Chapter Four: Broken Walls
Desmond drifted through the crowd silently. Every citizen in City 12 knew who he was and what he looked like yet thanks to his assassin skills he was able to wade through the crowd without being seen. Despite this the old man still felt eyes on him as he neared the meeting place where Shephard was waiting. He smiled when he recalled his old friend's reaction when he revealed that they would be meeting in a public place. Shephard had tried to talk him out of it and, had Shephard been in the same room, Desmond suspected the man would have tried to physically restrain him.
The elder assassin slipped out of the crowd for a moment stopping at a street vendor to get himself something to drink. The vendor was the first person all day to recognize who he was though the man didn't say anything as Desmond drifted down the street and back amongst the masses. Desmond had thought being out amongst the people for the first time in ages would fill his heart with hope. Instead he saw their struggles first hand. Parents tugged toddlers along as they bustled in the streets. Those children that could walk were the first generation of babies born in City 12 but many citizens held even smaller children and Desmond had lost count of the number of pregnant women he saw. He did manage a smile, seeing youth return to the world summoned some hope. A cool spring breeze stole that from him as he came upon a dead child no more than a few months old lying discarded in the streets. He knelt down towards the body feeling an overwhelming sadness and rage blending within his mind.
"Sometimes it's easy to forget that there are monsters among us," a voice said from behind. Desmond spun to see Shephard whose serious face did nothing to brighten the man's mood, "As happy as I am to see you up and about I warned you that you shouldn't come out in public."
"Come," Desmond said pulling a hood over his head to obscure his identity, "let's go inside the restaurant and sit."
The two stepped into the restaurant and found their way to a table. The place was falling apart, like most other buildings in City 12 it was getting old. Gray dusty curtains were hanged over the front of the store because the front wall, once made of plate glass, was entirely missing. The infrastructure of the old world was collapsing now, the peak of civilization and technological process being reduced to broken walls and ruins. Desmond breathed a frustrated sigh as the waitress, a sickly old woman in her sixties, left to fetch their order. She returned a moment later with drinks.
"You feeling alright?" Shephard asked taking a sip of his drink.
"Nothing physical I assure you," Desmond replied, "I'm as healthy as a horse physically."
"Never quite understood that figure of speech," Shephard admitted, "I still say being out in public is a bad idea."
"I told you to relax Shephard," Desmond reminded, "Hassan checked out that Emil Nemico character you were so sure was nefarious."
"And?" Shephard asked as if expecting to hear a recount of a fight.
"The kid is clean," Desmond responded sipping his own drink through a straw and, finding it too thick, grabbing a straw.
"He has business with the Templars," Shephard said, "And with thugs. He was meeting with Vera."
"Hassan tailed them to the meeting," Desmond whispered leaning in toward Shephard, "You want to know what they were up to?"
Shephard nodded. Desmond took something out of his pocket and tossed it onto the table. The grizzled general picked it up and looked it over. It was a decorative piece of paper detailing the whereabouts and details of a coming celebration - a party in Desmond's honor to celebrate his sudden recovery.
"I should miraculous recoveries more often," Desmond joked, "The Templars may still have shady things up their sleeves Shephard but this Nemico character checks out, he's been a member of Baron Brown's personal body guard force and is a Resistance soldier with several medals for bravery."
"He mentioned that the Templars were none too pleased about your recovery," Shephard said continuing on despite Desmond's denials, "I would watch your back or the assassin order might just go extinct and don't trust Nemico even if he checks out."
"Not too worry," Desmond said licking his lips as their food finally arrived, "Hassan has been on that problem for some time now. He and Leo have been doing plenty of recruiting. I won't make any mistakes."
"Just be careful Desmond," Shephard said taking a bite of his food, "The last thing we need is the Templars to gain control of this Resistance. Humanity needs better than them."
"Relax," Desmond said with a jovial smile, "They wouldn't try anything until after the party... unless of course the party is a trap!"
"My thought's exactly," Shephard said.
Allison walked into the medical room. Her pale but pretty face lit up when she saw Julian and her blue eyes beamed as she walked toward him. He'd been in surgery getting actual work done on his wound. Even Alyx's attempt had only made the infection worse but now, taking full rounds of antibiotics, Julian was poised to make a full recovery. He was shirtless and Allison could see the wound on his side wondering if it would scar his impeccable lean-muscled physique. She leaned down to him and he sat up to give her a kiss drowning in her eyes. He felt a bit embarrassed as the nurse, accompanied by Theta Prime, entered the room.
