Chapter 4— "The Brotherhood of Isu Supremacists"

Katja Winter/ Ezio Auditore (Middle-Aged Version)

Double-Flashback to Before the Mission in Monteriggioni, Tuscany, and Venice

Katja was in the Abstergo headquarters in Rome, finishing her training in the Animus for the day in an effort to bring a certain alternate identity of hers out.

Of which alter Lucas wanted her to uncover, he didn't say.

Getting out of the Animus, she looked around the secret Abstergo lab housing the Phoenix Project.

Countless holding cells containing Animus devices lined the laboratories along with various sets of futuristic machinery, computers and their glowing blue monitors.

Abstergo's iconic tri-colored triangle-esque insignia were on the monitors' screens.

Katja went over to her computer in her own cell, as her computer emitted a pinging noise. This signal typically meant that Lucas had sent her a secret message of some kind.

Turning on her computer, Katja then entered her second password, and the Abstergo insignia turned into the insignia of the Instruments of the First Will.

To Katja's surprise, Lucas was speaking to her from his office via teleconference.

"Katja?" said Lucas.

"Lucas," said Katja. "How's your work going?"

"How goes the progress on recovering your memories via the Animus?"

"Not very well," sighed Katja. "You want me to go far back enough that I'm able to trigger my Sage's memories again… right?"

"That's correct," said Lucas. "I didn't say it would be easy."

"I know. That's why I need more time."

"We have plenty of time," Lucas said with a warm smile, but then his smile went away as he looked away from his monitor for a moment. "But not right now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I've… had to make some changes in my business plans," said Lucas. "Ones involving the false flag terrorist organization known as the Engineers. Their leader is Loki's Sage in this millennial cycle."

"Loki's Sage?" said Katja. "Why would you work with one of your Isu nemeses, Lucas?"

"I hold a… leverage over him," said Lucas. "Because of that, he's willing to work with me for the time being. I've ordered him to attack this building tonight, amidst the meeting I'm scheduled to have with Sofia Rikkin and the rest of Abstergo's board of directors."

"What?" said Katja.

"I'm not planning to show up," said Lucas. "Meet me in my panic room. Tell no one."

"None of this makes any sense, Lucas… Will we be in danger?"

"I promise I'll explain everything to you once you get to the panic room," said Lucas. "Now go!"

Katja nodded to Lucas as he ended the connection, then exited her room in the laboratory and headed to the elevator, typing in the code to the door.

Katja contemplated her last few months' work while the elevator ascended to the top floor of Abstergo Industries' main headquarters. She had been studying the life of Ezio Auditore and several other Assassins, proto-Assassins, and Templars that had lived throughout history offered by an unknown donor of DNA that helped them access their memories through a next-generation Animus… This type of Animus had been worked on under the supervision of Sofia Rikkin.

Lucas had wanted her to experience the memories of someone in particular who lived in England and Norway during the late 9th century AD in particular for some reason… but she was having trouble accessing said memories herself.

He didn't say why.

Recently, Katja had a breakthrough. She had started to see an image of Ezio bathing and sleeping with a red-headed woman when she was dreaming.

One night, roughly half a week ago, she had woken up to find herself sleepwalking—or more like sleep-freerunning—along the rooftops of Lucas's mansion in Tuscany, all while speaking in Italian.

Lucas was impressed when she told him about it. His words were that he "wanted to see if she could actually fight like him," but he ended up getting distracted by business as usual given that his position among Abstergo's board of directors made him one of the most important and powerful people in the world.

Despite that Lucas has been so busy lately, I still appreciate everything he's done for me up to now, said Katja.

But as the elevator doors opened, and she headed into Lucas's penthouse office and toward his panic room, she had no idea she was about to see another side of Lucas for the first time in her life… a side of him that terrified her.

And that would be when her comfortable, sheltered life she had lived with him for over a decade… the best part of her life by far… would come to an end.

In the meantime, her first Animus-induced alter ego, Ezio Auditore, was on the verge of making his grand appearance.

Lucas's new secretary, who was also another one of his mistresses whom she didn't remember the name of at the moment and didn't feel like asking for it either, opened the door for Katja to his office.

Katja activated Lucas's panic room's secret vault doors by finding the button underneath Lucas's desk with the Instruments of the First Will insignia and the letters "IotFW" engraved on it, and hitting it.

The giant Abstergo logo on the wall behind his desk was divided in two as the walls opened to reveal a set of stairs leading down into his panic room.

Lucas was with several members of one of Abstergo's elite PMCs; they were wearing Abstergo's new advanced armored suits and helmet sets and were toting automatic weapons. He was looking at a set of various camera feeds of various rooms throughout Abstergo's skyscraper… as well as that of a set of apartments somewhere in Rome.

"What's going on, Lucas?" said Katja. "You said you'd explain once I got here."

"Tonight," said Lucas, "is when we take over Abstergo, Katja. The other members of the board of directors will be wiped out, including Sofia Rikkin. I will become CEO of Abstergo by default once they're dead and the authorities and the media arrives after the smoke clears. After that, you and I will head to Tuscany. I'm going to meet with my associates in the Well of Mirrors."

