A/N: it's been a couple months, but i've not abandoned this work! i just had to wait for the inspiration to strike me to continue.

desmond and nezu continue to make the weirdest best friends. there's a lot of stuff that went on in the background of this that i absolutely did not get into, and i wanted to get into actual setting that i'm familiar with instead of going off on my own stuff.

here we will be getting into the canon-divergence, where desmond and his weird not-order of assassins will basically adopt an entire school's worth of kids when nezu becomes principal.

Desmond honestly didn't understand how he wasn't under some more supervision. Or how the investigation after they called the police wasn't more intense. Surely someone somewhere looked at the group of eleven adults and four children, the dozens of dead bodies, and decided to, oh, look into what happened.

"Seriously, what the fuck," Desmond muttered to Nezu, who still clung to his shoulder.

He wasn't sure if the… authorities realized that Nezu wasn't a human with a rather odd Quirk or not. From what he saw, the sheer variety that humans presented with Quirks sort of made it a non issue. Well, Desmond wasn't going to be the one to bring it up. Besides, Nezu was a person, and that should honestly be all that anyone ever needed to know.

"Roll with it," Nezu advised. He twitched his nose in a direction, and Desmond followed where he pointed to-

Oh. There was a woman who watched everyone with wide startling solid blue eyes. She had the visible Quirk of thick, prehensile, forest green hair. She had used it to great effect in helping them escape, as she could easily tear doors off their hinges when her hair was let free. And she apparently had a secondary Quirk that helped… smooth things over.

Curious, Desmond slipped into Eagle Vision (on steroids) to see what exactly was happening.

Oh. That was honestly pretty cool. She had a pretty strong notice-me-not aura that interacted with the world. It looked like a hazy blue mist clung to them all, camouflaging those that she wished it to.

Desmond inclined his head to the woman in thanks and acknowledgement when she looked to him, having felt his attention on her. She smiled slightly and nodded in return. She hadn't spoken much since they were freed, but he felt that was mostly by personality than not.

"Do we have a plan about what we're going to do?" Desmond asked, turning his attention away so that she could concentrate. He had been told by one of his coworkers that he had an unsettling gaze if he focused too hard. Probably the Eagle Vision.

Desmond stood back from where the police were dealing with the children. The police glowed a friendly blue under his gaze, which made him relax. The others all took their cues from him, so it wasn't as tense as it could be. It wasn't comfortable by any means, but no one would be attacking each other here.

"It depends," Nezu said, nose twitching as he watched the people they escaped with. They were kind of their responsibility now, weren't they? "We will help those with families to return to them. And those that do not, we will help find homes. With us, wherever we go, or on their own, wherever they wish."

"Well, yeah," Desmond agreed, "But I meant us."

And, wow, they really became a unit pretty quickly there, didn't they? Not that he minded, but it was a bit odd to go from strangers to sticking together this tightly in less than a week. It wasn't codependence, really, but Desmond figured it'd be pretty hard to tell on the outside.

Nezu paused, and huffed. Desmond waited for him to figure himself out. High intelligence didn't necessarily translate to emotional intelligence. Sure, Nezu would figure how he felt about things as they came to him much quicker than humans would, but there was still a learning curve.

"We will return to where you made your life, and go from there," Nezu said, shifting closer and nuzzling Desmond's cheek. His whiskers itched. "We're still in the upswing of a traumatic event. I'm sure we'll all be seeing nightmares of some sort soon enough."

"No doubt," Desmond agreed wryly.

He looked to the police, and the trauma counselors they had on hand. They weren't the therapists they would need, but they were a step in the right direction. Desmond processed trauma at an accelerated rate after the Animus, so he was fine. Probably. But the counselors glowed a bright and cheery blue that made him inclined to trust them with the bare bones.

Honestly, he trusted them to help everyone sincerely. Desmond thought he might actually go see a therapist for the mess that his brain held faced with that blue. Surely these counselors would point him in the direction of a trustworthy one.

What an odd realization, if a welcome one. He really liked the change of pace.

0o0o0

Okay, so Desmond's ragtag group of human experiments decided to, somehow without his conscious decision, decided that the best course of action was to form a vigilante group. One that spanned however far they all lived; those with families went back to them while those without decided to stay.

Desmond blamed Nezu. For all that Nezu stuck close to Desmond, most often on his shoulders, he also had silent conversations with the others. And because Desmond was polite, he had refrained from listening in on those discussions.

Maybe he should have? It wasn't really a decision that he had anything against, but it was something Desmond would have liked a word in somewhere along the way.