"Here he is," the nurse said, "He'll make a full recovery and be ready to leave Hunters Fall in a few days."
"How do you like your stay in Hunters Fall thus far?" Theta asked studying the young assassin from head to toe.
"Most interesting," Julian replied staring intently into her eyes.
"Surprising since you've spent most of it here," Theta countered, "You look at me as if you know me."
"I thought I did," Julian said, "Perhaps I'm confusing you for another Theta."
Allison felt a sudden wave of recognition of her own. Her own contact with Theta Dark had been short-lived but the name was known to her as was what the woman had looked like. Theta Prime certainly wasn't an identical twin but the resemblance was an uncanny one. She put her hand over her mouth but bit her tongue.
"How long have you been here at Hunters Fall Theta?" Julian asked getting on a shirt.
"Two years," she replied dismissing the nurse and turning her back on the assassin as if haunted by something, "before that I can only remember bits and pieces of my life. Flashes of memory."
"It can't be," Julian said approaching her and looking closely for a certain scar on her neck but it wasn't there.
"What can't be?" she asked spinning around and startling the assassin who had moved in far too close.
"Nothing," Julian admitted, "Turns out I don't know who you are after all. You have no memory at all of who you were before two years ago?"
"Well," she began, "I have some. I know that the Combine killed my parents... and I know that at some point they had me captured... I got away somehow... I'm not sure when or how but I escaped, I turned against them, I-"
Julian caught her as she nearly collapsed to the floor. The woman recovered quickly feeling quite embarrassed - even more so when Jara and Alyx entered the room once again escorted by the same nurse. The two of them could sense the tension in the room, especially Jara who had been trained to read both posture and facial expression. The conversation that had just taken place had been an awkward one indeed.
"This place is great!" Jara said trying to lighten the mood, "You got to come check it out with us Julian!"
"Yeah," Allison said.
"No, no," Jara disagreed, "We make it a girls night out, you in Theta? We can hit the town maybe find some man-action."
"Sounds fun," Theta admitted quietly, "But I've got a great deal of work to do. Besides, if there's one part of my identity I do remember, it's that I was never into guys.
"That's fine with us," Alyx started but Theta's expression betrayed that she had her mind made up to stay behind.
"You'll come won't you Julian?" Allison asked heading for the door with the others.
"Yeah, sure, you go ahead, I'll catch up" Julian said watching as they walked out the door. He turned to Theta who sat quietly with a distant expression, "I may not know you are but I promise I will help you find out."
Desmond sat atop the highest ledge in City 12. The city was alive with noise as the mid-afternoon sun beat down upon it. The assassin listened to that tumult of sound soaking it in like a melody that brought somber thoughts blended with undying hope. Hope was like a vampire - no matter how many times reality tried to crush it hope would never truly die at least not for the weathered elder assassin. The human race had survived against all odds and here they were building a future.
Desmond knew that elsewhere many others could not build that future. Despite their victory at Golgotha the vast majority of people could not reproduce. Nearly every Combine Citadel had a suppression field that covered the surrounding area halting sexual reproduction. Desmond knew that until every field was down humanity was still a dying breed. He also knew that the Combine would try to patch this problem before long though he knew not when they would attempt to build a knew Citadel.
That was the thing that the Combine had in common with the Templars, both were capable of playing a very patient game with unnerving pauses into between moves. More than two years had passed since Golgotha yet, aside from the influx of children, not all that much had changed. The Templars apparently hadn't changed at all either, they were still plotting and scheming and now, as usual, Desmond and the Assassin Order were the main obstacle in their path to dominance. Dominance of what? - Desmond wondered. He looked down at the city from his perch and wondered what to do. There were a dizzying amount of choices, an incredible array of possibilities and Desmond wasn't the wisest of men. He closed his eyes and cut himself off from the world feeling the beating of his heart as he sunk into himself - right into his DNA. As he opened his eyes he saw the body of Ezio Auditore form right before his eyes crouched on the ledge beside him.
"You are in need of my advice amici?" Ezio asked with a smile.
"The Templars are planning something," Desmond replied, "But I need to know what. Should they really be attempting something at this party? I mean I have the Pieces of Eden, I'm invincible."
"No man is invincible," Ezio disagreed, "They would prey upon overconfidence of that kind."
"Invincible may have been the wrong word," Desmond admitted.
"All men have weaknesses, temptation, fears, habits," Ezio said, "And needs. Parasites, priests and politicians prey on these. The Templars are no different. If you want to find the truth you must seek it."
