It was around midnight when Lucy was finally able to signal and navigate the van into the furthest lane that took her to the intended Exit 493. Desmond and Shaun were both asleep, but Rebecca remained awake, having allowed Shaun to move to the back to rest while she moved up front to assist Lucy in finding this abandoned Templar warehouse. "I wonder what we'll find there," Rebecca murmured quietly.
"Hopefully nothing that will put us all in danger. After we're finished with this building, we're out and not stopping for anything else other than gas and supplies," Lucy said with a light shake of her head. "We're already desperate for time, any more sidetracks like this and we could be looking at a lot of hurt coming our way."
"I get ya," Rebecca said as she looked over her laptop. "...There's nothing on this prisoner in the Templar files. Just a name. And a picture."
"What's her name?" Lucy glanced at her briefly as she turned onto the old road said to housing the warehouse.
"Lauren. She's actually really pretty. Doesn't look happy though."
"I can't imagine she'd be very cheery..." Lucy said as she dimmed down her headlights, her own voice going quiet as the warehouse came into view. The building was concrete, plain in its rectangular box-like design with windows broken and boarded over. It certainly looked abandoned, the grassy yards that surrounded it were brown and dead.
"Wait, look," Rebecca whispered, pointing up to a window at the farthest end of the building. It glowed faintly between boards of wood in a soft warm light. Lucy slowed down the van, glancing between Rebecca and the window. "...Someone's there," she said quietly, "...Who could it be?"
"I doubt it'd be the Templars... but we can't be too careful..." Rebecca said as she closed her laptop.
Lucy pulled the van into a vacant area next to the building before shutting it off. Reaching back, she woke up Desmond and Shaun with light shakes. "Guys, get up," Lucy whispered, "We're here."
Desmond woke with a grunt, rubbing his face before sitting up and grabbing his blade and bracer, clapping it onto his forearm. Shaun took in a deep breath when he awoke, arching his back to stretch before taking a drink from a bottle of water from the sack Lucy brought from the gas station.
"Alright, what do you want us to do?" Shaun looked over at Lucy.
The blond undid her seat belt, "Desmond and I are going in. Rebecca, you can come with if you want. Shaun, I want you to keep up these files and keep in contact with me." Reaching down, Lucy picked up a pair of headsets. "The frequency is already set. Just push the button on this side to talk," she handed Shaun one of the black headsets, the side that held out the mic displaying an all-too-obvious green button.
Shaun took the headset and slipped it over his head, adjusting it over his ears and positioning the mic above his lips. He adjusted the volume as Lucy slid her headset on as well.
"Can you hear me?" Shaun whispered into the mic as he pressed the button. Lucy gave him a brief nod, before performing the same test and changing her volume when Shaun flinched to the blaring in his ears. "Sorry about that, better now?"
Shaun nodded, feigning a smile. Lucy chuckled quietly, "Okay, Rebecca, you coming?"
"Yeah. Figured you guys could use the back-up just in case," the other girl nodded.
"Alright. Shaun. Should anything happen, I'll notify you. But when that happens, I want you to start the van up. I'll let you know our location should it come to that so you can get to us quickly," Lucy said. "Alright guys, let's move out."
As the other three got out of the van, Shaun moved up to the driver's seat, opening up his laptop and dimming the light of his monitor. "I'll let you know any other information about this prisoner if I find it," Shaun spoke through the headset as the group ran towards one of the entrances of the warehouse.
"Rebecca found a picture and a name, you can go ahead and upload it to your database and go from there."
"Alright. I'll see if I can find the floor plans of this building as well. Consult me should you get lost and I'll try to guide you as best I can."
Desmond looked around as they approached the warehouse. Lucy had picked up a metal rod as a weapon, and Rebecca an old rusty crowbar. Lucy made a glance at Desmond, "We'll back you up should we meet with any trouble."
Desmond nodded, "Yeah. No worries."
The most obvious entrances of the warehouse were boarded up, the hinges and locks broken or burnt, or even melted and fused together, providing difficulty to open them even with their resources. Desmond pointed up to a window near the top of the building, glass broken in but not boarded up. Lucy gave a nod and Desmond headed up. Rebecca followed him, slipping her crowbar through two belt loops of her jeans. Lucy headed towards the lit window, creeping down and quietly crawling over the grass. She crouched beneath the glowing window, taking a deep breath before raising her head and peeking her eye through two boards.
"What do you see?"
"...A wall and a light... not too much... I hear something going... But I can't tell what it is..."
"Lucky for us, I found some floor plans in the Templar database. It's rather old but I doubt they made any real changes to the building since this supposed fire. The room you're looking into seems to be a very small lounging area."
"What about the top floor?"
"...Top floor...? Since when did warehouses have more than one floor?"
"There's a window up top."
"That looks to be a vent. Desmond and Rebecca will have to navigate through the venting system. Should be alright though."
