Chapter 7: Smoke Break
Date: 21 July 2014
I rubbed my eyes as I sat up in the Animus chair. My consciousness fully returned and I finally felt like myself again. The humming of the computers and generators broke the stagnant silence. Lio seemed surprised to see me out of my coma like state.
"Hey, hey! What the Hell do you think you're doing?" he irritatedly asked. I was well aware of our time issue, but didn't want to push my body any harder than I already had. I already grew a bit of a headache and was not in the mood for an argument.
"I need a break. Just let me get some air, I'll be right back.", I passively said. I brought myself to my feet and regained my sense of balance.
"What?! A break? It's only been a couple hours, Logan. You can hold out for a bit longer.", he suggested. Somehow, Lio always manages to find a way to piss me off about something. I wasn't about to let him order me around the entire night.
"Look, Asshole, you're not the one with the Bleeding Effect, alright? If I wanna take a break then you better know damn well and good that I will.", I declared. "Where's Annora?" I asked.
"Exploring or something, I dunno. You know Abstergo is coming for us, right? It won't be long before they figure out we're here. Believe me, you don't want to know what'll happen if they catch us. So, I think it'd be in all of our best interests if you sat your ass back down and finished our project.", he demanded with a raising voice. I couldn't take his smart ass remarks anymore, I had to leave before I made a mistake.
"That's it. I don't need to take this shit from a fat Hawaiian. I'm sick of dealing with you and Criss Angel over here.", I angrily stated as I pointed to the Animus. I promptly left the room without giving Lio a moment to respond. I stormed my way down the dark hallway until I noticed a door that had been recently pried open. I cautiously peered inside, assuming whoever opened it was still hanging around.
"Annora?", I softly called out. Without a response, I became concerned. My hidden blade made its characteristic 'vip!' sound as I activated it. Although I was ready for a fight, I had been greeted to another empty room. Nothing seemed disturbed until I came across an opened window in the living room. A bloody hand print was placed on the siding. My heart pounded hard. I prayed that Annora was alright, where ever she was. I curiously poked my head out of the complex and looked left, coming face to face with a long rusted ladder running up the remainder of the building. Without a second thought, I found myself quickly climbing to the roof. When I reached the top, I could see Annora's familiar silhouette sitting at the edge of the building. I was careful not to surprise her.
"Hey, are you okay? I saw some blood on the window down there.", I said. She let out a small gasp and turned her head away from me as I sat beside her, completely avoiding eye contact. She cleared her throat before speaking. Something didn't feel right.
"I'm fine. I just cut my hand on a piece of wood when I broke the door open.", she said through a stuffy nose. I reached for her hand to see for myself. Before I could get a look, she snatched herself away from me.
"No! Don't touch it! I already bandaged it. I'm okay.", she assured. I caught a glimpse of her puffy hazel eyes. It became painfully apparent she had been crying.
"What's wrong? Why are you upset?", I gently asked. It wasn't like her to act this out of character. Something must have happened.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it.", she insisted as she wiped her eye with the sleeve of her purple shirt. The gleaming moon stood proudly in the clear night sky, illuminating her beautiful dark red hair. A police siren wailed in the distance. The gorgeous Chicago skyline appeared as a painting before us, twinkling.
"Oh come on. Every guy knows that when a woman says not to worry about something, we need to worry about it. You can tell me.", I promised. I had developed something of a crush on her not long after we first met, however, I didn't dare speak of it. Our mentor had profusely warned us about the dangers of relationships within the Brotherhood.
"Logan, really. I'm fine.", she said through a smile. "How is your session coming along? Anything interesting?", she asked, changing the subject. I decided to give it up for the moment and play along.
"Nothing more than the usual. Except... It's strange. Usually I have some kind of acquaintance with my thoughts still. My consciousness. But with Arman, it's almost like I really am him. His memories are so clear, so vivid. Every emotion is so genuine and powerful. I haven't experienced anything like it before.", I admitted.
"Its most likely to do with him being in the recent past. We don't have to go back very far in time to retell his story. The closer to the present you are, the clearer the memory. Your Bleeding Effect symptoms probably have something to do with it as well.", she explained. Her reasoning made sense I suppose. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something big was coming our way. I hoped I was wrong.
"You're probably right. Even after three years of coming in and out of the Animus, it never loses that magic feeling.", I said. Annora nodded with agreement.
"You got that right.", she uttered.
"So, are you going to tell me why you were crying? Or do I have to start begging?", I joked. She sniffled and frowned.
"I really shouldn't tell you. You might think of me differently.", she debated.
"Yeah, like I'd really judge you, of all people. I'm an expert at keeping secrets.", I vowed. She sighed heavily and looked up at the stars.
"Its just... I've been thinking a lot of what happened before. What brought me here, to now.", she said.
