of soughts. It was tall, not tall like the skyscrapers from his home city, nowhere near, but the view was stunning. Definitely no NewYork, but just as NewYork had its perks, so did here. Here he could see further, see the occasional lights and stars that reflected off the river Arno, the many more trees and the hills in the horizon.
Much different from the many buildings that lit up his home city, only being able to see this far while standing on the tallest building and pray that either the clouds had not settled too low or the lights did not pollute the sky and blur the view. There was also no chance of seeing stars in NewYork.
He felt… what did he feel?
Nothing? No, he definitely felt something. It was unfamiliar to him, he struggled to understand it, but after a while he realised.
He felt calm, at peace? He didn't really know if he liked it. He didn't often feel things that didn't push more tension or stress on him. He decided not to dwell on whether he liked or disliked it, instead to just sit back, to breathe and enjoy the new feeling.
To enjoy the silence.
It didn't last long. pity
The familiar sound of air caught in helicopter blades instantly had him on edge. His fists turned white on the roof ledge, cracking the ancient stone. His body wanted desperately to shift, his instincts set straight to survival mode. He gritted his teeth and tried his hardest to ignore the forced habits as he watched the helicopter as it descended a few blocks away. This wasn't NewYork. He wasn't a wanted ‘terrorist’ and hunted for exsisting here, but there was something about curiosity and a cat that had him stand and move to where it landed.
Time to see what atrocity Florence held.
The roofs here made a bit more noise, more prone to break under his feet so he had to learn restraint, stop himself from just sprinting and falling full force. So much so that he lost time on seeing everyone that had been on board when it landed, only finding the helicopter standing alone with the pilot as it rested silently beside some flashy residential building. Probably some high class CEO or something. He was almost upset about it, almost. Maybe he had grown too attracted to violence…
He squatted as he waited, looking over the helicopter for any giveaways. It seemed like a private vehicle, not meant for attack or defence. Not like he was used to.
Finally two men exited the building towards the disappointing vehicle, both walking like they ment something.
Both speaking the language native to the land, making Alex hiss out a curse, he wasn't used to getting as he wanted. Obviously. He listened anway, trying to pick out any words he knew.
He only picked up the name of a company they constantly named.
Abstergo? Never heard of it.
His interest ran thin, and he stood as they reached the helicopter. The tower was more interesting than this. This was a bore, maybe if he understood more than the name of a company and the name of some guy he might stay. He turned back towards the tower, throwing one last look at the boring waste of time but, they changed his mind.
Anger grew in his chest as his body turned back down to the men as one of them pulled something from the helicopter. A drone, the exact same that plagued his days in NewYork. Gentek made and supplied.
What the fuck were they doing here!?
He watched them carefully, his body again screaming to shift as they started up the drone which wasn't yet flying. Alex prepared to see the green light turn red for the blaring warning calling out danger. He was close enough for it to detect him, and the sudden uncertainty made his skin fissel, so close to shifting to anything sharp. He waited, and he waited. Yet nothing.
It wasn't set to him, it wasn't set at all yet the one who didn't seem to come from Gentec was handing over the DNA they seemed to be implementing but… whos? Who needed Blackwatch grade tracking?
They continued to speak but Alex couldn't pick up nearly enough to understand what. Something about tracking, something about apples? Nothing made any damn sense.
He huffed heavily through his nose, his frustration growing as the drone finally started to rise, then they said something he did understand.
“Dana Mercer.”
Shock and anger filled him, His arm shot forwards before he even thought about it, shifting and extending to a whip to snatch the drone straight out of the air and he broke apart the blades and camera system on it one go. Hearing one man call out his code name, used by blackwatch mainly, pulled his attention back to the men who were either standing frozen in confused fear or boarding the helicopter in knowing panic. He was on them in moments, claws shredding through the cockpit to take out the pilot first before turning to those closest. It wasn't long before only one man remained, still outside the helicopter. He had fallen to his knees, eyes wide, hands together in prayer as he sobbed out words Mercer didn't understand, but he would soon .
