Altair looked down at the silk pouch in his hands. There was something about the stone inside that made him leery about even being in its presence, but also intrigued him to no end. The light it gave was beautiful, but also terrifying at the same time. The master assassin in him knew the jewel was dangerous and should be locked away, but the seeker of knowledge part of his mind wanted to know its secrets. To understand what it could do. He had to know if it was to help, or to hurt. To heal, or to bring destruction.

"Altair."

Looking up, the assassin watched his wife, Maria, walk into the room, holding a tray in her hands. Her blue eyes glared at him, as were her lips pulled down into a frown he knew all too well. She was about to yell at him, and she did not disappoint.

"You have been in here for the better part of the day. You must eat, and be with your family. That bauble and the Apple have all but consumed your mind of late." Her words held an edge to them, and Altair could hear the unspoken words. If you do not do what I am saying, I will make your life a living hell, and he knew for a fact that she would do it. It would have not been the first time. The tray was sat down on the desk with a bit more force than what was needed, rattling the contents.

A sigh past his lips as he ran a calloused hand down his face. "Maria, you do not understand. I must know if this 'bauble' as you call it, will destroy everything you, I, and Malik have been working for. I must know who created it, and for what."

The growl that came across her lips was one of anger, and the master assassin knew she did not like his response. "Now you listen to me Altair ibn-La'Ahad. You seal yourself away for days, trying in vain to figure out the mysteries of something you have no idea what you are playing with. You think you are doing something noble, and good, but what if all you are doing is bringing the destruction? What if you are opening yourself to an evil that has been sealed away?" Then her voice took another turn. One of fear. "You must stop this! Think of your men, who look to you like a father. That need your guidance. Think of your own sons, who need their true father." Her feet carried her to his side, and laid a hand on his slumped shoulders.

"You need to end this. You need to seal it away, along with the Apple, and be done with both." And he could feel the tremble in her fingers as they gripped his shoulder in fear. Fear for what he was doing. What he could unleash. Playing with something he knew nothing of.

Then he spoke the wrong words. "But I must know, Maria. I must understand these things to protect my men. To protect our sons."

Maria's hand left him, and with it the warmth that was once there. "Then you shall do this without help. I cannot stand by and watch it consume you, and everything we have been fighting for."

"Maria, please understand..." But his words fell on deaf ears.

"No." And she left him there, alone in his study, with the beautiful, but terrifying light as his only companion.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Cold sweat ran down his face as Desmond shot up from the memory that came in his sleep. Altair's emotions still filled him. The older man was terrified that he was about to lose it all for secrets that should have stayed buried. Something that should have never seen the light of day.

"You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?" The bartender whispered to the silent air, Arabic leaving his lips. The Bleeding Effect was getting worse, and he could feel it. The numbness where his left ring finger was. It felt like it wasn't his. Like it wasn't supposed to be there. Altair's memories bleeding into his. Just like the training, the fighting, the ability to see what he could not at one time. Eagle Vision was what Lucy had called it. She told him that he might be able to use it one day with the right training, but what Desmond hadn't told her was he already could.

As a child he had been able to use it a bit. It helped reduce the scariness of the night, but as for what he could do now that he had the right memories. Well, let's just say, it was more that what he could have ever thought. People could be considered friend or foe just by a glance. A trail hidden from another was opened for him. He could track anyone he so wished, but that wasn't the scariest part. No, the part that brought his blood to a standstill was a memory of Altair's. Al Mualim was blue, until his betrayal. He never showed signs of being an enemy.

So a sight have could be fooled by a few words, and good thoughts was scary at best. Could all the people around him be out to get him? Could they be waiting for him to lead them to the stone, then to turn around and kill him? Desmond knew too much now to ever be free, and he knew that. He would never see the light of day once more. No, he would never be allowed to leave this tower alive, but he was going to change that. Starting now.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Rodgers' head bounced painfully off the passenger side window, causing him to bite down on the very edge of his tongue. Blood weld up in his mouth, threatening to choke him with its coppery taste. Romanoff sped through the Miami streets, tires eating up the pavement, trying to lose their tail. But it wasn't working. The men stuck to them like glue, causing the woman behind the wheel to drive in ways that made him wish for a bag to throw up in.

"Since we're being chased through the city, mind telling what we're being chased for?" He asked, putting his hand up to prevent his head from hitting the glass once more.

Natasha turned another corner, sliding the car sideways, tires screaming at the trajectory of the rear end. She made the turn, righted the wheel, and downshifted, getting more speed out of the engine. "It's a file on a project called 'Operation Strongbow'. Back in the early part of World War Two, Hydra found one of the artifacts we now know as Pieces of Eden." She grunted as the wheel was jerked once more, sending them down another side road, and began to talk once more.

