Assassin's Creed: Vengeance

From France With Love

May 30th, 1796

Outskirts of Kehl, Germany

Preparation had for the journey had taken a couple months. Arno first had to tie up loose ends and acquire the proper funds for such a prolonged expedition into the French wilderness. From there, he arranged transport with a caravan that was travelling to the Empire of Russia and they'd pass through Germany, specifically Kehl. Kehl was where the Germanic Brotherhood was stationed a few miles from the French border.

As they left the expanse of Paris and moved into the countryside, Arno noticed more and more the familiar banners of the French military. Blue dots were everywhere in green fields as uniformed soldiers marched east, the same direction he was going. At night, roadsides were lit by distant campfires and quiet was a distant memory as no matter where you were you could always hear at least one laughing soldier.

A few days passed. The farther they got from Paris, the more paranoid Arno became of his surroundings. He'd never been as far north as Franciade and never as far south as Versailles. Now, he was farther south than either of those. Even though it was summer, it still felt cold. At least to him. His driver; however, didn't seem to notice.

Then one day, as they were barely down the road from the border, the caravan came to a halt as Arno was resting. From where he lay in the back of a wagon, he could hear chattering from the front of the line. Cautiously, Arno exited the wagon and crept up to hear what was happening.

"Whats goods are you hauling?" a soldier asked the lead driver.

The driver replied. "Cured meats, wine, fruit, cloth. General goods on the way to Russia."

A soldier laughed. Arno could hear multiple soldiers blocking their path. "This is now property of the French Republic. Surrender everything you have, or you will be shot."

Reluctantly, Arno decided to act. He came out from his hiding place and stepped out between the group of soldiers and the caravan.

"Now," he said. "You know I can't let you do that."

There were five of them in all. Uniformed, muskets with bayonets. Trivial. "And who are you?" one asked.

Arno drew his sabre. "No one in particular."

The soldier sneered. "Get 'im."

The five soldiers charged where Arno stood. As he focused in on them, he sprung into action. Arno grabbed the barrel of the first soldier's gun and forced it across his chest. He forced the soldier to pull the trigger as his slender hidden blade founds it's mark in his neck.

The soldier's stray musket ball collided with another soldier's forehead. Two down, three to go. Another man came up behind Arno, he placed one hand firmly on the ground and lifted his legs into the air, wrapped them around the soldier's neck and swung through the gap between his legs. The soldier flew forward and landed in the mud.

One of the last two men tried to stick Arno with his bayonet but he rolled out of the way just in time. As he finished the roll in a crouched position, the second one swung at his neck with his sword.

Arno ducked from the attack and slashed at his leg with the hidden blade. As blood spurted from the severed artery, Arno lept to his feet like a cat and grabbed the man's sword. Grasping a sword in each hand, he advanced upon the panicked final man. He lashed out with his musket but Arno kicked it aside and it flew into the road. He was disarmed.

The soldier; in response, got on his knees and placed his palms together in the pious position. "Please, monsieur. I beg of you, don't!"

Arno frowned. "No."

Arno crossed the two blades together and decapitated the soldier. His body fell to the ground with the rest. He noticed the man he didn't kill was scrambling to his feet to run away down the road to the border and possibly his friends. Arno withdrew his pistol and shot the soldier in the back of the head.

Calmly, he turned back to the caravan leader, who was staring at him with his mouth wide open and eyes as white as paper.

"You-?" he began.

"I can assume I'm not getting a ride any farther, yes?" Arno asked as he sheathed his sword and pistol.

The driver's shaky hand pointed back to the road. Arno turned and a group of men dressed similarly to Arno were standing there. One of them cleared their throat.

"Listen here Franzose, (Frenchman) don't come with us, and you're dead." he said.

Arno realized who he was dealing with and held out his arms. "Well, I'm all yours, gents."

/

The hooded men took him across the border via a secret tunnel in a farmhouse. As they walked to Kehl, Arno was told that they had the tunnel built because the French armies had made it impossible to cross undetected. In a matter of hours, they had made it to Kehl. Arno's new friends revealed themselves to be Assassins of the Germanic Brotherhood. They brought him to a seedy tavern and sat him down for a much needed drink.

"So," one said as Arno drank. "What are you doing here, Franzose? You bear the marks of an Assassin."

Arno belched. "Your masters sent word that you needed someone adept at infiltration. Spying. Getting into a Templar network based somewhere in Germany."

"Ya, I remember now. That call was sent some months ago, why come now?" the Assassin asked.

"I was slightly sidetracked. A minor mishap or two." replied Arno.

The Assassin sighed. "Well, Franzose. You couldn't have come at a worse time. "Ich bin August, wie heißt du?" (I am August, what is your name?)

Arno had no idea what he said, but he caught his name and possibly a question. He said the first thing that came to mind.

"Arno…" he said unsurely.

August held out his hand. "Welcome to Germany, Arno."

Arno and August walked outside and into the town. To Arno's surprise, it wasn't bustling with activity but was scarily quiet. It was midday and no one was around, almost as if that town had been abandoned.

"You said I came at a bad time, why?"

August sighed. "The Network aren't the only Templars threatening us at the moment. Two high ranking Templar captains are trying to break down our doors with two massive armies at their back."

