9 Prelude

The sun was slowly sinking below the horizon. The sky turned a crimson red, taking on a look of a gruesome murder victim. Dana was baffled by the scene. She hadn't been in New York for very long, and she'd been busying herself with work whenever she had a moment of free time. Now though, she had more than a moment. The view from the window was gorgeous. It made her wonder if Alex ever took the time to watch it. He was outside so much these days. Surely, he would have had time to watch the sunset over and over. Maybe he'd watched it so much it was becoming boring to him now. No, he wasn't a guy to watch sunsets. He was rigid, stern and as of late; cold. He wouldn't want to. There wasn't enough of a romantic spirit in him to take time for such 'nonsense', as he would probably call it.

Dana sighed. Two days ago, her brother had been at their hideout to tell her that the people he'd saved was bad. She still didn't quite understand what he had meant by that. It didn't bother her, but she thought about it. Bad people... Did he mean that they were bad as in 'good and evil'-bad? She doubted it. The girl had been taken by Blackwatch - kidnapped. Surely, she wouldn't be on their side. Blackwatch was the true bad guys. According to Alex and all she'd read online, they were trying to cover things up. Things such as this 'virus' spreading through the city. They were here to contain a viral outbreak, but she had a lingering feeling that there was more to it.

She snapped her fingers in the air. Maybe they knew what was happening. The people in the basement. She could ask them, and get to know them in the process. Genius! That's what she'd do today. It's not like she had anything better to do anyway, with Alex being gone for almost two days now. She wondered for a second what he was up to whenever he was out. Beating up thugs and spying on secret operations? Possible, but she doubted it.

She took a detour through the kitchen to grab something to eat before heading out, but found the cabinets empty. Oh buggers... She'd have to make her way to a grocery store or something if they were staying here. They couldn't possibly stay for another week without something to eat. Dana was already starving. Maybe the people had something? Hmm, she'd really have to find out their names. It was tiring to think of them as 'the people in the basement'.

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It was when he was in the middle of checking the Animus Database entries that he heard a faint knock coming from the door that led into the stairway. They all froze in what they were doing, Desmond included. Shaun slowly reached behind him for the pistol he had tucked in his pantline, and in his peripheral vision he saw Lucy stand, a dagger in her hand. Prepared for the worst she stalked forward, Shaun following a few steps behind. It was surprising, to say the least, when they heard a voice from behind the door.

"Hello?", two more knocks- "Is anyone in there?". Shaun and Lucy shared a look. Was someone actually asking if they were ... 'home'? That leather-jacket-dude must've given them away. Dammit! He knew they shouldn't have trusted him. They can't trust anyone. Rebecca should've known that. She if anyone should know that. He had sniffed them out and now the templars knew of their location. They'd have to move again, and as soon as possible! Preferably before anyone entered the door, but that was impossible right now. They'd have to fight them off and then get the heck out of here.

"I'm coming in, don't shoot" the voice - female, he figured - spoke again, and Shaun quickly pulled the gun out. It was pointed to the ground, but he'd be ready to point it at and shoot whoever would enter.

Slowly, oh so slowly - too slowly - the door squeaked open, and through the crack a head was poked in. He couldn't make out much in the dim light from the oil lamps, but the person definitely had dark hair and a rather pale face. Light eyes. She peered around the room and poked an arm out through the door, palm facing them and held a little above her head. "I'm not armed" she said with a sheepish smile, as if she was stating the obvious. She pushed the door open further so she could slip in, and she now had both hands above her head. 'A wise choice', Shaun thought to himself. She was telling the truth though, there was no weapons on her as far as he could tell. From this distance.

Lucy was the first to act, telling the stranger to stay still where she stood and walked up to her to check her further for any form of weaponry. The stranger seemed strangely okay with the situation. The smile remained on her face and she almost rolled her eyes when Lucy told her to turn around. Shaun didn't know if he should feel relieved or triggered. She was too calm. It put his nerves on edge.

"You've made it quite home-y here" she spoke, taking both Shaun and Lucy off guard. They stared dumbfoundedly at her and she chuckled. "This basement has been abandoned for I don't know how long, and in just a short time you've made it livable and super cozy" she explained. Cozy, huh? How did she even know how long they'd been here anyway? Talked to the authorities? Templars? The leather-jacket-dude? Was she the authorities? Surely she had an agenda, else she wouldn't be down here. And she certainly wasn't alone. She probably had a dozen armed guys standing watch behind the door. Shaun didn't doubt that in the slightest.

"How many are with you?" he chanced, pointing his gun at her head. She made a face at him, but kept her hands above her head. She was likely questioning their sanity, or judging their lack of trust. Probably both.

"With me?". He could practically hear the cocked eyebrow in her voice. Definitely judging. "Oooh, you think I'm with Blackwatch?". Now both of her eyebrows shot up to her forehead. "Those monsters are barely worth food for the day. They hurt people for no reason. Someone well and healthy. No way I'd sink to their level".

Fair enough, he supposed, but Blackwatch wasn't templars - not necessarily anyway - and neither was it the other way around. "And templars?" he asked. To this, she scrunched up her eyebrows into a scowl.

"Tempal-what?".

