probably way too long of a chapter title so preemptive: Bennu: All of Us Need to Stop Apologizing for Having Been to Hell and Come Back Breathing


The wind kicked up a bit and made the long grass bend and sway like it was the waves of the ocean. Lucy shifted in her prone position, waiting for the wind to die back down and the wind to settle. She pressed her eye up to the scope, but kept them both open, staring down the long line of the rifle. Far in the distance, made much closer thanks to the scope, was the plantation.

It looked a lot like a normal farm honestly, people in the fields, picking the fresh produce that was too delicate for a threshing machine. Many of them wore hats to keep out the hot African sun, that even with the ice age was warm here in the Sahara, and perfect growing conditions for crops all year round. They reminded her of the migrant workers who came from Texas and Kansas and Oklahoma to Iowa during the harvest season, bent over, picking the fields. Only unlike the migrant workers, of which most were probably Mexican or latino, there was no one race at the plantation. Every nationality was out in the field and she saw native Africans mixed in with white Europeans and sallow Asians.

The wind died down and the grass stilled, and she could see better. Of course the only difference wasn't the mixed races. It was the guards placed at regular intervals, in full, proeathan, body armor, with their mag rifles. They walked orderly grids making sure the human workers stayed down, did their jobs.

There was a click in her ear piece, Lucy reached up and touched it. "Nest Egg to Heron, you copy?" Hawk asked over the comm.

"I copy," Lucy said, moving her rifle a tiny bit and followed a proeathan along their walking path. A finger twitch and she'd have shot a bullet right through his head. With the configuration of her mag rifle it would have turned the other side of his head into a ruptured balloon.

"Any movement?"

"Negative," she said. She'd been sent to scout the plantation, because of what she was. Proeathan technology didn't register her as a life form, as human. Eden Eyes couldn't see her, even if it wanted to. It made her a perfect scout, since it made her invisible, even this close from the plantation's edge, some five hundred yards or so. The edge of the plantation was marked regularly with posts jammed into the ground. It wasn't so much a fence as it was a safety measure that tagged humans that walked through it with a specific bioelectic signature, and made them frightfully easy to see through optical enhancements.

"Paint a picture, Heron, what's it look like," Hawk said.

"Fields, few hundred humans, mixed races. Every ten acres there's a guard, fully armored, with a gun. They walk a grid for patrol, to make sure no one gets out of hand," she was tracking another proeathan through her scope, her finger rested on the guard, so she wasn't tempted. "Sitting ducks," she said.

"Can you see the plantation?" Hawk asked.

Lucy shifted, realigned herself and reached up to twist the knob on her scope which zoomed in on a shape in the distance. She twisted another knob and the shape came into focus as the plantation. It was an ugly, gray, building that straddled the earth like a toad with two smaller buildings coming off on either side of it. At this distance she couldn't see what was going on in it, too far away even for her scope, but she could see it. "I see it, but its far away," she said.

"What's it look like?"

"Square, gray. It looks like a factory. Side buildings for holding the harvest, central for housing all the humans."

"How many proeathans you think are in there?"

"Now? Couldn't say, a lot of them are out in the fields. I'd say a few hundred. The plantation will have a few thousand humans to maintain it. And none of them are happy to be out here."

Hawk didn't reply right away, "Right. Hold tight and hold position. We'll have further instructions shortly."

"Roger," and Lucy clicked off her ear piece. She dialed back to scope a bit to see closer again. She followed several proeathans and as she did her mind wandered back to two weeks ago, when they'd first come to Demeter.

Lucy was getting ready for bed. After playing twenty questions with Jake, though it was more like fifty questions, half of which being 'are you sure you don't love Desmond?', all day she was tired. She had just come out of a med pod from being healed, but her body was still a bit weak and wobbly. She was looking forward to a proper night of sleep and not one in a med pod, and like Pluto, Demeter had sublimely comfortable beds.

She started when she turned around and there was Desmond, standing in her room, not five feet from her. She wasn't even wearing a god damn shirt! "Desmond?" she asked, confused.

"Hello," he said and then cocked his head at her, "Odd," he said. It was painfully un-Desmond.

"You're… not Desmond," she said slowly and started to feel better about just being in pants and a bra.

"Aren't I though?" he asked and stepped closer to her and she could smell him. He smelled earthy and like sweat. She swallowed. She might have told Jake about a thousand times, no she didn't love Desmond, but holy shit would she not mind. He was attractive and muscular, but she felt her reservations looking at him. He seemed… different then before Mercury. There was a look in his eyes she couldn't place and it made her uneasy, unnerved her. "Hmm," he tilted his head at her again, "Heart rate is normal. No reaction."

"Who are you?" she demanded, "What are you doing here?"

A thread of terror touched her heart when Desmond smiled and his eyes turned yellow. It was so un-Desmond and it was terrifying that one of the AIs was walking around, wearing his face. "Hello dear," and his form shifted, melting into the form of a masked woman.

"Hera," Lucy said, relieved it wasn't Desmond now.

"Do you like what I gave you?" Hera asked.

"What?" Lucy asked, confused.

"Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?"

"While you were unconscious?" Lucy shook her head, "Hmm, I guess we am not as adept at REM interfacing as we thought, that's annoying," she said the last bit to herself. After a moment she removed her mask and Lucy was looking at Juno. "You don't love him," she said.

"I… what?" she asked, confused and took a step away from her finally. She knew Juno and Hera were twins, so of course they'd look the same, but it was so hard for her mind to differentiate. She was starting to have flash backs, Juno in Rome, under the Coliseum.