"A vent? What about the glass?"
"Who knows. It's not like the Templars used this building as an actual warehouse. Perhaps they sealed it up."
"I wonder why..." Lucy sighed as she crept to another line between the boards.
Desmond and Rebecca slipped into the vent, Desmond going first with a quick curse.
"What?" Rebecca looked up at him.
"Looks like we have some slithering around to do... Got a flashlight?" Desmond looked back at her.
"Um... I have my phone," Rebecca handed her phone up to him, "Battery's a little low though."
Desmond took the phone and opened it up. Turning it on, he pointed it in direction of the venting tunnels, lighting the way. "Alright. Come on," he said as he crawled forward, leading her through. They made twists and turns, avoiding stilled fans and dropping when the tunnels dropped. "I think we're getting somewhere," Desmond piped as they came upon a fork, divided by a fan.
Rebecca blew a strand of hair from her face, "I wish we had a headset too. It'd be nice to know how far we are through these tunnels. I'm getting claustrophobic."
"Hold up," Desmond crawled forward and squeezed himself around, facing her. Between them was a vented square, showing view of the warehouse below. "Hey!" Rebecca peeked through the small thin beams, "Maybe we can get down this way."
"Hand me your crowbar," Desmond reached a hand forward, beckoning the rusty metal. Rebecca struggled to slide the crowbar out of her belt loops, but she handed it to him when she did. With careful precision, Desmond bent and pried the vent, careful not to let it crash to the ground. Beneath them, there were old boxes of cargo and big-rig trailers. "Aw, perfect," Desmond smiled before looking back up at Rebecca, "I'll go first. I'll let you know if there are any Templars below. I'll give you the signal when it's safe to come."
Rebecca nodded, biting her lip as Desmond turned his feet in to go down the opening. He dropped onto a stack of crates, holding out his arms and gasping as he fought for balance. "Aye-ay..." Desmond hissed before breathing a sigh of relief, the stack stabilizing. Desmond looked around, eyes squinting. He bit his lip, head aching as his vision changed, all whites going black and his ears filling up as if they were being clogged. Squinting his eyes, he looked around, searching for red auras. there was nothing, just boxes, cargo, and a door.
In fact, everything he saw seemed intact. "Okay, Rebecca. It's safe to come down," he said quietly as he lowered himself down to a couple boxes. Turning around, he rose his hand to help her down. She took his hand with a smile before jumping down the rest of the way. When they were both on the ground, Rebecca put her hands on her hips, "I thought there was a fire here?"
"Yeah... everything looks okay though, like there wasn't a fire to begin with. I wonder where Lucy went," Desmond said quietly. "There's a door over here. Let's go see what's behind it."
"Right," Rebecca nodded, following him.
Outside, Lucy was scoping the windows, looking inside. When she heard a rustling on the door handle within, she froze. "I hear something," she whispered into the mic on her headset.
"Stay low."
"Roger... Wait.. Someone's coming."
Inside, the door opened. It was Desmond and Rebecca, looking inside with weapons at the ready. Giving a sigh of relief, Lucy knocked on the wood, alerting her fellow assassins. Rebecca went to the window while Desmond went to search throughout the room. With her crowbar, Rebecca busted through the wooden boards. "Hey," she smiled at her friend, taking her hand and pulling her inside.
"Search the area. There has to be someone here," Lucy said immediately as she climbed inside. The lounge they were in was empty, save for a couch, a small television sitting on a box, a radio sitting on another box, and a lamp. It felt somewhat cozy, but it felt too done-up. Someone was here. There had to be. The lamp was already on and so was the television, despite the image being white noise.
"Desmond is already at it," Rebecca nodded.
"Ah... Lucy? Come here please," Desmond piped from a room adjacent to the lounge.
"What is it? Desmond?" Lucy called back, walking into the other room--a break room done up like a kitchen--with Desmond standing with his hands in the air. In front of him stood a woman, a young woman, about their age, with light blond hair, with a gun pointing at Desmond's face.
"Don't come any closer," she growled, eyes narrowed down and body tense, "I'm not afraid to fucking blow your face off." She was wearing a white tanktop and jeans, as well as worn sneakers. Her hair was a little ratty, noticeably tangled and what visible parts of her skin dirtied.
"Wait," Lucy said softly, slowing to a stop when she saw the gun, "Please..."
"You think you can just take me away and put me into that.. that thing? Well not anymore. I'm not taking it. You'll have to just find somebody else to put into that machine," the woman said, backing away.
Rebecca bit her lip in shock, looking the girl over. She said softly to Lucy, quiet enough to keep from scaring the woman, but loud enough for her to still hear her, "Machines... They must have put her into an animus. Looks like they might have forced her and kept her in for too long... Look at the marks on her face and arms."
