(Events take place around the time of the Firestorm crisis of Tiberian Sun, simultaneously with the events of Syndicate in the Assassins Creed timeline.
WW2 Eva: Red Alert 2's Lt. Eva.
Cabal and Kane are currently interchangeable.
Desmond: Desmond Files (f-list))
Desmond didn't like the sound of that, a lot could go wrong and he couldn't do much about it. Her mentioning an advanced AI was worrisome too. Was it the one he saw in Abstergo? It definitely wants Eva, thats for sure. If it was the other one then... was that inside of Emir? Getting it out might be good but so far he hadn't seen any hostility out of it that he could tell. It might explain why Emir's colors were off though, it wasn't nearly as bad as in the system. Right now it was just the level of could be dangerous when cornered and not the extremely dangerous stay away. How would that affect the bleeding affect? He knew Emir already had a small break in the motel from before.
"I still reserve the right to fuck out of here if I don't like it, and I currently don't. I'm not going to risk frying his brain anymore then it already has been."
Oxanna sighed again, this time in annoyance. This part of the bargain was always the nuisance ruining the fun - the reassurance and restatement of reality.
"Haven't you listened? This is the only way to free your friend's mind. We both stand to gain from this, and there's nothing to lose letting it go through. Besides..."
She pointed at a newspaper article she pulled up on the screen. "We're not Abstergo."
The article had "NO SURVIVORS FOUND" as a photo caption, depicting the blast site Desmond had left behind - it seemed Abstergo cleared the area from any and all evidence, possibly killing and even burning the bodies of Emir's distant comrades at the facility.
"You can't save everybody. But you could save him."
She bit her lip. She -really- needed to save Kane, and revive the Brotherhood of NOD before it's too late. GDI had an iron grip on Europe, and it was imperative that she do so before they noticed the Montauk emerging outside the USA.
"Do this, and there's a very good chance we could also work together past our current arrangement."
Desmond glowered at the newspaper: Abstergo... the Templars really were willing to do anything to keep their power. Blaming him for something they did despite him only crippling their building. Meaning they either blew up the building after he had cleared it... or sent everyone back in, then blew it up anyway. They didn't deserve that, those who had been sacrificed to save face for Abstergo.
"A losing war doesn't mean it's over yet. You would offer your organisatiton's support? Why? Just to get me to agree to this mind transfer? Seems a bit excessive."
Oxanna puffed out her chest, ready to exercise her expertise in propaganda, walking around Desmond and Emir.
"The Brotherhood," she purred, "is only interested in Peace, Desmond."
Again, she wasn't lying, but it wasn't the entire truth. It would DEFINITELY benefit NOD to have Desmond and Emir on their side, but she'd be very content with them just not getting in her way, either. For that, she'd need to do her best to convince him that NOD wasn't even worth the trouble fighting.
"We know very well what it means to be in a losing war. Fortunately for us, we aren't. Not anymore. Our leadership in the past may have been troubled and questionable at best, but if there's one thing we pride ourselves in, it's never losing sight of our target."
She turned to face Desmond.
"I'm sure you're familiar with that sentiment as well. You have a goal similar to ours, Desmond. You fight entire nation armies for it when you have to. I saw that myself today."
She walked closer to him.
"I have, too."
She leaned in to ask him the million dollar question. "What do you know about GDI?"
Desmond raised an eyebrow at Oxanna; she was definitely good at talking. It reminded him of other leaders in the past that he knew through the Others. Just because she said it, didn't mean it was true though. He would have to be wary in the future of any agreements that would be made. William was going to be so pissed off at him if he finds out about this.
"How do you achieve your peace? You have enough military power and tech to take over countries. Or more with the current state of things... GDI? I know them, we keep tabs on them. Why? I'm guessing you have a beef with them?"
Oxanna seemed confused - is that how he viewed NOD? All powerful and capable of all of that? She wondered if she could put that reputation to good use. It was very odd how he didn't notice their motorbikes and buggies were technically fit for guerrilla warfare and little more.
"You're thinking of GDI. They're the ones with Templar capabilities. A division of the globalist United Nations, they've stopped at nothing to persecute and hunt us down wherever we went. Their resources and funds are limitless. It was our wise leadership that managed to put a stop to their world government ambitions."
Good. She can see she's now capable of speaking Desmond's language a bit better. It definitely seemed like his enemies were very similar to hers.
"Our volunteer armies are comprised purely of the oppressed and hunted. We have never coerced anyone to join our great cause. We fight titans much larger than ourselves. And we only seek to help those targeted by GDI brutality."
She took a moment to think about what Desmond had just said. 'We'? Does that mean he's already told others with him about GDI?
"We're almost there." She noticed the GPS tracker changing colors, nearing Sarajevo.
"To where it all began."
Desmond looked at the GPS map, making a note of were they were. They were a long way from where they had started. That was going to be a challenge. He still wasn't sure about letting Oxanna do something to Emir's head.
"So why is GDI after you? Helping people usually isn't a reason to be targeted. Unless you've been kicking hornets nests... this place looks beaten up."