"We asked you then, if you still wanted to unlove him," Hera said. "You told us you did. Is something wrong?" she asked, confused.

"I just-" Lucy was honestly starting to have a panic attack about Hera's face. "Can you put your mask back on? All I see if Juno and its freaking me out," she said helplessly.

"Oh. Of course, we're sorry, dear," and she put her mask back on. Lucy sat on her bed, her hands were trembling. Before this she'd never seen Juno since what had happened with Desmond, at least that she could remember. Something told her she'd had a reaction like this before while at Juno and the proeathans had kept Juno's form away from her. She looked down at her stomach and like she could feel the knife, though it had never been there. She didn't have a scar, she hadn't bled out on the ground. That had been another girl, another life, and she had all her memories but none of her genes. "Are you all right?" Hera asked.

"J-just give me a second," Lucy said and was surprised when Hera knelt in front of her.

"We're sorry about our sister. She didn't really realize what she was doing when she killed you, clearly."

"Yeah?" Lucy asked, "Would you have spared me?"

"Of course," Hera said, "We also wouldn't have made Juno's mistake that sent Desmond into his coma. She almost killed him, like the fool she is."

"Why'd you look like him just now?" she asked.

"To gauge your reaction. I needed to know if you'd be angry with me."

"What?"

"Don't you remember our conversation?" Hera asked her, "You said it was important if what you felt was real, which I didn't understand since everything about you can change. But I forget, sometimes, that flesh can't just forget what is known, or force themselves to change. Which is why I offered to change it for you."

"So then what?"

"What do you remember about Desmond?" Hera asked.

"I remember traveling with him, and I remember him at Abstergo, and later on the run, and then Mercury."

"Did you ever have sex?"

"No?" Lucy asked, confused. "This body's a virgin," and just the body, her mind wasn't, Lucy Prime had had a few boyfriends, each more disappointingly stupid and spineless than the last.

"Hmm," was all Hera said.

"What?"

"Nothing," Hera said, "Just… interesting how the mind works," she said. "What do you feel for Desmond?"

"Uhm…" her brows furrowed, "Concern, I guess. He's all alone, and doing who knows what. You know what."

"I do," Hera said nicely. "But nothing I can share."

"Of course not. Why not?"

"Because the exacts aren't known even to us. There are things in this world not even we know, even about our own people. So much knowledge was lost during the human/proeathan war. What else do you feel? For him?"

"I miss him, I guess," she shrugged, "I mean, he's my friend," but her feelings for Desmond were slippery. "I… honestly don't know what I feel. Like I feel… nothing." She couldn't point to an emotion and say 'that, that is what I'm feeling about Desmond' like she could for the others. Jake was an equal dose of fondness and absolute annoyance. Altair she was wary of that sometimes came across as fear. Ezio she was always surprised by, and amused by him as well. Hawk was… Hawk was Hawk. Desmond though? She couldn't think of what she'd call her strange detachment of her emotions towards him. Yeah she was concerned, but it seemed so meaningless, like she was worried about someone someone else knew, but she herself didn't. Her memories of him were equally as foggy.

"I see," Hera said. "Your mind will settle, in time, its still trying to catch up on the healing it went through in Demeter's pod."

Lucy nodded, "Hera," she said, Hera tilted her head at her slightly, "You said… that I have a shortened life span," she said softly.

"Yes," Hera said.

"Why?"

"Because all good things must have a counter. I believe your species calls it 'karma'."

"So because I have free will… I'm going to die?"

"Yes," Hera said and she sounded sort of sad. "Such is the design of a synthetic," she said.

"How long do I have to live?" Hera said nothing for a time. "Hera? I deserve to know how long I have to live," she snapped.

"Eight years," Hera said.

Lucy chocked, "Eight more?" she asked.

"In total," Hera said. Lucy pressed her hand across her mouth in horror and looked away. "You're four years old, you have four years left," Hera said, sounding very calm.

"Just four?" Hera nodded. "I'm going to die… again," she cried helplessly. "Will I be old?"

"No," Hera said. "Synthetics are made with a specific purpose, yours was to be Desmond's present," Lucy grimaced at that. "You needed to be young, and beautiful, and perfect, and stay that way. They accelerated your growth in a med pod, and since you're only meant to age eight years, you'll die before you get wrinkles. You'll die in the prime of a human life time, when you're thirty."

Lucy took a deep breath through her nose, "Leave," she said.

Hera's eyes looked sad, "I'm sorry," she said.

"Are you?" Lucy snapped, "Are you really? This is my life! I have four years left and I can't-" her voice broke, "Just leave," her voice thick.

Hera blinked, but she shimmered out of sight.

Lucy's ear piece clicked. She angrily wiped her eyes. She wasn't going to cry. She'd cried that night until she was sick, until she'd fallen asleep. But she wouldn't cry now. She had four years left, she was going to make those four years count.

She turned on the comm, "Nest Egg to Heron, you copy?"

"I copy Nest Egg," Lucy said, wiping her eyes again. "What do you want me to do?"

"You see the Eden Eyes?"

Lucy got up onto her knees and turned around, back facing the plantation and dropped back onto her belly. She fiddled with the scope knob, zooming out a bit. She scanned the plains around her. "No."

"Check the sky. Eden Eyes can fly."

Lucy looked up, "Ah, there's one. Its got semi active camo," Lucy said.

"Good. Shoot it."