"Templars. Are you with them or against them?" Lucy barked, the dagger pointed to the stranger's cheek. She seemed to remember something at this, and again, she made a face, as if she didn't believe a word of what they were saying.

"Wait, you mean like... Templar knights? Like with armors and swords and stuff?"

Okay, maybe she actually was clueless. Shaun lowered his gun and sighed. There was no use questioning her anyway if she didn't feel threatened by their methods. Maybe she was-... No, that couldn't be it. No, he wouldn't think such lowly of people. This girl seemed fresh and loaded, and she was clearly young. Yea, no, that wasn't it.

He tucked the gun back into the hem of his pants. He was just about to open his mouth to question her further when Rebecca chimed in. "Hi there stranger! I'm Rebecca, and you?". She held out a hand for the girl to shake, which she accepted. "Gosh, it's so nice to meet someone new that doesn't threaten to shoot our heads off. You have such pretty eyes! Are those Nike? Is the hair dyed or natural? Do you like pancakes?". Shaun rubbed his temples with both hands. Typical Rebecca to be first out to get to know a new person.

"I'm Dana. Thank you, yes, natural, and yes. I love pancakes". They shook hands, and Dana even offered a hug, much to Lucy's disapproval. Shaun couldn't else but watch with awe as the two ravenheads chattered on about this and that, talking about their dreams and aspirations, their favorite music and what they liked to do in their free time. He shook his head slowly. It became clear that the girl wasn't a threat to them. If she had any interest in killing them, she would've done so by now. Lucy seemed to come to the same conclusion, as she lowered her dagger, but she didn't put it away. He figured she wouldn't come to trust Dana until she was entirely convinced. Which was unlikely to happen in a few hours, if ever.

Shaun got seated in front of his laptop again, scrolling through the hundreds of files he'd written and rewritten. Over time, the Animus Database had been filled with loads of valuable information. He found a strange joy to edit and fill them out with more content. It was fulfilling, in a way. With Desmond being in his current state however, he doubted he'd get to do so in a while. They had to make sure he was ready for combat first. And such was not the case as of now.

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Desmond himself was feeling a lot better than he'd done the last two days. The dreams had vanished, and he didn't have a fever anymore. Healing would still take time, obviously, but at least now he could move about without passing out after two minutes. Not only had it been annoying, but it had also drained his energy like crazy. He'd been on and off sleeping for 48 hours after the injury. It was getting tiresome, in his opinion.

Just like Shaun and Lucy, Desmond stopped all movement upon hearing the knock on the door. Who out of all people would knock before entering an empty cellar? Shit, had they been exposed? Getting up from the mattress wasn't an option. The moment he tried, pain whipped his side, and he had to bite back a grunt. Whoever would enter through that door, he hoped that Shaun and Lucy would be able to take them on. He surely couldn't.

Relief was the only thing he could manage when the stranger proved to be harmless. Desmond knew what Lucy thought about it, but there wasn't much they could do about it, honestly. She was here now, and Rebecca seemed to already be making bonds with her. They'd have to use drastic measures if they wanted to be rid of her. And none of them would like whatever would come to mind if they did, he was sure of that.

While the others went back to whatever they had been doing before the disturbance, Desmond laid his head down on the mattress and put the sandwich he'd been eating to the side. He wasn't really hungry when he'd asked for it anyway. It was just something to do. The restlessness was probably the worst thing about all this. Bound to bed with nothing to do. In the Animus, at least he could knock out templars and jump over rooftops. Reality was ... a prison. He recalled what he'd said to Lucy during his outbreak when Rebecca was in trouble. 'I'm done feeling useless!', he'd told her. If he was useless then, what was he now?

A deep sigh left him. He'd been such a fool to run off without any second thoughts of the possible consequences. He'd have to improve. Get better. Become stronger and gather more experience from more time in the animus. Not now. He still wasn't entirely ready yet. He would gather his strength, that's what he would do. And once he'd healed enough he could go in again. Yea. A few more days. Maybe a week... Month... Yea, a month would be good.

"Desmond?"

He almost jumped out of his skin upon hearing Lucy speak. He got up into a sitting position to give her space to sit beside him. There was a creak between her eyebrows he knew she only had when she was deeply upset or worried about something. Did she really think the new girl was that worrying?

"I know you don't always sleep when you lie here". Busted... He bit his lip for a second, but nodded in agreement. "I don't trust this Dana person. You have to keep an eye on her". She said it in a hushed tone, understandably. Desmond looked over to the two girls. They had settled down on a mattress a few meters away, on the other side of all their equipment. He stretched his neck to see Dana's face over the table Becca had claimed as hers. His eyebrows rose when he noticed how incredibly similar the two looked. If not for the different hairstyles and clothes, one would think they were twins.

"Sure" he responded without looking away from Dana. Lucy mumbled a thanks and picked up the half-eaten sandwich.

"You should try to get this down. You won't get any better if you don't eat" she said and held it up for him. He sighed through his nose. He still wasn't hungry, but Lucy was right as usual. Either eat, or don't get better. Lucy smiled as he took it from her and shoved it into his mouth.

Well, what else was there to do? As some apparently great person once said; 'Survival of the fittest'. Besides, if he recovered and got in some more animus time, maybe this Dana person could notice him.

Okay, that was a weird thought.