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Description
March 1, 75009 BCE; Purgatory

Eve walked the dirty halls of the crumbling, abandoned building that she and her fellow rebels called their headquarters. It was a drab, gray place out in the middle of nowhere. An old abandoned city that the Isu had long left to rot and be forgotten. It didn't have the shimmering skyscrapers of Asgard or the incredible technological advancements of Olympus, but it was where the rebels decided to make their home. They didn't want to be as opulent as their former enslavers. They wanted to be a beacon for those who have faced oppression and who want to fight for equality. They needed a place far from the attention of the Isu. They worked in the dark to serve the light.

Eve looked around at her fellow rebels, each in long flowing robes and beaked hoods made from clothing scraps they managed to salvage. Many of the people here had some Isu blood in them, just as she and Adam did. They were the easiest to recruit. They were the easiest people to set free from the spell of the Apple since they had the proper genes to resist. Others were much more difficult, their pureblood human genes hardwired to obey the Pieces of Eden. But the rebels did what they could nonetheless. They had made it their goal to make sure all could be equal, that all could live free and happy. They always went the extra mile, put in all of what few resources they had, to liberate their people from slavery. One human at a time.

They'd grown to gain quite the notoriety amongst the Isu. Word had spread that their perfect system of obedience was slowly starting to crumble. Humans from across the planet were beginning to rise up and join the rebel cause. They killed many of their old masters, showed that their species would not be messed around with anymore. It was not without sacrifice however…

Not long ago, an incident occurred in Olympus. The human slaves of the scientist Saturn rose up against him and stabbed him through the skull. They attempted to take his Scythe, but they were all viciously murdered, their skin melted off and their blood boiled, by Saturn's daughter Juno. The wretch showed no mercy. She was possibly the most arrogant out of all of her species. She not only believed herself better than all the humans, but better than all of her own kind as well. She'd probably steal Odin’s crown if she wasn't so spineless.

But that was a problem for another day. Eve's main focus right now was recruitment. Her main focus was leading this ragtag team of rebels alongside her friends. If they wanted to have even the slightest chance of winning freedom for their species, they'd have to rally many more to their cause. She had a feeling this planet was on the brink of war… and she didn't entirely know if they would be ready for such a fight. The Isu had their tech and their intelligence. They had weapons and armor that had been crafted to perfection. Eve cursed the name Hephaestus sometimes. The Isu revered him as an incredible scientist and blacksmith, the man who invented the Pieces of Eden. First to help the Æsir fight the Vanir during the War of Unification, and now to enslave an entire species. The Isu had such an upper hand… and all the rebels really had going for them at this point was their unending determination to fight and win their freedom, even if it meant their demise. They'd rather be dead than in chains.

Eve sighed. What had she gotten herself into?

She shook her head. She needed to focus. She needed to meet up with her friends. She wandered through the halls of the main hideout building until she found Adam, who had just finished helping some new recruits train. He wiped the sweat off his brow and smiled as his lover approached him.

“Eve!” he said, out of breath. He pulled her into a hug before kissing her and pulling away. “How are things going?”

Eve smiled and gave a tired sigh. “Same as always,” she said. “Just trying to hold together an impossible mission…”

“Ah Eve, don't talk like that. We've done amazing things with this mission. You've done amazing things. Look at all the people we've set free from their chains.”

“Yeah… but we've also lost a lot of those people…”

“And they died for a cause they believed in. They won't die in vain. We're going to win this fight, I promise.”

“I hope so… Because right now, I don't feel too confident. I mean look at this place, Adam. It's a wreck! I know the people here don't mind… but I do. I feel like I'm not doing enough to earn their loyalty.”

Adam put a hand on her shoulder. “You're setting them free,” he said. “That’s more than enough to earn their loyalty.”

Eve smiled at him, albeit weakly. She wasn't fully convinced, but she was glad to know she had plenty of good people on her side to help her get through her own mental hurdles.

But, as was par for the course, something came in to ruin her moment.

“Eve! Eve!” a young recruit shouted as he came sprinting down the hallway. He looked mortified and out of breath.

“What's wrong? What happened?” Eve asked, trying not to panic herself.

“The Isu! They've found us! They've found the hideout!”

“What?!”

“One of their kind is flying overhead right now and coming straight for the main building. Come on! We have to rally the defenses!”

