Chapter Fourteen: Demons
Theta opened her pale eyes and scanned the area in search of the assassins who had captured her. She swept both the ordinary visual spectrum and the thermal spectrum but found no sign of them. Nothing remained of the residual warmth often left behind by their presence. Her dark mind swirled with thoughts. Normally she was of one thought, of one goal, of one mission. Her heart was always in each task, as dark a heart as it was. Now, though, she was left to dwell within rather than without. Her mission had failed and there was little she could do to remedy that. The energy cuffs that bound her, she knew, were unbreakable and the electronic key was hanging on Julian's belt.
A question crossed her mind as her ears picked up the faint sound of voices. She was startled by the clarity her ears offered her and the fact that the assassins had made no noise, their steps silent as they approached. She wondered why Julian had not killed her and she found that same question dwelling on the lips of the female assassin Jara.
"Why do you keep her alive even now?" The fiery young assassin asked, "She is probably planning her escape!"
"Killing her would be pointless," Julian argued, "The Combine would just download her into another body. She would end up in Coldwind and probably end up here."
"Are they likely to send another assassin?" Leo asked, more concerned with any enemy that wasn't hand-cuffed and tied up.
"Eventually," Julian theorized, "Once they realize that Theta has failed. Which is another reason to keep her alive - they probably have her vitals monitored at all times and if she were to die they would know she failed.
"I still say it is a mistake," Jara said starting out loud and boisterous but tapering off into a softer tone, "But nothing is true, and everything is permitted."
"When will we need to leave?" Hassan asked as his daughter walked away to clear her head, "When will they send the next super-assassin?"
"I don't know," Julian admitted, "Soon."
"The weather will clear tomorrow," Hassan noted, "We will need to be gone before the storms return in a week."
"Then we leave tomorrow," Julian agreed, "To protect the Sword."
"It will be a shame to abandon this temple," Leo lamented as Hassan too walked away, "I have called it home for many years."
"Time for a change of scenery then," Julian said patting him on the shoulder, "And warmer weather as well."
Theta listened to the nigh silent footsteps of Leo as he stepped away from Julian. The towering assassin was the only one she could actually hear walking. Julian, she noted, was entirely quiet as he made his way through the corridors. She saw him coming toward her a few moments later. Down the stone tunnel with silent steps he came toward the place where she had been tied to a small ornately carved loop that was part of a massive ten ton stone block. She felt bile rise in her throat as the assassin's almond eyes became visible. Even in sight of her they were still so pleasant, so bright, and so pure. The assassin's mind was not tainted by the stain of darkness and she felt revolted by him. She hissed as he crouched beside her and offered her a can of food with a spoon.
"They don't have much of anything good up here," he laughed, "just the type of shit that lasts for years. If the cold doesn't kill you, the preservatives will."
"Why have you kept me alive?" She asked, though the venom she had attempted to put in her tone was lost for some reason.
"Death is too easy an escape for you," Julian admitted, "From one body into another, an endless fight I do not care for. This way, imprisoned, you can never kill any of my friends again. You can languish in a cell with your inner demons haunting you forever."
"Fuck you!" She spat the beans he had spoon-fed her all over his face.
"You can try to anger me all you want Theta," Julian replied with dead-pan stoicism, "I will not lift blade or fist against you in your helpless state."
Julian walked away, leaving Theta's blood to boil.
Allison knocked at the door. Her deep blue eyes beamed with vigor as she tapped her knuckles gently at the door. She gulped nervously as the door opened and a nurse, who she recognized from the Hospital two days ago, ushered her in. She saw Desmond sitting there hunched over a table littered with papers and documents of all kinds. The General turned to her and Allison nearly blushed when she saw his face brighten at the sight of her. He was clean shaven now and it was the first time she'd ever truly admired how handsome a face he had. She could see which features of his had been passed to his son, a man she was also longing top see. She put Julian from her mind and shook Desmond's hand.
"Glad you could make it Allison," Desmond said with a smile, his voice, however, was barely even audible.
"Now now," the nurse scolded, "No speaking."
