Hello peoples, welcome to Triad. If you're new here you should probably go start at the beginning, which would be the story Flocking Movement. If you're feeling spritely though you should start with Flocking Movement: Ages. Keep in mind that FM is an older story so its a little rough in the beginning, and I completely ignore most of ACR and everything from ACR onwards is not taken into account for this story.

To up to date readers, welcome back, so glad you could make it. Triad will be a much faster paced story than FM or 17th with longer chapters and shifting POVs. Originally Triad was just going to be an intermission in the middle of 17th, but I decided to split them all up because I liked the feel of it better. Triad will also be a much shorter story than the previous ones.

Okay, enough talking. Boop.

There was a long silence in the big room, Lucy couldn't even hear herself breathing. Though maybe it was because her pulse was pounding in her ears, sudden and abrupt. None of them had had time to react to what had happened, to Desmond falling. It had happened so quickly. Desmond was there one moment, and then the next he wasn't.

Lucy finally looked up from where she'd been staring at the floor next to her where Desmond and his chair had been, Altair was still looking. His face was dead white, his eyes wide and she realized Altair was afraid. She'd never seen him look afraid before. She looked around, feeling destabilized, and saw that the others had equal looks of shock on their faces. Even Andrew, who was notorious for his 'replacements' looked worried. No one said anything for what felt like a long time, though it was probably just a few seconds. Long enough to make the silence become unbearable. The AIs seemed unconcerned.

She wondered how long it'd take for the flipping out to start.

Not long.

Altair pulled himself together, "Where is he?" he demanded, airing the question they all had.

"Safe," Mercury said.

Altair slammed his fist on the table and stood up, "That isn't an answer!" he cried. Lucy sunk down, she did her best to not be afraid of Altair, his anger was usually childish and petty. But if he was angry enough to yell? She didn't want it suddenly flung at her. "Where is he?"

The AI all turned to him, "Safe, and doing what needs to be done," Pluto said.

"Performing an act of trust," Demeter, the new one, said. "He cannot do what needs to be done dragging you along behind him."

"And what is that?" Ezio demanded, and Lucy realized the three of them were all on their feet.

"He'll tell you when he sees you again."

"So we will see him again?" Jake asked.

"Of course," said Venus, "You think he'd like it if we told him he could never see you again?" and then she laughed. "He's the stadalla, you think we could stop him?"

"I'm assuming no," Hawk said.

"We couldn't," Venus said, "He breaks us. Now, you all need to leave."

"Why?" Altair growled, "We aren't going anywhere without Desmond."

"You can leave on your own," Mercury piped in, "Or I can kick you out. But you are leaving."

"Try," Altair said, and abruptly the floor fell out from under Altair too.

"Altair!" Ezio cried and literally lunged across the table.

"He's fine," Mercury said, "And like I said. You can leave on your own, or I will make you," he said and while his child-like smile was sweet, his yellow eyes were hard and dangerous.

"Its a tube?" Ezio asked, looking down at where Altair had fallen, and indeed it was, like a water slide. They couldn't hear Altair though.

"Yes. Now shall I kick you out? Or are you going to leave on your own?"

"How long?" Lucy asked, "How long till Desmond comes back?"

The AIs looked between each other, "We don't know," Morpheus said, "Could be a few weeks, could be a few months."

"We don't anticipate it lasting a year," Demeter said.

"Anticipate what exactly?" she was surprised Shaun had asked, he and Rebecca had been silent spectators up till now.

"He'll tell you when he returns. As for now, you need to go, far away preferably."

"Why?" Hawk asked.

"Everyone knows I'm at full power," Mercury said, "I can remotely access any of the other facilities, and restore them to more than half power without need of the fucking stadalla. They're going to come here."

"Who are?"

"Who do you think?" Pluto asked, "The ones who did this. Proeathans will be coming here in an attempt to retake Mercury. With him they'll be able to organize the final cleansing of the world."

"Then it sounds like we need to do the opposite," Hawk said, "It sounds like we need to stay-

"A cute thought, but fuck no," Mercury said.

"They just want to help," said the one who looked like a teenage girl. "I say we let them help us," she said.

"Artemis-

"What?" she demanded, "We have no body," she sounded annoyed, "I think you all forgot then when you projected onto him. We can't do anything without help, because for all of our power we're helpless. We told them we're on their side, so let them help us as we're trying to help them."

There was a brief silence, clearly they were talking non verbally, "Fine," Pluto said.

