Disclaimer: I do not own Assassin's Creed or Carrie.
This was a project that I started while we were in lockdown and was considering in making it a full series but I didn't in the end. But after going through my files I found it and decided to put the finishing touches on it.
This brings the worlds of Assassin's Creed and Carrie together, since it is more favourable to a crossover I have used the 2013 movie although it now happens in 2012.
Warning – This contains scenes that some people may find upsetting. School Massacre.
X
Awakening
Chamberlain, USA – June 2012…
Carrie White was a damaged girl right from the start.
Her father had never been in her life, her mother was a religious madwoman that enjoyed nothing more than to hurt her daughter as punishment for whatever sin she could make up and everyone either didn't notice or chose to ignore it despite the many bruises and other injuries she had from time to time not to mention the bad clothes she wore or how withdrawn and scared she was all the time.
In fact in school which could have been a refuge for her meant only more abuse as bullies circled around her like predators around a wounded animal, none of the teachers lifted a finger to help the downtrodden girl and even those that could have been her friends the other outcasts looked down at her, feeling better about themselves for having someone worst off than them that they could mock for a change.
She was a girl without hope, there was no joy in her life which only promised to get worst as she grew. Like today when she started bleeding in the shower's at school, the only place she could wash properly with soap as her mama thought it was sinful.
Her panicked attempts to get help only had girls throwing things at her while they laughed and screamed at her fear, but just as they were at their height something else happened that made the situation for Carrie even worse. Pain stabbed at her eyes, her hands going to cover them as everything around her became even more confusing.
All the girls that were laughing and screaming were glowing a violent red and the rest of the area took on a greyish white hue. She was more terrified than she had been in her entire life, just when she thought things couldn't get any worst now she was going blind. Carrie was scared at how much worst things were going to get if she was losing her sight and was stuck at home with mama all the time.
But like the god her mother insisted she pray to even when she was not entirely sure she believed in had answered her prayers, a voice cut through the screams and she felt a warm pair of arms encircle her as the screams stopped.
"Carrie...Carrie sweetheart its okay." The gym teacher Ms Desjardin said as she stroked her hair, the caring and reassuring tone of voice was confusing to a girl that had known nearly no kindness at all in her young life. Carrie was still too scared however to take comfort from this however much she wanted too.
"There's something wrong with my eyes!" She said rocking, the bleeding forgotten for the moment. "EVERYONE LOOKS RED!" She screamed and Ms Desjardin looked stunned for a moment before asking her gently.
"Carrie, look at me what colour am I?"
Carrie was too scared for a moment to open her eyes, afraid her vision would be gone for good but gingerly she removed her hands from over her eyes and looked at her gym teacher, gasping in surprise when she seemed to be glowing with a blue hue instead of red.
"Blue." Carrie said and Ms Desjardin looked at her with an uneasy smile and gently stroked her hair before saying.
"Now Carrie, I want you to concentrate on my voice and trust me. You are okay, you are safe here and I am going to help you. Breathe in and then out." Ms Dejardin told her and Carrie decided in her desperation just for once to trust someone, the only person who had been kind to her in as long as she could remember. She did as Ms Desjardin told her, slowing her breathing and her panic slowly began to fade as she did as she was told. Slowly her vision returned to normal and her heart no longer was thumping in her chest, Ms Desjardin smiled at her and got her a towel to wrap around her still naked body.
"Now." Ms Dejardin said looking slightly awkward but kept smiling. "Carrie, when a girl reaches a certain age..."
- x -
In possibly the most embarrassing moment of both their lives, Ms Desjardin had given Carrie 'the Talk' explaining about periods, babies and everything else that Carrie should have been told a long time ago. A meeting with with the Principal was due but Carrie looked to her and asked with wide scared eyes.
"What if it happens again? The thing with my eyes?" Carrie asked terrified, not sure if it happened again that she could calm down and get back to normal without her gym teacher's help although how she had known what to do was a question she wanted to ask but did not want to risk alienating the one person that had helped her and shown her kindness. Fear starting surging inside her again and Ms Desjardin smiled before asking her.
"Do have something that is precious to you? Something you can carry around with you?" Carrie nodded, thinking of the one thing she had of her father which she hid in the closet where her mother locked her up to pray. Ms Desjardin told her. "Carry it around with you and if it happens again hold it, think of it and what it means to you until you calm down and do the breathing exercise I showed you. We'll talk again tomorrow okay?"
Carrie managed a small smile as Ms Desjardin put a comforting arm around her shoulder.
She did not notice however the strange look Ms Desjardin gave her as she left with her mother half an hour later.
- x -
The good feelings left by Ms Desjardin's kindness lingered and gave a little solace to Carrie as she was locked up in the closet again to pray for yet another imagined sin.
As much as she loved her mama, a part of Carrie hated her more and more everyday...most of her problems came from mama and it had been getting worst as she got older, Carrie shuddered as she thought about what her mother could come up with next. A surge of fear as ideas came unbidden into her mind and the next thing Carrie knew her vision once again went strange like before, she gasped as she saw the red form of her mother through the door in the kitchen cutting vegetables like nothing had happened.
Panicked Carrie reached for the small compartment she had hidden in the closet and pulled out two of her most treasured possessions, a small gold pendant that had belonged to her father and her only picture of him. She carefully moved the tip of her finger over the delicate carving in the pendant's surface and she did as Ms Desjardin had taught her, slowing her breathing into a steady pattern. Her father was handsome she thought with a smile as she looked at his picture, swishy blond hair that was longer than normal for a man and made him look like a film star not that she had seen many, his jaw was strong, his eyes a pleasant blue and his smile was wide and warm. Carrie's own smile widened too, gently putting the tip of her finger on his face feeling for a second like she could touch him, like he was here to save her.
She breathed a sigh of relief as her vision returned to normal and she put the pendant and the photo back in her hiding place, she did not want mama to find then and try to get rid of them again.
Now much calmer Carrie tried to get comfortable on the hard wooden floor and pretend to pray while she thought on all the strange things that had been happening to her recently. Apart from the strange thing with her eyes there had been the water bottle in the principals office and the lights that had broken when she got angry and the boy that had laughed and jeered at her on his bike, she was struck with confusion had she caused them to happen? She thought with concern not understanding what was happening to her.
Fear started to rise inside her again and she reached for her pendant and her father's picture again, taking a lot of comfort from his kind and happy face managed a small one of her own for a moment before she heard her mama coming back and quickly hid them a second time before mama opened the door.
The Next Day…
Carrie was hoping that she might have been able to stay home after what had happened yesterday but her mama again in her paranoia of her sinning refused to let her stay home alone. She heard the sniggering and insulting words sent her way and felt a familiar anger rising inside her that she quickly suppressed, she was desperate not to get in trouble as who knows what might happen then with school and mama.
She came up to her locker and winced as her eyes again went funny, she blinked and saw the red form of the bitch Chris Hargensen and her lapdog Tina although she stopped herself from going further with insults even in the privacy of her own head. What was weird however was they were hiding around a corner and watching her, that instantly put Carrie on guard those two ruled the school socially why would they feel the need to peer around a corner when she was around? They never had before and with her vision still in the strange colours that were actually becoming more comfortable and less strange the more she used this strange sense she looked at the only thing other than her they were looking at...her locker.
She focused her sight on the locker which appeared gold to her surprise and through the colours she noticed that it was filled with lots of little coils, like the ones they had thrown at her in the locker room yesterday, which she now knew were called tampons and what they were used for. Carrie stopped and decided not to open it until later when the corridor was quiet, she didn't really need anything from her locker right now and it was far better to avoid the humiliation of opening the locker here and now for everyone to see.
As she walked past it Chris and Tina looked furious at their prank being foiled while another person watched with curiosity, Rita Desjardin's eyes moved over the scene and wondered if her suspicions were right while also trying to think of how best to punish the girls who had tormented Carrie, her own guilt at not realising what was happening sooner stabbing at her and making her vow to help the girl now.
Her eyes then went to the locker and frowned, deciding to wait until the bell went and everyone was in class before emptying it of the tampons and to check in on Carrie later.
- x -
After history which was her first class of the day Carrie met Ms Desjardin.
"Hello Carrie, how are you feeling now?" Ms Desjardin said with a smile, Carrie instantly felt better as she saw the kind look on her gym teacher's face.
"Better, thank you." Carrie said with a small smile, she was not really sure why but she had started feeling more comfortable around her gym teacher. Other students filed around them, staring at the freak as they saw Carrie talking with their gym teacher but did not bother too much with them and walked passed minding their own business.
"Did you find something?" Rita asked, hoping her suspicions about the girl were unfounded and it had just been a one off thing. Carrie nodded and pulled out a small gold pendant and showed her, Rita's face tightened immediately when she caught a glimpse of the small symbol carved into the pendant.
"Carrie, where did you get that?" Rita asked nervously, a wave of feelings emerging as she looked at the pendant and a flow of memories coming with it of a different time in her life.
"It belonged to my father." Carrie said, not sure of why Ms Desjardin was staring at the pendant like that, hoping that she was not about to take it, Carrie felt a surge of fear at the last thought it was her only real treasure.
Ms Desjardin noticing her fear said quickly. "Its lovely Carrie, its just that...I've seen it before. A long time ago and you say it belonged to your father?" Ms Desjardin said with a gulp. Carrie nodded uncertainly. "Do you have a picture of him?" Ms Desjardin asked looking very uncomfortable.
"At home." Carrie told her and Ms Desjardin said looking very intensely at her in a way that made her nervous.
"Show me, don't worry about school or your mother I will deal with it."
Carrie nodded, not sure about this but did as her teacher told her.
A quick ride in Ms Desjardin's car later after a word to the Principal saying that there had been another prank, Carrie was outside her house with Ms Desjardin. She used the spare key to let them in and her teacher's eyes narrowed as she looked around the house, Carrie could feel her disapproval and even anger as they came to the closet where she had to pray. She might have thought that was being directed at her until Ms Desjarden put a comforting hand on her shoulder and a slight smile that reassured her as she got the picture out.
The moment she handed the picture of her father over to Ms Desjardin Carrie saw the immediate look of recognition in her eyes before she closed them as if she was struggling to cope with what she was seeing.
"Did you know him?" Carrie asked, her own caution starting to be overruled by the excitement that someone might finally be able to tell her more about her father, to give her some of the answers that she wanted so desperately.
"Yes, a long time ago when he mentored me for a while." Rita said with sadness and sighed. "And I thought I was done with this world."
"This world?" Carrie asked now getting really lost especially when her teacher started looking around the room and her eyes focused on the clock in the hallway that was straight beneath Carrie's bedroom.
