Heads up, there's major spoils for AC2 and Brotherhood in this chapter, yo.
(I mean, technically there is a possibility, however small, that you could be reading this and not have played them)
"Hey, Anne, what's the deal with Alexis?"
The woman didn't look up from her keyboard. "Italy, remember? She's s'posed to get back in to JFK today, back to the grind tomorrow." She pronounced it "tamarah".
"Nah, she up and quit."
"Quit?!" She spun her chair around and took off her headset. "Get outta town! What for?"
"Beats me. Lewis got the email and he wouldn't lemme in on the details. I figured you'd know what's up."
"First I've heard of it." A phone rang and the woman turned back to the computer, replacing her headset. She repressed her New York accent a bit as she answered. "Thanks for calling Health Assure, this is Anne, how can I assist you today?"
"Hey. What'cha doin'?" Alexis peered over Desmond's shoulder. "Oh, checking your secret emails... Why don't y'all just talk to each other? I mean, you're all in this same room all the time."
Desmond saw one of the messages from Shaun had been forwarded from William. "My dad isn't."
"There's mail from your dad? What's it say? If it's not too top secret for my ears, that is."
He clicked on it and began to read. "It's updates on some other Assassin teams... in Russia... Brazil... Japan... and... uhh."
She detected the worried tone in his final syllable. "What, what is it?"
Desmond gestured to the screen, and her eyes followed. "Denver... safe house... everything was gone... attacked and captured by Templars? Uh-oh..."
"Yes, that would be very 'uh-oh'." Shaun now joined the conversation. "You see, dearie, despite evidence to the contrary, being an Assassin isn't all fun and games, mucking about in the Animus, solving puzzles and whatnot."
"But... someone can rescue them, right? Like you guys rescued Desmond."
"If anyone had any idea where they were, maybe! Even then, it might not be worth the risk. If they've been captured, you better believe there's a ton of security on them. That is, if they're even still alive."
"Hey!" Rebecca interjected. "Don't assume the worst. They could have just gone dark."
"Hope for the best, be prepared for the worst," Shaun retorted. "Either way, there's nothing the four of us can do about it."
"Five."
"What?"
"There's five of us here now." Desmond jerked his thumb to indicate his girlfriend.
"Oh, that changes everything! Now we'll definitely be able to rescue them. Oh, if only Alexis had been in Denver, she would have really shown those Templars what-for!"
"Shove it, Shaun, you know that's not what I meant."
The golden centerpiece of the plaza resembled a giant pine cone. Ezio pressed his hand to one of the scales, activating some unseen mechanism which unfolded a portion of the sculpture. A metallic sphere, lines etched across its surface, was revealed.
As he took the orb, it gleamed, seemingly illuminated from within. Doesn't really look like an apple, Alexis thought.
Cesare Borgia strode into view, flanked by two heavily armored guards. "You?!" he said surprisedly, as if he had expected to find someone else there.
Ezio turned calmly, almost tauntingly, to face him. "Looking for this?"
"It ends now, Assassino. My sword will take your life." Cesare pointed said sword at his nemesis, holding the bold, cinematic pose for a long second. Then he faltered, clutching his side, and made a sound something like "Uagh-erg!" Falling back, he gestured to his companions. "Guards!"
Two more swords were drawn to replace Cesare's. They began to run towards the Assassin.
Ezio raised the Apple. There was a powerful, electric sound, like lightning. Aptly enough, brilliant bolts of light emanated from the artifact at the same time.
The goons paused for a beat, turning to each other. Then one of them ran the other through with his sword. Apparently unphased by this, the other guard responded with gunfire to his attacker's face.
"Gah!" Alexis yelped in surprise. Ezio's two foes fell to the ground as the otherworldly beams dissipated.
"Yeah, that gizmo's pretty crazy," Rebecca said. She, too, had been taken aback by the display of the Apple's power, though she didn't show it so outwardly.
Cesare retreated, calling more soldiers to take down Ezio. Simulation or not, the next few minutes had everyone on the edge of their seats. Desmond skilfully freeran his ancestor over the Vatican rooftops to elude the myriad guards.
"Get him! Cut off his legs!" one yelled.
"Man, that's a bit harsh."
"That's the thing about Templars. They're kind of mean sometimes."
Repeating his graceful dive from Saturday's memory, Ezio finally ditched the Borgia patrols.
"We're getting close to our goal here, guys," Rebecca said excitedly. "He's almost unlocked that final memory sequence."
Now Ezio was breaking up a meeting between Cesare and some cardinals. It wasn't difficult; the holy men nearly pissed themselves when they saw the Assassin. As they fled, more Borgia guards streamed into the Colosseum. Ezio was surrounded, outnumbered, but armed with the Apple of Eden. Thin strands of energy spidered out from it to the head of each foe. Those who were touched by silver strands fell instantly, blood pouring from every cranial orifice, while golden ones merely turned them rampant upon the other soldiers.