His hand wrapped around the man's throat, teeth gritted together as he growled and squeezed. Tenderals of mass wrapped around the man's head before it popped against the dark ristrants. Crys were silenced as meat became mass and soon Alex's head filled with stolen knowledge. Memories and vocabulary both but, he consumed the wrong man. This man wasn't Gentek. This knowledge was wrong. He wanted to know why his sister's name was said, not about this other man or Abstergo!
Alex huffed, trying to make any sense of what he did learn.
A favour for a favour. Absergo wanted a man, Desmond Miles and his apples, while Gentek wanted access to an… animus? The fuck as an animus!?
Alex growled out of frustration. He should have concentrated on who he killed. He had no idea where either an Abstergo or Gentek building could be here.
He was just as clueless as he was 5 minutes ago!
Maybe if he had a scent to follow he could find this…. Desmond Miles guy, ask him what the hell was-
Alex's grimace softened, his growling pants stilling as his attention turned back to the roof he spied from. A green light continued to blink against the roof and for once, he was glad he didn't completely destroy that annoying hunk of metal.
He knew enough from techies how to take both the tracking component and battery pack from the drone, making it a small enough to be hand held device before he followed the signal.
As he made his way through the unknown roads and terrain towards this unknown man, he wondered just who he was. Why him and some fucking apples was important enough for this Abstergo company to be chasing him.
And now what he meant to Gentec.
“Remember Desmond, you’ve got eight minutes till you needa be back here.” Rebecca's voice chimed in through Desmond's earpiece as he exited the unknown entrance made at the back of the condemned old villa that the master assassin Ezio called home during his earlier years. He stretched slightly in the back garden, forcing away the aches from his long sesion.
“I know, I know. You don't gotta worry. I’ll always be back.” He sighed as he set a timer on his watch.
“No seriously Desmond,” An agitated Shaun decided to cut in. “You cut it too close last time, And Abstergo have been doubling their efforts. If you are found-”
“Yeah yeah, I get it.” Desmond turned off his earpiece before he could hear more of the Brits' naging. He needed his five minute break of silence.
He needed his ‘me time.’
He took a breath of the early morning air and exiled just as deep. God the air was nice up here, grass, rain and actually pure air. Not stale dusty air, wafting sewer water and sandstone.
Yeah he's been running along rooftops and such in the animus for days, but it was different from the real thing. This he could actually feel. No synthetic simulated pain as he dropped down just too far, actual wind against his skin and no chance of soldiers firing arrows at him when he took in a view too long.
Just him and his thoughts.
After stretching for a moment, he finally set out, moving along roofs he knew too well for someone who's only been here but a few days, from a lifetime not his own. The tiles clunked under his feet, and he made sure not to make them fall for the sake of those who lived within.
He cursed out under his breath, slipping on the same tile Ezio would on a daily. It's been centuries, how the hell was that not fixed?
He sighed as finally settled, close to the villa entrance with a purfect view of the fields that surrounded good old monteriggioni. He sat with his feet dangled over the edge as he leant back on his arms. A sigh escaped him and he closed his eyes, finally thinking about nothing…
He never took advantage of having an empty head before. Of having absolutely nothing on his mind, back before all of this. When he was ‘Some guy’. A normal bartender in NewYork. Not the man caught up in this silent ancient war that seemed to be eternal. Not being the once chosen to listen to these cryptic messages from this ancient race through poor unknowing ancestors. Before he realised how everything seemed to ride on him.
Guilt took hold again... He shouldn't have run…
He opened his eyes, dropping them straight to his watch. Three minutes remained. He sighed solemnly and took one last look over the coliseum, as he moved to stan-
Wait.
“Merda, non ora.” He swore bitterly. He rushed to push himself to his feet, his arms shook from the sudden wave of exhaustion, and his legs threatened to buckle out from beneath him but he managed to stand. He weakly pushed the button on his watch to communicate back to the others, a slight panic clear in his voice.
“Rebecca, Sto sanguinando, fuck bleeding.” he huffed. He couldn't even think in english now. This was bad.