"That's right," Desmond said looking down at his ring finger with a grin, "I am an Assassin, if I want to know if the Templars are planning to assassinate me I can find out the old fashioned way."
"Lavoriamo al buio per servire la luce."
"Nothing is true," Desmond said watching Ezio take a leap of faith from the ledge and slowly dissipate from existence, "Everything is permitted."
Theron landed with a thud flying out of the treetops and firing off several sonic-burst rounds. He'd managed to procure an experimental weapon from his Combine overlords that used sonic vibration to essentially liquefy human organs the upside of which was instant death and the downside of which was short battery life. Within moments a dozen Resistance soldiers lie dead and Theron took back to the sky in his own personal Hunter-Killer seeking out more unsuspecting Resistance soldiers and recharging his new toy.
The Bounty Hunter landed a few miles away when an angry group of soldiers attempted to shoot down his helicopter. Theron landed the craft and emerged as bullets bounded through the air toward him preparing to tear him limb from limb. The agile creature slipped away from the enemy fire this time taking aim with a rotating pulse-minigun, another weapon on loan from the Combine. The Resistance soldiers that could take cover did but those left standing were torn into. Pulse rounds burrowed into faces, decimated chest cavities and sent crimson mists spraying as dozens of soldiers were gunned down.
Theron watched as more soldiers came toward him as if wishing to die. He laughed, a sickly and almost unnatural sound coming from his alien lungs, as they too fell one by one. More came and this time Theron called out yet another new gadget, three of them in fact - drones. The Combine had been working on them for sometime using the designs of flying bots they had built to drop Hopper Mines and photograph citizens to create a drone that could fire pulse rounds and, if a target was close enough, bolts of lightning. The bounty hunter cackled as more soldiers died, their bullets bouncing uselessly off of the drones.
By now, he knew, they were alerted to his proximity to Hunters Fall. Soon enough, like all could would-be heroes, his targets would be drawn out to meet him. He felt smug satisfaction as he took to the skies once more to seek out more hapless victims. Humans were no better than bacteria to him, a plague upon the Universe, the more blood he got to spill while on this mission the better he would sleep when night came to this desolate pale blue dot.
Theta readied her gear and gathered her troops. In her two years at Hunters Fall she'd turned the Resistance soldiers there around. Where once there had been three thousand rag-tag bumblers now there were three thousand skilled soldiers. Her leadership skills had been recognized early and already she was the second highest officer stationed at Hunters Falls outranked only by a General who showed his face very little and was clearly a man of strategy rather than action. Theta had rejected the title of Major thinking military titles too formal. She had trained alongside her men and women and fought beside them in several battles. For the past nine months however there fights had been limited to raids on Combine supply depots and train stations, something that had garnered little response. Now, with attack sensors tripped all along the Western border of Hunters Fall and reports coming in of horrible bloodshed she suspected their actions had finally caused retaliation. She had new thoughts as Alyx and the others they'd taken in entered the room.
"This one's ours Theta," Alyx said, "Well mine more specifically."
"We're under attack," Theta replied with a confused expression, "If you want to fight alongside us that's your business but we are going to defend this base."
"I know who is attacking you," Alyx growled, "He's a bounty hunter. He captured me some time ago. I was being transferred to a prison facility here in America and when I escaped with Julian's help he was sent after me again. I brought this on you, at least let me help."
"Fair enough," Theta replied admiring the girl's grit and the determination broiling in her olive eyes, "But the others stay."
"Alyx," Julian scolded, "It's a trap!"
"You don't think I know that?" Alyx asked grabbing a Spas-12 and pumping it, "I aim to end this hunt as the hunter, not the prey."
Theta led her squad out on several custom made vehicles that resembled snow-mobiles with tank treads each with a small mini-gun mounted in the front. Alyx rode with her holding tight to the woman's waist as they rode out of Hunters Fall toward the source of the disturbance. The area outside the gates was a broken down old suburb that had been the site of a holdout against the Combine led by the citizens of Hunter. Hunters Fall, the eventual defeat of the town, had become legendary as a triumphant but tragic last stand before the true war against the Combine had officially begun. Alyx watched the bombed out broken buildings pass by her and truly wondered what the world was like before the Combine had arrived. She herself had been a toddler when the Combine had come and had no memory of the world than mankind had created. That fact didn't stop her from wanting to end the Combine.
