Chapter 1

"Target at two o'clock, with the white jacket," a voice rang out in my ear as I crept through the crowd. I could almost sense the weight of the deed I was about to perform weighing me down, causing me to move slower as I became more cautious. "Alright, cameras are out, take him," the voice added when I was a few feet from the target.

"Gotcha," I whispered, approaching the target and placing my left hand on his left shoulder, my right wrist at his back as a blade shot out, severing his spinal column and piercing vital organs, leading to instant death.

"Who are you…why are you doing this?" the target gasped. He was a bit older than me, in his mid-twenties, but the cross on his jacket was all the proof I needed.

"Because what you and your Order does are wrong," I whispered before I supported him to the nearest bench, almost carrying him until I dumped him onto a bench and retracted the blade, blending back into the blade. "How was that?" I whispered, the earbud in my ear relaying the message to the voice not so far away.

"That was beautiful, Jacob," she replied, her voice full of approval as everything went dark around me, replaced by the light of a simulation room. "One more time, though, just to be safe."

I sighed. "Seriously, Mom? I've done every simulation in the system and passed them all! Why don't you want me in the field?" I demanded, running a hand through my short blue hair in frustration once my hood was down.

Mom sighed, looking at her screen in the booth above me. "I guess I'm just hoping you'll choose a different path, like the twins." That's my mother, Elina Shane for you, always trying to keep us out of fights. My brother, Will, chose to study under our greatest craftsmen in the Brotherhood, and Elsa chose to study under our doctors so that she could treat us wounded out in the field. My mother is similar. She studied extensively in the medical field as the heir of the Shae family, but that all changed when she met my father.

Eli Shane, Master Assassin of the Brotherhood. He's currently the head of the Brotherhood in North America. As heir to the Shane family, he was trained in combat, and quickly rose through the ranks. They met when he had a bullet wound while battling the Templars. They hit it off soon after, and here we are. I'm the youngest of their three children, Jacob Shane. They say I'm like my father in the way combat sings out to me like a melody, and I'm the conductor. I've even inherited Eagle Sense, like the twins, from my parents' legendary lineage. My father is descended from Edward Kenway, the Pirate Assassin, and my mother is descended from Evie Frye, who, with her brother, liberated London from the grip of the Templars in the Victorian Era.

Now, we're living in the 21st Century. I'm currently in the beginning of my junior year at college, where I have the best roommate in the world, Lucas 'Luke' Jones. We met at orientation a month before our first semester at college as lowly freshman, and immediately became best friends, requesting each other for roommates. Our requests were granted, so we became roommates. We even share a few interests. We both enjoy parkour (perfect for a campus like ours), and martial arts.

Oh, sorry about that. I got off-track. Back to the present!

"I know you do, Mom," I assured her. "I'm meant for combat, though. All of my instructors told us that, and you know it."

She nodded. "I know, I know," she whispered. "You know what, next time there is a non-urgent mission, I'll recommend you," she added.

I hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much!" I exclaimed before I looked at my watch. "Sorry, I've gotta go," I told her. "I told Luke I'd be back around dinnertime."

Yeah, Luke doesn't know I'm an assassin. Whenever I have to train, I just tell him that I'm going home to visit family, which makes sense since the college is a dozen miles from home.

"Alright. I'll see you next time. Stay safe, and make sure to text me to let me know you got back alright," she told me before a presence appeared behind me.

"Hey, Dad!" I exclaimed when I saw him.

Standing at 6' 1", only an inch shorter than me, Eli Shane was an intimidating man, the streaks of silver in his hair only working to enhance the experience. "Hello, Jake. Leaving so soon?"

I nodded as we walked into the lobby to the large lobby of the training hall, where I was returned my keys and other possessions. "I said I'd be back by dinner, so I'm cutting it close as it is," I told him before I hugged him and left, climbing into the driver's seat of my car and leaving the parking spot, driving back to campus in time for dinner.

"You're cutting it close this time," Luke commented when I caught up to him on the way to the dining hall.

"Yeah, sorry. My mom kept me held up," I replied, sending a text to her to let her know I got back to campus safely.