"Shoot it?" she clarified.

"Did I stutter?" Hawk asked.

"Hawk I don't think you could stutter if you tried," Lucy said.

"This is true. Now shoot the Eye down. In fact, I want you to shoot down every single Eye you see. Once you can't see any more, contact us for further instructions."

"All right," Lucy said and her ear piece clicked again.

Lucy adjusted her scope and actually corrected for wind and arc. She laid there for a while, lining up her shot, and then slowly pulled the trigger. The mag rifle popped and she grinned as she watched the Eye explode in mid air. One down, several more to go. She shot down six more before she couldn't see any more even with her scope at full zoom.

She clicked on her ear piece, "Heron to Nest Egg, do you copy?"

"This is Nest Egg, we copy," Hawk said.

"All the Eyes are down, what do you want me to do now?"

"Face the plantation. Then I want you to start shooting those guards in the head. Can you do that?"

"I would love to," Lucy said and once again changed position. "I got reinforcements coming?"

"They're currently inbound," Hawk said as she dialed her scope and started tracking one of the guards walking their grid, "Switch your piece over to the second frequency if you want to listen in."

"Worth it?"

"Absolutely not," Hawk said boredly. "Girl you still there?" he asked when Lucy said nothing for a solid minute. She didn't reply and as the proeathan soldier was turning to walk back the other way across his plot jerked when she pulled the trigger and collapsed.

"Yeah, but one of the guards no longer is," she said and was already lining up her next shot.

"Well that was quick. I'll contact you again when they others are closer," he said.

"Copy," and the earpiece clicked and once again she was alone. She sighted up another proeathan and waited until he was in the correct spot before firing. They fell too.

She picked the proeathans off slowly. They were far enough apart that they didn't realize what was happening either. But while the proeathans didn't, the humans certainly did. She saw them standing up in the fields, realizing that their oppressor hadn't come by recently to scare them into submission. Several dropped their baskets and starting to gather in groups. They seemed nervous though, she was sure it was against the rules for humans to gather out in the fields, or in the plantations itself. When no one stopped them though.

"Nest Egg this is Heron, do you copy," Lucy turned on her ear piece again.

"Nest Egg to Heron, we copy."

"People are gathering. I'm going to go over to them."

"What? Heron, no, stay back."

"Too late," and she stood up, grabbing her rifle and started towards the fields.

"Heron, get back to your position and wait for-

She clicked the ear piece off. It wasn't a terribly long walk to the fields, and the people, once they noticed her, all turned and looked, watching her approach. She knew that despite being short she probably cut an intimidating figure, carrying a rifle that was more than half her height, in length, and wearing pieces of proeathan battle armor.

"Hello," she said when she finally reached them and saw that the people were gathered around one of the proeathan she'd shot. "Anyone speak English?" she asked because it was a mixed bag of colors of skin amid the gathered.

"Some of us do," said a woman, she had black hair and looked frail. Lucy put it up to malnutrition.

"Well hello, my name's Lucy," she held out her hand. "I'm here to rescue you," she said.

Six people shook her hand, "Really?" a man asked, brown hair, olive complexion with a terrible accent. The more Lucy looked actually she realized that she didn't see any blondes amid these people, or red heads. They all had black or brown hair, even when she'd looked through her rifle scope she realized that she hadn't seen any fair haired humans. So where were they?

"Yes, really," she said.

"By yourself?" another man asked, with an English accent.

"No," she said, "I got friends coming," she said.

"They're coming," someone said, she didn't know who and as a mass the people turned and looked. A vehicle was making their way towards them, coming from the plantation. Many of the people started to back away, go back to what they were doing.

"Don't be afraid," Lucy said. "Its what they want."

"I dunno if you've noticed lady, but we have plenty of reasons to be afraid," said the English man.

"Not anymore," she said, "Excuse me," and she pushed through them so she could see the approaching proeathans properly. Then she knelt, brought up her rifle and looked through her scope, dialing it for zoom and wind speed and arc. She tracked the vehicle for nearly a minute before pulling the trigger. The slug shattered the windshield of the vehicle and hit the proeathan in the face. She fired again quickly after the first shot, before the vehicle lost control, and hit the other proeathan riding shotgun. The vehicle quickly lost control and drove into a field, scattering the people working in it. Still calm Lucy sighted up the back of the vehicle as the back popped open and the proeathan guards it had been carrying started to jump out. She killed two before they took cover.

Her ear piece clicked, "Damnit Heron! What did you do?" Hawk demanded.

"Started a war," Lucy said calmly, still looking through her scope, "Where are the others?" she looked towards the plantation, "Because a squad of numia just left the plantation and are headed this way."

"Almost there. Now do just hold tight till they get there."

"Nope."

"Damnit girl!" Hawk yelled, "You're as bad as Desmond. Fucking match made in heaven," he snapped.

"Sure we are," and she stood with a slight grunt and looked back at the people, who were now all staring at her. "Don't be afraid," she said, "They can die just like any of us."

"Where'd you come from lady?" someone asked.

She smiled a little, "Lets just say I'm heaven sent. Now I don't know if you want to come with me or not, but I'm going to deal with the rest of those proeathans. If you're coming at least take his gun," and then she started walking towards where she'd shot the vehicle.

"You're going to give me a heart attack one day, girl," Hawk said.

"Its okay Hawk, you'll survive."

"Not the point," Hawk hissed.

"Where's my back up Hawk?" she asked.