Smoke rose in the distance marking the area where Theron was last seen. Corpses were scattered to and fro with a combination of pulse wounds and burns that showed a fractal almost electrical pattern. Theta glared through the scope of her M40 sniper rifle with her pale gray eyes scanning the area. She saw something slipping amidst the trees just ahead, it was quick but the metallic glint gave it away. It was growing closer now though it stayed moving so quickly she could barely get a bead on it with her rifle. She fired a shot, the birds took off from every tree for a quarter mile and the bullet hit its mark. Theta turned to Alyx to offer her a smile but Alyx's expression told her she shouldn't have been celebrating.
Theta could see the drone and despite putting a bullet to it the damned thing was still coming. She lifted her rifle but ended up diving out of the way as the drone, firing and missing with an arc of electricity in her direction, passed by. Alyx was on her feet she rushed to a soldier beside her borrowing an AT-4 and firing off the rocket as the drone turned to come towards them again. The spry droid dodged the rocket but didn't escape the blast radius when the rocket hit a tree just behind the drone. The drone tumbled to the ground scraping off parts and digging up soil as it fell.
Alyx panicked when she saw a second drone, this one opened fire forcing her and Theta to scramble for cover. The other soldiers fired back each finding cover and taking turns offering suppressive fire while trying to hit the drone with rockets of their own. A third drone swooped in. Now fighting off both of them the soldiers were oblivious to the towering alien now moving in toward them. By the time they realized he was there two of them were dead. Alyx had seen him though and so had Theta. An M40 bullet crashed through the air and struck the bounty hunter in the right shoulder. The alien seemed to shrug off the blow but his armor hadn't protected him fully from it although what little of the bullet made it through only left a deep scratch in his flesh.
"My turn!" the alien howled opening fire with the Pulse-minigun sending the troops scattering. Theta tried to rally them but it was too late. They had never fought an enemy like this. The typical Combine soldier was a dumb brute who only followed orders, a mindless storm trooper, a mere cog in the Empires plan but Theron was much more than that. Alyx moved from cover stepping out into the open knowing that the bounty hunter wanted her alive. Theron eyed her putting the minigun down and waving Alyx on as if challenging her, "Well now, Alyx Vance prepared to surrender only after you've gotten most of these soldiers killed. You human scum."
"Who said anything about surrender?" Theta shouted firing off another sniper round. Theron had suspected the trap however and was already moving out of the way before the shot was ever fired, still it managed to graze his head cutting his skin, his strange blood, a mix of red and blues, oozed down his head as he reached out to punch Alyx aside.
"The Combine have brought utopia to mankind and you reject it!" Theron growled picking up the minigun and rushing toward Theta. She knew the vehicle she was using as cover was designed to be bullet proof but the pulse rounds from the minigun began to penetrate the armor plating forcing her to move but not before one lone round broke through penetrating into her left leg and causing her to fall. She stayed low as the rest of the rounds passed over her listening to Theron's footsteps thud along as he neared her. She tried to crawl away and managed to find a nearby weapon but Theron was already on her. This was it, she decided, she would die an honorable death beside her fellow soldiers.
"Not dead eh?" Theron asked surprised she had survived the horrors, "I wonder if leaving you wounded will draw out my prey or if I should simply end it now."
"Fuck you!" Theta screamed in defiance spitting toward the assassin.
"Some fight left in you," Theron remarked, "You humans are a persistent germ. Time to die!"
Theta swallowed hard as the minigun spun up, she glanced back at the alien for only a moment to see a blade of some sort sticking from his chest. The bounty hunter screamed and collapsed to the ground firing off erratic shots with the minigun. Alyx grabbed Theta dodging the rounds and trying to stay ahead of the wounded alien's line of fire as it howled in agony. They managed to reach a still functioning vehicle driving off as quickly as they could towards the gates of Hunters Fall.
"That was magnificent," Theta remarked. This time she was the one holding tight to Alyx, "Thank you for saving me."
"Remind me to thank Jara for letting me borrow the blade," Alyx said as the gates opened for them, "I'm sorry about this, I'm sorry I brought this upon you."
"Do not blame yourself," Theta said as they got off the vehicles, "You did nothing wrong, you are being chased because of what you're doing right. If the Combine were not trying to kill you then I would be concerned. Still, I lost a lot of good soldiers out there today thanks to that bastard. Do you think he's still alive?"
"I wouldn't doubt it," Alyx answered, "But he won't bother us again for a little while, in fact after this failure the Combine might take him off the trail entirely."
