Chapter One
November 21 2015 - San Andres, Metro Manila, the Republic of the Philippines.
A loud crackle of thunder roared from the sky, casting a bolt of lightning that struck one of the skyscrapers on the city of Makati, illuminating some dark alleys, and roadways of San Andres district. It was already midnight, there are only a few little cars and busses running around the ankle-deep flooded streets.
Even though it was already ber month, a time when this country's air was chill and cold, the whole Manila city was wet from the hard, falling rain, thousands of endless water pounding and hitting the roofs of the townhouses and the pavement on the streets.
There were only a few people outside and most of them were employees coming home from work or street children, enjoying the cool, stormy rain.
On one corner, between two dark alley, a heavy footstep splashed against the water. A tall man in his mid forties or fifties strode passed the alley and across an intersection.
He was covered with battered brown rain coat but even though he was well covered, the coldness seeped into his grey shirt underneath, his legs shivered slightly despite being shielded by thick, black maong pants. But the man's speed didn't falter as he walked, despite the heavy rain.
He stopped in front of a house, on the corner of the row of townhouses that he had passed. He made three loud knocks accompanied with his right foot hitting the bottom part of the door once. It was his signature knock, or more like his signal to his true identity to the occupants inside.
The man stood there but after a minute the door opened and the light from the inside shone brightly and illuminated the man's face.
"Just finished my scout Gavin, no one's following me." William Miles said as the man named Gavin ushered him before making one last scan of the outside, he closed the door and bolted it with locks.
William quickly took off his wet rain coat and sat down on the sofa inside the well-lighted living room of the small house. His face possessed several scars, which he earned during his missions. He might've looked like a normal middle aged man but he was actually a Master Assassin of the Brotherhood of Assassins. But that title was along time ago to him.
Gavin, a man with a beard on his face and with unkempt brown hair, stood in front with appraisal. He observed the tired Master Assassin and his face showing tell-tale signs of aging, this made him worried.
"You shouldn't stress yourself that much. Our stay here in Philippines will be long anyway." he sat down on the chair beside him as he took out his phone from his old brown pants and began to read some of the supplies that they still need.
He and William Miles were the two highest members of the Brotherhood of Assassins. Their secret organization was once widespread and strong with many connections to different governments, but it all changed when the Order of the Templars started a purge on the Assassins.
Betrayals, killings and extortion were all things that William witnessed. He gave a short, tired Master Assassin were now facing a dilemma, their organization would soon be extinct. The Templars were advancing rapidly through technology, although he knew that they were suffering financially right now, he didn't actually know why, but he did know that they could quickly recover from it with one scheme or another.
William Miles then shifted his tired eyes at Gavin, a look of reminiscence showed as he recalled all of the missions where the man had done for the Brotherhood, he couldn't help but to say thanks to him every time he was successful or not. He was a good friend and a loyal member to the Brotherhood.
"Say...how's everyone by the way?" he slowly asked without looking at him as closed his eyes and rubbed them using the palm of his hands.
The Assassin answered him with a smile. "Everything is fine, although Shaun and Rebecca were both complaining the slow internet speed in this country, they calmed down after a few minutes." he paused as he glanced behind him, towards the stairs, where the other two members were busy on their jobs.
"I miss Altair II though." Gavin added sadly as he reminiscences his life along the sea, onboard the Assassin's ship called Altair II. He was the captain, and life at sea was very calming for him. He already missed the ship and the familiar scent of the sea.
"I know, where were they right now?" William asked as the captain answered.
"At the coast of Mindanao, Harlan is manning it and most of our brethren are waiting for the shipment of weapons in there." The Master Assassin silently nodded. The two of them went silent as William rummage his thoughts on what will be his next course of action.
Philippines...might be a good place to establish an HQ for the Brotherhood, William thought analytically. After the start of 2015, the master Assassin had decided to travel to the Asian country, in order to establish an HQ. He considered America and other countries in the Europe but they were already dangerous for the Brotherhood.
Abstergo, also the Templar influence, were getting stronger on those countries. They wouldn't, however, start anything in Philippines or any other 3rd world Asian countries, the reasons probably involving resources and the financial problems of the Order, yet.
"A temporary HQ here might be suffice don't you think?" with a drained thought, William asked the captain who gave him a nod.
"I should check on those two." The Master Assassin then stood up, feeling some energy in his body, before who walked towards the wooden stairs.
