Berlin, Germany – 31 August 1942

The sun had gone under the horizon, and the street was painted with a warm, fading orange light. It was lined on either side by apartment blocks and was nearly empty. There was only the sound of one particular car as it turned at an intersection onto the street and promptly parked in front of a brown apartment building.

The car, a black Mercedes-Benz Typ 320, was like any other regular car. No one would've batted an eye were it not for the passengers who exited it. Coming out of the front doors were two men in long, black coats that covered their entire body from shoulder to their knees. They wore fedora hats, and the two of them looked identical.

But to the Assassins watching from the rooftop of the building across, the main star of the show was the passenger in the back. After the two men in the front passenger seats had exited the car, he followed suit. A short, decently fat bespectacled man with a brown coat came out. He held in one hand his fedora hat and in the other a briefcase.

"Well, gentlemen, I bid you goodnight," he said as he walked towards the door to the apartment building.

"Wait," said one of the men. "Sorry, but I'll be accompanying you up."

"What? Whatever for?"

"Those are my orders. Got to keep you safe and under guard at all times."

"Isn't waiting down here enough?"

"Maybe you didn't hear me, but we were told you keep you under guard at all times."

"Do you mean to say that you'll be going into my apartment?"

"For a guy who knows a lot, you sure catch on slowly."

"I really don't need you barging in on my apartment."

"Never said it was a choice."

The short man sighed. Then, with annoyance clearly plastered on his face, turned around and walked inside.

"If you must."

One of the two guards followed him inside, while the other leaned against the car, facing the apartment door, and took out a cigarette, lit it, and started smoking.

Jan turned to Elisabeth and Kevin, and they all nodded at each other. Without a word, all three slid down the other side of the rooftop and made their way down the back of the building into an alleyway. They parted ways, with Elisabeth going deeper into the alley while Jan and Kevin made their way towards the main road and stood on the pavement, on the opposite side of the road from the car. They hid in the shadows of the alley.

Then Elisabeth appeared, turning around the intersection to the right of the car. The guard turned to look at her, and that was their cue. Jan and Kevin crossed the road quickly and with light steps. The guard didn't realise that they were crouching in front of the car. His eyes were fixed on Elisabeth, who was putting on her most graceful and elegant walk. As she passed in front of him, he whistled.

"Hey, little lady," he said, smiling to himself with the cigarette in his mouth. "Where you goin'?"

Elisabeth ignored him as she kept walking, as if she were going to pass him by.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. How about we have some fun, eh? Just you and me?"

Elisabeth stopped in front of him and turned her head to look at him. Then she smiled. The guard smiled back and opened his mouth to speak. But when he did, he found that he couldn't as Jan's blade had entered the side of his throat. He began gurgling as blood flowed out of the wound and from his mouth. His eyes went wide with terror and went from Elisabeth to Jan. Elisabeth stepped closer and brought her face close to his.

"Sure."

And then she thrust her blade deep into his chest, straight into his heart. His eyes went even wider before his entire body went limp and he fell to the ground.

"That was fun," she said as she wiped her blade.

Jan and Kevin quickly dragged the body into the apartment block. Inside were mailboxes and at the end of the hallway there were stairs. Right next to the stairs there was a path that led to a dead end, but it was dimly lit as the light was covered by the underside of the stairs that went to the second floor. Jan and Kevin dragged the corpse there.

"We don't have much time. Let's do this quick and quiet," Jan told them.

All three Assassins went up the stairs, with Elisabeth leading at the front. They reached the second floor, but there was no guard. Neither was he on the third floor, but when they reached the fourth floor, they saw the guard standing in front of the doorway.

"And I'm telling you, I have to be inside your apartment," he was saying.

"And I'm telling you, that I will let you in later. Why can't I have a little privacy?" they heard the short man say from inside the apartment before he slammed the door in the guard's face.

"Why, you little…"

The guard then sighed and only then noticed Elisabeth and the others coming up the stairs.

