Essen, Germany – 8 August 1942

"Still no word of Jan?" Lutz asked as he stood over his desk in his dimly lit room.

"No, I'm afraid," replied Elisabeth, looking down.

"Well, we can only hope for the best. We have a war to fight, and Jan would want us to continue."

"That's exactly what I'd want," Jan said as he stood in the doorway.

Lutz, Elisabeth, and Kevin all turned towards him with faces filled with a mixture of surprise and relief.

"Jan!" Elisabeth half-shouted as she went to him and hugged him.

Jan hugged her back, and for a moment they stood there as Lutz and Kevin watched silently. Suddenly, Elisabeth pulled back and refused to meet his eyes.

"I-I'm glad you're back," she said.

"Glad to be back."

"Jan, you sure kept us waiting. Where have you been?" Lutz asked.

"The Czechoslovak Resistance brought me to a village outside of Prague, where they took care of me until I recovered from my wounds."

Jan patted Kevin on the back, who smiled at him, and nodded to Lutz.

"What can I do?" Jan asked.

"Hold on. You want to start immediately? I think we can all agree that we could let you rest for a few days, see your mother."

"I've been to her. It's fine, I can immediately start."

"Well, if you're confident…"

"I am."

"Then let us get you up to speed."

Lutz went behind his desk and opened a drawer. From it, he pulled out a nondescript wooden box and placed it on the desk. Carefully, he opened it and took out what was inside and showed it to Jan.

What came out was a circular object with a diameter the size of two fingers. It had a hole in the middle, and the cracked boundary of the circle was gold inscribed with geometric patterns of rhombi. Surrounding the hole were symbols inscribed on green-coloured glass.

"Elisabeth and Kevin managed to intercept it along with the map to the weapons' vault on their way to Germany."

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid we don't know."

"This symbol, I've seen it before," Jan said. "It's the symbol in the book we brought back from Poland."

"Yes, indeed. And we have identified the symbol. It is the symbol of Jupiter."

"Jupiter?"

"Yes. The planet, the Roman god."

"What does it mean?"

"That we're not sure of yet. Unfortunately, we've been quite lost on how to proceed."

Lutz put back the object into the box and returned the box to the drawer, before turning his attention back to the three Assassins standing in his room.

"But we have a map."

"Yes, indeed. But we have no idea how to read it."

Lutz opened another drawer and took out a parchment that looked straight out of a medieval abbey. It was rough around the edges and was nearly completely brown. Lutz opened the map and laid it out on the desk, clearing away the books and documents. What lay before Jan and the Assassins was a mysterious mixture of geometric symbols and lines along with what seemed to be words in some foreign language, written in a writing system unknown to Jan.

"I don't understand," Jan said as he scanned the map.

"Nobody does, I'm afraid. We have that circular object, and we have the map. But we don't know how to read it."

"Do we have any leads?"

"The three of us have been discussing it," Lutz said as he looked to Elisabeth and Kevin. "Through certain informants and aggressive interrogations–"

"Aggressive interrogations?"

"We took in some Templars, beat them up until they said something," Elisabeth explained, as if it were an everyday thing.

"Yes, as I was saying, we got a name: Florentin Neuner. According to our information, Neuner is an expert on all things mysterious and unknown, specifically what the Templars were digging in Poland and Czechoslovakia."

"So, we're going after him."

"Yes, indeed."

"Do we have a plan?"

"We're in the process of making one. I was just about to send Elisabeth and Kevin out to do some scouting and information gathering."

"I'll go too."

"Are you sure you don't need some time to rest and recuperate? I don't want to force you to jump straight into things immediately."

"I'm fine. With all that time to recuperate, I've been itching to do something useful for a change."

"Very well. Good luck to you."

Jan, Elisabeth, and Kevin nodded. Then they made their way towards the door. As soon as Elisabeth and Kevin had left and Jan was just about to cross the doorway, Lutz called after him.

"Jan, a moment."

Jan shouted after Elisabeth and Kevin.

"I'll catch up."

"Close the door behind you."

Jan did as he was told and walked back towards Lutz's desk.

"We received news while you were gone."

"News?"

"I want you to prepare yourself."

Jan felt like something had got stuck in his throat. He racked his brains trying to figure out what sort of bad news was going to come at him, but he couldn't really imagine anything bad. Mother was fine, after all.

"It's about your brother. He's gone."

Lutz handed him an opened letter. Jan's heart sank. He hadn't seen his brother in years, and now suddenly he's gone?

"Word reached us from the Brotherhood in Italy. Well, what was left of it. Your brother was killed on a mission. It was going well, but an explosion occurred in the room he was in. He and two other Assassins were killed instantly."

With shaking hands, Jan hesitantly took the letter. He didn't want to open it. He felt that if he did, it would become real. But right now, they were just words Lutz was telling him.

"I'm sorry, Jan."

Jan opened the letter. He read every word, and once he was done, he read the entire thing again. And when that was done, he did it once more.

"Have you told my mother?" was all Jan could muster.

"No. We weren't sure you were still alive. We didn't want to tell her that both her sons were dead, so we waited. And we thought it would be better if she heard from you instead of from us."

Jan heard the words, but he wasn't listening. And his eyes were fixed on the letter, but it was all a blur to him. Lutz put his hand on his shoulder and patted him.

"If you need some time…"

"No," Jan responded resolutely. "I'll go."

He turned around and went for the door. Without another word, he went out and went after Elisabeth and Kevin. He could barely hold the tears from flowing. His own brother, whom he had so many fond memories of growing up together was now gone. And he can't even bury him. First, his father. And now, his brother. Now all he had was mother.

He steeled himself.

He won't let this get to him.

No, he won't. He'll use it to fuel him.

He put the letter in his coat and walked down the halls with the expression of a man who knew what he needed to do.