Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Wish
If felt like an ordinary morning, much the same as the other mornings.
Everyone was off at their work stations, and Desmond was in the Animus. With how excited everyone was acting the past couple of hours, Connie could tell that they were close to getting the information they were looking for in the memories.
She knew that Desmond learning the ways of Ezio was not the only purpose, they had told her so before when they filled her in on some aspects. She was grateful to not be left in the dark, but a lot of the stuff they were saying was crazy.
Shaun had given her some documents, and when she was reading over some of the details, she couldn't believe it. So many historical figures were involved in the relic wars. And she honestly couldn't believe half of what she read.
With everything she had gone through in the past months though, there was no way for her not to believe some of it though.
Connie was sitting on a stool at the kitchens counter island, eating a bowl of cereal. She was looking down at the multi coloured fruit loops lost in thought.
She could safely say she had started to get along with the others really well now. She didn't feel like she was walking on egg shells, and she didn't feel like she was a total outsider now. It felt good to be part of something, even if that something was a hidden war the world didn't know about.
Go figure.
There was a lot Connie had to be brought up to speed with. And on top of being part of this war now whether she liked it or not, she was also kind of on the losing side.
But of course.
Everyone here was really confident that they would eventually get the upper hand though. And while that was really reassuring, a lot of their confidence was built on what ifs.
At this current stage, it was essentially a race to find the relics between the two sides. Abstergo was winning at the moment, but the assassins were confident they could close that gap. The reason? They had Desmond, and his ancestors held the key to the locations of many of these relics. That's why Abstergo wanted Desmond back so bad.
At least she wasn't alone on their wanted list.
And as if the timing couldn't be any better, alarms suddenly started blaring.
Shocked for a moment, she watched as everyone suddenly stood up before they started shouting to one another.
Connie dropped her spoon in her milk as she realized what was happening.
"Are they here?!" she suddenly shouted, eyes panicked as she stood in her spot frozen. Did she jinx them? How could they find them so fast?
"Pack only what you need Shaun, Rebecca get Desmond up now!" Lucy shouted before she turned to Connie.
"It was only a matter of time!" shouted Lucy to Connie.
Frantic for a moment after those words, Connie felt her necklace heat against her skin, before she heard her necklace tell her to calm down. Connie took a deep breath, following its words of advice. Suddenly making up her mind she ran. She immediately got to her gun case before pulling everything out and equipping herself.
She couldn't sit idle, she had to do something. She didn't have any plans in place, but this would just have to be one of those situations where you wing it.
She pulled the rifle onto her back before strapping the Glock to her side and grabbing all the ammo she could carry. It had been neatly packed into a bag that she quickly threw on as well.
Getting out of her room, she ran to the office entrance, just before the hall with the elevators.
The alarms were ringing, and when she looked back towards the office with everyone in it, they were still scrabbling to pack all that they could. They were still trying to get Desmond to wake up as well.
Looking back to the hall, she prepared herself to watch for anyone approaching. She pulled her rifle forward, before bringing the stock to her shoulder. She covered half her body behind the doorframe, sitting in wait.
She could hear Desmond wake then.
"What. The. Fuck."
Those were the only words Desmond spoke as suddenly his vision to the present world became clear. He had just experienced the weirdest experience in the Animus. In the vault, Minerva –one of the ones who came before- had talked to him directly through Ezio.
He could hear the others scrambling around him, his vision still blurry.
"…there's only about a few minutes before they get here…"
"…need all of my equipment…."
"…ready to go before they do…"
Though they were just snippets of the conversation, Desmond began to try and focus on his surroundings. He could tell something big was happening. Then he started to hear the alarms.
"Desmond!" shouted Lucy suddenly, grabbing his attention as he rubbed his eyes while responding that he was up.
"Alright, Shaun and Rebecca I need you guys to get everything here packed up and loaded into the truck." Said Lucy quickly, before she turned back to Desmond who was standing now.
"You, Connie, and I'll deal with the Templars." Stated Lucy before she went to grab something.
"What, they're here?" he asked surprised. That was way too fast he thought.