The second floor of the house was just like the ground floor, only the floors and the walls were littered with wires and other electronic paraphernalia. And in the midst of this jungle of wires floor were two people, both were sitting and facing a brightly lit computer on top of their respective desk.
"Great...outernet has crashed again." Shaun, let out a sigh of boredom as he relaxed his back on the chair that he was sitting on, the problem was all too familiar for him because it was always the first thing that appeared whenever he used the outernet.
He was a man almost in his thirties and possessed a square type glass which showed his profound knowledge in history and computer technology. His knowledge was also the reason why he was one of the highest ranking members of the Brotherhood.
"You know what...just turn off the modem for 10 seconds then turn it back on," Shaun's right brow twitched in annoyance, making his brown pants rustle as he crossed his legs, as he turn around to answer the girl who suggested such repetitive and mundane action.
"Well that's a good action Rebecca, would you mind doing it for me? The modem is so far and I can't reach it." Shaun said in a sarcastic like manner with his arms crossed over his blue sweater.
Rebecca, a girl in her mid-twenties, turned her swivel chair around, showing her black shirt and khaki pants, she cast her black eyes with annoyance at the man. The modem was right beside her and he could just reach it from his position.
"Well, sure thing princess blondie," she said in a jocular manner while looking with a grin at Shaun's blonde hair. The man just grunted, irritant to her joke. But he only stretched his right hand and reset the modem. He and Rebecca were doing the same procedure since they've arrived this morning in this little house that would soon become the Assassin's HQ. They were both complaining the slow outernet – a different type of internet available only to the Brotherhood.
Their argument was stopped when they saw William, stepping on the landing and reaching the second floor with a tired look on his face.
"William welcome back." Rebecca the first to greet as the Master Assassin arrived. Shaun also greeted but with his usual plain tone, he expected the man to return anyway because of his deadly skills.
"At ease you two. What's the status now?" William's aura of commanding affected both of them, they immediately reported the status of their equipment, the quality of signals and connection that they were receiving through the outernet, and then their possible escape routes that they can take in case they were found by their enemy.
William listened and posed questions and suggestions and the some recommendation for safety precaution. In his experience, he always made sure that everything went well; he couldn't risk losing more of his members.
"I guess that's all we can do," Shaun said clearly but somewhat dissatisfied, thinking that he could do more.
"That's good, for now. Now did anyone contact us, did any of the remaining branches establish a connection to us, yet?" William Miles asked as Rebecca answered.
"The Initiates contacted us after we finished setting up the connection earlier, they said that they'll send us a file that one of their 'workers' got from Abstergo."
William eyes lit up in sudden interest. The Initiates were a mysterious group that suddenly contacted them one day, claiming that they were on the same side as them and their goals were aligned with the Brotherhood's. At first he was sceptic on what they said but as soon that he learned that they already had one of their moles, inside the Brotherhood, he immediately searched and found them.
He interrogated the spies about the Initiate's goals and he found out that they were truly working against Abstergo and were willing to share information with the Brotherhood, and whenever they did, they had it sent by their 'workers', a term they gave to their team of expert hackers.
I don't know who were they but we Assassins, are no longer alone, William closed his eyes and rummaged through his thoughts, his mind was already heavy with fatigue but he wanted to see whatever the Initiaties sent to them.
"What time will they send it?" Gavin asked as he approached the three of them.
"Well they said it will be after midnight in Philippine's time," Rebecca said as Shaun glanced at his wrist watch.
"Which is about now." As if his voice was a command, the computer behind him suddenly lit up and a shrill noise filled the second floor of the small house. He turned around and saw a familiar icon of a Skype call.
"That's weird…a skype call?" Shaun said, puzzled to why the method of communication was patched through a public software, rather than the secret connection of Outernet.
He made a glance at William, asking if he has to answer, who gave him an approval. Shaun immediately clicked to answer, another window appeared on the screen.
A single sentence was written on the middle of the black screen which read. "AUDIO ONLY".
"Hello is this on?" a voice of a male blurted out of the computer speaker which almost made Shaun and Rebecca jumped but Shaun immediately answered.
"Yes…and don't be to near to the mic…" in a startled and annoyed manner, Shaun slowly decrease the volume to a tolerable one and spoke again.
"Who's this by the way…and why are you using Skype? What happened to the outernet hmm?" the man asked immediately, earning him a soft cough from the man on the other side of the line.
"Geez, slow down will ya? Name's Erudito and the internet in your side, sucks. The normal internet is much better…is this 'EN' by the way?"
