Chapter One: Historian

The Assassins were not at all like I was expecting. When we reached Monteriggioni, Johnathan led me into an enormous mansion that would have looked very romantic seven-hundred years ago. The stone of the terrace was weathered and grey, the statues defeated, and plant life scarce. The village made me wonder how anyone could live here without being completely depressed.

We entered the villa through a secretive doorway… only it wasn't so secretive because there was a mass of cords emerging from it. "Subtle," I said as Johnathan felt along the wall for something. If I hadn't been expecting it already, the bookshelf that slid aside to reveal a long, dank staircase would have greatly surprised me. "Of course the meeting place for members of a secret society wouldn't be complete without a typical underground hideout!" Johnathan gave me an annoyed look. I should be taking this a little more seriously but it still seemed like I'd plunged into a spy novel. Down the steps we went, following the trail of extension cords until reaching the mouth of a very large, cluttered cavern.

Admittedly my jaw dropped upon the sight of each enormous statue. There were seven of them along the rear half of the room. Though their visages were made of solid stone, I couldn't help but feel like fourteen eyes were trained on me, scrutinizing the very fiber of my being. I wasn't an Assassin, I didn't belong with them.

"Ah, Johnathan!" A guy with brown hair and glasses briskly approached my rescuer. "Long time no see! How goes the corporate sabotage?"

"Same old, same old," Johnathan smiled, meeting the man's open palm with his own. They shook vigorously, beaming like two friends who hadn't seen each other in ages. "Well, I guess this month was a little out of the ordinary for me." The man in black stepped aside to indicate me and I shuffled forward slightly. "This is Didem Bayrakdarian, the 'package' I was sent to retrieve from Abstergo."

The guy with glasses lowered them a little, thoroughly examining me. "Well color me impressed," he said with a British accent, "she's more gorgeous than YouTube led me to believe!"

"You looked me up on YouTube?" I asked in a flat tone. Who the heck was this guy?!

"Ah, Dee..." Johnathan interjected, "I'd like to introduce Shaun Hastings. Despite what you just heard, he is quite brilliant with computers."

Shaun partially smirked. "I'm flattered. But really, are you sure she's clean? No tracking chip implanted in her skin? It would really ruin our plans if Abstergo discovered our little hideout."

Oh, there's the kicker: he's totally paranoid. "Nobody at the lab put a needle in my skin," I said calmly. "We made a clean getaway."

Johnathan nodded. "She's right. All they were interested in was her diverse gene pool. Dee spent more time with the Omniglot scientists than in the Animus itself."

"You'll have to tell me all about that, darling." Shaun said with a smile.

I cringed. "Please don't call me that."

The grin faded. "Okay, sorry. C'mon, let me introduce you to the others." I started following him into the center of the cavern but turned to give Johnathan a nervous look.

"You're safe with these people," the spy smiled. It carried a lot of reassurance. "I need to return to the States to inform your father of the situation and plan our next set of actions."

"But why can't I go with you?" I pleaded, searching his eyes for a real explanation. Didn't my parents miss me? Didn't they want me back as soon as possible?

Johnathan shook his head and I sighed in defeat. "I'll see you soon, Dee. Just try to relax until then." With that my savior left, and I agreed it would be better to get to know these Assassins and cooperate with them to the best of my ability instead of complain about being stuck here.

Rebecca Crane didn't really give me a second glance as she typed away on her computer. "Don't expect much hospitality from this one..." Shaun said disdainfully. "Unless it has to do with the Animus, she won't give you the time of day."

"The Animus?" I repeated. "You have one?"

Like a light being turned on, Rebecca hopped up from her chair and beamed at me. I thought I was short but I had to look down into her face. "We couldn't let Abstergo have all the fun, could we? That's why I improved their specs and built the Animus 2.0. Baby is slimmer, more efficient, and less of a drag on your brain." She patted the machine affectionately, making me laugh.

"So who is this?" I inquired of the man currently occupying "Baby". He wore jeans and a white hoodie, had close-cropped dark brown hair and a face that seemed way too familiar. I leaned in for a closer inspection. Yes… the brow, nose, and lips all reminded me of someone I had seen before. The scar across his mouth should have been a dead giveaway but I couldn't place him in my memory.

"This is Desmond Miles," Rebecca said. "He was born into the Order and actively eluded us until Abstergo captured him a while ago. But thanks to Lucy we got him back, and now we're using his genetic memory to search for a very powerful artifact."

