abandonedtraitor-blog

[abandonedtraitor-blog]

Lucy looked at her watch and shrugged.

"I probably should, huh? It is getting late." She sighed heavily and eyed him once more. "Unless, that is, you could use some company." She paused again before quickly adding, "I mean, I don't have any plans."

Clay smiled back at her, figuring his words had helped somewhat. He returned to scrolling through the files looking for any that stood out.

“I hope it’s not too much longer. I think there’s only so much time someone can spend in a brightly-lit lab before going crazy.” 

He found another file and set it to transfer before looking over at Lucy. “So are you getting out of here for the night or what?” 

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Lucy looked back at him and managed a small smile, for his sake.

"Right..." She took a deep breath. "I suppose you're right. It shouldn't be too much longer."

The lie tasted sour in her mouth.

A frown tugged at his lips from Lucy’s expression. The computer gave a small beep, alerting Clay that the file had finished transferring. He closed the file and turned to lean against the animus.

Clay rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. William told him that Lucy was alone for all those years but seeing the look on her face sank the reality of it in. 

“Lucy….” He chewed his lip. “I … No, no. I don’t know what that’s like but you’re doing important work and you’re obviously good at it. Besides, we’ll be out of this place in no time.” 

Yeah, comforting words, unsurprisingly, weren’t his strong suit.  

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Her eyes flickered to him for a moment before settling on her feet. She heaved a heavy sigh and shook her head.

"I've been alone for a long time, Clay."

She looked up at him again, feeling stupid for showing such emotion in front of a test subject, but wanting so badly to reach out to him.

"Can't really say I still feel like one..."

Lucy's face fell as she thought about it. Six years alone, with no contact to her family or her friends. She was stuck in this building just as much as he was.

Lucy quickly cleared her throat and looked to her clipboard. She snatched a pen from behind her ear and made a quick (albeit bullshit) note.

Clay gave Lucy an incredulous look.

“Regret it? Joining the Assassins was the best decision I ever made.” The corner of his lip twitched upward in a smile. “No, no. I don’t regret this at all.” He paused, staring idly at the screen, recalling what his life had been like prior to joining the Assassins. It wasn’t something he wanted to go back to. Not at all. 

A moment had passed and Clay tilted his head, turning to Lucy again. 

“Do you?”

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Lucy nodded, realizing it was a dumb question. Sometimes it was hard to keep up with what he knew and didn't know.

"Bill always did like being thorough."

She tried to hide the sting in her voice as she traded out the video file currently recording for one from weeks ago. She powered down the computer, picked up her bag and made to leave. She had just strolled past Clay when she noticed the computer screen and paused.

She wondered...

"Do... Do you ever regret this? Joining the Assassins, I mean." She leaned against the Animus with her clipboard held to her chest.

Clay gave her a grin before pulling out the flash drive and plugging it into the computer. He opened a file he was perusing for valuable data late last night before deciding being exhausted and trying to make heads and tails of this information didn’t work together.

“Not … really? I’m not looking for anything specifically. William just wants all the data on this program that he can get and I decide what’s good data and what’s not.” He shrugged. “He hasn’t explained much more than that to me.” 

He leaned forward, drumming his fingers against the animus while he waited for the file to upload itself on the harddrive. Patience was not one of his virtues. 

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Lucy shot a quick glance at the security camera before responding.

"Sure thing. The more sleep you get the better."

 She watched him for a moment before turning and walking back to Warren's desk. She had to make sure she fixed the footage before she left. Couldn't have the security team snatching up their only lead at the moment. She dropped into the chair and swiveled for a moment before looking back at Clay.

"You, um, found any leads yet?"

He took the bottle from her and immediately twisted the cap off, taking a large gulp. He set the bottle next to him and took another deep breath. You just couldn’t get away without anyone knowing what you were thinking or feeling around here, could you? 

“You want the honest answer? Exhausted doesn’t even begin to cover it. But it’s nothing.” He waved a hand, dismissing the matter and breaking out an excuse.  ”I spend a lot of late nights downloading data for William. There’s a lot of shit to sift through. Speaking of which….”

He hopped off the animus and patted his back pocket, checking for the flash drive he kept on him. Arguably, it wasn’t the best idea to carry it around with him but he felt safer knowing where it was.

“Is the cranky old scientist coming back? If he’s not, maybe I could look through some files now? It’d be nice to not get into that cardboard box you call a bed at four in the morning.” 

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"Oh, you know Warren, the more discomfort-- the better. Sorry." She frowned and stooped down. She'd taken to keeping a couple bottles of water by the animus for an emergency. Even if he didn't care for it, it kept her at ease. She stood back up and held out the bottle.

"Thirsty? Judging by the feedback, you must be exhausted."

Small talk left a bad taste in her mouth. She wanted so much to be honest with him but there was so little she could say.

Honestly, it hurt.

Coming out of the animus was an uncomfortable feeling. It felt like being ripped from another reality and there was always a waiting period before his mind fully processed the change. To make things worse, that waiting period got longer and longer the more time he spent in machine. The white starkness of the lab blurred into his vision and he took a deep breath, rubbing at his eyes before sitting up. 

“Fine.” He said passively. Not entirely true but Clay didn’t care to elaborate.

A cursory glance told him that he was alone with Lucy. No Vidic. Thank God. There were only so many acerbic comments Clay could take before the urge to break the older scientist’s nose rose to dangerous levels. 

He swung his legs over the side of the animus and rubbed the back of his neck to work out a kink. “You could’ve at least made this hunk of metal more comfortable, you know?”

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Lucy stared at the print-outs from Subject 16's animus sessions. Judging by his vital readings, he was straining but going by the recordings of his memories, it seemed like they were at a standstill.

She tossed down the file and leaned back in Vidic's chair. He had left earlier, deeming Lucy monitor the boy for his remaining daily time in the animus. And so she watched him, tapping the heel of her shoe against the floor, eyeing his chest as it rose and fell with his breath.

She checked her watch. 5pm. Usually they would keep him under until 6, but since they weren't getting anywhere...

Lucy got to her feet and walked over to the machine's computer. She punched in the release code and watched, waiting for him to come back to the present.

"Afternoon, Clay. How are you feeling?"

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so shake him off