Ezio

True to her word, Rebecca called once her decryption program deciphered the files. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I picked up the phone. "Are you finished already?" I sat on the edge of the bed, and yawned.

'Yeah, and you are not going to like this at all.' She spoke quickly. 'I already sent it back to you. You need to watch the video.'

"Can it not wait until I have had another hour of sleep?" I wanted to lie down. The soft pillow beckoned my name.

'Afraid not. This is now priority before anything.'

If Rebecca was getting this serious, it was bad. "I will head down to the basement and watch it now."

'Good. Call me back when you finish.'

I hung up the phone with her and yawned once more. I had not been in bed for more than a few hours. I hope this was worth it. Making my way down to my office, I grabbed something to drink from the kitchen on my way through. Opening my email, I downloaded the files that she had sent me.

The first couple pages were of no information. They were just on the explosion that we caused, but the video was eye opening. I watched them pull something from the ground. Something small and looked human. "Oh no." I could not believe it. They had Alanna. They had found her in the rubble. None of us had gone back to look. Why didn't we? I guess we were afraid of what we would find.

"Get her to the lab. She is one of them. That team that took down our Italian base."

Cazzo! This was not good. I could not tear my eyes away from the computer. The date jumped ahead five days. They had a camera on her and she was in the Animus. Vidic walked into the room. "How is Subject 18?"

"Her mind is resisting the probing. The more we probe, the more she retreats. There is nothing right now." The younger man shook his head and looked at the monitor. "I have seen this happen in a few other subjects. If we push too hard, too fast, we will not get anything."

I heard Vidic sigh. "We need that information before she comes to again. I will not have another fight on our hands."

So she fought them. She must have woken up sometime after they got her there and before this. I watched on.

"I will try and see what can be salvaged." The man turned back to the monitor.

Another person walked in the room and handed over a file, then walked out. Vidic walked over to his desk and sat down. The feed ended.

I sat back in my chair. "Merda! There has to be more. How did she escape, or did they let her go?"

I scanned through the documents and nothing told of her escape. I was now even more puzzled than before. They had her, but now she is with us. Grabbing the phone, I called Rebecca back. "Tell me there is more."

'Afraid not. I don't know what they know, or what they got, but I need a guinea pig.'

I didn't like the sound of that. "For what, might I ask?"

'I need to recreate what they did. I want to see if they got anything out of her head.'

"But then you need Alanna, and she is with Altair." Being stalked by Abstergo, but no sense saying that. We all knew it.

'Does she have any descendants?'

I shook my head and began to read a few more of the documents. "No. She was an only child, and from what she said, so were her parents."

'She didn't have any children?'

"Never married and no one special. She devoted her life to the assassins." I shook my head.

I heard her sigh. 'Then I guess the hard way it is.'

I could feel for her. It was not something I would have wanted to do, but it was something that needed to be done. "Can the Animus read the user's memories?"

'I…I don't actually know. I have never tried to do it that way. I know when the Templars captured us in Juno's temple ten years ago, they said they could, but no evidence came up over it. I don't know if they were bluffing with you or they actually managed it.' I could almost hear the gears in her head turning. 'The only problem is Baby is at the Farm. I would have to take her there."

"Isn't that where Desmond is from?" I asked and hit print to make hard copies of the files.

'Yeah. I stashed it there when we went into hiding. Although we didn't do that good of a job.'

"Becca, we cannot all go there. Desmond's father is there and if he is the Grandmaster of the Assassin order, he would know about us. There are already too many people that know about us as it is." I hung my head and closed my eyes. I could not believe this was happening.

'Ezio, believe me, I understand. I am not asking you guys to come. I would only take her with me. I know the risk of you guys being exposed.'

"Thank you, Becca. I know you will do everything you can possibly do." And I knew she would. Now, I just had to break the news to Altair.

Altair

"You have got to be kidding me." I looked over at where Alanna was asleep on the bed. She had her hand tucked under her cheek and a peaceful look on her face. I think this was the first night I had not heard her scream from a nightmare.

'Afraid so. I have the file in front of me. They found her, Altair. They knew who she was.' Ezio sighed over the line and continued. 'Becca wants to take her to the Farm. Put her back in the Animus and find out what she remembers from her time with them. We need to know.'