The screen was now showing a facility that looked like it had been bombed, but from the looks of it there was lots of scaffolding and the rebuilding was going pretty well.
Oxanna looked at the GPS, then back at Desmond. "You could say that," she said. "The Brotherhood had made it its goal to educate the masses about the wonders and benefits of Tiberium evolution." On the screen, she pulled up a 3d render of the green crystal, split at a molecular level into known and unknown compounds. "GDI of course had a problem with that. They wanted to control the world's Supply of Tiberium for themselves. This was to maintain the global pecking order the United Nations had established after the second world war."
Oxanna continued. "Kane had rallied enough third world support to defy that. While we use and consume tiberium for our efforts, we don't hoard it from those who need its composite resources." She switched off the 3d render. "...unlike GDI."
Desmond looked at the screen and the information, he wasn't a chemist or anything, but it looked dangerous. There wasn't allot of media information about the Tiberium but the assassins were trying to get some info. Since the stuff was from space allot of people were posting their own theories but their main interest for templars and assassins was the possible link to the ISU since their power sources were unknown and they might as well find out if there was a link. So far they hadn't made a break through but there was some info about those living in the areas affected.
"Isn't this stuff making people sick in the landing zones? There was some media coverage before it was taken down with people having green gems growing out of their skin. How are you guys using it for 'evolution'?"
Oxanna interrupted. "Only when exposed directly to it. Unlike GDI, we aren't the uneducated brutes oppressing people with direct contact to GDI. The green crystal does not kill indiscriminately - our science ministers had been working on ways to identify which strains of human DNA can withstand tiberium evolution in order to protect most people from exposure, while continuing research into the crystal."
She paused, looking at the GPS, before getting up to walk. "We're here. Let's go."
Desmond was curious, certain DNA was resistant? That sounded iffy to him but also could be very pointed towards certain descendants. Which meant that this bore some looking into. He wasn't going to trust anything till he could verify some of it. He turned to Emir to see if the other was ok with this before the two started to slowly follow her out of the Montauk. He took a good look around, The crew working on the building all had some kind of uniform or color. There was a good bit of equipment around and it was going well. the building was a bit ominous and it made Desmond a bit edgy, everyone had a slight haze of red but it was dull and mixed with other colors. These people weren't bad, but they were nervous at the newcomers.
Oxanna instructed Desmond and Emir through the labyrinth. "Follow me," she said, leading the way to the inner elevators
She drove the code-operated lift into the abyss beneath the temple, where most of the infrastructure was intact. "How did you end up this way, Desmond?" Oxanna tried to pass the time as the engines hummed for a while, descending deep underground. "...Invincible," she specified with intrigue.
Desmond could feel the computers under them as they went into the belly of the building. This part down here didn't quite match up with what was above, there was more tech, more advanced stuff that was similar to the Montauk. This was more like a home base and Desmond wasn't sure why Oxanna was even letting them walk in here alive let alone freely able to move around for the most part. He glanced at her from under his hood, "I'm still trying to figure that out myself but it hurt allot."
Sure it hurt, being fried by the temple had killed him and suddenly he woke up in the computer. He assumed Minerva had done something to keep him alive. Maybe one last bid to get rid of Juno? It was kinda a moot point since Juno was hiding and there were several assassins already on the case. At best he could just train and get stronger... or maybe Minerva felt bad for what happened to him? Hell if he knew, the women hasn't shown up in a while and he wasn't sure if he could find her again.
Oxanna wondered out loud. "So you aren't sure yourself? That's odd. My dead men could probably tell a different tale with that... orb I saw inside you you used on them back in the US." She knew this wasn't her target, however. Not yet, anyway. "We're nearing the Inner Sanctum. Down here is where we housed... the shells." She couldn't really call them corpses. They never experienced life to begin with, after all.
Desmond glared at her, So her people at been in Abstergo when he took out Vidic? How long had they been working with the templars? He couldn't go after them now, not without info and defiantly not while in their strong hold. It was making him antsy and Altair had to smooth him out a bit. He couldn't show weakness while in the belly of the beast lest they use it to their advantage, he had a rare gift right now and he should use the opportunity to gather as much information as possible on this potential threat to the brotherhood.
"If dead men could tell tales that would be interesting, I have lots of questions for the dead. Orb? What orb? If your talking about a grenade, then you need to get your men some health insurance."
As the elevator went down and stopped they could now see pods with... bodies in them, they were hazy and he couldn't quite make out features but he could tell it was a guy and that his build was different from the people he saw outside? NOD was cloning people? Maybe these were some 'volunteers' that Oxanna was talking about. If they were making soldiers then that defiantly didn't fit the gurrilla warfare that Oxanna mentioned earlier.
Oxanna chuckled.
"Oh Desmond," she giggled, "You're so, SO easy to read. You're a book wide open."
Oxanna operated mainly off the insecurities of those around her. If it wasn't someone entirely on her side, like Kane or Anton, she would make sure they were on edge at all times while she's around - it's how she exposed their vulnerabilities for use. Most of the time, her shots in the dark and random guesses would most likely hit their intended targets.