William looked at Gavin and both of them were thinking the same thing. This 'worker' definitely came from the Initiates. 'EN' was short for Eagle's Nest, it was term that William gave to Bishop, the boss of the Initiates whom he and several members of his Brotherhood had met before on the Outernet.
With Erudito saying it too carelessly to them, they already know that the worker must've used a program to make this conversation, tight and secure and can't be trace by Abstergo.
"Yes this is EN," William moved closer to the screen and talked to Erudito.
"Ah you must be William, heard your funny voice everywhere, especially Bishop. Since you confirmed quickly and easily that means you already knew that I certainly work for the Initiates am I right?"
Shaun softly blew out some air from his mouth, impressed by Erudito's deduction. He thought the same thing after the Master Assassin spoke. The man had clearly showed some intellectual sharpness.
"I programmed my Skype account and this connection to be private and secure. This conversation will not appear in their databanks, but you already knew that too, Mr. Miles?"
"Yes, I do." William was also impressed, his right brow rose in appraisal on how accurate were his explanation.
"Ok, but I'll be brief, the connection in your country is getting weaker," Erudito said as a sound of a muffled typing reverberated through the speaker then after a second, after letting out a single beep, another sentence appeared on the bottom left.
DOCUMENT RECEIVED.
Shaun immediately clicked and downloaded the file and then opened it. It was file of Abstergo's recent shipping of money and other computer related products. The Assassin's scanned and read each of the words on the screen. High end computers and some other expensive Hardware, alongside integrated soft wares and High tech equipment, all of them were, or will be ship, out of Mainland USA.
William trail with his eyes, reading each and every word, remembering anything that caught his interest until his eyes rested on the final item on the list.
SUBJECT 17 – DNA GENOME –
William grip his right hand, forming a tight fist on the desk. He made a slight grunt, not audible to others except for Shaun. Shaun looked up to him, noticing the last item; his face cast a worried look as he saw William. The older man's eyes were dark, he knows what or who was Subject 17 was.
It was none other than his son, Desmond Miles. And he died back on that place, that very dreadful place. The last words, the conversation that they had, still rang in his ears and it haunts him till this day.
"Desmond…" William uttered, dispirited to what he read as he moved back, away from the computer.
Shaun immediately resume, reading some of the list, and asked Erudito.
"And why do you want for us to see this?"
"Look how expensive those items were. Some 'Software and Hardware' were a little bit overpriced, the Initiates think it was more than that," Erudito paused as Shaun received another document from him which the man quickly opened.
"Not to mention…according to financial file that I also got, Abstergo has hired many construction firms and all of them, together with the goods that they will ship out of mainland, were all going to the same place."
Erudito finished as Shaun looked over the file, containing Abstergo's financial file. True to what the man had said every item and every resources of the company were all being shipped towards one place. William read it also, and the words burned in his mind.
ISLA NUBLAR – JURASSIC WORLD
"Jurassic World…" Gavin and William uttered in unison. The Master Assassin was puzzled and left clueless to what he read. He knows what Jurassic World was, an amusement park that opened in the year 2005. It was large place filled with dinosaurs that were created through advance genetic hybrid sequence. To him however it was a normal park and nothing more.
What was Abstergo planning…What were those damn Templars going to do there? William's questions echoed in his mind. It was truly out of place for Templars to take interest on a kid's park. But then a question sprang in his mind, his face became doomed.
Why 'Desmond' is going there…?
"Is this all?" Shaun asked more as he scan each of the file simultaneously while Rebecca jotted down some of the items that might interest William.
Erudito made a coughed and then spoke. "Well there's one last…but it so weird and very…" he paused, unable to put into words on what he had seen on the last file, which made Shaun tap his index finger on his desk, impatiently.
"I don't know…it's just beyond what I know humans can do. And I just couldn't believe that Abstergo was capable of doing this."
"Just send it now." Shaun commanded, irritably. The man's words were filled with suspense to him and to the Assassin's behind him. A notification appeared again and he downloaded the file immediately. And with quick movement he opened the file.
William leaned in again as his eyes looked at the contents of the file. His eyes then widened, shocked to what was showing on the computer screen. He couldn't believe to what he was reading right now.
PTERANODON EMBRYO
DNA HELIX – 'ALTAIR'
DIMORPHODON EMBRYO
DNA HELIX 'customize' – 'MALIK'
What the hell…is this…Shaun couldn't understand, his eyes screamed in qualm as he scroll down, passing a picture of an ancient flying dinosaur, reading more of this horrifying words.
