Chapter 2— "The Crusade for Mass Genocide"
Katja Winter/ Altair Ibn-La'Ahad
Twenty Years Later…
Katja woke up abruptly, and gasped; her body was trembling and covered in cold sweat.
She looked around. She was in the bedroom of an old Assassin safe house that she and Elijah had managed to find not far from Nazareth.
Katja sighed, and ran her hand through her yellow-blonde hair.
She was looking in the mirror in her bedroom, her gaze empty, when Elijah came in to check on her.
"Katja?" said Elijah.
"What do you want?" she said.
"I heard you gasp."
Katja said nothing, and turned her head away from him.
"Which nightmare did you have this time?"
"One I haven't had in a while," she said. "The night my parents were killed."
"I see," Elijah said. "I'm sorry."
"Are you?"
"I am," he said. He must've realized she still didn't trust him, so he backed away. "Have you had any more memories?"
"About the Toba Catastrophe?" Katja said. She sighed, and looked down at the floor.
The reason Abstergo kidnapped her and killed her parents twenty years ago was because she was supposedly a female reincarnation of Odin, an Isu being who was also known by worshippers as the All-Father. She had come to learn this over time after Abstergo tortured and traumatized her enough for her to regain some of the memories of Odin; they used a behavioral modification program that was part of the Phoenix Project known as "Metamorphosis" to do this.
The problem was that it was hard to access them sometimes because she had developed dissociative identity disorder due to how traumatized she was—a side effect of the Metamorphosis program. She could only access the memories when she was Katja.
"Actually, no," said Elijah. "I was talking about the memories of your other alters."
Confused, Katja looked back at Elijah. "What?"
As she looked into his heterochromic eyes, she realized that he was being serious. Then again, with Elijah, it was hard to tell. As another Sage—only he was the reincarnation of Aita—he was good at manipulating people.
Katja sighed. "There's a new alter I've been seeing more frequently lately. An Arabic man. From the Third Crusades."
Elijah's eyes went wide. "You're talking about Altair?"
"How do you know his name?"
"He's a well-known Assassin from that time period," said Elijah. "Stopped a Templar plot during the Third Crusades to use the Apple of Eden to enslave humanity. Rebuilt the Levantine Brotherhood after a schism. He's also an ancestor of your other alter, Ezio Auditore… He… wait a minute…" said Elijah before he went back to his computer in the living room. He had kept his word and slept on the couch last night.
Katja said, "What? What is it?"
"I'm contacting Shaun and Rebecca," said Elijah. "You remember why we're here, right?"
Katja said, "Something about the Engineers?"
Abstergo's false flag terrorist organization, the Engineers, had tried to infiltrate America and steal valuable information from it after the US President refused to play ball with Abstergo until a puppet president was installed in her place. Abstergo was often referred to as "Megiddo" in corporate and political circles there, hence why the Assassins suspected that their sleeper cell to carry out their next attack was somewhere near Tel Megiddo.
That was a dead end.
Katja would ask how she was supposed to remember what the attack was that they were trying so hard to stop when she was being kept in the dark about it; she didn't however, because there was something she was more afraid of than a lack of information.
Having to face Abstergo again.
Katja shivered at the thought of this.
Elijah said, "The Engineers' leader, Majid Sadiq, recently announced that it plans to attack American allies as well. Meaning they've just declared war on the world, not just America…"
"Do you expect me to predict what you're going to say next?" said Katja.
"More so than you think," said Elijah. "After we helped you break out of Abstergo, I put Shaun and Rebecca in charge of monitoring your psyche since you trust them more than me."
Which isn't saying that I trust them much, either, Katja thought to herself.
"Shaun had a theory that, in the process of trying to bring back your memories of Odin, somehow Metamorphosis managed to turn you into something even better… a human Animus memory archive. You no longer need an Animus to recall the memories of certain people… not when you have their identities somewhere in your head already… And if you can take on these people's memories…"
"Then I can take on their skills too."
"Exactly."
"There's only one problem with that."
"Which is?"
"I can only take on the memories of alters I see… and trust."
"Then you have to trust them."
"I haven't trusted anyone since I was five… and ever since I met… him… and Abstergo turned me into this mess… now I don't even trust myself."
"You realize that's no way to live, right?"
Katja looked at the floor. "I never had a say in how to live my life."
"Well now you do."
Katja said, "If I had a say in how to live my life, I'd run. Go somewhere and hide. For the rest of my life."
Elijah said, "You realize that the Assassins can arrange that, right?"
"It doesn't matter. The Templars will find me. Right now, working with the Assassins is my best chance at survival. But once I've learned enough of the skills of my ancestors…"
"Then you're gone. I understand. I don't trust the Assassins either."
"Even though your dad was one?"
"Whether or not he was an Assassin, he's not my father," Elijah said while frowning. "My mother however, was my mother. And the Templars took her from me."
Katja looked at Elijah again as he said, "We're of like mind. The Assassins are just a means to an end for me as well. The only difference between us is that our ends are different; I plan on bringing down the Templars. You plan on running from them."
Katja shivered and clasped her hands together due to their trembling. "You're going to have me fight the Templars, aren't you?"
"How did you think you were going to unlock your alters' skills? You're going to have to bring them out through a trial by fire."
Katja's shaking got worse. "You said that the Assassins can arrange a way for me to hide away forever?"
"Katja…"
"Well then call them and do it!"
"I said they can, I didn't say they would. Look, I know you're terrified of—"
"You don't know the half of the things they did to me!" Katja pressed her hands to her face as she began to cry. "Those maniacs… I've tried fighting them… it doesn't work."
"That was while you were under their control."
"And what if I still am?"
"It's a chance we're willing to take. Right now, you could be the key to bringing down Abstergo."
Katja looked at the floor. "What would you have me do?"
"We've got another lead. This one's hiding in plain sight," said Elijah as he picked up the remote off the couch, turned on the TV, and flipped to the Abstergo Media Network channel.
"A terrorist sleeper cell's location has been discovered recently by US intelligence and leaked online by an anonymous source. According to the source, the global terrorist organization known as the Engineers have a base in the An-Nusayriyah Mountains in western Syria, a base of ancient ruins which that was part of a cult originating in medieval times… Nearby towns are under curfew after skirmishes between local militia have broken out after hearing this revelation…"
"Shit…" said Katja. "That's the location of the place I saw in… Altair's… memories… Masyaf?"
Katja looked back at Elijah. His expression was grim.
"They're baiting us. Why would they be baiting us?"
"They're not," said Elijah. "I suspect this is something much worse. Regardless, we're going to Masyaf. Pack your things."
"I don't have a choice, do I?"
"As long as you choose quickly."
Katja asked Elijah, "You said this is something much worse. What is it?"
"I'm not ordinarily a man who likes to go on missions based purely on hunches… but you heard them mention the Assassins on the news. The Brotherhood is known for working in the dark to serve the light, hiding in plain sight. Can't do that if the Templars bring them into the light; that takes away their means of hiding."
Katja looked at Elijah wide-eyed. "You think they're trying to reveal the Assassin Brotherhood to the public and demonize them?"
"That's my hunch."
"I… I don't understand," said Katja. "Why would they do that now, of all times?"