“Shit Desmond, how far are you!?”
He turned, ignoring Rebeccah’s concern as he wanted to at least try to make it closer before dropping mid bleed, but as he turned, he nearly had a heart attack. Desmond's breath caught and he almost choked when he jumped.
“Desmond Miles?” The voice was steady, almost gentle, but sudden. He didn’t even hear the man approach. How long had he been there?
Desmond's eyes finally met the others icy gaze. He looked dead with skin so papery pale and heavy dark bags that hung from eyes which didn't seem to hold any light or life in them and yet, what got Desmond the most was his subtle accent.
What the hell was a NewYorker doing here?
“Chi sei!? Come mi hai trovato!?” Desmond breathed out panickedly, he was equally worried and annoyed. What else would go wrong right now!?
Shaun's voice chimed up, questioning who was with him, but Desmond's concentration could only focus on one thing right now.
The man in front of him seemed to sigh, equally as annoyed as him it seemed as his eyelids fell closed a moment as they rolled.
Desmond's vision shifted, the world growing dark as he used his vision to read the man's hue, his intention to only grow more confused. Colour appeared only around his silhouette instead of blocking his whole form and seeming unable to actually choose its shade. It would grow blue, then fizzle out to a deep crimson in quick swirls of colour or mix together to form warm purple tones
The man himself seemed to be undecided, like he was confused, lost even.
“Ti ho trovato da Gentec.” The man huffed as his cold stair met him again.
His change to Italian was phenomenal, even though moments before his accent was clearly american it seemed to flip completely, not a single syllable or word held any error but…?
“Gentec?” Desmond questioned as he managed to re-focus his normal vision on the stranger. He slowly started to glare, his eyes looking over Desmond like he had signs of the plague. Just how bad did Desmond look?
A moment of silence stretched on before the stranger continued but his words landed on deaf ears. Desmond's attention slipped slightly, his brain returning to Ezio, remembering which one he was growing impossible.
The man stepped forwards as he swayed. “The fuck is wrong with you.” He suddenly asked, eyes again flicking over him.
“... Get away from the edge.” It was a demand. A demand Desmond tried and failed to listen to, as soon as he went to move forwards he felt his eyes roll, watching as the hand that reached for him vanised.
Then the crowd of the colosseum roared and the master assassin turned, eyes flicking over the crowd. Finally he found the hue of gold amongst those on the stage.
Rebeccah turned to Lucy and Shaun, eyes wide and mouth agape. They don't know what they heard, a fight? A kidnapping? It was silent on Desmond's end and when the communicator turned off panic only rose with in the group.
“Rebeccah, track his watch. Now.” Lucy snapped, rushing over to the trunk that held their weapons and Rebeccah turned to her desktop with just a simple “On it”.
“Anyone know who that was? Anyone?” The Brits' tone was panicked. “He didn't appear on any cameras! Which is impossible! I should know! I monitor the-”
“Not now Shaun!” Lucy huffed out, loud and annoyed as she pushed a gun into his chest. He looked quite useless with it as he fumbled it in his hands, trying to find a comfortable way to hold it.
“We have more important things to worry about. Desmond is gone and we need to get him! Rebeccah, have you found him yet?” She asked, turning from one friend to the next.
Rebeccah nodded quickly and opened her mouth as she started to stand before falling ghostly pail.
“Rebeccah-?” Lucy started to question her sudden expression, but as Rebeccah's shocked gaze turned from her from her screen to the stairs, Lucy’s followed.
From the staircase they could hear the sound of Desmond's wrist watch alarm, warning of the last minute of his freedom as a stranger stood, still as a statue with Desmond firmly in his grip.
Lucy instantly raised her pistol to the intruder, her gun cocking as soon as her eyes fell on him. Shauns pistol followed, shakily, safety still locked but it was something.
The stranger let out a deep huff, eyes rolling in annoyance and shoulders falling slightly. Almost like he was tired of guns being pointed at him.He growled out hum.
“... You don’t want to do that.” He warned on a breath, eyes falling on Lucy, moving a few steps to one side while he straight up ignored Shaun entirely.