MEGARAPTOR EMBRYO
DNA HELIX/S – 'EZIO' & YUSUF (customize)
"What…!" Rebecca, in her shock state, dropped the pen from her trembling hands after she saw a picture of a tall carnivore dinosaur. Shaun scrolled down, hardly looking at the photos. His hands were also trembling in fear but the following dinosaurs almost made the Assassin's cursed loudly.
TYRANOSAURUS-REX EMBRYO
DNA HELIX/S – 'CONNOR'
ALLOSAURUS EMBRYO
DNA HELIX – EDWARD
GIGANOTOSAURUS EMBRYO
DNA HELIX – HAYTHAM
STEGOSAURUS EMBRYO
DNA HELIX /S – ARNO / ELISE
TRICEROTOPS EMRBYO
DNA HELIX – SHAY
ANKYLOSAURUS EMBRYO
DNA HELIX – AVELINE
MOSASAURUS EMBRYO
DNA HELIX – ADEWALE
VELOCIRAPTOR (Original Design)
DNA HELIXES – LIAM, HOPE, ACHILLES – JACOB & EVIE (customize both)
"What…the hell…" Gavin uttered in pure horror. Horrified to what he was reading and to what those DNA helix's contain. They were the DNA's, with the exception of Haytham, Shay and Elise, of the famous Assassin members of the Brotherhood. For hundreds of years those people were the ones who help grew the Brotherhood to what it was today and most of them were heroes, they all contributed to every major events that had happened in the world. Gavin felt sick, feeling acid in his stomach rising. He couldn't believe on what Abstergo would do to their ancestors. They, even though it wasn't true yet, will become mere, already extinct, dinosaurs.
William was still scanning every species dinosaurs. His eyes were glued to the screen and filled with angst. The thought of their famous Assassin's will become something degrading such this had made him cast a dark glare. Instead of fear or being sick, anger was starting to rise inside him.
No…all of them will become like that…! And then suddenly he remembered his son. Dreading of horror he immediately snatch the mouse away from Shaun, who was startled by his action, and then scroll down, missing every dinosaurs, until he stopped.
William let out a gasped; his anger rose to the extent that he almost crushed the mouse that he was holding with his right hand, as he read his son's name.
TOP SECRET CLASSIFIED EMBRYO/S
DNA HELIX – DESMOND MILES/ CLAY KACZMAREK
No…No…No! William cringed and then with force he slammed his left hand on the desk and let out many mouthful of agonizing breath. His worst fear was confirm, other than the man Clay, a fallen member of their brotherhood, his son will become a degrading creature, Desmond will become a dinosaur.
"No…! Goddamn them!" William couldn't no longer hide his anger, his eyes almost burned down the computer as he clenched his right hand tightly. He attempted to punch the screen, to release his anger, but the electronic appliance was spared as Gavin intervened and quickly took hold of his right hand.
"William calm down…it's ok-"
"How can this be okay?! My son is becoming something degrading!" William shouted at Gavin, his tone of rage reverberated through the paper thin walls of the old house. His mind was in haywire and filled with fury. He already knew how Abstergo treated his son's deceased body when they got hold of him from that dreaded place, he let it go and didn't come to retrieve his body because they were too strong.
William considered himself as a worse father because his relationship with him was very cold. He couldn't help, he was Master Assassin during those times and then the only time that he wanted to show his love to him was the time when he promised himself that he will be the one to give him a proper burial, an Assassin's burial and now that he failed at that too, he began to curse himself for being such a failure.
But his fury and rage of cursing himself slowly shifted, indefinitely, towards their main true enemy.
"Kill…Templars…!" William gnashed the words harshly, Gavin looked at him with sympathy the Master Assassin, was completely in his demonic state. "Every…last one of them…!"
William uttered as his eyes locked on the floor, still filled temper. If he can kill every Templars right now, he had done in a mere seconds in his state right now.
"William calm down…we can't be reckless right now. Our Brotherhood is in danger. "Gavin's calm voice entered his ears as he moved closer and gently pats his back. The words that he'd said had soften the hatred passionate eyes of the Master Assassin. Gavin was right he mustn't act too reckless right now for he will endanger the Brotherhood.
"…You're right…" William slumped down on the chair in a defeated manner. He began to calm down and then he started remembering the last events and conversation that he had done with Desmond. He closed his eyes and in his mind, he cried.