"I don't understand either," said Elijah.
Katja frowned, and breathed in and out to gather up courage in spite of her quivering acting up. "All right. Let's go."
They did a HALO jump from a small military plane the Assassins "borrowed" a few klicks away from the Assassins' old headquarters in Masyaf. They lucked out; the sandstorms helped give them cover to make the jump undetected.
They were climbing up the mountains by hand.
Katja's hands were red and covered in blisters by now. In addition, her face was getting sunburnt in the midst of this heat despite that she was wearing the Assassin's signature hood in a black color, as well as an armored commando suit Rebecca had managed to put together based off of a design she had managed to steal from DARPA via the net. She had a hidden blade, and a suppressed semi-automatic Five-Seven pistol and suppressed assault rifle with several modifiable parts called an "SC-20K" equipped as well. She also had an advanced headset equipped with trifocal night and thermal vision goggles with binocular and camera capabilities and a laser microphone. All of the designs for this were also stolen from DARPA and put together by Rebecca.
Katja looked down at the massive drop below and nearly lost her grip on the lining in the rocks; she ended up slipping and nearly fell. She was hanging onto the side of the mountain with just one hand now.
"Elijah, help!" she cried.
"I'm too far up!" said Elijah. "Are you able to pull yourself up?"
"I'm… slipping… I'm going to fall!" Katja yelled.
Katja was about to lose her grip and plummet to her death when a strange man in a white hood, probably in his late 20s or early 30s, offered her a hand.
"Take my hand, Katja," said the man in Arabic.
To her surprise, she understood what he was saying. "Altair?"
Looking at him, she said, "No… you're not real… I'll lose my grip if I reach your hand…"
"I'm as real as you need me to be, Katja… You just have to trust me…" said Altair.
Katja was slipping even more. "All right!" Katja said, and used all her strength to reach up with her other hand and grab Altair.
To her surprise, he pulled her up onto the mountain as if he was real.
Next thing she knew, she was right beneath Elijah.
Looking down, Elijah said, "How the hell did you manage to make a leap like that?"
Katja looked over at Altair, who was hanging from the cliff right next to her for a moment.
"I… I don't know…"
"All right," said Elijah. "Let's keep going."
Katja looked in Altair's direction again, only to find he had vanished.
Katja shook her head in confusion.
Yeah, thought Katja, how did I manage to get all the way up here…
They managed to climb all the way up the mountain. Katja was gaining her strength back. She stopped to sip some water from her canteen without drinking too much.
Elijah used his own trifocal goggles combined with his night vision to survey the Masyaf castle in the distance, below the mountain they were on.
"Despite that the original façade has been worn down, the Engineers managed to turn the place into their own fortress…" said Elijah.
Katja looked at Altair again, who she saw tap his head with his finger, and had a brief memory of his come into her head.
"Wait, Elijah… what about the way around?"
Elijah looked at her.
"Maybe we can scale up the castle from where Altair dumped a pile of logs on the Templars during Robert de Sable's invasion of Masyaf. During the Third Crusades."
Elijah rubbed his chin. "You remembered all that just now?"
"Yes. Your point?"
"Never mind; I don't have one," he said. "It's a good idea. But we'll have to be careful, the foundation of that tower's probably unstable as well due to global climate change rotting it away."
"Hold it," said a man with an oddly familiar gravelly voice from behind them.
Katja turned around, and drew out her weapons.
To her surprise, a man wearing the same equipment as they were was aiming his SC-20K at Elijah's chest. The only difference was that he was wearing a commando mask, not a hood. He was dangerously close to them, especially Elijah. She was shocked that Elijah had his hands raised and hadn't even turned around.
Then for some reason Katja didn't understand, the man lowered his weapon slightly.
"Elijah Miles…" said the man. "You're the Assassin."
Wait, why didn't he mention me? Thought Katja. He's not looking at me yet either…
For a moment, Elijah glimpsed in an odd direction behind the man and frowned.
Unless…
"I was at your friends' safe house earlier… they mentioned you," said the man with the gravelly voice.
Elijah said nothing.
Katja then saw Altair sneaking up on the man from behind, and realized what was happening.
"Altair, wait—" she said.
Altair nearly stabbed the man from behind, only for him to grab the ancient Assassin and throw him to the floor in a spinning motion.
Next thing Katja knew, she found herself on the floor with the wind knocked out of her.
"Well done, Katja," said Elijah.
Katja looked up; Elijah had managed to kick the man off of his feet and knock his SC-20K rifle out of his hands.
Katja got up and caught her second wind while Elijah grabbed the man and held his hidden blade against the man's neck.
"Wait, wait!" said Sam as he held his hands up. "I'm on your side, damn it!"
…what? Thought Katja.
Elijah said to Sam, "You're that Splinter Cell. The one whose antics in London resulted in the temporary shutdown of an entire DedSec cell."
"That's the one," said Sam. "I struck a deal with them to get me here. They sent me to Shaun and Rebecca's safe house."
"Shaun and Rebecca's safe house?" said Katja.
"That's our safe house, not theirs," said Elijah. "We were just there not too long ago. Goddamnit, I'm gonna have to talk to Darcy about our relations with DedSec again… And why didn't Shaun and Rebecca tell me about you?"
"I'm assuming they must not have wanted to get into trouble with you," said Sam.
Elijah grimaced, and squinted at Sam.
Katja thought, is he really being honest about wanting to side with us?
"Look, I'm telling the truth," said Sam. "I'm not here to fight with you, I'm here to stop the Engineers. You can either work with me or we can go—"
"No," said Elijah. "I don't care if you're telling the truth. I've read your profile; rogue or not, your loyalty is to the US Government. As Assassins, working with you would be breaking a key tenet of our Creed."
"Which would be?"
"Never compromise the Brotherhood," said Elijah. "The United States is one of the most corrupt empires in history. Abstergo has its eyes on its military influences. Your government wants us gone. To you, we're no different than the Engineers… We're terrorists."
"You're wrong," said Sam. "I've been lied to by my government for years. Right now, my priority is saving my daughter."
Katja looked at Sam suspiciously now herself.
"Are you sure we couldn't use an extra hand, Elijah?" said Katja.
"I'm sure, Katja," said Elijah. "Toss his gun off the cliff."
Katja looked at Elijah.
"What? Wait!" said Sam, and suddenly he started speaking in an unusual tone and an Isu dialect she didn't recognize.
Looking at Elijah, Katja could tell he was equally confused.
"What's he saying, Elijah?"
"I… don't know."
Looking back at Sam, she thought, ss he a Sage too?
"Hurry up, Katja," said Elijah.
She decided it was best not to side with Elijah's decision in this case.
But before she managed to kick the Splinter Cell's SC-20K off the cliff, she and Elijah were blinded by a tear gas grenade.
Katja covered her mouth; she couldn't breathe.
She started to freak out as she witnessed Altair's memories again.
At Arsuf, King Richard the Lionheart had Altair fight against Robert de Sable, the leader of the Knights Templar at the time, and some of his best men.
For some reason, she witnessed two possible timelines at once.
Altair getting killed by Robert de Sable and his army of Templars, and Robert then proceeding to assassinate King Richard.
