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November 21, 2015; Montreal, Quebec

Ava rubbed her head after Ruby pulled the Animus headset off of her head.

“You doing okay, Champ?” Ruby asked her.

Ava looked up at her friend, into her beautiful eyes. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I'm fine. My head just kinda hurts.”

“Yeah, Animus tends to do that to ya if you're in for a while.”

“How long was I in?”

“Eh, few hours-ish.

“A few hours?” Ava said in disbelief. It felt like months.

“Yeah. Ish,” said Ruby, casually. She could see her friend's expression. “Yeah, it feels a lot longer doesn't it?” she said. Ava nodded.

“Yeah, time's a bit weird in there. Since you're actually living your ancestor’s memories, you feel the time shift they felt over that time frame, even if you've really only been in for a few hours-ish.”

“That's so weird…”

“Yeah. It takes some getting used to and… hey, you okay?”

Ava clutched her head harder. “Yeah… ow,” she said. “Just got a major headache… ow!”

“Ava? Champ?” Ruby started getting worried. She got a little closer. Suddenly, Ben walked into the room.

“Hey, how are things-?”

“Ben! Help me out here!” said Ruby. Suddenly, Ava winced in agony as her head felt like it was splitting open. She almost fell over. Ruby and Ben rushed to help her.

“My head…” moaned Ava. “It's… aaaaagh!”

Suddenly, her brain lit up as all its little gears clicked in a way they never had before. Ava snapped open her eyes and saw that the world was engulfed in a blue hue. A low humming reverberated through her head as the pain disappeared. Though, even though the pain was gone, Ava still freaked out over her new vision.

“Oh god!” she yelled. “What? Huh?” She looked frantically at her friends, who appeared to be bathed in a light blue glow. They tried to calm her down.

“Ava? What's happening?” Ben said as calmly as he could.

“I'm seeing like her!” Ava said, still frantic. “Everything's in blue! It looks like Aveza's weird sixth sense thing!”

Ben and Ruby looked at each other.

“You mean you're using Eagle Vision?” asked Ruby, surprised.

“I… huh?” Ava said.

“Eagle Vision. That's what we call it nowadays. That sixth sense,” said Ben.

Ava shook her head, trying to get rid of the view. “I don't care what it's called!” she cried. “I just want it off!” She was really freaking out. Her friends tried desperately to calm her down.

“Alright, okay. It's okay, Champ,” said Ruby. “It's gonna be okay. Just calm down and try to collect your thoughts.”

Ava looked at her, into her eyes. After a reassuring smile from her, and another from Ben, Ava tried to pull herself together. She took deep breaths and focused on shutting off her Eagle Vision. After a few tries, the humming in her head was finally silenced, and her vision returned to normal. She looked at her friends, who smiled to comfort her.

“I'm… I'm okay… It's gone now…” she said. “Thanks guys…”

“No problem Ava,” said Ben. “We're here for ya.”

“Won't let you down, Champ,” said Ruby, patting Ava on the shoulder. Ava smiled. She was still a bit shaky, but she was calming down. She definitely wasn't used to all this…

“What was that? How did I do that?” she eventually asked after catching her breath.

“It's the Bleeding Effect,” said Ben.

“Huh?”

“Like I said earlier, whatever your ancestor learns, the Animus transfers the same instinct into your head. In this case, since Aveza learned how to use Eagle Vision from Tecumseh, your brain learned the same trick.”

“That's so weird…”

“Yeah… It's gonna take some getting used to. Sorry, Ava.”

“It's okay.”

“That's kind of a good thing that happened though,” said Ruby. “At least now we know for sure that it's working.”

Ben and Ava nodded.

“Well, at least that little episode is over,” Ava said thankfully.

Ben laughed a bit. “Yep,” he said. “You should probably go relax, though. Rest that head of yours while Ruby does…” he jokingly addressed Ruby. “What is it you do around here again?”

Ruby smirked at him. “You calling me a slacker?” she said.

“Well…” Ben joked.

“Yeah, screw you too, coffee boy.” The two laughed. Ava couldn't help but giggle too.

Suddenly, Ben’s phone started buzzing in his pocket. He took it out to see who it was. He looked at his friends. “I gotta take this,” he said. “I'll be right back, guys.”

Ava nodded and Ruby gave a mock salute. Ben nodded and left the room to attend to his call.

“You doing okay, Champ?” Ruby asked Ava, still a bit concerned.

“I'm fine… I think. Thanks for asking.”

“Ah, no problem. What're friends for?”