"It is not my fault you weren't paying attention," Nezu said pointedly.

"I know, but a heads up would have been nice," Desmond sighed.

Nezu's nose twitched. It was his version of an apology, and Desmond let it go. He trusted Nezu not to make any decisions that Desmond wouldn't agree with outright. He didn't think that he was that complicated, really, and Nezu was much smarter than he was.

Besides, Desmond wasn't going to lie to himself. He had a lot of different people in his head, all of them Assassins or related to Assassins. Several of them were Mentors in their own right, too. With lifetimes of experience now at his recall, Desmond was getting lonely.

Having a group of people with their own abilities, and a willingness to be trained? Even without thinking about it too hard, Desmond mentally reached out and gripped tight. Having his own little Order, if a little unorthodox and different to the Assassins, settled something in his gut he hadn't realized was out of sorts. Nezu, the brat, probably realized that too.

The thing was, an Order took resources. Training, supplies, buildings… with Ezio and Connor, two of the most prominent ancestors he had, Desmond wasn't hurting for experience in these matters. But how things were done centuries ago was different to how things were done now. Still, a solid base of an idea of what to do was better than none.

Still…

"You know, you're going to help me with a lot of this, right?" Desmond asked Nezu. "Especially since we have the kids to worry about still. We can't do wrong by them."

Nezu rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, I know. Don't worry about it. We'll have a rough beginning, but we're not going into this blindly."

Desmond hummed. "Should I be worried that none of us care that we're planning on doing something utterly stupid and crazy?"

Nezu, of course, didn't bother answering him. The answer was obviously no.

0o0o0

And that was how Desmond ended up Mentor of his Not Quite Brotherhood of Assassins. It was more like the Order of Vigilantes (Who Sometimes Killed People, But Only Those That Deserved It).

First order of business was getting everyone therapy. It was mandatory and since it was one of the things Desmond was Actually Serious About (alongside free will and consent and all that entailed), the others didn't object. It helped that Desmond also went for therapy, searching for one that was a solid blue and that didn't offend any of him.

Second order was teaching his motley Order on how to deal with people. Sometimes people just needed a stern talking to for them to stop them from whatever problems they were causing. Sometimes they needed a couple of good punches. Sometimes they just needed to die. It all depended, really, and Desmond did his best to impart how to make that decision.

Which was strange, and something he really didn't think he'd ever teach, but whatever. His life was already strange enough, might as well do this too.

0o0o0

"I'm home," Desmond called, yawning as he locked the door behind him. He kicked his shoes off, dropped his keys and wallet on the counter, and then dropped face first into the couch. It was one of the most expensive things in the apartment, and oh so worth it.

"Welcome home," Nezu said. Desmond heard his soft footfalls and the scent of tea. Nezu had started drinking tea near religiously since he had been introduced to the drink. "My, you've had a long day."

Desmond turned his face to the side so he could look at Nezu. He wore a suit tailored to his small stature. He had, in Desmond's opinion, the weirdest fascination with suits. Desmond honestly didn't know where Nezu got it from. Desmond did have trousers and white button-up shirts, but those were his work uniform, and nothing like the fancy stuff that Nezu liked.

"Yeah," Desmond agreed. He didn't care for tea one way or the other, but it had a comforting smell at this point. "How about you? It was your turn to watch the kids today, right?"

Though four of the adults had returned to their homes, the children were, effectively, orphans. It had been a fight and a half to keep the children with them but they had managed it. They were very lucky- made all the easier when one of them had the Quirk to manipulate probabilities. And that one of the children had the power to manipulate emotions. It sort of made things very easy when they wanted something done and none of them cared about dubious legality.

...though Desmond had made certain to impress the concept of consent and free will on Yuki. Emotional manipulation had the potential to go very bad, after all. It might've not been the usual Quirk counseling conversation that children normally went through but it worked well enough.

"It went well," Nezu said, and sipped his tea. "I took them to the park today, and they found some other children."

"That's a good thing, them making friends in their own age group," Desmond said. He watched Nezu curiously. "What about the other children grabbed your attention?"

"Not those children, though young humans are always fascinating," Nezu said, shrugging, "But the fact that I taught them some physics. And they took rather well to it."

Which could mean anything from simple leverage to how stars were born and died. Nezu didn't have a middle ground for those sorts of things. Desmond blamed it on being raised in a lab for most of his formative life. And then meeting Desmond, who also didn't have a middle ground either. Desmond either didn't know something, or he knew it, thanks to how he was born. Thank you genetic engineering.

