Disclaimer: I do not own Assassin's Creed or its affiliates.

Chapter 1

God, my head is pounding as I wake up, but I have no idea where I am. I look around, and feel my body turn around in a garden that looks like something directly out of the old history textbooks they had back at The Farm. That was about as far as I got before the world flickered and died as a wash of smoky blue stood in its place, with code littering the atmosphere.

Groaning, I turned my attention to the most important thing, so I sat down to nurse my headache and maybe even relieve some of the pain that was threatening to split my skull. The only problem was a sword that hung at my hip that made sitting down a goddamn pain.

It took a while for my head to register what had just happened, but when I finally figured out what was wrong I had just enough time to snap my eyes fully open and start to take a look at my body. I catch a glimpse of white cloth before the world exploded. Again.

"Ms Stillman, that was completely unnecessary. Once his vitals calmed down we would have been able to find a stable memory without removing him from the animus. Now we have to explain everything to him." By the time this guy had finished talking I had managed to blink the light out of my eyes and sit up. There were at least two people in the room, I couldn't see either of them yet, as I had a splitting headache. Shaking my head to clear it as much as I could, I looked around the room trying to make it look like I was still clearing my head. Intel's still the first thing you need.

There are two people here. Only two people. Behind me was some old guy in a lab coat that was talking before. He had a gray beard, but was pretty bald up top. The other was some blond lady who was wearing an office/secretary type outfit that's pretty easy on the eyes. She's standing at a computer that's a part of whatever-the-hell I was just in. God, I need a drink.

"Warren, you know how this works, and if you want him to stay alive long enough to get what you want, then listen to me. I've been the one in charge of the health of the Subjects and their Animus sessions. I still don't even know why you're here, this isn't the first time we've caught an 'important' assassin." The blond was glaring at the old man... Warren... now, which was strange, because it sounded like he was the one in charge from his tone of voice earlier. Damn, I need to get rid of this headache, sitting here with my head in my hands is helping a lot less than it should.

"Now now, Ms Stillman, no need to get antsy. If this Subject has half the memories his DNA suggests, then this will be well worth the effort, no matter how we go about it. But enough of that, Mr Miles is awake, and it would only be proper for us to answer some of his questions since you woke him up. What do you have to say, Mr Miles?"

Funny, the one thing I actually don't want is answers. I don't want my theories confirmed. I don't want my dumbass father's crackpot teachings proven right. "Actually, Doc, could you get me a headache pill?"

"Of course Mr Miles, we can't have your brain liquifying because of the reformatting," He gestured to a small bottle of pills that was on a nearby table. I groan, dammit, this means I have to get up! "Now, don't be such a child. You should be grateful, if it wasn't for Ms Stillman there I wouldn't have brought those. She seems to think that the patients' health and comfort is important, but I myself have never cared for such things."

I take my sweet time getting up, my headache notwithstanding, I want to see how far I can stretch this, but it seems they're okay waiting. Loosening up my legs I wonder exactly how long I was out for, or even where I am. I figure that at least I'm important to them in some way, since I'm their prisoner, and they seem happy to indulge me for the time being. I want to see how far that goes.

Forgetting and foregoing water, the pills still work a charm once they're down, and I regain my mind, at least to the state where I wonder how smart taking those pills was anyway. Even though I don't know what I just put in my body, I still smile and look around. The room is pretty utilitarian, mostly grays with a couple of raised sections for hard drives that obviously provide technical support for the machine they put me into, and apparently reformatted my brain at the same time. Shit, they said it reformatted my brain. What the fuck did I just land in?

I saw the old man about to open his mouth, when I cut him off, I was already sick of the smug bastard. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." I pause, what the hell do I ask? What the hell am I supposed to ask? "You guys do know that you got it wrong, right? I mean, I'm no Assassin, there are probably heaps of guys out there that would have been easier to find than me. You know, I don't even know what's going on in this war, your side or theirs, so how about we hash this out like civilised people. You know, with less sedatives and creepy machines?"

