DO YOU GUYS REMEMBER WHEN I WAS GONNA UPDATE EVERYDAY

YEAH ME TOO AHA

More of an explanation under this, but enjoy!

3rd of June, 2012. Scotland.

It was the day before his world was going to go to shit, and Darren McDonald had never felt better. He walked into the headquarters, calm as you like, met the eye of every guard that he passed with the firm, quiet belief that they were going to be the first ones to get it went things got fucked up. No more sneering at him, or laughing. It was his turn.

He and Maria had been working nonstop to make sure that everything was in place for tomorrow. The Moderns (As Maria had come to call them) had contacted her last night to relay their positions, with an urge to join them when all hell broke loose. They'd follow the Doctor's lead, they said, and would also try to evacuate Stillman, Hastings, Crane and Miles while they were at it.

Things could only go to plan, as far as Darren was concerned.

He passed the ID check, and then walked into the front of the building. His eye fell as it always did to the desk where Maria should be working, and braced himself for the way his heart would lift into his mouth, but was spectacularly disappointed and surprised to find that it wasn't Maria at all - a lady with brown hair was in Maria's seat, typing away at her computer. Suddenly unsure of himself, Darren slowed down. Maria hadn't told him that she wouldn't be in her usual spot, so what was this all about?

Something wasn't right here.

Trying to act as nonchalant as possible, Darren approached the girl at the desk. She didn't look up. He cleared his throat, and she looked up with a frown, as if he'd interrupted something very important.

'Oh, uhm…' he began awkwardly. 'D'you know where the other girl went?'

'What other girl?' The new receptionist demanded in one of the roughest accents Darren had ever heard.

'Uh – the one who's here usually. Blonde…Mary?' His guess didn't sound even vaguely passable, even to him. Luckily, it was clear that this new receptionist was bored of talking to him.

'Dunno. I just got told to come up here for the day.'

'Okay. Cheers.' Darren said awkwardly, and went to turn away, but then her eyes fell on his badge.

'You're Darren McDonald?'

'Uh, yeah?'

'Someone upstairs wanted to see you. Someone called Vidic? He said to give you the message as soon as you came in.'

Fuck. 'Oh. Uhm. Thanks.' Darren finished uselessly, and then went for the lift. He frowned as he hit the button for the top floor, where his old office was, and continued frowning at the doors as he went up. Maria gone off somewhere, and Vidic wanted to see him? The thought made him nervous, and it didn't help that something in him was squirming. Something wasn't right…something wasn't right…

And even when he was out of the lift, something still wasn't right. The feeling was getting worse, right up to the point he knocked on Vidic's door.

'Who is it?' Vidic called out, almost singing.

'McDonald, sir.'

'Ah, the very man I wanted to see! Come in, come in!'

Darren opened the door, and found out exactly what was wrong. Kevin, Maria's brother, was stretched out on bloody carpet with a bullet hole in his head. Stunned, useless and blank, Darren looked up. Vidic was grinning. Maria was restrained in a corner. She was gagged. Screaming.

Someone came up behind Darren, and the barrel of a gun met the back of his head with a smack that went through his entire being. Maria screamed again when everything went an instant black.

It was pain first. Then everything else happened.

Darren was not aware of it, but after today, everything would be pain.

Groggy, and his head bursting with agony, he opened his eyes. It was a struggle to focus, but when the cloud was lifted from his eyes, he started screaming. Kevin's face had been turned towards him, that bullet hole in his forehead staring at him like a third eye, sitting on top of his two like a pyramid. His other eyes, his real eyes, were empty and wide. Kevin kept staring, and when the screams weren't enough, Darren pulled himself away frantically, only to find that his hands were bound behind him.

'I think that's quite enough.' Said a voice he recognised, and instantly a pair of hands came down on his shoulders. He was yanked upwards, and his world spun painfully again. He moaned, the fog descending over his eyes again as his head lolled on his neck. Someone behind him forced him to kneel, and a figure made its way forward through the mist. He recognised it, and through the pain, he found rage.

'I'm gonna fucking kill you,' he said slowly, focusing on every word. There was anger in each sound, every syllable, and Darren filled himself up with it to the brim. 'Fucking kill you – '

Someone punched him in the jaw; a fabulous right hook. Pain exploded in his head again, and he felt his lip split. Tasted blood. He could hear Maria's muffled scream again.

'As I'm sure you thought you would.' Said Vidic calmly, as if he and Darren were having pleasant small talk. Vidic, squatting in front of him, tilted his head with an almost sympathetic look. 'I must thank you, though,' he said loudly. There was a strange look in his eye that Darren didn't like, something twinkling, and powerless to do anything, Darren bared his bloody teeth in a painful grimace. 'For being so helpful.'

As Vidic straightened up and stepped away, Darren tried to wrench his shoulders from the grip of the guard behind him, but he held firm. Vidic walked around Kevin's body so that Darren was forced to see it, out of the corner of his eye, like a bloody ghost. Vidic glanced down at the body, and made a soft tut noise under his breath, like the blood on the carpet was mud that a dog had bought in with it. And then he carried on talking.