"What you lookin' a-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Elisabeth was on him, and her blade was in his neck. Kevin held the guard so that he wouldn't fall, and they gently let the dying man fall onto the floor. Then Jan knocked on the door. Soon, there were steps and muttering behind the door before it opened.

"I thought I told y-"

Jan held the barrel of his handgun on the short man's temple and then cocked it, turning off the safety.

"Mr. Neuner, I presume?" he said.

"W-w-who are you? What do you want? I don't have anything valuable on me!"

Jan pushed him inside.

"Drag the body in here, guys," he told the others.

Elisabeth and Kevin dragged the body inside and closed the door. When Neuner saw the body, he audibly gasped and looked away.

"What do you want? I'll give you anything! Money, jewelry, just don't kill me please!"

"We're not interested in that. We'd like you to come with us."

"W-w-what for?"

"We'll be the ones asking the questions here."

"We should move the other body here," Elisabeth suggested.

Jan nodded and kept the gun pointed at Neuner's forehead. Elisabeth and Kevin went out, and soon returned carrying the guard's corpse between them. They laid him besides the other guard.

"Get the keys," Jan said to them.

Elisabeth emptied the guards' pockets and pulled out the car keys.

"Got 'em."

"Here's what we're going to do, Herr Neuner. We're going downstairs and taking your car. And you're coming with us."

"W-where are you taking me?"

"I said we're the ones asking questions. Now move it."

Kevin went out first. Then following Jan's directions, Neuner too went out with Jan right behind him with the barrel of his gun directly on Neuner's back. Elisabeth came last, and she closed the door behind them. When they reached the car, Kevin took the driver's seat while Jan forced Neuner into the back seat, with him sitting right next to him. Elisabeth then entered the front passenger seat. They drove through the quickly darkening city. Midway, Elisabeth threw him a black cloth.

"What's this for?"

"Blindfold him."

"What?" was all Neuner could say.

"You're right."

With the gun still pointed at him, Jan tied the cloth around Neuner's head as a blindfold.

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Quiet."

They drove for almost 7 hours until they finally reached Essen. The Brotherhood safehouses in Berlin were all compromised, so they couldn't do this there. They had to do it in the relative safety of Essen. Kevin parked the car in front of the entrance to the Brotherhood's headquarters. It was past midnight, and the streets were deserted. As before, Jan kept the barrel of his gun firmly on Neuner's back as they led him into the underground hallways. They led him to a room with only a chair.

"There's a chair in front of you. Sit," Jan said.

Neuner felt his way to the chair, and once he knew where it was, he sat down. There were clasps on the arms, and Elisabeth locked Neuner's arms in.

"I'll get him," Elisabeth said as she left the room.

Moments later, Lutz came in.

"Good job, everyone. They say plans don't survive the battle, but it seems this one did."

Lutz turned his attention to Neuner.

"Florentin Neuner, I presume?"

"Y-y-yes."

"A pleasure to meet you. I hope you'll excuse me, but I can't give my name. It's very rude of me, but it's unavoidable. For reasons of security, you understand."

"What do you want from me? I'll give you anything please."

"Oh, we're not interested in anything you have. We could use your help with something though."

"W-what?"

"You are employed at the Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture, are you not?"

"Y-yes?"

"It's come to our attention that recently you've been working on translating some mysterious, ancient documents. Is this true?"

"I, I don't know what you're talking about…"

Lutz looked to Elisabeth.

"It seems our guest needs some encouragement."

Elisabeth nodded and delivered a punch directly to Neuner's cheek. Jan didn't even realise what was happening until moments after.

"Wait," Jan said.

Lutz stopped him with his hand.

"Yes! Yes, I've been tasked with that…"

"I'm glad we're on the same page," Lutz said as he approached Neuner, who was still blindfolded. "This is what you're going to do. You're going to do just that for us."

"Who are you people?!"