Allison nearly burst out laughing when she saw Desmond roll his eyes at the nurse's comments. The elder assassin grabbed a pile of notes he had been working on and showed her the first one. The note asked her if she would be his translator, a task she was more than prepared for. Desmond had scheduled a meeting with the Mayor of City 12, a General who called himself Baron Brown. Already Desmond had sent word requesting a meeting and a count of City 12's citizens. Desmond hadn't had time to notice how big and sprawling the City had become. He had assumed its soldiers to number twenty thousand but Baron Brown had sent him the Citizen Count, eighty thousand and the soldier count, fifty thousand. More than twice the number he had hoped for in his wildest dreams.
They arrived at the rendezvous point a few moments later, the ruins of the City 12 Citadel. The core of the Citadel had erupted only a few hours after the most massive Resistance evacuation in history but rather than explode outwardly it had imploded leaving the city essentially intact. Resistance scientists had attempted to figure out the Quantum phenomenon involved but to no avail.
The Baron, an eccentric fellow wearing regal robes and of ethnicity too mixed to be determined, met them at the base of the Citadel. His body-guards, Desmond noted by the marks on their ring fingers, were assassins, all except one. Allison got started quickly with the questions, having had time to organize Desmond's notes on the jeep-ride across the City.
"Greetings Baron Brown," Allison started nervously, "I am Allison Rogue…. Su-su-subject name here, subject 27. Allison Rogue. Sorry, I'm a bit nervous. I will be speaking for General Miles today."
"Fine," the Baron, a bit perplexed at her stuttering fit, said, "What does the General want to discuss?"
"As you know Clear Water base, once the hub of the Resistance, fell to the Combine a short time ago. The General believes it is imperative that we retaliate."
"Retaliate eh? Maybe he should have thought about that before he decided to waste his man power defending a death trap against sixty thousand Combine Overwatch. He strode in here with barely three hundred men and women alive."
"What happened at Clear Water is a tragedy," Allison replied finding the note corresponding to the response the Baron was giving, "But we must not let the deaths of the brave men and women who died there be in vain. We must strike against the Combine but we need City 12 to lead the charge."
"City 12 is only successful because we don't lead any charges," the Baron pointed out, "We are safe because we don't bother them unless they bother us. We are an oasis amidst the chaos."
"And if the Combine comes here, with sixty-thousand, eighty-thousand, MORE?" Allison asked, winging it and honestly outraged, "The time has come to stop hiding, to stop sitting idly by. Our species will be dead in a decade it we do not fight now as hard as we can."
"What kind of assault are your proposing?" Baron Brown asked.
"The kind that will destroy a Citadel and a suppression field," Allison replied going back to the notes once more, "The closest Citadel, the suppression field that keeps City 12 from reproducing is the Citadel at Golgotha. Not only would taking the prison end the suppression field for more than a five hundred mile radius and allow us to breed again it would let us free many Resistance soldiers who wallow in their cells thereby bolstering our numbers."
"It is very risky though," the Baron argued, "Golgotha is no ordinary Citadel. There are nearly twenty-thousand prisoners there and thousands upon thousands of guards. I will need some time to talk to my advisors."
"Very well," Allison agreed seeing that Desmond was nodding, "You know how to reach us when you've made a decision."
"I will send word and we will discuss this further, when your voice is better and you are not being led by a child like a blind man on a leash."
Allison felt a wave of sadness as the Baron walked away but Desmond's expression was one of hope. Never in a million years had he expected the talk to go so well. He had thought for sure that the Baron would refuse him the assistance he needed. Now there was a chance that he could command an army of thousands against Golgotha, take the Citadel there. With that Citadel gone City 12 would be able to breed again and the human race would have a chance to, behind the safe walls of the city, rebuild and bide their time. Desmond hated thinking of the first new lives to be born as fresh meat to be used in war but that was the only way they would ever truly be free of the Combine. To destroy the suppression field would bring new life to a dying world.