"I understand that, but to put her back in the machine?" I shook my head. I didn't even want to think about it. "How did she escape?"

'I don't know. There is no record of her leaving, or breaking out. They either thought she would not wake back up, and buried her again, or someone else got her out.'

I looked back over at her. "I don't want her hurt again. If you remember, that machine fucked with Desmond's mind. What if it drives her to the point of madness?"

'Rebecca will be careful. I know she will. All she is going to do is scan her memories and see of anything stands out.'

I didn't like it. I really didn't like it. "Ezio, this is too risky. I could take her underground. Make it to where they will never find her again."

'And what of the rest of us, huh? I cannot do that, and you know that.'

I knew he was right. "I don't know what else to do."

'Let Becca do what she thinks is the answer. This is new ground for all of us, but the ultimate choice lies with Alanna. It has to be her choice, and no one else's.'

"We are going to be hitting the road here soon. I will talk to her about it then." I closed my eyes and exhaled.

'Okay. Call Becca and talk to her. She will tell you more than I could. That is her thing.'

"I will. I'll let you know what we are going to do." I knew what Alanna would do, but I did not like it.

'I will be waiting.'

I hung up the phone and began to pace the floor. To say I was worried was an understatement. I was downright scared that if she went into that machine, she would not come out the same.

"Altair."

Her calling my name brought me from my thoughts. I turned my gaze on her, and smiled slightly. She was propped up on her elbow and was looking at me. "Are you alright?" She asked.

I walked over to her and sat down. "Yeah, just thinking."

"You must have been pretty deep in thought because I called your name a few times before you answered." She sat up the rest of the way.

I nodded. "I guess I was. You okay?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering what you were doing pacing the floor at like five in the morning." She moved closer and rested her hand on my leg. "Something up?"

I hung my head. "I need to ask something of you, but I don't want to."

"Hey, you can ask me anything. All you have to do is open your mouth and say it." I heard the humor in her words. She was trying cheer me up, but it would not work this time.

"We just found out that before you woke up, Abstergo found you at the bomb site. They put you in the Animus to get information from you because you were in a coma at the time." I looked over at her. Her face was neutral, but I could see something in her eyes. "Becca wants to put you back in the Animus. To find out if you know what they were looking for. Maybe you blocked it out or the memory was taken from you."

Her hand found mine, and she didn't say anything for a while. When she spoke, I heard the sadness in her words. "You think they did something to me, don't you? That is how they are finding us."

"No, I think they know about us. I think they found us by tailing us for a while." I held her hand. "I don't think it's the greatest idea. Hell, I think it is a stupid idea, but the choice is yours, not mine."

"Will it help the group as a whole with the information?" She asked. I nodded. "Then I will go in willingly. It has to be done and I am willing to do it."

I knew she would say that. That is how she has always been. "Then I guess we are meeting Rebecca at the Farm."

"We? I thought I was going at this alone?" She met my eye.

I smirked at her. "I will not let you do this by yourself. I don't give a rat's ass if they find out who I am when we get there. I am not letting you do this alone."

She smiled and leaned forward, laying a light kiss on my cheek. "Thank you for staying with me."

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

The next day, we met Rebecca and Dawson a few miles outside the Farm. Alanna was looking around at everything. She had been on edge since I told her about the whole thing. Rebecca walked up to her. "Hey, are you ready?" She smiled at her.

Alanna shook her head, and played with the end of her braid. "I guess. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the whole thing. I have never had my memories probed. Well, when I was aware of them." She looked over at me, and then back to Rebecca. "Will I see any of this?'

"I can try to make that happen. When Desmond was in there, he relieved Ezio's memories and was in control of his body. Well, a virtual representation of Ezio. With you, it would be different. You would be you, but reliving your own memories."

That went right over my head. I didn't understand how the damn thing worked. "You know, that just confused the hell out of me." I had to be honest. I was not all techs like everyone else.

She laughed. "Let me put it in simpler terms. In the Animus, you see what you saw in the past. You are you, but in your head."

"Yeah, that didn't help me any. I will trust you know what you are doing." I wasn't even going to think about it. It would give me a headache. "So, how do we get to the Farm?"

"Well, we are going to leave your car here and all ride in the truck. When we get there, we are going to tell William that I have to put Alanna in the Animus for a Piece of Eden location. Now, what am I going to be calling you?" Rebecca looked at me.