"What, like everything that happened at the hideout? That'll blow over. We both know that.", I assumed.
"No, not that. Before the Assassins. When I was on my own. I've just been thinking a lot about it tonight.", she confessed.
"Well, I'm all ears if you need to spill it out", I ensured. She smiled at me, I knew she felt comforted knowing she had somebody to confide in during this mess.
"It started about a year after I finished high school. Back in '09. My, at the time, boyfriend and I had just moved in together. A cute little condo in the southern Chicago suburbs. I knew him since grade school. I always liked him, but we didn't date until junior year. Everything had been perfect, I finally had the life I dreamed about. Sort of like a cheesy romance movie.", she explained.
"So what happened?", I asked, slightly hurt by the boyfriend remark.
"I never really figured out where it began, but we would fight more often than we used to. Every week the arguments would get more and more vicious. Almost always over such petty things too. Things a couple shouldn't fight over. Jason was his name. Even saying it now makes me feel sick.", she cringed as she spat at thought of him.
"Why didn't you just break things off with him?", I asked, unsure if I wanted her to continue.
"Believe me, I tried. But he would always find a way to make it up to me. Like an idiot, I was stupid enough to accept him back each time. Then one day, I didn't. It happened at a cafe I used to visit when I needed some time alone. He found me there, by myself. Must've used damn near every curse word in the book at me. Everyone was staring. I left him there, embarrassed out of my mind. I'm pretty sure I blew every red light on the way home, not giving a shit about anything but laying in bed.", she recalled. Her eyes became misty again. She swallowed hard before continuing. I didn't like where this was heading.
"When I got home, he wasn't more than five minutes behind me. My dumb ass didn't think to lock the door, though it probably wouldn't have held him out for long anyway now that I think of it. He ran in, screaming at me. The neighbors must have been used to the fighting since nobody came down to stop him.", she momentarily paused and drew a deep breath. What came next made my stomach churn.
"He carried me kicking and screaming into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. I fought for my life, yelling for help as loud as I could until he covered my mouth. At that point, there was nothing I could do. I stayed still while he took advantage of me for what felt like forever. I honestly believed I was going to die. No, I hoped I would... But it never happened.", she described. She choked back her tears while I gave her a comforting hug.
"Annora... I'm so sorry.", was all I could think to say. "But what does that have to do with the Assassins?", I asked out of curiosity.
"He told me that if I ever said anything to anyone, he'd kill me. I beat him to it.", she said. Taken back by her remark, I raised an eye brow at her.
"I played along with his little game for a few days before I caught my chance. I waited for his lazy ass to fall asleep before grabbing a kitchen knife in my drawer I hid the night before. Dickhead didn't even know it was coming. I made sure he wasn't saveable.", she detailed. I was speechless. I wasn't aware that she had come from such a dark background.
"Wait, if you murdered him, how come you aren't in jail right now?", I urged her to go on.
"A good friend of mine knew Jarabec, our mentor. She told him everything that was going on and he offered me a chance at a new life. A new opportunity, with the promise of keeping me off the police's radar. Before I knew it, I was wielding these blades like a pro.", she finished. It took a moment to wrap my head around everything she had told me. Even though I now knew the truth, I didn't see her any differently.
"That guy was twisted. He deserved what he got. I'll make sure nothing that horrendous happens to you again.", I swore. Her tears had stopped. She must have felt better from letting it out. She gave me a genuine smile.
"That's sweet of you, Logan.", she said. I was prepared to head back downstairs and resume my progress until she stopped me.
"Wait. You never told me how you ended up with the Assassins. You said you would when we had the chance. I think this is perfect timing, don't you?", she pushed.
"Me? Nah, it's nothing special.", I lied. To be honest, I really didn't want to talk about it, but after everything she had said, I knew there was no way around it.
"Bullshit! Everybody has some interesting stories to tell.", she caught my lie.
"Fine. But I'm not sure where I should start. I used to be a kid just like everyone else I guess. Grew up in a suburban home in North Carolina, you know, the kinds of neighborhoods where every damn house looks exactly the same? Just like that.", I began my talk.
"I had an older sister, Sam. I looked up to her. She watched over me like a hawk, we were inseparable. One day, around Easter, our parents went on vacation. Only... they never came back.", I sadly said. I felt a lump in my throat as I remembered the days events.
"What? Why?", Annora asked.
"We found out that their car had been involved in a wreck. A semi swerved into their lane and hit them head on. We later heard that the driver of the truck had been awake for almost three straight days. Fell asleep behind the wheel. My parents just had the shit luck of ending up in his grille that day.", I explained.
"After that, Sam and I ended up in an orphanage. We hated it. Everyday was torture to us. We didn't plan on sticking around. Sam found a way to escape, so we took it. We survived for a few years on the streets, pilfering food where ever we could. It wasn't exactly glamorous, but we had each other, and that's all that mattered.", I told her.