"Carrie look at that clock with your new sight and tell me what you see?" Ms Desjardin asked her cryptically, handing the picture back to her and Carrie now more confused than ever nonetheless did as her teacher said and blinked as she concentrated on seeing in that strange way again. The increasingly familiar white hue filled the room and she again saw the blue aura of Ms Desjardin but when she looked at the cloak as she had been instructed she gasped, it like her locker had a golden hue and almost like she could see through walls Carrie noticed something new about it.
"There's something behind it." Ms Desjardin smiled a little and said.
"Yours is definitely stronger than mine, shall we see what's behind the clock?" Rita asked and Carrie looked at her stunned.
"You have it too?"
Ms Desjardin nodded and said. "It is a very rare gift, its called Eagle Vision a sort of sixth sense that a few people can draw on. Now shall we look at what you found?" Ms Desjardin asked still smiling, Carrie now even more intrigued by her mysterious gym teacher nodded in agreement. They went up to the clock which Carrie knew was straight under her room where Ms Desjardin carefully felt around it until she found a hidden clasp, she pulled it loose and carefully lifted the clock and part of the board behind it came away too. Carrie's eyes widened as she saw the previously hidden space behind it and the dusty box inside.
Ms Desjardin carefully pulled the box out of the space and placed it on the floor, kneeling down with Carrie as with one last shared look of anticipation before opening it.
Carrie had no idea what to expect when Ms Desjardin pulled the box's lid off, her excitement rising higher forgetting the many questions she had swirling around her head for a moment as she peered inside the mysterious box. She was a little let down as she saw the contents though, a dusty old hooded cloak was the bedding for a few folders of documents, a bunch of what looked like driver's licenses and passports, a strange looking wrist gauntlet which had a knife sticking out of it and a small orb with patterns engraved on it. Ms Desjardin just sighed as she flicked through the passports all of which had her father's picture and then as she picked up the small orb Carrie scrambled back a step in fright when it started to glow a blue colour and the air suddenly was filled with a strange blue haze that made Ms Desjardin frown and put the orb back in the box.
"What was that thing?" Carrie asked in fright, looking at the orb like it was a bomb that could go off at any moment. Ms Desjardin secured orb in the folds of the cloak and turned to her young student with a kind of resigned wariness.
"Carrie, there are some things best left untouched and this is one of them. I can give you the answers you want...a few of them at least but they could lead you into a world you have no idea exists. I can take all this and make it disappear, you would be safe and able to live a normal life if that is what you want?" Ms Desjardin said and her words scared Carrie who knew although she was not sure how that she meant every one of them, her fear almost made her tell her gym teacher to do just that but her questions about her father and all of they had discovered today nagged at her, an itch that refused to go away. Ms Desjardin stared at her, waiting for an answer and Carrie's curiosity finally got the better of her fear and she said.
"I have to know."
"Let's go to the couch and I'll explain, this is likely to be a long talk and I think we should get comfortable." Ms Desjardin said with a sigh of resignation, rising to her feet and extending a hand to Carrie who was not sure for a split second if she should take it or not but she needed answers so badly and wanted dearly to trust someone that she took the offered hand and was pulled to her feet and led over to the couch. Once there Ms Desjardin sat her down and with a nervous sigh started to speak.
"This is a very long story so I guess I will start with your father." Ms Desjardin said sadly. "It might come as a shock to you Carrie but his name was not Ralph White...his real name was Thomas Miles and he was part of a...brotherhood."
The idea that her father had lied about his name did not sit well with the image that Carrie had built up in her head around her father but she needed to know more so she waited for Ms Desjardin to continue which she did.
"There has been a war raging under the noses of normal people for thousands of years now, the names change but the agendas stay the same. On one side you have what have been known as the Knights Templar, they believe that the only way for the world to be at peace and to reach its full potential is for all of humanity to be guided by force if necessary like sheep with them obviously being the shepherds. They desire order and control suppressing free will and choice while the other side the Brotherhood of Assassins believes humanity can only really get better by learning slowly and getting a better understanding of each other and want progress to continue by allowing individuals to thrive freely. That is a bit of a simplification of the ideas each group has but you get the general idea." Ms Desjardin told the awestruck Carrie.
"Since the time of the Roman Empire and even before then according to some in the shadow of events these two groups have fought, the Crusades, the Renaissance, the War of Independence and the French Revolution to name but a few. Each group has had its victories and defeats and their struggle has shaped the world as we know it."
"And that?" Carrie asked, not able to take it fully in but she knew somehow her teacher was telling the truth, pointing to the orb that had glowed which was now back in the box. Ms Desjardin then gave it a small glance before explaining.
"That is what we call a Precursor Object or the old name Piece of Eden, they are powerful devices of ancient origin that Templars and Assassins have fought over for centuries. They grant a great advantage to which ever side controls them and that particular Apple of Eden as it is known was stolen from the Templars by your father around seventeen years ago, the time he disappeared. But its damaged, I can't be sure if its fully usable." Ms Desjardin explained and the biblical connection to the objects confused Carrie but the mention of her father made her overlook that.
"How is my father involved in this 'war'?" She asked, so full of questions and not sure which ones to ask first, her teacher nodded and told her what she wanted to know.
"Your father was a part of the Assassins, one of the best but after he retrieved the Apple he disappeared. This is the first sign of him since then as to this day the Templars have been looking in an attempt to recover the Apple, so we know they never found him but now we have to make sure that they don't learn about you."
"Me?!" Carrie said with confusion. "Why would they want me? I'm a nothing! A nobody!"
"Never believe that Carrie." Rita said quickly and sharply, nearly making her student jump with fright before relaxing and taking her hand and saying. "You are a smart and strong girl to endure all you have without going insane and still have compassion in you, whatever anyone else tells you you are important Carrie." Rita said and a smile broke out on Carrie's face with tears running down her face. No one had ever said something like that to her before and it was a strange but welcome feeling for Carrie to actually be told she mattered, that she was special. Rita now smiled too and explained why the Templars would want her.
"Through your father you are part of a very special bloodline Carrie." Rita said. "They have shaped the world in the war between the Assassins and Templars, fighting on both sides of the conflict. Starting with Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, who fought against the Templars in the Third Crusade in their attempts to manipulate both sides to the Templars' own ends, then through the centuries to Ezio Auditore da Firenze who established the model for the modern Brotherhood in Renaissance Italy. Then there was Ratonhnhaké:ton/Connor Kenway who fought with the Americans in their struggle to be free of the British and many more. Through your DNA they will try to unlock their secrets. Aside from you and your father only your uncle and cousin can give them such an advantage."
Carrie was on the verge of being overwhelmed by all she had learned and while it boggled her mind to think she had such a legacy running through her veins but the mention of family other than mama sparked her interest the most.
"I have an uncle? A cousin?" She asked eagerly and Rita nodded.
"William Miles and his son Desmond, William is an important leader in the Brotherhood and I don't know much about Desmond. William is a hard man to get along with but fierce and clever, a firm believer in the creed. That's the code the Assassins follow." Rita explained and Carrie asked her next question which for Rita was a bit more personal.
"How do you know all this?"
Rita frowned for a moment and bit her lip, not wanting to answer but knew the girl had to know the truth.
"I was a member of the Assassins until a mission I led went wrong and my whole team was killed. I...I couldn't stay after that." Rita said as painful memories surfaced from the place she had tried to bury them. "I left the Assassins and I haven't heard from them in nearly a year but Carrie I have to warn you that this is a hard world and you have to be sure that you want to be a part of it even if you don't join either side. I want you to think about this Carrie before you make a decision, I can protect the Apple from the Templars but if you want to be involved then come to my office after school tomorrow and I will tell you more." Rita said and got up to leave before saying. "Come on, I'll get you some ice cream."
- x -
Carrie was troubled by her teacher's words but followed her to the car and enjoyed the rare treat of ice cream which she had only had rarely at school during special occasions.
So that night as she lay in bed she could not settle, her mind was spinning with all she had learnt and what that meant. She could barely comprehend what she had been told and was desperate to learn more, especially about the ancestors that Ms Desjardin said had been so great they had changed the course of history. It was a compulsion she could not fully understand but it came from somewhere deep inside of her.
However as she tossed and turned she could not help but feel afraid, the world had seemed to get far bigger than she had imagined possible and it frightened her especially the idea that people she had never even met would be after her for reasons she did not really understand. She could find the answers but that would mean entering the hidden world of the Assassins and Templars even quietly and she did not know what to do.
Across town in her own bed Rita Desjardin was no better, she had scared Carrie by saying the things she had and that was shaming given all the poor girl had endured. A look around the house had been telling, especially the closet but she thought with anger but the girl had to know what she was up against. There was no reason why the Templars would ever discover Carrie but as long as the slim chance of discovery existed the girl would need to know the truth.
However Rita would not force her, that was a tenant of the creed she had once swore to defend with her life if necessary. Carrie would make her own decision and she would abide by that whatever it might be and even if she wanted to stay ignorant and Rita would not blame her for wanting that, she herself wished sometimes she could forget all she knew.
- x -
The following afternoon as the bell ran Rita waited in her office, hoping that Carrie would not come, she would continue to help the girl in anyway she could. She would have called the cops about the abuse Carrie suffered but knew Carrie still loved her mother and would not press charges or speak to her again afterwards so she would have to accept whatever she decided.
A sound at her door made her look up and heart sank a little as Carrie appeared there looking very apprehensive as she said.
"I want to know...I want to learn."
Rita gave her a small grim smile before saying.
"I hope you understand what you are letting yourself in for."
Carrie was nervous as she stayed to meet her teacher after school, she had lied to mama about attending a bible club after school as it was one of the few activities her mother would permit her to attend. She had felt awful at lying but Ms Desjardin had said it was best that no one knew what they were doing tonight and as the only person that seemed willing to be anywhere near her she put her faith in her teacher.
The gym was strangely quiet as she walked it, already having changed into her gym uniform except for Ms Desjardin who had set up to mats and a few pieces of equipment around the hall and was doing some stretches when she came in.
"Good, right on time Carrie. Now tonight we are just going to get some exercises and stretches down so you can handle what comes next so pick a mat and don't push yourself too hard." Ms Desjardin said with a smile that Carrie returned and did as her teacher bid, taking one of the vacant mats before Ms Desjardin took the other and shook her body which Carrie mimicked before they got started.
"Now, do as I do and if its uncomfortable say." Ms Desjardin said who made sure Carrie was paying attention before starting a series of stretches to get ready for their workout, she was pleased to see Carrie cope well with the warm-up.
