Chapter Fourteen: Rescue; December 20th, 2012

It escaped Lucy as to how someone like Vidic, someone who supposedly had a scientific mind, could believe so deeply in a plain silver orb that produces elaborate illusions and mind control. Sure, she admitted grudgingly to herself, she had seen the power of the artifact through Desmond's – or rather Altair's – memories and she had seen the 'God' concept the artifact tended to inflict on those who searched for the ultimate control like Vidic… but she doubted whether the artifacts would even work on the whole planet and enslave everyone.

Lucy shuddered at the thought. It was an ambitious plot – one they had infinite resources to realize – but she often wondered if Abstergo underestimated humankind… she knew that not everyone would be take over by the artifacts. Altair was proof that there are some minds that are utterly impenetrable and Lucy hoped that her own mind was the same. She leaned back on the office chair and sighed. Nearly one in the morning – she knew Desmond would ask about the shadows under her eyes – and she couldn't even think about closing her eyes, no matter how tired she was. This was, after all, the only time she was able to dig deep into the network and find what she needed. Her role, her infiltration into Abstergo had its drawbacks, and sighing, Lucy lowered the brightness on the computer screen, hoping there were no guards about.

Pulling her jet-black blazer over her shoulders and buttoning it securely, Lucy easily hacked the access pad to her room and slid out into the wide hallway. The inside of the building resembled a lawyer's office with its dark brown carpets and stucco walls – it was a nice change from the gleaming, impenetrable steel walls from the American facility. That change meant, of course, that Lucy had to constantly check her map, drawn with her fountain pen on her wrist, to make sure she was going the right direction, since it was so easy to get lost in that large Italian facility. Lucy, who was fluent in Italian, was getting the hang of the signs and schedules of the guards, so when she spotted the guard at the end of the hall with his back to her, Lucy slid into an empty office – the one she had unlocked earlier with Vidic wasn't looking – and waited for the slow steps that passed her hiding spot.

Lucy's training had been cut short, she remembered, when she was asked – though she later volunteered after being pulled away from her mission – to infiltrate Abstergo. Sighing, with her heart pounding hard in her chest like wrecking balls clashing, Lucy slipped out the door and she hurried down the hall to where she knew was the Vidic's private conference room. Vidic, who was definitely not the top official in charge of the satellite mission, had enough information that was accessible to her. Cursing under her breath, Lucy slammed her credit card between the doorjamb and slammed her shoulder against the wood. She didn't worry about the noise she made – she was sure the guard was far enough that he wouldn't have heard... she hoped.

In the pitch black room, she felt her way - hands running over smooth wood, her forearm bumping into chairs - to the computer she needed to hack into. She'd taken a leaf out of Desmond's book when she'd stolen Vidic's access pen from his own pocket and had anonymously submitted it to the front desk in an envelope to quell the suspicion. It was nearly perfect, she thought giddily when her stolen codes left the computer wide open. This was the payout she'd been working so far for – for herself and for the Assassins. It didn't take long for Lucy to slip inside the ghost drive containing the files she needed. Using a remote connection and a proxy* just to be safe, Lucy set up a connection to Sam's computer via satellite.

Lucy's breath was coming in sharp, stinging gasps as she accessed the files. It was nothing she hadn't already deducted – blueprints of the satellite, reports on progress, Lucy was surprised at the amount of money spend on the project as it was more than Abstergo's income the entire time they'd existed… surely it meant that Abstergo's plan was to erase all of humanity's economic process, if not the entire record of their existence.

When she came across the photos, she stopped. Lucy had been aware that Abstergo had literally stolen several innovative Japanese and Indian mathematicians and engineers to perfect the model of the satellite but she had not expected the sleekness of the vessel. It was designed like a bullet, Lucy figured the point would face the Earth, and she could see several artifacts in their own distinctive shells inside the steel structure… Lucy shuddered.