Then Altair killing Robert de Sable and his men, and reuniting with King Richard.
Then when the timelines coalesced, she saw that Elijah had also been overpowered by Sam, and that Sam had taken his own SC-20K and disappeared. He had also taken their own weapons as well and kicked them off the cliff.
"Elijah!" Katja yelled.
She tried to help Elijah up, only for him to push her away. "I'm fine," he said while coughing out tear gas. "I heard you talking in Arabic again… That was Altair helping you back there, wasn't it?"
"Yes, that was him," she said.
But Elijah looked unhappy.
"You said for him to wait. Why didn't you kill that commando back there?" he said.
"Something told me he wasn't with the Engineers. I thought it was a gut judgment at first… but now I'm not so sure."
Elijah sighed.
"Who was that man?" said Katja. "I… I vaguely remembering seeing him back in Rome… back when you and the others were rescuing me from Abstergo. He was hanging from the side of the roof."
"That was Sam Fisher," said Elijah. "Out of all the Splinter Cell operatives that worked for the Third Echelon program embedded within the NSA, he was the most infamous. After Third Echelon was disbanded due to Abstergo corrupting the program into attacking America, he became the leader of the new program, Fourth Echelon. Looks like he's not used to going rogue now that his government's disavowed him."
"So… was he telling the truth?"
Elijah frowned. "Telling the truth about what?"
"About being on our side."
"He's not on our side, Katja, whether he wants to believe it or not," said Elijah. "You should've let Altair kill him… While the mistake is partially mine for letting my guard down when he pulled a tear gas grenade on us… now we have to infiltrate Masyaf without our gear."
Katja sighed. "Right. I'm sorry."
"It's understandable… You're still a recruit."
She wondered if they made the right decision to alienate this man as they ran to the side of the mountain and jumped off, then opened their wingsuits to fly through the sandstorm over the base.
They managed to land on top of the defense tower after parachuting down toward it. Katja nearly slipped and fell off the side of it before Altair managed to help her regain her balance and pull her back up.
Elijah said to Katja, "For someone so traumatized, I didn't think you'd trust someone like him so easily."
"I don't trust him like that," said Katja. "I just wondered if it was possible for us to have three heads out here rather than two."
"I understand you're nervous," said Elijah, "but teaming up with Sam Fisher and Fourth Echelon is out of the question."
"All right."
They scaled the walls of the castle ruins to get to the top; the sandstorm was chipping away at the rotting foundation.
There were two Engineers snipers above them.
"I don't think they see us," said Elijah over his communicator. "We'll have to take them out by throwing them over the ledge at the same time. You ready?"
"Yes," said Katja.
"On three. One… two…"
But then a third sniper appeared and looked down after part of the foundation crumbled and created a loud noise, and saw the two of them.
Shit! Thought Katja.
She had to take at least one of them out, if not two. She ended up socking the first sniper in the face while hanging from the ledge, climbing onto it, and tackling him before knocking him out with another punch. Then as the third sniper was about to hit her with the butt of his rifle, Altair hit him with a powerful spinning kick to the chin, causing him to drop his rifle and stagger backwards before Altair ran at him, hit him with several punches in a brutal melee fight. As the sniper pulled out a combat knife and swung it at Altair, he blocked the man by grabbing his wrist and dislocating it, then grabbed the knife out of the man's hand, quickly stabbed him in the side of the neck. The guard made choking sounds as Altair pulled the knife out and shoved him off the ledge to fall to his doom. His blood stained the side of the roof where he had been pushed off.
Elijah had managed to kill the second sniper, and looked over at Katja, the first guard's body, and the second guard's blood.
"Altair must've done that," said Elijah.
"Yes, he did," said Katja as she caught her breath.
"I was right. You're experiencing the Bleeding Effect without an Animus. I've never seen anything like it before."
Katja looked at Altair for a moment.
Altair said to Katja as he handed the bloody combat knife to her. "Next time, it's your turn to do that."
Katja looked down at the knife, then back up at Altair only to find that he was gone.
"You were speaking in Arabic just now," said Elijah.
"I haven't ever spoken it before…" said Katja in disbelief, "but now I'm listening to it and understanding it as if I'm fluent."
"I've got to hand it to the Templars," said Elijah, "what they did to you, as inhuman as it was, was a marvel of science. I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to do it by accident. I suspect that even Aita didn't see something like this when he was alive."
"But that's bad," said Katja, "because it means they're close to discovering something huge, if they haven't already. And knowing that the new CEO of Abstergo, Lucas Richards, is a reincarnation of Odin…"
"I know. That's why we have to keep moving," said Elijah.
They continued downward and crept into the basement of the castle without being seen. For the most part, they didn't have to worry, as most of the guards in the base had already been killed, likely by Sam Fisher.
Upon entering the basement, they could see that the Library of Altair—the one he had used as a vault to store an Apple of Eden in—had been converted to a laboratory to help develop a weapon of some kind. There were guards in hazmat suits walking around, as well as some machines and computer systems installed around.
"Look," Altair said to Katja, and pointed to an alcove where there was a set of servers and a computer console where three technicians were asleep in their chairs.
"I vaguely remember that alcove, and this library…"
"It's where you stored the Piece of Eden, before you died. Don't you remember?" said Katja.
"No," said Altair, "I must have been older then…"
Katja realized that she was speaking to a younger version of Altair that understood what was going on now somewhat through her, but could neither age nor experience his life in its entirety as memories due to his being an alternate identity stuck inside her head.
But how did she know about the Library then?
Katja looked at Altair again; his body was flickering and disappearing until he transformed into an older version of himself with a set of grey robes and hood instead of his.
"I need to rest… This place… is full of painful memories…" said Altair.
Katja looked at where the older version of Altair was sitting down at for a moment.
Elijah said to Katja, "We'll have to take those technicians out all at once in order to access their systems. Can you do what you did to take out two of them at once?"
"I can try…" said Katja while looking at Altair; he wasn't moving from where he was sitting.
They approached the technicians. Elijah walked up to the first and nodded in her direction while cocking his head in the direction of the other two.
Katja grimaced, and broke the first technician's neck, then quickly ran at the second as he got up from his chair and grabbed him by the mouth before he could call for help. The man tried to punch her with his left hand, only for her grab his arm and bend it backward at the elbow to break it, then held his mouth harder as he cried out in pain. She then stabbed him in the back of the skull with the knife, and set him down on the chair.
"Good job, Katja," said Elijah. "Oh, shit…" he said as he tried to type into the console.
"What?"
"It's locked with a password. I should've asked one of the guards what it was before letting you kill them. Rebecca, can you hack this?" said Elijah into his communicator. "Damn, our comm lines are down, they must have a jammer nearby."
Old Altair walked up to the computer console and put his hand on Katja's shoulder. "See any patterns?" He said as he pointed to the computer's touchpad keyboard.
"No, I have no idea what patterns you're… wait a minute…" said Katja.
She began to see the world in a glowing shade of blue around her, even though she had her goggles off.
"Eagle Vision…" she said.
She looked at the keyboard, where she could see fingerprints highlighted by a gold aura. "There are fingerprints all over the keyboard, but the E, R, F, N, and I keys, along with the 2, 3, 4, and 0 numerical keys, have the most prints on them. But especially R… What might that spell…"
Katja put her fingers to her chin. Then her eyes went wide.