Ava just kinda shrugged. Ruby chuckled a bit at that. “Wanna go sprawl out on that couch over there and rest while I work on the Animus a bit?” she asked.

Ava shrugged again. “Sure,” she said. And so she went over to the room's couch and flopped. She felt surprisingly worn out, and all she'd done was sit in a chair for a few hours. She looked at the ceiling. She tried testing her Eagle Vision a few times. It was definitely gonna take awhile to get used to.

“So,” she eventually said to Ruby. “What's your story? How'd you become an Assassin?”

Ruby looked up from her work. A smile grew on her face as if to say, “Oh boy! I get to tell this story again!” She turned to properly face Ava. “Well,” she said. “It all started a while back. It was 2012 and I was 16 years old. I was young and stupid and I tended to stick my nose in things I probably shouldn't… Well okay I still do, but hey, at least now I'm putting it to good use right? Anyways… I was kinda wandering around the streets in New York, just kinda looking for an adventure… or food… whichever came first. And eventually I walk by this construction site of a new skyscraper they were building. It seemed pretty normal, just like everything else that night, but then I see this guy in a white hood climb to the top and jump off. Then suddenly he pulls out his parachute and lands on the Abstergo Industries building across the street. So of course I'm like, ‘Woah!’ and I go try to see what that's all about.

“And just as I get to the front door, that same guy comes barging out holding some weird glowy cube thing and bolts down the street. Then once he's gone, another guy comes barging out. A tough-looking blonde guy in a leather coat who looked like he'd either had way too many drugs or not enough. Either way, he had a gun, and he looked ready to use it. As this guy's rubbing his head, he sees me and the next thing I know he's got me pinned up against the wall with his gun on my neck. He starts shouting at me, trying to get me to tell him where the other guy went. I told him I didn't know. I didn't want this maniac going after anyone.

“And… that caused a whole lot more problems for me. He started hitting me and shouting at me, but I took it all. I stayed strong. No way I was gonna let that creep put me down. So I start hitting back and that's when Ben showed up and started helping. I could've taken the guy, but whatever. It's cool. Anyways, after that's all over, Ben introduced himself and we met a few more times after that, not usually under good circumstances. Eventually, he told me all about the Assassins and Templars and he offered me a place in the Brotherhood. And now here we are.”

Ava looked at her, impressed. Ruby smiled brightly, a bit of ego behind it.

“You know,” suddenly said the voice of Ben, who appeared in the doorway. “The way I remember it, you were crying like a little girl in the corner while I fought off Daniel Cross.”

He smirked at his friend, who went quiet.

“You have no proof of that,” she joked, realizing her story had been unraveled.

“Yeah, you were rocking in the corner, as I remember.”

“You have no proof of that. Therefore it did not happen.”

Ben smirked and rolled his eyes. “Whatever helps ya sleep at night, Ruby,” he said. Ruby stuck her tongue out at him. He did the same to her. Ava couldn't help but giggle at their teasing.

“So who was on the phone, Ben?” Ava asked once the other conversation ended. “It seemed kinda important.”

Ben nodded. “One of our agents in Indianapolis just called,” he said.

“Which one?” asked Ruby.

“Chelsea Patterson. Based on what she told me, I think you're gonna have to be in the Animus a bit longer than we hoped, Ava.”

Ben gave an apologetic look in response to Ava's confused one.

“Apparently,” he continued. “Her cousin gained some intel on a Piece of Eden that the Templars have been searching for for a while. Something to do with angels in Prophetstown. Ring any bells?”

“Aveza's temple,” said Ava.

“Exactly. Apparently, the Templars are still looking for that temple, and they still want whatever’s behind that door inside. Course, we can't let them have whatever it is. God only knows what they'd use it for. Thankfully, and also kinda unfortunately, there aren't any records about the key’s location aside from the fact that it was held by a few Assassins and Templars throughout the 19th century. The first of which…”

“Was Aveza,” finished Ruby.

“Exactly. And after that, we have no idea what happened to it. So in order to figure that out…”

“I have to keep going until we see what Aveza did with it…” said Ava.

“Ava, I'm not gonna force you to do anything you don't want to do-”

“I'll do it.”

Ben was taken aback. “Wait,” he said. “Huh?”

“Well… I mean… I got this far. And if the Templars are after another one of those artifact thingies, then we can't let them have it. So… yeah. I'll do it. I won't like doing it, but I'll do it.”

Ben looked at Ruby, who just shrugged.

“Well… alright then,” he said. “If you're so sure, we'll do it. Our first priority is still getting you trained though.”

“Fair enough,” said Ava. “So when do we start up again?”