Eve swore violently under her breath and she and Adam rushed to follow their recruit. They sprinted towards the exit, into the courtyard, and Eve and Adam froze in their tracks. Their rebel friends were unleashing all of the ammo they had from the weapons they had stolen. All the guns were aimed at the person standing at the main gate, a tall man with a strong build and winged armor that glowed like the sun. He stood his ground, using his gadgets to activate an energy shield around his entire body. The laser blasts bounced harmlessly off of the shield, but the rebels kept firing at this Isu invader nonetheless.

While Adam rushed to grab a laser rifle of his own, Eve simple stood and stared at the invader. She recognized him. She knew that face from Eden. She knew that armor. It was one of the archangels from the Garrison. The one they call Gabriel. He looked distressed, almost as though he were trying to plead. And in fact, his words matched his expression.

“Wait!” he begged to his attackers. “I didn't come here to fight! I need to speak with Eve!”

Eve was taken aback. Why would an Isu ever want to speak with her? Clearly it was a trap, right?

Right.

She grabbed an energy pistol of her own and sprinted across the courtyard. She used her free hand to signal for her recruits to stop their fire. They were hesitant at first, but they eventually lowered their guns. Gabriel smiled and had a look of pure relief on his face. He wiped his forehead and shut off his shield. “Thank you!” he said. He turned towards Eve. “Hey there,” he said to her. “Long time no-”

She aimed her pistol two inches from his face and activated the power source.

“-see…”

“You have five seconds to explain what you want,” Eve told him coldly.

“I want to talk to you!” he insisted.

“Well congratulations. You've accomplished your goal.” Her finger moved back towards the trigger. Gabriel frantically reeled back and activated his protective facial mask.

“Woah woah woah woah!” he said. “I mean it! I've come to talk, Eve! I came to tell you that I want to help!”

Eve laughed at that. “An Isu helping the human rebellion. Bad excuse, birdman.”

“I'm serious!”

“Sure you are.”

“I… here. Look.”

He straightened his posture and fiddled with the touchscreens on his gauntlet. Suddenly his wings folds up and retracted into the module on his back. His face mask broke apart and disappeared back into his suit. He held his hands up in surrender.

“No weapons, no defenses,” he insisted. “Just Gabriel, here to talk.”

But Eve didn't move her pistol. Gabriel sighed.

“Look,” he said softly. “I don't blame you for not trusting me, and you have every right not to. But I know you're a rational thinker. If I wanted you dead, then why aren't you dead right now? Think of it. One of the highest ranking archangels in the Garrison shows up at your doorstep with no weapons, no backup, no nothing. I come here, to the place that my brothers have been hunting down in hopes of annihilating it for months, alone. Hell, the very fact that I'm speaking to you like a rational equal has gotta mean something, right? Do you honestly think anyone of my species who wasn't sincere could bring themselves to say what I'm saying?”

Eve's arm shifted downwards ever so slightly, but she didn't put it down. Her eyes never left Gabriel's. All of her recruits and friends around her watched in curious anticipation. Adam gave her a look that warned her to be cautious. She looked at him, then at her fellow rebels, then at the archangel.

She sheathed her pistol.

“What do you want?” she asked Gabriel as a hushed silence spread across the courtyard.

“I want to help,” he repeated.

“Help how?”

“I want to join your side. I want to fight beside you and back your cause.”

“Why?”

“Because I'm sick of watching from the sidelines. I'm sick of hearing my brothers and sisters go on and on about how humans are pathetic and need to be either enslaved or murdered. It isn't right. We gave you intelligence, gave you culture, gave you life… and then took it all away. Well I won't stand for it. My father thought the same as I do. He preached love and tolerance across the world. He saw you as equals. I guess I was the only one who paid attention…”

Eve said nothing for a good long moment. No one said anything.

“Look,” said Gabriel. “You don't have to trust me.” He reached for his pouch and pulled something out. It looked like a sheath of sorts. He tossed it to Eve. “It goes on your forearm,” he explained.

Eve was hesitant, but she took the risk. She strapped the thing to her arm. She noticed little lines of energy flowing from it into the nerves in her hands.

“And then you just… concentrate,” Gabriel said.

Eve looked down at the device. Concentrate? Alright, but concentrate on-?