"Lucy?" I asked, shuddering at the image of the woman whose tight blonde bun made her features so unkind. "Lucy Stillman?"

"Yes, that's me," came a voice from behind. I whirled around to face the woman. "I'm surprised to see you here, Dee."

"The feeling is mutual," I practically growled.

Both Shaun and Rebecca glanced between us. "Um, Lucy is actually an agent we sent to infiltrate Abstergo a long time ago," the shorter girl explained. "She's the reason I was able to build this Animus. The Templars had no idea she would double-cross them until she broke Desmond out of their lab."

"So you're really one of the good guys?" I inquired with much skepticism.

"Yes," Lucy nodded. "I brought Desmond here so we could search for the Apple on our own terms. Vidic was obsessed with finding it. As soon as Abstergo discovered that Desmond's ancestor had physically interacted with the Apple, I got him out of there. Now we hope to find it before the Templars."

"What use would they have for an apple? What's so special about a fruit?"

The three Assassins looked at me in mild disbelief. "You mean you don't know?" Rebecca finally asked. "How do you not know about the Apple of Eden?" I just shook my head. Incredulous, she turned to Lucy. "What was Abstergo doing with her if they weren't using her ancestors to find Pieces of Eden?"

"They had me in the Omniglot Program," I offered. "When I went in the Animus I would come out speaking a different language. It was like I never knew English. They recorded my conversations and when it faded away I was sent back to my room until next time."

That answer did little to placate their confusion. Lucy remained tight-lipped as always, but Shaun stepped forward and pushed me away from the two women. "You and I need to have a chat. I can tell you don't trust Lucy, but she didn't know you would be coming here in the first place. Your father contacted Johnathan and I specifically, so the others have no idea of who you are."

"How do you even know him?" I wondered, taking a seat on one of the many crates lining the outer edge of the cavern. Shaun sat down beside me.

"We worked together on the same job a long time ago. I'm a hacker, you see, and he was sent in to retrieve hard copies. We were contracted by the same company to gather dirt on their rival, and then I got into trouble with Abstergo. Seems they didn't appreciate me posting information about their sketchy dealings on WikiLeaks. That's when Rebecca intervened in my abduction, and I've been aiding the Assassins ever since."

"They kidnapped you, too?"

"Almost," the man grinned. "I escaped when they pulled into a gas station after I hacked the van's computer." My impressed expression was probably inflating his ego, but he focused the conversation on me. "Tell me what you remember about being in the lab."

I sighed. "I wish I could, but it feels like my memories are all scrambled together. Lucy and Vidic put me in the Animus, and each time I lived the life of a different woman in history. It was like I was being reincarnated over and over again." That sounded really stupid and I blushed.

"Go on," Shaun urged.

"My father is Lebanese and my mother is Turkish, but it turns out my whole bloodline is comprised of Middle Eastern cultures. Turkey, North Africa, Arabia, Persia… I even saw Jerusalem once. And the Babylonian hanging gardens. I saw some amazing things that have been lost to history, but most of it is just clouds and smoke."

The man nodded. "Did any of the workers ever mention the Pieces of Eden or similar artifacts?"

"I don't really remember," was my morose reply. "I can't remember."

"Well, allow me to fill in some blanks," Shaun said. "Abstergo wanted Desmond because his ancestor came in contact with a very powerful device called the Apple of Eden. He is Subject 17. They found him after probing the memories of Subject 16. That man committed suicide in his cell but not before writing messages all over the lab with his own blood. Or that's what Desmond tells us, since it seemed only he could see them."

"How morbid," I said with a grimace. "Who was Subject 16?"

"I don't really know, but Lucy was working with him. What I do know is that he suffered from something called the Bleeding Effect. That is, he believed he was his ancestor, an Assassin. He was able to demonstrate athletic abilities even though he had come into the lab without them."

My eyes were wide. "That's what the Animus did to him? So being able to speak the languages of my ancestors was like the Bleeding Effect?"

"It is the Bleeding Effect, just not as severe," Shaun explained. "Chances are, Dee, that you were acquired by Abstergo because they found something in the genetic memory of another subject linking it to you."

"…What could it be?" I asked after a moment.

The Englishman shrugged. "Hell if I know. Let's ask Lucy."

"It's called Soul Edge," the blonde woman apprehensively explained. Rebecca, Shaun and I were seated before her, listening intently. "We first found it in one of our early subjects but thought nothing of it. But then it appeared again in Desmond, in the memory of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad before his search for the Apple."

