Beat of Our Decay

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Assassin's Creed/The Secret World
Summary: Rebecca returns to find a lot has changed in her absence.
Word Count: 1813
Rating: Teen

 

        Shaun has still passed out more often than he’s slept, though the obsessing about Desmond has been put on a pause for now. Their little base in the library has been converted more to a command room than anything and there’s been more people in and out than Rebecca has seen in years.
        It’d been a bit of a worry, leaving him to his own devices. Shaun might be fairly convinced Desmond is hardly functioning, and yeah, the migraines and probable PTSD are a bad sign, particularly for a Bee, but also, he’s one to talk, though most of his Board of Doom is hastily shoved behind some of those wheely whiteboards she’s ninety percent certain he stole from the college when she ‘recruited’ him.
        She hadn’t been on hand to keep an eye on any of them, and there’s almost certainly one or two spies that came through with the sudden activity, and Shaun is definitely what she’d call vulnerable, but it’s not like she could just say ‘no’ to a direct order, either. Sure, she’s capable, but it’s not a good idea.
        Not like any of them can afford to sit around, end of the world scenarios being what they are. It’s been a while since she’s been in the field and honestly she kind of misses it, though the minute she steps into Egypt there’s obviously something going on. Sure, they could have sent a text or a message through magic, but it was almost certain to be intercepted, and in any case Saïd is sometimes one of those really old-fashioned guys. Pretty much to be expected, given that he’s a mummy, but still. He’s actually friendly to her, unlike a lot of the Templars, because a lot of them are less live and let live than they should be in the modern era, and between that and the possibility of being overheard it was better to just go herself. And there’s definitely something going on; the Cult of the Aten is more bold and has more magical capability than they should have, though Saïd assures her the Kingdom has it well in hand, and he’d gotten all cagey about her asking whether they’d sold any Third Age artifacts recently until it became clear she was asking about a sword, at which point he’d relaxed and told her (probably honestly) that they hadn’t sold anything of the kind within the last millennia or so. “Happy to look up the details—on the artifact, you understand, not the buyer. I wouldn’t divulge those even to my favorite Templar.” She’ll take it—it’s better than nothing, though she’s still a little concerned about whatever he’d sold recently, because he doesn’t do concerned, but he enjoys the coffees and nice suits and little gadgets as much as anyone living, so if there was actually a world-ending disaster in the wings and he was involved he’d have told her. Her best guess is that whatever he sold got used, so while it could have been a disaster he’s seen the fallout enough to be sure there’s not an apocalypse there.
        She’s been keeping an eye on Desmond’s progress through the handler app. She didn’t bother to tell him that it’s got a limited magical surveillance capability of its own; he’ll probably work it out eventually, if he hasn’t already. It’s kind of not a surprise he’d used his ridiculous sneaking skills to get past the Orochi, flawlessly, though at some point she’s hoping he’ll trust them enough to tell them how he managed to get past the Templar Hall wards, because that would be really, really handy to know. It weirdly also made her trust him more, because yeah, he could still have some kind of terrible agenda, but also, he obviously wasn’t planning some of the directly nefarious things like bugging Templar HQ or a direct assassination, because he probably could have gotten away with either if not for her skill with the wards and he didn’t even try. It might still be long term nefariousness, but he reminds her, a decent amount, of Sonnac, in that he’s trying to be as honest and direct as he can while he’s still obviously also not telling them everything.
        She’d been kind of touched at the fact that he’s sending her info too, specifically Orochi stuff they don’t have time to parse, as well as the contact info of a teen he says would make a great sidekick and also they might have to act fast to stop him from getting sucked into the Morninglight. She’d looked into it, surreptitiously, and wouldn’t you know it he’s a kid she’s spoken with on a forum before, so it’d probably be easy to drop a hint or two, ease him into it. Sure, a nice set of boobs is pretty distracting, but—how had Shaun put it? People are less interesting than patterns? A mystery’s pretty distracting too, and if she drops just the right data crumbs, it might just be enough to keep him out of potentially apocalyptic cults.