'For if it wasn't for you, Darren, we wouldn't have found you.' he looked at Maria then, and Darren looked too. She was in a state as bad as his: her makeup was streaked with blood and tears. On her knees and unable to make a sound, she glared up at Vidic's smiling face. And behind her, holding her still, was the Texan agent. He looked at Maria like he barely knew what he was doing, and when Darren growled and attempted to wrench himself away again, he looked up in his direction. And there was something about his blank look that suddenly spoke volumes of guilt, as if his time spent playing happy agents with all the children from Abstergo had come to an end that he didn't like. Darren didn't say a word, but as soon as the agent's eyes met his, he looked away. He saw what Darren promised.

I'm going to rip you apart.

'To think, an Assassin within our very midst!' Continued Vidic, looking down at Maria and smiling as if the fact delighted him. 'Of course, we knew there was someone working against us, but we had no idea it was you!' His smile grew wider. 'You're a very clever girl, Maria. But it was a bad idea to ever trust Darren McDonald.' He turned his head to eye Darren over his shoulder, his hands folded neatly behind his back. There was that look again, that nasty look the bullies in school give you when they're leading you on. Darren grunted as he attempted to wrench himself away again. Vidic smiled. 'Why, Maria, it was Darren who told your brother you were being held here, to lead him into our trap – '

'THAT'S A LIE!' Darren roared as Maria's eyes went wide. 'THAT'S A FUCKING LIE!'

'It was an awful shame,' Vidic continued as Darren fell silent. 'Such a young man,' he said almost sadly, nudging Kevin's trainer with his foot. 'But. Two Assassins with one bullet is a boon that we won't waste.' He sighed, and then brightened again. 'But like I was saying, my dear. It was a very bad idea to trust Darren McDonald. He's been very bad, I'm afraid to say, and has been telling us all about your little adventures playing Assassins – '

'DON'T LISTEN TO HIM, I NEVER - '

Darren was punched in the face again, but this time Maria didn't scream. She was entirely focused on Vidic, and Darren was horrified to his core. He started whimpering.

'It's a lie, Maria, please…'

With his back turned to Darren, Vidic raised his eyebrows in this expression that said: Do you see? With a resolute shake of the head, turned neatly on the spot, and approached Darren again. The guard's grip on Darren's shoulders went like a vice when Vidic bent and freely went to the collar on Darren's coat. Helpless, Darren's eyes widened as Vidic neatly unhooked from underneath the fabric what he recognised instantly as a microphone. With another nasty smile at Darren, Vidic turned away again, and showed it to Maria with all the gentleness of a child showing his mother the baby bird he found dead in the garden, fallen from its nest in the apple tree.

'He has been with us all along,' he said softly. 'And we know that your friends, past and present, are coming tomorrow to fight. And we will be ready.' He said this almost apologetically.

'Please, Maria…' Darren moaned, but Vidic had squatted to Maria's level with a gentle expression.

'I'm so sorry.' He said quietly, and Maria lowered her head. And when Vidic relaxed, Maria's face flashed upwards with a flaming look and rammed her head into his. Vidic fell back with a roar of pain, and as Maria lunged forward, the Texan agent had to yank her back.

'Take McDonald to the basement.' Vidic growled as he was helped to his feet by a few guards. He dabbed at his lip, and his fingers came away red. He glared at Maria, who glared back at him triumphantly. 'I'll deal with her personally.'

'Get off of me – MARIA!' Darren yelled as he was yanked backwards out of the room. He drummed his feet on the carpet, kicking his heels, but it was no use. He was being hauled out of the door when Vidic stepped in front of Maria, blocking his view of her. 'MARIA!'

'Shut up,' said his guard from behind him, and hit him with the butt of his gun.

And then everything went back to black.

ALRIGHT GUYS, HERE'S THE DEAL.

When I say "I hit a writer's block." I mean it. I could not write a single sausage. I spent hours rewriting absolutely terrible stuff, trying to work things out, and it got me so down that I ended up walking away from this fic and contemplating myself for a little bit. Things haven't been great here: I've struggled with depression before and its beginning to happen again. Its nothing I can't handle, but things have gone a little bit screwy and I forget what's important to me when they do. So here's a promise: I'll try to update as much as I can, and I won't forget how amazingly significant and special this fic and you guys are to me.

And in that attempt to get myself feeling better, I've started on a new adventure. Gameplay commentary! I'm up and running on YouTube now, doing a lot of Assassin's Creed and walkthroughs. Right now, its Bioshock Infinite! If you're into that kind of thing you can find me there by adding /-user/-ifearnofishgaming to the normal YouTube URL, just without the dashes :)

Anyway, that's the deal! I have a few more updates for you guys tonight, and I hope to be on back on track with myself and fanfiction as soon as I can. Thanks for sticking with me guys, love to you all. :)