Lutz sighed.

"Again," he said before Elisabeth once again delivered a blow to Neuner's face.

"It seems you're a little confused, Herr Neuner. We ask the questions. You answer them. We ask you to do things. You do them. Is that clear?"

Neuner nodded, blood dripping from his nose, now crooked from Elisabeth's punch.

"Good. Bring the map and the book."

Kevin went out, and a few moments later returned with what Lutz had asked for.

"Take off his blindfolds."

"He'll see us," Jan reminded him.

"Let me worry about that," he said to Jan with a reassuring smile and his hand on Jan's shoulder.

Elisabeth took off Neuner's blindfolds.

"We need you to translate this."

Kevin brought the map and the book closer to Neuner and showed them to him.

"This… you stole this, didn't you?"

Lutz sighed and looked to Elisabeth. Another punch to Neuner's face.

"I thought we understood each other, Herr Neuner."

"I-I can't translate this," Neuner said, bruises and blood on his face. "Please."

Lutz signaled Elisabeth, who delivered two more punches. Neuner was at this point sobbing.

"Please, I beg of you. I can't do it. They'll kill me!"

"And you think we won't?"

Jan stepped forward, concerned. Once again, Lutz stopped him with his hand.

"You will translate this for us, and you will do so quickly."

"I can't, I can't," said Neuner as he sobbed, tears and blood flowing down his face.

Lutz watched on emotionlessly as Elisabeth delivered punch, after punch, after punch. By the end of it, Neuner's face was unrecognisable; there was barely a human face covered with bruises and blood.

"Have we come to an understanding now?"

Neuner kept sobbing, but he nodded.

"Elisabeth, Kevin, see to it that he does what has to be done."

As they nodded, Lutz turned around and headed towards the door.

"What did I do to deserve this…," muttered Neuner through broken teeth.

Jan felt a tightness in his heart. It was hard watching this small, short, unassuming, defenseless man go through suffering like that. But he knew deep down that he was cut from the same cloth as the ones that murdered his father.

"Then you shouldn't have joined up with the Templars," Jan spat.

Neuner turned his attention towards him. Jan met those bloodied, bruised eyes. His eyes were those of a pure, innocent child.

"What Templars?" he asked.

Jan's head went blank, and he could feel the blood draining from his head and his heart racing. He's not in this war. Jan turned around and went after Lutz outside the room.

"Lutz! Wait!"

"What is it, Jan?"

"We made a mistake. He's not a Templar."

"So?"

Jan was taken aback.

"So, we should let him go."

"We need him."

"Well, we don't have to be so heavy-handed if he's not a Templar."

"Jan, my friend," Lutz said as he put his hands around his shoulder. "Whether he's a Templar or not isn't any of our concern. He is helping them, and we need what he knows."

"But is the violence really necessary?"

"It is. We need to show him we mean business. More than that, you heard it yourself. He knows what he knows is of great importance, that's why he's so afraid to give it to us. We need to make him fear us more than he fears them."

Jan looked down, his heart torn between Lutz's words and the fact that a potentially innocent man had received such a violent interrogation.

"If you're not comfortable with it," Lutz said, "You can sit this one out. Besides, so long as he cooperates with us, we won't need to do anything more to him."

"And when it's done, we'll release him?"

"In due time," he said. "We can't risk him going back to help the Templars. We'll keep him here in the meantime. Don't worry, he won't suffer in his imprisonment. We'll feed him, give him some books to read maybe."

Lutz patted him on the back.

"This is war, Jan. War against the Templars and everything they stand for. Sometimes, you have to make hard choices. As an Assassin, you must learn to face that reality. But don't worry, I'll be here to guide you as always."

"Thank you, Lutz. I understand."

"Good, good. Then I have some matters to attend to."

Lutz gave him one last smile and disappeared into the labyrinthine corridors of the Assassin headquarters, leaving Jan alone in the dimly lit halls with his thoughts.