The day it began didn't start off any different. She got up and went to her job, sitting in an uncomfortable chair behind a desk answering phones. But the poor thing didn't know that one man in a tacky cream colored suit would change everything.

"Hello, welcome to Smithson Designs. How can I help you?"

"You're Leila Bennett, correct?" She glanced back up at the man standing before her.

"Yes... do I- do I know you, sir?"

"No, I should be quite sure you don't. My name is Thomas Jones. I work for a little technology company called Abstergo Industries. I was wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes in private? There's a very urgent matter to discuss." She stood and glanced back toward the offices.

"Does this have to do with my brother? Is he in trouble again or something? I'm sorry for whatever he's hacked into, really, and he'll work off any damages he's done. I promise we'll fully repay-" the aging man interrupted her with a chuckle.

"No, no, Miss Bennett, your brother hasn't gotten into any trouble with us. On the contrary, it's a spot of trouble we've gotten ourselves into. I believe you studied genetics and computer programming in college?"

"Yes, but I don't understand what that could have to do with-"

"Miss Bennett, that's exactly what I'd like to discuss with you. But it's a sensitive matter, and my boss has strictly instructed me not to talk about it with anyone but you."

"Well, I uh, get off at five. I guess if it's that important-"

"I'll be waiting outside for you then, Miss Bennett. Please enjoy the rest of your day." And with that he was gone, and Leila was standing confused and in a daze until the phone rang and snapped her back to the present. She answered it and did the rest of the day's work with the same dazed quality, the thought in the back of her mind nagging her all day. What did that company... Abstergo, was it?- what did they need from her? Sure she'd studied computer programming, but that had been three years ago, and no companies had shown interest in her yet despite her degree. And she'd never even heard of the company to begin with. But as they closed up and left for the day, she set her mind to find out what it was that was going on.

"Bye, Leila, see you on Monday!"

"Yeah, bye," she called back to her coworker, already searching the parking lot for the man. He was leaning casually up against her car when she spotted him, and waved to her as if they'd known each other for years.

"Miss Bennett, I'm glad to see you again. How was the rest of your workday? Productive, I hope."

"If you'll excuse me sir, I'd really prefer if we cut all the bullshit out, and you just tell me what it is that your company desperately needs me for." He looked a little surprised, removing his fedora and raising his eyebrows. But he was not displeased.

"Ah. A little temper there, Miss Bennett? Probably got that from your mother's side of the family, no?"

"Sir, I'm not sure who you are, but if you don't start telling me something right now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn your boss down. She reached into her purse, but as soon as her fingers curled around the car keys, the man had grabbed her wrist. Much too tightly for a pleasant conversation.

"No, Miss Bennett, I'm sorry, but you're wrong. I'm afraid that turning us down is not an option." Suddenly realizing how stupid she had been, how naive to trust some man whose name she hadn't even learned, her heart started pounding and a sweat broke out on her forehead.

"What are you talking about? Let go of me. Get out of here, or I'll scream! I swear, I will!" The man smiled, looking just over her shoulder, and she turned to see a larger man, younger and muscular, standing behind her. There was a rag in his hand and a somewhat sinister look in his eyes.

"No, you won't Miss Bennett. Please accompany Johann and I, so we don't have to get rough."

"P-people will notice I'm missing. My coworkers, my f-family-"

"Everything has been taken care of. Now, Miss Bennett-" She wrenched from his grasp and, in her first good move of the day, pushed past him and made a break across the parking lot. She knew she'd have a second before the big one reacted, and kicked off her heels as she ran, pushing herself to a full sprint in her nylons.

"No such luck, milady." Johann's voice was derisive, and shockingly close. She jerked to a stop as he caught the back of her jacket, and had wrapped his arm around her middle before she could slip out of it and continue to run. He was taller than her, and her feet left the ground when he returned to his full height.

"Please..." she gasped, her voice deserting her, "please just let me go. I won't tell anyone, I swear." His face was close behind her, and she could feel when he shook his head. "I- I'll do anything..." Now he whispered in her ear, his hot breath making her feel squeamish,

"Tempting..." but he turned and carried her struggling back to the older man, ho was straightening his suit out. Johann set her down, but kept a strong hold on both her upper arms.

"Giving up so easily, Miss Bennett? You're doing quite a disservice to your ancestors."

"My... what?"

"You'll know in time. Now-" he looked cheerily up to Johann, "we really must get going, we're running a little late! If you would please...?" And the last thing she remembered of the parking lot was the cloth pressed over her mouth and nose, and collapsing into blackness and Johann's arms as her legs gave out.

She almost screamed out loud as she came to, still struggling in the last memory. But when her vision caught up with her, the cry petered out before it could gain any real momentum.

It was a bedroom. Minimally furnished, and all in the color of stainless steel, but a bedroom nonetheless. She was in a bed half covered in dull gray sheets and a blanket, and her hands were tied.

"H- hello?" she ventured nervously. "Mr. Kidnapper?" There was a beep, and a panel in the wall... a door, slid open with a soft whoosh. The older man stepped in, but now instead of his matching suit he wore a crisp white lab coat.

"Miss Bennett," he said looking down at a clipboard, "Welcome back to the world of the living."

"Where did you take me?"

"I trust you're feeling quite better now?" He ignored her question.

"Where are we? Why am I tied up? What do you want from me?" He looked up as the door slid open again and a younger man came in. He was dressed similarly, but when he made eye contact with her, gave her a small sympathetic smile.