"There, right now, look up," she looked up and she heard a few people cry out when a numia flew overhead and landed twenty feet away from her.

She switched her ear piece over to the second frequency, "-know what the hell got into her?" it sounded like Ezio.

"Who cares," and that was Altair. The back of the numia opened and out came half a dozen of the Assassins, armed with mag rifles like her, though configured differently. The big numia landed a moment later, unloading the rest of the Assassins, then they both took off again, but heading for the numia flying towards them. Even at a distance they all heard the sounds of high caliber gun fire from them.

"There you are. Hawk's been screaming about you for like the past twenty minutes," Altair said. She shrugged, "Nothing to say for yourself?'

"Like you'd have done any different," she said.

He regarded her, "Like you would have," Jake said before Altair could say he wouldn't have.

"So are we going to keep going?" she asked.

"Yes-

"Who're they?" Jake nodded at the people still standing behind Lucy, they were all openly staring.

"Free men," Lucy said.

"Who are you people?" someone asked, staring at the Assassins in their proeathan body armor, holding proeathan weapons.

"The resistance," Altair said, "Who wants to join?"

It had taken them a while to get to the plantation. Lucy was camped out on top of a numia that had been shot out of the sky, looking through her scope to fight going on in front of her. Killing the guards had been easy and as they did more humans joined them. Their numia had left, returned to Demeter, and come back, by the time they had gotten even at all close to the plantation house. Both numia had returned with something for everyone to shoot. Pluto's munitions were being put to good use now.

The proeathans had gotten their shit together by the time they reached the plantation and had set up fortifications around the entrance and was effectively holding off the resistance force with a hundred yards of no man's land between the two sides. Every time a human went beyond their front they got shot at, but the proeathans weren't pushing them back. They were just holding.

Lucy was watching the action from her scope. The proeathans were well fortified and other than to shoot didn't come out from their cover for anything, so she couldn't get off a shot.

"This is taking too long," she heard Jake say, "They're stalling."

"Stalling? Stalling for what?" Ezio asked.

"Big Eagle to Nest Egg, do you copy?" Altair asked.

"Nest Egg to Big Eagle, we copy," Hawk said.

"Any ideas for breaking through?" Altair asked, "Without sending a few dozen mortals out there to get murdered."

"No, but Clay says you need to do something soon."

"Why?" Altair asked.

"The armada he saw in the Indian Ocean? No doubt its reached the coast of Africa by now-

"That's what they're waiting for," Lucy said.

"What?" Ezio asked.

"They called in reinforcements, either from the battalion of numia on the coast, or from Nike in Finland. They need to hold out till they get here."

"And once they do, adios," Jake said. "We're fucked."

"Something like that," Lucy said.

"Shit. What do you see up there Lucy?"

"They're in cover, I can't get a shot off. They won't be letting anything past them without us pushing."

"If I may-

"Pluto, how the hell did you get on this frequency?" Altair demanded.

"You really think I couldn't? Please," he scoffed, "Now pay attention humans. You forget, I was a general of armies. This is called a Onyx Formation, its employed during a situation when they know they can't win while they wait for back up. Whatever proeathans you might see now, that might be all they have. Onyx is only employed when they have no other options. They force a stand off between themselves and the opposition."

"Alright, well how do you break an Onyx?" Altair asked.

"Its nearly impossible when done correctly," Pluto said, "its what made it so effective since it relied on quick reaction times from their reinforcements to come to their aid."

"And these bozos?" Ezio asked.

"Do you know how many there are?"

"No idea, I'd say getting here will killed a few dozen, maybe a hundred or two," Altair said.

"We'll say a few dozen. In which case there are perhaps four hundred proeathan left in that plantation," Pluto said. "Enough to establish a fairly secure Onyx. But if you apply pressure, it will crumble, as the most people involved, the greater the Onyx is. Four hundred isn't enough."

"So what are you suggesting?" Altair asked.

"Pressure them. Ms. Stillman," he said.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Might I suggestion reconfiguring your rifle."

"Okay," and she laid it out in front of her and opened the control panel that allowed you to change the rifle, to some degrees. All mag rifles could adjust themselves based on certain specifications, but Lucy was using a different type than the others. "Into what?"

"You'll see."

"Should we as well?" Altair asked.

"Only Ms. Stillman is using the K-33, your guns wouldn't react if you put in this code," Pluto said. "Now, the config is six, five, nine, six, six. Got it?"

"Yeap," she'd typed in the code and her sniper rifle shortened and the the ring around the barrel widened and plates within the barrel expanded going from a few centimeters to two or three inches the walls of the barrel becoming incredibly thin. The stock changed, becoming shorter, stockier. "Okay, I give, what is it?"

"What? You don't recognize it?" Pluto asked.

"No."

"It's called a K-52; its a grenade launcher," Pluto said.

"God damnit why does Lucy get the cool toys?" Jake complained.

"It works with standard ammo?" she asked and got up on her knees.

"It can use normal ballistic material from a rogdar, but normally its ammo is grenades, obviously. If no grenade is available it will force a simulated grenade from the material offered. Though do be carful when firing it, the K-52's barrel gets hot very quickly and fire too much, too fast, and it will explode," Pluto cautioned.

"Okay," and she looked through the sight. "Lets see how these proeathans deal with the pressure," and she squeezed the trigger. The mag rifle whirled and then there was a thud as an object was ejected from the end of the big barrel. The K-52 didn't have the same kick as the K-33, and the shot only made it about half way across the no man's land. Where it landed it exploded in a burst of shrapnel. "Oh, that's fun," Lucy said.