Then suddenly, as she thought about making the device work, something shot out from the main casing. A long, thin blade of energy blipped out under her palm and extended past her fingers. She stared in awe at it.

“It was a personal commission I had a friend make for me,” Gabriel said. “A hidden blade. I figured it would make my arsenal a bit more unique. It's great for stealth kills. Great for the kind of work you do here.”

Eve looked at him in surprise, and a hint of unspoken gratitude for the gift.

“I can have any Isu tech made for the cause,” Gabriel continued. “I can use my connections to arm and supply us, to give us a real fighting chance. All you need to do is give me a chance…”

Eve thought about it. Did she trust Gabriel? Of course not. But he made a compelling case. And when she looked around the hideout, she definitely got the feeling that it would look a lot nicer, run a lot smoother, if it was renovated with Isu resources. She thought it over, considered every possible option and the outcome of each. She made her decision.

“Fine,” she said to Gabriel. “We'll give you a chance. But if we find even the slightest hint of betrayal, then we won't hesitate to kill you.”

Gabriel simply nodded in understanding. He smiled brightly. “Thank you, Eve. Thank you,” he said.

“Don't mention it. Now, we've got a meeting coming up in a few minutes. So if you're serious about joining, follow us.”

The angel nodded, and he followed along with the rest of the humans that followed Eve back towards the main building.

“You sure this is a good idea?” Adam whispered to her as they walked.

“No, but it's worth the risk.”

“You realize that when the Isu find out one of theirs is with us and supplying us with their tech, they won't keep holding back. This planet is going to go to war…”

“I know…”

“I just hope you're prepared to face that.”

“I hope we all are.”

Everyone in the rebel forces gathered together in the meeting room, each taking a seat in the circular bleachers. Eve and Adam sat at the huge desk at the center, along with Gabriel and a few of their most trusted allies and advisors.

“Are you certain it is a good idea allowing this… Isu into our home?”

“Glad to know I'm welcome,” Gabriel joked.

“I know it's risky, but it's a risk I'm willing to take,” Eve said.

“What if he betrays us?” someone in the audience asked, followed by agreeing murmurs.

“If he does-”

“If I do then you have every right to kill me where I stand,” Gabriel declared. “I'm ashamed of my own kind, so if I end up falling to the same stupidity as them, then I don't want to live in this world. Simple as that. I don't expect any of you in this room to trust me, and I won't force you to. The most I can do is try to earn that trust, and I promise that I will.” He looked over at Eve. “Right now, the biggest focus is rallying against the Isu. This planet is about to be at war, and we need to be ready. Odin has supplies and armaments from across the globe. I have supplies from the Angel Garrison, as well as plenty of allies in the squadrons. I can gather these up and strengthen us enough to survive a conflict like that.”

“You do that,” Eve told him. “Meanwhile, we need to keep strengthening our numbers. We're too few and far between right now. If our species is going to go to war, then we need every member of our species to be armed and ready.”

“We need to find a way to get our message out,” Adam said. “We need a symbol to show the people that they are not alone.”

“Like what?”

“I don't know… perhaps we should formalize this group, give it a name that sets it apart from all the other rebels that came before us.”

“You're going to need someone at the head of this group,” Gabriel said. “Someone to serve as a figurehead.”

“We don't have leaders here,” said Eve. “We aren't like the slavers we escaped from.”

“Being a leader doesn't mean you're above those you lead. Like I said: they'd be a figurehead. Someone to symbolize what this group stands for, its values and morals, its courage. Someone for newcomers to walk up to and hold the hand of. Do any of you here have any ideas for who that person would be?”

The room murmured quietly as the discussion cycled across the space.

“My vote goes to Eve,” someone in the audience said.

“I vote for Eve as well,” said another.

“She freed us, she should lead us.”

“None are better suited for the cause of freedom than her!”

“We will gladly follow you Eve!”

Eve looked around the room in surprise. The rebels were shouting her name, giving their full support to her. She didn't expect this. She wasn't anything special. She just did what she had to do to protect her people. And yet here they all were, asking her to be their leader, their mentor.

The others at the table looked at her.

“Looks like someone's pretty popular,” Gabriel said with a smile.

“Would you accept such an offer, Eve?” one of her advisors asked. “Would you become the figurehead of this revolution?”

Eve was silent for a while, unsure of what to say. She thought it over. Her people wanted her. And if her people wanted her, then who was she to deny their wishes?

