Disclaimer: Anything you recognise, I do not own!

Chapter 2:

The effects of the chloroform were starting to wear off. I could feel my body coming back under my control. Grasping it, I willed myself to regain consciousness. Groggily opening my eyes, I look up to see a figure looming over me. "Good morning Mr Miles," the figure said. "I do hope you weren't too inconvenienced by our... summons."

"Where am I? What do you want with me?" I asked to keep up the pretence of being an unwitting bartender waking in a strange place. Sitting up I got a good look at the man. He was bald, well almost... and ugly. He had thin wisps of hair on his head and this beard that stood out prominently from his face. Ironic really that he had that much facial hair yet none on his head. The beard actually made him look balder than he actually was. He was wearing a white lab coat over a white shirt and a red tie.

"Why Mr Miles, my name is Dr Vidic and let me be the first to welcome you to Abstergo Industries" said the man. "As for why you are here? We know what you are Mr Miles! We brought you here to help us with a little... experiment, if you will."

"What. What do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about; I'm a bartender for Christ's sake! What do you want me to do? Teach you how to mix a martini?" I said, sticking with the 'wrong guy' persona.

"Come Mr Miles, let us not play games." Vidic said patronizingly. "We know both who and what you are... Assassin!"

'Dammit! They found me. But the question is... who are they?' I thought to myself. Deciding to keep him talking while I figured that out, I said "Wha... No! I'm not an Assassin! Not anymore..."

Predictably, he started talking again, giving me time to search through his mind. "Ahh, but you are Mr Miles. And you will help us!"

He kept talking, but I stopped listening. I was searching his mind. Abstergo was a front. A cover. Templars! That's who they were. 'But what do they want with me?' Searching further, I found that they had invented this machine. The Animus. It apparently allowed the user to access the memories of their ancestors using genetic memory, which was left behind through the DNA of their descendants.

The Templars were looking for something. Something which would apparently let them achieve their primary goal. Control. Of everyone. They seemed to think that they could find it through my ancestor's memories. They needed me. They needed my cooperation for the Animus to work properly. In order to get it they would threaten to induce me into a coma and tear my mind apart to find what they wanted.

Withdrawing from Vidic's mind, I found that he was making that exact threat. I knew that I couldn't let them get what they wanted. But the idea was tempting. To actually get to see the memories of my ancestor, to see what the Assassin's could really do. 'Plus' I reasoned with myself 'if I do this, I could find out what they want and get to it first.'

Deciding to just go with it, I agreed to help them if they let me go afterwards; making it seem like I didn't care what they wanted so long as I was left alone. Of course the cliché 'bad-guy' quickly agreed to those terms, promising I could go free after they get what they want. I could tell he was talking bullshit.

Vidic took me to the Animus. It looked like some sort of high tech bed. Metal, shaped in a wave type way to contort to your back. It had a blue strip running up the middle, ending in a greyish-blue circle where my head went. And at the bottom of the 'bed' was a laptop connected to the Animus.

Standing at this computer, was a woman. Blond, wearing a white shirt and a black knee length skirt, with an access card hanging around her neck. Kinda cute.

"Mr Miles, this is my assistant Ms Stillman..." started Vidic.

"Call me Lucy." She cut in.

"Yes... now stop wasting time and get in the Animus. We have work to do!" Vidic continued.

Doing as I was told, I lay down on the 'bed' and was surprised when a transparent 'visor' rose up from each side to hover over my face. As the machine activated I could hear Lucy say "Just relax Desmond", before I was drawn into the memory of one of my ancestors. One Altair Ibn-la'Ahad!


(A/N I have decided that I can't be bothered writing out all of the Animus sessions, as I haven't played the first game in a while, so I am going to just assume that you know what they contain and continue with Desmond's story. Also, I know that I have changed how it a bit but this is AU so I'm allowed to be different from the game.)

