Desmond groaned as he made his rude, disorienting transition back to the modern world. His mind seemed more and more reluctant to come out of the animus each time.
He blinked hard. That had definitely been a longer time in the animus than yesterday. The light shown through the window was a deep orange.
"You alright, Desmond?" Lucy inquired. But the words sounded flat, not genuinely concerned.
"Yeah, fine," Desmond replied, rubbing his eyes.
"Good," Shaun's unwelcome voice continued. "Because we're about to require more from you than simply lying in a recliner."
"You mean fighting Templars?"
"No," Lucy said. "Not yet. We want to test what you've learned. Get some food and drink and then we'll begin."
This felt like a chore, even if it was something remarkable and historically unprecedented they were really trying to accomplish.
"Alright," the twenty-five year old said groggily. He sat up and cracked a few joints, then stood and headed for the cabinet. Oddly he noticed he felt more at home in Renessiance Italy than the modern world.
"Meet us in the warehouse," Lucy said from behind. Desmond turned to see her and Shaun standing together.
"Right," Desmond said. And with that acknowledgement they turned to walk off.
Desmond turned back, got a glass, and promptly filled it with tap water. He chugged it down. Then another.
He filled the third and decided he would take his time with this one. He put it on the counter. He took a couple of crossiants from a zip-lock bag.
When he was done, he went to the table, already beginning his ravenous munching.
"So how do you like the new animus?" Rebecca asked jovially from her computer terminal.
The ex-bartender swallowed. "You're implying I liked the first one," Desmond countered dourly.
She laughed a little. "Point taken, Dez." Dez. He had not been called that in years.
"Still it's...impressive that you managed to build one all by yourself. I thought we Assassin's were...fighters and stuff."
"Everyone's trained in combat, but since our order's been getting thin, we've had to diversify a little." She did not break her spirit at mention of their thinning ranks. She must have been a hard girl to bring down.
He swallowed again.
"Yeah...I have a question...about the animus and genetic memory and stuff..." Rebecca looked attentive, but he was having trouble articulating himself. "Why is it...locked away?"
"What do you mean, Desmond?"
"Like...why do we need the animus at all? Why can't I just...like...sit back and think and tell you what happened to Ezio in the year fourteen-seventy-something."
"I don't know, Dez. We have theories. But in the end of the day it would be just too much information for the human mind to handle. You heard about Subject Sixteen, right?"
"The guy who forgot who he was and went crazy from the animus," Desmond said, with a hint of fear and reluctance in his voice.
"Yeah. So it's filtered into the mind as base drives and instincts: phobias, intuition, deja vu...you get the picture."
It still seemed odd that all that information would be...there if not readily accessible.
"I thought I heard somewhere we only use like ten percent of our brains."
"That's-"
But Rebecca was cut off by a ring on her cell phone. She immediately abandoned the conversation, gave Desmond the 'one minute' sign, and started attending to it.
It sounded like neither a friendly conversation nor an emergency call. This discussion seemed to be tactical in nature.
The conversation sounded like one that was going to last a little while, so Desmond decided they could follow up the other discussion later.
He ate his last morsel of bread and then gave the loft one last look around.
He noticed Shaun had abandoned his computer, but his e-mail seemed to be up.
Rebecca was thoroughly distracted with her conversation. Should he...
He was no stranger to snooping...and even though he was confident he was with the good guys, learning a little more could not hurt. How eagerly should he throw himself into this war with only one side of the story?
He got up, gave Rebecca one last look (she was still occupied), and then walked over to the computer. Even if he was a caught, the Assassin's certainly would not punish him...too harshly at least.
Though he felt a little tense, spying on friends, he leaned in and read the latest message.
From: J. Demir
To: Shaun Hastings
Subject: Interesting
Your theory on the Hampton Court Ghost is interesting, if a little thin. Other hauntings might provide leads on these supposed time travel artifacts too. At least they're a good place start. But for now I think all our energy should be focused on locating the Apples.
PS Lt. Valls is DEFINITELY a Templar
Ghosts as time travelers...getting back into the Assassin order meant reinterpreting so much of reality.
He peaked over at Rebecca again. Still distracted.
With a bit of courage followed by a small tingle inside, he clicked the next e-mail down.
From: Liz Cohen
To: Shaun Hastings
Subject: Very bad news
Team EE03 is MIA. We need to discuss how to proceed from here ASAP.
Grim, but otherwise meaningless from his perspective. These were generally short and vague. He would indulge one last e-mail.
From: Omar Kashgari
To: Shaun Hastings
Subject: Iraq Artifacts
I've tried to track down the looted artifacts but to no avail. Obviously, Iraq is not an easy place to operate.
