'Great' I thought to myself bitterly, 'just my rotten luck'.
It turns out that the Templars had decided that they didn't want me anymore. They had what they want, so I'm apparently no longer necessary. 'And I thought we were becoming such good friends.' I thought sarcastically.
Lucy was fighting my case, trying to convince them to keep me around just in case. That defence would only work for so long. Eventually they would kill me... 'Not that it would do any good seeing as I'm technically immortal thanks to Fawkes' I thought offhandedly. But I'm sure it would not be all that pleasant of an experience either way. But, the point is, they are going to kill me if I don't get out of here.
Hopefully Lucy will come up with something soon, otherwise I will have to escape on my own 'which would make it rather difficult to join up with the other Assassins' I reflection worriedly. Yes, I said other. I'm not sure when it happened, but I now consider myself an Assassin. It was probably because of Altair. I have the memories of an Assassin, so I now think of myself as one, regardless of my basically non-existent ties with the others.
It was late that night. I could feel that the time for escape was near. I was out in the lab again, taking one last look around to see if I could learn anything else (I had already seen the marking left behind by the allusive Subject 16, using my Eagle Vision ability). That was when Lucy barrelled in. She was wearing a white sleeveless top, stained with blood, and a pair of tight jeans; her hair tied back, out of the way. Other all, she looked hot! (Except for the blood obviously).
'Desmond' she called, 'we don't have much time.' She rushed to the Animus, rapidly tapping on the computer console. 'Get in!' she ordered. Not really understanding why, I did so anyway. Once inside I expected to be back with Altair, but instead I am in a room. Someone was screaming, shouting in Italian. I'm... a baby? Next thing I know, I'm lifted into the air (presumably by the father) and I hear a name being spoken. 'Ezio Auditore de Firenze!'
Suddenly, I'm back in the lab. 'Come on, we have to move!' exclaimed Lucy. I got up immediately, if a little dazedly. As I did, Lucy tapped some more before pulling something out of the Animus. After doing this, she immediately rushed to the doorway. 'Come on' she yelled, 'we got to go. Now!'
Then, without another look, she took off running down the hall. 'I guess she came through' I thought with a small grin, before taking off after her. I had been expecting this, so I already had all of my stuff (at least, all the stuff I have with me). No point hanging around.
The good news is, we got out. And, I learnt something. Never piss off Lucy! She kicks ass! I mean, she took out every guard we met, barely even stopping. 'She didn't even leave any for me to play with' I inwardly pouted. The bad news... she put me in the boot. The Boot! I mean, come on, what is it with these people and car boots?
On the bright side, I'm on my way to join the others.
Hours later, or what seemed like hours (time is really difficult to tell when locked in the boot of a car), the car stopped. Moments later the boot opens.
'Come on' Lucy said briskly.
'Yeah, I'm fine by the way. Thanks for asking' I replied testily.
'Follow me.' Was my only answer.
Looking around, I see we are in a warehouse of sorts. It was brightly lit, with huge crates packed on top of each other. Of to the side there was an empty lorry parked up, looking ready to be loaded and driven away at a moment's notice. 'Which it probably is seeing as the Templars could find this place at any minute' I thought.
In the corner of the room, there was a metal runway that sort of curled upwards, leading to a door on the second floor. Which is where Lucy seemed to be heading.
Hurrying to catch up, I thanked her for her help in getting out of there; asking her all kinds of things like how she learned to fight like that, and why she helped me (so as not to seem too well informed).
One thing that I've come to know about Lucy is that she isn't one to mince words. So, instead of feeding me some bullshit story about how she was only doing the right thing (as I had expected her to do seeing as it would help her come off as only wanting to help), she came out right and said it.
'Desmond, we need your help.'
I didn't have to fake my surprise this time. I wasn't sure why she thought the Assassins would need me. After all, from her perspective, I'm just a nobody barman who couldn't even escape my room at Abstergo. Plus, I hadn't expected her to be so bluntly honest.
'How can I help?' I asked her in a disbelieving voice. 'I'm just a barman. I've tried being an Assassin; I'm no good at it.' Which I wasn't before I gained Altair's abilities; having been hopeless at the farm.
'You will be Desmond' she replied, 'once you've gotten a little training.' She said it with such absolute certainty that I decided then and there that I would accelerate quickly in whatever training they gave me (I didn't want to show my true ability too soon as that would just raise questions).
When I questioned her about this training she came clean about it all. She explained to me how the Assassins had also created an Animus and that they wanted me to use in, not only to gain skills thanks to the bleeding effect, but also to find what happened to the 'Apple of Eden' which they had apparently lost track of sometime during the renaissance. To do this, I was going to relive the memories of another of my ancestors, Ezio Auditore, as he learned about the Assassins and joined their ranks.
'I know you probably don't want anything to do with this but...' began Lucy.
'I'm in.' I cut her off. This was the best way to gain the trust of the other Assassins. Sure, I would have preferred to have a more active role in the war than sitting in an Animus, but if this helped to stop the Templars then so be it.
Lucy was staring at me in disbelief, rambling about how she was sure it would take more than that to get me to help and how she had spent the entire ride here ('wherever here is' I thought.) planning an entire speech in order to get me to help out. Realising that it probably looked suspicious to offer my aid so readily, I continued: 'After what those bastards did to me back there, I think they deserve a little payback' I stated, acting indignant after being kidnapped and held prisoner. 'I'm in.' I repeated with resolve.
After that Lucy lead me into a more homely room which was complete with a work area (half of the room filled with computer stations and big technological chair with red cushions which I suspected was the Assassins' Animus), a sort of living area with a sofa and coffee table, and a large double bed in the corner.
There I was introduced to two of my fellow Assassins, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. They don't look like much. Shaun was British and a bit nerdy, seems to be a historian (which I suppose is useful when working with an Animus) He also really needs to loosen up a bit. Rebecca, however, is a lot more lively. She seems to be the techy one in the group. Apparently she's the one who took the Templar's Animus design and made it better. They are probably a great help with the information and technological sides of an operation like that of the Assassins but they probably wouldn't last a minute in a fight. Then again, I would have thought the same of Lucy when we first met.
Once the introductions were all out of the way (and after Rebecca had finished uploading the data from the memory core Lucy took from the Abstergo Animus) we got to work with the Animus 2.0.
A.N. Sorry it took so long to update this story, but it is not abandoned, I've just been having trouble thinking on where to take it as I don't really want to split too far from canon as that just annoys me. Anyway, I'll probably continue like this up until the end of Brotherhood and then go AU.
I am really swamped right now seeing as I've just started college so I probably won't update much, so if anyone wants to make their own version of this story feel free. Just let me know so that I can read them as people really don't do enough crossovers like this.
Till next time
Mad about the Boro