        He’s decided, unlike a lot of the Bees who tend to be more loners, to use his Agents for more than just errands. She gets it, a bit; no one wants to be short-handed in the Apocalypse. But still, it’s a little odd for a Bee to sign up to be an Agent, at least in the Templars, even if Chelsea might not fully understand that’s what she’s done. Rebecca’s their leading expert on the Dragon and even she doesn’t have a clue if that’s within their usual operating procedure. He has a whole three ducklings now. He doesn’t seem like he’s planning on restarting his cult, but he hadn’t really planned on any of this given how confused he looks about the idea that anyone would follow him or how awkward he seems about the whole teaching thing. If it happened without him intending at this point Rebecca wouldn’t be surprised. Despite the way Chelsea hangs on his every word he’s very not used to the whole teaching thing, so she’s marked that as a low danger for now, and it’s not like he’s being suddenly secretive. So far, it’s just teaching the skills they’ve already seen he has, so not much new there.
        She is getting the idea the Dragon are giving him more latitude than their normal, even, because she’s pretty sure Desmond would complain to one or both of them the minute he gets one of their usual vague hyperspecific yet completely nonsensical commands. Which probably means they’ve done the analysis and by being who he is just throwing him into a situation is enough for them to get a ton of data for their usual calculations. Maybe it’s the whole ‘accidentally ending up in situations’ thing he does.
        When she returns, the entire wall of screens is just every single camera in Kingsmouth, and she can’t decide if that’s adorable or kind of sad. Shaun, meanwhile, is wearing the same slacks and vest she saw him in before she left (hopefully he’s changed at some point in the meantime) and is snoring over one of their volumes of Third Age Artifact Lore (Shaun would probably be able to guess the author simply from the size of the book; she can’t), glasses askew. She probably should stop teasing him, given that he still thinks she’s just making fun of him for how protective he’s gotten, but where’s the fun in that? “Keeping an eye on your crush?”
        “Rebecca!” His bolting upright is pretty hilarious, like startling a cat. He takes a moment to readjust his glasses, making a face at the fact that they’re probably smeared, now, and smoothing the rumples in his vest. She does feel a tiny bit bad about it, though. “Back from Egypt, then? No souvenirs from the Mummy Prince?”
        He’s getting defensive about it, again. And lashing out, because this is Shaun.
        “Just some Egyptian coffee.” That he’d been willing to part with in exchange for some tinkering on his phone on her part. She nods at the screens. “You can’t say you’ve been normal about it.”
        Shaun sighs and cleans his glasses, sitting back down. If anything, he maybe looks a little more dejected and pitiful than when he’d just been drunkenly bemoaning his fate in the Horned God. “I haven’t, and that’s on me.”
        She hadn’t noticed anything since her absence that would cause this, but then, what she gets is limited. “...what’s wrong?”
        “Nothing’s—I’ve just come to a realization, is all.” He takes a deep breath. “He’s been part of a cult, yeah. Says it’s been ages, but I’d wager he escaped at minimum when he was a teenager, if not later. And I—I’m not blind, despite the glasses. Desmond…has been flirting with me.” He’d had difficulties believing this, despite the clues, but eventually the evidence starts to add up, even for the skeptic. Honestly, it was probably the books stolen from the Illuminati secret archives, given like Desmond had no idea of their value, except he obviously did have a clue, just not the whole picture, and wanted Shaun to have them. “And it’s not just reflex, though the ease with which it comes is troubling. I hope it’s just another rebellion, but reality is rarely so kind. And attraction does not always add up to a relationship, even if it does happen to be mutual.”
        She knows he’s been...well, Shaun would probably use the word ‘coddling’ Desmond, but still, he’s a mature adult, and definitely should be treated as if he can make his own choices. “Shaun. He’s not a baby.”
        The glare is ineffective. “I’m perfectly aware, thank you. But problems with intimacy and getting close to people are symptoms of exposure to certain cult practices, and he’s holding back.” He...has been, hasn’t he. Damn, that’s actually a really good point. “If he ever decides he wants to pursue this, I’ll be more than happy, but pushing him would do more harm than good, and in the meantime merely being his friend is no hardship.” It still ends up coming out a little bleak, and Shaun turns back to his work. “I’ll settle for never hearing he’s dead and not resurrecting again, and an improvement in his mental state would also not go amiss.”
        She probably can’t follow up on this anytime soon, and yeah, now that she’s paying attention, there’s something a little less frantic about the way Shaun’s going through the book now, a little more focused, so this realization has actually been good for him. Still, he should know better than to think she’s dropped this entirely. Sure, it’s on hold, like a lot of things, and maybe her follow-up doesn’t lie with Shaun, but she doesn’t let things go, really. That’s something they have in common.