(A/N 2 If you haven't played the game either buy the book or check out Mirror and Image's 'Assassin's Creed Novelisation', they do a pretty good job of following the game)


Getting up from the Animus, I stretched my cramped muscles before massaging my temple. I felt like I had the mother of all hangovers.

"Get some rest Desmond. You'll need it for tomorrow." Ordered Lucy, and who an I to defy? I feel like hell anyway.

So getting up I made a slow journey to my room/cell. Collapsing on the bed, I groaned before letting out a sigh. Opening my eyes, I looked around the sparse room. 'Greeeeaat! Cameras. Just what I need, a load of nut-jobs watching me sleep,' I thought bitterly. I could escape at any time, all I would have to do is apparate or flame-travel out, but the chance to see what my ancestor saw is too tempting to pass up. Just that one trip into Altair's memory was amazing!

Still, I didn't feel like having Templars watching my every move, so I placed up an illusion charm focused around the cameras so that they saw only what they would expect, me sleeping or walking around my room. I then walked into the bathroom, finding more cameras I added another illusion, connecting it to the one in the bedroom so that they didn't show me in both rooms at the same time. I also set up a perimeter ward around the door so that I would know when someone is coming and mimic what the cameras showed them, so as to avoid suspicion.

After doing this, I sat cross legged on bed and started to practice my Occlumency, organizing the memories of the day into the right categories. I also set up a new category where I placed all of Altair's memories so as to not get them mixed up with my own, which would cause multiple-personality disorder.

After ensuring that I would stay sane and setting my mind so that it would automatically sort all memories from my time in the Animus to the category for Altair's memories (using an Occlumency exercise I created), I lay down properly and tried to get some rest to prepare myself for the next day.


I had been at this for weeks now. Reliving the memories of my long dead ancestor to find what Vidic wanted. A lot had happened in that time.

A few weeks ago Lucy, who I had been getting surprisingly close to considering she was my captor, left her pen-drive on the side of the Animus and I took it to see what I could learn when they were not around. I often snook out of my room at night to explore the lab, apparating past the door and using my invisibility power to stop the cameras from seeing me.

I used the pen-drive to access the Animus computer, and I later stole Vidic's pen-drive, accessing his personal computer too. I learnt a surprising amount about Abstergo from those machines. The Templars were apparently too arrogant to add further security to their files, thinking that I would never be able to access them.

I learnt that the Templars were looking for what they called 'Pieces of Eden', one of which (the 'Apple of Eden') I had actually seen in Altair's memories, in the hands of Al Mualim (the leader of the Assassin's of Altair's time). From what I could tell, the Pieces were advanced technology, beyond anything I have ever seen. From Altair's later memories, I found that they have some type of ability to influence the mind and bend people's perceptions of reality (like the Creed said, reality is a lie; the Apple allowed the wielder to bend and twist that lie to their will), and also control people's minds, much like the Imperius Curse.

I also learnt all about the Animus Project and about the person who preceded me in their little 'experiment', Subject 16. Subject 16 apparently suffered from what they called the 'bleeding effect' from long exposure to the Animus. My guess is that the poor guy was forced to live through several persons' memories, and without being able to sort them, he must have lost himself to those memories. Makes me glad I now Occlumency.

Also, during the last few weeks, the Assassins apparently learnt I was here and tried to rescue me. They failed. From what Vidic made me listen to over the intercom, it sounds like they died trying to get me out. What a waste. They shouldn't have had to die. Vidic seems to think that they were the same people from 'the Farm'. The last survivors after the place was attacked. This got me thinking about my parents in this reality. Sure this me didn't get along with them, but they were still his parents. My parents. Something I never got to have in my old world. Were they alright? Did they get killed by the Templars?

Lucy assured me that they were probably fine and that I was worrying for nothing, but I'm not sure. That's another thing I've learnt recently. Shortly after the failed rescue mission, I found out that Lucy is not one of them. She's an Assassin working under cover.