"Staying and fighting here is pointless," Venus said, "even as we speak Mercury is uploading himself to Demeter. This place will be a target for proeathan attack, to attempt to reclaim the communication's tower. When they get here they need to find it worthless, empty."

"So then what do you want us to do?"

"Most of us reside in the old world," Demeter, said, "I know you have come a long way from there, but you need to go back."

"Back? Like back to Europe?" Jake asked.

"Further," Demeter said, "My location is hidden and cloaked from even proeathan instruments. I am a last resort in case something goes horrifically wrong. A bank of genes and seeds in case anything ever happened. For you and other humans, I am safety."

"Okay, where are you?"

She motioned and a projection of Africa appeared before zooming in to show them a lake out in the middle of the Sahara. "You people call it Lake Chad-

"A redundant name," Morpheus said.

"I reside under the lake," Demeter said. "You need to go there."

"How do you expect us to do that?" Hawk demanded, "We barely got here in the first place."

"Return to me," Pluto said, "I will give you something… larger," and he seemed rather pleased with himself for that.

"And what are we supposed to do once we get to Lake Chad?" Ezio asked.

The satellite image panned a bit, "The lake is home to one of the proeathan plantations in Africa," Demeter said. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you what you should do."

"Sounds like fun," Hawk said.

"And Desmond will come back?" Jake clarified.

"Once we're done with him, and once he's ready, yes, he'll return," Venus said.

"And I don't want to burst anyone's feel good bubbles, but this just deployed from the coast of of Chile," Mercury said and showed a satellite radar image of a large mass moving off from the coast of Chile.

"Neptune," Pluto said, "Navy."

"And Nike just jettisoned a bunch of craft. They'll be here in a few hours, those coming from Neptune will be here in a few days. You all need to leave, now. If they find you here it won't be good for any of you," Mercury said.

"What are the coordinates for Demeter, and the plantation?" Hawk asked, pulling out his glass. They appeared in front of him. "Perfect. Where's Altair?"

"Outside, yelling at me," Mercury said and seemed very pleased with himself.

Hawk and Ezio looked at each other and then sighed. "Well, not much more we can do. Desmond's with you guys, and the hammer is coming down. We need to go," Hawk got up.

"So we're just… going to leave him here?" Jake asked.

Hawk looked at the AIs, "So far they haven't lied to us, or steered us wrong. I don't like leaving Little Bird here, but we seem to have to. We'll see him again I'm sure in Chad. We need to make sure that when he shows up after doing whatever he's doing, that we have something to show for it. Now, we're going. I'll take the fast way Mercury," he added.

"As you wish," and the floor opened under him.

"Anyone else want to take the fast way?" Mercury asked.

Jake sighed, "I will. Someone's going to need to defuse Altair before we get going." And then the next moment he was gone.

"I'll take the stairs," Lucy said and the others made a general noise of agreement.

"Fine," and stairs appeared, leading down around the edge. Ezio went first and the AIs, for the most part, fizzled out, except for Pluto and Venus, who stayed. Lucy had still yet to move from where she was sitting even as the others walked past her.

"Aren't you going with them?" Venus asked.

"Logically, I know I will," she said, "But you have to know I don't want to."

Venus frowned at her, "Such is the fate of a synthetic," she said.

"I don't want to leave him here," she said.

"But you will," Venus said, "We'll keep him safe."

"It isn't about that," she said.

"We know," Pluto said, "We're sorry. It was a stupid plan."

Lucy smiled sadly, "No… it was a good plan," she said softly. "And that's why it was an awful plan."

"You need to leave," Venus told her.

Lucy made herself move. She knew at her core, that she was a person, no matter how she came into being. But she also knew that she'd been preprogramed and predisposed to do things a certain way, act a certain way. It made everything so much more confusing than it needed to be. But the proeathans had made her to not just be with Desmond, but to make her want to be with Desmond. Before Hera she'd thought it was just what she wanted. Now she didn't know, and didn't know how to deal with it other than to go with it. Because she did want to be with him, she just didn't know if that was her, or the proeathans.

"Hera helped make me, right?" she asked once she'd stood up.

"Yes," Venus said.

"C-could she change me?"

Pluto and Venus looked at each other. "What do you mean?" Pluto asked.

"The proeathans made me to love him, and then to hurt him. But I don't know if that's what I want. I don't even know if what I want is what I want. I can't separate what I feel, for what I want. Could Hera change that?"