"Doctor... Smith," the newcomer said hesitantly, "The Animus is fully prepared. If you'd like to check the final calibrations and enter the coordinates, I'll take care of getting Miss Bennett ready." 'Smith' nodded and left, handing the clipboard off to the other man on his way out. The one that was left sat on the edge of the bed and held a hand out.

"Name's Marcus. You can call me Mark, since we'll be together a lot while you're here." She held her bound hands out to him, and he raised his eyebrows. "Oh, right. Let's get that off, then." He untied her, then waved a hand in the air, motioning for her to go ahead and ask her questions.

"Where are we?"

"I'm sorry I can't tell you exactly. But you're at the headquarters of Abstergo Industries."

"What do you people want from me?"

"Nothing that's going to hurt you, I promise. It's rather complicated, but I'll try to explain it simply. In every person's DNA is the genetic memory of all their past ancestors. We've developed a machine that can access those genetic memories, and let us see the life your ancestors lived."

"You want to see what my ancestors' life was like?"

"Not exactly. We believe one of your ancestors has information that could prove very important to our company. We'd like you to help us access the memories and discover what this is."

"What, like buried treasure or something?" He laughed softly, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Something like that. But you don't need to worry about it. All you have to do is follow the course of your ancestor's life. I'll be watching too, so if there's something there we need, I'll see it." She pushed the covers off and Mark stood, helping her to her feet.

"I'll give you a little while to freshen up, then we'll get you acquainted with the Animus. Bathroom's through that door, fresh clothes are in the armoire. See you in a few." He smiled again, then left her on her own.

The shower was long and hot, clearing her head of the last cobwebs of what they'd used to knock her out. And the clothes, though generic and monotone, were comfortable and clean. When Mark came back, he looked her up and down, trying not to be noticeable. He was.

"Are those okay?" He asked. "I'm sure I could get you some pants or something."

"No, no. The skirt's fine." It reached to her knees, and the white t-shirt had a gray sweater to cover up. "It's pretty comfortable, actually."

"It looks nice," He turned away and opened the door. "Let's go on out, okay?" The room just outside was huge by comparison, but mostly empty. Against the far was a long desk with a bank of computers on it, at least four or five screens on it. 'Doctor Smith' was sitting in front of one of these, typing away.

But the thing that dominated the room was what drew most of her attention. It looked more like a waist high slab then a place people were expected to lay down, but with a slight curve where the base of her back would be. A lit up circle was at one end, where her head would go, she assumed, and lights that would run down her back. There was a small screen and keypad by the other end, now sitting dormant. She must have stopped, because Mark turned back and took her hand gently, leading her further into the room.

"Come on, it's all right." They reached the contraption, and he typed a few things on his keypad. "Well, this is the Animus. Climb on up, and lay down, then I'll explain everything you'll need to know." She did as he asked, closing her eyes and trying to breathe deeply to slow her pounding heart down. Mark spoke lowly to her, in a calming voice that made it seem like he was confiding in her something important.

"You can relax, okay? You'll be perfectly fine, and I'll be right here the whole time." She nodded, feeling only slightly better. "Now, it'll be something like falling asleep, this room will fade out, and when you wake up, you'll be surrounded by nothing. That's the space we use to let you get used to moving around in your ancestor's body. It'll be kind of like a dream that you can control. When you're used to moving around and everything, I'll isolate the first memory in the sequence, and place you into it. It'll be the same thing, everything fading, then coming back to the real world. Now, we're not sure what the memory will be exactly, and we may have to pull you out and send you further back. But for today, we'll just go in once, so you can get a feel for what it's like." He moved back to the keypad and began typing again.

"You should have your ancestor's instincts and whatever skills they had, so you'll fit in fine. Just go with her, and only interfere if you absolutely have to. Okay? Take a deep breath, and we'll begin."

The getting used to seeing through someone else's eyes wasn't that hard. A little strange seeing herself in some kind of old timey undergarment, and one of her fingers was missing, leaving only a small stump. So she started walking. Mark must have realized she was ready, because a few moments later, the blue haziness began to fade to black.

INTO THE PAST

The figure in the bed lay still as I stood in the corner. The fool. One hand moved slowly, surely to my back and pulled out a dagger. It caught the moonlight for a second before I moved it into shadow. It was time to move, before someone else entered the room. There was no sound as I moved to the edge of the bed, holding the feather in my other hand.

--small pov change--

There was someone there. I could sense him in the darkest corner of the room, even if I didn't know what room I was in. I could smell him too. Sweat and excitement and a little fear that maybe he didn't even notice. My hand was already under the pillow, and as he approached it gripped the handle of the dagger tighter, preparing for him. He stopped for a moment at the edge of the bed, and my anger finally pushed me to ruin the ruse that I was asleep.

"So he's finally sent someone for me, then." He breathed in sharply, almost a gasp but too controlled by his training.

"A woman?" I opened my eyes even though I was still facing away from him, and let out one scornful humph.

"Did he not even tell you who I was? You poor uninitiated bootlicker." That angered him, and I heard the swoosh of air as he raised his blade. "Do it then," I taunted. I rolled and raised my own knife and the two blades met with the clang of metal I'd missed for too long.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

"Leila! Open your eyes, honey!" She tried to do as the voice said, but it felt like her eyelids weighed a thousand pounds. They came open slowly and she saw the nice doctor's face, in blurry close-up.

"That's right, look here, right at me. Focus, okay?" He slowly got clearer, until her vision was back to normal. "That's a good girl." He smoothed back her hair from her forehead. "Can you sit up?" She once more did as she was told.

"What happened?"

A/N: here's a shot at assassin's creed. not much of a start, but there'll be more. most likely. uh, assuming you all know who the guy is that was sneakin' up on her in the past... review pleeze?