"Did you like teaching them? The other children, not ours." Desmond asked.

Because Nezu took to helping their people like it was a logical necessity. The others were theirs, and that implied rather a lot of responsibility. Responsibility that Nezu took to well.

Nezu blinked at Desmond, surprised, like he hadn't thought of that. He hummed in thought, bringing his paw to his chin. "I do believe I did," Nezu said.

Desmond snorted amusedly at him. For all his intelligence, Nezu was very much like a child still. Well, he did only have a few months of actual life experience. Desmond wouldn't hold it against him.

"You want to take up teaching?" Desmond asked.

"I don't know," Nezu said slowly, thoughtfully. "It requires some thought."

And such thoughts would include things like whether or not Nezu wanted to inflict himself on others. Their people were one thing because they were theirs, and Desmond had learned that Nezu was incredibly possessive.

But teaching others would require interacting with people not their own, and that was different. Nezu didn't bother thinking about it when it came to teaching the children. They were a community, and the community looked after their own.

Teaching others, though, would mean interacting with and influencing their lives. And there was very little that Nezu took as seriously as that.

"Start with our kids in a more formal role," Desmond advised, "And perhaps even some of the others, who would like more hard knowledge. They would be a good starting place to see how you feel about it."

Nezu made an agreeing noise. Desmond pressed his face back into the couch and left Nezu to his thoughts. The idea was planted and now Nezu could figure out where to go from here. Desmond would be surprised if Nezu hadn't made any plans like this sometime in the past.

Honestly, Desmond was just going along for the ride at this point.

0o0o0

Desmond sighed as he watched Wren, the eldest of them, soared around the top of the skyscraper. Even the shades that stood next to him, see-through images of ancestors long dead, stared to watch her.

He wasn't jealous. He really, absolutely wasn't jealous. He didn't wonder what it was like to fly under your own power, or what having actual wings was like. He didn't think about how it would be to instinctively know the patterns in the wind.

"Desmond, I'm ready!" Wren called, doing a twist in the air. Her wings spread and she hovered in front of him, solid black eyes sparkling even from here.

Desmond stood and stepped closer to the edge of the skyscraper. Logically, he should absolutely refuse to do this up here. If something went wrong, something would go wrong.

Then again, he was an Assassin, and Wren had her wings to catch her. If they couldn't do this combined Leap of Faith up here with nothing to catch them, then there really was no where else they could.

"Alright!" Desmond returned, and closed his eyes.

There were many things Desmond simply wasn't thinking about, especially in regards to his fancy new tattoos and the thousands of ancestors he now had access to. But Desmond had his Eagle Vision even before he found himself here in a sideways future, and there before him was an eagle.

Wren was one of the two that was an Assassin in all but name. And she trusted him when he explained that he had abilities outside of a Quirk. Enough so that she trusted Desmond to experiment with her when he explained what one of those abilities were.

(Thanks to Bayek, who Desmond still wasn't sure was actually an ancestor or if being the spiritual-founder or an entire Order counted enough by Isu standards. Or hell, even if Bayek was just chilling out as a fucking ghost, because why the hell not, Quirks were a thing. Why wouldn't ghosts and other supernatural shit be a thing too?)

Considering where they met in the first place, Desmond was a bit dumbfounded by that trust.

So, Desmond took absolute care to reach for that aspect of Eagle Vision in which he could see through the eyes of other animals. Connor's daughter had the ability, which was where he got the knowledge of how to do this. And from working with Nezu, who wasn't human and therefore was the one Desmond tested if it worked at all with.

And Wren, was like her name implied, very animal-like even in her humanity. So Desmond reached with his senses to the energy that all living things radiated. Wren's color was a very solid and cheerful blue, and since she was expecting it- she accepted and welcomed Desmond's own presence alongside her own.

"Desmond?"

That was Wren's voice, somewhere to the side and back of Desmond.

"It's okay. We're both here. Open your eyes."

Desmond opened his eyes.

0o0o0

"I have a question," Nezu asked one day, a couple of years since they first met. Much had changed, but a lot of it really hadn't.

"I'm probably not going to like this, am I?" Desmond asked but turned to Nezu anyway. Nezu had a pretty clear grasp on what Desmond did and did not like at this point.

Desmond put down his notebook where he had been keeping track of their finances. Ezio was too strong a shade, the son of a banker for all that they were also Assassins, for Desmond to let anyone else handle it. The last time he tried, Ezio had stared disapprovingly at him until he picked it back up again. Strangely, that was such a Claudia expression that Desmond refrained for another day just to experience the actual hilarity of it.