"They had found an orb. It was said that it acted like the Tesseract but with less killing power. It was a power source, but different. It could give the wielder the ability to look into another mind, much like the Animus."

This was all going over his head. He could never keep up with the new technology that was out. Hell, he could barely work the cellphone that he'd been given. Grabbing onto the door to keep himself from tumbling over onto her when another corner was taken, he sighed. "What to dumb it down a bit?"

Sparing him a glance, Natasha began once more. "Fine, but try to keep up. The orb was able to look into other minds. It was not only able to get into their heads, but was able to control the subjects. Turn them into mindless slaves. They had ultimate power at their fingertips, but not all could wield the orb. Most were consumed by it, and deemed too dangerous to use without the right person."

He began to catch on. "They began to look for that person."

Romanoff nodded as she drove the car at breakneck speeds towards the Keys. "They were close, but the person they were looking for hadn't been born yet. Not at that time anyway."

"So who were they looking for?" He asked, watching the surrounding building fly by.

Swerving around a slower moving car, she hit the gas harder. "Hydra came across some records from an assassin by the name of Ezio Auditore. He lived in Florence in the early part of the sixteenth century. It was a journal kept by him documenting many things about ancients, goddesses, and a man that was supposed to receive a message by the name of Desmond. Fury caught wind of this from a contact, and sent us in to get that file."

Looking at the aged file in his lap, Rodgers touched the yellowed edges. "So what else is supposed to be in here?" It wasn't looking good.

Before she could answer, the window behind them shattered in a spray of glass, causing them both to duck and the car to swerve across the road, nearly taking out another car. "We have to get rid of them."

Shaking his head, Rodgers grabbed one of the guns from her holster, turned in his seat, and with one shot, he watched with a smirk, they began to slow as steam rolled from their destroyed radiator. "You were saying?"

Glaring darkly, Romanoff tightened her grip on the wheel. "You know, you could have done that before they chased us through the city."

"No I couldn't." He countered, returning the gun to its home. "Too many turns, and too many innocents that could have been hit. I wouldn't take that chance."

"Boy Scout." He heard her mutter under her breath, causing him to smile.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Fury rubbed his temple in an effort to rid the pain in his head. "I'll see them when they get here." He spoke into the phone, getting a brow raise from William.

Once the phone was sat down, the Grandmaster looked at him. "Someone else coming?" he asked.

Nodding once, Fury stood and looked out over the city. "Two people. An ex agent, and good friend of mine, JD Morrison, is sending me people that think they have information on a larger problem." This was turning into something even he didn't know about, and that was only a handful of things.

Before either one could speak once more, two people barged into his office. The first was Spider-man, aka Peter Parker, and the other was another ex-agent turned super hero, Carol Danvers, Miss Marvel. "Director, we have a problem." She looked at William, nodded her head, and continued. "I have seen it with my own eyes, and it's a big one."

"Ha! Osbourne is up to something, and its not good I can assure you. He's been going around town causing distractions..." Parker looked over at her when she cut him off.

"That pales in comparison to what's coming, Peter. This is bigger than anything right now." The woman growled.

Fury ground his teeth. " I really don't have time for this."

Danvers slapped a picture on his desk. "You need to make time. Thanos is on his way here. We're all about to be ass deep in trouble, and New York is ground zero for his arrival."

Picking up the photo, he studied it. "Are you sure, Carol?"

She nodded. "I'm sure, Nick. This trumps Osbourne, the assassins," looking at William, she addressed him, "No offense, Bill, but it does."

William held up his hands. "I believe you. It's not often you barge into a private meeting."

"Alright, you have my undivided attention." Fury knew that the woman would not have done what she had done if it wasn't extremely important.

Danvers went to open her mouth, but Jarvis spoke. "Director sir, you have two guests. They say they were sent here by a Mister Morrison."

A groan escaped his lips as he knew what this was about. Now was not the time for that man to be sending him anyone. "I'll send someone down to get them in a few minutes."

"I will deliver your message right away. Who would you like me to send down for them?"

"Send Hawkeye if he's around. If not, see if Stark will bring them up." Not his first choice, or his second, but Romanoff was still off who knows where. The com had gone black a few hours ago, but that wasn't surprising. The woman was always doing things like that. Even with Rodgers with her.

Turning back to the ex-agent, he sat heavily in his chair. "Now, before there's anymore interruptions, you might what to say what needs to be said, and quickly."

Oh dear heaven and Earth! This chapter was a pain to write. I would sit down, and everything I was thinking of would leave in a puff of smoke. It took me almost a month to write. Well, we now have Ms. Marvel in the picture, Dante and Trish have made it to Manhattan, and Thanos is on his way. More will be revealed about what was found in Miami, and what the hell does Desmond have planned now? Tune in next time. (I promise it won't be as long of a wait.)

Sassiersphinx81