The other three who was looking at him had felt pity. They all know what fathers feel when they lose their son and they too felt it. Desmond he was a family to them and now that they know what will happen to his remains, they too felt a sudden surge of anger. The Templars had gone too far this time and if they're wishing to risk their lives to strike back, they will, with full force.
"Do you want to retrieve Desmond's Body…Mr Miles?" Shaun and Rebecca darted their eyes at the computer screen surprised that Erudito was still connected to them. He heard everything and this made him suggest such question to the Master Assassin.
William looked at the computer screen, his eyes lit up after he heard what he said. He hadn't thought about that but if he can he will do it.
"Yes…"
"It's impossible right now for the whole Island is surely heavily guarded." Erudito's comment made Shaun snap his eyes back at the screen.
"Then why the hell would you ask him that?" he asked in a cold manner, finding Erudito's attitude rude already for his taste. The 'worker' snorted loudly and then made a rebuttal.
"I'm not finished. There's a possible way for Mr. Miles to retrieve it." Erudito said in an assuring tone as an image suddenly appeared and flashed onto to the Assassins. All of them moved closer and looked at it. It was a promotional Pamphlet, bearing with brightly colorful words which they all read.
JURASSIC EMPIRE SOON TO OPEN – SEPT 21 2018
"Jesus Christ…they still want to open it!" Rebecca shouted in disbelief, after she recall the 2015 Jurassic World incident were hundreds of people died due to a single rampaging dinosaur. She couldn't fathom Abstergo's plan on opening it again.
"Well some people, especially Templars, don't learn." Shaun said in a sarcastic manner.
"They're going to showcase…our fallen brethren like there were animals." Gavin commented, displeased as he imagined the entire ancient Assassin, were all dinosaurs and eating plants or meat and living like they weren't human anymore.
"Well…technically, Jurassic World and Empire was advanced zoos and the animals are dinosaurs…duh," Erudito rudely corrected as Gavin casted his murderous glare at the screen.
"Henry Wu…" William suddenly uttered a name. During the 2005 opening Jurassic World, he had read some works about the park and how the dinosaurs were created. The name Henry Wu always appeared on those parts and that made the Master Assassin recall him.
"Henry Wu was the one creating those dinosaurs, well under the orders of Alan Rikkin and Laetitia England right now, for Abstergo bought Masrani Global Corporation and their Jurassic World." Erudito said as he continued.
"If you want to avenge your son's degradation…you should at least kill two of these people." William's eyes softened. An idea suddenly began to form in his mind. Erudito was right, he wanted revenge but it was too risky, the Templars owned the island, Jurassic Empire will soon be opened. Many of their special forces will certainly be present.
"I want to retrieve my son's body…" he uttered as he slowly moved towards the dark corner of the floor as Gavin quickly responded.
"I'll be with you William, but we have only to retrieve Desmond and nothing else," Gavin made sure if that was the Master Assassin was planning but to his dismay William returned with a small metallic briefcase on his right hand.
He put on the chair and opened it. His hands reached out and took the contents. The cloud outside the house quickly diminished, the bright full moon quickly entered through the glass of the windows and reflected at William's eyes, through the blade that he was holding.
William stared at his own Hidden Blade. He started to remember on how he had wield it, how he slashed down Templars using the sharpness of the blade. A weapon like this was passed down from the Ancient Master Assassins till to the current generation of Assassins. William slowly wear it, first to his right and then took out the second which he put it on his left.
Erudito, sensing what the Master Assassin was doing, spoke again.
"So…who's your two targets?" William turned around and answered.
"It's simple, that bastard Alan Rikkin," William said, his tone becoming menacing, "and then his subordinate, Laetitia England," he added for he knows that if he killed both of them, he would cripple the entire operation of Abstergo during the opening of the theme park.
"Well that's good for you. I will soon send you-" Erudito was suddenly cut when William harshly spoke the last name of his target.
"And the last one…!" he looked at his right hidden blade, his eyes filled with hatred, and then quickly swung it, making the mechanism inside his bracer, eject the blade and pierced through the desk in front of the picture promotional pamphlet of Jurassic Empire.
William with nothing in his mind but enmity finally said his last target.
"Henry Wu."
WOO-HOO! Still awake because of my imagination! Special thanks to Absolute Path APS for beta-reading! So guys, I know it's hard for me to do this but, suggest some dinosaurs that I can put in this fanfic, some that isn't part of Jurassic World and the Assassin equivalent to it. HAHA :)
Disclaimer : I don't own Assassin's Creed and Jurassic World