Okay, so this is Project Sunrise, based on the Assassin's Creed series.
A few disclaimers, just so that people are aware.
When it says project in the title, yes that's the point of the title, the idea, but also this is a project for me. So please don't just start flaming if you find problems in this story. If you don't like it, please tell me why, because I really want to go with this idea, and I'd adore all the help I could get with it. But I hope that it's solid enough of a story for you to like, or be willing to go with.
Second thing is that none of the characters are actual characters. Unfortunately I couldn't really incorporate them, but Warren Vidic and Desmond Miles will be mentioned a lot, I promise. Among other characters… but I DO apologize I can't really use characters. I hope mine are good enough to make you happy with it.
Well, on with the show!
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1—Abstergo
Machines humming.
Lines of cubicles, seemingly endless.
The same workplace for every worker.
Nothing is different.
Everything is the same.
That was not the face of Abstergo.
It wasn't even the first few floors.
It was the inner bowels of Abstergo.
What the company hid away.
What they hid away from those who did not deserve the pleasure of knowledge, the beauty of research.
Workers bustled about on the floor, many staying at bizarre computers, logging their psyche into it. But even the face of Abstergo had that.
Gene Millard leaned from her balcony window, feeling satisfaction at the sight of so many employees going about their work, devoted to the cause that she had spent half of her life working to create with her late teacher, a man whom she admired more than any she had ever met.
Gene Millard was a middle-aged woman with mousy brown hair, gray streaks in her hair. Stress lines had begun to form in her skin in her early years, looking like permanent wrinkles in her time now. Every day she wore fitted women's suits, so fitted she looked overweight, and that the suit would burst at the seams.
The file she held close to her breast was one that her entire life within Abstergo had been spent on creating. Just holding it felt like living power, one that made her mouth water.
Leaning on the balcony, she saw that her assistant had put a microphone on the ledge to address her "subjects" formally. She felt as though it would never be necessary, she was feeling so much energy in her body.
But she leaned into the microphone, closing her eyes as she tried to collect her thoughts into a cohesive speech. So many thoughts played in her mind, thinking of the possibilities.
Just tell them what they want to hear, Gene.
That's what Warren had told her when she replaced Lucy Stillman. It was during her first ever presentation.
Just spit it out.
"My fellow Abstergo employees."
There was a rush when all heads turned to look up at her from her balcony. She couldn't help but grin, straightening her posture as she looked down on them all.
"I'm sure the rumor that a new Animus setting was being spread around among your cubicles" To emphasis it, she fluttered a hand, though she could not see what effect it had on her underlings.
"I'm here to tell you that the rumor is true."
Now she saw turning of heads, murmuring of surprise like a sweet melody in her ear. But she was not done, no.
"I'm pleased to announce that Project: Sunrise had finally begun."
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"What is Sunrise, anyway?"
Liam Iverson hated that question, especially during lunch. The cubicle sector he was in was all the new employees, and without much exaggeration, he knew it was a demotion. Since the accident that removed his leg, his brain could no longer sync up to the adventurous memories, so he was moved into the most basic sector, in which lunch breaks consisted mostly of annoying questions.
Liam was your average American. He had a brown, short haircut, a lean nose, soft brown eyes. The only thing unique about him was his prosthetic leg.
"You really don't pay attention to Gene in the meetings, do you?" Liam muttered, picking up a spoonful of yogurt.
"We're all new, Lee," one said. He was a young man wearing punk jewelry, and dyeing his hair dark. It was only a matter of time until he began his own assimilation into the Abstergo "generic look".
"Do you really have to know what it is?" Liam asked, finally turning to look at the young men. When they all nodded, Liam groaned and turned back to his Animus.
"Sunrise is the setting on the Animus that splices together random samples of DNA," he said. "That way you develop a completely new homo sepian in genetic code. Somewhere in time, that code has existed, and will exist again."
He saw a small mark appear on his Animus inbox, a small "ping!" coming from it. Millions of other pings were heard, then all became quiet.
"What they do is scan our current atmosphere, environment, et cetera, see the data progress, then try to fit the DNA somewhere in a predicted data set."
"So like…" one of the men looked confused. "They're trying to predict the future?"
Liam nodded. "Nothing within the predictions will be accurate," he said. "But if our entire floor was doing it, and similarities in future memories began to occur, it could give us a real edge."
Clicking open the newly received file, Liam slid on his glasses.
"Mister Iverson,
Here is a sample of the DNA file and a file of the proper settings it will need when on your Animus. Please download both files, apply them to your Animus, and attempt to sync up. We are testing to see which of our two thousand Sunrise employees can sync up to the memory the best. Your results and times spent in the Animus on this memory will be analyzed.
"Please note that this will not be included on your work summary. You get no penalties, if you do not properly sync up to the DNA sample. If you are the most in sync, you will be relocated to the Subject Animus, and be known in the files as Subject Twenty-four.
Signed
Gene Millard"
Liam began the download, continuing to down his yogurt. The boys in his sector had begun an argument about who among them was most likely to get the job. All of the talk was annoying and giving Liam a headache, and though he willed the downloading to speed up, it remained at its slow, crawling pace. As soon as it loaded, Liam pulled on his headset and began to initiate the program.
For a moment, the new employees babbling continued through his headset, then it became silence as the memory began to set in. Taking a deep breath, Liam let himself go, and he began to receive all sorts of senses as his psyche was pulled into the machine.
Static.
That was all Liam could see.
Then, as he was beginning to think that he could not sync at all, a large blast of energy hit his brain.
"Axl!"
A young woman's voice came to his ears. It was beautiful, one that seemed to belong to an angel.
"Axl-Scott! You can't leave without a goodbye kiss!"
"Emera, can't ye let me get a hello kiss when I get back?"
"No, because ye get them any—"
A splash of colour came to his vision. It was a field, slowly growing grass. A man held a woman close, the two talking and smiling and holding each other. The man was rugged, with strawberry blonde hair and emerald eyes, which softened as he looked at the red haired woman, with dimples in her smile.
Then it was gone.
Static once again.
Tearing off the headset, a heavy migraine had set in, making Liam groan. He rubbed his forehead, letting the headset clatter on the desk. Looking up at his Animus, he saw only that his session was being uploaded to Gene's server.
At first he just stared at it, then he slowly got to his feet and carefully limped out of his cubicle. He was thankful to see all the members of his sector starting up their samples of Sunrise, the DNA of Axl-Scott, whoever he was.
"Liam, where are you going?" A man stood a few cubicles down, holding a clipboard. Lukas Winder, one of the plainest faces among them all. He was Gene's head supervisor among the employee sector.
"My leg…" was all Liam had to say. "I'm heading home."
They had spied on him before, but never once had he feared what they might find. He was loyal to Abstergo, the thought of leaving for their "competition" never crossed his mind.
"Liam and Lukas nodded to each other as Liam limped to the elevator, leaning on people's cubicles as he went. Many of the worker's glanced at him, but that was all.
"Just as Liam clicked the elevator button, Gene's voice came up on the speakers above them all once again. Sighing, he turned to look up.
"I am so pleased with how quickly our results are coming in," she said over the speakers. "Subject Twenty-four shall be chosen tomorrow."
Liam felt a tight, pained feeling in his chest as he left, descending from the inner sanctum of the company, into its surreal lobby, and into a world he never believed in.
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So yeah. Let me know what you think, I hope you liked it. If you have questions, please feel free to ask, and I'll make sure to answer them in later chapters. Promise. If I can't, I'll personally explain it to you, I swear.
Review, please!