"It was only a matter of time before they discovered us. To be honest, I'm surprised it took them as long as it did." Said Shaun, carrying a few boxes as he did. He was helping Rebecca as fast as he could
"Let's hurry," said Lucy before she threw Desmond a bracer. He recognized it easily as a hidden blade he had learned to use quite well. Slipping it on quickly, he followed right after Lucy as she headed for the exit.
Eyes suddenly draw to the double door exit, he noticed Connie was focused with her rifle at the ready, eyes looking through her scope.
"I think they already got in from the shutters," spoke Connie as Desmond and Lucy came to her side.
Lucy nodded before walking forward and speaking her instructions.
"Connie. Desmond and I will deal with them on the ground, you stay up on the upper level for support."
"Sounds good to me, I'll cover you guys." Called Connie, relaxing her stance and holding her rifle upward as she followed behind the two.
"So what's the plan? We ditch this place and then what?" asked Desmond as they proceeded down the hall in a half jog.
"There's another safe house. Its-" suddenly Lucy was cut off as the lights went out and only the emergency red lights came on. There was another crash like the one Connie had heard earlier when she thought they had gotten in.
"That didn't sound good." Said Desmond, eyes narrowed in the direction of the warehouse, red lights flashing around them.
"We just gotta make it to the truck," stated Lucy, stopping as they reached the metal ramps that would lead to the ground level.
"Everyone focus, I don't think Abstergo is going to hold back." She finished before she motioned for Connie to stay at the top level of the ramps. Connie nodded in understanding before finding a safe spot and crouching. Following them with her scope, she quickly used the metal rail in front of her as a rifle stand to keep steady. She had to stay focused, and pay attention.
She watched as Desmond and Lucy raced down the ramps to the bottom. Just as they reached the bottom floor they suddenly came face to face with men.
Connie tried to focus on who was there, but she could only make out one person. Vidic.
She could also clearly hear them form where she was, their voices echoing in the vast room.
"Mister Miles! This is an unexpectedly pleasant turn of events! And here I thought I'd have to waste more men on you! Kind of you to save me the trouble." The smugness in Vidic's voice made Connie want to kill him there, but she'd hold until the fighting actually began. She'd get him herself, especially after all he'd done to Altair…
"What do you want Vidic?" asked Desmond, clearly Desmond had had enough as well.
"For you to come home! We miss both you and Ms. Winters quite terribly. There's still so much for us to do together!"
As Vidic was talking, Connie noted that he was taking steps back as he spoke, almost to make a bigger distance between him, Desmond and Lucy. Before she could fire, he was behind a stack of crates. He either had crazy luck, or crazy intuition.
The men that were with him had not moved, and they held a formation of 10 people. They looked just like the security at Abstergo, and with a quick scope of their weapons, she realized none of them had guns. They just had batons.
They needed them alive after all.
Connie focused her aim on the men who were visible to her as the talking continued down below.
"It's not happening Warren." Spoke Lucy, voice hard as she narrowed her eyes at him.
"You continue to disappoint in every conceivable way, Ms. Stillman. I saved your life once. Do you remember? And this is how you repay me?" said Vidic, tone rather angry at the end. Seemed he couldn't contain his emotions anymore.
"You saved me so you could keep experimenting on people, destroying their lives, and for what?" countered Lucy.
"Oh, this tired argument again? As I recall, you were there – at my side- every step of the way…" Vidic paused for a moment before continuing.
"Their blood is on your hands just as much as mine!" he finished voice demonstrating that he had enough.
"We need to stop him." Said Lucy as she suddenly dashed forward and kicked a guy in front of her, kicking his knee in before he fell to the floor.
Desmond's eyes widened at her sudden attack, but with an "I got this," he went on the attack himself.
A man had quickly tried to throw a punch towards Desmond, but he quickly dodged and countered. He brought his hidden blade to the man's throat, slicing in easily before pushing him off to the floor.
He quickly noticed that Vidic had run away, which wasn't a surprise to Desmond. Vidic wasn't much of a fighter, he was sure.
Suddenly shots rang from above, and a man to the side of Desmond fell in a heap. Connie had shot him in the head and he had fallen to the floor in a flash.