"You mean can you chose to not love him?" Venus asked. After a moment Lucy nodded. "But do you want that?"

"I don't know," she said. "That's the point I don't know. I can't trust any of my feelings."

"We don't know if Hera can do anything," Pluto said.

"Lucy! C'mon!" Ezio's voice was far away when he called her.

"We'll find out," Venus said, "When we see you at Pluto we may have an answer for you. But think carefully about what you're asking. Hera is the luck of the red moon, nothing she does to help comes without a price."

"I just want to know, that what I'm feeling, is me, and not something the proeathans made."

"Lucy!" Ezio called again.

"Go," Venus shooed her, "This won't be our last meeting."

Lucy looked at them then quickly left, going down the staircase. It was a surprisingly short trip to the door where they'd started. "There you are. What took you?" Ezio asked, standing on the rubble under the doorway.

"Sorry, I was asking Pluto something."

"Right, well c'mon. Can you make the jump?"

"I think so," and she sat on the edge. "How's Altair taking it?"

"About as well as you think," and she pushed herself off the edge. She made a three point landing on the rubble below and Ezio helped her stand as she dusted off her hands.

"Where is he? I don't hear any yelling."

"Jake dragged him away, literally by the ear. I have no idea where. Now c'mon we need to get ready to go, because Altair's complaining or not, we need to leave and get back to Pluto. You good to fly?"

"Probably," she nodded and Ezio helped her navigate the ruined temple, she could see all right in the moonlight, but not great.

On the ground Hawk was having a heated discussion with Andrew. "-Beneficial to the both of us. We have numbers," Andrew was saying.

"You'd just slow us down," Hawk said. "A smaller unit is more efficient and everyone knows what they have to do. They also don't have too many stupid questions."

"Well you can't expect no uninformed questions," Shaun said, "You know things we don't."

"Exactly."

"So then tell us," Shaun said, staring at Hawk, unimpressed with him. "What do you gain by keeping secrets? We know you're going to Demeter. What would happen if when the proeathans came, they took one of us. Do you really think they couldn't figure a way to get that information? Or what's happening with Desmond?"

Hawk's mouth was a hard, pinched, line. "Ezio," Hawk said, turning to him, "And Blondie, you're better at people than me."

"What do they want?" Ezio asked.

"Let us come with you," Andrew said, "You can't take down a proeathan plantation by yourselves."

"You know this how?" Ezio asked.

"Because when we disrupted one in Iowa," Lucy did her best not to flinch, "it was with a lot of resistance. Humans aren't used to being kept, and not enough time has passed to break us of our independence. Their heavily guarded with incredibly destructive machines. Let us help you."

Ezio looked thoughtful and then looked at Lucy, "Is he truthful? Are the plantations really heavily guarded?"

"They are," she said, "And without them the proeathans are weakened. They eat a mostly vegetarian and vegan diet and unlike us can't process meat as well as we can. There are a few million proeathans awake right now, most of them serving in the military, and have to eat a lot to power their higher brain functions as well as larger bodies. Without the steady stream of food coming in from the plantations, they'd be painfully crippled. They need to protect the plantations until they've 'bred the rebellion out of us' again."

"Hmm," Ezio frowned and then nodded.

"How do you know that?" Andrew asked. "And how do you know its true?"

"Blondie here is a walking proeathan encyclopedia," Hawk said, "Its true."

"How do you trust her though? She's a known traitor."

"Oh, we are well aware of her shifted alliances both with the Assassins, and now," Ezio said. "But we trust her more than any of you, which is the important issue here."

"Altair won't like it," Hawk said.

"Altair doesn't like fucking anything," Ezio said dismissivly. "What do you think, Lucy? Do we need their help?"

"Numbers would help," she said, "We're only five and plantations can contain hundreds of soldiers to contain the thousands of humans. We'd have to pick them off slowly if he was just us, and I can't see that going smoothly."

Ezio looked thoughtful a moment. "Fine," he said, "You and your men can come."

"Thank you-

"There are conditions," Ezio said. "One, you are not in charge," he said firmly, "We are. We will answer your questions so long as they aren't unbelievably stupid, and will do our best to bring you up to date on what is actually going on. But you will listen to and obey our orders," he continued. "Andrew will not speak to Altair unless spoken to, I doubt you want to give him more of a reason to murder you than all the perfect examples you've given him thus far. It won't be our duty to inform your men about the situation, all they need to know is that me, Hawk, and Altair, are now their ranking officers."

