(Events take place around the time of the Firestorm crisis of Tiberian Sun, simultaneously with the events of Syndicate in the Assassins Creed timeline.
WW2 Eva: Red Alert 2's Lt. Eva.
Desmond: Desmond Files (f-list))
Making their way back the way they came was simple as most personnel were trying to restore power locally or were outside dealing with NOD personnel. Desmond easily led the way back with eagle vision working like night vision in its own way, his eyes taking a gold hue as he concentrated on their target who was getting agitated in his room with several others since the power went out. "Should we just knock them out? They don't seem particularly hostile at the moment."
Desmond sort of forgot that Kane was still new to all this, that he knew things he shouldn't because of Emir and Yusef. He wasn't sure if the man had picked up any information about eagle vision and how it worked. Ezio has only briefly explained it to Yusef one night while they got high and relaxed. "Either way they will be easy to surprise."
"If it's all the same to you," Kane whispered, "I'll do the heavy lifting after you knock them out."
Kane was not used to being trusted by outsiders. It was always his policy to maintain some level of secrecy to his actual plans, much like he taught Oxanna. Then again, GDI was also plagued with 'need-to-know' confidentiality among its ranks - that he learned the hard way, with previously captured GDI units not able to relay the information they needed after CABAL was through scanning them.
"If you want to, then sure."
Desmond could see the men stuck in the room, moving restlessly with eagle vision. They were trying to get out from the room since all the door operated with it and were useless without it, something that was a huge design flaw in Desmond's opinion.
He took the opportunity to find the power line leading to the door and put his hand on it, channeling just enough power through it for the door to open. The second it did the men's cheers and were followed by yells of surprise as Desmond rushed in the room and clocked a guy in the jaw sending him flying back. The others barely had time to respond as Desmond quickly formed a baton in a small flash of light and proceeded to make everyone forget what happened with several welts to the head. At least they had tried to fight, the templar hung in the back and didn't do much at all. Coward. A swift knock to the head and the guy crumbed.
"Alright, its clear. This guy doesn't look like much if you ask me."
"Tch." Kane walked in after Desmond cleared the room and clocked the Templar spy.
"I'll say. He didn't even put up a fight." Crossing over the other knocked out GDI, Kane reached the out-cold soldier at the end of the room where Desmond was standing, knelt over to grab and place his arm behind his neck, and hoisted the grunt off the ground, and onto his shoulder.
"Got a plan for our escape?"
Desmond's eyes blazed gold again as he looked around for their out. It seemed like the NOD forces were having a hard time with the GDI soldiers who had not set up some other buildings but they hadn't lost any territory yet. This was their home turf after all and they refused to fail on the eve of their leaders return.
Desmond could spot some weak holes they could slip through and get back to base but he wondered if he should give some support for the NOD guys.
"Well, we can sneak out the back and slip through their defense there. Or we can go back and I Can help cover your men while you get back to base with him. Hmm, there aren't allot of people in here so I could blow this place up too as another distraction..."
Kane stifled a chuckle.
"You remind me of CABAL. He always offers us multiple options for our missions. Anton would always fulfill as many of them as he can - he made life for us a lot simpler that way."
'Affirmative,' CABAL confirmed within Kane's consciousness, 'My priority is always the most plausible outcome affordable for the Brotherhood.'
"I don't want to trouble you," Kane prepended, "so do what you feel works. Though, if you were to ask me... I'd prefer the option offering the most pizzazz to this GDI base," hinting at a distracting explosion with a wink.
Desmond gave Kane a nod and smiled, it was a bit reminiscent of Altair, not that Kane would know that.
"I'll give you a head start then, your signal will be the fire alarm. When you hear that, expect some massive fireworks in about 1 minute. That should give people enough time to get out for whoever is left."
With that he started to plan out where to place his explosives, he wanted a distraction with the least life lost. So he planed on making the explosion go upwards. A massive pillar of fire would be extremely distracting for everyone around them and nobody would notice Kane sneaking off. NOD would hopefully take advantage of the distraction and push GDI out.
