"C'mon, Desmond, get up." Lucy commanded angrily, shaking me from my bed. In the last two weeks I'd been here, Lucy had become extremely aggravated toward me each day. "C'mon, get up." Her voice was stern, clearly not up for any games.
"Hm?" I rolled over to climb out, "What's with the butt-frustration, Luce?" As I stood up, I satisfyingly cracked my back and neck. "Christ, you got somebody coming over and you don't want them thinking I'm a hostage? 'Cause I am, if you haven't noticed..."
"Shut up, Desmond..." Her angry voice had warned me to stop talking sarcastically. Then I heard the door open behind her. It was slightly raspy, but had more of a perverse sound to it, the voice. The ring of it made me gag on my tongue. The sound was never a positive one in my memory, permanently etched there, and was worse as of late.
"Ms. Stillman, I presume Subject 17 is behaving exemplary?" Warren Vidic asked impartially.
"Oh, I'm Subject 17 now, I see." I rolled my eyes and Lucy turned around.
"Yes, sir, Proffesor Vidic. He's been a pain in my ass, but nothing more." She crossed her arms, no longer facing me. I had taken that as her ignoring me.
"Good, good. Now, Subject 17, if you would be so kind as to accompany us to the Animus downstairs?" The old man looked at me and a chill ran through my spine. It wasn't an intimidating stare, it felt disgusting to have them on me.
"What? Fuck no." I didn't raise my voice, I made the statement passively. "Now," I began, using the same crackling voice of Vidic, "Ms. Stillman, if you would be so kind as to kick Dr. Vidic where it hurts and escort Mr. Miles out of here." I felt using the name Subject 17 made the impression lose the nostalgia it once had.
"Oh, we're feeling whimsical today, aren't we, Mr. Miles?" Vidic turned on his heel, "I expect you strapped into the Animus within half an hour, any later and we'll have a problem on our hands. Am I understood? Mr. Miles, Ms. Stillman, I bade you adieu for now." With that, I watched as the creep of a scientist left the room.
"Subject 17... I've always been Mr. Miles." I laughed for a moment, "Wow, he's such a bad ass... Not using my real name like that." I put my hands behind my head and closed my eyes comfortably after sitting back down on the bed. "No." I said without inflection, "I'm not going."
"Yes, Desmond, you are." Lucy said with the same indifference as I, except she did it while sipping a hot cup of coffee. How did I not know she left the room at all.
"Fine, let me get ready, get outta here, Luce." My voice was confident and as soon as she left the room I put on my hoodie and watch. Looking at the watch I knew the calling button wouldn't work out of range like the team and I were, but I couldn't help but think about them. I would even be kind of happy to see Shaun's annoying face again. I sighed and looked at my right forearm, it felt lighter than it should have, even after two weeks I still felt as if my blade should be on my arm.
"Good, now let's go, the Animus is in the basement." Lucy said as she opened the door out of the apartment and stepped out, not stopping for me.
"Hey! You said no Animus, Lucy. I swear to god, I'm finally getting over the visions from the Bleeding Effect, they've been farther between." What I hadn't known at the time was that me being away from anywhere my ancestors had been was why I didn't see them walking by every now and again. "And now you're going to shove me back in there?"
The woman nodded, "Yes. And if you fight, you won't survive." Her head was cocked over her shoulder as she walked, "And I also suggest you stop complaining, Vidic-"
I cut her off, "I don't give a fuck about that perverted mother fucker. Let. Me. Go." My voice was gradually rising as adrenaline distributed itself to my veins, my pulse quickened and hatred rose to my face.
"You should. You're his test subject, and he controls you." She had no retaliation to any of my comments, no inflection, she was calm.
"You... Bitch." The word rolled off the end of my tongue, disgust riding with it and every ounce of sincerity and hatred was packed into the way I said it. "I... Am going... to fucking kill you." I emphasized the verb before feeling myself lose my balance and fall backward. A loud, painful crack sounded from my face after Lucy's fist met my nose. It had broken with the contact and tears filled my eyes as an automatic reaction.
"Don't ever call me a bitch, Desmond. I can make your life hell." She spat angrily at me, clearly wishing she could connect her fist to my face again. "I will do everything in my power to make you miserable, if that's what you want. Is that what you want, Desmond?"
"I vacation there, you dirty who-" I didn't even finish the slur before her foot connected with my side, and I doubled over in pain. "Just wait..."
After a moment on my side, I had to push myself off of the floor and continue following Lucy to the elevator. I watched as the metal grating slid away to allow us entry and then closed in front of us as we went down. I couldn't help but to think while we were going down that it was an easier point to escape from than anywhere else.
A crimson liquid slid down from my nose, sticky and metallic. I didn't think she would fix it right away, if at all. Given, the broken nose was painful, but Ezio had gone through injuries far worse. The grating opened and we both stepped out into a large, circular room with Abstergo's "A" painted in the middle of it. On top of that A was an Animus and it looked very similar to the first version I had been in, but appeared more comfortable now, and upgraded.
Vidic sat at his desk, typing away at a computer in his chair, "Mr. Miles. You know the drill, just like we would do in the lab." Lucy assumed the position at the small computer attached to the Animus, "Take a seat." The professor said loudly from his desk, "We can get started."
I mumbled a few curse words under my breath before lying down. The glass screen stretched over my eyes and the familiar interface popped up. Lucy didn't pause before selecting one, it didn't look like Ezio's or Altaïr's either.
Everything faded away and I was once more standing in the white plane I had considered "limbo" since it was between reality and virtual reality.
Author's Note: Hey everybody (: Chapter five got done quickly because I could keep my laptop plugged in the whole time (I know!). Tell me what you think, after this story is done (hint: There will be a sequel) I'll have another work I'll be doing that is... related, I'm sure by the end of the story you'll be able to piece together and take a guess at what it is. (:
P.S.: I know it's selfish, but I'm giving myself a plug here, "Two Sides of a Coin" is my new Pokémon Fic (: Check it out if you're interested.