After the attack, I realized just how real this whole thing was. I realized that I was now in the middle of a war that has lasted for centuries. A war between the Assassins and the Templars. After acknowledging all of this, I decided that my peaceful existence was coming to a close. Hermione was right when she said I have a saving people thing, I couldn't just sit around and let the Templars take over the world. I can't let them win.

So during my next, what turned out to be my last, Animus session (at least at Abstergo), I did a little experiment. I figured that if I could access Altair's memories, what was to stop me from using the memory transference charm on my ancestor. So, in this session, I tried it.

To my delight, it worked. I gained all of Altair's knowledge of his abilities. I had learnt techniques for free-running, climbing, the 'Leap of Faith', fighting (both hand-to-hand and with weapons) and killing. I also learnt, how to use what Altair called 'Eagle Vision'. It was a skill that is similar to my 'Eagle Sense' but without the legilmency mixed in, so it required the use of my eyes. 'Eagle Vision' allows me to shift my vision so that I can see auras around people. If the aura is blue, then they are an ally (which is shown around Lucy). If it is red, then they are an enemy (which I see around Vidic). And if they are gold, then they are my target.

Now, with the memories of Altair, I figured that if I was going to fight a war, then I would need weapons (especially since I don't want to reveal magic). So, after ensuring that the illusion charms are up and the perimeter ward was active, I set to work making some.

Deciding to stick to something familiar, I first created a hidden blade. To do this I used magic to permanently conjure a large piece of steel. After doing this, I used magic to manipulate the metal into a perfect hidden blade (mechanism and all). In the past, the Assassins had to remove a finger to use one, but I didn't want to lose one, so I altered the blade slightly so that it would slide out only when my wrist was flipped backwards, out of the way of the blade.

Not wanting my new weapon to break, I decided to next add runes for indestructibility. And just as I was about to start etching them onto the blade, inspiration struck. What if I could use the hidden blade as a focus for my magic? Deciding to give it a shot, I transformed into Fawkes and plucked a feather from my tail. Changing pack after dropping it on the bed, I got to work. Using an old wand maker's spell that I learnt from Mr Ollivander in my old life, I created a hollow space inside the blade and inserted the feather there. Once this was done, I inscribed the runes for indestructibility, permanency and channelling onto the side of the blade (making it appear to be a pattern) and thrusting power into them to activate the runes.

Now, normally steel would not be a good conductor for magic, but as it itself was created from magic and with the channelling rune, that is not a problem. Once the blade was created, I conjured some leather and formed it into a harness/holster for the hidden blade to attach it to my arm. Using a permanent sticking charm, I attached the underside of the mechanism to the outer side of the leather and also added some straps around it just in case. I also added an indestructibility rune to the leather to stop it from breaking. After this was all done, I attached it to my right arm and covered it with an invisibility charm so that it remained hidden.

Not satisfied with only the blade, I decided to make some projectile weapons. Altair was fond of using throwing knives, but in this day and age, they aren't very conspicuous. I recalled a film I had watch a few years ago, where one of the main characters used little disks that, when a button was pushed on the top, revealed several tiny blades around the circumference. I wanted something like that. They weren't too different from the throwing knives, so the skills I learnt from Altair would still be of use.

Utilizing the same method as before, I conjured more metal, this time opting for silver (so that I could disguise it as jewellery if necessary), I created the disk. Whilst crafting the weapon, I added small designs to the top of the disk, in the shape of a stylized letter A. The symbol of the Assassins. On the underside of the disk, I added a rune for precision, a rune for explosion (that would allow me to detonate the disk with a spell), as well as a rune to make it vanish/disintegrate ten minutes after impacting their target.

Once the disk was complete, I created a belt with an indentation in the buckle where I could place the disk securely. To the buckle, I added runes to make it secure, to make it so that only I could remove the disk and to make it so that once a disk has been removed from it, an identical one was conjured to replace it (with the same runes and design).

Once all of this was complete, I replaced my old belt with my new one (vanishing the old one). With my new weapons, I felt much more secure. I can do something now. But first, I need to meet up with the other Assassins.

Lucy is my only chance!