“What are you doing with him? How did you find-” Lucy’s tone was feirm, but the stranger didn't seem to care at all.
“He fainted. Should I have let him fall three stories instead? ‘Cuz that can be arranged.” He started casually, turning his shoulders back to the exit for emphasis which drew a quick panicked ‘No’ from Lucy as her hand that held the gun rose to stop him. Her reaction pulled out a humoured chuff from the stranger, his face twisting in dark amusement for a moment.
Shaun eyed the intruder, growing more and more confused the more he observed. The stranger wasn't short, but he was shorter than Desmond, and not that muscular looking either. Shaun could tell most of his bulk was his layered clothing yet, he held Desmond so easily. Easily enough to be Silent on his way down three flights of stairs.
“H-How…?”
All attention turned to Rebeccah, shocked at her sudden shaky demeanour, it was completely out of character for her.
“You were by the stairs… in front of the Villa. Then here, in not even five seco-”
“Doesn't matter.” The stranger cut in cruelly. “The fuck is wrong with him. He said he was bleeding. There's not a drop of blood on him.” He was out of patience. It was obvious by his voice and demeanour. He was getting aggressive.
Lucy only huffed, she had dealt with type before. Men like him were all bark.
But in her confidence, she would falter.
She approached him slowly, gun still firmly in her grasp as she let out a small laugh. She ignored the side glare of warning from the intruder who now looked down his nose at her. Only when she heard the leather of his jacket stretch as he tensed did she only slow her approach.
“Look, even if I tried to explain it to you, you wouldnt understand it. You have no idea who-” Her words were interrupted by a deep chested growl, his cold eyes warning her from the corners of his eyes yet she didn’t hult in her approach. A step further and the stranger's body lurched in her direction as he yelled out in annoyance.
Yelps of panic escaped the Assassins in turn, Shauns being the highest as they watched as the man's arms ripple and shift. A red mist puffed out and covered them momentarily as shards of dark onyx suddenly plagued his arms. His hands changed to massive metal like claws around Desmond, pulling him tighter to his chest as he turned in a predatory stance towards Lucy who had fallen back against a desk.
Her gun fired uselessly at the floor between them in her panic which seemed to set the monster off further into his rage.
“Then I will just fucking kill him!” He yelled, his voice reverbing around the vult adding to the horror of what the others were witnessing. “If you don’t tell me what I want to know I'll just take it!”
A line of spit snapped as he spoke, as he yelled out his threat and one of his talons tightened on the unknowing vitem, threads of bright crimson and midnight black wreathed in excitement from the offending arm.
“A-alright man…! Okay we get it.” Rebeccah spoke up, pulling the ferally panting man's attention from Lucy. somehow, his expression seemed to soften at the brunette Shuan noticed, as if the beast found fermilurity in her.
Rebeccah was standing now, hands raised to show him that she was unarmed.
“Lets just, can we put my friend down in bed, lose the… Lose the claws and we'll talk? Just you and me. Yeah? I-I'll tell you all you want to know.” Her voice was steady, calm, even as the man seemed to glare at her for a moment, quietly letting out a low deep growl like breaths but eventually, his posture straightened and his breathing studied.
The show of red mist and… wreathing black lines of mass returned his claws to normal as he rolled his shoulders.
He nodded once sighing neutrally. “Alright…”
Rebeckah fronted a smile over her worry. “Alright? Good. just ah, beds this way.” She said, pointing for the intruder before actually turning to walk with him.
Her eyes fell to Shuan who was holding a hand over his heart but he nodded, understanding his next job of finding out anything he could about this monster.
Only when the stranger moved out of view with Rebeccah did Shaun finally move to his desk, Lucy quickly joined his side.
“What the fuck was that…!?” She yelled in a whisper, unable to hide the shakiness in her voice.
“I-I don't know Lucy.” His voice hitched as he tried to push up his glasses with shaky hands. “But I'll find out. I will. I think we should just… play nice till we know exactly what just walked through our door.”