The Vault – 5 August 1943
Jan stepped into the Vault, passing through the arch at the end of the stairs that led into the main hall. Two Assassins were standing guard on each side of the door, and many more were inside. It was a stark contrast to the cold, eerie silence the Vault was in when he and Elisabeth found it.
Now, more than two dozen Assassins called it home. Many of the rooms on the side corridors had been turned into bedrooms, storerooms, and an arsenal. One room had Neuner in it, still a prisoner. It was bustling with activity. But nowhere more so than the main chamber, where most of the Assassins posted here were working on understanding the weapon that lay ominously at the end of the hall. Jan made his way there.
Most of the Assassins were observing and trying to understand the weapon itself, while Lutz and Caspar were at the crystal ball. The ball had shown them a talking eagle made of light, but when the others arrived there was no such thing. They had tried to touch it, but nothing happened. They found the same result even when Elisabeth was the one who tried to do it. There was a slight flicker when she did, a bit of light that came out of the crystal ball. But in the end, there was nothing.
"Lutz," Jan called out to him.
Lutz and Caspar turned around and Lutz smiled at him. Jan shook both their hands.
"Still no luck?" he asked them.
"I'm afraid so," Lutz said, turning back to the crystal ball. "We haven't been able to see what you saw. We've tried everything. Nothing, not even another flicker like that time."
Lutz turned his face to Caspar.
"Can you handle things here?"
"Yes, Master."
Lutz nodded and patted his shoulder.
"Jan, come with me."
Jan nodded and he walked beside Lutz.
"What about Neuner?" he asked.
"He doesn't know anything either."
"Are we really sure about that? Maybe he's not cooperating."
"Oh, we pressured him. But I think he really doesn't know. He's been going through the texts again to try and find something. They all mention the Key. We thought it was the key you found, the one that opened the Vault. But it might be something else entirely."
They went down one of the corridors, past rows of doorways where the Assassins had made makeshift doors for. The wooden doors were a stark contrast to the metallic walls surrounding them, but they worked. Eventually they reached a room which they entered into. There was a desk, a chair behind it, two chairs in front of it, and several boxes. The wooden furniture and crates, just like the doors, were a stark contrast to the walls.
"Take a seat, Jan."
Jan nodded and took one of the seats in front of the desk while Lutz sat behind the desk.
"Honestly, this wasn't how I pictured it was going to play out," he said to Jan.
"The weapon?"
Lutz nodded.
"I had hoped to use it to defeat our enemies. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate and admire the courage and passion everyone in the Brotherhood is showing these days. But courage and passion can only take you so far. We are outmanned and outgunned. The Templars have the resources of an entire empire at their fingertips, while we are scrounging around like rats at their feet, trying to take what we can. We can only bite their foot once in a while, but we cause no lasting damage. Just a small pain in their foot."
"Maybe it's just a matter of time, Lutz. I'm sure the answer's in those books. Neuner's going through them again, aren't they?"
"That's true. They could very well be there. But they could also not be there."
Lutz stood up and walked around the room.
"I don't want to pin our entire hope of victory and freedom on the possibility that it might be in those books."
"So, what do you want to do? Go on the offensive like we have been?"
"Yes, I was thinking like that."
"But our missions so far have been trying to find out more information about this place. I'm not even sure where to start if we were to take the offensive again…"
"We're rats, Jan. If we keep biting at their legs, the best we'll do is paralyse them from the pain for some time. No, we need something else."
"Something else?"
"Do you know what separates how we operate from others, Jan?" he asked him as he continued to walk around the room.
"From the Templars?"
"Yes."
"Our Creed and what we fight for?"
"That's true, but what I'm asking is more about the practicalities."
Jan thought for a while before deciding.
"We work in the shadows and have no sort of public façade, while the Templars also work in the shadows but have some sort of public presence."
"That's true. But there is another fundamental difference."
Jan waited for Lutz to continue, which he did after a few moments.
"How we fight. As much as possible, we eschew direct confrontation. We literally prowl around in the shadows. We rely on agility, not strength. We rely on cunning and the power of surprise, not on brute force. We are like a sniper's rifle, aiming directly at specific targets, not a machine gun. Do you get what I'm saying?"
Jan nodded. Certainly, that is how the Assassins had always operated.
"We don't beat our enemies to death. We go for the jugular."
Lutz returned to his desk and put his hands on it, leaning forward on them.
"And that's exactly what I was thinking we should do."
"Aiming for the jugular?" Jan asked.
Lutz nodded.
"How to cause the most damage to the Templars with the least amount of effort required. It is a necessity for us. We don't have the men nor the firepower to fight this war conventionally. We need to resort to more elegant tactics. We've lost enough Assassins as it is these past few months. What do you think?"
"I think I agree with that plan. We need to be on the offensive. We can't lose this momentum, or the Brotherhood will lose heart again."
"Good, that's what I wanted to hear."
Lutz stood up straight and looked Jan straight in the eye.
"I also want you to lead this operation."
Jan's breath stopped in its tracks. This was a big operation, and he was trusted to lead it. To be able to derail the Templars' activities has been his dream since his childhood, and even more so since the deaths of his father and then brother.
"Can I trust you with this?"
"Yes, Lutz. I can."
Lutz smiled at him warmly.
"Good. Elisabeth and Caspar will be with you as well."
Jan nodded.
"Who will the target be?"
The smile disappeared from Lutz's face, and he looked at Jan seriously.
"Adolf Hitler."
Jan could feel his heartbeat rising, and the blood pumping throughout his body.