After a hard nervous gulp, she finally said, “I will.”

The crowd cheered their approval. The advisors all nodded. “Then it is settled,” one of them announced. “Eve will lead us through the war of generations.”

The crowd kept cheering and applauding. Eve turned bright red and resisted the urge to bury herself in her hands. She didn't like being the center of attention. She was just like everyone else: human. Adam put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“There will be great sacrifice,” he said, “great sorrow, to end the enslavement of the human race.”

Eve nodded. She stood to address the crowd. “Now is the time to claim our freedom,” she announced. “Are you with us?”

She was looking at Gabriel, but the crowd still responded with cheers of “I am.”

“I am,” Gabriel said as well, with the sincerest face Eve had ever seen.

“Eve will lead us.” The crowd said enthusiastically.

“Eve will lead us.” the people at the table repeated.

Eve gave the crowd a respectful bow and put her arm over her chest. Everyone else did the same.

“So,” said Gabriel. “You've got your supplies, you've got your Brotherhood, and now you've got your Mentor. We've got everything we need for a revolution. Except one thing.”

“And that would be?”

“A name.”

Everyone looked to Eve. She swallowed her nervousness as much as she could.

“It's up to you, Eve,” Adam told her. “You are our Mentor now. What is the name of your Brotherhood?”

“It's not mine, it's all of ours,” she corrected before she started thinking. She put her finger on her chin. Everyone looked at her in eager anticipation. She needed to think of something unique, something the Isu would dread every time they heard it. These rebels were the ones who killed Isu kind. They hunted down the former oppressors and made sure they paid for their sins. They weren't butchers, they were protectors. They were killers, but they were freedom fighters. They only killed those who harm the innocent and promote a world of hate and dominance. That's what this Brotherhood stood for.

And so she decided on a name. She looked at the people at her table, and at everyone in the seats around them. She stood tall to address them.

“Assassins,” she said. “We shall be called the Assassins.”

She had never heard her people happier.

She smiled as they celebrated in their seats and the room around them was engulfed in that blinding gold light. The sounds of the hideout were replaced by a mechanical hum as she slowly began to come back to her own body. The light faded away from her view, receding back into the disk. Arktalaki shook her head as she came out of the experience and looked around to confirm that she was in fact back to the snowy forest settlement. She put the disk back into her satchel for now and laid on her sleeping mat next to Iwakuk. She thought over what she saw. The Assassins were founded on justice, not vengeance. Those values carried on to her people, and to the Brotherhood that survived to train her. She felt ashamed for not upholding those values when she took the life of Uuginix…

She closed her eyes and tried to get to sleep. The tribe would be moving tomorrow, and she needed to be ready to go as well. Her eyelids made the world go black, and she let the whispers of the wind calm her to sleep. The winds hummed in her ears, shifting to the sounds of mechanical whirring. The blackness behind her eyelids became the blackness of the Black Room void as she was transferred from one time to the next. And the next thing Ava knew, she was back to being stranded on Animus Island.

Great.

Description
March 1, 75009 BCE; Purgatory

Eve walked the dirty halls of the crumbling, abandoned building that she and her fellow rebels called their headquarters. It was a drab, gray place out in the middle of nowhere. An old abandoned city that the Isu had long left to rot and be forgotten. It didn't have the shimmering skyscrapers of Asgard or the incredible technological advancements of Olympus, but it was where the rebels decided to make their home. They didn't want to be as opulent as their former enslavers. They wanted to be a beacon for those who have faced oppression and who want to fight for equality. They needed a place far from the attention of the Isu. They worked in the dark to serve the light.

Eve looked around at her fellow rebels, each in long flowing robes and beaked hoods made from clothing scraps they managed to salvage. Many of the people here had some Isu blood in them, just as she and Adam did. They were the easiest to recruit. They were the easiest people to set free from the spell of the Apple since they had the proper genes to resist. Others were much more difficult, their pureblood human genes hardwired to obey the Pieces of Eden. But the rebels did what they could nonetheless. They had made it their goal to make sure all could be equal, that all could live free and happy. They always went the extra mile, put in all of what few resources they had, to liberate their people from slavery. One human at a time.