"I want one," Jake said.

"Come down here," Altair said, "clearly you need to get closer."

"Okay."

"Another thing," Pluto said. "Without proper ammo a K-52 will use up a lot of ammo from your rogdar as it must basically construct a grenade from the ballistic material. You have maybe five shots from a full rogdar, less if you've been shooting."

"Dang," Lucy said as she slid onto the ground. "I'm headed towards you," she told the others, since the numia she'd been perched on was some yards away from their front. Their cover was composed of rolled vehicles for the most part, a bunch of the other people were lying down on the ground, to make themselves hard to hit, since there wasn't enough cover for everyone. Not the large group they were at any rate.

"We see you," Jake said and the comm clicked off from them. She met up with them behind a vehicle, the drivers were still behind the wheel, though both were dead.

"Let me try," and she handed the K-52 over to Altair. He stood up, over the vehicle and fired. The projectile landed a few yards shy of the proeathan's barriers. But they were aware of the explosion. Altair adjusted his aim and fired again. The grenade sailed elegantly over their cover and exploded. They were close enough to hear the cries of panic coming from the proeathans.

Altair ducked when a hail of gunfire was the proeathans' answer. "Well, that was fun," Altair grinned.

"Seems the proeathans don't like the pressure," Ezio said.

"Do it again," Jake said.

Altair peered over the top of the vehicle and got the gun up. He fired and while it wasn't as good of a shot as the last one, it still got behind their lines. This time it hit the plantation building. They heard a proeathan scream, no doubt they'd been hit by the shrapnel.

"Pluto, there a way to make more of these?" Altair asked.

"Unless anyone else has a Kettacan style rifle, no," Pluto said.

"What about like them? Most of are using the M2s."

"There isn't enough material in an M2 to configure it into something like this. The barrel would be too thin and it'd blow up."

"Damn."

"What about something that shoots heavy bullets?" Ezio asked. "Something with a serious arc like the K-52 does."

Pluto was silent, "Yes, I think so. Let me check," and then he was gone.

"Well, so far so good," Altair said. "Now then, who wants to show the proeathans what for?"

"Me," Lucy said.

"I'm sure you do," Altair said.

"Give me back the rifle," he did and she went the other way around the vehicle to the back and crawled into it. The back had an open top, with high sides. The proeathans were still firing at them, clearly panicking a bit. She fired a few more times at them before her gun beeped. Her rogdar was empty. She pulled another from her belt and attached it to the underside of the gun.

"Still alive?" Pluto asked.

"Its a permanent condition," Ezio said.

"Well I found a design that you could use on your M2s-" Lucy turned her ear piece off as she turned the K-52 back into her standby K-33. Then she put it up on the top of the sides of the transport vehicle. The proeathan were taking turns shooting, covering the entire area. Lucy waited and when one stuck their head up she pulled the trigger. They went down rather noiselessly amid the rattling gunfire. She killed four more before the proeathans realized what was going on and ducked down again, unable to keep shooting.

"You good up there Lucy?" Jake called.

"Yeah," she said, "They're scared of my rifle."

"Good, give us cover while we get some more M2s switched."

"You got it," she said, and kept looking along the proeathan line, the others moving behind her. A proeathan raised their head and she shot them. Maybe they were trained, but she effectively was pinning an entire platoon with one gun.

She heard a few thuds and then what appeared to be pellets arched across her field of view and landed behind the cover. They didn't explode like her K-52, but they clearly made impact.

"Ms. Stillman," Pluto suddenly said.

"Yeah?" she asked, she was on the second frequency from the others.

"Tell me, are the proeathans wearing headgear?" he asked.

Lucy looked through her sight, "Yeah. Like the one Clay showed up with."

"Good," he said.

"Why's that good?"

"It means they can't see you," he said.

"…Come again?"

"It relays on the same technology used in Eden Eyes and in most of our visual aids that aren't directly sight based but rather electrical signature based," Pluto said.

"So it sees humans-

"And proeathans. But synthetics were always too delicate and expensive to be sent into a battlefield and usually too well kept or short lived to escape or for us to worry about rebellion. So we never bothered to make sure our devices could see your kind."

"So… I'm invisible?"

"Yes," he said.

"You wouldn't tell me this if you didn't have something for me to do," she said.

"Yes," he said and she could imagine his cunning smile.

"Well don't leave me in suspense Pluto," she said.

"Give your gun to someone else, and then walk into the plantation. The Head Overseer will probably still be in there. They'll be coordinating the Onyx and the evacuation procedures for when the armada gets there. I don't think I have to tell you what to do when you find them."

"Security in the plantation can't see me?" she asked.

"It shouldn't be able to, no. Though any proeathan without the helmet will be able to."

She was quiet for a long moment, her mind racing. She could die doing this. But she was going to die anyway. Lucy Prime didn't live through a life as harsh and demanding as hers to grow into a meek, easily frightened, synthetic. She owed her original better than that. "Okay," she said and ducked down. "Altair," she said through the ear piece, switching frequencies.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Come to the back of the vehicle," she said going to the back and Altair was there a moment later. "Don't lose it," and she handed Altair her gun.

"What? Where are you- Lucy! Lucy where are you going?!" he called when she went around the edge of the vehicle and into the no man's land. She stood there a moment, out in the open, her heart hammering. She saw a proeathan peak up from their cover but they didn't shoot, rather they just ducked back down.