"The Well of Mirrors?" said Katja.

"The Instruments of the First Will's front company," said Lucas. "My mentor there and I were responsible for gaining leverage over Loki's Sage, along with the precursor organization to the Engineers, during the Gulf War."

"Is the Well of Mirrors a play on the Well of Mimir, from Norse mythology?" said Katja.

"You catch on quickly," said Lucas with a smile. "The real Mimisbrunnr was where the seventh solution—that of the Sages—came to be, thanks to my efforts in Jotunheim."

"You're speaking as your Aesir Sage self, Odin…" said Katja worriedly.

"That's because I have been Odin for some time, Katja," said Lucas.

"What?" said Katja. "How long?"

"Since long before I met you."

Katja was struggling to process all of this new information.

"Odin was an Isu supremacist," said Katja. "Isu supremacists saw humans as tools for slave labor, just like the Instruments of the First Will did… hence why they call themselves 'Instruments'. Why would you take me in?"

"Because you're my son— you're my daughter, Katja," said Lucas.

"Son?" said Katja. Looking around at the panic room, Katja came to a realization. "I don't believe it… The alter you've been wanting me to find… my real one… I was never another reincarnation of Odin… I was a reincarnation of Baldr!"

"You're the reincarnation, Katja," said Lucas. "Baldr's consciousness, his DNA junk code, was hidden in the Grey after he struck a deal with Hel to preserve her as well. He had to have his enemies think him dead before the events of Ragnarok. Abstergo had come there to free him at Yggdrasil's location in Hordafylke. They thought they hadn't, but after later research via the revived Phoenix Project… I realized they had."

"That's when I began my search for whoever was imprinted with Baldr's consciousness and triple-helix DNA in the human gene pool. Then I found him. I found him in you," said Lucas as Katja looked at him in shock. "You're the key to everything, Katja… The Phoenix Project, the Seventh Solution, technological singularity… Reviving Baldr… You're the key to all of it!"

"But… but I'm not Baldr… I'm Katja," said Katja.

"You're both," said Lucas. "Baldr has just been buried by your other alters."

Katja's eyes went wider. "You're having me undergo various genetic memories in the Animus until I'm able to find one that manages to bring out Baldr's consciousness!"

"You're more than old enough to know now," said Lucas. "That along with…"

He looked at the hidden camera feed spying on the in-person meeting between Abstergo's board of directors.

"Where the hell is Lucas?" said one member.

Otso Berg entered the conference room the board was meeting in. "Sofia, I've been looking around Rome as you asked… I believe we're about to be attacked."

"I should've known better…" said Sofia. "What did you find, Otso?"

"The Engineers sleeper cell was empty when I found it. They're likely about to walk in the front—"

Then the screen went dark even though it was still active.

"They're here!" said Sofia. "Otso, find that bastard, Lucas. Now!"

"I'm on it," said Otso.

Katja could feel the power go out outside the panic room.

"Lucas… what have you done?" said Katja.

"Ragnarok will be for them Katja…" said Lucas as he pointed at the hidden camera's infrared night vision footage of the other board members cowering in the darkness of the conference room, "…but not for us."

"Ragnarok?" said Katja. "But the world isn't ending!"

"It is," said Lucas. "We're on the verge of catastrophe… and this time the catastrophe's man-made. Solar flares aren't the only thing we need to be worried about, Katja… as global climate change is starting to rear its ugly head. What's worse is that the world's leaders, including that of Abstergo, are too concerned about short-term profit to enact policies that will avert the catastrophe. What little policies that have been enacted are just to please the neoliberals in Europe and other first world nations who believe in gradually converting the economy to cleaner energy technology."

Katja looked at Lucas as he continued, "Unfortunately, society will need a drastic wake-up call to decide they need to come together and take action. Chaos will help us bring order to humanity."

"And this wake-up call is the Engineers attacking Abstergo?"

"No," said Lucas. "It's the Engineers attacking the entire world population… I'm going to hand weapons of mass destruction to them while the media will say they stole them… The resulting false flag terrorist attack will turn the remaining members of humanity against Loki and his followers."

"Remaining members… of humanity?" said Katja as she started to become dizzy.

She could briefly see an image of a bearded man wearing a hood in the panic room.

She blinked and shook her head, and the man was gone.

Was that… was that Ezio? She thought.

Looking back at Lucas, she said, "How many members of humanity have to die for us to have peace, Lucas?" said Katja.

"Half of them," said Lucas.

"Half of—" Katja's voice caught, and she looked at Lucas, her mouth wide in horror.

Breathing heavily, she turned around to face away from Lucas for a moment and covered her mouth. She was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"You're going to kill half of the human population just to create your new world order?"

"I know it sounds crazy, Katja… But we don't have any other choice… We have the responsibility as leaders of the current world order to forge a better one out of its destruction."

"Oh my god!" Katja cried as she covered her face.

"I didn't expect you to take the news well," said Lucas, "but it's like I said… You're old enough to know."