Could it be?
She typed in Fenrir, then the year (2034), then hit enter, and the computer unlocked.
You've got to be kidding, thought Katja.
Elijah said to Katja, "How did you… oh, of course. Right."
Katja looked at the computer console, pulled out an external hard drive and plugged it into the computer's USB port. She began typing into the keyboard.
"I'm combing through their servers now…" Needless to say Katja's days spent holed up in the Abstergo laboratories gave her plenty of time to get better at snooping around on their computers. "Let's see… The Engineers are developing a weapon of some kind… based on some research of two scientists that Abstergo kidnapped a while back… Dr. P.J. Traunero and Dr. Yijie Wu…"
"Those names sound familiar…" said Elijah. "Yes, that's right… Shaun and Rebecca were talking about how Subject 16 implanted files inside the Animus for my father to find when he was going through Ezio Auditore's memories…"
"What about them?"
"One of the files mentioned how those two doctors were researching neurotransmitters when they discovered one that evolved in humans. That neurotransmitter is the one that reacts to Pieces of Eden… allows it to be used to control humans without triple-helix DNA."
"Oh no…" said Katja. "Look at this. They found an Apple! Worse, they managed to find a way to connect some of its capabilities to computer networks so they can use the effects of the Apple's control with the push of a button! But… the OS has to belong to Abstergo to let it happen… so they can't use the entire Internet to do that… right?"
"They don't need to," Elijah said, his voice grim. "The Blume corporation is installing their central OS network patents in cities all over the world. They're a subsidiary of Abstergo. This is their endgame."
"And they're going to blame these attacks on the Assassins…"
"I suspect that's a mere bonus to their plans given the scope of what they could possibly do with something like this… This is much worse than I ever could've imagined."
"I'm trying to find out where they're going to attack…" said Katja.
"It's not a matter of where," said Elijah. "It's a matter of when."
"Fuck, you're right," said Katja. "Look at this map. Targets all over the world, all with dates. The most common one is December 21st, 2034… but the dates in Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem are 72 days before that… Dear God… that's three days from tomorrow!"
"Does it say where they're broadcasting from?" said Elijah.
"I don't see it yet," said Katja, "but it has to be on these servers somewhere. I'm downloading the files onto Rebecca's hard drive now." Katja opened another folder on the computer console. "Huh."
"What? What is it?"
"I also see files about something called Red Mercury."
"The material used to build nuclear weapons? Show me." said Elijah. Looking at the folder Katja accessed, Elijah said, "Ah, of course… Abstergo's got multiple operations for world domination in play… We already knew about the Red Mercury one they're going to use in an attempt to depopulate the earth from eavesdropping on Lucas's meeting with his associates in Tuscany."
Elijah and Katja heard a commotion coming from somewhere further inside the laboratory.
"We'll address that later. Check the security camera feeds," said Elijah.
"Checking," said Katja.
Katja was looking through the various security camera feeds.
Then she saw him. The monster himself.
Lucas Richards.
Lucas was with Majid Sadiq, torturing him in a makeshift interrogation cell somewhere in the castle.
He's here, thought Katja, her body trembling as a familiar angry stare appeared in her bloodshot eyes.
"Damn you, Sadiq!" yelled Lucas as he punched Sadiq across his already bruised face from where Sarah had made him look the part. "You're telling me she unlocked her cuffs as I left, beat you up, and took your Karambit… along with your keycard you needed to escape the dungeon?"
"That's correct…" said Sadiq as he spit out blood. "I did nearly slit her throat, to be fair… and I wounded her."
"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Lucas punched Sadiq across the face again. "Not to mention I don't believe you!" Lucas sneered at Sadiq. "I gave you new legs after what happened in London…" Lucas pointed down at his Sadiq's prosthetic legs as he pulled out a machete. "I can easily take them away!" Lucas paced around for a moment, then said while holstering the machete and unlocking Sadiq's handcuffs, "But now's not the time. You need to shut this Engineer sleeper cell down earlier than expected. Place the whole base on alert. And find Sarah Fisher, goddamnit!"
"Yes, sir…" said Sadiq.
Sarah Fisher? Said Katja. Did that spy we crossed paths with earlier have a family member who's a spy that's here too?
"I'm heading to my plane now. I have business in Yara that needs to be dealt with. Once you're done sending distributing and transporting this cell of Engineers to their respective cells for the first operation in Washington, Moscow, and Beijing, you're to head to Istanbul for the second to begin the test while your men wait for the Red Mercury bombs to be delivered to them by my courier."
Sadiq said while standing up, "The estimates of the scientists here are that roughly 90% will die at the maximum frequency."
"Good," said Lucas with a grin.
"You're completely insane, Lucas!" shouted Sadiq.
"No, I'm not," said Lucas, "because I'm holding up my end of the deal. Your son isn't with the other leverages I hold. But if you betray me… he'll be taken back to their location to die in hellfire with them. My terms are simple. Don't break them."
Panting, Sadiq yelled, "Fine!"
A soldier walked up to Sadiq and Lucas. "Sir, we captured an intruder. It's Fisher."
"You found Sarah?" said Sadiq.
"No," said the soldier, "We found Sam… Actually, more like he found us. Most of the men in this cell are dead because of him."
"Sam Fisher is here?" said Sadiq with a frown. "Bring him here. I'll use the Apple on him."
Lucas grimaced furiously with a hellbent anger in his eyes as he said, "As much as I'd love to watch him die… That responsibility falls to you. Don't disappoint me again, Sadiq."
Katja noticed how unhinged Lucas appeared. He had never looked like that before. It was chilling.
Sadiq nodded, and as Lucas left the room, he spoke into a cell phone. "We're moving out now. Have my men destroy all evidence in the labs, and on the servers. Execute the scientists as well. Do it now."
Another guard said to Sadiq as several guards hauled an unconscious Sam Fisher in. "Sir, one of the technicians detected a breach in network security. It's local. She's likely in the server room."
Sadiq frowned in displeasure at this.
"Well go get her then!" he yelled. "And bring her to me as well!"
He's here, thought Katja, Lucas is here… and he's about to know I'm here too!
Breathing heavily, Katja got off of the computer, and unplugged Rebecca's hard drive.
"Damn it, they know we're here. That damned spy gave us away," said Elijah. "We need to stop them. First, we need to find a way out of here though."
"Elijah, Sadiq is Loki's Sage," said Katja. "He has to be. The password to the computer, it was 'Fenrir2034.'"
"I picked that much up as well, Katja," said Elijah. "Now let's leave the room before the guards get here."
"Right," said Katja, sighing. "After you."
Katja nodded, and they made for the door.
But it was too late, as they heard guards' footsteps on the other side.
I could really use your help now, Altair… Katja thought.
Old Altair appeared briefly. "You have all the help you need, Katja. Good luck on stopping whatever the Templars are planning. And… thank you for bringing me back here once more. Despite the bleakness of the situation we're in, I see… hope… for the future," he said before disappearing again.
Damn it, Katja thought.
She had to think fast.
As guards entered the room, Elijah put his hands up.