But the subject line of the next e-mail caught his attention. It bore Ezio's name. He would read one more.
To: Shaun Hastings
From: C. R.
Subject: Treasure hunting Ezio
Hey mate, I heard you and your team are looking into the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze (did I spell that right?). You may or may not know that not only was this man a hell of a killer, but also a bad ass treasure hunter.
We're not sure where he got his intelligence exactly, but during the Renessiance he apparently located and looted a large shared of Templar treasure. Not only did he steal coin, but also a large share of precious artifacts. Gigi helped me out here, I'm not totally sure of the accuracy of the list, but here were his five biggest adventures, these memories might be worth looking into. Although some of this has to be BS it was just too cool to pass up.
Santa Maria del Fiore – Chapel with the dome
This was the famous chapel in Florence outside of which the infamous Pazzi Conspiracy took place. The chapel is known for its beautiful dome, but also had a heavy connection with the Templar allied Pazzi family. A stone brought over from Jerusalem by their family's name sake, 'Il Pazzo', was used to kindle the fire at the chapel's alter every year. Until their exile of course.
'Il Pazzo', whose name meant 'The Madman', was a brave fighter during the crusades and the first man over the wall in Jerusalem. It is rumored the Templars kept his sword at the top of the dome, as well as a substantial amount of money.
Torre Grossa – Great tower in Forli
This tower was used as a Templar observation sight over Forli, and kept the sword of Ghengis Khan or one of his descendants, a man instrumental in the downfall of our order (sort of our own Philip the Fair, you could say).
Bascilla de San Marco – Byzantine Church, also considered Doge's personal chapel
One of the most famous buildings in Venice, it was famously adorned with many decorations brought back from the crusades, but according to legend it also contained a hidden chamber created by the powers that be beneath its floor to store Templar treasure. It gets better. According to legend, the SPEAR OF DESTINY was among the items stored!
Santa Maria della Vistazone-
A church dedicated to Jerome, patron saint of librarians and encyclopedia writers. From the sound of it Ezio may well have uncovered THE VOYNICH FUCKING MANUSCRIPT from this site! What ever he found, we know it was a very strange book.
Rocca di Ravaldino-
Basically, this was the basement of the castle of Forli. Here it is rumored the vainly Templars kept the robes of Altiar Ibn La'Hahd (again, spelling?) after he was slain by Templars. Rumor is Ezio dawned these himself.
That had been quite a lot to take in, though he now he felt fully confident he had read enough. And he was thankful none of it was incriminating. He clicked the top e-mail again to get the screen back where it was.
He disengaged. Rebecca was none the wiser, though his heart was beating now. He felt a bit hot now, and a strange guilt.
He began walking his assigned path to the warehouse, though feeling a bit doubled.
It was probably a good idea to be a little cynical.
Eitherway, nothing in those e-mails was incriminating. He could not say the same about Abstergo's inboxes.
So that was good, reading those e-mails had done some good. They were a confidence booster.
He made it to the transitional tunnel.
It was an odd hideout they were using...it was not in the middle of nowhere. The surrounding area was rural but it was not the cabin in the woods he was expecting. Although maybe that was intentional. "Hide in plain sight", as they said.
The industrial stairs twisted their way down to the ground floor.
How long would this hiding spot last, he had to wonder? The all seeing eye of the Templars hovered over them like a ghost. They had managed to find Desmond...though he was not sure how long that search had taken.
He just had to trust the other Assassins knew what they were doing. Though how long would he have to worry about his mortal enemies barging in on his place of rest.
Ahead on the warehouse floor he saw Lucy and...Mario Auditore?
Mario looked at him. "Desmond!" cried Shaun's voice. And the mirage of Mario faded to reveal Hastings.
"Shaun I...you..." Desmond began. "You looked like one of my ancestors for a second."
"Really, Desmond?" the Brit asked dryly. "I'm not aware of any Italian heritage." Typical Shaun.
"No! Like you literally looked like one of them. Mario Auditore. I think that animus is making me hallucinate."
He looked towards Lucy. "Is that okay?"
Her tone was not worried, but still serious. "I think you'll be fine Desmond. Subject 16 was doing far worse by the time he became unstable."
"Alright..." Desmond said with some reluctance dragging his voice.
"Now, Shaun and I want to see what skills you picked up from your ancestors. Come down here, Desmond.
Desmond felt uncomfortable. Could they be using him as callously as the Templars? Though they did have a vested interest in his sanity, unlike Abstergo. So the Assassin stepped forward to perform for the crowd.