"You're not the person I thought you were…" said Katja. "You never were."

"Katja…" said Lucas.

"Don't touch me!" cried Katja as she pushed him away.

"All right," Lucas said as he put his hands up.

"I want to get out of this panic room," said Katja.

"It's not safe, Katja," said Lucas. "I'm afraid you have to stay in here now that the Engineers' terrorist attack is starting. It will clear us of wrongdoing."

Katja looked around at the terrorists guarding the doors, and guarding her and Lucas.

She then looked at the computer console that would open the panic room doors, and a pen next to a set of printed documents on Lucas's desk. She jumped as the entirety of the room turned blue.

"Katja?" said Lucas. "Are you dissociating again?"

Katja looked at the computer's keyboard and its various keys, which she could now see Lucas's fingerprints covering them.

She looked at Lucas, whose body was covered in an aura flickering between red and blue colors until it turned to a gold aura.

The other guards' auras turned red.

"Katja?" said Lucas.

Then to her surprise, Ezio appeared again, and proceeded to stab an Abstergo mercenary guarding the panic room door through the eye with his hidden blade.

Katja looked at Ezio in shock.

"Katja! What the hell are you doing!" yelled Lucas.

Ezio then stomped on a pressure point in the foot of the other Abstergo mercenary guarding the door, grabbed his head to put him in a headlock, then stabbed him through the eye of his helmet as well.

"You two, restrain Katja, but don't kill her!" said Lucas.

Ezio then punched another guard in the face and tried to slice through his armor, only for him to be slugged in the gut and knocked to the floor.

Suddenly Katja felt an intense pain in her torso.

Ezio was picked up and grabbed by the other guard, who had managed to rip off the hidden blade he was carrying and was now trying to bind his wrists.

The first guard used an electrified staff and pointed it at Ezio's chest.

Ezio then grunted, and shook in the second guard's grip.

"Enough, Katja!"

Ezio then threw the second guard over his shoulder, and he and the guard were simultaneously zapped by the first guard.

Katja screamed as she felt the electricity from the staff surge through her veins.

She fell to her knees, and found that her hands were tied behind her back. Her clothes were also covered in the blood of the three guards she thought Ezio had slaughtered. She was also starting to sweat, and her heart was beating much faster.

Katja felt dizzy and lightheaded again.

"I'm sorry I had to have my guards do that to you Katja, but I can't have you running away from me in the middle of a terrorist attack!" shouted Lucas.

Ezio said to Katja, "It wasn't me that stabbed those guards, Katja…"

"What?" said Katja. "You… you just spoke Italian… but I can understand you!"

Lucas looked at Katja in shock and couldn't help but laugh. "Out of all the possible times, your first Animus-induced alternate identity starts to manifest now! Regardless of the fit of yours you just threw… I admit it's still incredible… You're a marvel of science, Katja."

"No!" whimpered Katja.

"…it was you," Ezio whispered to her, "with the help of that pen you picked up off of Lucas's desk."

"The pen?" Katja said in Italian, as she glanced over at Lucas's desk. His pen was gone.

"The one in your hands right now," said Ezio.

Katja felt the pen in her hands that she had managed to pick up off the floor and hold while her wrists were tied behind her back; it was caked with blood.

She must've stabbed the first two guards with it.

As the guard who Katja through over her shoulder was starting to come to now, the first guard kept his staff trained on her.

"Cut the ties that bind your wrists open with the sharp end of the pen Katja, quickly!" said Ezio.

Katja ripped off her bonds, and made a ducking movement to avoid the guard's staff as he swung it at her. She simultaneously stabbed the guard still on the floor through the eye hole in his helmet before he could get up.

Katja watched Lucas staring at Ezio as he dodged the guard's swings with the staff until he managed to roll over the guard's back after he did a low swing and then stab him in the back of his neck in a gap between his helmet and armored suit.

As the last guard fell to the ground, he tried to throw Katja over his shoulders before he died.

Katja made an attempt at a recovery roll, only to sink to her hands and knees, breathing heavily.

Looking at her reflection on the tile floors of the panic room, she saw that her face was covered in the blood of the guards, too.

Was that really me that did all of that? She thought as she looked up at Ezio.

"The liberation of Roma has begun," said Ezio.

Katja took Ezio's hand and got to her feet.

Lucas clapped and said to Katja, "Perfect. The Phoenix Project is going to move at an accelerated rate after this."

Picking up the guard's staff, Katja pointed it at Lucas.

"You're still mad," said Lucas. "I understand."

"What happens after this, Lucas?" said Katja. "Are you just going to have me go back into the Animus until Baldr shows up?"

"He'll be just like another one of your alters, Katja…"

"Every time I develop an alter, I lose a part of my real self," said Katja. "If Baldr manifests… I worry that he'll take over what little of my human consciousness there is left."

"Like it or not, Katja," said Lucas, "Baldr is a part of you… He was a part of you that was taken from you by the Templars that traumatized you. I've been trying to bring that part of you back… all while subverting, infiltrating, and taking over the very organization that ruined your life."

Katja frowned, and looked at Ezio.