Then Sadiq entered the room as well.
"The prodigal son returns to walk in his father's footsteps. Where's your love interest?"
Elijah stayed silent; the look in his heterochrome eyes indicated he was furious.
"So, I guess that means you don't know then? Don't worry," said Sadiq, "You'll be together again soon. I know that you accessed my servers. How much do you know?"
"Everything," said Elijah.
"Everything is not enough," said Sadiq. "Tell me more."
"All right," said Elijah, "I'll tell you more."
Then Katja jumped from the ceiling down to plunge her knife into the first guard's neck. She then picked up his assault rifle, and screamed as she began mowing down the rest of Sadiq's guards with it. She managed to get most of them down save for three more and Sadiq before she had to duck behind a table next to an empty bookshelf and kick it over. Elijah fought off one of the three guards and Sadiq while Katja blind-fired at the other two guards, killing one before the second, a heavily-armored guard, picked her up by the neck, butted his head against hers, and threw her to the ground. Katja stumbled to her feet, and attempted to swing the knife at the guard; the guard knocked the knife out of her hand, socked her hard in the stomach, and slammed her onto the ground on her face.
Now her face and belly were bruised; she tried to get up, only for the heavy guard to grab her by her hair and drag her screaming toward Sadiq, who had a gun pointed at Elijah's chest while the other remaining guard had him restrained.
"A shame for me to be killing one of my own, as strange as that sounds," said Sadiq.
"I'm not like Aita, and I'm certainly not like you," said Elijah.
"Perhaps you're right. After all, you can't heal as well as I can," said Sadiq as he pointed his gun at Katja's shoulder and fired it.
Katja screamed, and grabbed her bullet wound as the guard who was grabbing her started to strangle her.
"KATJA!"
Katja was starting to succumb to the brute's chokehold.
"Looks like I missed your heart, Elijah. Or did I?"
"Katja, stay with me!"
"Perhaps you really do have empathy for your fellow human beings if you love someone, something, like her."
"Katja, look at me, listen to my voice. You're going to be all right."
Katja kept holding onto her wound.
"It's obvious she doesn't love you back. Isn't that right, Katja?"
"Damn it, Sadiq, don't kill her! Tell that guard to let her go!"
Katja didn't know what any of them were talking about right now. She knew if she let go of her wound, she'd bleed out, but at the same time…
"Perhaps she's too traumatized to trust anyone anymore. Or perhaps… she's too mad to care."
"Katja, you've got to escape his grip!"
"The Mad One is obsessed with her, Elijah. Why else do you think he would he be obsessed with her? She's like him; not capable of love or empathy. She doesn't care about anyone but herself." Sadiq's voice rose as he said, "She's just as dangerous as the CEO of Abstergo, the one behind everything… the Isu who kidnapped and killed my son!"
"KATJA!"
As Katja's consciousness began to fade and her eyes started to droop, she couldn't help but think of her father and mother when she was younger…
She watched her father hold the younger her and bounce her in his lap; he was telling her another story about the Norse gods while her mother was cooking something delicious in the kitchen and humming a tune while tapping her foot after they had both gotten back from work. She could hear the tapping vividly right now, tap, tap, tap…
"Which story are you going to tell me tonight, father?" said a young Katja.
"Tonight, my adorable little Katja, I'm going to tell you about the story of Mímisbrunnr, the Well of Mímir. It's located beneath one of the roots of the world tree, Yggdrasil. It passes under Jotunheim, the land of the Jotnar."
Tap, tap, tap…
"What are the Jotnar, father?"
"Giant beings, simultaneously beautiful and grotesque, majestic and terrible."
"Like you, father?"
Her father chuckled.
"Even more so than father."
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap…
"I wish I got to meet one of them."
"Maybe you will someday, Katja. After all, these stories are based on the religious beliefs of your ancestors. They believed in Valhalla, an afterlife where they'd fight together forever as immortals."
"How long is forever?"
"Very long, dear."
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap…
"Wow," said Katja. "Living forever sounds hard."
"Now, where was I? Ah, yes. So, the water of the Well contained wisdom, so much wisdom that Odin himself cut out one of his eyes in exchange for a drink from the well, as a sacrifice had to be made in order for him to be able to drink from it."
"Why would he cut out his eye just to have a drink? That must have been painful."
"To him, the sacrifice was worth it. Some accounts say he did so to try and gain enough wisdom to find a way to stop Ragnarok from happening."
"Ragnarok? The end of the world? So, cutting out his eye meant he was able to drink from the well and he could save other people from having to die?"
"That's my little girl," said her father as he playfully rubbed her head. Katja giggled.
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap…
"Stories like these contain lessons. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good, to help others who aren't as lucky as us, Katja. That's part of what you have to do to be a hero, one worthy of Valhalla."
"What do I have to do to get to Valhalla? While living forever sounds hard, I don't want to die either."
"Dear Katja," her father said, "You don't have to do a thing. You're already a hero to us."
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap…
"Thank you, father," Katja said and smiled.
The adult Katja smiled too, but then she heard gunshots and saw her mother lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
"While that's not true, Katja…" said Odin, who appeared next to her and put her hand on her shoulder as his old rugged voice hissed in her ear, "that you don't have to do a thing to be a hero, you have made more than enough sacrifices on your way here. You went out fighting. You've proven yourself worthy of Valhalla."
Then her mother said, "Dinner's ready!"
The adult Katja looked at her mother in a daze as her father got up to kiss her mother.
More gunshots. The adult Katja winced and stared at the front door to their house as she saw her father being killed by the men that kidnapped her that night.
Tap, tap, tap…
Now she saw two versions of her younger self, the terrified one fighting outside the door against Fenrir as Lucas's helicopter approached, and the happy one who was watching her father and mother kiss and hug each other.
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap…
Then she saw her parents who were lying dead on the floor as guards stood outside with flamethrowers and white phosphorus explosives, about to burn the house down, and her parents, alive, together, looking at her younger self.
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap…
"Come on, Katja, join us for dinner!" said her father.
"It's your favorite…" said her mother.
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap…
Odin walked over to the kitchen.
"Are you ready to join us and feast, Katja?" said Odin.
The adult Katja looked on in shock as the younger Katja was walking toward her parents in the dining room. The younger Katja looked at the older Katja for a moment.
Katja smiled at her, and tried to grab her, only for the younger Katja to dissolve for a moment, then reappear further away from her.
The adult Katja's smile went away.
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap…
The taps were getting faster.
"Come on, Katja. Embrace your destiny in Valhalla!" said Odin. "Don't you want to join your family there?"
Katja looked at where she tried to grab the younger Katja. Her hand was covered in blood.
Shocked, she jumped back. Then she saw the bullet wound in her shoulder. Horrified as she bled over the carpet, she covered it up.
Tap, tap, tap…
"No!"
She stumbled toward the kitchen.
Tap, tap, tap…
She then fell to her knees, and began to crawl on her hands and knees out of desperation.
Tap, tap, tap…
She kept crawling, only to trip over a plate of cold waffles, and fall flat on the floor.
And as she bled out on the floor, she began to cry. Getting back up onto her hands and knees, she looked at the plate of waffles her mother made her that night.