Rita was in two minds about this though, she didn't want to have to turn Carrie into some kind of warrior and was glad the girl would probably never need these skills but at the same time Rita wanted to make sure if the worst came to worst and Astergo/Templars discovered Carrie's existence then she would have a chance to survive. She was also hoping that maybe she could boost the girl's confidence with these skills, her heart had been torn when she had seen the closet and how badly treated the girl was, making her feel guilty for not being there for the girl before now, vowing to be there for Carrie from now on. That was the reason she had let the Principal handle the punishment for the girls that had tormented Carrie so she could give the girl the attention she needed.
Once they had finished she started Carrie on the basics of free-running.
"Now make sure you have built up some speed as the momentum will carry you over, as you get better we will go faster so do as I do." Rita said gently to Carrie before taking a gentle run to the low table and swung herself over it with ease before turning to Carrie who nervously looked at the table before running at it far too fast for a beginner and crashed straight into it. Rita winced realising she was taking it too fast. Carrie dusted herself off, thankfully not badly hurt and she said with anger.
"I can't do it." Both of them were unsettled by what happened a second later when the desk by itself seemed to move a few inches over. Rita looked on confused and her gaze went to Carrie remembering what had happened the water cooler in the Principals office but did know how it was possible. However seeing the hurt look on Carrie's face Rita turned her attention back to the girl she had made herself responsible for and decided to make a confession. Putting an arm around Carrie she guided them over to big mat and sat down, Carrie sat down too looking confused.
"I have to admit to you Carrie that I am more scared of this than you are." Rita admitted getting a shocked look on Carrie's face. "I was a field operative and I never taught anyone, I don't know if I am the right teacher for you. I haven't been active as an Assassin for a long while but I am willing to try if you are. Its your choice Carrie, you can walk away anytime you want." Rita spoke with complete honesty, she would regardless watch over the girl but Rita wanted to build her up so she could take care of herself, to give her the confidence that she could take with her into the rest of her life.
Carrie was surprised deeply at Ms Desjardin's confession and weirdly she could 'feel' it was genuine, it was like she could feel what other people were feeling or thinking. It was strange and frightening Carrie thought to herself not sure if she liked this but at the same time it was empowering, like it gave her something over other people which frightened her even more. But the fact that Ms Desjardin actually wanted to help and was putting the power in her hands was reassuring to her, filling her with renewed determination.
So she got to her feet and with new focus she took a run at the table, Ms Desjardin tried to stop her but Carrie was totally focused on the table and what she had to do.
This time her hands made contact with it first and she managed to swing herself over the table and land on the other side not as gracefully as Rita had done it maybe but for a second try it was very good.
Carrie stood still for a moment not quite believing she had done it and her state of shock was only broken when a sound of clapping started, she turned around and saw Ms Desjardin was applauding her with a big smile on her face. Carrie smiled too, feeling elated at the applause.
When Carrie got home a couple of hours later Mama was staring at her with suspicion the moment she got in the door.
"What did you study at the bible group?" Mama demanded the moment she got in the door, Carrie was shocked at the intensity of the demand and worse she felt an excitement in her mama, like she was waiting for her to say the wrong thing. Carrie however had thought carefully on what to say and spoke calmly.
"The weakness of Eve and her corruption of Adam." Carrie had been raised on the bible for as long as she could remember or at least her mother's version of it and knew what stories her mother liked the most. It was accepted by Mama but what she felt was not satisfaction but instead disappointment, irritation that she had studied the bible and she could not punish her. That shocked Carrie, not least that she could feel this but that her mother...liked no loved to hurt her.
That was like someone had slammed their fist straight into her belly, knocking all the air out of her in a manner of speaking. She had always thought her mother was just angry and devoted to her religion, seeing sin everywhere she went but the fact that she actually experienced pleasure from hurting her. It shook her so bad that she did not speak to Mama for the whole night as she did not trust herself not to say something about it and wondered if she should tell Ms Desjardin about her strange new gift after all she had helped so far but Carrie as she closed the door to her room felt better keeping it to herself for now.
Seeing a book on her bedside table, Carrie decided to see if her new found confidence might help her tame the other side of gifts, she concentrated solely on the book staring so intently at it that her eyes started to hurt and she got a headache but slowly with the focus she had started to gain after her session with Ms Desjardin the book started to move as if on its own.
- x -
Elsewhere in the back of a car Sue Snell and her boyfriend Tommy Ross where naked as the day they were born as they had sex, not wanting to be interrupted by parents. As enjoyable as they both found it Sue however was distracted. Her own guilt over what had happened in the Shower Room stabbing at her with vicious force, she could not believe even now that a sixteen year old girl could not have had her period yet or not been told of such a thing but given how much of a nutcase Margaret White was should she be so surprised? Looking back the signs of abuse where all there and she like so many others had not only turned a blind eye but actually hurt Carrie more by bullying her she thought with a wince as Tommy gave her a particularly hard thrust at the same time.
Worst yet though was although she and a few others had realised what they had been doing was wrong, Chris hadn't and still maintained they had done nothing to deserve punishment. She at least would not be going to prom Sue thought with a glimmer satisfaction, she had refused to attend the detentions set by Principal Morton and as a result had been suspended from school as well as banned from Prom. It was the least she deserved Sue thought with anger, partly at herself for never seeing Chris or her posse for who they were.
She wanted to make it up to Carrie, do something to ease the pain she herself had heaped on her perhaps give her one good memory for all the bad ones.
Just as she finally reached her climax and Tommy along with her and was coming down from the high she realised that Prom was only a few weeks away, she already had her dress picked out and Tommy had asked her to be his date on the day it had been officially announced. He had hired a limo and everything so she would feel like a princess and her stomach fluttered with her own feelings of joy at how strongly he felt about her.
In that moment she had an idea, one that stabbed straight at her heart but one she hoped would finally get rid of her guilt...Tommy should take Carrie to Prom.
- x -
Chris Hargensen meanwhile was across town and like Sue in a car with her boyfriend Billy Nolan. But instead of enjoying her intimidate time with him Chris was seething inside from what had happened at school, she had done nothing wrong when she made fun of the loser and all the girls had been there laughing with her, it had been the biggest laugh she had in forever but the school had banned her from going to the Prom because she wouldn't go to that stupid detention. She had done nothing wrong and it made her hate the Freak more than ever. So with a wicked smile she started plotting, she would get her own back on the little pathetic bitch she thought with satisfaction already taking steps to bend Billy to her will by giving him a blow job, she smirked guys were so easy.
Carrie walked through the corridors of the school keeping her head down, not wanting to attraction attention especially as her training with Ms Desjardin had only just begun. She saw everyone sniggering at her and despite forcing her urge to yell or cry down as far as she could, she still was struggling not let her emotions out.
Then she saw Tina, gleefully showing a group of girls a video on her phone. She turned it ever so slightly when she saw Carrie coming just so she could get a glimpse of what was on the screen.
Carrie froze as she saw the image of herself being pelted with the tampons in the shower room, her mind slipping back to that moment where her fear of death and of blindness had been so strong it was paralysing. She relieved the traumatic memory in her mind and fled as fast as she could to the bathroom which mercifully was empty. She leaned over one of the sinks and tears started falling down her face, a well of emotions rising up from inside her. Why could they not just leave her alone she thought with despair? Why did they hate her so much? She had done nothing to deserve it, nothing to earn it yet all they wanted to do was hurt her and then laugh at her pain. WHY! She screamed inside as her anger and hatred of them started to rise, why?
Just as her anger was at its highest and fiercest, the mirror right in front of her face suddenly shattered.
Carrie was too upset to care but looked over when the door opened and saw to her relief Ms Desjardin who looked at her with worry.
"Carrie! Oh God." Rita said with worry for the her pupil, she had seen some of the girls watching the video of the disgusting shower room incident and worried Carrie might have seen it had come looking for the girl only to have her fears confirmed and seeing the girl's need for comfort quickly went over and wrapped the girl in hug which Carrie gratefully returned, crying into her shoulder.
As she held the weeping girl and let her release her feelings Rita saw the shattered mirror but although something about it bothered her she ignored it and turned her attention back to Carrie who needed her right now. The bell rang but neither of them moved until Carrie had finally calmed down and cleaned herself up. She managed a small smile for Ms Desjardin who walked her to her next class and spoke to the teacher to explain what happened. Carrie meanwhile felt the eyes of the rest of the class upon her and ignored them as best she could, deciding there and then with the embers of her anger still churning under the surface swore to dedicate herself more to her training...she would show them Carrie thought with disgust at all her 'peers', she would show them.
A couple of weeks later Carrie was again in the school gym with Ms Desjardin, now getting far better at the free-running and climbing she was now reaching to the stage in her training where she learned to fight.
"Right." Ms Desjardin said as they stood there on the mat with gloved hands and training helmets. "First thing first is don't punch someone straight in the face, you'll break your fist and be defenceless so you go for the nose or the throat." Ms Desjardin said making the gestures without actually hitting Carrie who then copied when Ms Desjardin then made another punch towards her stomach. "If unprotected then the gut can be a good place to aim for or the joints."
Carrie was not sure she liked this as much as the free-running but soon started to get into it, it gave her a little satisfaction every time she landed a hit but it was slightly muted as she knew Ms Desjardin was taking it easy on her, making it harder as they went along. After fighting with their fists and feet, they used sticks for awhile getting faster and faster and by the time they were finished not only were they sweating but Carrie had a few bruises here and there however she had never felt more elated and sat on the bleachers with her mentor having a much needed drink of water.
"So what is the Brotherhood like?" Carrie asked, curious about the order that had trained her teacher and that her father had belonged too. Ms Desjardin frowned a bit before answering.
"The Brotherhood tends to operate in smaller cells these days since the Templars hit us hard in the Purge, that's when a sleeper agent infiltrated the Brotherhood and gave them information that helped to destroy a lot of the organisation." Ms Desjardin said sadly as she remembered those dark days. "We did have a rank system although that isn't used a lot now. Starting as a novice or a recruit, then you progress to an initiate before being made an apprentice. Then once you show mastery of the skills needed you are made a full Assassin. Most people stop there but a few are granted the rank of Master Assassin if they are really good at it or when they become leader of a cell or branch of the Brotherhood they become Mentor which is what we used to call our leader. Some brotherhoods add or remove ranks depending on the needs of the moment but that is how it is essentially organised." Ms Desjardin explained before taking a sip of water. "We use a lot of hacking and sabotage in the twenty first century as we try to keep up with the modern world but how about a little history?" Rita asked and Carrie nodded, eager to learn more.
She then smiled and said, deciding to teach girl a bit of her history. "The first president of the USA only became that because the Brotherhood helped him, George Washington was an ally of your ancestor Connor who supported him throughout the war and after for awhile. The Templars led by Connor's own father Hayham wanted Charles Lee to be the first leader of America."