Ezio nodded in her direction.

Katja swung the staff at Lucas in an attempt to stun him with its electric end, only for Lucas to rip the staff out of Katja's hands and break it in two with his strength, then toss the broken halves of the staff aside.

"Your alter may have taught you a few tricks, Katja," said Lucas, "but I've got the upper hand when it comes to combat, as I'm a Sage as well."

Katja said, "I'm not trying to kill you, Lucas…"

"Just as I'm not trying to kill you."

Katja then threw the pen at him, breaking part of it off and spraying its ink in his face to blind him.

"…but I am trying to get out of this panic room," she said as she quickly typed in the password to the computer controlling the doors to his panic room once, figuring it out rather quickly with the help of what she assumed was Eagle Vision given she could see his fingerprints, some of which were more pronounced on certain keys.

"Katja, wait!" yelled Lucas as he wiped the ink out of his eyes as she ran out the door as it opened. "There's something I didn't tell you about the Engineers! They may be allies I've leveraged, but they will try to gain the upper hand over me, and y— Katja! KATJA!"

As the panic room doors closed behind Katja, she could tell something was wrong.

The power was back on, but there were Abstergo employees running into Lucas's office in terror, trying to find some place to hide.

She could hear gunshots coming from somewhere in the building's penthouse nearby.

Lucas's secretary was crying.

"Please, Lucas, let us into your panic room!" screamed the secretary. "The intruders, they're—"

Then she heard the electronically locked entrance doors to Lucas's office open with a beeping noise.

Out of a new instinct of some sort she seemed to have just developed, Katja ducked behind Lucas's desk as the secretary's body fell next to her as she was shot with a barrage of automatic rifle fire, along with everyone else who had come into Lucas's office.

Katja could tell the secretary was playing dead.

Katja covered her mouth to mask her breathing.

Did I do the right thing leaving Lucas behind? She thought while trembling. Because I'm already having regrets!

"Search Lucas's office. Leave no survivors," said the voice of a man in Arabic. To Katja's surprise, she understood what he was saying.

Katja trembled as she heard the intruders moving closer and closer to her hiding place under the desk when they stopped.

"Hang on… I'm getting a message from the boss."

"You're getting a message from Sadiq?"

"That's right…" A pause in speech as the terrorist was listening to the faint voice on his smartphone.

"…we're to begin speaking in code now? Just a precaution, you say? No matter, Majid, I understand… We're in Asgard right now, looking for Odin… and Baldr."

Katja froze after what she just heard.

"Have you found Freyja yet?" said a terrorist. "Copy that. We'll head out to Jotunheim with the package once we've captured her, Odin, and Baldr."

Perhaps Freyja is Sofia Rikkin? Katja thought to herself.

"Come again, Loki? Keep an eye out for Midgard, and Muspelheim? I know Midgard from the briefing, but who's Muspelheim? Ah. Copy that."

I have no idea who or what they're referring to when it comes to Midgard and Muspelheim… despite that I know the Isu history somewhat based on what Lucas told me, Katja thought.

Katja held her breath as she could tell the terrorists were nearing the desk she was hiding underneath with the help of her newly developed Eagle Vision.

There's no way I can take all of them on at once… said Katja. This is bad… they're likely going to use me to get to Lucas now once they spot me!

Then a blessing hiding in plain sight happened, which would simultaneously become a curse that would turn Katja's life even further upside down.

Before the Engineers were able to spot her, they turned around as several of their men were shot and stabbed to death by an unknown figure wearing a hood.

"Loki, Muspelheim is with us, over!" screamed an Engineer as a firefight ensued.

Katja covered her ears and shut her eyes for a moment, trembling and struggling not to dissociate as some traumatic memories of when she was living on the streets as a child were triggered by the gunfire.

When she opened her eyes, she could see Ezio staring at the hooded figure.

"You're another member of the brotherhood…" said Ezio. "I haven't seen you before…"

Wait a minute… Katja thought, am I really out there?

"Who are you?" said the hooded figure. "You're not an Engineer… but you're speaking in Italian… Speaking like…"

The hooded figure frowned. "Talk. Are you one of Abstergo's agents?"

Shit, I must be out there talking to him as Ezio, Katja thought.

"I'd rather not have to kill you, so talk," said the hooded figure.

Please, Ezio, let me return to my body! Katja thought.

"Never mind; I don't have time for this," said the hooded figure as he fought against Ezio with dual hidden blades.

Grunting as Ezio grazed the hooded figure's torso with his own hidden blade—which was likely another one of Lucas's pens lying around that Katja picked up—the hooded figure said, "You're tough, I'll give you that. But the Bleeding Effect can only take you so far."

The hooded figure ducked under one of Ezio's attacks, and punched Ezio to the floor.

Katja felt the pain in her gut as the hooded figure picked Ezio up, grabbed him in a chokehold and prepared to slit his throat.

"Wait, Assassino, I'm on your side!" Ezio said in Italian.

Thankfully Katja returned to her body in time to negotiate.