"It worked," she said and couldn't help but to smile. She was standing in a no man's land without threat.

"What the hell, Lucy, get back here!" Altair hissed from the other side of the vehicle.

"Just stay here, I got it under control," and she walked across the no man's land without fear.

"What's she doing?" Jake asked through the ear piece.

"I have no idea."

"Why aren't they shooting her?"

"What the fuck is going on?"

There was general disorder over the frequencies, everyone confused how Lucy was just doing what she was doing. But there was also a general order of 'don't fucking follow her' because no one knew what was going on and they didn't want to fuck up whatever she was doing.

Lucy had to be careful when she reached the line the proeathans were holding. She turned off her ear piece so their chatter didn't give her away and she carefully edged her way past the first barrier. One proeathan turned, like he'd heard her. His face was covered in the half helm, a visor coving the top half of his face, obscuring his vision. He looked at her before turning away, doing nothing and Lucy barely dared to breathe the rest of the way.

The front of the plantation was about two dozen feet behind the proeathan line, and the door was closed. She tried the door and it gave. She slid inside and closed it silently behind her. She turned her ear piece on again. It was absolute chaos on the frequency and she heard more than one person yelling, and heard Altair yelling at Hawk.

"I'm in," she said in a soft voice and abruptly there was silence.

"You're in?" Altair asked.

"I'm in," and she looked around at the entrance. It was a hallway, and on the left was clearly the way men were supposed to go, and on the right, was for woman. "Pluto?" she asked.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Where do I find this Overseer?"

"At the central point. Most plantations are the same, so I'll be able to guide you to them."

"Okay, which way first?"

"Down the hall. Make sure you aren't spotted, just because the proeathans outside couldn't see you doesn't mean the ones inside can't."

"Okay," she said.

"At the end of the hall they'll be a lift. Mute this channel till you get there."

"Copy," and she turned her ear piece off.

She took a deep, steadying, breath, and started to walk down the long hallway. She kept her ears open and walked slowly to not make any noise. She nearly jumped clear out of her skin when gunfire sounded behind her and she turned quickly. The door didn't open though. The gunfire died down and all she could hear was the rapid beating of her heart. Then, above that, she heard the sound of running feet, heading towards her.

Lucy went down one of the side halls, because there was no where to hide. She managed to make it to an intersection and press herself around the corner as the boots got louder. She heard them running by the entrance of the hallway she'd just been down, and out through the front door. She stayed there until she was sure they were gone, getting her slightly panicked breathing under control.

Not that she didn't have every right to be a bit afraid. She could die here. Or worse. They could capture her and undo everything she'd done to make her what she was now. She could be a mindless pawn, who had to obey them, who could and be used against her friends. Against Desmond. The thought left her momentarily breathless and with a deep ache in her chest she couldn't quite explain. Somehow being used against Desmond was so much worse than being used against any of the others, against Jake or Ezio or Hawk.

For a second she couldn't move and just stood there, fear a cold hand around her heart. Then she knew she had to move, especially since she could hear gun fire again.

She looked behind her at the entrance hall, she didn't trust it. She had nowhere to hide there if more proeathans came. Lucy looked down the hall she was in, it had to intersect again somewhere. It had to. So she started down that hall.

The hall didn't intersect. She was lost. Very lost. She stopped and finally reconnected with the others. She heard Altair sternly calling orders to people, she didn't want to interrupt. She changed to the second frequency. "Hawk?" she asked.

"Hold on, holy crap its Heron I'll be right with you kid," Hawk said to someone else then his attention was solely on her. "Heron, you're alive," he said.

"Of course I am."

"Hey, you were silent for fifteen minutes. Pluto said it should take you less than five to get to the elevator. Where are you? What's going on in there?" he asked in rapid fire.

"I… I'm lost," she said. "I left the main hallway like an idiot. I have no idea where I am."

"Yes, that was a very stupid idea," Pluto said. "Which hallway did you go down?"

"The one marked with the symbol of a woman?"

"Hmm. Tell me what it looks like around you," he said.

"Its a hallway with doors that all have numbers on them, I know that much."

"What numbers are you near?"

"Uhm," she looked at the door next to her, the proeathan numbers looked nothing like the Arabic based numerals humans used but she knew how to read them. "Fifty six," she said.

"Are the numbers to your right ascending or descending?" Pluto asked.

Lucy looked, "Ascending," she said.

"Follow them," Pluto said.

Lucy did and followed the long hallway. "What are these rooms?" Lucy asked as she walked.

"Human housing," Pluto said, "Usually used to hold half a dozen humans."

"What? But the doors are barely ten feet apart."

"They're eleven," Pluto said.

"But six people in an eleven by what?"

"Eleven by thirteen usually."

"That's not nearly enough space," Hawk chimed it.

"It isn't," she was surprised when Clay was the one who said that. "That's the point. They want to kill us off as quickly as possible through diseases and confinement. They don't care about caring for us, tight quarters, overpopulation. Doesn't matter. Humans do something much better and faster than proeathans ever could."

"Which is?" she asked though had a feeling what it was.

"We procreate at an astounding rate," Clay said. "Most species go through heat to reproduce, humans don't. A human woman can become pregnant nearly as soon as she's given birth."

"It isn't common," Lucy tried to say.

"Common enough that the term 'irish twins' is a thing. Proeathans don't reproduce at our rate. To them, we're like rabbits and easily replaceable. It isn't worth them helping us live past our prime," Lucy's heart jumped into her throat at that. Hera had said something similar. "And once we live past our usefulness, well, if we were useful in life we get to be useful in death, if we weren't, we get to die."