Using the remote link, Lucy uploaded the information – quite a bit of it – and sent it to Sam and Quincy, who was well enough to travel and fight again. It was comforting, Lucy thought, to have a group of assassins so well trained… yet she was aware their situation was nearly impossible. Abstergo was so close to the end of their plans that if something didn't happen Lucy feared they really might succeed with their plans. Once she received the small coded message from Sam confirming the exchange, she quickly reset the time and shut off the computer after making sure to destroy all evidence that she was here.

Lucy gathered her wits and took a deep breath when a hand, a very familiar hand, closed over her mouth. It was small and dainty, and the body she felt pressed against her back was slight. If it wasn't for her own shock, Lucy was sure she would have screamed.

"It's alright. It's me, Josette."

Relief, like a tidal wave, broke over Lucy who had been tensed to fight and she let out the painful breath she had been holding. Her heart now pounded audibly in her ears and she whirled once the hand disappeared from her mouth. "Josey, goddammit, you scared the hell out of me!" Lucy gasped, hand clasped over her heart, hardly believing what had just happened.

"I know, I know, you need to go back to the Animus room… Altair will be there in a moment, okay? Now allez!"

Lucy sputtered out her questioning and surprise to the shadow that slithered along the wall and out into the hall, where she could not mistake the sound of a body falling to the ground. It was Josette's work, no doubt, and Lucy bolted down the hall again, retracing her steps and crashing headlong into Desmond as he and Astrid snuck down the hall in their own plan.

"Lucy!" Desmond wheezed as the blonde smashed into his chest at a full sprint, his arms going around her instinctively. Astrid hissed out, she nearly screeched, a muted curse when Desmond's shoe slammed down on her toes when he staggered back with the force of Lucy's momentum and she shoved at his back so he wouldn't overbalance and topple into her. Lucy gasped again as the force of her sprint blew the breath from her lungs and she stared, wide eyed, up at Desmond's shocked brown eyes.

"Ow, Christ!" Astrid swore over Lucy's fast pants. It was then, when her female mind noted to protective stance Desmond took over Lucy, with his shoulders bent over her and his arms loosely but firmly around her that she noticed something was happening… but her attention snapped back to the situation at hand – and shoving Desmond away from Lucy, she stood in front of the startled blonde, her body already tense.

"What happened?" Astrid asked fiercely, her mind already working around possible scenarios… what if Altair was here? Her heart skipped a beat, first with fear for him and then it swelled with a glowing warmth she didn't dare acknowledge yet – yet she knew it was there and held it to her chest.

"Josette is here, she told me to run back here… that Altair was coming." Lucy spoke so fast it took Astrid and Desmond a second more to process what was said before Lucy pushed them both inside the Animus room, her ears having picked up the sounds of heavy footsteps, the guards, and reacting instinctively. She followed and shut the door with the key code before whirling and staring at Desmond. "How did you get out of here?" Lucy wondered.

"I filched Vidic's pen," Desmond answered easily, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lucy stared for a moment before shaking her head, thinking, of course he would. In his situation she would do the same.

"That's fun and fantastic, but where is Altair?" Astrid demanded eyes darting around for potential weapons… her eyes landing on the Animus Mark II – sitting docilely by the first Animus. She hated that machine.

"She just said he was coming… I don't know what they're planning -," Lucy began to explain Josette's stealth attack on her when the conference door slammed open. Stifling her shriek, Lucy whirled behind her to meet Vidic's furious eyes with her own. Desmond instinctively grabbed her and shoved her behind him, immediately protective while he waited. Lucy was gasping behind him while Astrid leapt forward, letting instinct guide her movements – not paying any notice to what she was doing – only aware that Vidic – the enemy – was before her and behind him was a small army of guards with sleek black weapons pointed in their direction – so the status quo must be changed.

Had she reacted perhaps a second too late, Desmond thought, there would have been no chance for them to escape. His gaze never left Vidic's face as he processed the truth about Lucy who was never really under his thumb. Her identity, as an assassin, was clear as day now but he only had a second to see the realization dawn on his captor's face before Astrid whirled him around with her hands positioned on the top of his head and under his jaw – with him in front of her so she was hidden from the weapons' barrels. Her eyes were frosty and she twisted his head just slightly to let him know that with one small jerk of her hands, he would die in an instant. It also registered with the guards that were no longer the ones with the upper hand as the professional swagger they rushed in with was wavering and gone as the weapons lowered slightly. Astrid did not see Desmond move closer so that they were also hidden from view.