Arno blinked, they were the endless amounts of soldiers he saw on the way from Paris. "Who are they?"

"Jean Jourdan and Jean Moreau. Die Bastarde sollten in der Hölle verrotten." (The bastards should rot in hell.)

Again, Arno had no idea. "Strong feelings, I assume?"

"Ach, we had bases in Nuremberg, Munich, and Berlin. The Templars razed them to the ground and slaughtered our friends. We are too few to stop them."

Arno cleared his throat. "What about Germany's military?"

"They do what they can, ya. But it is not enough. Archduke Charles is a fool if you ask me." August replied.

"So, any ideas as to what the Network wants?"

"They are searching for something, reports say it's some artifact from Egypt. Resembles a cross. Some say it was once in our order's possession but it's since been lost to time."

"Where should I start?"

"Berlin. It's the center of their power. You aren't accomplishing much here."

/

October 25th, 2017

New York City, New York

Kristoff pulled himself out of the simulation. Nearly out of breath, he returned to the files sent to him by the mysterious Alexander Thompson and combed through them once again for any mention of an "Egyptian Cross." After several minutes of searching, he finally found an answer.

It was an after action report from three years prior. Kristoff read the report.

"After action report, February 2nd, 2014. Juhani Otso Berg and I; Violet da Costa, travelled to Central Europe in search of what people were calling "the Ankh." A Piece of Eden with origins spanning all the way back to Ancient Egypt. From the memories provided by Subject 17, we found out that it was in the possession of Aquilus during the time of the Roman Empire. An anonymous donor's memories revealed that the Ankh was supposedly in Germany in the 14th Century during the plague. It was in the hands of one Lukas Zurburg. There is no further mention of the Ankh or Zurburg, leading us to wonder if this Piece of Eden even exists.

May the Father of Understanding guide us. Agents da Costa and Berg signing off."

Ingrid came up behind Kristoff and gave him a start. "What are you looking at?" she asked.

Kristoff nearly jumped from his chair before he realized it was only Ingrid. "Nothing, just some documents from the Rhine Campaign." he said, scrolling down on his computer in order to hide the dates.

"Cool." she said. "Y'know, I found a document written by King Egbert of Wessex about Ragnar Lothbrok and said that he fought with an axe and a blade that protruded from his wrist, weird huh?"

The realization popped into Kristoff's head rather quickly. Apparently the most notorious Viking leader was also an Assassin. Yes, that was weird and not the kind of news Kristoff had been expecting to hear. It made him wonder if King Aelle was a Templar Grandmaster or something.

A few moments of digging in the Abstergo files revealed, yes, yes he was. Fuck, who wasn't involved in this secret war?

As Ingrid returned to her workstation, there was a sudden ding of Kristoff's notification box in his email. He opened it and it was another message from Alexander Thompson.

"Meet me at the Intelligentsia Cafe. We need to talk. Now."

Kristoff glanced around the room. No one was really paying attention to the world around him so he took the opportunity to quietly slip out of the studio and down onto the street. Intelligentsia was just down the street. It had been less than a week after Alexander Thompson contacted him, why did he want to talk now Kristoff wondered.

He made his way to Intelligentsia and sat down, a waitress came by, took his order, walked away, then came back with his coffee before anyone made a move. Then, a young woman sat in a chair across from him.

"Hello." he said politely.

"Hello." she replied.

Kristoff wanted this woman to just leave so badly. If this Alexander Thompson saw him with anyone else, he might get spooked and Kristoff worried that leaving the studio just to come back might tip off Abstergo to something being weird.

"Glad you came." the girl said.

Kristoff blinked. "What?"

"You're Kristoff, right? I'm Lexie Thomas."

Another realization that hit him like a truck, Alexander Thompson was Lexie Thomas. Of frickin' course.

"Okay, what do you want with me?" Kristoff asked.

"I assume you read all the files, correct?"

Kristoff nodded.

Lexie glanced around the room. "You've probably figured out by now that the artifact the Templar network was looking for is the Ankh that da Costa and Berg searched for in Central Europe. They knew it was; at some point, at the resting place of Lukas Zurburg but it had been moved. The memories of your ancestor and Arno Dorian's are the key to finding where it is now."

Kristoff didn't reply for a moment. "I'm still not sure who you are."

Lexie sighed. "OK, I was part of Abstergo Entertainment's Sample 17 Project back in 2013. I was nearly killed by a Sage named John Standish. You read about Sages, right?"

Kristoff nodded, not wanting to interrupt.

"I left Abstergo and created the Initiates, a sect of Assassin hackers that spans several groups. DedSec, Valleymen, you name it. To you, I'm Lexie. To them and the Assassins, I'm Bishop. Now, Abstergo's CEO, the guy you met with? His name is Ronald Salen and he's a Templar. He offered you a position at Abstergo and I'm gonna offer something different."

"What is your offer?" Kristoff asked.

"Help the Initiates and the Assassins. Feed false information and send the real stuff to us. And when the time comes, help us take Salen down."

This wasn't a similar proposal to Dr. Salen's at all. This was about going to war not playing a video game. "You'll need to give me time."

Lexie sighed. "I wish we had time, but I'll give you a few days. Read the rest of those files, you'll know the truth. About Subject 17, the Templars, Assassins, all of it."