"Really?" Carrie said in amazement, history was one of her best classes and she really did love to learn more about it. So to learn the country's first president was an ally to the Brotherhood and that her ancestor had put him there was amazing not to mention he had to fight his own father to do it, so she asked. "Do you have any famous ancestors?"
She regretted the question though as soon as she asked it, as Ms Desjardin visibly cringed.
"Sorry." Carrie said quickly feeling discomfort and shame coming from Ms Desjardin and would have kept apologizing if Ms Desjardin had not stopped her.
"It's okay Carrie, don't worry about it. I have a few ancestors that were in the Brotherhood mostly the Canadian or French branches but the only one worth noting, Shay Patrick Cormac." Rita said with shame spiking through her.
"Who?" Carrie asked confused, that made Rita give a small bitter chuckle before she spoke again.
"I'm so used to people knowing who he was that I forgot you wouldn't." Rita said sadly before taking a breath and giving an explanation for her shame. "Shay Patrick Cormac was probably the biggest traitor in the history of the Brotherhood. We don't know why but during the Seven Year War he turned on the first Colonial Brotherhood and destroyed them near completely, handing America over to the Templars where it stayed till Connor your ancestor showed up. And after that he caused a lot of damage to other brotherhoods around the world before finally he retired and raised a family. When the Assassins found out he was my ancestor they nearly kicked me out of the Brotherhood all together." Rita said sadly.
"Why?" Carrie asked shocked that one of her teacher's ancestor's actions could be put on Ms Desjardin centuries after the fact. Her opinion of the Brotherhood of Assassins taking a clear beating and looked far less noble to her.
"Some thought I might be a Templar spy, others worried that my bloodline alone might cause me to defect like he did. A few worried that if I was captured then the Templars would use the Animus on me to get his memories and that might change my allegiance, thankfully I had a few friends in the Brotherhood that stood by me. Neither order is perfect Carrie, the Assassins and Templars have both made their share of mistakes. I want you to make your own decisions and use the things you are learning here the way you choose or don't use them at all. It is up to you, after all the Creed is meant to promote freedom." Ms Desjardin said with a gentle smile that Carrie returned before asking.
"What is the creed?"
"Our code, the oath we all swear when we join the Brotherhood. It goes like this." Ms Desjardin said:
Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember...
Nothing is true.
Where other men are limited by their morality or law, remember...
Everything is permitted.
We work in the darkness to serve the light…
We are Assassins."
Carrie listened with rapt attention and could not help but deny something inside her stirred at those words, something primal but at the same time she found them confusing.
"But if nothing is true then why believe in the creed at all? And if everything is permitted then why not do everything we want?" Carrie asked not sure it made sense, Ms Desjardin smiled before explaining.
"It might be that this idea is only the beginning of wisdom, and not its final form." Rita said. "Those are the words Edward Kenway one of your ancestors used when he thought on the creed. The creed is not a set of rules but more an idea for you to interpret how you see fit, after all we preach freedom of will the right to choose. The only real rules that all Assassins are held too are that you must stay your blades from the flesh of the innocent, that we blend with the crowd and never compromise the Brotherhood." Ms Desjardin said.
Carrie nodded, not really thinking it was any clearer but it was maybe less confusing before she asked a question that had been bugging her.
"What is the Animus?" She knew it was important for some reason and that the Templars would use it on her if they ever learned of her existence but Ms Desjardin had yet to explain just what it was. Her teacher then told her.
"The Animus is a device that the Templars created, it allows whoever is plugged into it to experience the memories of their ancestors. The Assassins have one too but they use it more as a training aid as you can absorb the skills and abilities of their ancestors, however too much time in there and it can really mess you up, they call it the bleeding effect." Ms Desjardin explained and Carrie nodded before they got back to their training.
A Week later...
Carrie honestly felt like a new person these days as she walked through the school corridors, whether it was her new understanding of the world or the skills she was learning after school with Ms Desjardin she didn't know but she honestly had never felt so focused and confident in her life. She didn't talk to anyone but they all looked at her with expressions of disbelief, some even whispered to each other whether it was really her. That brought a small smirk to her face, maybe she could actually have a normal life she thought to herself.
Well she thought later that night as she sat on her bed with it and books floating all around the room, sort of normal.
- x -
Art was the first class that day and their project was to create a family portrait but in as colourful a way as possible. She had made carefully copied her father's picture and her mother's likeness into a swirling mass of colour with herself at the centre while her parents were around her. The teacher Miss Dupont (who insisted to everyone that she was French but a lot of people could swear she sometimes spoke with a New York accent not that Carrie knew what that was) stopped and looked at her project and gave it an impressed look and marked it A+.
Carrie smiled to herself as she held the grading paper in her hand, her new found confidence had allowed her to do what she had wanted to do from the start rather than a bland and uninteresting thing to not draw attention to herself. It was empowering as she felt like a bird taking flight for the first time and as she looked out of the window she could swear she saw an eagle looking at her from the branches of the nearby tree but when she blinked it was gone. Still her small smile remained as she sketched the eagle in her notebook.
Gym was later on that day and they lined up on the track ready to do the sprint, Chris Hargensen smirking at her, Carrie was irritated she knew the horrible girl was the best sprinter but did she have to lord it over people Carrie thought with anger. She herself was known for being bad at all sports, after all she did not want to be noticed with all the bullying that came with it but as she fixed the finish line in her sights she swore that she would not be last today.
Ms Desjardin blew the whistle and all the girls took off at a sprint, however Carrie did not even realise they were there as she pushed her body harder than she ever had before. Her arms and legs pumped faster and faster while her heart thundered in her chest, she did not hear a thing other than her own heart beating as she pushed herself faster and harder than ever. The world dissolved around her and all there was, was the track and her running along it.
The dash was only over about a hundred metres and was over sooner than she thought it would be, crossing the finishing line she felt a slight stitch stabbing at her sides but as she caught her breath and waited for it to subside she looked around but saw no one ahead of her so she turned around and saw all the girls looking at her with shock including Ms Desjardin but she gave her a small proud smile.
Then the meaning of all the other girls being behind her sank in, she had not just avoided being last as usual but somehow she had actually been first...she had won the race. Carrie was completely astonished and not sure what had just happened, she didn't feel proud yet as to be honest she was still in shock. Sue Snell and the majority of the girls just stared at her like she had grown another head while Chris and Tina glared at her with total and absolute hatred, that honestly unnerved her more than their usual bullying and wondered if she was now going to face something worse.
She was right to be afraid as it made Chris more determined than ever to destroy Carrie.
Later that day Carrie was sitting in the library thinking it was better to skip lunch and avoid being around Chris and Tina for now given what had happened on the playing field, she was working on her physics assignment and since it was one of her good classes and the teacher did not let themselves get manipulated like Mr Ullman (who was sleeping with Tina) did so she did not want to screw up her work. She was so focused on her work that she didn't even noticed anyone was there until he felt someone touch her shoulder.
"Hey Carrie." A familiar and warm voice that made her heart skip a beat, her crush Tommy Ross was standing right next to her and she was suddenly too nervous too look up from her work. She nearly didn't hear him talking to her she was so nervous until he asked her something.
"Would you like to go to the prom with me?"
Carrie was instantly stunned, she had dreamt of going to prom it sounded like a magical place but knew no boy would ever ask her or that mama would never allow it and probably lock her in her cupboard after a beating to make her pray for forgiveness for whatever sin she had dreamt up...now the boy of her dreams was asking her. She wanted to say yes in an instant, the chance to go was worth whatever mama threw at her however suddenly she felt unease.
It took a second to realise that it was not coming from her but instead from Tommy, she looked him in the eye and with her new 'sense' she could feel his awkwardness...he didn't want to ask her...there was someone else he wanted to take and he was being forced to do this, she realised with disappointment and depression hitting her like crashing into a brick wall. Sue Snell was his girlfriend she remembered bitterly and she was a friend of Chris Hargensen, this was undoubtedly just part of some revenge plot they had made up.
Bitterness now visible on her face she gathered up her books and work and decided to take them all outside where she might find a quiet spot to herself before telling Tommy with her heart breaking.
"No thank you."
With that she took her leave and left Tommy and the few that had seen the brief exchange looking on with confusion and disbelief, the most handsome and well liked boy in school had asked the strange outcast to the Prom and she had turned him down.
Chris Hargensen was angry as she learned that Carrie was not going to the Prom as her idea to dump pig's blood on her was now wasted, why Sue had actually felt sorry for the freak she did not understand but it would have been great for Chris' own plans now she would have to think of some other way to get back at the little bitch. Especially after she had humiliated her on the playing field today. However all was not lost as she realised that Sue would be going to Prom after all and Sue had been the one to convince the other girls to go along with the detention rather than stand with her and force the school to let them go to Prom.
Why waste a good idea she thought viciously, Carrie might not be going but Sue would do just as well and remind everyone just who was the boss here. Carrie would pay later as soon as she could come up with something nasty enough.
Sue was confused.
She had sent Tommy to ask Carrie to Prom and despite her crush on him which nearly all the school had laughed at more than once even her to her own shame, Carrie had turned him down cold. While it of course meant that she could go to Prom herself with Tommy it was still bugging her and her shame & guilt still burned inside her.
She had received a stern telling off from Ms Desjardin about trying to hurt Carrie which had not been her intention at all she protested, she had just hoped to give Carrie one good evening as penance for her bad treatment of Carrie. She had asked him to try again but he had told her Carrie instead of going home was staying after school at the gym. There were no clubs on that night so Sue's curiosity made her stay too to discover just what was going on.
So she crept through the spooky quiet corridors of the school to the gym which soon they would be decorating for Prom, she was actually on the committee for that and as she carefully made her way to the door of the gym and peered carefully through the glass.
She honestly gasped in sheer surprise at what she saw.
Carrie and Ms Desjardin were on the mats in the centre of the gym, with boxing gear scattered all around them as they aimed punches and kicks at each other. Sue stared in complete shock as Carrie was knocked off her feet by a sweeping kick before getting back on her feet and attacking Ms Desjardin with punches and kicks of her own.
She backed away from the door and quickly made her way to the exit before breaking into a run, unable to explain what she had just seen and not sure what to make of it.
Elsewhere in the school Miss Dupont was uploading her students' work to her own website hoping to generate some interest from an actual art school who might offer her a job, a place where people who actually cared about art rather than this little untalented cesspool although she had been surprised at White's bold and unique attempt. Perhaps the girl might have a bit of talent Dupont thought snidely, she was mediocre compared to herself but it might get some notice.
So she uploaded the vortex picture of Ralph, Margaret and Carrie White to the internet, not having a single idea what she was doing and the consequences it would bring.