"I miss you both so much… I was taken and placed in hell on Earth for most of my life… imprisoned… starved… humiliated… tortured in the worst of ways… I was so focused on trying to maintain hold of my sanity that I never even had time to grieve…" she said between sobs.
But she got back on her feet. "You died protecting me. I can't protect anyone, even myself. I don't deserve to be with you. I'm not worthy of Valhalla. Goodbye, mother, father…"
Tap, tap, tap...
She held her wound again, then looked at her neck; it was heavily bruised, but for some reason, it had the gold necklace Elijah bought for her in Nazareth.
Tap, tap, tap…
"Tapping… so much tapping… like from when I pretended to be a ballerina as a child… that's… wait!"
And suddenly, Katja knew what to do.
"KATJA!" yelled Elijah.
Before Katja's consciousness faded completely, she mustered the rest of her strength to stomp hard on the foot of the brute grabbing her, then took her hand off of her shoulder wound, and grabbed the arm the brute was strangling her with, and bit off one of his fingers.
The brute screamed as she threw him over her shoulder and to the ground, then screamed herself and stomped on his skull, knocking him out cold and giving him a nasty concussion.
Sadiq looked at Katja as she clutched her wound, and began to clap sarcastically.
"Congratulations, Katja! You broke free!" he said as he aimed his gun at her again. "What now?"
Looking at the laser pointed at the last of the guards still alive, she said, "Elijah, duck!"
Elijah wrestled free of the guard and complied as the sniper shot the guard in the skull from somewhere up in the ceiling, hidden from sight by a bookshelf.
Then the mysterious sniper tossed a tear gas grenade at Sadiq that exploded and caused Sadiq to cover his mouth. He fired blindly at Katja and Elijah, but they had managed to take cover.
Unfortunately, Sadiq managed to as well.
Coughing up a fit, Sadiq summoned the breath to say, "We'll meet again, Protégé of Odin!" and ran out of cover while firing at them to suppress them.
Katja looked at Sadiq as he ran out. She shouted, "He's getting away—" then collapsed onto the floor.
"Katja!" Elijah yelled.
"I can't believe you managed to defeat that guard… He was at least twice your weight. Perhaps you had help from Altair…" said Elijah. "Shit, you're bleeding out. You need serious medical attention, and soon…"
As Katja started to black out from her wounds again, she saw Elijah yelling toward some unknown specter.
Suddenly, Katja felt Elijah plunge an adrenaline syringe into her heart and pulled out the bullet from her shoulder. Katja grunted in pain, and breathed heavily as her heart rate increased rapidly while Elijah disinfected, cauterized, and wrapped up her wound with bandage tape to stop the bleeding.
"That'll hold for now," said Elijah.
"Where'd you get that first-aid kit…" said Katja.
"I had help from a friend. Come on, get up," he said as he helped Katja back on her feet.
Katja said to Elijah, "Elijah, why didn't Sadiq tell Lucas I was here?"
"Probably because Sadiq has an agenda of his own," said Elijah.
Frowning, Katja said, "We have to stop them both. Before they get away."
"Might be too late for that now," said Elijah, "but it's worth a try."
They ran out to the garden area of Masyaf just in time to see Lucas and Sadiq leaving aboard Lucas's private plane.
"Damn it…" said Katja.
Then they heard bombs go off nearby in the castle behind them, and the floor shook beneath them.
Katja saw a large drone pass by over their heads. "They're bombing the place with a drone! Why?"
"Probably to cover up evidence of Abstergo's involvement," said Elijah.
"That makes sense," said Katja.
They were interrupted when the last remaining members of the Engineers' local sleeper cell showed up to kill them.
"This is bad…" said Elijah.
Katja and Elijah engaged in a brutal firefight with the rest of them using the weapons they found in the castle's makeshift armory, taking cover from enemy gunshots using various objects in the garden while simultaneously running around frantically to avoid being killed by bombs the drone was dropping every time it circled around for another pass.
Once they ran out of ammunition, they resorted to using their hidden blades and fists, slicing and beating up any guards that came near them until they were trapped behind their last cover, a destroyed fountain in the garden.
"This looks like the end, Elijah!" yelled Katja.
"I'm sorry for getting you involved in this, Katja," said Elijah. "I really am… what the…"
To their relief, Sam Fisher and another Splinter Cell shot several of the remaining Engineers with their respective SC-20K and SC-3000 assault rifles, giving Katja and Elijah enough of a window to finish off the last few Engineers near them by sinking their Hidden Blades into their necks.
"Another Splinter Cell?" said Katja.
"Sarah Fisher," said Elijah. "The one who shot Sadiq earlier and tossed a tear gas grenade at him."
"Is she the daughter Sam was talking about earlier?" said Katja.
"I guess so," said Elijah.
Looking around, Katja said, "What's our extraction plan?"
Scratching his head, Elijah said, "Yeah, about that… Apparently, Shaun and Rebecca had to leave our cell in Tel Megiddo due to the Splinter Cell being there. We're on our own."
"What?" said Katja as she looked at the massive drop off of the cliff.
Elijah yelled to Sam and Sarah, who were talking to each other about something, "Are you two done over there?! This place is going up in flames!"
Katja yelled to Elijah, "Elijah, my wingsuit and parachute are shot from the firefight earlier!"
"So are mine!"
"How are we going to get off of here!"
The drone was circling for another pass.
"We may have to make a bit of a leap of faith here, Dad…" said Sarah.
"Off the edge of the cliff?"
"Well it's either that or we go down with this entire castle!"
"All right…" said Sam before he raised a hand to his ear.
Realizing he was whispering into a subdermal communicator, Katja realized that he might be calling for an extraction.
Katja said, "Elijah, I think they could help us escape. I know you don't trust them, but…"
A bomb dropped near their position, causing Katja and Elijah to stumble.
"No, you've got a point, Katja. We'll risk it."
As Abstergo's drone started to carpet bomb the garden, Sam, Sarah, Katja, and Elijah hid behind a pile of rubble, narrowly avoiding getting destroyed by the blasts.
The Abstergo drone was about to circle for another pass when another drone appeared and fired a missile at it, forcing the Abstergo drone out of the sky.
As they saw a chopper heading their way that Sam was looking at, Elijah said to Sam, "Mind if we go with you?" He gestured with his head toward Katja.
"Why should we?" said Sam.
"Dad, bring them with us," said Sarah. "They have Red Mercury intel."
Looking at Sarah and then Elijah, Sam said, "All right."
As the Fourth Echelon chopper was coming toward them, Sarah popped a flare.
The chopper shot down a SPIE rig for the four of them to attach to.
"Attach your belts to this!" yelled Sam as he and Sarah latched on. Elijah and Katja latched on as well before the SPIE rig pulled them all out of the exploding former Assassin headquarters. One by one, they were yanked up into the air and onto the chopper.
Once they all had climbed aboard the chopper, they looked down below as the Masyaf castle crumbled to pieces.
"Do you really think they're going to try and frame the Assassins for their attack?" said Katja to Elijah.
"Yes," he said, "Even if we stop it, they'll find a way. We'll have to dig in, use whatever resources we've got."
Katja nodded, and looked away at the mountains from a distance as the sandstorm started to dissipate and reveal the night sky.
