Clay woke a few hours later. Though, to his delight, it wasn't because Vidic or Lucy had come to get him. He could lay here, at least for a while longer until they came. Finally, a peaceful sleep. He smiled to himself and shifted to get comfortable.
Moments later, his door opened. His smile flipped to a scowl and he burried his face in the pillow. He heard Lucy's muffled voice, but couldn't make out what she was saying. Her hoarse tone made him tilt the pillow to hear.
"Vidic, how could I have known? Don't do this!"
Clay lifted his face a little to see what was happening. They were both standing beside his bed, and Vidic was angrier than Clay had ever seen. It made him smirk behind the pillow. Whatever it was, must have been in favour of the Assassins. And it must have been big.
"I expect it to be done by tomorrow, Miss Stillman. And have this camera off of your looped footage."
She looked away, embarrassed at being caught. Clay knew she had looped the footage of his room, but never told her he knew. If he knew he was being watched, he might be less likely to try anything. Though she cared about him and wanted to give him, if nothing else, the dignity of his own privacy, she didn't want him to do anything reckless either. She needed him to stay. Vidic, in his usual brisk pace, fumed out of the room. Lucy took a few heavy breaths, clearly upset.
"What spat in his coffee?" Clay asked after a moment. He gave her a sideways smile.
"I've got a lot of work ahead of me." She said it so quietly, Clay only barely heard her.
"I'm probably not allowed to help, should I bother offering?" Clay sat up on his bed, and stretched out his arms. He couldn't remember ever feeling so well rested. And he knew his name, which is always a good thing to wake up to. Lucy just shook her head and took a deep breath, straightening herself and regaining her composure. She turned sharply and left the room. Clay stood and followed her.
What he saw nearly made him fall over. The entire room was covered in symbols and words, all written in dried blood. Three other people were in the room, all in suits and looking very official. They had notepads and were discussing a barcode on the ground when Lucy joined them.
"Do you have all you need? We want to get this place cleaned by tomorrow."
Clay looked around the room in a fluster. What had happened in here? There was blood everywhere. He startled when he realized he was standing in it, and stumbled backwards to get out. Did all this happen in his sleep? Whose blood was it? How was Lucy so calm?
The officials nodded and closed their notebooks. They thanked her for her time, and left the two alone.
"Lucy, what happened? Did someone get killed in here? Christ, how did I sleep through this?" Clay could barely keep himself from shaking. This was the last thing he was expecting to find out here. But Lucy didn't answer, instead she walked over to a bucket on the ground, plucked the sponge from inside, and set to work mopping it off the walls. "That bastard Vidic is making you clean all this up? By tomorrow?" He looked out the window, and guessed it was around eight in the evening. She would never finish this in time, even if she worked all night. Instead of answer him or even aknowledge him, she just kept working away at the symbol. He touched her shoulder and crouched down beside her. "Luce, you'll never get all this done. Not with that." He gestured to the sponge in her hand, now a sickening red version of what it once was. Still, she ignored him. "Fine, just pretend I'm not here." He stood again, frustrated with her stubbornness. He tried to remember if they were fighting. It was hard enough to keep track without the bleed effect mixing up days, and lifetimes. As he turned to leave her, a pool of blood caught his attention. Something about it...
Suddenly it all came rushing back to mind. He was dead. This blood was his, and he was the one who made the symbols. And Lucy... Lucy had to clean it all up as punishment. She had to take the blame, because she'd looped the video and he could work without interruption. Vidic must've thought she'd known about his plan.
If only he could help her. How had he forgotten this was all him? He looked back to the pool at his feet. This is where his body was... He grimaced and sat down on the edge of the Animus, and watched Lucy work at his glyphs.
He wasn't sorry about making them. That was always his intention. For weeks he'd planned all this, down to every minute detail. Ensured every symbol had a place and every place had a symbol. He was anything but reckless about this. Despite it all, he wanted to apologize to her. Surely it would have been alright with one less... No... No, it had to be this way. Not that an apology would do any good, anyway. She couldn't hear him. Maybe it was best that she couldn't, he had no idea what to say to her.
She worked at the symbols for at least an hour before the door slid open and another woman entered. She had a mop in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Her nametag introduced her as Michelle. She walked right past Clay, and handed the glass to Lucy, who drank it all before coming up for air.
"Thanks 'Chelle." Lucy was a little out of breath from the scrubbing, and the thanks was clearly genuine. Clay wondered how they knew one another. Co-workers, he had to assume.
"I couldn't just leave you alone like this. I can't believe Vidic is making you do this all by yourself! I mean, it's not like he was a stranger to you." Michelle was keeping her voice down, but the harshness in it couldn't be mistaken. Lucy wiped her forehead and stretched her back out.
"I'd love to chat, but I really do need to get this done." Lucy took the mop from Michelle, who handed it to her, coupled with a concerned expression. "Thanks again for the drink. And the mop." With that, she resumed her work. Michelle seemed to have more to say, but she must have known Lucy well enough to leave her be. Instead, she took the sponge and started to helping her. Though by now, the sponge was so soaked in blood, it seemed to do more spreading than actual cleaning. Still, she managed to loosen the dried areas up for Lucy to go over with the mop. The two worked well together.
Clay said nothing, seeing no purpose in it if no one could hear. He just sat in one of the chairs in the room and watched the two at work. Now that he had time alone with his thoughts, he found he had surprisingly few to go over. Most of his thoughts wouldn't matter anymore. Thoughts of being an ancestor himself one day, or thoughts of the end of the world. He found the idea of becoming a father now laughable, and he had already done everything he could about the end of the world. It was in his AI's hands, now. He hoped the guy was ready for it, he had a lot to do. Clay snickered to himself at the notion that, in a way, he was a father to his AI.
Michelle tried to start conversations several times, but Lucy would say nothing, or answer questions as shortly as possible without being rude. She would ask about movies, tell Lucy about an article in a magazine, anything to try to get her to talk. She avoided mentioning Clay, though he did come up once. When he heard himself mentioned as "Subject Sixteen", Clay had leaned forward, curious what Lucy would say. How she would react. But Lucy just agreed that it had been hard, and said no more.