The next day Sue was helping in the gym as they set it up for Prom, she was excited on the one hand as she would be here in only a few days to dance with Tommy and enjoy the best night of her life.
But try as she might she could not put what she had seen in the gym last night out of her mind, what on earth had Ms Desjardin been doing with Carrie? Teaching her to fight? Was that why Carrie seemed so much more confident these days? Ms Desjardin building her up? Sue did not know what to think but it had saved them all from the Boot Camp detention she would have given them all after what happened in the Locker Room, instead they had been given menial tasks to do around the school like cleaning the windows and corridors or working in the school kitchen, not that it had stopped Chris who refused to do it. As far as she was concerned she had done nothing wrong which honestly made Sue wonder how she had missed such a sadistic streak for all these years, looking back while Carrie was Chris' favourite target she had been far from the only one to be bullied by Chris. Sue honestly was so glad to have cut ties with her and to be free of Chris now.
However as she connected up the wires on the lights she felt a sudden upset in her stomach, grabbing the ladder she was standing on to steady herself. She looked around and saw Tina with Nicky and Lizzie laughing at something on a laptop and from those grins she knew it wasn't good. Her nausea only got worse and Heather who was working on the thrones for the King and Queen of Prom looked up and saw her.
"Sue, hey are you okay?"
Sue didn't answer, instead with a horrible feeling in her stomach she got down the ladder as fast as she could and with her hand over her mouth ran as fast as she could for the bathroom, she barely made it into the cubicle before it happened. She spewed her guts out into the toilet and honestly wished she would pass out or die as it continued.
When it finally stopped she stumbled to her feet and honestly her head was pounding, she walked as best she could to the sink and washed her hand and face as best she could. Looking up she was not sure she would like what she saw when looked in the mirror, only to be surprised at the shattered image in front of her. Her paler than normal face split into copies by broken glass that was hanging there by the narrowest of margins.
Astergo Facility, Unknown Location…
A pair of very bored men sat in front of the same screens that they did every other day as the system continually searched every speck of the internet for any number of things that the Inner Circle deemed important. The two men were watching videos on their laptops while sipping their beers. They were never supposed to drink on duty or allow any kind of distraction but they had stopped bothering with the rules ages ago. They worked twelve hours a day staring at a screen which was a constant blur of images and few ever bothered to come down here so they did as they wanted.
Then the quiet was shattered suddenly by a shrieking alarm that startled both men, sitting up they dropped their beers which shattered and splattered all over the floor. Their fingers stabbing hard at the keyboards to respond to whatever the hell was happening.
"What the fuck is it?" One of the men Douglas asked as he called up image the search had uncovered which had caused all this, his friend and workmate Roy however was busy calling up the reason it was searching.
"Haven't a bloody clue." He said as a pair of images and accompanying information appeared on their enormous screen. The first picture was black and white having been taken from a security camera and was slightly blurry but good enough to see the face of a man. The other image was far more colourful, clearly some kind of artwork but what mattered was the face of the single man in both pictures. The lines of the face matched precisely, the information displayed to them said it was Thomas Miles, a high priority target.
Roy checked the location of the picture which he noticed contained two other people, one older woman and a young girl and saw it was a piece of artwork made by a Carrie White as a family portrait. Without hesitation he grabbed the phone nearby and punched in a number he had been told to call immediately if something like this ever happened.
"Who is it? There had best be a good reason for disturbing me during my work." The voice on the other end was so cold and clinical that it actually scared Roy but he gave his report anyway.
"Doctor Vidic, there is a potential lead on Thomas Miles. A family portrait made by a student in Maine that links him to a girl there." Roy told his superior, a member of the Inner Circle.
There was a pause on the other side of the line and when Vidic answered it sent chills down Roy's spine.
"Send the data to me immediately, this needs to be verified but if it is true, then I had best prepare the Animus."
Roy heard the call being ended and hung up the phone himself, he looked first to his friend who swallowed hard having heard everything and then they both looked at the girl in the picture full of sympathy for a moment as they knew what the girl was going to face when Vidic got his hands on her.
Chamberlin, Maine…
It was dark and most of the buildings were closed at this time of night, hardly anyone was around which was fine for two of the few people that were.
The two figures dressed in white and red matching hoodies, jeans and running shoes ran across the rooftops, leaping over and jumping with the ease of a gazelle. One figure was slightly taller than the other but neither could be recognised due to their hoods hiding their faces.
After a solid few minutes they stopped on the roof of a smoothie shop and caught their breath, under her hood Rita turned to Carrie who was smiling wider than she had ever seen the girl do so far which honestly made her smile too.
"How does it feel?" Rita asked, glad to see Carrie was enjoying herself and she was getting same feeling of liberation and joy from running across the rooftops free and unbothered by normal matters. It had been so long since she had done this, when she had left the Brotherhood she had put every part of that life behind her including this and she could honestly say she had missed it more than she had thought possible.
"Its...exhilarating." Carrie said as she caught her breath with a huge smile on her face, feeling the same thrill as her teacher only amplified because it was her first time doing this. She had felt self-conscious when Ms Desjardin had handed her a hoodie, running shoes and worst of all jeans that clung to her body more than she was comfortable with. She had nearly refused to go out in them but now she honestly was glad of them as thanks to them she could run across the rooftops of Chamberlain with ease.
"Always remember this, the first time as it will never be better than this moment." Rita told her with a smile. "The freedom, the thrill of being truly alive...that is what it is all about, what Assassins strive to protect. To give everyone that chance." Rita said and Carrie nodded, never being happier than she was in this moment with her heart racing and in the cold of night. She honestly did not feel like anything was holding her back any more, like she could do anything she wanted. She turned to her teacher who gave her a grin before the two of them took off again across the rooftops.
An hour later she was sneaking back into her house, her practised light footwork letting her climb the house's walls and slip in through her own bedroom window. She looked around saw to her relief that mama was not waiting for her, so she carefully removed her new clothes and hid them in her wardrobe. She would wash them on Saturday when mama was out of the house and she had it to herself for a few hours, she knew better than to let mama see the hoodie or worse the jeans, she would immediately declare them sinful and burn them while locking her in the closet again.
The thought of that actually made her less afraid and more angry than it used too. Perhaps it was the knowledge that she had not only the skills she was learning from Ms Desjardin but also her own hidden powers to draw on that made her honestly wonder why mama should have everything her way any more? Why couldn't she have a say and why did she have to endure this to keep her mother happy?
- x -
Unknown to Carrie or in anyone else in Chamberlain; Chris, Billy and two of Billy's friends crept onto the local pig farm and into one of the pens.
The smell Chris thought was disgusting making her want to throw up not mention what it was doing to her boots, cringing as she felt herself step in something that she didn't dare look down at. She heard Billy and his friends sniggering as they said piggy over and over again in a voice so childish she found it annoying as she used the torch to see what the hell was going on in the pitch dark.
"Chris pick one." Billy's sudden question shocked her but then he said something that made her nearly laugh. "Pick one that looks like her, pigs blood for a pig." He and his friends started laughing while Chris with a fresh grin on her face as she thought about what she was going to do at prom. No one would ever dare go against her again after she was done.
She looked around and saw one pig that was slightly apart from the rest, like it didn't belong that instantly made her think of Carrie and that would be true of Sue too when Chris was done with her.
"That one." She said pointing with the torch at her chosen pig. She watched as Billy's friend pissed around trying to bash its head in with a sledgehammer and in her frustration turned to Billy who took the hammer off the little coward and with one hard swing, caved the pig's head in. Billy then turned to her and offered her his hunting knife.
"Come on, you got this." Billy said with a grin that she knelt next to the pig while handing one of the idiots the torch, she didn't even hear Billy as he told her what to do instead she stabbed right at its neck, a small amount of blood splattered on her and Billy but she didn't even notice as she held the knife in front of her face, exhilaration welling up inside her...never had she felt so...powerful so alive as in this moment. She kissed Billy with all the passion of the moment and as they worked to drain the blood from the pig into the bucket she could not stop feeling that high.
Later as she and Billy broke into the school though she was instantly hit with the pain of seeing the gym all set up for Prom, this should have been her special night...the best of her life instead she was missing it due to that FREAK! She wanted to scream but instead made herself feel better by watching Billy hoist the bucket into place and imagine all the ways she was going to torment Carrie and Sue.
With the school's gym now being used for the Prom, Carrie and Ms Desjardin had started using the town park at night to train where there were several camera blind spots that they could use. Tonight though they had reached a point in the training that Carrie had been very uneasy about. It was time to learn how to use her father's hidden blade. The weight of it was unbelievably light on her arm but she was so conscious of it that she could not stop looking at the sleeve of her right arm, knowing full well what was beneath it.
"The mechanism is operated by the movement of your wrist. Your father thought ahead with these things and had his made out of a non-magnetic metal that Altair found along with making it easy to break down and conceal if needs be." Rita said looking strange in the white and red hoodie that she now wore when they trained. She demonstrated by flicking her own wrist and a sharp twin pronged blade shot out with a quiet click, the mere sight of it made Carrie feel nervous as although she knew Ms Desjardin would never hurt her, it was an instrument of death that was strapped to both their wrists. Something meant solely to kill and it was disturbing to her, she did not even kill insects in the house let alone contemplate taking a human life.
Seeing the look of expectation on her mentor's face Carrie swallowed and flicked her wrist just the way her teacher had done, the blade made her jump as it shot out like a bullet out of a gun. It was a strange and uncomfortable thing to see on her wrist, the smooth and cold metal point, this thing had killed people she thought once when it had been attached to her father's arm. It was a piece of him though she thought with strange feeling of connection to a man that she loved but barely knew through this thing.
"Carrie. What's wrong?" Ms Desjardin asked and Carrie realised that she had been staring at the hidden blade and seeing her teacher's worried eyes she blurted out what she was thinking.
"It's just...I don't think I could do it…kill people I mean." Carrie said nervously and she half expected Ms Desjardin to scold her for being childish but instead she smiled and with a smooth motion retracted her blade before coming over to sit with her and put an arm around her.
"That's good Carrie, no one should ever enjoy killing and I hope you will not have to kill at all. Even assassins will only do it as a last resort which unfortunately comes more often than we would like, sadly Carrie the day might come where to save the lives of others and yourself you may have too. Killing is not easy nor should it ever be because it reminds us how precious life is, that's what I told myself anyway after my first time." Ms Desjardin said sadly.
Carrie was surprised at this, she had not pried much in her teacher's own past not wanting to upset her but right now, she really would like some advice. Ms Desjardin saw her look and sighed before telling the story.