He thought he might be shocked for a moment, but instead his body just moved forward taking on the next man that stepped in front of him. He knew he shouldn't be surprised anymore, especially with the amount of men he –no—Ezio had killed in his memories. It was natural to him now, and it unnerved him.
He just didn't feel anything about the matter anymore he realized. Everything was a mess, and he could only move forward.
Connie was above, waiting for the right moments to snipe to provide cover and help out her team. Everything was going a little too smoothly, and she was worried.
She couldn't think about it for long though, she had to stay focused. Both Desmond and Lucy were doing well holing their own, so Connie was focused on taking out anyone who tried any underhanded methods.
When she noticed someone pull out a stun gun, she quickly aimed for him and took him out.
At some point her view was useless and she had to move. Desmond and Lucy had finished off the last of the 10 men she counted earlier and were moving forward. She had to get a view of the rest of the warehouse they were moving through.
Moving along the rafters, she quickly saw that the two below had engaged with another group of men. They were equipped just as the last men were, so Connie was relieved. Getting into position, she started to pick some off again, taking her time to aim and take them out in one shot. She didn't want to waste any ammo.
They must be scrabbling to deal with Desmond and Lucy, but they also had to deal with someone sniping them. She tried to think what they might try to do to deal with her, but she couldn't lose focus. She could only try to listen to anything going on, or if anyone were to approach her.
She couldn't believe Abstergo had sent so many people after them. They had at least taken down 20 men at this point, and that was just baffling. This many people were expendable to Abstergo? The Templars had brainwashed this many people? The thought was just nuts.
It was at that point that Connie noticed the truck that had been backed up to smash through the warehouse. She could barely make Vidic out, but she knew it had to be him, standing inside the truck with a couple men in front of him. It seemed he was talking through a radio as he observed the battle.
She couldn't snipe him from where she was, so Connie decided to head down herself. There were but a few men left, and Connie knew Desmond and Lucy could handle them. They didn't even seem out of breath yet.
Descending down the ramp herself to the ground level, she noticed that Shaun and Rebecca were loading a truck not too far off. It looked like they were almost done too.
Moving forward and on ground level, she approached where Desmond and Lucy were, rifle resting on her shoulder should she need to quickly make aim.
When they came into view, she steadily walked up behind them, Lucy nodding to Connie that she noticed her. Nodding back, Connie went to crouch behind a container, aim focused on the truck. Desmond was walking over to the front where Vidic was standing, before he began speaking.
"Uh-oh Doc. Looks like it's just you and me now." He spoke smugly, crossing his arms as he shook his head at Vidic.
"Enjoy your victory Mister Miles … Temporary as it is." As Vidic spoke, he noticed Connie behind the crate then.
Perfect, he thought. Everyone was present now.
Lifting the radio to his lips, he only spoke one word.
"Now," he commanded, and suddenly the windows by the truck in the warehouse shattered and men swooped in.
Everyone was stunned at the sudden noise, eyes drawn to the source.
Connie took a shot at Vidic then, but one of the men who were guarding him went down instead. She gritted her teeth as she began to reload, hands moving on their own as her eyes were drawn to the barrage of men that came through the windows.
There were seven of them, all in tactical gear with guns at the ready. They had swung in on what she could only assume were ropes from the roof and had expertly landed before they all trained their guns on the assassins.
Connie could only gulp. This didn't bode well for them.
Within a flash, they fired shots towards Desmond and Lucy. They were naive to think they wouldn't use guns, even if they wanted them alive.
Their aim was too good, Lucy and Desmond went down in a quick fashion. Connie realized then that they had been too silent to be actual gun shots. Vidic probably tranquilized them.
"Connie, run!" shouted Lucy as she fell to the floor, they couldn't move, but she was still conscious beside Desmond.
Connie gulped, she ignored Lucy and Desmond's pleas to run. They couldn't get her where she was. But it was only a matter of time… she had to get rid of some of them. Vidic had taken cover after her first shot, so she couldn't get him anymore. She could only aim at the others.
Rifle reloaded, she took aim. Luckily there wasn't anywhere for them to take cover. And she took quick shots at them. She only had four shots per clip, so she made sure each of them landed.