"Fantastic," Lucy said softly.

"Indeed," Clay said.

"Anything to say Pluto?" she asked.

"I'm not going to defend or deny the choices my people made at the height of our civilization. Your species had only recently evolved to stand upright. You were animals to us, we treated you much the same you treat dogs or cats or other primates. Lower level intelligence. Now, Ms. Stillman, what do you see?"

"More doors," she said. "Are there people in there now?"

"Unlikely," Pluto said, "They'd all be out in the fields. Humans that are too weak to continue to work are culled. If it was easily fixed through more nutrients they'd do that but I doubt they'd do that now. They want to cycle through the population as quickly as possible."

"Yeah but what good does it do them to kill us all off-

"Heron?" Clay asked when she suddenly cut off.

"Oh god," Lucy said, she'd passed through the hallway of doors. "This isn't just a plantation," she said, walking up to a half glass wall.

"What? What do you mean?" Hawk asked.

"Its a breeding facility," and she was looking at neat, orderly, rows of what looked like the same pod she'd been in. Only, they were filled with children. One child per pod, each in a clear fluid. They had middle toned skin and dark hair and each looked to be about three years of age. "Oh god that's disgusting," she said.

"Mind telling us what you're seeing?" Hawk asked.

"Pods, full of children," she said. "Are all the plantations like this?"

"I don't know," Pluto said, "They were built after I was abandoned and turned from them."

"Whatever we do here, we're not leaving them here," she said.

"If we can, we'll take them-

"No," Lucy snapped, "We aren't leaving them here," she said sternly. "I will ground that numia if I have to. But unless we get these children out of here, we aren't leaving. Understand?" she demanded.

"Heron, they're just-

"Just what?" she demanded. "Just humanity's future. In case you weren't listening, the proeathans are trying to wipe out the past generation, replace it with a new one. One that never knew what it was like to be free, and who won't question them when they're told to work in the fields and factories until they drop down dead. I don't think you four really understand how dire the situation is for our species. There are less than half a million humans left in the world."

"What?" Hawk asked in a soft voice after a pregnant silence.

"Less than five hundred thousand of us."

"Fuck," Hawk said. "They killed over six billion people in five years… I didn't realize it was that bad."

"Now you see. These children are coming with us, is that understood?"

"Yeah," hawk said.

"Pluto, where am I going?" she demanded.

"Continue down the hall and take the first left. Tell me what you find."

She went, "A room. It looked like a cafeteria."

"Good. That's the mess hall. Go through the double doors, they should be to your left." Lucy went, "You should be in a hall.

"I am," she said.

"Good, look to your right, what do you see?"

"A door," she said.

"Anything else?"

"I… no?"

"Look hard girl, what do you see?"

"I don't have Eagle Vision what the hell am I supposed to see?" she demanded.

"Don't be so naive. You're not like these fools. You saw the Eden Eye without help, which should be impossible without your human second sight or our sixth sense. Now what do you see?"

Lucy wanted to say nothing, that she saw nothing, but she didn't. She looked hard. "Active camo," she said after a moment.

"Yes. Now what do you see?"

"Buttons," she went over to the wall. "This is the elevator?"

"Yes," Pluto said again."Now tell me, is it numerical, or alphabetical?"

"Numerical," she said and now that she saw it was active camo she could see it clearly. "What is this? Hiding it?"

"Trick of the Light, but once you see it, you can't unsee it. How many buttons are there?"

"Five, two numbers on each other, one and four, two and five, three and seven, six and eight, nine and zero."

"Give me a moment," and Pluto was silent.

"What's going on out there?" Lucy asked Hawk, "with the others I mean."

"The proeathans are holding, few got shot. But they're pressuring the proeathans. If you can take out this Overseer guy it'll give us the boon we need."

"Right," Lucy said and flexed her hands a bit.

"The code you want is two, two, eight, five, seven, one, four, three," Pluto said. Lucy punched in the code and there was a deep click, she stepped back warily and then the doors opened. "Go in and press the top button," Pluto said.

Lucy stepped into the lift and pressed the top floor. The doors closed and the lift started to rise. "What should I expect?" Lucy asked Pluto.

"At the top? The Overseer. Most of the top of plantations are where the machines are that run all the systems. Its a giant heat vent for the most part," Pluto said.

"So they should be alone?"

"Probably," Pluto said.

"Alright, where here we go," the lift glided to a halt and there was a merry little ding. Before stepping out of the lift she flexed her wrist and her hidden blade slid out with a soft hiss of steel. The others had been reluctant to give her one, and Andrew had thrown a hissy fit about it. But Andrew complaining about it had made the others give her one, because fuck Andrew. She knew how to use one after all. She'd been raised in the Order, she knew how to wield their weapons.

She looked around before stepping out of the lift. The room looked like a server bank, all the little computers whirling. At the end of the server hall she could see an array of screens and someone in a chair. She walked towards the room slowly, quietly.

Lucy stopped at the junction between the server hall and the screen array and steadied herself. Then she crossed the threshold and started for the chair, she could see someone sitting in it and that was no doubt the Overseer.

She was so focused though she missed the shape on her left and the next moment she felt steel on her throat. "Hello, girl," Cain said and she could feel his breath on her neck. She froze.