They'd grown to gain quite the notoriety amongst the Isu. Word had spread that their perfect system of obedience was slowly starting to crumble. Humans from across the planet were beginning to rise up and join the rebel cause. They killed many of their old masters, showed that their species would not be messed around with anymore. It was not without sacrifice however…

Not long ago, an incident occurred in Olympus. The human slaves of the scientist Saturn rose up against him and stabbed him through the skull. They attempted to take his Scythe, but they were all viciously murdered, their skin melted off and their blood boiled, by Saturn's daughter Juno. The wretch showed no mercy. She was possibly the most arrogant out of all of her species. She not only believed herself better than all the humans, but better than all of her own kind as well. She'd probably steal Odin’s crown if she wasn't so spineless.

But that was a problem for another day. Eve's main focus right now was recruitment. Her main focus was leading this ragtag team of rebels alongside her friends. If they wanted to have even the slightest chance of winning freedom for their species, they'd have to rally many more to their cause. She had a feeling this planet was on the brink of war… and she didn't entirely know if they would be ready for such a fight. The Isu had their tech and their intelligence. They had weapons and armor that had been crafted to perfection. Eve cursed the name Hephaestus sometimes. The Isu revered him as an incredible scientist and blacksmith, the man who invented the Pieces of Eden. First to help the Æsir fight the Vanir during the War of Unification, and now to enslave an entire species. The Isu had such an upper hand… and all the rebels really had going for them at this point was their unending determination to fight and win their freedom, even if it meant their demise. They'd rather be dead than in chains.

Eve sighed. What had she gotten herself into?

She shook her head. She needed to focus. She needed to meet up with her friends. She wandered through the halls of the main hideout building until she found Adam, who had just finished helping some new recruits train. He wiped the sweat off his brow and smiled as his lover approached him.

“Eve!” he said, out of breath. He pulled her into a hug before kissing her and pulling away. “How are things going?”

Eve smiled and gave a tired sigh. “Same as always,” she said. “Just trying to hold together an impossible mission…”

“Ah Eve, don't talk like that. We've done amazing things with this mission. You've done amazing things. Look at all the people we've set free from their chains.”

“Yeah… but we've also lost a lot of those people…”

“And they died for a cause they believed in. They won't die in vain. We're going to win this fight, I promise.”

“I hope so… Because right now, I don't feel too confident. I mean look at this place, Adam. It's a wreck! I know the people here don't mind… but I do. I feel like I'm not doing enough to earn their loyalty.”

Adam put a hand on her shoulder. “You're setting them free,” he said. “That’s more than enough to earn their loyalty.”

Eve smiled at him, albeit weakly. She wasn't fully convinced, but she was glad to know she had plenty of good people on her side to help her get through her own mental hurdles.

But, as was par for the course, something came in to ruin her moment.

“Eve! Eve!” a young recruit shouted as he came sprinting down the hallway. He looked mortified and out of breath.

“What's wrong? What happened?” Eve asked, trying not to panic herself.

“The Isu! They've found us! They've found the hideout!”

“What?!”

“One of their kind is flying overhead right now and coming straight for the main building. Come on! We have to rally the defenses!”

Eve swore violently under her breath and she and Adam rushed to follow their recruit. They sprinted towards the exit, into the courtyard, and Eve and Adam froze in their tracks. Their rebel friends were unleashing all of the ammo they had from the weapons they had stolen. All the guns were aimed at the person standing at the main gate, a tall man with a strong build and winged armor that glowed like the sun. He stood his ground, using his gadgets to activate an energy shield around his entire body. The laser blasts bounced harmlessly off of the shield, but the rebels kept firing at this Isu invader nonetheless.

While Adam rushed to grab a laser rifle of his own, Eve simple stood and stared at the invader. She recognized him. She knew that face from Eden. She knew that armor. It was one of the archangels from the Garrison. The one they call Gabriel. He looked distressed, almost as though he were trying to plead. And in fact, his words matched his expression.

“Wait!” he begged to his attackers. “I didn't come here to fight! I need to speak with Eve!”

Eve was taken aback. Why would an Isu ever want to speak with her? Clearly it was a trap, right?

Right.

She grabbed an energy pistol of her own and sprinted across the courtyard. She used her free hand to signal for her recruits to stop their fire. They were hesitant at first, but they eventually lowered their guns. Gabriel smiled and had a look of pure relief on his face. He wiped his forehead and shut off his shield. “Thank you!” he said. He turned towards Eve. “Hey there,” he said to her. “Long time no-”

She aimed her pistol two inches from his face and activated the power source.