"I'm sorry!" yelled Katja. "The Bleeding Effect, it—"

The hooded figure threw Katja into Lucas's desk, causing her to hit her head.

Katja grabbed her head; she felt dizzy and was seeing double. Hopefully she didn't have a concussion.

"Who are you?" said the hooded figure.

"I'm Katja Winter!" Katja cried. "Lucas Richards' adopted daughter!"

The hooded figure stored his hidden blades in the compartments in his wrists. As her double vision started to subside, she caught a glimpse of the Assassin's eyes underneath his hood. They were heterochromic.

Wait a minute, thought Katja, is he a Sage too? One of Aita's?

"I've heard about you on the news…" said the hooded figure. "Lucas is a psychopath."

"Tell me something I don't know!" Katja said while clutching her forehead.

"Why did he take interest in you?"

"Because I'm Baldr!" Katja said.

"You're Baldr's Sage? The Phoenix Project…" the Assassin said while rubbing his chin. "Why'd you go along with his plans?"

"He rescued me from a trafficking ring as a child," said Katja. "He really did adopt me. I lived a good life with him… but now… Please… you have to get me out of here."

The Assassin took off his hood, and studied Katja for a moment.

Katja studied him also while he did this; he had curly black hair, and an intimidating build, not unlike Lucas's. He was several inches taller than her, and she was 5'7". He was rather attractive despite his unusual eye coloring.

The Assassin's heterochromic eyes went wide for a moment.

He looked away for a moment; his gaze distant.

"All right… Katja," said the Assassin. "Come with me. If what you told me is true, you'll be of use to the Brotherhood."

Katja nodded in compliance, and headed with the Assassin as he put his hood back on.

As they headed down a set of stairs toward, Katja had memories of Ezio infiltrating the Vatican to spy on and take down the Borgia.

She saw memories of him witnessing Cesare Borgia passionately kissing his sister, Lucrezia, as well as Cesare poisoning his father, Rodrigo.

She also saw memories of him rescuing the redheaded woman she saw in his earlier memories in Monteriggioni… Caterina Sforza.

She even saw memories of him liberating Rome from the reign of the Borgias, renovating various shops after burning several towers the Borgias used to control various districts of Rome to the ground.

Katja said to the Assassin as they moved through a set of hallways in Abstergo's headquarters, and after they managed to sneak past several Engineers as they massacred Abstergo's employees in skirmishes with them, "What's your name, Assassin?"

The Assassin hesitated before saying to her, "Elijah. Elijah Chastain."

Realizing that Lucas might've overheard them over Abstergo's security cameras, she said, "Sorry… I suppose I shouldn't have asked given the secret nature of the Assassins."

"Assassins hide in plain sight," said Elijah, "and it doesn't matter. Abstergo already knows who I am."

"What will happen after this?" said Katja. "What will the Assassins do with me if we managed to make it out of here?"

"I don't know yet," said Elijah, "but I'll do my best to make sure they don't harm you."

Katja shivered upon hearing this.

It didn't matter though. There was no backing out of the choice she had made to leave Lucas now.

They came across Abstergo's secret vault where some of Abstergo's darkest secrets were housed in servers inside.

Elijah tried to open the vault by plugging flash drives into its dual door locks.

He spoke into a mouthpiece.

"Rebecca, can you open this?" A pause. "What do you mean you can't! We came here for the Abstergo files! And it's unlikely we'll be able to come back after tonight; something bad is going on with the Engineers!"

Elijah pounded his fist against the vault doors. "Damn it."

He said to Katja, "Do you by any chance know how to open this thing?"

"No… Lucas never gave me the codes."

"Right… I figured as much," sighed Elijah. "Well hopefully you'll make the trip here worth it."

He said to her, "We need to cross the skybridge. But it's crawling with Engineers."

"Will we have to fight them?" said Katja.

"We don't have a choice."

Katja nodded, and said, "Right."

As they neared the skybridge, and Elijah plugged his flash drive into one of the security gates to hack it open, Katja looked over and saw Ezio ready a sword.

"Do me a favor and don't swing that thing at me," said Elijah.

Katja looked back at Elijah, shaking her head to snap out of it.

Ezio was gone, and she had another spear a dead Abstergo guard had dropped in her hands.

"I won't," said Katja as the skybridge doors started to open.

"Rebecca, I'm bringing a plus-one to extraction," said Elijah. "Be ready with the chopper. After we rendezvous at Monteriggioni, we'll head to the Altair II, and then Nazareth to chase the lead you found regarding the potential detonation broadcast center location with Abstergo's mining companies."

Katja said, "Nazareth?"

Elijah said, "Rumor has it your father figure Lucas is planning to blow up half the world with nuclear devices of some kind. We think he might be doing it from somewhere nearby Nazareth. That true?"

Katja covered her mouth.

She remembered what Lucas told her.

"It might be," she said, "but I'm not sure. It's hard to believe he'd do such a thing."

"It isn't for me," said Elijah as the skybridge doors finished opening, and they headed out onto the skybridge.

It was raining heavily; outside the skybridge, rainwater was running down the windows, and thunder and lightning bolts were going off in the distance along the Roman skyline.