"Mr Miles, you seem to labor under the delusion that we have made a mistake. There is a reason why we hunted you down for all these years, your skills in hiding are quite impressive." The Bald Bastard pulls out a clipboard, with what looked like a report on it. "Well trained, but your body seems to have wasted away over the years. Perhaps you should have gotten out more Mr Miles, or were you just that anti-social." He flipped the page, "Talented at mixing drinks, passive-aggressive demeanor, and it seems that you see much more than anyone gives you credit for, since there were a couple of close shaves in the beginning, and you've never made the same mistake more than once. You are certainly a tricky man Mr Miles... But, in this case, it is not exactly you we are after, but this part is Ms Stillman's area of expertise.

I roll my eyes. Although the guy had earned points for creepiness, I've been wary of people for far too long for him to be able to psyche me out. The girl, Stillman or whatever, rolled her eyes as well, and she did spare me a glance. She was strange, since she seemed alright just watching the other guy, Warren, rattle on as much as he wanted, despite the fact that it was clear that the machine was hers. Despite that, she seemed nice enough, and pretty enough too, but there was something about her that seemed off. Maybe it was the sympathy in her eyes, because I know for certain that she can't have known me long enough to care that much, and if she knew anything at all, then she would know better than to try that on me. I've grown paranoid enough over the years, and anyone that wants to help, doesn't.

"Sure Warren, let's skip past the part where we introduce ourselves or tell him where he is when he isn't inside the animus." The bald guy shrugs, with a gesture of 'well, get on with it'. "I'm Lucy Stillman, you can call me Lucy, and I'm an employee of Abstergo Industries, you're at one of our facilities. The 'doctor' over there is Warren Vidic, he's in charge of the Animus Project." She gestures to the machine and I finally get my mind to remember the name. She must see the following look on my face when she quickly follows up with "I'm in charge of the Subjects on a day-to-day basis, and I get most of the experience of actually working with the machine. I'm like PR, Warren's the local manager, and you're Subject Seventeen."

Sheesh, that gives me way more than I wanted to know. It's obvious she's either not very good at this, or she's intentionally leaking information, which means she's either an undercover Assassin, or trying to play 'good warden'. I mean, they know I was raised an Assassin, so it's pretty self-explanatory that Abstergo means Templar, at least to me. Also, she said Vidic's the local manager, so even if I do manage to kill him, there isn't a chance of him being the Grand Master, and since he's an asshole he probably won't be missed. And Subject Seventeen. I don't even want to know what happened to the sixteen guys that went before me, I mean, it hardly looks like we're here to make sure that their little machine works properly. They want something from me, from us, and from the looks of what's happened so far, it's going to be painful, and disturbing too.

There's a pause in the conversation, so I look up. Vidic's glaring at the blond, Lucy, probably at the backhanded way she introduced him. Clearing my throat, I break the tension, "Um, unless there's something else vitally important I should know, I'm gonna have to ask for a bed." … "Unless you two want to continue glaring at each other... Or me. Night." Regardless of the fact that it was light outside the windows (and I wouldn't put it past them to have built this place underground with fake 'outsides') I lay back down with the full intention of going to sleep.

Fuck! The machine just zapped me, and that bastard Vidic stepped closer. Lucy had just gone back to her work on the Animus computer, butting out of the conversation again. "Now, now, Mr Miles, I don't believe that we're finished here. That shock you just felt is our way of forcefully withdrawing Subjects from the Animus when they don't want to leave. Grounding them to their body through pain is quick, efficient, and we don't have to worry about the Animus or their minds as we would if we just powered down the machine." Gloating dick, I sit up, again. Damn, my headache's returned with a goddamn vengeance "All in good time, Mr Miles, we do want you to understand what we want from you. The Animus, as its name suggests, allows the user to enter the bodies of ancestors throughout time and view their memories by decoding your DNA, and guiding your 'animus' to those memories. It renders the world of the past, and allows us to gain knowledge and awareness of things lost to history, with no bias other than the limitation of what the ancestor themselves experienced. Your ancestor in the Crusades, an Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, came across something we want to find. The memory of where he encounters it was the place where you found yourself earlier. Now, to bed Mr Miles, Ms Stillman will show you to your room. The Animus first had to reformat you mind for you to take part in the memories. Tomorrow, we will begin. Now, to bed, we have wasted too much time, and your usefulness to us has just begun."

God, my head hurts, and I distantly hear an electric door open. I guess I do need Lucy to help get me there, I can barely stand, I certainly can't walk on my own. Still, the hell? Unlocking DNA? Exploring the memories of this long dead ancestor? What the fuck just happened to my life?