Chapter 2:
Lucy, Shaun, and Rebecca stood there, dumbfounded.
"What in the hell ju-" Shaun began to fumble the words out of his mouth as he still stood there in some sort of shock. Lucy was the first one to act, she went and quickly grabbed Desmond's limp body, kneeling down, she pulled his upper-body and head onto her thighs and she moved her hands swiftly. She moved one onto his chest protectively. The other moved to Desmond's neck, checking his pulse. To her slight relief, he was alive, but his pulse was racing. He was cold to the touch, and a thin layer of sweat coated his face, and presumably the rest of his body.
"Fuck! Shit! Rebecca get the Van, he is passed out or something?! He may be going into shock!" Lucy yelled as she frantically moved her hand that had been checking his pulse up to hold his face.
"Please no... No, not again... Please" Lucy began to cry. It was so wrong of her. She was usually so emotionless, cold, and stoic for the sake of her team. But there was no way she could hold this back. Her tears began flow. It was a mixture of her worry over Desmond,and her frustration in herself for pushing him to do all this. It was her fault. Again.
"Please...Please..." She continued to sob as her hand began stroking the side of his face while the other clutched the fabric of his white hoodie where his heart was.
Shaun and Rebecca still stood there, frozen. They looked to one another, then back to Lucy crying and sobbing over a passed out Desmond. They had never seen her so broken. Rebecca acted first, turning and sprinting off towards the Van.
"Get him out here Shaun! Help her carry him!" Rebecca yelled back, before turning back and continuing her race to ready the Van parked outside of the Colosseum.
"Right, well, I'll just..." Shaun turned towards Lucy and Desmond, moving over to them swiftly. Lucy had recovered quickly, she just looked at Desmond, worry painted on her face, but the tears gone, and her steely goal-oriented self was back. Her tears and emotions would do little to help Desmond now.
"Let's get him moving" she said quickly. She propped up his upper body up as she stood.
"Grab his legs Shaun" She said coldly. As she moved to wrap her arms underneath his arms and crossed them around his chest.
"What about the Apple Lucy? We just going to leave it here?!" Shaun questioned as he grabbed Desmond's lifeless legs.
Lucy had forgotten about the Apple entirely. She almost laughed out loud thinking about it. Here she was, right before this entire situation, ready to betray her friends and Desmond to get the Apple back to Vidic. As soon as he had picked up the artifact she had forgotten about that could not even bring herself to think about doing that. All that mattered was him. His health. She had to get Desmond back to the Van, she had to make sure he was alright. Vidic would get hid damned Apple later... maybe... she was still unsure if she would actually go through with betraying the him.
"Just grab it with your sweater, make sure not to actually touch it Shaun, then grab Desmond's legs, we have to get moving. I hope Rebecca has the Van ready." She ordered.
Shaun acted with haste. He took of his sweater, and carefully grabbed the apply, tying it in his outerwear clothing article before tying the sleeves together in make-shift backpack. He then moved back to aid Lucy.
"On three", she said as they readied themselves "One... Two... Three..."
The pair lifted Desmond in unison. Lucy bearing the extra weight of Desmond's upper-body and backpack. She didn't care, she had to get him to the Van.
"Come on Shaun! Lets move!" She said sternly back to him as she began running backwards, carrying Desmond's limp body in her hands. Shaun struggled to keep up.
"Sorry, just an Historian here, not really meant for this um, er... physical work!" Shaun grunted as he fumbled carrying Desmond's feet.
The two rushed out of the Temple and the Colosseum. Rebecca had the Van ready and running. She was standing in the back vehicle, the overhead door wide open. The three rushed to get him into the back of the van. They put him on the only bed-like thing they had.
"Goodness are we sure he isn't pregnant?" Shaun said, exhausted as he helped Rebecca and Lucy push Desmond onto the Animus 2.0.
"Shaun get the Van moving. We have to get out of here before the sun comes up and they find us again." Lucy articulated coldly.
"Right yeah, where to?" Shaun question as he began getting out of the back of the Van.
"Anywhere, somewhere in the countryside, not a lot of people... we just have to be gone by sun up" Lucy said as she concentrated on positioning Desmond's head in the Animus squarely.
"What are we gonna do with Desmond Lucy?" Rebecca said as Shaun closed the hatch on the van, and moved around to the front of the vehicle.
"Let's hook him up. That way we can get a sign on his vitals", Lucy ordered again. The logic did make sense, at least they could see how his physical body was doing. As for his mental state, Lucy was uncertain of what Desmond was doing or what had happened. She just kept thinking back to Subject 16. Not again... she kept thinking in her brain.
"Right, that is a good idea Lucy," Rebecca responded as she rushed pulling Desmond into the Animus 2.0.
As the Van began rolling, they booted the Animus. Rebecca looked over to her worried colleague. She had never seen Lucy like this, so desperate and demoralized. Lucy had always bee the stalwart of the team. Her leadership had been the only thing hold the four of them together since they had been on the van began moving quickly and picking up speed. The hum of the tires on the old Italian Roadways provided a purr in the background of the silence encompassing the three of them in the back of the Van. Rebecca continued to work diligently getting all of Desmond's vitals pulled on on her laptop. She looked over at Lucy who was sitting on the bench seat across from the Animus.
It wont happen again Lucy thought. I won't let this happen to you. I can't...
She kept thinking these same things over and over, as the hum of the tires on the road, and the clicking of characters on Rebecca's laptop continued. Her face was normal and her overall outward appearance was that of her usual self. But inside, Lucy was tearing herself apart, and desperately trying to hold back her emotions, tears, everything.
The Van continued to speed off into the Italian countryside.