Katja could see a glimpse of Ezio jumping off the Vatican with an archaic parachute of some kind.

Looking down at the massive drop beneath them, she became dizzy again as she worried that it was her jumping off the skybridge for a moment.

"Eyes forward, Katja," said Elijah.

Katja looked up toward several men armed with automatic rifles approaching them on the skybridge.

"I think it'd be wise for you to use that staff now, Katja," said Elijah.

As Elijah stabbed an Engineer through the neck, Katja saw Ezio slice through several Engineers before they could attack her while Elijah shot several of them using a set of hidden dual pistols built into the bracers on his wrists.

"We're outnumbered," said Elijah. "Cover your ears and look away, Katja."

"What? Why?"

"Do it," said Elijah as he chucked some sort of improvised explosive device at the guards.

Katja did what Elijah said to do as the guards were caught by surprise.

The device detonated; it turned out to be a flashbang grenade.

Elijah and Ezio sliced and stabbed their way through the remaining guards.

As Ezio kicked a guard, he stabbed through him with a sword, and then used his momentum to kill several more guards around him in quick succession.

Katja ended up where Ezio was, surrounded by the guards' corpses; her clothes were covered in their blood. She was breathing heavily; she had worked up a sweat.

Turning around, she saw Elijah staring out the window at something.

"Elijah?" said Katja as she approached him. "What is it, Elijah?"

Then to her shock, a bolt of lightning revealed a man in some sort of commando suit wearing trifocal night vision goggles clinging to the outside of the skybridge.

Katja jumped back.

"Who- who is that, Elijah?"

"Looks like he's a Splinter Cell."

"A Splinter Cell?" A feverish look came to Katja's eyes as she remembered the Engineers mention something about Midgard.

If the Assassins were the Muspels… was the man in the commando suit part of Midgard?

She said to Elijah, "well what are you waiting for? Kill him!"

"No," said Elijah. "'Do not compromise the brotherhood.' We have to leave anyways. Our extraction is waiting on the roof." Elijah turned his head to Katja as he said, "We have to follow up on that lead in Nazareth that Rebecca found out about."

Confused, Katja respected Elijah's decision, and they stepped over the corpses of the Engineers they killed and exited the other side of the skybridge.

"Why didn't you kill that commando?" said Katja as they walked through a set of Abstergo's offices and then several cells where prisoners were kept and forced to use their respective Animus devices.

"I'm not entirely sure…" said Elijah. "On one hand, the Splinter Cells are highly loyal to the United States government, which is lobbied heavily by Abstergo and its various subsidiary corporations. Not exactly someone we'd want to ally with. On the other hand… he reminded me of someone."

"What? Who?"

"A Sage," said Elijah.

"A Sage?" said Katja. "He didn't look like any Sage I recognized."

Elijah said to Katja, "You know how it took roughly one millennium for another Odin reincarnation to appear?"

"Yes?"

"This kind of Sage is an enemy of Odin's… This Sage takes roughly two millennia."

"What kind of Sage takes two millennia to reincarnate?"

"One that could turn water into wine, and come back from the dead."

"What?" said Katja. "You're talking about… Jesus?"

"More like a reincarnation of the Judeo-Christian god himself…" said Elijah. "Yahweh."

"You think that commando was the Second Coming?"

"Again…" said Elijah, "I'm not sure."

Katja said nothing as they continued up toward the rooftops.

As they headed up the stairs, Elijah said into his mouthpiece, "What is it, Shaun?" A pause. "You had to what?" Elijah looked around. "Damn it. All right… We'll find another way out."

Elijah turned to Katja and said, "You're not going to like this."

"What is it now?"

"Our extraction ride just left. They ran out of fuel. That and Rome is turning into a warzone… Due to the Engineers' attack on Abstergo, Rome's citizens are scared… They think they're witnessing another 9/11."

"You're kidding!" said Katja.

"I wish I was."

"How are we going to escape now?"

Elijah said, "Actually, I've got an idea… You're not going to like this idea either."

As they looked out at the Roman skyline through the rain, thunder and lightning on Abstergo's rooftop, Katja said, "You want us to what?"

"You heard me," said Elijah.

Shaking, Katja said, "I'm afraid of heights."

"Well, you'll have to face your fears, and fast," said Elijah, "because according to the security feeds Rebecca hacked into, Abstergo's PMCs, the Engineers, and the local authorities are swarming the building… We're cut off, and we need to parachute off this skyscraper, now."

Katja shut her eyes. "All right."

Elijah said as he tossed a wingsuit and parachute to Katja, "Shaun left these for us. Put this one on."

Katja complied, and strapped the backpack and wingsuit to her back and arms, respectively.

"Follow my lead," said Elijah as he ran at the side of the rooftop, and jumped off, then opened his arms to use his wingsuit.

Katja hesitated and looked away after she looked at the massive drop beneath her.

I don't think I can do this, said Katja.

She also started to wonder if she should just return to Lucas.

But as she turned around to head back down, she saw Otso Berg and several Abstergo troops come out onto the rooftops and approach her.