“Not til tomorrow morning,” said Ruby. “It's late. You need rest. The machine needs rest. We all should probably start turning in for the night.”

Ava nodded. She definitely did feel tired…

And so, that's what they did. The three Assassins went to get prepared for bed. Ben and Ruby helped Ava find a bedroom. They all said goodnight before heading to their own rooms as well. Ava flopped on her bed, exhausted. Fighting off hordes of American soldiers really takes it out of you.

...Or, experiencing the memories of someone who fought off hordes of American soldiers, rather.

Ava slipped under her blankets and dropped her head on her pillow. Her eyes got heavier and heavier, until eventually, she drifted off to dreamland.

------------

November 22, 2015; Montreal, Quebec

The next morning, Ava groggily fell out of bed and dragged herself to the hideout kitchen, where she made her desperately-needed coffee. After chugging it down and feeling the energy rush into her body, she ate something for breakfast before heading back to the hideout’s tech room. Ruby and Ben were apparently already awake, waiting for her.

“Hey Champ!” greeted Ruby when Ava walked in. “I got the Animus all programmed for another trip through the nineteenth century. So whenever you're ready, just let us know and we'll get you all hooked up.”

“Can I go ahead and hop in now?” asked Ava.

“You ready to get started already?” Ben asked, a bit surprised. Ava shrugged.

“Well, I had my coffee, and it's not like I have much else to do,” she said.

Ben looked at Ruby, who just kinda shrugged. Ben shrugged in response.

“Alright,” said Ben. “Go ahead and hook her up, Ruby.”

“Can do!”

Ava went over and sat in the chair. Ruby came over with the Animus headset and placed it over her head. The visor slid down to cover her eyes as Ruby went over to her laptop and started uploading Aveza's genetic memories. Ava watched as her vision was engulfed in a white void of binary codes and DNA sequences.

“Best of luck, Champ,” said Ruby.

“Thanks,” Ava said. She watched as one of the rungs of the digital double helix started blinking red. It blinked faster and faster until eventually a blinding white light filled her vision. From the white came a mechanical hum that reverberated through her head. She listened to the sounds of the birds outside, of the wind blowing through the trees on the manor’s yard. She looked around her room, Arnold by her side. Aveza looked through the various nooks and crannies of the manor as she continued her search for any interesting useless junk.

Description
November 21, 2015; Montreal, Quebec

Ava rubbed her head after Ruby pulled the Animus headset off of her head.

“You doing okay, Champ?” Ruby asked her.

Ava looked up at her friend, into her beautiful eyes. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I'm fine. My head just kinda hurts.”

“Yeah, Animus tends to do that to ya if you're in for a while.”

“How long was I in?”

“Eh, few hours-ish.

“A few hours?” Ava said in disbelief. It felt like months.

“Yeah. Ish,” said Ruby, casually. She could see her friend's expression. “Yeah, it feels a lot longer doesn't it?” she said. Ava nodded.

“Yeah, time's a bit weird in there. Since you're actually living your ancestor’s memories, you feel the time shift they felt over that time frame, even if you've really only been in for a few hours-ish.”

“That's so weird…”

“Yeah. It takes some getting used to and… hey, you okay?”

Ava clutched her head harder. “Yeah… ow,” she said. “Just got a major headache… ow!”

“Ava? Champ?” Ruby started getting worried. She got a little closer. Suddenly, Ben walked into the room.

“Hey, how are things-?”

“Ben! Help me out here!” said Ruby. Suddenly, Ava winced in agony as her head felt like it was splitting open. She almost fell over. Ruby and Ben rushed to help her.

“My head…” moaned Ava. “It's… aaaaagh!”

Suddenly, her brain lit up as all its little gears clicked in a way they never had before. Ava snapped open her eyes and saw that the world was engulfed in a blue hue. A low humming reverberated through her head as the pain disappeared. Though, even though the pain was gone, Ava still freaked out over her new vision.

“Oh god!” she yelled. “What? Huh?” She looked frantically at her friends, who appeared to be bathed in a light blue glow. They tried to calm her down.

“Ava? What's happening?” Ben said as calmly as he could.

“I'm seeing like her!” Ava said, still frantic. “Everything's in blue! It looks like Aveza's weird sixth sense thing!”

Ben and Ruby looked at each other.

“You mean you're using Eagle Vision?” asked Ruby, surprised.

“I… huh?” Ava said.

“Eagle Vision. That's what we call it nowadays. That sixth sense,” said Ben.

Ava shook her head, trying to get rid of the view. “I don't care what it's called!” she cried. “I just want it off!” She was really freaking out. Her friends tried desperately to calm her down.