"Strange…no reply…" I whispered to myself once we were seated and eating. Mom usually replied within a minute, but five had already passed. I would give her until I finished eating, and then check in with them.

"You okay, Jake?" Luke asked after we left the dining hall. "You seem…distracted."

I shrugged. "It's nothing, I'm just waiting for a text," I replied. "It's weird, though. If they said they'd be at work, they'd have let me know." They always let me know when they have missions so that I don't distract them from their work and ruin the mission. "I'll call them later," I told myself when we reached our dorms. "So, what'd I miss today?" I asked Luke as I sat down at my desk.

He shrugged. "Not much. The men's soccer team won, albeit closely," he replied. "Mark said it'd be easier if you were still there when I talked to him afterwards."

Mark is the captain of the team, in our year. I played soccer my first two years, but as my training continued on the side, I realized I had to make a choice. I was good enough to get into the major leagues, but the Brotherhood is my life. At the end of last semester, I made the decision to quit at the end of the season, when we returned from winning the championship. With Mark and I on the field, nobody could stop us. This season, they've struggled without the two of us working together.

"Well, I'm sure they'll do fine without me," I replied. "Family is more important to me than sports, so I made the choice. I don't regret it."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he muttered. "Oh, and Emily wants to know why you didn't take her with you to your family stuff this time."

I sighed. "I told her. I don't think my family would react well right now," I muttered. That's what happens when your girlfriend's an Assassin as well. She's been begging to see me train for a while now, but I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable about her abilities. She hasn't been training for a while. Her family enters the Brotherhood and begins training at 18, when we first met. She has talent for freerunning, but isn't at my level yet. She needs to develop patience. She always fails her simulations because she moves too soon. Then again, maybe watching one of my sessions would help her see how a simulation is supposed to go. "I might take her next time," I added before I powered on my laptop and checked my emails. "Crap," I whispered when I saw the first email in my inbox:

IMPORTANT: GRANDFATHER'S INHERITANCE!

This was code set up with Will and Elsa. If something were to happen in the family, an email with that title would be sent to the rest of us. Both of my grandfathers died long before I was born, so it was just a ruse.

"What is it?" Luke asked, spinning toward my direction.

"Nothing," I replied, closing the window and pulling up the email on my phone instead:

'Attention, Shane family. This is Beatrice Sting, Master Assassin. Something has happened to your parents. I need to meet with all of you tomorrow after Jacob's classes are over to discuss this further. Meet me at the training hall. Remove this email once you read it.'

My eyes widened as my mind filled with thoughts of despair. There's no way someone could kill them…they're Master Assassins, unbeatable in the field of combat! There's no way…no way…

"Hey, are you sure you're alright," Luke asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You look like you're about to throw up or something."

I shook my head, focusing on keeping up appearances until I could learn more. "Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. "I just got a message from my dad, that's all. I left a notebook back home, so I need to go pick it up after classes."

He nodded, looking at me carefully. "Okay, but be careful…" he began when his face brightened up. "Wait, it's perfect!" he exclaimed. "You can bring Emily with you so that she can finally meet your family."

I nodded, thinking. The more allies we had in catching those who got to Mom and Dad, the better. Emily still had a long ways to go in terms of training, but she was getting better by the session. "I think they'd enjoy that, sounds good," I replied before my phone lit up. "Sometimes I swear she has the extra sense, not me," I whispered to myself. Yeah, you heard me right. Other than Eagle Vision, another sense runs in the family, from my dad's mother's side. They weren't Assassins (Grandma was recruited by Grandpa), but psychics, nowadays referred to as 'espers'. The ability began to wane in the family, but then reappeared in Elsa and I. Elsa has postcognition, the ability to glance into the past, and I can sense auras. Similar to Eagle Vision, Aura Vision allows me to sense someone's weaknesses. Anyway, back to the story!

"Hello? Emily?" I asked as I picked up the phone.

"Hey! I thought you were going to let me know when you got back!" she exclaimed. "You'd better take me with you next time to make up for it."