"I was an initiate back then, not much older than you are now." Ms Desjardin told her casting her mind back to a time when things had seemed so much simpler. "It was a mission to Louisiana, looking for a missing member of the Brotherhood. We needed a larger team and since it was just a search and rescue they took a few of us with them but it turns out that our Intel was bad. Omega Team, one of the Astergo/Templar assault teams were on-site and we were ambushed, the ones that survived were driven into the swamp. I was chased by this soldier, I had never seen action before and honestly I was terrified." Ms Desjardin told her with a sad smile.
"Eventually I realised that I couldn't run any more so I hid in a tree and he came right up to the place where I was hiding, he was so close that honestly if he had moved a foot to the right he would have seen me. I can't really remembering jumping, or extending my hidden blade the training just kicked in and the next thing I know I am kneeling over his body with my blade lodged in his throat." Ms Desjardin said with sad look on her face, Carrie meanwhile was shocked at her story. "Worst when I looked in his top pocket, I found a picture of a baby his child and believe me I threw up so much that honestly I wished he had killed me."
Carrie was horrified at what she was hearing, to go through that to learn you had left some young child without a father...it was more than she could comprehend and made her want to stop training right now to avoid making that decision. Ms Desjardin then added some extra context to the situation.
"It took me a long time to come to terms with that, but because I made that decision I was able to help my friends survive the ambush and later we learnt that Omega Team was only there because they were chasing a woman that Alan Rikken wanted dead, William Miles had saved her and put her under the protection of the Brotherhood. The man we were looking for, they had tortured him brutally for days before finally he died only minutes after we got to him just as he was about to tell them what they wanted to know. I use that to remind me of what we are fighting against, why it is so important...to save an innocent woman's life, to save lives and their freedom."
Carrie was still horrified at the story but now confused, Ms Desjardin had needed to take one life to save another. It was a hard pill to swallow and she did not know what to think any more. As if sensing her anxiety and discomfort Ms Desjardin put an arm around her shoulder to provide some comfort and Carrie without thinking rested her head on Ms Desjardin's shoulder and felt honestly more safe and comfortable in her embrace than she ever had with mama.
Astergo Facility, Unknown Location...
Doctor Warren Vidic walked down the corridor with his gullible assistant Lucy Stillman trotting alongside him like a faithful pet, he found her laughably easy to manipulate. Once she had been an Assassin spy but he had her pegged from day one and after faking an attempt to kill her and then stopping it himself had slowly brought her to their way of thinking. Her final test had been when she had let Subject 16 die rather than help him escape and she had done brilliantly, when the time came she would be very useful to them.
"Her name is Carrie White." Lucy said with no emotion, not worried at all about what would happen to the girl once they had managed to get hold of her just what he needed in an assistant. "Thomas Miles went undercover as Ralph White and married a woman called Margaret, apparently she's an abusive religious zealot so the girl's mental and physical health is unknown."
"I don't care if she is a brain-dead cripple as long as we can use the animus on her." Warren said crossly. Desmond Miles might be their current target and would be within their grasp inside of a week but this girl would allow them to probe more memories at once, so he wanted her too. "Send Sigma Team to retrieve the girl at once."
"Sigma Team is unavailable sir, they're on a mission in Asia and won't be back for another two weeks." Lucy told him not liking to disappoint him. Warren screwed up his face with irritation and then said.
"Then send Theta Team to retrieve the girl and the apple instead."
"Theta Team sir! They're an assault and sabotage squad...mercenaries who are meant to attack Assassin strongholds...they don't do retrievals. Not to mention they are all far too rough for a such a delicate assignment. They lack the stealth for it or the restraint." Lucy said and cowered instantly as he gave her a vicious glare, sending the email immediately hoping they brought the girl back alive and not as a useless corpse. Theta Team was known to leave a lot of collateral damage behind them too so she hoped they had at least a little restraint this time.
Later that night...Chamberlain, Maine...Prom Night...
Sue had never felt so beautiful and so guilty at the same in her entire life, she had been the salon and her hair and nails done. She was dressed in her gorgeous red gown and for the first time in days she felt like her old self again.
But at the back of her mind she felt so guilty, this should have been Carrie's special night although she seemed to be doing just fine on her own right now given how confident she seemed these days. Her clothes were still bad but she seemed to make them better just by being more confident and she had seen more than a few boys staring at her with admiration, who would have thought a better attitude could have that effect Sue thought with amazement. She hoped to find something to ease her conscience but for tonight she tried to put it to the back of her mind and enjoy tonight.
As she looked out of the window for Tommy to arrive she was disturbed by something that had happened today, when she had been at the salon she had seen Tina and the Twins sniggering at her and a few other people staring with sly grins. She shivered something about it unsettled her, she had this feeling that something wasn't right...that something bad was going to happen but she did her best to suppress it as she saw the limo Tommy had hired turn up and he appeared out of it, feeling like butterflies were fluttering in her stomach.
She with great determination forced those feelings to the back of her mind and managed to find a smile to greet Tommy with, this was going to be a night to remember she thought to herself.
- x -
In a dark street just outside of town, two large black vans were parked with false license plates. Inside twenty men sat talking on their comms.
"Tonight's the school prom, no teenage girl is going to miss that." One man said as they donned their tactical gear. "My daughter went on about hers for weeks before it happened."
"Cut the chatter we have no Intel on where the girl is, apparently she doesn't have a cell phone so we send two teams. Theta Two through Eleven you go to the prom, Me and Thetas Twelve to Twenty will go to the home and check there not to mention search for the apple, now move out." The team leader said, if she was not at any of those locations then they would have to be more creative in drawing her out.
"Aye sir." The members of Theta Team said in unison, dividing into two groups to carry out their mission.
- x -
Across town Carrie was sitting reading her text books in the living room while her mother sewed, before she might have given her glances to see what she was doing but now she was concentrating on her studies, maybe if she worked hard enough and did good enough in sports she could get a scholarship for college. Ms Desjardin thought she might have a shot at it and it made her think more positively about her future.
That was until Mama ripped the physics book she was reading out of her hands, surprising her too much to say anything at first given how caught up she had been in what she was reading. It also meant that she nearly missed what Mama said.
"You think you can fool me? I can see the sin inside you, Eve was weak just like you." Mama said with a wild look in her eyes that Carrie knew meant trouble but before she could say anything Mama threw the book she had ripped away into the fire.
Carrie's eyes opened wide with horror and she ran over hoping to get it before too much damage was done but it was hopeless, the book was burning far too quickly to salvage it and she turned around now feeling anger rising inside her. "That was the school's book mama it's not mine."
"Sin never dies." Mama said and Carrie saw that she had a fire poker in her hand which was now swinging straight at her head. Carrie reacted on pure instinct as her training from Ms Desjardin kicked in and she caught Mama's wrist and twisted, making her let go of the poker before twisting her mama's arm behind her back and forced her to her knees. Her fear mixed with anger over what had just happened and years of resentment came pouring out.
"Sin! Let me tell you about sin mama; wrath, lust, envy, pride all the things I see in you! You love hurting me making up sin just to have the excuse, you always have just to make yourself think that you are free of sin! That you are cleansing it when all you are doing is persisting in your belief that you are in god's grace when you couldn't be further from it. You're my mother, you're supposed to protect me!" Carrie said before giving Margaret one last hateful glance before letting her go and running up stairs to her room and locking the door. She felt tears running down her face and wanted for now to be as far from Mama as possible, she ran to her closet and pulled out her white hoodie, jeans, running shoes and her daddy's hidden blade not to mention his pendant and pictures. She changed quickly as she heard her mother thumping up the stairs and struggle to pull the door open before she began hitting it, trying to break it down.
Carrie gave one last look at the door, seeing her mother with her eagle vision trying to break it down with the fire poker that she must have retrieved and she quickly went to the window and climbed out stuffing the pictures and pendant in her pocket before dropping to ground and running off into the night so she could get some fresh air and time alone while she and her mother calmed down.
- x -
Back at the School Prom Rita was bored, she had dressed up in her stupid dress and uncomfortable heels and it was irritating her a lot. She had always hated dressing up even as a child, preferring to be active physically and dressed accordingly. She looked around and saw kids pouring booze in the punch, sneaking off to make out and sneaking glances at each other's dates. It brought a sigh to her lips, her observational skills had returned to their original level of sharpness due to training Carrie but it was annoying at that moment as she saw more than she wanted too.
She kept a vigilant eye out of Chris, she wouldn't put it past the brat to try and crash prom and so she kept a sharp watch on all the exits while her thoughts went to her young protégé.
Rita had been astounded at how fast Carrie had been progressing, months of work done in weeks and with great vigour and determination. She didn't think she was that good a teacher, her own self doubts springing forth before she crushed them, Carrie was just a lot smarter than she let on and a very quick learner Rita decided with pride in the girl that she had taken under her wing.
Seeing Tommy and Sue dancing brought a shake of the head, she knew now that Sue had only been trying to help Carrie by getting Tommy to bring her but she just wished Sue hadn't gone for the quick fix. Maybe if she had tried to defend Carrie more or even help her fit in with the rest of the school...Rita sighed she was Carrie's mentor so she couldn't always be her friend but Sue if she wanted too could.
Out of the corner of her eyes she saw them gathering the ballots for king and queen, but then noticing the side door open her attention quickly shifted seeing it was only one of the girls sneaking back in looking ruffled along with her date. That meant she missed Tina switching the bag of ballets with an identical one nor had she been close enough to the stage to see the bucket suspended over the Queen's throne.
She heard them moments later when the votes were tallied and announced Tommy and Sue were the king and queen of prom, she clapped politely as the two went to the stage to be crowned the tacky crowns placed on their heads while Sue was handed a bouquet of flowers. The sheer joy and excitement on their faces bringing a small smile to Rita's face but then in an instant the whole scene and atmosphere and scene in front of her changed.
A red mass fell from behind the drapes on the stage, impacting straight on Sue and covering her with a horrid red looking substance. Her face, her arms, her shoulders all over was covered in whatever the hell it was. There was silence for a moment as everyone took in what had just happened.
Then Heather started laughing.
Others followed while Rita, the principal, Tommy and a few others looked in horror at what was happening. Rita didn't waste any time moving as quickly as she could up to the stage and grabbing the frozen Sue's arm and started dragging her out of the gym. Tommy tried to follow but Rita gave him a stern look and said.
"I'll get her cleaned up, you and the principal find out who did this."
She continued pulling the shell-shocked Sue out of the gym and to the showers in the changing rooms, they all missed the clang as the bucket fell right where Tommy had been standing only moments earlier.
- x -
Billy and Chris were smirking like there was no tomorrow as they made their way to the side exit and escape the gym before anyone knew they were there, Billy reached the door first and pushed it open only for a rifle butt to be smashed into his stomach. He staggered winded by the force of the blow before he was grabbed by a huge man dressed in black soldier gear. Chris had only moments to register her shock before she too felt her arms being restrained.