Only two were successful.
She got one in the leg, and one of them she got through the neck. Only one down, she thought to herself. She kept her gun aimed at them though, they wouldn't know how many shots she actually had, so they had taken cover really quickly in caution.
Using this time, Connie quickly reloaded.
"You really are formidable Connie, I'll give you that." Called Vidic from his safe location. She only narrowed her eyes, keeping her focus on reloading her rifle clip.
She noted someone taking aim at her then, and she quickly pulled herself behind the crates, taking cover. It was just at the right moment, as she heard shots before seeing the tranquilizer dart fall between her legs after ricocheting.
She gulped again. This wasn't looking good, they had her pinned now.
"Why don't you just give up," said Vidic, voice breaking the standstill. She could hear him speak into his radio again. And she could barely make out the words, something along the line of 'we got them'.
Suddenly she felt her necklace begin to heat up.
Connie! You need to leave! They're coming! Shouted the necklace, Connie only narrowed her eyes.
'I know' she thought in answer. 'But I'm kinda pinned down right now'
No! Not them, it's much worse!
'What?' she thought confused.
The ones you're Mother and I were protecting you from the past. They're here too! I can feel them coming! The future isn't safe either! We need to go!
Connie was just trying to process the information, but she couldn't say anything as it continued.
Let's go to the past! Wish to go to the past! I won't stop you this time! Just wish to see Altair, you can do it, that wish is strong enough! It was already hard to stop that wish, just let loose!
She could hear footsteps coming her way at that point, and her heart began to race as she realized her situation. She was frozen to her spot.
There was no way out, and with the news that some impending doom was on the way, much worse than what was already happening. She couldn't stop the panic that was setting in. her body was trembling, hands shaking, just like that time she had gone to Altair's time and was hiding in the alleys.
Connie! Shouted the necklace from within her mind.
'I want to see Altair, I want to see Altair! I WANT TO SEE ALTAIR!' her thoughts were going crazy as her body trembled in fear. She was so scared at that moment, be it her own fear, or the necklaces influence; but she couldn't stop shaking. She just wanted to see Altair...
Suddenly a gold light engulfed her, before suddenly it spread to the whole area around them.
To say everyone was shocked would be an understatement.
Confused, most of the men took cover from the unknown. It was then that the light became blinding and a high pitched white noise hit the air. Everyone in the vicinity began to groan at the sound, but Connie was unaffected.
Just as suddenly as the light came, it vanished.
And so did everyone in the room.
88888888888
"We got them," came Vidic's voice in the radio.
Gavin smirked at the good news. He knew Vidic wouldn't fail a second time, and he quickly told the team he was with to move out.
He was in a military jeep as they drove towards the warehouse's location. Gavin had stayed behind with a small team, as insurance. It wasn't that he doubted Warren, he just never trusted anyone but himself.
As he got to the warehouse, he immediately felt something was wrong.
Telling the driver to stop, he called for Vidic through the radio. When he received no response, his eyes narrowed before he sent two of his men to check it out.
Within moments, he received the news that the warehouse was empty.
As the news came, he couldn't hold his anger and let loose on the door beside him. His arm had smashed the window out, and though small cuts had begun to bleed, he completely ignored it in anger.
After a moment he regained his composure before opening his door and exiting. He flicked his wrist to get off any blood that was dripping.
He pulled his sleek black handgun out of his suit, before walking in himself. His men had moved the truck Vidic had crashed into the gate, so he easily walked in through the broken gate. He was met with utter silence as he walked in, he men walking with him.
There was blood all over the floor, and dead bodies scattered around, but there was no sign of who he was looking for. Did Vidic realize the real significance of this capture?
Did he get betrayed?
No impossible, Vidic shared the same views as him. There was no way he would go off on his own. He didn't have much power on his own either.
Turning to the men beside him, he quickly instructed them to investigate.
He had an inkling as to what may have happened, but an investigation would help nonetheless.
If they had gone to the past, there was nothing he could do at the moment.
He could only wait for his next chance.
AN: SO, any questions?
Write me if you liked the chapter! Comments are adored and much appreciated!
