SEQUENCE FIVE: A FOOT IN THE DOOR
*ANIMUS AUDIO TRANSLATION: ON*
HONG KONG: 1852
Kasumi's eyes darted around the crowded marketplace. Having just barely reached the rank of Initiate, she was stalking one of Hong Kong's new British overlords- Charles Baker, the head of the military forces stationed there and a Templar to boot. The cries of the vendors rattled around in her ears.
"Over here, lady!" a man shouted. His accent was unmistakably American, and judging from the sound of it, he was from Boston. Kasumi eyed him warily, as his hood covered his face all too well.
"What do you want?" Kasumi replied.
The man bolted up on to the rooftops. Kasumi followed him.
"Who are you?" Kasumi yelled.
"Friend or foe?" the man asked.
"Foe if you're a Templar." Kasumi replied.
The man stopped, turned around, and approached Kasumi. He dropped his hood, revealing the face of a young man. His green eyes danced in their sockets. A short crop of auburn hair adorned his head, while a handlebar mustache adorned his face.
"Who are you?" Kasumi asked again.
"My name is Troy Church." the man announced.
Kasumi put her hidden blade to his neck.
"The Third Tenet, miss." Troy wisecracked.
Kasumi raised the blade away.
"So, you're an Assassin." Kasumi remarked.
"Where'd you come from, dragon lady?" Troy snarked.
"While I am flattered by your compliment, I do have a name. Kasumi Miyamoto, Initiate of the Assassins' Order of Nippon." Kasumi replied.
Troy was thunderstruck for two reasons. First, his first meeting in Hong Kong had been with a fellow Assassin. Second, said Assassin was a Japanese woman.
"How long have you been in Hong Kong?" Troy asked.
"A few days." Kasumi answered.
"What brings you here?" Troy asked.
"A man named Baker." Kasumi answered.
"Bringing down the limey who runs this city? You'll need to get in line." Troy replied.
"What do you mean?" Kasumi asked.
"The Templars didn't take kindly to his going rogue." Troy answered.
"So does that mean you're here to protect him?" Kasumi asked.
"He's no friend to the Assassins, though. His only concern is himself." Troy replied.
That night, the two Assassins began their approach to Baker's base of operations. Kasumi was the first to get in. Leaping from a rooftop, she landed in a convenient haystack. Her "sixth sense" kicked in. A British soldier approached the haystack. Kasumi lunged out and put him in a sleeper hold. She proceeded to climb up the wall of one of the buildings, searching for her target. After several minutes of climbing, she noticed that the man whose office she was staring into had a faint golden glow around him.
In his office, Charles Baker was toying with a golden sphere when he heard the window open. He felt a soft touch on his shoulder. He turned around and noticed a woman in robes standing near the window.
"Who are you?" Baker asked.
No answer.
"What do you want from me?" Baker pleaded.
Just then, a hooded man kicked down the door.
"Day of reckoning's come for ya, Charlie Baker." the man announced.
"Troy Church?" Baker asked.
"You're a dead man, Templar." Troy quipped.
Before he could react, Kasumi drove her hidden blades into Baker's back and neck.
"Damn…Yankees-" Baker wheezed as he died.
Kasumi picked up the sphere on his desk.
"Any idea what this is?" Kasumi asked.
"Piece of Eden." Troy answered.
"What?" Kasumi replied.
"Relics from the Precursors." Troy explained.
"What's a Precursor?" Kasumi asked.
"In this case, it's the First Civilization. Beings of such great power we hail them as gods." Troy continued.
Satisfied with this explanation, Kasumi put the Piece of Eden down the front of her robes and left through the window. Troy followed her.