"Fine-

"And you will also, if needed, defer to Jake if one of us isn't present."

"And what about her?" Andrew narrowed his eyes at Lucy.

"You will treat Blondie here with the utmost respect," Hawk wrapped an arm around her shoulders, which she found odd. Hawk didn't touch. "I like her best and she's a much more useful mortal than any of you currently. She's also not afraid of Altair, something you'll have to work on if you want to play with the big boys, thus making her much more interesting than any of you as well. Now, I'm going to find Jake and Altair," and he slid his arm off Lucy and left them.

"Are there any questions regarding our agreement?" Ezio asked.

"No," Andrew said.

"Good. Wake your men, our numia will be a tight fit, but they should all fit. Right Lucy?"

"They should. Might have to sit on the floor though, we did break a few chairs," she shrugged.

"Right," Ezio nodded. "We're leaving in ten minutes, with, or without you," he said.

"Of course," Andrew's voice and jaw were tight. For a second Lucy thought he looked like Desmond. They both looked the same when were forced to bend over for an authoritative force. Seemed Andrew didn't like being told what to do and bossed around any more than Desmond did. Lucy couldn't find herself surprised.

"Lets go," Andrew said and motioned to Shaun and Rebecca. Shaun turned and followed but Rebecca hesitated. She'd been looking right at Lucy through the entire exchange. After a moment Lucy smiled at her. Rebecca quickly followed Shaun and Andrew after that.

"You sure about this?" Lucy asked Ezio.

Ezio sighed, "No. But its the best we can do. Lets go get the numia ready." She followed him to the aircraft and climbed up the gangway into the body. "Can't do much about all the blood in here," he said.

"It'll only be a few days," Lucy reminded him.

"Right," though he sounded annoyed regardless.

"I'll get the numia prepped," and she went into the cockpit. She sat in the pilot's chair and brought up the instruments. Everything would run fine, she just needed her copilots. She ran general preflight procedure anyway. Through the front window she saw the Assassin camp wake up, shake itself awake and start to move.

"Lucy," Jake came into the cockpit.

"Good, right on time," Lucy said, tracking the Assassins through the glass.

"Yeah, really. We have a new copilot since Hawk's going to be busy."

"What?" and she turned in her chair. Her brows went up. "Becca," she said.

"Is that cool?" Jake asked, "She volunteered."

"Its fine with me. You want help explaining it?"

"Nah, I got it," Jake said.

"Tell me if he talks too dumb," Lucy said with a grin, "I know you're at a higher level."

"Yes, good idea Lucy, mock your copilot," Jake grumbled.

"It isn't hard, right?" Rebecca asked, Lucy turned back to finishing her preflight procedure. She heard people boarding the numia. There was some complaining about the blood, but otherwise it seemed smooth. At some point the cockpit opened again.

"What now?" Jake asked.

"Too crowded," Lucy glanced over her shoulder at Altair.

"He doesn't want to breathe Andrew's air," she said mildly.

"Would you?" he demanded, "Especially after what he did to you."

"I wouldn't," she agreed. "We're all set to fly, Jake, she ready?"

"Probably better than Desmond was," Jake said.

"Good," Lucy said, "Because we need to get out of here before whatever it is that's coming from Finland gets here." She flipped a switch next to her, it sealed all hatches and doors on the numia. "How many people are on board?" she asked.

"About thirty-six," Altair said, "Plus us."

"And minus one Desmond," Jake piped in.

"Right," Lucy said softly and turned on the intercom, "Hello everyone, this is the pilot speaking. We're about to take off. If you're not sitting, do so now or the two scary men in the front will make you," she didn't need to see the body to know Ezio and Hawk were up front, maybe even standing. "Our final destination will be upstate New York, I'd suggest you get some sleep as we fly through Mexico as we'll probably be doing some hunting once we land." And she clicked it off.

"Hunting?" Rebecca asked.

"We don't have enough food to feed all those people," Lucy said, "And I doubt you all brought enough."

"How long will it take us to get to Pluto?" Rebecca asked.

Lucy looked over her shoulder at the other woman, "Five days," she shrugged, "the numia isn't very fast, and it tires me out a lot. We'll be stopping at dawn at the least so we can rest. Ready to go?"