"Hey! Let go!" She demanded only to get a slap to the face that stunned her into silence. She had never been hit before and all her defiance fled at the shock of it. She and Billy could not resist as they were dragged into the gym.
At each of the entrances to the gym two men each entered pointing their guns in the air and firing a few shots to make sure they had everyone's attention. All the teenagers and the adults all instantly reacted to the sight of the guns, some screaming all moving instinctively towards the centre of the room. Ten men all in black tactical gear and covered from head to foot all stood around the gym with their guns which looked terrifying to the quivering mass of people in the centre of the room, not to mention Chris and Billy who had been dragged in with them.
One of the soldiers stepped forward and scanned the faces in the crowd before turning to another.
"The girl's not here."
"Fuck!" The apparent leader of the group said, wishing there had been cameras in here they could have hacked rather than be this heavy handed but they were here to get a job done, let lawyers worry about collateral damage he was here to find a girl and a Piece of Eden. So he turned to the crowd and demanded. "If anyone has any knowledge of where Carrie White is then say now or I am going to be very disappointed."
The crowd was momentarily confused by the mention of Carrie White, what the hell had she done that warranted this? Tina did not take long to speak though hoping to save her own neck.
"She's not here, she stayed home."
The man who had spoken sighed before looking around the room, he had fucked up and he knew it now he had witnesses and they could not have that. He turned to his men and said.
"Seal the entrances, break the sprinklers and bring those two." He said pointing to Chris and Billy who instantly looked scared. "Two disgruntled students blocked all the exits to the gym and set the building ablaze, killing all inside before taking their own lives outside."
The horrified silence was quickly replaced by screams and yells, Tommy and a number rushed forward only to be bashed with their gun butts to avoid leaving bullets for a coroner to find later. As two men splashed gasoline over all flammable surfaces, Chris and Billy were dragged kicking and screaming out of the gym while the men blocked the exits. The students desperately hammered on the doors and tried to go for the bleachers hoping to escape through the windows but as they shut the last of the doors, one soldier threw a Molotov cocktail straight into the soaked with gasoline wood.
The fire erupted like a train it was so fast across the wood and then across the entire gym, burning the legs of the people who were trying to climb their way to freedom. They screamed and tried desperately to open the windows but their hands were engulfed in flames and rendered useless with burns. Tommy and some others tried to get out by the back doors when a girder fell and slammed down hard on Tommy's head. He fell and no one bothered to pick him up as they struggled to find a way out.
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Chris screamed in terror as she and Billy were dragged into the corridor a short from the gym. Their desperate struggles however were in vain as the men held them to firmly to break free. Billy started screaming curses at them and received a solid hook to the jaw for his troubles.
"Get the girl's phone." The apparent leader said and one of his men ripped the device out of Chris' pocket before quickly hammering out an incriminating text and sending it to all of her contacts before forcing it back into her pocket. "Now take one of the unregistered guns and make it look like suicide."
One of the men pulled out a normal looking handgun and carefully put it first to Billy's head before pulling the trigger, blood splattered against the wall. He slumped down and Chris screamed at the sight of her dead boyfriend, her absolute terror before she saw the gun coming towards her.
"NOOO!" She screamed just as the trigger was pulled.
- x -
In the showers not far from the gym Rita had put Sue under the shower and washed the blood off and put the girl in her locker's gym outfit for lack of other clothes. Rita's own dress had been stained with blood and she had changed into her own casual jeans, t-shirt and hoodie not to mention more comfortable shoes.
Sue seemed to have come out of her shock and was sitting there with tears running down her face when they heard the first gun shot. Both of them turned in shock and when it was quickly followed by the second Rita quickly ran into her office and pulled her hidden blade out of the draw and strapped it to her arm.
"What's going on?" Sue asked nervously eyeing the knife thing her teacher had strapped to her wrist and looking to the door where the gunshots had come from. Rita gave her a sharp look and told her sternly.
"Sue, stay here and wait five minutes, if I'm not back use the side door and run as far away as you can. Understand? UNDERSTAND!?" She asked with more intensity when Sue gave her a blank look. Sue nodded and Rita pushed her into her small office before heading off as fast as she could to find out what the hell was happening.
Peering out of the door she saw a man in black tactical gear walking down the corridor between her and the gym, she was disturbed enough about that but what really shocked and worried her was the symbol on his helmet and on his sleeve...the Astergo logo.
Templars she thought with horror...how in the hell had they found them? Rita thought with horror. But she took a few steady breaths and focused herself, waiting for the right moment as the soldier passed the door to leap out and with a flick of wrist stab her hidden blade right between the man's ribs. He instantly gasped but the blade had lodged itself in his lung and he was powerless to speak as Rita with some difficulty pulled him into a cupboard before taking his pistol and silencer, not to mention a few spare clips. She stuffed the clips into her waist band before moving as fast as she could towards the gym, she saw two men standing over the bodies of Chris and Billy with a third just down the corridor but Rita without even thinking about it aimed her stolen pistol at them and with with a squeeze of the trigger caught the first in the throat before sending another bullet through the visor of the second, the third turned around just in time to see her aiming the gun at his face and pulling the trigger. She didn't think about the two young people dead before her as she heard the fire and the screams coming from the gym and rushed there as quickly as she could.
Seeing two men outside the gym's main door she ran towards them, the men did not even see her till she put a bullet in one before impaling the second with her hidden blade. She turned and saw to her horror the sight of kids she had been teaching burning or choking to death as the entire gym was near completely ablaze. The sprinklers were off and the lock on the door was solid, Rita in desperation looked around and saw a set of keys on the belt of one of the men she'd killed quickly grabbing them and opening the padlock holding the door shut.
The heat hit her like a wave as she pulled the doors open but she screamed to the kids that were still alive.
"COME ON! THIS WAY!" The sound of the fire was deafening but the kids saw her and the fact that the door was open and ran through the flames towards her. She waved them past as they stumbled out but the bodies of those too weak to get out or she had been too late to save were engraved on her mind forever as she looked for anyone she could help but the fire was too strong and she had to abandon any attempt of going in to check for others. Looking at the kids that were covered with soot or burned or both she counted only eleven people had managed to get out of the gym before the fire made escape impossible, she realised that there had been nearly eighty people in there; kids, staff and a few others.
All gone Rita thought with horror, so much so that she missed the sight of the two soldiers coming up the corridor and was only alerted when Erika screamed in fright. Rita immediately shot at them, they returned fire with automatic rifles, one bullet gazed her left arm as she dived for cover in the nearby doorway. She winced in pain but with the gun in her right she shot back to give the eleven surviving kids a chance to run which thankfully they did without needing to be told.
Rita managed to nail one of the soldiers in the visor, killing him instantly but the other had her pinned. She changed clip and heard the sounds of boots coming up the corridor and peeked out quickly, narrowly missing a hail of bullets aimed right at her but counted four soldiers. She cursed herself, she was getting careless she should have used her eagle vision to check for more templars but now she was pinned with no hope of escape. She sighed as she knew capture or death was certain and vowed to make sure it was the latter rather than let them put her in that machine so she took a few deep breaths and hoped she had trained Carrie well enough that she could survive before she prepared to go out in a blaze of glory.
Only then she caught something out of the corner of her eye, Sue was leaning around the corner and had something in her hand. A smoke grenade she'd probably taken off one of the dead soldiers Rita realised and Sue threw it right down the corridor, the confined space quickly filling up and blinking Rita let eagle vision see for her, the red outlines in the smoke showing her where her targets were while they were blinded by the smoke. Rita didn't hesitate and in quick succession put a bullet in each of their heads before turning to Sue.
"I told you to run." She said scolding, she was glad of the save but not that Sue had put her own life at risk doing it.
"I had to find Tommy, is he okay?" She asked desperate to know if the love of her life was alive. Rita sagged as she realised that out of the eleven people she had rescued Tommy Ross was not amongst them. She turned to the scared Sue and gave her the news.
"Sue, I'm sorry but he didn't make it out." Rita said and the sheer devastation of Sue's face was heartbreaking but right now Rita who grabbed a rifle, a few clips and a couple of grenades from the soldiers she's just killed needed to stay focused. "Sue, go home now. I have to go and find Carrie, its her they were after."
Sue however did not want to go home, instead she seemed to get angry and said.
"You can't drive with that arm, I'll do it."
Rita wanted to argue with her but she was painfully aware of how little time they might have to reach Carrie before she disappeared into their black vans, so she sighed with annoyance and said.
"Fine but you do what I say, when I say...this time." Rita told her and Sue nodded before they both ran to the parking lot, hearing fire was getting closer and someone had alerted the fire trucks as the whir of their sirens could be heard.
Carrie was enjoying the thrill of free-running across the city, the wind rushing past her and the sheer freedom that came with it. She would have kept going all night but she knew she would have to return home soon to check on mama, hopefully she had calmed down by now but her worry for her made her go back even with what happened with the fire poker.
She crossed town quickly enough and came within sight of home but noticed a black van had parked and the hairs on the back of her neck started rising...something was not right she thought with worry and crept closer to the house seeing men dressed as soldiers standing all around. Carrie was not sure who they were but she managed to creep close enough to hear what was going on inside and used her eagle vision to see.
Three men had completely trashed the house she saw with astonishment, tearing all the cupboards open and spilling the contents over the floor while two others stood over the kneeling figure of mama. She could just hear what they were saying.
"Where is your daughter?" The leader she assumed said with an angry voice but mama just lifted her head up and said.
"Sin never dies." There were growls of anger and frustration from the men before they hit mama, Carrie gasped but did nothing as she didn't want to risk them hurting mama again. But then one of the men standing over mama went to the kitchen and pulled out one of the sharpest kitchen knives and said to the others as he walked back over.
"This is hopeless, stupid bitch has too many screws loose. If we kill her then frame her daughter the cops can do the legwork for us and make her a villain no one will help, they lock her up and we can get her later." The leader said and before Carrie could even properly register what the man had just said he had thrust the knife straight into her mother's gut. Mama gasped but strangely smiled before falling like a puppet with its strings cut.
Carrie slumped down, her mind going blank with shock...mama dead, it was more than her mind could comprehend. However much she hurt or scared her over the years...she was still her mother and she loved her and now she was gone.
Taken from her by these men.
Carrie was numb for only a moment as shock gripped her but soon like a volcano building up for an eruption...there was a moment of absolute calm though before it finally broke, the air was near still and there was hardly any sound but that soon ended.