There were dark bands across her wrists, biceps and forehead.
"What!?" the girl pointed the gun at Rebecca, who shot up her hands at the sight of the weapon.
"Wait, please. Calm down, we're not here to hurt you..." Lucy said quietly, "Is... Is your name Lauren?"
Desmond glanced at Lucy, gritting his teeth behind his lips.
"...Who wants to know?" the girl said, her arms relaxing, but still holding up the gun.
"My name is Lucy," Lucy said, still holding up her hands like the others, "This is Desmond and Rebecca. Can you tell us why you're here?" She spoke in a soft, coaxing voice, hoping to calm the girl down and gain her trust. She looked so worn... so dirty. She might have smelled too. Lucy could only conclude that she had been here for a while.
"...I live here now... I was taken away from my home and brought here... By these men in suits... They... they put me on this table thing... They called it an.. Animus... They made me see these images... I felt so sick. I couldn't concentrate, but they kept making me try to focus. But I couldn't... I couldn't at all," the woman lowered the gun.
Desmond lowered his hands, "Hey... I know how that is. They did it to me too, and countless others."
The girl looked up at Desmond, "...They.. Who are they? What do they want from me?"
"That's what we'd like to find out," Lucy said, taking a step forward, "Here. Come with us. We'll explain everything to you when we get out on the road. I know we're moving a little fast, but the people who are after you... they could be on our trail right now. And we need to get out of here quickly."
"No," the girl shook her head, holding the gun back up at Lucy, "Tell me who they are and who you are. For all I know, you guys could be part of them."
Lucy stopped, but held her ground, "Those men you talked about are Templars. They are our enemies. We, all three of us, are Assassins. We are part of the Assassin Order, an organization in charge of protecting the state of mankind, whereas the Templars seek to gain control of everything. They're after us, and we need to know why they're after you. Lauren, please... we need you to come with us."
Lauren stared at Lucy, slowly lowering the gun, "...Alright."
Lucy smiled and nodded, "Great. Come with us. We're on our way to a secret cabin up North. We'll explain everything to you on our way there, alright? You have nothing to fear." She reached a hand up to her shoulder, "We're on your side."
Lauren nodded, eyes on the ground. She glanced briefly back up at Lucy, then Desmond and Rebecca. "...Okay."
Lucy took Lauren's hand and tugged her gently in the direction of the exit, followed by the other two Assassins. "...Do you know of an exit around here?"
Lauren nodded, walking away from Lucy to a red lever on a wall near a line of what looked like garage doors. There was a lever between each door, but she only pulled the one out and pushing it down with both hands. The garage door growled and rumbled, meant for deliveries and stocking for big rig trailers, and slowly crawled upward and open.
Outside, Shaun started the van, seeing the door open. "Everything alright?" he piped into the mic.
Lucy, back in the warehouse, smiled as she pressed the button to reply, "Yes. We have what we came for. Pull up so you can pick us up."
"Roger."
The four walked outside. Lauren rose an arm up at the light beams of the van, "Ah..."
Rebecca put her hand on Lauren's shoulder, "I just wanna let you know, Lauren, we have an Animus too."
Lauren's head whipped around, staring at Rebecca, "I thought you weren't one of them!"
"We're not! Don't worry, our Animus is ten thousand times better than their cold pieces of junk. Trust me, it's comfy as a couch!" She laughed.
Lauren looked over at Desmond, who in turn smiled reassuringly, "It's true. It's pretty damn comfortable. I slept on it on our way here."
"Come on guys, we gotta get out of here as soon as we can. Lauren, you can sit up in the front, alright?" Lucy looked over at them as Shaun brought the van up.
"Alright..." Lauren shivered from the cold of the night as she crept up to the van.
Shaun stared at her, face dumbfounded at the sight of her. She got into the front seat, as the other three climbed into the back and shut the doors. Lauren stared at him, this strange man with glasses and typical haircut. "Um... I'm Lauren," she introduced herself, voice quivering slightly, nervous and cold.
"I'm Shaun," he said quietly, "...Nice to meet you." Lauren secured her seat belt as the other three settled in the back.
"Alright Shaun, get us out of here," Lucy said quietly.
Rebecca rubbed Lucy's shoulder, "Go to sleep babe. We can explain to Lauren here what's going on. We'll fill you in whenever you wake up, okay?"
"Alright," Lucy nodded, laying back on the Animus. Desmond was curled up next to it, opposite of Rebecca, who sat on a crate, with his back against Shaun's seat. Rebecca relaxed in her seat, and Lauren curled up while Shaun turned on the heat. He turned the van around and got back onto the road, heading for the on ramp to the Interstate.
"Alright, where do we start..." Rebecca sighed as she tilted her head back. Lauren laid her head against the window, listening to Rebecca as she went on a lighthearted tangent about the ongoing war between the Templars and the Assassins.