"Logan, I-I'm sorry, I didn't know-", I motioned for her to stop the apology.
"Then one day, Sam and I discovered some kind of banquet taking place. What we didn't know, was that it was in celebration of Jarabec's promotion to mentor status. We watched behind a tree as they brought in the food. It all looked so delicious. We were starving, and no longer cared if we were caught. So we sneaked in.", I said.
"Then what happened?", Annora wondered.
"He caught us sneaking out the back, arms full of food. We expected to end up right back in the orphanage, but he had been so impressed with our ability to sneak pasted several armed guards, wander through a dining hall crammed full of people, and sneak into the kitchen without anyone noticing that he decided to take us under his wing. We were brought into the Brotherhood." I revealed.
"That doesn't surprise me. He's always had a soft spot for kids." Annora certainly said. "But what happened to Sam?", she budged. I felt a pit in my stomach as I remembered everything in perfect detail.
"The Assassins had just gotten their hands on some stolen Animus's and thought they knew everything about them. Of course we didn't know any better and went right along with it. We started our search for the Pieces of Eden in our memories. When one memory didn't provide an answer, we jumped to another and another and so on. Nobody was informed that screwing around with so many memories at a single time caused the brain to lock up, in a sense. Just like what happened with Clay. My sister had it the worst. They put her in a medically induced coma until they could figure out how to fix it. I vouched to attempt to untangle her memories. They tried to stop me, saying that it was suicide, but I didn't listen. They linked my Animus with hers and I had jumped from ancestor to ancestor for two straight weeks trying to set things right. Its how I got the Bleeding Effect myself.", I elucidated. Annora never took her eyes off me, it seemed like she felt bad for asking.
"It turned out it was all for nothing. Her brain was too badly damaged along with a few others. After she died, that was when they relocated me to Detroit, with your group. I never saw her again.", I said as warm tears filled my eyes. I quickly turned away from her in embarrassment.
"Hey, don't. Its alright.", she consoled me as she gave me a caring hug. I squeezed her tightly, never wanting to let go.
"We've all lost something to get here. But at least we have each other, right?", she sympathized as she stared deeply into my eyes. I fought to resist my attraction to her, but my heart had other plans. My emotions took control and without thinking, I pressed my lips against hers. She let out a shocked sound before I felt her kiss me back, and it was at that moment that I knew she wanted this as badly as I did. I stopped as soon as I realized what I had just done.
"Shit... I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-", I struggled to find the right words.
"That's not something to be sorry about.", she shushed me. I wasn't sure, but I think she had known about my feelings for her prior to now.
"We should get back to Arman. What's Lio doing?", she asked.
"Being a prick like always.", I truthfully answered. She giggled.
"Did I even need to ask?", she rhetorically questioned.
A few minutes later we returned to our apartment. I felt compelled to make things right with Lio before heading back to my job.
"Lio, I shouldn't have lashed out like that at you, I was being an ass.", I said, awkwardly scratching the back of my head. Lio shook his head as he stood up.
"No, I was the jerk. Look, I shouldn't have been so bossy. It's just... I came from a broken home just like Arman, except my dad wasn't murdered, he was just a cheating shit head that walked out on us when I was only eight. I had to care for my mom just like he does. I never had much of a social life because of that, which is why I spent all my free time dicking around with electronics. Which I guess you can say is also why I gained so much weight. For fun I used to hack chat rooms and social networking sites. When my mom died, I kinda fell into a slump, disappearing off the web completely until the Assassins contacted me, offering me a job. I don't know, I guess Arman's story just resonates with me on a personal level and I need to know how it ends. That being said, it's wrong that I pushed you to keep going when I know about your condition. If you need a break, take one.", he insisted. I appreciated the apology but still felt wrong about my tantrum earlier.
"I'll be alright. When this is all over, drinks are on me. Cool?", I offered.
"I'll hold you to it. If you're ready to get back to business, I found a string of DNA that will allow us to skip a couple years ahead in Arman's life.", he discovered.
"Will I have missed anything important?", I asked.
"Not really. Oh! He acquired a retractable cane gun at some point during the winter of 1910 if that counts.", he said.
"Huh. I'll have to see it for myself.", I replied while reclining into the chair once again.
"I'll stay here so you don't have to worry about me, alright?", Annora guaranteed.
"Thanks. Also, could you make sure he saves me a Swiss cake roll this time? I saw all the wrappers in the corner, selfish.", I joked.
"I can't promise anything.", Lio remarked. I closed my eyes as I again felt the transcendent feeling of the Animus taking control of my body. The world around me warped into the white room I've come to know as the Animus Corridor. My body had become that of Arman's and I clenched as I anxiously anticipated the climax of the loading sequence. I was prepared for the next chapter of my great grandfather's life.