"Don't shoot!" Vidic croaked immediately, an unrecognizable fear when he realized he could die for both angles, his stiff body twitching from the awkward position his neck was in.

"Good," Astrid murmured in his ear. "Now tell them to drop their weapons and kick them towards us." At his silence Astrid applied a little more pressure, making sure he couldn't move by trapping his feet with hers. The last bit of pressure was enough for Vidic, who barked out the order, and Astrid did not miss the loathing in his voice.

From Astrid's vantage point, she could not see, as Desmond and Lucy saw the small silver object skid across the floor. Desmond had seen only one during his short-lived training and he knew what it was and that was during a demonstration to show its effects. The object was sleek and silent, weightless as it was stopped by a guard's heel and he didn't even flinch. "Hold your breath," he breathed to Lucy who had briefly noticed the small object but glanced away quickly to avoid drawing attention it. The small device spit in the middle and Desmond could see waves of compressed nerve gas being released from the device, taking only seconds to reach the guards. Astrid paused, confused only for a moment until she heard Desmond take a deep breath. In unison, as if rehearsed, the guards dropped and behind them – Astrid's eyes widened like saucers – stood Josette and Altair. Because Vidic did not see the nerve gas, Astrid dropped him, still holding her breath, as she counted thirty seconds. It was enough time to make sure the gas had dispersed into the air. Letting out a breath, Astrid's hands were limp at her sides as her gray eyes met the sinful brown set in a tan face. The lips, more bow shaped than she remembered, parted slightly.

Nothing was said, and nothing was done for the few seconds that Altair saw that she was perfectly fine – with the exception of the shadows under the eyes and bruises on her wrists – and something in him relaxed. He realized that this mission had not been about stopping Abstergo but getting her. It chilled him for a moment to realize that she was as much a part of him now as he was of her. He could tell by the way her face paled at the realization that there was more between them than they thought.

The realization was private, as during this small, silent exchange of a long look between the two, Josette had all but leapt at Lucy, and spoke in rapid French. Astrid's gaze was ripped from him when the small girl had also leapt at her, relief on her features.

"What took you so long?" Desmond said quietly, the humor very subtle that only Altair caught it. He cracked a smile at the man – he was still unable to grasp that Desmond was a very distant family to him as family was no more than a hazy concept to him who had grown up with his brothers to call family.

The bond was broken however, when a guard stirred and the room stilled briefly, all eyes darting to the guard that moaned and stilled slightly, the nerve gas already wearing off. They, silently, as one, darted over the forms of the guards and slipped down the hall, thanking whatever force they wanted to, for making the building a flat, compared to the high rise in the States, with only six floors. They exploded outside, facing a deep night, and wordlessly split up. Desmond and Lucy in one vehicle left the day before by Josette and Altair, and the other three in the larger car.

They peeled off into the night, Josette being more familiar with the Italian countryside than all the rest, directed Astrid's driving to the city of Bassano, near Venice. The reason for Bassano was because the oldest Bureau in Italy was centered there. It was a short drive at the speed Astrid drove through the winding Italian countryside, hardly stopping, hardly speaking a word – only aware that their mission was at an end. Soon, tomorrow to be exact would be the day they would prove themselves, their purpose and the reason for their presence to the Templars and to the world. It was a somber and huge concept, one Astrid did not fail to grasp, and it settled over the three in the car. Josette's young age and perceptive nature feeling the change in the mission.

"We'll stop it," she murmured, aware that two heard, but made no noise to suggest it.

AN: So sorry it took so long for this but with the start of school and getting used to an insane schedule has pretty much sucked up all my time. I've been writing scraps of this over the days. However, the end is nearing and another story is coming to play. Two actually! This was more of a thoughtful chapter than an action one... probably because of school that I've been forced to use my brain more often. The next part... and an epilogue (maybe?) will be up soon.