The men in the kitchen that had killed her mother felt her wrath first, they turned away to front door while behind them the kitchen knives all started rising from wherever in the room they were hovering for a moment before flying straight into into the joints of men. They screamed out in pain at the unexpected attack and as they fell with steel impaled in the back of their knees they looked desperately for where it had come from, only to see three chopping knives coming straight at their heads.
The helmets were spilt the force of the impact was so great and the metal embedded in their heads, they were killed instantly and the men that came to see what was happening felt Carrie's anger next. From where she was her eagle vision allowed her to see them all and the two men that came to see what was going on after tearing her room apart where treated with the sight of the cable from the lights ripping itself out of the walls and wrapping around their necks...it immediately tightened so hard that they couldn't breathe and then kept on going. As they clawed at the cable desperate to get it off so that they could catch their breath it tightened hard enough to cut into the skin and blood started appearing around the tight cable and they were hoisted up, the cable wrapping itself around their throats again and again before they were hanging lifeless from the bannister.
Carrie emerged from her hiding place, her anger now driving her to seek out the last five men who were still in the street. She could see them loading her father's box into their van, that only made her madder so she ripped up the white picket fence and threw it straight at the men. The points however were not strong enough to penetrate their body armour and bounced off which both alerted them to the fact that she was there and infuriated her more. They aimed their guns at her but she easily ripped them out of their hands and threw them well out of reach, she heard their shouts of surprise and what she thought might be obscenities being directed at her but she barely even noticed them as her eyes zoned in on her targets.
Around the neighbourhood that she knew like the back of her hand there were plenty of other things she could use.
One of them she saw immediately was trying to run away but her eye also caught the nearby manhole cover and threw it straight at his head. The large metal disk smashed clean into his head, caving in his helmet and skull with the great force that she threw it with. They all looked on with fear, she could feel it but her anger wouldn't let her stop.
The overhead electric cables were next, she saw their mounting on the post and easily pulled them free, sparks flew everywhere but two of the men had no time to see this as two of the cables like snakes striking their prey leapt out and stabbed into the backs of the men. Their bodies immediately started shaking as thousands of volts coursed through them and dropped dead as the sheer electricity flowing through them stopped their hearts. The neighbourhood was plunged into darkness and only the moon over head provided just enough light to see.
The last two men looked around desperate for a way out and she could feel their terror and with her eagle vision easily saw the hose from next door in the darkness, she concentrated and both of them felt themselves leaving the ground, floating just slightly above as an unbearable pressure formed around them. Their panic was so strong now they tried hard to run but their feet waved helplessly in the air. The hose now came to life at her command, pulling itself free of the wall and wrapping around the neck of one of the last two men, he yelled as it wrapped itself around his throat and then around the nearby lamppost. Carrie smiled as she then finally let go of just him and heard the satisfying snap as he fell and the his neck broke.
That left just one who hung there like a puppet on a string, he started talking again but with a desperate begging for his own life but she honestly was still so zoned out that she didn't even notice. Carrie wondered how to finish him, the last of the men that killed her mama and as she pondered she felt the weight of the hidden blade on her arm. She looked down and in an instant made her decision.
She used her powers to pull him forward, he screamed but was powerless as she raised her arm and with a flick of the wrist just as she'd been shown stabbed the blade straight into his chest and into his heart through the gaps in the ribs, just like she had been taught. He looked down at the hidden blade and then into her eyes before they went glassy.
"Carrie?"
The sudden voice behind her nearly made her lash out with her mind again but the moment Carrie realised who it was she froze in fright, turning around slowly she saw Ms Desjardin standing there with a horrified look at all she was seeing. Carrie instantly was struck by the fear that she could feel coming off her teacher and mentor and remembered that her teacher had eagle vision too, she had seen everything.
All the pain that her anger had blocked out was suddenly hitting again at full force, seeing mama die and now she felt the fear rolling off Ms Desjardin, the only person that had ever been kind to her...that had ever believed in her was now scared of her.
Anger was quickly replaced by grief and despair, her life had finally been turning around...she had someone who liked her and she was doing so much better at school. Maybe she could have gotten a scholarship to go to college and finally get away from mama, have a chance of a normal life at last but now that was all gone. Mama was dead, she had killed people there was no chance of going to college now. She was going to prison but the fact that mama was dead was what hurt most. Despite everything she had done to her Carrie still loved her mother unconditionally...it had taken her dying to really understand that but what child didn't love their mother? And now she was gone.
Carrie sank to her knees, losing the will to stand as her grief overwhelmed her, tears running down her face as she was confronted with the terrifying fact that she was now alone in this world. Mama had been all she had and now she was dead.
But the feeling of warm arms being wrapped around her made her look up and saw with her eyes red with crying that Ms Desjardin had enveloped her in a hug and was tenderly stroking her hair.
"I know sweetie I know." Ms Desjardin said and Carrie honestly had never been so surprised, despite everything Ms Desjardin still liked her. "It will hurt for a while, you have to let it so you heal but it won't be bad forever."
Carrie desperately wanted to believe that although she honestly couldn't see it right now, but the hug she was being given honestly was more comforting than anything that she had ever wanted at that moment. She leaned into it gratefully and saw to her surprise and anger that they had an audience, Sue Snell stood nearby still staring at at the destruction but she too reacted at the words of Ms Desjardin as tears ran down her face.
"They're Templars aren't they?" Carrie asked wanting to confirm it. When Ms Desjardin nodded with worry crossing her own face she asked. "How did they find us?"
"I don't know, but the fact is they have and we need to move. When these guys don't check in they will send someone else to investigate." Ms Desjardin said and Carrie felt the fear inside Ms Desjardin spike again, she pulled away from the hug and with a sense of desolation said.
"You're afraid of me."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean I'm going anywhere." Ms Desjardin said which surprised Carrie enough to look startled which made Ms Desjardin smile. "I have never seen the likes of what you just did before and I am a little frightened I admit...but the one thing I am not going to do is abandon you now."
Carrie started crying again and now through grief which still hurt more than she could describe a little spark of hope had eased the pain a little.
"Thank you...Ms Desjardin." Carrie said now with a small smile which was returned.
"Call me Rita, I think we're passed formal titles now, we'll take the apple to the Brotherhood they should be able to help us but we have to go." Ms Desjardin...Rita told her and while Carrie found that strange to think of her like that it was a welcome thought. There was nothing for her here now, it was time to leave it behind and devote herself to her training.
"I'm coming too."
The interruption of Sue Snell was unwelcome and Carrie wanted to snap at her but Rita beat her too it.
"Sue. There's no way out for me and Carrie now, we're involved too deeply to simply walk away. But you can Sue, go home and forget what you saw tonight." Rita told her but Sue looked unmoved and said.
"They killed Tommy, all of my friends! I can't let them get away with that." Sue said with anger now evident in her voice. Rita wanted to curse but given all that had happened tonight the authorities could be here any moment and she needed to get Sue to go home.
"You have no idea what you are getting yourself into! Where Carrie and I are going there is no turning back! For now you are unknown to Astergo and they shouldn't come after you...but if you come with us then you have to leave it all behind! Your parents, the rest of your family, your friends you can never see any of them again! Once they learn you are with us they will hunt you Sue, stay here and forget. Your life depends on it." Rita told her, laying it on a bit thick but if it got the girl to realise she was better off here then so be it. Seeing Sue was conflicted about the idea she went over to the truck and picked up the box that had been hidden in Carrie's house. A quick peak inside revealed the Apple was still there along with the rest but it looked more a jumble as 'they' had clearly rooted through it. Then she noticed something she had missed last time she'd looked in the box...an envelope with Carrie's name on it.
She picked up it up and saw the familiar writing of Thomas Miles, clearly it must have been nestled in the hooded cloak...he had had left it for his daughter. Rita still not sure what to make of Carrie's strange powers but whatever abilities she had she was still just a girl and one that needed her help, the letter might finally give her some answers and tell them what had happened to her father.
So she picked up the box and rushed back over to her car, once it got them out of town and to the next one they'd have to swap it for another one or find some other means of transport until she could make contact with the Brotherhood. Any safe-houses she had known about were unlikely to be there now so she would have to think on her feet till then especially with Carrie in tow.
However when she got to the car she saw to her great annoyance that Sue was sitting in the back with Carrie who was trying to avoid looking at the other girl, Sue gave her a firm look and said.
"I'm going."
Rita wanted to slap her but the sound of sirens in the distance forced her hand and she needed to get out of here, so with a resigned sigh of annoyance she said.
"I hope you understand what your getting yourself into. Carrie, I think this is for you." Rita said managing a smile before handing over the envelope.
- x -
As Rita started the car and drove them away from her old home Carrie opened the envelope and pulled a letter out which she started to read, not knowing who it was from or why only for her eyes to widen at the contents.
My Dearest Carrie,
I can only say how sorry I am for not being there, for leaving you the way I have but where I am going I have to leave everything I am behind. It stabs at my heart that I will not be there to watch you grow up into the amazing woman I am sure you will one day become. The day you came into this world I knew you would hold my heart forever and I only wish I could leave you with William and his wife but my brother would stop me doing what I have to do and I would not want you growing up in my brother's difficult care and I know Margaret is a harsh woman but I hope she has been at least a mother too you.
If you found this letter then I can only assume that you have our family's gift, passed down from generation to generation it has always enabled us to see in ways that others can not and make no mistake my girl our family is special. While I hope you have had or are having a normal childhood our family does not do normal...never has going back centuries we have been a part of a fight that guides the destiny of the world, making sure people have the right to make their own decisions for good or ill. I will not ask you to take up this fight Carrie as it exacts a high price on those who fight it and I want you to be safe. The Apple in the box with this letter, the orb please just keep it away from everyone else as it could be very dangerous if anyone else found it.
Do not search for me Carrie, people are looking for me that would hurt you if they learn you exist but know that wherever I am and whatever I am doing I am thinking of you...I love you with all my heart and I am proud of you.
Your Loving Father,
Thomas Miles aka Ralph White.
Carrie felt the hot tears running down her cheek as she absorbed her father's words, written so many years ago but still potent enough to hit her hard. She brought the pendant to her lips and kissed its cool gold surface, feeling so full of emotion that she hardly knew what she was feeling but the pain of all that had happened tonight lessened slightly. The letter still clasped in her hand she sat back as Rita drove them out of town. None of them spoke, not Sue who sat staring at the sky or Rita who just kept her eyes on the road as they went forward leaving Chamberlain far behind and heading into an uncertain future.
Well I hope you enjoyed it and I was thinking of creating following stories that take the story into the Assassin's Creed games starting with Assassin's Creed 2 and go from there. I may do it if there is enough interest.
I know Desmond got his impressive ancestry from both his parents but in this story all come from his father's side.