Julian paced the perimeter of the Temple. True to Hassan's word the weather was crystal clear as the sun slowly set over the frigid tundra. The young assassin wasn't cold though, the HEV suit, he found, had a warming feature though the battery that powered the suit was likely to drain if he continued using it. He only used it when absolutely necessary to keep the cold out.
He knew that they had more to worry about than the icy temperature. The Combine were likely to guess, at any moment, that Theta's mission was a failure. Julian was on the look-out for any new threats, whether it be a simple squad of Combine Overwatch or a set of super-deadly assassins. Perhaps even a hunter synth or another cyborg. Julian thought back to the fight against Omicron. The technology the Combine had used had gone down without too much of a fight but if Julian knew one thing about the Combine it was that they always upgraded. Omicron might have been a simple proto-type and nothing more.
The other thing on his mind was the long journey home. From here, even if they found a vehicle, it would likely take weeks to get to City 12, back to his Father, and Shephard, and Allison. His duty to the human race, to the Resistance, had already brought him half way around the world, far from the comfort of friends and family. Friends - the idea was almost foreign to him. Most of his friends ended up dead. Giovanni, one of his closest friends throughout the years had met an end in the fight at Black Mesa. Aside from Giovanni the young assassin had only one true life-long friend. Adrian Shephard.
"He's a good soldier," a voice hissed smoothly.
Julian turned to see the G-Man standing - or was he hovering? - in the snow beside him.
"How is it that you know what I am thinking?" Julian asked, feeling that his mind had been violated. The G-Man, in response, merely lifted the Apple of Eden that he carried in his hand, "Is there anything that a Piece of Eden cannot do?"
"Their power is limited only as you perceive it to be," the G-Man explained, "If you seek it to be a tool to control the masses, than it is that. If you seek to use it to strike against an enemy, to lift her above the snow and incapacitate her, it can do that. If you use it to appear in any location at any time, it does that as well Mister Miles."
"So that's how you get from place to place," Julian realized with eyes wide, "Kind of takes the magic out of it. Like if Santa Claus drove a Mustang instead of a magic sleigh."
"Clever Mister Miles but we haven't the time for fun and games," the G-Man scolded though his voice remained monotone and rhythmic, "The Resistance is planning an assault on Golgotha. That is where your friend, Shephard, is being held."
"What can I do?" Julian asked, "I'm half way around the fucking-"
"You understand then, don't you?" the G-Man asked with a chuckle, "Merely WILL yourself, and any in your party who you wish to take with you and the Piece of Eden will respond. I warn you, Mister Miles, it will drain you so, be wary of what location you will yourself into."
"It doesn't seem to drain you, it-" Julian turned to see that the man was gone, "I change my mind, even if I know how he does it, its still fucking spooky."
Desmond tried to run but the horror in her expression, the agony behind her eyes, compelled him to stay. Even as she lifted the knife he didn't move away, he held her gaze hoping his eyes would burrow through her and find her deep within the swirling torrent of her madness. He slipped away from the first blow she attempted to land, calling out to her as she lifted the knife again. She was fast, almost too fast for the middle-aged assassin to avoid. Her spring loaded legs, altered by the Combine's sinister experiments, sped her toward him as he finally submitted to the urge to run.
He turned as the bullets began to fly, thinking himself a goner if she had found a gun. His horror was complete when he saw one of the bullets, fired from a guard's gun, burry itself into her leg. She collapsed to the ground, growling and gnashing her teeth. Desmond ran to her and called off the guards in the loudest voice his injured throat could muster. He was lucky that they hadn't been better marksman. Allison was lucky she had been moving as fast as she was. Desmond wrestled the knife from her hand as she growled and spat obscenities.
"Fucking Vietcong pigs! I'll gut every last one of you cunt-sucking ass-fucking godless sons of bitches!"
"What the hell is she talking about?" One of the guards asked once he had confirmed that Desmond was alright.
"They must have had her in the Animus for weeks at a time," Desmond said though the guard didn't seem to know what he was talking about, "Get a medic for her leg, the bullet only grazed her. She isn't to be punished for what she tried to do."