Desmond watched the crowd watching him as the sun descended over City 12. He'd spent the late afternoon following a trail of proverbial breadcrumbs. It hadn't been easy as most of the citizens knew who he was but with the help of a hood and the deepening shadows of dusk he was beginning to have much better luck. He'd just overheard several known Templars talking about the party and his interrogation of one of them had born fruit of a curious kind. Apparently the party wasn't the only attempt on his life that was to be made. The Templars were more brazen and obvious than he'd ever seen them, openly recruiting in the streets and with a great many heralds and street preachers singing their praises. Many voices cried out that Desmond was a fraud and dictator and perhaps even in league with the Combine.
"He is a wolf in sheep's clothing," one herald shouted, "Keeping the people docile and happy while the Combine continue their control of the world and Desmond continues to gain power. He will be our undoing. Many say he is secretly one of them, worshipping Combine gods instead of our own!"
Most were more subtle however, claiming that Desmond was merely too docile and that the Resistance was left stagnant and defenseless under his command. It was those heralds who had drawn the biggest crowds including one herald who had been singing the praises of Emil Nemico. Desmond could respect that the people were frustrated and wanted action against the Combine but he also understood that the Combine could not be defeated over night or likely even in a decade. Desmond was in it for the long haul. He smiled when he heard the footsteps behind him and turned to see the would-be assassin. With a knowing grin on his face the elder assassin side-stepped the first swipe of the Templar's blade grabbed the woman's wrist and caused her to drop the blade. He kneed her in the stomach punched her in the face and kicked her aside all as one unending fluid motion. The crowd was watching now as the woman struggled to get to her feet only to get on her knees and beg forgiveness.
"Please," she pleaded, "The Templars want you dead. I am behind on my payments to them! They said if I killed you I could be free of my debts! I am not an assassin or a Templar!"
"You definitely aren't an assassin," Desmond said with a bow, "Tell me where they are so that I may free of your debts in my own way."
Alyx felt a bit awkward when she stepped into the room. She had been treated as a hero for the last few hours and taken out to a night on the town by Theta's closest friends. Those soldiers who had returned from the debacle outside of the base were all glad that she had been there to stab Theron in the back. So it seemed she was in for more praise - Theta had called for her. Alyx found the woman dressed in plain clothes, the first time she'd ever seen her outside of her uniform. The woman's strange white hair danced about her shoulders as she turned to face Alyx with her equally odd pale eyes gleaming in the dim light that the room was illuminated by. Theta handed Alyx a drink in a glass bottle and took a seat to rest her wounded leg.
"A toast," Theta proposed, "To my hero."
"To all those brave soldiers who fell," Alyx countered lifting the glass for the toast and then sipping it.
"Good isn't it?" Theta asked.
"Why did you want to see me?"
"Because you saved me Alyx," Theta said staring into Alyx's eyes intently, "You're brave, you're fearless and you're sexy as hell."
"Sexy as hell?" Alyx echoed blushing from embarrassment.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't attracted to you," Theta explained, "I'm not sure if you and Gordon were together, there are plenty of rumors, legends about you two... I guess I just-"
"Gordon and I weren't together," Alyx explained nervously fidgeting, "Not officially or anything though I do think about him an awful lot. He's just so damned quiet, he's a scientist not a soldier - you know -shy, afraid to open-up. I see the way he looks at me though... the same way you're looking at me."
"I'm sorry," Theta apologized, "This is making you feel weird. I shouldn't have done this-"
Theta felt Alyx's soft lips interrupt her. She didn't know how to react but soon melted into an ocean of bliss and kissed the woman right back. Alyx recoiled now blushing bright red and offering an innocent nervous smile. Theta kissed her again this time the kiss became far more passionate. Alyx sat back in her chair as it ended and stared into Theta's pale gray eyes with a mix of intrigue and arousal.
"That's for saving me," Theta said with a smile.
"I, I should be going," Alyx said nervously, "The others will be worried that I was gone."
Theta sat in the darkness alone with her thoughts. She'd only come back to reality a little over two years ago. Her identity had flooded back to her in pieces. She knew that she had been part of the Combine Empire or at the very least an experimental guinea pig at their disposal. She'd always focused on fighting, on training, on defeating the Combine and ensuring the human race survived and would one day be victorious. Alyx had set something dormant off inside her. Seeing such feats of bravery on the battlefield from such a beautiful woman had broken down a wall between Theta and her own passion, her own desire. She retired to her room half of her hoping that her dreams would be of her forgotten past and the other half hoping to dream of two olive eyes and a pretty face.