"Bring Emir with you." She led the way to the ominous room.
"Don't be alarmed," she assured Desmond, "these bodies were artificially created from scratch. No life has ever entered them before. Not yet, anyway."
Down the hallway of corpses floating in what seemed to be formaldehyde preserver, they reached a pod in the center, surrounded by multiple black seats with the NOD emblem etched on all their sides. The dark seats held helmets were the headrests would be - presumably for this type of transfer.
"Sit," she pointed to the chairs.
Desmond was trying to remain calm through all this but he was nervous. He didn't like the situation and at all. Soon as this was over he was getting them both out of there. Desmond looked at Emir, if the man wanted to back out they could still make a run for it. He approached the chairs and ran a hand over the helmets, partial curiosity as to how they worked while Emir walked up to the chairs. From what he could gather the helmet was supposed to lock onto a specific brainwave or something, then draw it out and transfer it to one of the clones sleeping here. It was strange to think about but an interesting idea. Would this have worked for him and Clay if the other had tried to ride in his head with him?
Oxanna broke her serious tone with another giggle.
"What's the matter? Having second thoughts? Or getting greedy with our tech?"
She bit her lip. "Oh, the stories you could tell. I'd love to get into that head of yours... but I must restrain myself."
Oxanna sat on one of the seats herself. All three were now equidistant from each other. She typed a few commands into the circular dashboard centering their dark round table.
"Look familiar?" She asked Desmond, as the center pod illuminated the body in it, whirring closer towards them, seemingly ready to do something with it.
It was a perfect replica of NOD's revered leader, Kane.
Desmond did his best not to react to the body in the tank, but yes he did recognize the face. It was exactly the same as the man he had met in the Abstergo servers, minus the robotic eye. The copy cat virus. It was strange to think about but... had that guy gotten into the animus then into Emir? It didn't make allot of sense but he supposed it was possible. It would make sense since Emir mentioned Eva earlier... but then he would have to ask himself, how much of the person he met was Emir and how much of it was the guy from Abstergo? It was worrisome. He also may had bitten off more then he could chew with this, it was obviously bigger then he expected and he didn't think he could be helping to bring someone back from the dead like this.
"Its interesting tech, I wouldn't recommend it. My brain is a mess."
Oxanna wondered out loud. "Why do you say that? Personal experience?"
She then instructed Emir to put on the headpiece.
"There's no need to worry about how this equipment works. This is NOD proprietary - no GDI scum were involved. And that's what matters."
Oxanna made that remark with emphasis on her hatred for the globalist organization.
"Once this is over, you'll be free to go. Both of you."
Desmond kept an eye on the machinery, feeling the way it works whenever he touches a console or anything connected. He wanted to know how this works and if he felt anything funny going on to Emir or if it was hurting him then he would try and stop the process. Hopefully not hurting the man in the process. But feeling the machine come to life and watching it scan Emir's brain was interesting, it was reading the other as multiple people. Which made sense from the animus, anyone who had been viewed left a mark. Some more then others depending how closely they were able to sync. So far Yusef had been the only ancestor mentioned and his bleeding episode had confirmed as much, it seemed the templars were only interested in him. Which could be a good thing since it would lead to less confusion with multiple times and places but unfortunately a stronger connection to a specific time and place.
"Does GDI have anything like this?"
Oxanna looked with intrigue at Desmond.
"Not that I know of. But knowing the bastards, they've probably experimented with far worse, for far more nefarious schemes. I mean... look at what we're doing for you. Not exactly the evil organization you thought us to be, are we?"
She couldn't help but find more and more interest in Desmond brewing in her. This... entity wasn't entirely here. This type of existence would be very advantageous for the Brotherhood to have - at least, much better than what Kane has right now.
Emir's seat hummed with the sound of the engine beneath it operating on him - his hands began to shiver on the chair rests. "Calm down," Oxanna assured again. It seemed like she aimed that remark at the both of them, not just Emir alone.
Gradually, the Kane husk began to show slight movement. The chest began to breathe, as the lungs and heart were the first to start up. The formaldehyde had already begun draining from the vessel housing his new body, so he had air ready to consume as soon as the device enabled him to do so. The cabling attached to his naked body began to detach, one piece by one, before his eyes finally opened.
As soon as he could see, Kane punched through the glass containing him, fluids draining out from the vessel after his breaking through and stepping out into the new air.
Oxanna got up to greet her savior once more. As prepared as she was, she still felt the moment was absolutely too surreal to handle. But Kane ignored her to walk over to Desmond, who was distracted by the knocked out Emir, not responding to his calls.
"Brother," he whispered to him, grabbing him by the shoulders to turn him towards him. Kane stared deeply into Desmond's eyes, feeling their breath mix as he absorbed his face - his soul - for a long while.
((You can't kill the Messiah! Kane is back - what will his first order of action be, aside from constantly hugging and squeezing Desmond so much?
Find out next chapter!))