After a brief but intense battle pitting Cesare's few remaining supporters against Ezio, Claudia, Bartolomeo, la Volpe, Niccolò, and the numerous Assassin recruits (a hopelessly lopsided fight if ever there was one), Desmond exited the Animus, saying he needed a break.
"But we're so close! Why stop now?"
"I'm exhausted, Rebecca. Every time I use the Apple, it... it does something to me... drains my energy," he explained. "Ezio, I mean. When Ezio uses it. But I feel it just the same."
"We'll call it quits for today, then. It's about time for supper anyway," Lucy said.
Supper was nothing fancy: just sandwiches and soda.
"So..." Alexis said, then trailed off.
"So... what?" Lucy prodded.
Alexis was hesitant to bother them with yet more questions, but this one concerned a rather crucial detail. "So... that Apple thing... it's pretty powerful."
Rebecca laughed. "I'll nominate that for 'Understatement of the Century."
"Once you find it... whatcha gonna do with it?"
Rebecca froze. So did Shaun and Lucy. The atmosphere was suddenly tense.
"Wuh-" Desmond began to answer, but the words stuck in his throat. He coughed awkwardly, swallowed, and started again. "...Would you believe, save the world?"
"What, by making all the Templars turn good?"
"Templars aren't the issue here," Rebecca said, slowly. For once, her voice was devoid of playfulness. "...Did you ever see the movie 2012?"
"What?" This question didn't jibe with the solemnness in the air. "What does that have to do with anything? Don't tell me you're saving the world from crappy movies?"
"Something's going to happen in December, Alexis."
She rolled her eyes. "What, a solar flare, Planet X, the fucking Rapture?"
"We're not a hundred percent certain, but a solar flare leading to a massive geomagnetic reversal seems likely," Lucy answered.
"You gotta be shitting me." Alexis looked around at the humorless faces of the Assassins. "This is like, hazing the newbie, right? I'm not falling for it, guys."
"This is no joke," Shaun said. "The Earth is facing a catastrophe, and Ezio's Apple holds the key to stopping it."
She still wasn't convinced. "So, you'll mind control the Sun to... not do a solar flare? I'm pretty sure stars don't have brains."
"It does more than control minds, Lex," Desmond said. "It has information, hidden away inside it... That's how Altaïr figured out guns. The Apple showed him visions of the future."
"You... really aren't kidding?"
"Oh, how I wish we were," Shaun said. "Things would be a lot simpler if we were just fighting Templars."
"Christ, and I thought this was some science fiction shit before!"
"Speaking of deities," Shaun continued, reminded by her choice of interjection, "there's something else you should know." She stared at him, brow furrowed. "The Pieces of Eden- yes, there's more than one of them- were made by a race of... beings," the word 'people' didn't feel right to him, "who were very powerful, and were seen as gods by the ancient humans."
"Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously," Lucy echoed. "The only reason we know this is coming is because Those Who Came Before left warnings. That Apple holds the locations of their temples."
"Temples?"
"Don't let the term mislead you," Shaun advised. "They're more like bunkers built to store their incredibly advanced technology."
"Like, 'indistinguishable from magic' advanced?"
"I did say they were seen as gods."
"So, we have to find the Apple, use it to find the temples, then find some way to stop the Sun," Desmond summarized. "And we only have about ten weeks to do it."
"This shit is bananas! You're saying the whole 2012 doomsday thing is for real, and some freaky godlike super science aliens are the only ones who know how to stop it?"
"Well, you asked what we'll do with the Apple," Shaun said, shrugging. "So we told you. Whether you believe it or you don't, doesn't make a lick of difference to us." He sipped at his soda.
"And the First Civvies weren't aliens," added Rebecca. "At least as far as we can tell."
As insane as this all sounded, Alexis couldn't think of any reason they would be making it up. Hell, the taste of clam chowder from two centuries ago is recorded in my DNA. Is this really any more implausible? "Anything else I should know? Any more crazy secrets?"
"Uh, yeah, actually..." Desmond rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. "My last name's not Wilson... It's Miles."
"Desmond... Miles..." Alexis repeated, as if trying to get used to the sound of it.
"Yeah." He remembered something else that they'd refrained from telling her before. "Oh, and Adam and Eve were real people."
She threw her head down to the table in a gesture of defeat. "Apple of Eden. As in, Garden of Eden..." she muttered. "Next you'll tell me the snake was a Templar."
"Hey, I wouldn't have believed it either, but the video-"
Her head snapped up. "There's a fucking video?! Of Adam and Eve?"
"From Subject Sixteen. The Animus-"
A hollow laugh. "Of course, the Animus... they are everyone's ancestors, of course... So what's in this video?"
"Well, it's nothing like you've read in Genesis. First off, there's no snake..."