"Katja Winter," said Otso. "You're coming with us."

"Are you taking me back to Lucas?" she said.

"No," said Otso, "we're taking you to an Abstergo black site to be interrogated after your father figure Lucas orchestrated this false flag terrorist attack… and caused the deaths of Abstergo's other members of the board of directors… Including Sofia Rikkin."

"No!" yelled Katja.

"First though, you're going to tell us how to get into Lucas's panic room.

Katja looked to the side, and opened her eyes wide.

Ezio was grabbing the handles to what looked like Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machine, along with a cannon built into the frame of its bottom.

"Ezio!" said Katja.

"Ezio?" said Otso.

To Katja's shock, Ezio ran toward the edge of the rooftop with the flying machine, while simultaneously firing its built-in cannon at Otso and his unit of Abstergo troops.

Katja looked back at Otso, and realized she had thrown her staff at him and his unit and activated its electric charge to stun them all by electrifying a puddle of rainwater they were standing in.

She then turned around, and decided to face her fears as she jumped off the roof in sync with Ezio and held out her arms as Ezio's flying machine flew through the night.

As Otso groaned, and got up on one knee, he yelled, "KATJA!"

Katja was flying through the night.

As she could see several trucks, police cars, and police boats approaching Abstergo's headquarters on the Roman streets far beneath her, reality blurred with Ezio's memories again due to the Bleeding Effect.

She imagined him taking out several Renaissance-era horse carriages with the flying machine's cannons, and engaging in a battle with several ancient tank-like machines in a tank of his own somewhere in the Italian countryside.

As she came to, she managed to fly around the other skyscrapers in the Roman skyline and catch up to Elijah, who was flying toward a set of Roman ruins and old aqueducts.

As Elijah deployed her parachute, so did she, along with Ezio and his own older parachute.

"Leonardo's inventions come in handy…" said Ezio, "although they come in handy to the Borgia as well."

Katja landed somewhere in the Roman ruins.

Elijah quickly came to find her.

"Let's go, Katja," said Elijah. "I managed to find one of the Engineers' trucks nearby. We'll use it to lose Abstergo and the authorities."

"All right," said Katja.

As Katja entered the passenger seat of the truck, Elijah drove.

He handed a dead Engineer's assault rifle to Katja.

"Do me a favor and shoot any Engineers or Abstergo agents that follow us with this. Don't harm any civilians though."

Katja nodded, and said, "All right," as Elijah used a screwdriver to help him hotwire the truck.

As they were pursued by Abstergo's black helicopters and vans, Katja shot at them while imagining that she was Ezio, driving a carriage armed with a machine gun.

As they passed by the Roman Colosseum once they started to escape downtown Rome, Katja saw a memory of Ezio infiltrating a play where the Templars were planning to assassinate a man playing the part of Jesus Christ as he was being crucified.

"I remember…" said Ezio, "Niccolo Machiavelli was not the Templars' spy… He was ours."

Katja continued firing her assault rifle at the Abstergo vehicles pursuing them, managing to shoot one of their vans' tires. This caused the van to steer out of control and crash into several others.

Katja looked at Elijah as he said, "Good… We've almost lost them."

And as they finally made it into the clear, Elijah drove the truck out of Rome and toward the Italian border on the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Elijah looked at a smartphone lying on the dashboard of the truck as it started to buzz.

Katja looked at the smartphone.

"Are you going to answer it?" said Katja.

"It'd be best not to," said Elijah. "Whoever's calling us could triangulate our location."

Katja looked at the smartphone as the call went to voicemail.

She realized it was Lucas, who had made a video call.

He was frowning, and had a feverish look in his eyes that terrified Katja.

She had never seen him this angry.

"To the Assassin who kidnapped my daughter…" Lucas said, "My men will find you. And when they bring you to me, I will make sure you suffer for what you've done."

Elijah looked at the phone as Katja listened to it.

"I'm more powerful than any other Sage… I can't be killed by humans like you."

And then Lucas grinned.

"The Assassins won't be around much longer. I'll make sure of that. And if by any chance you're listening to this, Katja… I'm sorry."

Katja's eyes went wide, and they began to water.

"This is my fault. You weren't ready to know the truth about me, and I don't blame you for running away. I just hope you're all right. I promise I'll find you, and get you back to safety. I'm not mad at you."

As the call ended, Elijah said to Katja, "Don't listen to him, Katja… Like I said, Lucas is a psychopath. He likely wants Baldr, not you."

Katja said to Elijah, "Until today, he was my savior… He managed to give me a new life… a second chance." Looking at the Assassin, she asked him, "Are you going to kill him?"

"We're Assassins," said Elijah. "What do you think?"

Katja looked at Elijah, and then became dizzy as she looked at Ezio as he was fighting Cesare in the midst of a battlefield in Viana, Spain.

"If no man can kill you… then I leave you in the hands of fate," said Ezio as he dropped Cesare to his death… only now, Cesare looked like Lucas in the memory.

Katja began to tremble and cry.

"We're here," said Elijah as they reached the coast, where a boat was waiting for them.