"Just stick with Allen. You know that one and that is what everyone calls me in public. Just don't slip on the real name. That could be bad." I looked at her.

Dawson chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, I know. I do not want to explain that to William."

Alanna stepped closer to me. "What about me? I don't know what you can call me."

"Isabella. It's easy to remember and it's your middle name, so that way you won't get confused." I touched her shoulder.

She nodded. "I think I can handle that."

"Come on you two. Let's get this show on the road." Rebecca headed over to the truck. "I already gave them the heads up that we were coming."

At least she thought about that. I was too caught up on wondering about how all of this was going to affect Alanna and her mind.

The rest of the drive was done in silence. Alanna looked out the window and watched the trees pass, and I retreated back to my own thoughts. Her hand stayed in mine and I held on to it. I would not let her go at this alone. Not again.

Alanna

Rebecca sat up the machine as I watched from the corner of the room. I was terrified on what I was going to see in there. I was pretty much going into the depths of my mind, and for me, that was a frightening place. It was where all of my darkest demons lay and I did not want to encounter.

William Miles walked over to me. "You must be Isabella." I nodded. "So who are you going to visit?"

I looked at him quizzically. "Visit?"

"Who is your ancestor?"

Oh! I shook my head. "I don't know. I guess she is important to all of this for me to be here." I hope he bought it, because I could not lie worth a damn.

"My son was in that chair several years ago. Trying to find the Apple of Eden that two of his ancestors had." William looked over the chair. "I haven't seen him since he ran from this place."

That was one thing I did not know about Desmond. I knew he had run from the Farm when he was sixteen, and the caught by Abstergo when he was twenty-five. I had not known that he and his father had not talked since. "Why not?"

"He did not like the life here. Thought we were all paranoid. I guess it took him seeing the world to learn why we lived the way we lived." He sighed. "So, how did they find you?"

Think fast Alanna, or you are going to be spilling your guts to this guy soon. "Oh, Abstergo was after me when Rebecca and Dawson found me. Allen was my friend and helped me get away." Please buy it, oh please buy it.

Rebecca didn't give him a chance, because she raised her head from the computer monitor. "Alright, we are all set. Let's get this over with."

I nodded, and looked at Altair. He nodded and I walked over to the chair. I had a flashback of watching for hours as Desmond sat there, still as the dead and watched him run around Roma as Ezio. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen and I had seen a lot. I must have stumbled because I felt someone grab my arm.

Looking up from the floor, I saw that it was Dawson that caught me. "Are you alright?" He asked as I straightened up.

"I think so. I guess I tripped over my own two feet." I chuckled a bit and pulled away from him.

I could tell Altair did not believe my lie because he walked over and took my arm. "Give us a second, would you?" He didn't give them time to respond, just lead me outside and out of earshot. "What happened? I know you and you don't do things like trip over your own feet."

Focusing on a spot on the ground, I got my bearings back. "I had a memory of watching Desmond sit in the chair for hours. I am surprised he did not show any memories of us in that. That could have been bad at the time." I finally brought my head back up and smiled. "I am good though. This has to be done."

"Alanna, I really…" And I cut him off.

"I know you do not like it, but we have to know what they know. If they pulled something from my memories that I know about us or the Pieces of Eden it could get very bad. I know everyone's real name. I guess I knew where the ranch was. That might be how they found it. Hell, for all I know, I could have known Kate before all of this. I don't know what is inside of my head, but I want you to pull the plug on all of this if something comes up that could expose us." I had to have someone on the outside that would do this for me. Everyone had to be protected from the information that could possibly come out in all of this.

"I will, but if I think there is anything that could harm you, I will have Rebecca pull you out of that thing."

I hugged him. "I know you will." And lead him back inside.

When we returned, the three of them looked at us. "You better now?" She asked as I walked over to the chair.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, but I just needed a moment before I do this. It is a bit overwhelming." I smiled and had a seat.

Rebecca held up an IV. "Deep breath." I did as she asked and did not make a sound when the needle hit the vein on the first try. "I will try to get us close enough to the right time frame, but we might have to jump around a bit."

"Okay." I kept my eyes forward.

That was when the drugs began to kick in. Sleep overtook me and I let my eyes drift close.