“Alright, okay. It's okay, Champ,” said Ruby. “It's gonna be okay. Just calm down and try to collect your thoughts.”

Ava looked at her, into her eyes. After a reassuring smile from her, and another from Ben, Ava tried to pull herself together. She took deep breaths and focused on shutting off her Eagle Vision. After a few tries, the humming in her head was finally silenced, and her vision returned to normal. She looked at her friends, who smiled to comfort her.

“I'm… I'm okay… It's gone now…” she said. “Thanks guys…”

“No problem Ava,” said Ben. “We're here for ya.”

“Won't let you down, Champ,” said Ruby, patting Ava on the shoulder. Ava smiled. She was still a bit shaky, but she was calming down. She definitely wasn't used to all this…

“What was that? How did I do that?” she eventually asked after catching her breath.

“It's the Bleeding Effect,” said Ben.

“Huh?”

“Like I said earlier, whatever your ancestor learns, the Animus transfers the same instinct into your head. In this case, since Aveza learned how to use Eagle Vision from Tecumseh, your brain learned the same trick.”

“That's so weird…”

“Yeah… It's gonna take some getting used to. Sorry, Ava.”

“It's okay.”

“That's kind of a good thing that happened though,” said Ruby. “At least now we know for sure that it's working.”

Ben and Ava nodded.

“Well, at least that little episode is over,” Ava said thankfully.

Ben laughed a bit. “Yep,” he said. “You should probably go relax, though. Rest that head of yours while Ruby does…” he jokingly addressed Ruby. “What is it you do around here again?”

Ruby smirked at him. “You calling me a slacker?” she said.

“Well…” Ben joked.

“Yeah, screw you too, coffee boy.” The two laughed. Ava couldn't help but giggle too.

Suddenly, Ben’s phone started buzzing in his pocket. He took it out to see who it was. He looked at his friends. “I gotta take this,” he said. “I'll be right back, guys.”

Ava nodded and Ruby gave a mock salute. Ben nodded and left the room to attend to his call.

“You doing okay, Champ?” Ruby asked Ava, still a bit concerned.

“I'm fine… I think. Thanks for asking.”

“Ah, no problem. What're friends for?”

Ava just kinda shrugged. Ruby chuckled a bit at that. “Wanna go sprawl out on that couch over there and rest while I work on the Animus a bit?” she asked.

Ava shrugged again. “Sure,” she said. And so she went over to the room's couch and flopped. She felt surprisingly worn out, and all she'd done was sit in a chair for a few hours. She looked at the ceiling. She tried testing her Eagle Vision a few times. It was definitely gonna take awhile to get used to.

“So,” she eventually said to Ruby. “What's your story? How'd you become an Assassin?”

Ruby looked up from her work. A smile grew on her face as if to say, “Oh boy! I get to tell this story again!” She turned to properly face Ava. “Well,” she said. “It all started a while back. It was 2012 and I was 16 years old. I was young and stupid and I tended to stick my nose in things I probably shouldn't… Well okay I still do, but hey, at least now I'm putting it to good use right? Anyways… I was kinda wandering around the streets in New York, just kinda looking for an adventure… or food… whichever came first. And eventually I walk by this construction site of a new skyscraper they were building. It seemed pretty normal, just like everything else that night, but then I see this guy in a white hood climb to the top and jump off. Then suddenly he pulls out his parachute and lands on the Abstergo Industries building across the street. So of course I'm like, ‘Woah!’ and I go try to see what that's all about.

“And just as I get to the front door, that same guy comes barging out holding some weird glowy cube thing and bolts down the street. Then once he's gone, another guy comes barging out. A tough-looking blonde guy in a leather coat who looked like he'd either had way too many drugs or not enough. Either way, he had a gun, and he looked ready to use it. As this guy's rubbing his head, he sees me and the next thing I know he's got me pinned up against the wall with his gun on my neck. He starts shouting at me, trying to get me to tell him where the other guy went. I told him I didn't know. I didn't want this maniac going after anyone.

“And… that caused a whole lot more problems for me. He started hitting me and shouting at me, but I took it all. I stayed strong. No way I was gonna let that creep put me down. So I start hitting back and that's when Ben showed up and started helping. I could've taken the guy, but whatever. It's cool. Anyways, after that's all over, Ben introduced himself and we met a few more times after that, not usually under good circumstances. Eventually, he told me all about the Assassins and Templars and he offered me a place in the Brotherhood. And now here we are.”

Ava looked at her, impressed. Ruby smiled brightly, a bit of ego behind it.