“-see…”

“You have five seconds to explain what you want,” Eve told him coldly.

“I want to talk to you!” he insisted.

“Well congratulations. You've accomplished your goal.” Her finger moved back towards the trigger. Gabriel frantically reeled back and activated his protective facial mask.

“Woah woah woah woah!” he said. “I mean it! I've come to talk, Eve! I came to tell you that I want to help!”

Eve laughed at that. “An Isu helping the human rebellion. Bad excuse, birdman.”

“I'm serious!”

“Sure you are.”

“I… here. Look.”

He straightened his posture and fiddled with the touchscreens on his gauntlet. Suddenly his wings folds up and retracted into the module on his back. His face mask broke apart and disappeared back into his suit. He held his hands up in surrender.

“No weapons, no defenses,” he insisted. “Just Gabriel, here to talk.”

But Eve didn't move her pistol. Gabriel sighed.

“Look,” he said softly. “I don't blame you for not trusting me, and you have every right not to. But I know you're a rational thinker. If I wanted you dead, then why aren't you dead right now? Think of it. One of the highest ranking archangels in the Garrison shows up at your doorstep with no weapons, no backup, no nothing. I come here, to the place that my brothers have been hunting down in hopes of annihilating it for months, alone. Hell, the very fact that I'm speaking to you like a rational equal has gotta mean something, right? Do you honestly think anyone of my species who wasn't sincere could bring themselves to say what I'm saying?”

Eve's arm shifted downwards ever so slightly, but she didn't put it down. Her eyes never left Gabriel's. All of her recruits and friends around her watched in curious anticipation. Adam gave her a look that warned her to be cautious. She looked at him, then at her fellow rebels, then at the archangel.

She sheathed her pistol.

“What do you want?” she asked Gabriel as a hushed silence spread across the courtyard.

“I want to help,” he repeated.

“Help how?”

“I want to join your side. I want to fight beside you and back your cause.”

“Why?”

“Because I'm sick of watching from the sidelines. I'm sick of hearing my brothers and sisters go on and on about how humans are pathetic and need to be either enslaved or murdered. It isn't right. We gave you intelligence, gave you culture, gave you life… and then took it all away. Well I won't stand for it. My father thought the same as I do. He preached love and tolerance across the world. He saw you as equals. I guess I was the only one who paid attention…”

Eve said nothing for a good long moment. No one said anything.

“Look,” said Gabriel. “You don't have to trust me.” He reached for his pouch and pulled something out. It looked like a sheath of sorts. He tossed it to Eve. “It goes on your forearm,” he explained.

Eve was hesitant, but she took the risk. She strapped the thing to her arm. She noticed little lines of energy flowing from it into the nerves in her hands.

“And then you just… concentrate,” Gabriel said.

Eve looked down at the device. Concentrate? Alright, but concentrate on-?

Then suddenly, as she thought about making the device work, something shot out from the main casing. A long, thin blade of energy blipped out under her palm and extended past her fingers. She stared in awe at it.

“It was a personal commission I had a friend make for me,” Gabriel said. “A hidden blade. I figured it would make my arsenal a bit more unique. It's great for stealth kills. Great for the kind of work you do here.”

Eve looked at him in surprise, and a hint of unspoken gratitude for the gift.

“I can have any Isu tech made for the cause,” Gabriel continued. “I can use my connections to arm and supply us, to give us a real fighting chance. All you need to do is give me a chance…”

Eve thought about it. Did she trust Gabriel? Of course not. But he made a compelling case. And when she looked around the hideout, she definitely got the feeling that it would look a lot nicer, run a lot smoother, if it was renovated with Isu resources. She thought it over, considered every possible option and the outcome of each. She made her decision.

“Fine,” she said to Gabriel. “We'll give you a chance. But if we find even the slightest hint of betrayal, then we won't hesitate to kill you.”

Gabriel simply nodded in understanding. He smiled brightly. “Thank you, Eve. Thank you,” he said.

“Don't mention it. Now, we've got a meeting coming up in a few minutes. So if you're serious about joining, follow us.”

The angel nodded, and he followed along with the rest of the humans that followed Eve back towards the main building.