Three more Assassins were onboard, a woman with a beanie hat, a British man with glasses, and an old American man with features resembling Elijah's somewhat.

"Grandson…" said the older man.

"I thought I told you to call me Elijah, William," said Elijah.

"Took you bloody long enough," said Shaun.

"You can thank your leaving me at Abstergo without an extraction ride for that," said Elijah.

"Who's that?" said Rebecca.

The Assassins looked at Katja.

"Katja Winter," said Elijah, "Lucas's adopted daughter… and Baldr's Sage."

Rebecca raised her eyebrows.

"Looks like our little break-in at Abstergo headquarters wasn't in vain after all," said Shaun.

Elijah turned to Katja, and said, "Last chance to turn back, Katja."

Katja looked back in the distance.

She hoped to see Lucas again.

But all she saw in his stead was Ezio.

Ezio was holding an initiation ceremony for an Assassin in a secret hideout of some kind.

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted," said Ezio. "This saying is the heart of the Assassin's Creed."

As Ezio took a set of tongs and placed a hot ring on the Assassin recruit's finger, Katja realized that the recruit had her face.

"There's no turning back now," said Katja. "I'm going with you."

William said to Elijah, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"She's a crucial part of the Phoenix Project," said Elijah. "We need her."

"I'm not opposed," said Rebecca.

Shaun looked at Katja, then Rebecca.

Clearing his throat, Shaun said, "Nor am I."

"Looks like I'm outvoted," said William. "Hop aboard, Katja."

… … … … …

Back in Venice, Katja was done reminiscing on her time in Rome with Elijah.

"It's getting late," said Elijah, "and I'm getting hungry."

"So am I," said Katja.

As they dined on some spaghetti Bolognese, salad, and wine, Elijah said to Katja, "Don't drink too much. Last thing we want is for the alcohol to cause you to dissociate again and kill us all."

Katja couldn't help but laugh at this.

… … … … …

Katja was in her bedroom at the hotel they were staying at; she heard Elijah showering in the adjacent bathroom. Steam was coming from the bathroom.

Katja was experiencing the memory of Ezio's where he was bathing again.

Caterina Sforza came in to comfort Ezio.

Before Katja knew it, she was slipping out of her own clothes into her bra and underwear, and went in to see Elijah.

Elijah was still in the shower, scrubbing shampoo into his hair when Katja entered the shower as well. The scalding hot water felt good on her skin.

As she went to touch Elijah, Elijah turned around and his face turned red.

"Katja?" he said. "What are you doing?"

Katja said nothing as she wrapped her arms around Elijah.

"Are you dissociating again?"

"Does it matter?"

As she kissed Elijah on the lips, Elijah pulled away for a moment.

He said, "I feel bad taking advantage of you like this."

"I don't. Not anymore."

Elijah said, "Are you going to let me finish washing my hair?"

"Don't take too long," she said.

As Elijah let the shampoo run out of his curly black hair, Katja kissed him on the lips again.

Elijah hesitated for a moment before he began to kiss her back.

Next thing she knew, he was kissing her neck as he held her up while she wrapped her legs around his body and the steam caused the shower doors to fog.

"Your bra is sagging," said Elijah.

"Should I take it off then?"

Elijah blushed, but then smiled coyly.

… … … … …

A memory of Caterina and Ezio sleeping together.

"Ready to go again?" said Caterina.

"You don't need to ask…" said Ezio.

Caterina smiled as she said, "One should always have the freedom to choose."

Katja was moaning in pleasure as she lay naked on top of Elijah in bed.

As Elijah lie underneath her, breathing heavily, she made out with him more while they continued to have sex.

Elijah said to her in between kisses, "You remind me of my high school girlfriend."

"What happened to her?"

"She was killed… I miss her."

"Oh," said Katja. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," said Elijah with a sad smile. "You're helping me process my grief."

Katja breathed out sensually as she finished, and lay down in bed next to Elijah under the covers.

As they stared at each other in the dark, Elijah said, "The life of an Assassin… It's not easy. At some point in my life I hope I'll be able to give it up."

Katja said to Elijah, "What would you do after that?"

"I'm not sure… Perhaps more of this?"

Katja laughed.

"Well let's both aim to make it out of this Templar conspiracy in one piece then."

Elijah smiled in response to this, but then his smile went away.

"I almost killed you. Back in Rome… If it weren't for the fact that you remind me of her… I likely would've."

Katja's smile went away.

"Well, you didn't."

"I know… and I'm glad," said Elijah. "I need to try and sleep… Good night, Katja."

"Good night, Elijah," she said.

As Elijah fell asleep, Katja lie awake. She thought about how it was nice to have agency over her body this time rather than be forced to have sex against her will back when she was a slave. She turned over, and looked in the dark as Ezio was out on their balcony.

He flickered for a moment, and started to appear to be his older self.

Katja had a dream where another one of her alters, Altair, had sex with his Templar lover, Maria… and as he left her on top of the tower… her perspective stayed with Maria.

Not long after that strange part of the dream, she woke up in the present.