Nezu took a breath to look at Desmond. "Can you tell me which school would be the best for me to head to?"

Desmond hissed a breath and closed his eyes. "You know it's not actually fortune telling."

Still, he started making plans on the best way to look. Nezu so rarely asked for anything of importance that Desmond never refused him a request. His coworkers often commented that Desmond was kind of a pushover when it came to his people.

"No, but I've done enough research into places that I would like to visit that you should have an idea of which place is the most important," Nezu pointed out, "And just because you don't like thinking about it doesn't mean that some of your abilities don't work similarly."

Desmond sighed. "Fine. I'll look after dinner."

Nezu nodded, knowing that Desmond wasn't actually stalling. Dinner and food was important.

An hour later saw Desmond carrying Nezu up the tallest skyscraper their small city had. Heights absolutely worked the best for this sort of thing, and this was a rather important decision all told. Nezu was finding a place to start his career after all.

"So, what are you looking for?" Desmond asked when they reached the top.

He took a deep breath, thankful for the fresh air. It was clean this high up. It wasn't as tall as being on top of the crane in New York, but it was familiar enough. If Desmond closed his eyes, he could almost pretend that he was there, with Rebecca and Shaun in his ear.

Damn, but Desmond missed them.

Not the time.

Nezu handed Desmond his folder of choice locations and climbed to his shoulder, gripping his hoodie for better balance. "I'm looking for some place that is as chaotic as our own people can be," Nezu said.

Desmond snorted at that. "Yeah, the chaos grows on you," he admitted.

They weren't Assassins because Desmond made the very conscious decision to not re-create the Order in this time and place. But they were still as close as Assassins as they could get, and their lifestyle required some strong personalities. And all those stubborn wills all together made life interesting, that's for sure.

"Yes," Nezu agreed. He rubbed against Desmond's cheek. "My choices are all excellent choices, of course. But I'd like the one that I can help the most, and where the children need me and my own skills the most."

"So, as chaotic as our own can be," Desmond said. "Just like you said."

"Yes," Nezu patted and started running his paws through Desmond's hair.

"Alright then," Desmond said.

He focused, spreading his senses outwards as he went through the papers that Nezu handed him. Each was a short dossier of each school Nezu had looked at and applied to. There was how many students were there, the teachers, what they taught and specialized in, their reputation and which country it was in.

Desmond flipped through each of them before a paper glowed at him.

"Here," Desmond said, and pulled the glowing golden piece of paper out. He held it up so Nezu could see it clearly.

"Oh, that one is interesting," Nezu said, twitching his nose in thought.

"It's also out of the country," Desmond pointed out.

"Like that's ever stopped us," Nezu said amusedly, in reference to all of the side-missions that he and Desmond went on. Couldn't be a Vigilante Order without traveling of course.

"It hasn't, but a teaching position is a bit different than just visiting places," Desmond said.

"I know, but there's much that I can do there," Nezu said. He sighed and pressed closer. "I do not like that I will be so far away from our people, but it will be beneficial in the long run."

"Yeah," Desmond agreed ruefully, already making plans on who to leave in charge while he and Nezu traveled. "I guess we're going to Japan."

0o0o0

Desmond whistled as he stared up at the high school building that Nezu would be teaching at.

Nezu, of course, was aiming to be principal, where he would have the most power to do as he wished. But that was a ways off yet, and Nezu would be teaching the would-be heroes in the meantime.

The entire building glowed golden, and it saturated everything. Desmond eyed it, and came to the realization that something very, very important would be happening here in the future. Not that it wasn't important now, of course, but most of this school's history-making power would be happening in the future.

And Desmond watched as that golden glow enveloped Nezu as part of itself. It was both awe striking and sad, watching as the connections formed between the two.

"It'll be fine," Nezu promised from Desmond's arms, reaching up to pat him on the cheek. "I will be here, and you are welcome to visit at any time."

"I know," Desmond said, and pressed his cheek to Nezu's head. "And you'll do great, of course."

"Of course," Nezu agreed. "You will as well. Like this, we can spread our influence."

Desmond nodded. Next to him, the shades of his ancestors look around, curious and content. This was a step that they were all familiar with, if not one in the manner they'd ever done themselves. But Mentors were all teachers at heart as implied by the title, and stepping into a school was comforting.

"I'll bring everyone to visit when you become principal," Desmond said.

Desmond really did look forward to see what Nezu would do with this place.

0o0

0o0o0

0o0