Desmond watched as they carted her away. He had to wonder what horrors her eyes had seen in those jungles and how young she had been when the Combine had strapped her down and sent her into a war zone all to further their diabolical plans somehow. His fists tightened. As bad an enemy as Abstergo and the Templars had been the Combine were about a billion times worse. He would make them pay.
Shephard squinted as light returned to his eyes. He thought for a moment that he recognized the figure in the doorway, that it was Desmond or Julian come to rescue him. The shimmer of light that passed over well shined boots and the resoundingly loud footsteps shook him from that illusion. It was no angel come to save him, just another Demon here in this Hell. The Combine soldier grabbed him by the hair and dragged him screaming from his cell. The once proud Colonel felt a tear trickle from his eye as the soldier pushed him into the test chamber.
"Gas him again," a Stalker beside the soldier said, "Then release him into the general population. We've learned all we can from this one, for now."
Shephard rammed the glass walls of the chamber as hard as his fatigued muscles could muster. It was no use though. Already the ventilation system was pumping in the gas, a chemical which forced him to tell the truth to any question they might have asked. All the resistance the military had built into him during his training and all the will-power he could summon up from within could do nothing against the gas. He spit in the direction of the Combine soldier running the test and watching the spit smear down the glass as the world around him blurred.
"Now," the Combine soldier's voice said over the inter-com, "We're going to have one last discussion about Desmond, the Resistance, and the Pieces of Eden."
"Are you sure we should take her with us?" Jara asked nodding her head toward the corridor where Theta was kept, "If this is going to sap your strength, and her legs will be unbound."
"We can keep her legs bound," Julian conceded, "She won't get loose."
"It just seems awfully risky," Jara argued, "Especially if we are teleporting directly into the middle of a Resistance stronghold."
"I can think of much more risky places to teleport with her," Julian rebutted, "Now are you coming with me or not?"
Jara blushed suddenly. She felt flustered. Julian was an enigma to her. He was so bold, so impulsive, his mind made up on every decision he made. Ever since he arrived he had been directing things more so than her Father or Leo and she had to admit him taking the initiative was as attractive a quality as it was a major source of her frustration. She nodded her head in agreement and started back toward her room to prepare her things.
Julian approached Theta noting immediately that the rope that bound her to the heavy stone had been broken. And yet the dark assassin had not run or attempted to kill him yet. She sat still, motionless, her pale eyes shut. Julian unsheathed the blade and warily came closer to the woman he considered his arch-nemesis, if he were to have one. She let out a deep breath and only then did Julian realize she was asleep.
"It is too bad you're evil," Julian joked softly as he examined the rope, "Because you're honestly kind of cute when you sleep."
"I'll end your life!"
Theta struck out with a sharp wedge of rock she had found and placed between her toes. Julian had expected the trap, of course, and he had the leg pinned against the wall and the Sword of Eden's razor edge against her throat in moments.
"I would draw no pleasure from killing you," Julian admitted, "Even if killing you truly meant the death of your mind as well."
Theta wondered if he knew her secret, if the assassin had guessed that she was on her last life as far as the Combine was concerned. Her hatred for the assassin, either way, was trumped by her desire not to face oblivion. She dropped the stone and let her leg fall. She allowed Julian to bind her legs once more with a rope.
"My shoulders ache," she complained.
"Perhaps you would prefer death?" Julian asked and Theta shrugged, the action clearly causing her pain.
"Life in a cell or death," Theta lamented, "Not a pleasant choice, though perhaps it is a choice I do not deserve to make."
"What do you mean?"
"Clearly I have done wrong by you," Theta explained, "You have every right to end my existence forever and you have the ability."
"Are you saying the Combine would not transfer you to another body?" Julian asked with a confused expression on his face.
"I do not know," the dark assassin admitted with a sigh, "I do not want to risk fining out. I won't attempt to harm you again."
"That would be a wise decision," Julian said standing her up and carrying her toward the main chamber. He met Jara and the others there.
"Leo and I have decided to stay behind," Hassan said, "the more people you take with you the weaker you will be upon arriving."