"So this Soul Edge device precedes the Pieces of Eden?" Shaun inquired. But Lucy shook her head.

"I don't know– we never discovered its origins. It wasn't a device like the Apple, either. It was… a weapon, I guess." Confusion flickered across her visage. "A weapon that transformed whoever wielded it into... a monster." She looked at us intently. "During the Third Crusade, knights gathered outside Jerusalem to fight an Assassin army led by Altaïr. That was when we discovered an ancestor of yours, Dee– Tülay al-Mhámmed from medieval Turkey."

I nodded. "That makes sense. My mom is half Turkish and half Armenian. Her parents live in Istanbul."

"Your earliest ancestor that we could synchronize lived in Turkey, and Syria for a time. But it was the battle in Jerusalem that Vidic was mostly focused on, because..." She faltered, frowning deeply. "Well, it's hard to explain what happened."

"Come out with it," Shaun kindly prodded.

"Soul Edge... attached itself to Dee's ancestor."

I'm sure I donned a look of slight horror, but a chill went through me and made me numb. You'd think I would remember something as significant as that affecting my ancestor. "Then what happened?" Rebecca wanted to know.

"We cross-referenced the event in Desmond's genetic memory and it was exactly the same. Your ancestors fought in the same battle against a man named Isaac Comnenus."

"I know that name," Shaun jumped in. "He took over the island of Cyprus and was generally a pain in the ass for everyone during the Third Crusade. He even had the balls to hold King Richard's fiancée and sister hostage when their ship wrecked there. But he wasn't really associated with any faction of that time. He fell when Richard invaded Cyprus and sold it to the Knights Templar."

Lucy waved her hands. "History lesson aside, Vidic decided to pursue information about Soul Edge since it had been powerful enough to make an impression in two separate strands of genetic memory. But by that time I had broken Desmond out of the lab and regrouped with these two."

"And this all happened before Johnathan brought me here?" I attempted to clarify. "How come I don't remember anything you've described? I don't understand…"

Rebecca cleared her throat softly. "Right now we're tracking another of Desmond's ancestors, an Italian nobleman named Ezio Auditore. But if you'd like to enter the Animus and try to find out about this Soul Edge device, we can do that, too."

I saw Lucy's eyes flash at the suggestion and couldn't help but wonder if she was still highly interested in the weapon. I was too, I guess; I mostly hoped to see what everyone else already had. I could probably offer some pointers since my culture was Middle Eastern. I glanced at Lucy. "What did you say the name of my ancestor was?"

"Tülay al-Mhámmed," she repeated.

'New moon,' I thought. 'A time of uncertain darkness.' A strange tingling sensation went through me just then. I knew my gut was telling me to pursue this link to my past because it might help me discover something amazing. "Okay..." I agreed after a lengthy silence. "I'll enter the Animus and try to find Soul Edge."

Shaun was shocked. "Really? Why?"

"Because I have a feeling that something like Soul Edge, if it is such a powerful weapon, wouldn't go unnoticed through history up until now. I want to find out what happened to it. And you said it attached to my ancestor, so..." I trailed off with a shrug. Lucy partially smiled at the gesture.

"Well that's great!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Now maybe we'll be able to bring two super-powerful artifacts under the supervision of our Order."

"Yay, more work for me," Shaun grumbled. He wandered over to his work area and presumably opened Google to begin searching for anything related to Soul Edge. I turned my attention to Desmond as he awoke from Baby. Lucy was beside him, helping him sit up whilst groggy. I recalled feeling that way whenever exiting the Animus and immediately being transferred to the room with the translator. I remembered the feeling of cold wired pads on my temples and forehead, but not much else. 'Maybe my mind is too weak to recall the details,' I reasoned. 'That's why it all seems like one big blur.'

Lucy said my ancestor was alive during the Third Crusade. That was over eight centuries ago. If Soul Edge caused so much chaos in the Middle East there had to have been some people keeping watch over it, right? To make sure nobody used it for nefarious purposes. If I had seen what Lucy and Vidic had, maybe I could offer something more to the team besides my role as a conduit.

Rebecca's voice pierced my thoughts. "I have to reconfigure Baby a little bit before she'll be ready for you."

"All right," I nodded, following Lucy and Desmond with my eyes. My old relative existed in his genetic memory, so maybe I could find out about her before stumbling blindly back in time. I wish Johnathan had better prepared me for dealing with these Assassins and their strange machinations.