After a second Rebecca nodded, "You have power," and Lucy tapped a few buttons. The engines hummed and the numia lifted up off the ground effortlessly. She felt the strain instantly though. Numia and all proeathan aircraft didn't fly like human planes, rather they twisted the Earth's magnetic field around it, making it float. Lucy was quite literally flying a giant magnet, a temperamental magnet. Proeathans had sixth sense that pilots trained to help them anticipate the changes in the Earth's magnetic fields and guide the numia. Lucy didn't have that, her smooth flying was paying close attention to the information her copilots fed her, so she didn't hit a bump or twist in the magnetic field or odd pockets of air that could throw them off course.

It honestly was exhausting work, to have to fly a numia, and know what all the gauges and screens and things she was seeing meant. They flew for a while before Lucy's head started to hurt, as did her arms from keeping the numia stable.

Lucy landed them near the coast. "That's it then?" Altair asked he'd stayed in the cockpit with them the entire time. He came over to her, "Can't get us a bit further?" he asked, leaning on her chair as she turned the numia off.

"I need to sleep," Lucy said, the sun was starting to rise over the water, she'd faced the numia away from the ocean. She looked up at him, "Not everyone can be an insomniac like you," she said.

Altair sighed, "No, I guess not. All right, sleep. You two should also try to rest," he told Rebecca and Jake.

"I'm fine," Jake said.

"I highly doubt that," Altair said sternly and then Jake said something in Arabic. Altair replied in like and they quickly grew into a heated comment.

"Go outside and argue," Lucy groaned and made the flight controls fold away so she could settle in for a well deserved sleep.

"Yeah Altair," Jake said scathingly. Altair snapped at him.

"Outside!" Lucy cried. The two men left, still bickering. Lucy sighed and stood up and went to the corner where she kept her thing. Her things and Desmond's. She grabbed his sleeping bag and went back to the chair. She'd be happy for the respite, and then when she woke she'd eat like she'd just gone Under and fly some more.

Lucy pulled off her shirt to change into something cleaner, when she realized she wasn't alone. Rebecca was sitting at her station still, looking at her. "Oh… sorry," Lucy said awkwardly and hastily pulled her shirt back on.

Rebecca was staring at her, "Is it really you?" she asked.

Lucy frowned, she didn't know how to answer that. She knew what Rebecca wanted to know. Was she Lucy Prime, the one she'd been friends with. The one she'd had to leave bleeding on the flood of Juno because Desmond needed medical attention and Andrew had said to leave her. But she didn't know if she could tell Rebecca the truth, She just missed her friend.

"Yes and no," Lucy decided.

"What?"

"Lucy did die," Lucy said, "The one you knew."

"Then who are you?"

A lie was easier than the truth, "A clone," she said. "The proeathans made me."

"So you're not her-

"I'm just as good," Lucy cut in, feeling slightly because he wasn't her. It wasn't her fault! She didn't ask to be born like this, made into this shape. She hadn't asked to be who she was. But if she was good enough for Desmond, damn sure she was good enough for Rebecca. "I know everything she knew."

"Sure you do," Rebecca said, though didn't sound like she believed her. She got up from her seat. "I'm going to sleep," and then she walked out of the cockpit. Lucy stared after her and for some reason the accusation that she wasn't the original hurt a lot more than it should have. But then, she was a fake. A girl made of parts pretending to be some dead girl who'd been buried six years ago.

Lucy made herself move. She changed her clothes, all of them, and then slid into the sleeping bag and sat on the pilot's chair. The sleeping bag smelled like Desmond and her chest ached. She missed him, and he'd only been gone a few hours. But she missed him like someone had torn out a piece of her body and now there was a hole missing from her side. She wanted him to come back soon so she could see him, touch him, kiss him.

She squeezed her eyes shut. All these feelings, and she didn't know even how genuine they were. It was why she'd stayed away from him for so long. Clearly Desmond was in love with her, but was she? She didn't know. Her feelings told her she was. But Lucy didn't know if she could trust those. She didn't know if she could trust any of her memories from before waking up in Juno, or any of her feelings.

She was just a synthetic girl, trying to replace a real one, trying to be real. Thinking about it had her wiping her eyes angrily. She wouldn't cry over this. She'd figure it out. She'd make Hera answer her questions, change her if needed, if she could. All she knew was that she wanted all these feelings, all her emotions, to actually be hers, and not something someone had carefully constructed to sting Desmond along. He deserved better than that. She'd figure it out, for both their sakes.