A/N: Omfg, this story was headed in a completely different direction and yet somehow I ended up writing these last 5 parts. Stupid plot bunnies! I have sincerely have no idea how I got to this conclusion! Still, I hope these last parts are enjoyable xD;;
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Shaun wasn't a natural-born assassin, but he'd always had the ability to see how supposedly miscellaneous information fit together. It was like his very own Eagle Vision, except that instead of seeing the world in terms of ally or foe, he drew sense from raw data.
It hadn't been intentional, though he'd certainly been keeping an eye out for any mention of Desmond in all the emails he intercepted, Assassin or Templar. Higher-ups in Abstergo had a tendency to exchange sensitive information using rather abstract euphemisms -- for instance, whenever they were talking about Desmond, they would use the key word Martini. Haha, Shaun thought dryly. So clever.
Given these parameters, Shaun deduced that Abstergo had found intel that the Assassins were keeping him in a safe house somewhere, recovering. A prod in the right direction had Shaun understanding that the Assassins were helping Desmond recover because they had ulterior motives. Naturally, wanted to see if they could use him to get the Apple. Same as the Templars.
Shaun didn't know whether to be disgusted or understanding. What he did know was that he wanted to see Desmond again. To apologize? To sympathize? He hadn't thought that far ahead yet.
It should have been harder to find the safe house, but Shaun was rather talented at finding things. He Bcc'd Lucy and Rebecca in an email to the Assassins' Headquarters, inquiring to see if he could be allowed to visit Desmond. He also enumerated a rather long list of the cracks they had in their security, berating the idiots who didn't know how to encrypt their emails properly. Fortunately for him, Headquarters wasn't annoyed at him for prodding. They thanked him for the warnings, and informed him they were moving Desmond. They then added that he would be escorted to Desmond in two days' time.
Lucy immediately called him, after, angry at the approach he'd taken, telling him Headquarters could have easily taken his intrusion the wrong way. Then, after ranting for a long minute about his stupidity, she burst into tears and told him to say hello and sorry to Desmond for her. She was still on a mission, she said carefully, and could not abandon it halfway through. Shaun let this soak in. Considerably mellower, he assured her he would do that for her.
Just minutes after, Rebecca hacked into his computer and opened a chat window on his desktop, startling the shit out of him before he realized it was her. She excitedly told him she'd heard from Lucy and that she'd gone ahead and done her own digging, unbeknownst to their employers, and that insofar as she could tell, Desmond had been moved to X facility, not far from where Shaun was. She also sent him a compiled .pdf of the files they had on Desmond, revealing sensitive information that implied Desmond was not completely sane all the time, though he did have lucid periods.
Through a subsequent complicated string of text-based emoticons, Shaun deduced Rebecca was still upset about what they'd done to Desmond and wished she could be there to personally apologize. So, Shaun promised to say hello and sorry to Desmond for her, too. Rebecca replied " ^(TToTT)^!!! ty & gl bby~~!! m(__)m " and logged off.
Shaun was nervous as the weekend approached. He didn't know exactly what to expect, how the meeting would go. The files on Desmond were brief, there were no images to accompany the reports. What exactly did they mean by 'lucid periods'? Would he remember who Shaun was? Would Desmond blame them all, if he did? He spoke again to Lucy and Rebecca, and steeled his nerves.
A car came by for him on the designated day. They drove him to a nearby clinic: it was a shabby-looking thing from the outside. Inside it looked just as shabby. There was a trapdoor leading to a nasty-looking basement. There was a door there, which opened to a ridiculously pristine-looking hallway. Haha, Shaun thought again, dryly. Everyone's so fucking clever.
Fill [9/14]
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Shaun wasn't a natural-born assassin, but he'd always had the ability to see how supposedly miscellaneous information fit together. It was like his very own Eagle Vision, except that instead of seeing the world in terms of ally or foe, he drew sense from raw data.
It hadn't been intentional, though he'd certainly been keeping an eye out for any mention of Desmond in all the emails he intercepted, Assassin or Templar. Higher-ups in Abstergo had a tendency to exchange sensitive information using rather abstract euphemisms -- for instance, whenever they were talking about Desmond, they would use the key word Martini. Haha, Shaun thought dryly. So clever.
Given these parameters, Shaun deduced that Abstergo had found intel that the Assassins were keeping him in a safe house somewhere, recovering. A prod in the right direction had Shaun understanding that the Assassins were helping Desmond recover because they had ulterior motives. Naturally, wanted to see if they could use him to get the Apple. Same as the Templars.
Shaun didn't know whether to be disgusted or understanding. What he did know was that he wanted to see Desmond again. To apologize? To sympathize? He hadn't thought that far ahead yet.
It should have been harder to find the safe house, but Shaun was rather talented at finding things. He Bcc'd Lucy and Rebecca in an email to the Assassins' Headquarters, inquiring to see if he could be allowed to visit Desmond. He also enumerated a rather long list of the cracks they had in their security, berating the idiots who didn't know how to encrypt their emails properly. Fortunately for him, Headquarters wasn't annoyed at him for prodding. They thanked him for the warnings, and informed him they were moving Desmond. They then added that he would be escorted to Desmond in two days' time.
Lucy immediately called him, after, angry at the approach he'd taken, telling him Headquarters could have easily taken his intrusion the wrong way. Then, after ranting for a long minute about his stupidity, she burst into tears and told him to say hello and sorry to Desmond for her. She was still on a mission, she said carefully, and could not abandon it halfway through. Shaun let this soak in. Considerably mellower, he assured her he would do that for her.
Just minutes after, Rebecca hacked into his computer and opened a chat window on his desktop, startling the shit out of him before he realized it was her. She excitedly told him she'd heard from Lucy and that she'd gone ahead and done her own digging, unbeknownst to their employers, and that insofar as she could tell, Desmond had been moved to X facility, not far from where Shaun was. She also sent him a compiled .pdf of the files they had on Desmond, revealing sensitive information that implied Desmond was not completely sane all the time, though he did have lucid periods.
Through a subsequent complicated string of text-based emoticons, Shaun deduced Rebecca was still upset about what they'd done to Desmond and wished she could be there to personally apologize. So, Shaun promised to say hello and sorry to Desmond for her, too. Rebecca replied " ^(TToTT)^!!! ty & gl bby~~!! m(__)m " and logged off.
Shaun was nervous as the weekend approached. He didn't know exactly what to expect, how the meeting would go. The files on Desmond were brief, there were no images to accompany the reports. What exactly did they mean by 'lucid periods'? Would he remember who Shaun was? Would Desmond blame them all, if he did? He spoke again to Lucy and Rebecca, and steeled his nerves.
A car came by for him on the designated day. They drove him to a nearby clinic: it was a shabby-looking thing from the outside. Inside it looked just as shabby. There was a trapdoor leading to a nasty-looking basement. There was a door there, which opened to a ridiculously pristine-looking hallway. Haha, Shaun thought again, dryly. Everyone's so fucking clever.