“You know,” suddenly said the voice of Ben, who appeared in the doorway. “The way I remember it, you were crying like a little girl in the corner while I fought off Daniel Cross.”

He smirked at his friend, who went quiet.

“You have no proof of that,” she joked, realizing her story had been unraveled.

“Yeah, you were rocking in the corner, as I remember.”

“You have no proof of that. Therefore it did not happen.”

Ben smirked and rolled his eyes. “Whatever helps ya sleep at night, Ruby,” he said. Ruby stuck her tongue out at him. He did the same to her. Ava couldn't help but giggle at their teasing.

“So who was on the phone, Ben?” Ava asked once the other conversation ended. “It seemed kinda important.”

Ben nodded. “One of our agents in Indianapolis just called,” he said.

“Which one?” asked Ruby.

“Chelsea Patterson. Based on what she told me, I think you're gonna have to be in the Animus a bit longer than we hoped, Ava.”

Ben gave an apologetic look in response to Ava's confused one.

“Apparently,” he continued. “Her cousin gained some intel on a Piece of Eden that the Templars have been searching for for a while. Something to do with angels in Prophetstown. Ring any bells?”

“Aveza's temple,” said Ava.

“Exactly. Apparently, the Templars are still looking for that temple, and they still want whatever’s behind that door inside. Course, we can't let them have whatever it is. God only knows what they'd use it for. Thankfully, and also kinda unfortunately, there aren't any records about the key’s location aside from the fact that it was held by a few Assassins and Templars throughout the 19th century. The first of which…”

“Was Aveza,” finished Ruby.

“Exactly. And after that, we have no idea what happened to it. So in order to figure that out…”

“I have to keep going until we see what Aveza did with it…” said Ava.

“Ava, I'm not gonna force you to do anything you don't want to do-”

“I'll do it.”

Ben was taken aback. “Wait,” he said. “Huh?”

“Well… I mean… I got this far. And if the Templars are after another one of those artifact thingies, then we can't let them have it. So… yeah. I'll do it. I won't like doing it, but I'll do it.”

Ben looked at Ruby, who just shrugged.

“Well… alright then,” he said. “If you're so sure, we'll do it. Our first priority is still getting you trained though.”

“Fair enough,” said Ava. “So when do we start up again?”

“Not til tomorrow morning,” said Ruby. “It's late. You need rest. The machine needs rest. We all should probably start turning in for the night.”

Ava nodded. She definitely did feel tired…

And so, that's what they did. The three Assassins went to get prepared for bed. Ben and Ruby helped Ava find a bedroom. They all said goodnight before heading to their own rooms as well. Ava flopped on her bed, exhausted. Fighting off hordes of American soldiers really takes it out of you.

...Or, experiencing the memories of someone who fought off hordes of American soldiers, rather.

Ava slipped under her blankets and dropped her head on her pillow. Her eyes got heavier and heavier, until eventually, she drifted off to dreamland.

------------

November 22, 2015; Montreal, Quebec

The next morning, Ava groggily fell out of bed and dragged herself to the hideout kitchen, where she made her desperately-needed coffee. After chugging it down and feeling the energy rush into her body, she ate something for breakfast before heading back to the hideout’s tech room. Ruby and Ben were apparently already awake, waiting for her.

“Hey Champ!” greeted Ruby when Ava walked in. “I got the Animus all programmed for another trip through the nineteenth century. So whenever you're ready, just let us know and we'll get you all hooked up.”

“Can I go ahead and hop in now?” asked Ava.

“You ready to get started already?” Ben asked, a bit surprised. Ava shrugged.

“Well, I had my coffee, and it's not like I have much else to do,” she said.

Ben looked at Ruby, who just kinda shrugged. Ben shrugged in response.

“Alright,” said Ben. “Go ahead and hook her up, Ruby.”

“Can do!”

Ava went over and sat in the chair. Ruby came over with the Animus headset and placed it over her head. The visor slid down to cover her eyes as Ruby went over to her laptop and started uploading Aveza's genetic memories. Ava watched as her vision was engulfed in a white void of binary codes and DNA sequences.

“Best of luck, Champ,” said Ruby.

“Thanks,” Ava said. She watched as one of the rungs of the digital double helix started blinking red. It blinked faster and faster until eventually a blinding white light filled her vision. From the white came a mechanical hum that reverberated through her head. She listened to the sounds of the birds outside, of the wind blowing through the trees on the manor’s yard. She looked around her room, Arnold by her side. Aveza looked through the various nooks and crannies of the manor as she continued her search for any interesting useless junk.