After a while, Katja began to doze off.
… … … … …
Katja woke up with her bullet wound healed. For a moment, she saw a familiar alter of hers.
"Salve, Katja," said a young Ezio.
Katja blinked, and shook her head.
Then she realized that Elijah was waiting by her hospital bed.
"Where am I?"
"Welcome to the Paladin," said a man with a disheveled haircut and a cheesy smile who was looking at Katja. "I'm a huge fan of the Assassins by the way. Read up on you guys a ton."
Confused, Katja looked back at Elijah. "…Elijah, who is he?"
"Charlie Cole," said Elijah unenthusiastically. "Speaking of which, Charlie, could you give us a minute?"
"Sure thing. Thanks for sharing the intel, by the way, Elijah. Sam said you sounded reluctant to. I know you guys are super secretive and all that. Just know that you can trust us. Can, can trust me, at least," he stuttered. "Anyway," he said as he smiled and waved awkwardly, and left the medical bay.
"What a card," said Katja.
"Tell me about it," said Elijah. "It was nearly impossible to get Rebecca to glean the data I didn't want them to see from the hard drive remotely during the flight here with him snooping around trying to make small talk."
"That was crafty. Why are you trying so hard to keep info away from them?"
"We work, in the dark, to serve the light, Katja," said Elijah. "Fourth Echelon works for the US Government; they answer directly to the President. We can't trust them. All I did was give them the info they wanted; the information on the Red Mercury plot. The part about ctOS, the Apple of Eden WMD, and anything else potentially damaging to the Brotherhood… that stays between the two of us."
Katja said, "All right." Then her eyes went wide, and she frowned. "Wait a second… you searched for the hard drive in my commando suit's pockets while I was asleep, didn't you?"
Elijah blushed. "Sorry about that. I had to for the reasons I mentioned before. But I didn't look, I swear."
Katja sighed, and put a hand to her head.
Elijah's look of affection went away and became a deadpan look instead.
"What's wrong?" said Katja.
"Charlie?" said Elijah. "How long have you been there?"
"I heard the part about you fishing for the hard drive in her pockets. Real classy dude. You could've just done that when she woke up."
Elijah frowned.
He can't possibly be jealous… thought Katja, he's probably just annoyed… or is he?
"But… then again we wouldn't have analyzed the data on the drive by now if you did do that. Which is why I came here by the way," said Charlie. "Sam and Grim want everyone in the mission control room for a debrief."
Katja looked at Elijah, and nodded; she got out of bed as they walked out of the medical bay.
In mission control, Sam, Sarah, Charlie Cole, a Splinter Cell named Isaac Briggs, Charlie, and a red-haired woman—Anna Grimsdottir, whom everyone apparently called "Grim"—were crowded around a massive touchpad console, along with a woman named Marie, who was the most recent pilot of the Paladin, Fourth Echelon's mobile headquarters which was a large military aircraft.
"That's one impressive computer," said Katja.
"The Strategic Mission Interface," said Grim. "It's designed to analyze various sources of intelligence worldwide and forward it to us in real time; news reports, ELINT, tapped phone lines, and so on… as well as record our mission data through the others' headsets and OPSATs."
"No one should have access to this much surveillance over the public," said Elijah with a frown.
"It's the reality we're living in," said Sam, "and I suggest you get used to it while you're on my plane, Elijah."
Elijah responded with silence and a slight nod.
"Our next step is to figure out where Lucas is shipping the Red Mercury bombs from with his freight shipping company," said Sarah. "I was investigating it while on Rook Island since Hoyt's privateers do business in cooperation with Lucas all the time, all while hoping Lucas would have me taken to the location of the fifth Red Mercury bomb, so that I'd be able to defuse it myself. If all goes well, we can either intercept the Red Mercury bombs and defuse them, or track them to their detonation spots."
"We'll have to intercept them," said Briggs. "We're spread too thin to be in 5 places at once for the major attack."
"Hence why this next mission is imperative," said Sarah.
"Sarah's right," said Grim. "We just need a lead now."
"Sadiq mentioned a man named Alejandro Takfir," said Sarah, "and implied he had something to do with the shipping company. Use his name as a keyword while skimming through their database."
"On it," said Charlie.
"That name…" said Sam. "Alejandro Takfir was bankrolling the operations of John Brown's Army, and their partner organization, run by Massoud Ibn Yussif… That was when they were trying to bomb the US with Red Mercury, as well as Cozumel for a test… He must've been the marionette Abstergo was using to puppeteer them as a false flag organization all this time!"
"The date for Lucas's 'test' bombing, the time the Red Mercury bomb for his depopulation agenda is going to be detonated at, is just three days from today according to the Engineers' timer," said Briggs. "We don't have a lot of time to figure out where that's going to be at."
"Hold on…" said Sarah. "Is there a chance it's at their shipping hub? The one in Berlin?"
Elijah quietly raised a finger to his mouth and eyed Katja. Sam eyed the two of them after Elijah did this.
"No, they wouldn't bring the Red Mercury that much into the open at this point," said Grim. "It'd draw too much attention."
"Grim's right," said Charlie. "It's not there, it's… here."
Charlie zoomed in the SMI to a state in Africa.
"The Central African State?" said Briggs.
"That's what the intel from their servers says," said Charlie.
"That's close to the Democratic Republic of Congo…" said Sam, "where John Brown's Army met with Takfir to discuss next steps."
"Shipping information combined with movement of personnel indicates that Takfir hiding out in the CAS," said Charlie, "somewhere out in the middle of the desert."
"It makes sense," said Grim. "Takfir's the one who financed the coup that helped overthrow the CAS. He enlisted someone named Jack Carver to provide arms to both sides of the war… and was working with another fellow warlord at the time named Longinus."
"Can we nab one of them and have them lead us to Takfir?" said Briggs.
"Jack Carver's been in hiding for some time…" said Grim. "He'll take too long to find."
"Yeah… as for Longinus," said Charlie, "his, uh, records say he's hanging out in Yara at the moment, and he's left his weapons smuggling business behind… Apparently, he 'found God' and stopped wanting to help warlords with his guns a while ago," said Charlie. "I may have bought from him a few times."
Briggs rolled his eyes.
Grim started pacing.
"How do we figure out Takfir's location if we go after neither of them?" Sarah said. "We should go after Longinus."
"No," said Grim. "We should go after Sean McKay."
The others looked at Grim.
"The CEO of Abstergo's shipping subsidiary, McKay Global? Grim, are you sure you still aren't brainwashed?" said Charlie.
"He's the one responsible for this," said Grim, "and he's done business with Longinus before. He'll give Takfir up."
"How do you know he's done business with Longinus before, Grim?" said Sam.
"President Caldwell had me investigate McKay Global's presence in America after the Third Echelon Conspiracy, while I was a part of her press team," said Grim. "The dirt I managed to pull up on him allowed us to remove most of his company's presence in America at the time. He's also in league with a corrupt CIA field officer known as Willis Huntley who's been responsible for assisting with coups and various other awful missions in Third World nations."
"Willis Huntley?" said Briggs. Scratching his head, he said, "I knew him from my time at the Company… I didn't think he was dirty… looks like Sean's got a lot of connections."