"That's the gist of what the government man told me," Julian agreed, "You won't stay in the Temple will you?"
"No," Leo explained, "We plan on leaving tonight soon after you do. We'll take the long road back to civilization. We will see you in City 12 before too long."
"Very well friend," Julian said with a smile, "Though I think we assassins would be better off sticking together."
"Take care of yourself," Hassan said, "And take care of my daughter."
"With all due respect," Julian said with a laugh, "I think she can take care of herself."
"Indeed," Hassan agreed, "She is as skilled an assassin as they come. Be careful and good luck."
Julian lifted the Sword of Eden into the air and stood between Jara and Theta. He closed his eyes attempting to attune himself to the Sword. Suddenly a golden glow enveloped the three of them and soon enough they vanished from sight.
"Allison, I want to talk," Michael begged banging on the door to Allison's allotted apartment.
"Go away! I don't want to hurt anyone!" She yelled from within.
"I'll break down this door young lady!" Michael yelled lowering his shoulder and running into the door to let her know he was serious.
The door opened a few moments later and she rushed into his arms. She was barely over five feet tall, her figure vanishing in his embrace. Tears streamed in gallons like water from a shattered dam down her lovely cheeks from her brilliant blue eyes. She turned back and gestured for him to come into her apartment before slumping down into an old chair. Allison averted her oceanic eyes away from his, a sudden flash of memory returning her to another ancestor, to another time, before once again flashing her back to the present.
"I feel so fucking broken," she cried, "I'll never be a whole person, not after what they did. I'm a hundred different people now, every ancestor they probed, every time they forced me to revisit. The heartache of hundreds within one mind. Do you know what that's fucking like!"
"No," Michael admitted fighting off tears at seeing her like this, "But I know that you don't have to face those demons alone."
"I almost killed Desmond today," she said, her tone suddenly calm, "I almost killed one of my only friends in the entire world."
"It wasn't your fault," Michael pleaded.
"I should just end my life now, before any more of the people I know get hurt," Allison said standing up and rummaging through a nearby drawer, "Where's a gun when you need one!"
"Allison."
"My name isn't Allison. That's the name you gave me. I'm subject twenty-seven Michael, that's all I ever was. Just a fucking science experiment living a fucking meaningless existence. I should have never imagined I could be more. I can never have a life, never have love. Sometimes you can't fix people, sometimes, just like a machine, they have to be sent to the scrap-yard."
"No one is sending you to the scrap-yard," Michael said trying to calm her down, "there are people who care about you."
"Name one besides you."
"Desmond."
"The guy I tried to murder, great," she laughed, "remind me again why he should give a shit whether I live or die."
"What about Julian?"
"Julian?" Allison scoffed, "That poor guy nearly got killed trying to save you so that I could have my best friend back. The poor guy is probably dead now."
"That's not true," Michael argued.
"How the hell do you know?" Allison yelled.
"Because I'm standing right here," Julian interrupted.
Allison turned her sad blue eyes toward him and felt shame sweep through her. She hated him seeing her like this. She limped her way toward him, her leg still sore from the graze of the bullet earlier. Julian leapt across the room to save her the trouble and wrapped her in a warm hug.
"I have something of yours," she said, "Something I saved from Clear Water."
She led him to a chest in her apartment. Julian bent to open it finding his assassin robes, sword and standard assassin armor safely tucked inside. He stood with a smile on his face as he took it out.
"I thought you'd be angry if I left it behind," she said wiping her eyes.
"I'm glad you kept it. Traveling using that Sword gave me one hell of a headache. Thank you, Allison," Julian said kissing her gently on the cheek, "We'll talk more soon but right now I need to rest. Just know that there are people who do care about you."
Julian left shortly after promising he would return to see her before too long. Allison felt strange after seeing him. She had been attracted to him ever since she found him hanging upside down in one of their traps. Now, however, he was something more than just a handsome face that dropped by from time to time. He was her friend and in his presence she didn't feel as broken inside. She collapsed into her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Perhaps living with her demons wouldn't be so bad, so long as he was around.