I sighed. "I'm sorry, I will. Actually, how does tomorrow sound?" I asked her. "I need to head back home tomorrow to grab something I forgot."

"Is everything alright?" she asked me quietly.

"Yeah. I'll explain later. Where are you now?" I asked her.

"In my room, directly above you," she replied. "I can let you onto the floor if you want."

I smiled. "I've got a better idea. Could you leave your window open?" I asked her.

"Oh, no…" Luke groaned. "Better not let them catch you."

"They won't," I replied. "Emily?"

"Sure, I'll be waiting," she told me before she ended the call.

"You're insane, you know that?" Luke commented as I opened the window, climbing out. The building was brick, so there were very few chances to hold on to. Instead, I just stood on the windowsill and reached up. Sure enough, I could feel the lower edge of the windowsill above me.

"Wish me luck!" I told Luke before I crouched and leaped, my fingers expertly grabbing the sill above me and pulling me into Emily's room, a single just for her.

"What took you so long?" she asked teasingly.

I chuckled, smiling at the joke before he face turned serious.

"Alright, spill," she told me, closing the window behind me. "What's going on that you need to return tomorrow?"

"Something happened," I replied.

She gasped, raising her hand to her mouth.

"I don't know what it is, but the twins and I are going to meet with Trixie at the training hall to see what happened. Apparently it's about Mom and Dad, but I still have no idea," I replied.

Her eyes filled with sadness.

"Don't be sad," I whispered, holding her face in my hand. "I don't like to see you sad. If something happened to them, and I doubt it, then we will return the favor tenfold," I added.

"Yeah, but…if someone really killed your parents, what could you do?" she asked. "They're Master Assassins, there's nothing you can do that they can't do better."

I sighed. "I know, but we have to try," I replied. "Let's not worry about that now, though. We'll worry about tomorrow when it comes."

She nodded. "So, how was your training?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "I finished off the last of the simulations in the hall. If they want me to do more, they'd have to schlep me into an Animus, and that's only saved for finding Pieces of Eden," I explained. "How about you? I haven't seen you train in a while."

She grinned. "I've gotten a lot better. I even passed a simulation!" she cheered.

I smiled. "That's great! Which one was it?"

"Corrupt politician shaking hands. I grabbed his hand, pulled him close, and took him out," she replied. "As a reward for it, I was given my first piece of equipment to keep," she explained, showing me the hidden blade she was given.

I nodded. "That's great, but make sure you keep it safe and hidden," I told her. "If the Templars were to find out about our location here and found that, you'd be a dead woman."

She made a pouting face. "Aw, you're no fun," she muttered.

I chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it," I replied. "Besides, I would protect you before that ever were to happen."

She smiled, hugging me tightly before she leaped back, eyes wide. "Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you!" she told me, pulling out her case of DVDs. "Remember that movie you wanted to see when it came out in theaters! Well, it was released on DVD this morning, so I went out and got it!" she added, pulling the disc out of its sleeve.

"That's awesome!" I exclaimed before she put it into her television's DVD player and we sat down to watch it. She had known I wanted it, so for her to get it was amazing.

The next day, I had to get up early, so I was woken up right on time for class by my alarm.

"I'll see you later!" I told Luke as I took off for class, leaping over fences and benches with nimble ease. The two of us started our college's freerunning club last year, so we coordinate everything. As such, we have to be very good at freerunning, which we are. With the shortcuts we took through campus, I was even able to stop at our campus's coffee shop to get a cup before I got to class, a major specific class. Oh, yeah, I should probably tell you guys that I'm a Computer Science major before I forget to tell you later.

Overall, the day was pretty boring. I had very few classes that day, and the ones I had passed slow and boring as I waited for my day to be over so that I could go to the training hall.

"What took you so long?" Emma called out after my classes as I walked up to my car, where she was waiting for me.

I chuckled. "I was grabbing things in case immediate action needs to be taken," I told her, rolling back the sleeves of my jacket to reveal my hidden blades. To a trained enough eye, one could barely see the pistol in my jacket. "Let's go," I added, unlocking the car.