"Sounds like Sean McKay's our man then, Dad," said Sarah.
"All right," said Sam. "We'll go nab McKay then, make him talk. He'll supply us with all the intel we need to nab Takfir and the Red Mercury before it ships."
Turning to Grim, Sam said, "Do you have any idea where he might be right now?"
"I don't," said Grim, "but President Caldwell might."
"Call her," said Sam. "We're running dangerously low on time to save the world from Lucas's Selection."
Katja tuned out, likely due to dissociation, during the rest of the debriefing.
After the debriefing ended, they were taken to the Paladin's holding cells, where they conversed with each other briefly.
Elijah said, "We have a limited window of opportunity to stop Lucas's test attacks involving the Pieces of Eden on Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem… We need to regroup with the Brotherhood and head to Istanbul, stop the shipments that Lucas and Sadiq mentioned from being sent."
"These Fourth Echelon people seem like they're more interested in the Red Mercury plot right now," said Katja. "Sadiq said the Piece of Eden network Abstergo's building with Blume would likely affect 90 percent of humans at maximum frequency… A lot of people are going to die if we don't stop them."
"First things first," said Elijah, "we have to get these damned Splinter Cells to let us off the Paladin."
"I suspect I was wrong to trust them, Elijah," said Katja. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, Katja; we needed a way out of Masyaf," said Elijah. "We're likely close to entering Turkish airspace right now… I sense an opportunity."
On cue, Charlie entered their holding cell. "Sam wants you for something," Charlie said. "Follow me."
Katja and Elijah nodded, and they followed Charlie back into the room with the Strategic Mission Interface.
"We're not letting you off this plane yet," said Sam.
Katja's heart sank.
"What do you mean? We cooperated, gave you the intel!" said Elijah.
"Charlie, do you think the Assassins are capable of wiping some of the intel off of the flash drive remotely."
"Yeah… I mean it's possible… Wait, that's why it was redacted!" said Charlie. "There's no way it was the Engineers that wiped that much while we were aboard the Paladin."
Seeing that his bluff had been called, Elijah said, "So there are some things about the Levantine Brotherhood that the other Assassins believed was worth compartmentalizing. You got the intel you wanted."
"Why keep potential Engineer intel out of our hands?" said Briggs.
"It does seem suspicious," said Sam.
"It doesn't matter. You can track it through us, directly to the Brotherhood. Your SMI seems perfectly capable of that. Provided you let us go, of course."
Sam sighed in frustration, and pressed two fingers against the top of his nose. "Where do you want us to drop you off, Mr. Will B. Asset?"
Elijah manipulated the SMI. "Right… there," said Elijah.
"Istanbul," said Sam. "Why Istanbul?"
"Istanbul?" Sarah said.
Sam looked at Sarah.
"Was it about the Apple of Eden computer apparatus Sadiq and Lucas mentioned in conversation, over the camera feeds?" said Sarah.
Elijah sighed. "Ah yes… right. You were in the same room as we were when we accessed the servers. You must've listened in."
Katja said, "Please, you have to let us off. The Red Mercury isn't the only weapon of mass destruction Abstergo has at play. We've been busy trying to track down their other card."
"You need to let them off, Dad," said Sarah.
"Why?"
"It sounds like they're trying to deal with an attack as urgent as ours. Based on what I heard between Sadiq and Lucas in Masyaf, I don't think they're bluffing."
Frowning, Sam said, "All right… Now we have more reason than ever to spy on you… Charlie, you're in charge of tracking these turned assets."
"Roger," said Charlie.
"We'll let you off on Istanbul if you give us the intel," said Sam.
"Deal's a deal," said Elijah.
"Ironically we're passing over Turkey as we speak," said Sam. "I'll instruct Marie to land at a spot of your choosing."
"Good," said Elijah. "We'll be back in the holding cells."
"All right," said Sam.
As Elijah and Katja headed back to their holding cells, Charlie said, "Nice, looks like the Assassins just gave me full access to the drive. I'll start digging through this stuff…"
"We're taking a big risk doing this, Elijah," said Katja.
"I knew that getting on this plane was a bad idea," said Elijah. "We're trapped with a bunch of bureaucrats and spies overly eager to play cowboy. These are exactly the type of people that would try to hunt the Assassins down if the Templars succeed in framing us. And I suspect that this Red Mercury plot might be what they're using to frame us, take us out of the picture so we can't stop their larger attack."
"I see," said Katja.
"This is why I don't trust people like them, Katja… They were going to keep us locked in here while the Templars are still out there plotting, but I never trusted them, so I didn't plan to stay. I needed to give them access to the Brotherhood's servers. As risky as giving it to them was, I think a certain hacker we know who was responsible for gleaning the data from the hard drive will be able to keep them off our tail."
Katja looked at Elijah again as he said, "Like I said, they're a bunch of fucking bureaucrats who don't know what they're doing in the slightest. America is one of, if not the most decadent Templar bases of operations in the world right now."
"You seriously think they'll let us off?" she asked.
"It was a gamble, but yes. Fourth Echelon seems a little preoccupied with the Red Mercury plot, so it looks like they're trying to multitask."
"All right," said Katja.
They were interrupted when Charlie said, "Hey, you two."
"What do you want?" said Elijah.
"Here's a necklace we confiscated off of one of you. Aside from some fingerprints of yours, there was nothing interesting about it… No concealments or hidden gadgets or anything. Strange given you guys tend to use those Hidden Blades and all."
Katja's eyes went wide. It was the necklace souvenir that Elijah bought for her in Nazareth that she saw again in her dreams.
"Yes. To stab our enemies," said Elijah, "not ourselves. A necklace would be a bad place to install a blade you can pop out with just a slight motion, like a gulp."
"Ah… right. Badass," said Charlie.
"Why are you asking us about the necklace?" said Elijah.
"I was wondering if you wanted it back."
"Why?"
"Because it's useless."
"Give it here!" said Katja.
"Whoa… well, I guess the answer's yes," said Charlie with his signature awkward smile. "You're welcome then… right. I have to go."
As Charlie left, Elijah said, "Out of all the Fourth Echelon members, I think I like him the least."
Katja looked at the necklace. She initially thought Elijah bought it for her just so it would give him an excuse to look at her more… but then she realized it had a tree symbol on it… Despite that it was technically modeled after the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge in the Biblical Garden of Eden… it reminded her of Yggdrasil.
She smiled.
"Why'd you want that back so badly?" said Elijah. "If I recall correctly, you nearly threw it in the trash not long after we left the market and arrived back at the Nazareth safe house."
"It reminds me of them," she said, and sniffled while looking at the symbol. "I was focusing so much on surviving the pain I was feeling in the moment that I never got the time to remember them. You really were trying to be thoughtful. Thank you, Elijah."
Elijah smiled slightly for a moment. "Once we get out of this holding cell, you're free to leave if you want. It seemed like you're pretty capable of holding your own in a fight, and not just with the help of your alters. But you'll have to trust them; they'll help you grow stronger."
Katja looked at two of the other holding cells, where Young Altair and Young Ezio were watching from.
She smiled. "I'm not leaving. Not yet," she said as she put the necklace back on and began to doze off again.