I own nothing. Least of all this.
1:11
I now had three extremely dead corpses on my hands, and no good way to get rid of them. I could just toss them out the window, and hope no one one the ground was close enough to hear the *thump* when they landed, but that plan was far too risky for my liking. I could just leave them here, and hope it was a good while before anyone came looking for them, but that plan was even riskier. There was only one halfway decent option: frame poor Thinker.
Soldier's body was already in the right position, so all I had to do was move Leader's. I picked her up off the floor (not a good idea to leave a drag-trail of blood), and carried her in my arms over to Thinker's chair. I needed it to look as if Thinker had emptied his magazine into her, but didn't kill her fast enough to avoid having his neck snapped. I draped her corpse over Thinker's, and then placed his hands up around her shoulders, as if he had tried to fight her off after she closed the distance. His handgun, I placed on the floor where it might conceivably have dropped from his hand. There, that should hopefully hold up to at least some scrutiny.
I relieved Soldier of his knife and handgun (like he was going to use them), as well as any spare magazines he had. This was a job that required efficient killing, and while snapping necks may be quiet, it was most definitely not ideal for groups. I was sorely tempted to take Soldier's vest and rifle, but I was pretty sure their absence would be noted a lot faster than what I had already taken.
I was as prepared as I could be for my descent, but there was still a good deal I had left to do before I could start heading downwards. There was absolutely no way I was leaving any part of Abstergo or the Templars standing after I left this universe. Not after what I had learned. And I was sure that was just the tip of their ego and depravity. I reactivated my visor, then turned back to the computers. Time to see if I was as good with bringing electronics back to life as I was killing them.
It took about four minutes per computer or sixteen in total (not bad, if I do say so) before I was satisfied with my work. All I had to do was hook their activation signal up to my visor, and I should be good to go whenever the opportune moment appeared. I set the signal, and immediately my visor lit up with a little circle showing the progress of my little bit of 't be long before the circle filled up, and then Abstergo would be living on borrowed time. That was that taken care of. Right then, downwards we go. Allons-y!
I took my time with each floor. I wanted to be absolutely sure that there were no enemies at my back that would become enemies at my front when I had to make my escape. Or, rather, we did. Because I was for sure taking Rose Tyler with me, no matter what. She deserved better than what the Doctor had done to her, not to mention what was currently being done to her. Whatever she wanted, I was going to do my very best to make sure she got it.
It seemed standard procedure for Abstergo was to have one team per floor,composed of two Thinkers and one Soldier. To paraphrase Charles Bronson, "I saw three vests like that per floor. Inside the vests were three men. And inside the men were three bullets." I have always said that modern military protection gear does an absolutely terrible job of protecting the neck area. I was now extremely grateful for that continued oversight. Made things much easier. They obviously weren't expecting to be attacked in their own safe haven. Either that, or they believed that any intruders would focus on making their way to the below-ground levels, and leave them be. How unfortunate. For them, that is.
It was only when I got to the ground floor that I was forced to do a little sneaking. It was here that my new knife came in handy (hah!). It took me about fifteen minutes to determine which of the peons running around was most likely to have the clearance I needed to get "below decks", so to speak. And from there, it took another half-an hour for him to finally walk somewhere with no witnesses and a handy disposal chute. I would have continued on my merry way after relieving him of his identification (my visor could replicate his retinal scan with no trouble), but I had seen the man that seemed to be the one in charge of security here. Absolutely terrible at his job, yes. Easily dispatch-able, less so. "An absolute mountain" is all I can think to describe him as. And I absolutely could not have a mountain between me and my exit when I needed to reach it later with all possible haste. Thank goodness he had the sort of personality that made people wish to avoid him when they could. It only took another ten minutes before he was in a similar position to his recently deceased comrade.
It did, however, end up costing me another fifteen to make sure he was properly dead. Dude sat back up three times after I thought I had finally stabbed him somewhere vital. It wasn't until the fourth time, when I stabbed him through the brain stem that I realized he had been granted some regeneration energy as well, albeit it a lot less than the corpse upstairs. I can safely say that was the nastiest kiss I ever had, dude or no dude. On the plus side, I did manage to find out more about some nasty security measures downstairs that may have put a dent in my day. You know, laser turrets, sonic paralyzers, the standard stuff. Then again, considering the way I disposed of him, I don't think I'll ever be able to look at bangers and mash in the same way again. But, I was able to harvest a bit more spare energy, for either myself or Rose should something unexpected happen. All in all, I'd say it was a net neutral experience.
Where were we? Oh yes, sneaking.
I had finally reached the entrance to the underground. You'd think it would be tucked in some little, out of the way corner, but no, the Templars have never been one for subtle. A giant wood carving decorated an entire wall, with an absolutely gigantic tree covering the majority of that. Seriously, it was eerie how much it resembled the one from the first Captain America movie. There were, however, two main differences: in the middle of the tree were carved two (supposedly) fake doors. And above them, a Serpent. The Serpent, actually. And in its mouth, the Apple.
I reached up, and pressed it.
I whispered, my mask changing my voice to that of the late head peon.
"May Patrem Intellectus Duce Nobis." The Oath of the Templars.
The doors swung open.
Behind them stood an elevator.
I stepped in, and pressed the first button.
I smiled. "And way down we go."
The doors closed.
And down I went.
