Assassin's Creed: Winter's Falling

Chapter 24

The den was expansive. Thousands of tunnels and rooms all connected to a central hub. The team climbed down into one of the side tunnels. It was surprisingly dry and well lit. The second they hit the ground, all connectivity died. At least we'll be safe in case any of them have trackers, Sol smiled as she checked her cellphone. They walked for a while till they reached a large room with a table and a holding cell. Sitting at the table was an older gentleman with dark brown hair that was graying at the temples and kind brown eyes. His eyes brightened when he saw Lazerus. He began to tear up when he saw Mary.

"Oh, Lazerus," The man said. "You did it."

"We'll talk later, Faust," Lazerus interrupted. "They need emergency surgery, and Sol..."

"I see," Faust began to walk down one of the other tunnels. "This way."

The team followed him down the tunnel and around a bend to another room identical to the first. The only difference was that this room had four people sitting at the table. They cheered when they saw Lazerus.

"Boss," one of the Assassins said. "You're back!"

"And you brought Mary home," Another chimed in.

"Woah! What happened to her?" The third Assassin remarked as he walked over to Sol.

"Hey boss," The forth pointed at Sol. "I didn't know you had a kid."

"Get her onto the table," Faust grabbed a medical kit from a hole in the wall the group had failed to notice.

The Assassins who had acknowledged Sol sprung into action. They took her from the exhausted Lightning and carried her over to the table. Faust approached with a bucket and a gallon of water. He asked his assistants to remove her Assassin cloak as carefully as possible. They managed to remove it without causing much more than a couple pained grunts and moans. Once they had exposed Sol's undershirt, Faust carefully cut it away from her. As he had feared, there where filaments of cloth trapped in the wound. He called for his portable hotplate. He placed the bucket on the hotplate, filled it with water and salt, and began to stir. Once the water was warm, he brought the bucket to the table.

"Hold her still," Faust told his men.

They each took a limb as Faust filled a cup full of salt water and poured it on Sol's wound. It stung badly, but Sol refused to scream. Lazerus watched Faust cleanse the wound, remove the fragments of cloth caught in the wound, and stitch Sol together. He felt responsible. He should be helping, but he couldn't bring himself to touch her. All he could do was watch as she grit her teeth through the pain he had caused her. Lightning and the others were sitting in the cell area with their unconscious companions. None of them where sure what to do next. Without Sol, no one knew how to work the counter chip. Ann sat fiddling with it in the corner.

"I got it!" Ann blurted out, grinning.

She approached Sol's mom and pressed the box against the back of her neck. With a barely audible pop, the chip cracked. Ann repeated the process with Mary, and even gave Andy another shock just to be sure. They waited for something to happen.

"I guess we'll have to wait for them to wake up to see if it worked," Nerida shrugged as she turned away and took a seat against the opposite wall.

"Good work, Ann," Lightning turned to leave the cell, but stopped cold when she heard him.

"L... Light... Light-ning?" Andy muttered as he opened his eyes.