Once he split off from Kane the bombs were set all over the place, all directed skyward. He pulled the alarm and quickly ran to meet with the other, just before he got out of range of his bombs he triggered them and the whole building exploded beautifully skyward causing everyone nearby to stop and stare at the display.
Distracted, GDI began to lose the fight they were starting to win. Kane realized his NOD forces might not need that much help as their enemies fled back to tend to their base, now on fire.
With most of their power down, repairs would be costly. Chandra, aboard the Kodiak with his crew, bit on his thumb in frustration as events unfolded for him on the main screen.
He realized he was up against something unusual.
"They're not gonna want to hear this at the Philadelphia, but we have to let them know. Eva?"
Meanwhile, back at the Temple, Oxanna awaited the return of both her leader, and their powerful guest. There was much to process after this mission.
Desmond caught up to Kane easily and saw the NOD forces quickly taking advantage of the disarray to push their enemies back. He was a bit giddy from the explosion himself. Assassins were more covert in their efforts, it wasn't often he got to show off like this.
"I'm guessing you've got some plans for this guy? You wouldn't be for kidnapping if you didn't have some way of getting info out of him." He glances at the retreating GDI, "think they are done for today?"
"Oh, he's not for me," Kane corrected. "One look at him and I realized right away who this heathen is - Oxanna's."
Kane recalled the Hammerfest infiltration back during the second Tiberium War. Anton Slavik had used Oxanna's seduction techniques to convince one of GDI's higher ranking grunts to lower the base defenses for them to cross in with the Montauk. The person in question was none other than Jake McNeil, Michael McNeil's estranged brother.
"Tch. A low level creature like this... I should never be dirtying my hands with such scum. Nevertheless, Oxanna's getting her fun soon."
Kane looked back at Desmond after dropping the knocked out soldier back at the Temple's infirmary. "That was spectacular," he congratulated him. "Thank you."
"Oxanna convinced him? And somehow he's a templar, that's weird. Your welcome, it's not usually our style to be flashy but hey, it worked pretty damn well."
While the guy was getting check by the doctors Desmond took the opportunity to search the guy for anything that marked him as a templar. Eagle vision was always right about these things and it had only become more sensitive with him in this state but it was always good to have proof. He did find it, a small tattoo on his arm covered by his sleeve. Anyone seeing that normally would think he was religious or something.
He dropped the arm once he found it, now to see what Oxanna could get out of this guy and if not then desmond would take a crack at him. "Does she have a way of dealing with guys like him?"
"Oh, she has her ways, alright," Kane joked reassuringly. "I taught her myself. I'm sure she was quite the mental challenge when you first met her, wasn't she?"
Kane took pride in his ability to teach. He had morphed Oxanna's potential as a new recruit into tangible, unmistakable leadership and skill as a seasoned commander and interrogator.
"Speak of the devil," he continued as she walked in.
"She was... difficult to deal with, smart and a pain in the ass."
He looked up when Oxanna came in, they had something of an unofficial truce right now but he was still wary. She had some idea of him and he would prefer to keep that particular secret to himself. Granted it was getting hard around these people and holding back was always a challenge, especially when he wasn't entirely sure what he could do.
He gave Oxanna a nod, despite being a pain she had earned his respect and he gave her the space to look at her ... pawn? Pet? Informant?
"Boytoy," she said, stepping in - almost correcting Desmond's inner monologue. "It's been a while. Jake? Is that really you?"
Jake, of course, was still knocked out cold. So after he was plopped on a chair, Oxanna gave him a few pets to the cheek with her gloved palm, before delivering a nice, heavy slap to the face to wake him up.
"Rise and shine, little GDI piggy. Rise and shine. We missed you."
And with that, Jake had awoken, just as Kane had walked to exit the room and avoid this "filth" as he put it. Jake was a little dazed and groggy from the slap, now surrounded entirely by NOD and... a new face he's not familiar with.