She nodded, climbing into the passenger side of the car as I climbed into the driver's and started the car, the engine's purr calling out to car enthusiasts everywhere as I drove off of campus and onto the nearby interstate, going west for about twenty minutes before we reached the training hall. Constructed by one of the richer Assassins for our training, it's a giant complex on his property.

"Name?" the guard asked when we arrived at the front gate.

"Jacob Shane," I replied, flashing my ID at them for a second before the gate opened and I drove through, quickly finding my parking spot.

"You have your own parking spot?" Emily asked once the car was parked.

I nodded. "Once you reach certain points in your training, you get special bonuses," I replied. "My father thought it would be a good incentive to get trainees to train faster," I explained. "C'mon, this way."

We made our way through the property until we reached the front doors to the training hall, where we had to provide identification again before we were allowed in.

"Ms. Sting has sent me to escort you to the conference room," Trixie's head disciple told us. "Is Ms. Walker accompanying you?"

I nodded. "Yes, I thought it best if she came along," I replied, so we were escorted through the training hall and to one of the few conference room. This one in particular has more security than the rest, saved for secrets being told.

"Jake, thank goodness you're here," Elsa called out when I walked in. A couple seconds later, and she was holding me in a tight hug.

"What happened to Mom and Dad?" I asked Will as Elsa released me.

"Please, sit," Trixie told us, so we all sat. "Not long after Jacob left training yesterday, Eli and Elina Shane returned home, as they do every day. When they got home, though, there were fifty Templars waiting for them."

"How was that a problem?" I asked her. "They're Master Assassins, there's no way they could be killed so easily!"

She shook her head. "They killed the Templars. By the time we arrived, though, they were dead. We suspect the Grandmaster of the Templars, Thaddeus Blakk, or his second-in-command, Diablos Nachos. The two of them have had an extensive history with your parents. When your parents were still in their teens, they caused quite an uproar among the Templars with their work. They killed the last two Grandmasters, allowing Blakk to gain power in the Order."

We all froze. I could barely keep the tears from spilling as I looked at Trixie, the grief replaced by anger. "I will kill them, then," I replied, my fist clenched so tightly that it was white.

"No," Trixie replied before anyone could even register what I said. "You may have talent, but they're too good at what they do. You need to get better before that can happen, and even then, it will be difficult with all of his followers, especially the mercenary working for him.

"Who? Is it Skye?" I asked her. Kaiya Skye is a dangerous mercenary, the best out there. We've worked with her before when it's beneficial, but for her to work for the Templar… "Alright, I'll train more and work from the bottom. If I work my way up from there, I'll eventually reach the top."

"You idiot," Will growled. "Do you really think Mom and Dad would want you to immediately go for revenge? No, they would want you to continue training and go to school. We didn't even go on missions until we graduated college."

I frowned, but could not argue. He made valid points. "Fine then. What would you suggest, then?"

He frowned, standing at his full height. "First, we will make sure they have a proper burial," he told me. "Then, we will plan from there. Trixie, you are now the head of this region, correct?"

She nodded, her face sad. "With their death, as the second-in-command, I must take up their position. I had hoped to reach their level, but never did I wish it to be this way," she replied, tears falling from her face. "I've known Eli since we were kids, and first met Elina when I was your age, Jacob. Now, with them gone…"

"With them gone, you will do your best to preserve the Brotherhood and recover from this," Will told her.

Trixie nodded. "Yes, but I feel like we should do more, it would disrespect them to not take actions against him. I will start sending out Assassins to learn more about the Templars and their movements. When the time is right, I will call on you so that we can make our move. Until then, return to your daily lives.

A/N: Hello, everyone! Here's the first chapter! I got the idea from JackieWinters and her crossover. It takes place in the surface world, as it provides more chances for me to expand where they can go and what they can do. I'm sad that Elina and Eli had to die so quickly, but it had to happen for the plot development.

Elina, Will, and Elsa belongs to JackieWinters, SlugTerra's characters belong to SlugTerra, Kaiya Skye belongs to Hills-to-Sky, the Kenways and Fryes belong to Ubisoft and Jake and his friends belong to me.

Well, until next time!