Assassin's Creed: Winter's Falling

Chapter 21

Sol woke up to the sounds of sizzling and clanging. She rose slowly, looking around to unfamiliar room. Then the last couple days came to mind. She was not sure how many days it had been, but she knew the safety she felt now would not last much longer. Soon they would have enough equipment gathered to head to Venezuela.

"Morning, Sol," Lazerus called out from the kitchen. "What do you want to drink with your food? Coffee?"

"Tea please," She replied with a yawn.

"Of course," Lazerus shook his head in disbelief. "She doesn't drink booze, and now she doesn't drink coffee."

"Tea is better," Sol shrugged.

"Like hell it is," Lazerus chuckled.

He passed her a plate of round things he claimed where pancakes. He should stick to French Toasts, Sol mused as she beheld her breakfast. Still, they didn't taste as bad as they looked, so Sol ate the whole plate and then asked for seconds. Once the tea was done steeping, Lazerus brought her a cup and sat down. He sipped his coffee tentatively as he waited for Sol to say something about the tea. She took a sip.

"Not bad," Sol commented. "This is pretty good tea. Caffeinated Earl Gray, my favorite."

"Good to know," Lazerus smiled. "I took a wild guess, and got lucky."

"Very lucky," Sol grinned back.

"How's the experimenting going?" Lazerus asked. "I'm pretty sure we are all just waiting for you to finish so we can leave."

"Slow," Sol shrugged as she pulled a gutted Taser from her pocket. "But I'm almost done. I call it the shock box."

"That's good."

"Problem is it's only good for one go."

"That's not so good."

Sol rolled her eyes at him, and stuffed the box back in her pocket. She explained that all they needed to do was press the metal end to the back of his neck and hit the button. That would knock him out and short-circuit the chip. Lazerus offered to do it, but Sol, feeling responsible for what happened to him, refused to let anyone else touch the shock box. Nerida woke up with a groan, stealing Sol's attention away from Lazerus. She rose to her feet and walked over to the couch.

"Morning Nerida," Sol smiled down at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just crawled into Hell," Nerida groaned.

"That's what you get for drinking so much," Sol chuckled. "Hey, can we talk in private for a moment?"

"Sure," Nerida shrugged.

Sol helped her get up and walk to the bathroom. She locked the door behind them. Nerida took a moment to wash her face in the small sink before she sat down on the edge of the bathtub. Sol reached into her pocket and fished out an Advil. She handed it to Nerida before leaning against the wall. Nerida thanked her, then took the pill dry.

"What did you want to talk about?" Nerida asked, leaning back slightly.

"You where muttering in your sleep," Sol started.

"I didn't say anything weird, did I?"

"You mentioned your parent's exploding."

Nerida's eyes flew open, but not in surprise or shock. She looked at Sol with complete and utter confusion written all over her face. This wasn't the reaction Sol was expecting.