Desmond hung back by the door, he wanted to stick around and see what Oxanna was able to get out of the templar and serve as back up. Even if it seemed unnecessary. Kane had left the room but eagle vision showed he was still nearby, most likely interested in what this guy had to say even if he was apparently trash.
His hood was still down even if he stood out like a sore thumb with his white hoodie. But if this guy was a templar then he should recognize the white of an assassin. How much he knew would show how high up the chain he was and if Oxanna couldn't get the info out of the guy then Altair was always more then happy to beat the shit out of someone for info.
Grabbing Jake by the hair as soon as he woke up, Oxanna got to work.
"You with me, boy? You have information we need. Do you recognize who we are?"
Part of her interrogation always started off with verifying if her victim was conscious and aware of the situation.
"Whuh... huh? O... Oxanna?"
Jake attempted to look around him, but he was interrupted with a light slap to the face.
"W-wheh... where am I? Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
Oxanna licked her lips, leaned, and reared her head in further close to his face, still not letting go of his head. This piece of shit knew about Marcion's treachery, she deduced. He knows Anton is dead. She did her best not to show her anger.
"Dead and back," she whispered. "Dead and back." She threw his head back with agitated, disgusted force and stood up.
"The Templars," she resumed, focusing on the mission Kane tasked her. "What do you know? How do you communicate with them? We already know you're the missing link."
Oxanna had given Jake her back, hiding her hands from him. Without him noticing, she was putting back her black leather gloves on, preparing for what she's about to do to him. In the process, she winked at Desmond, who was standing a bit out of sight for Jake.
Desmond has expected Oxanna to ask about the attack on their base first but was surprised she asked about the Templars. It also looked like she wasn't too happy with her boy toy which meant she was going to play hard with him.
Altair was already looking over his shoulder with interest, the man enjoyed peeling back the layers of a person till they were exposed to him. Usually civilians yielded quickly with a few punches but those with a cause were harder and more enjoyable. He didn't seek to harm others but he was good at his craft when needed. He had taken an interest in some of the more bloody horror movies which worried Desmond sometimes.
New ideas were dangerous for a person who could use them, and Altair was always eager to see how others did the job.
"We... we weren't told much," Jake lied. "Only that Abstergo was going to handle the logistics for a new threat in coordination with GDI officials. That's all I know, I swear!"
Oxanna smirked. Turning around, she glared at Jake with a wide grin, which terrified him. He remembered how this woman had conned him in the past. His fears were confirmed when she reached with her gloved hand to the infirmary's wall and flipped a toolset panel into view.
The toolset carried lots of hanged apparatuses and surgical instruments. In this context, however, Jake knew otherwise.
"Indeed," Oxanna read his mind, "you're not gonna have as much of a good time as we will. Spit it."
"I'm telling you the truth! They kept everything on a need to know basis!"
"So why did you target this location specifically? Why did they bring YOU here?"
"They didn't say! Abstergo simply told GDI they had to be around for- ah... I mean... fuck!"
As Jake struggled to keep his story straight, he managed to turn and notice Desmond staring at him nearby. His face contorted with horror as a new realization dawned on him.
Oxanna was already playing this guy like a fiddle, he was already afraid and easily spooked. He already knew what she was capable of and she used that easily. He was weak, weak-willed and easy to manipulate. Perfect templar material for a lower level guy.
When he was noticed finally the guy went pale and it brought him some feeling of glee bled over from altair. He decided to play along as he tilted his head and smirked at the man. He would be so easy to break.
Oxanna, sensing what resembled a strain of bloodthirst coming from outside the room, stepped out to face Desmond, who seemed to be showing intrigue.
"Piqued your interest?" She asked, but before she could expect an answer, Desmond had already stepped in, leaving her outside.
Oxanna blinked. Absolute silence. It was clear Desmond's sudden change in attitude required space.
She sneaked back to the closed door, and peeked through the frame...
((Jake is alive, and Desmond manages his interrogation! What will happen to the GDI spy? Find out next chapter!))