The person in the chair turned, the chair spinning and her eyes widened. "Hello, Lucy," Warren said. She hadn't seen him since they'd 'given him the slip' in New York. He looked like how she remembered him, though maybe with a few more fine lines around his eyes. "Ah, stay back, boy, its fine," he held his hand up to someone to Lucy's other side. She looked, not moving her head: Daniel. He was alive? "What a surprise," Warren said and got up with an old grunt, "Never thought I'd see you again."

"Save it," she hissed, "You're working with the proeathans."

He went over to her where Cain was still holding her at knife point, his hot breath brushing the back of her neck. "And what does that make you then?" he asked. "Created from bits in a vial to serve. I at least got to chose to serve-

She kicked him, right in the crotch. She might not have been able to move, but Cain didn't have her locked up. Behind her Cain actually laughed when Warren screamed and doubled over at the sudden pain. Daniel moved and went over to him, like before, his eyes were blank. Poor Daniel.

"Nice one girl," Cain said, "But don't do that again."

"Or what?" she challenged.

"Or my hand might slip," and she could hear his insanity.

It took Warren a few minutes to stand back up, and seemed in pain now, even just to stand. "Don't talk down to me," Lucy said. "I might have been made in a vial but I'm more human than you or your pet," and she glared at Daniel.

Warren adjusted his coat, "Semantics," he said. "I and the Templars did what we had to to survive, just as you did when you came to us. The Order changes, Lucy, you should know that by now."

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I should ask you the same thing. How did you get in here?"

"A girl never reveals her secrets," she said snidely.

"I assume you're with that riff raff down in the front? Giving us a hard time."

"I am."

"Well I wonder what they'd do if something happened to you? What is your worth to them?"

"You can't bait me Warren," Lucy said, "I know you. You're a rat and a liar and are trying to scare me. You're just an old man scared to die."

"And what is humanity, if not afraid of death?"

"Is that why you're breeding us?" she asked, "Some penance to make sure humanity doesn't die out?" Warren looked down a moment. She knew him. She knew he didn't a lot of morality left after what he'd done to their kind. But some things were depraved even for Templars. "Or maybe you're trying to tell yourself you aren't creating a world full of slaves."

Warren looked at her and his face became hard. "Think what you want. I'm still the one here, free to do as I wish, and you're the one between the jaws of death. Cain, please deal with this," and he turned away.

Cain didn't move as Warren sat down. "Cain, didn't you hear me?" he demanded.

"I heard you," Cain said and took his knife away from Lucy's throat. He wrapped an arm around Lucy's chest and shoulders. "But I don't think you really realize what she is. And you asking me to kill her… what a stupid mortal you are."

"Excuse me?" Warren asked. Clearly he didn't know about Cain's immortality.

"What?" Cain asked, "Stupid mortal just like all the other mortals in this world. Don't know what's in front of them even when it stares them in the face."

"Cain, if you aren't going to do it, Daniel will. Daniel," Warren motioned.

Daniel stepped forward, blank, dead inside. Lucy got the surprise of her life as, when Daniel made to attack her, Cain shoved his knife right through Daniel's forehead like it was a gourd. "Don't insult me," Cain said and Warren was staring at him, afraid now.

"Don't forget who you work for," Warren said.

Cain laughed, "Work for? That's funny. That's funny baby man. I don't work for anyone but myself. And frankly, the pay from the proeathans sucks." Cain looked at Lucy and let her go, "Tell me, girl, do you want him dead?"

"It'd make my life easier," she said.

"Good," and Cain took four steps as Warren tried to get out of his chair. Cain snapped his neck mid-step. Cain looked back at her, "There you go, girl," he said.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked, afraid all the same even though Cain hadn't actually hurt her, or threatened to do so.

"You let me worry about my reasons. You probably came here for a reason didn't you?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Then do it, no one's stopping you," and he grinned and it made his wolf blue eyes sharp, like a predator playing with their prey.

"How do I know I can trust you?" she asked, "That you won't snap my neck like Warren?"

Cain walked over to her, "Don't trust me if you don't want to. But you should probably trust your little boyfriend. I told him I wouldn't hurt you if he came with me. I won't," and she went still when he ran his thumb against her chin with surprising gentleness. "I don't like killing women."

"So the White Chapel prostitutes were what?" she asked.

"Desperation," Cain said, "Even gods get lonely, girl," and for a second she saw his humanity. His eyes for a fraction of an instant were soft and tired and so so alone. Lucy, for that brief instant, felt bad for him. Immortality was a burden you had to suffer alone. "Now do what you have to do," and he stepped past her.

"Where are you going?" she asked as he walked down the server bank hall.

"To see my brother," he called and got into the lift. "I'll tell him you're safe before I punch him in the face," and he laughed as the doors closed.

Lucy turned on her ear piece, "Any of you hear that?" she asked.

"I did," Clay said.

"As did I," Pluto said.

"Anyone know what the fuck that was about?"

"No idea," Clay said.

"Pluto?" she asked. He didn't answer. "Pluto?" she snapped.

"We offered him something he wanted," Pluto said.

"If you offered him me I'm deleting you," she snapped.

"No no, we didn't. We offered him something else. Something better than what the proeathans can offer. Don't worry about it now, you need to call off the armada."

"How?" she sat in the chair Warren had been in and turned to face all the screens.

"This would be so much easier if I was there," Pluto groaned.

"Well you aren't, tell me what to do," she ordered. "And do it quickly, based on these maps the air force only has a few hours until it gets here."


More questions, more Cain, and Daniel dies again?