“You sure this is a good idea?” Adam whispered to her as they walked.

“No, but it's worth the risk.”

“You realize that when the Isu find out one of theirs is with us and supplying us with their tech, they won't keep holding back. This planet is going to go to war…”

“I know…”

“I just hope you're prepared to face that.”

“I hope we all are.”

Everyone in the rebel forces gathered together in the meeting room, each taking a seat in the circular bleachers. Eve and Adam sat at the huge desk at the center, along with Gabriel and a few of their most trusted allies and advisors.

“Are you certain it is a good idea allowing this… Isu into our home?”

“Glad to know I'm welcome,” Gabriel joked.

“I know it's risky, but it's a risk I'm willing to take,” Eve said.

“What if he betrays us?” someone in the audience asked, followed by agreeing murmurs.

“If he does-”

“If I do then you have every right to kill me where I stand,” Gabriel declared. “I'm ashamed of my own kind, so if I end up falling to the same stupidity as them, then I don't want to live in this world. Simple as that. I don't expect any of you in this room to trust me, and I won't force you to. The most I can do is try to earn that trust, and I promise that I will.” He looked over at Eve. “Right now, the biggest focus is rallying against the Isu. This planet is about to be at war, and we need to be ready. Odin has supplies and armaments from across the globe. I have supplies from the Angel Garrison, as well as plenty of allies in the squadrons. I can gather these up and strengthen us enough to survive a conflict like that.”

“You do that,” Eve told him. “Meanwhile, we need to keep strengthening our numbers. We're too few and far between right now. If our species is going to go to war, then we need every member of our species to be armed and ready.”

“We need to find a way to get our message out,” Adam said. “We need a symbol to show the people that they are not alone.”

“Like what?”

“I don't know… perhaps we should formalize this group, give it a name that sets it apart from all the other rebels that came before us.”

“You're going to need someone at the head of this group,” Gabriel said. “Someone to serve as a figurehead.”

“We don't have leaders here,” said Eve. “We aren't like the slavers we escaped from.”

“Being a leader doesn't mean you're above those you lead. Like I said: they'd be a figurehead. Someone to symbolize what this group stands for, its values and morals, its courage. Someone for newcomers to walk up to and hold the hand of. Do any of you here have any ideas for who that person would be?”

The room murmured quietly as the discussion cycled across the space.

“My vote goes to Eve,” someone in the audience said.

“I vote for Eve as well,” said another.

“She freed us, she should lead us.”

“None are better suited for the cause of freedom than her!”

“We will gladly follow you Eve!”

Eve looked around the room in surprise. The rebels were shouting her name, giving their full support to her. She didn't expect this. She wasn't anything special. She just did what she had to do to protect her people. And yet here they all were, asking her to be their leader, their mentor.

The others at the table looked at her.

“Looks like someone's pretty popular,” Gabriel said with a smile.

“Would you accept such an offer, Eve?” one of her advisors asked. “Would you become the figurehead of this revolution?”

Eve was silent for a while, unsure of what to say. She thought it over. Her people wanted her. And if her people wanted her, then who was she to deny their wishes?

After a hard nervous gulp, she finally said, “I will.”

The crowd cheered their approval. The advisors all nodded. “Then it is settled,” one of them announced. “Eve will lead us through the war of generations.”

The crowd kept cheering and applauding. Eve turned bright red and resisted the urge to bury herself in her hands. She didn't like being the center of attention. She was just like everyone else: human. Adam put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“There will be great sacrifice,” he said, “great sorrow, to end the enslavement of the human race.”

Eve nodded. She stood to address the crowd. “Now is the time to claim our freedom,” she announced. “Are you with us?”

She was looking at Gabriel, but the crowd still responded with cheers of “I am.”

“I am,” Gabriel said as well, with the sincerest face Eve had ever seen.

“Eve will lead us.” The crowd said enthusiastically.

“Eve will lead us.” the people at the table repeated.

Eve gave the crowd a respectful bow and put her arm over her chest. Everyone else did the same.

“So,” said Gabriel. “You've got your supplies, you've got your Brotherhood, and now you've got your Mentor. We've got everything we need for a revolution. Except one thing.”

“And that would be?”

“A name.”

Everyone looked to Eve. She swallowed her nervousness as much as she could.

“It's up to you, Eve,” Adam told her. “You are our Mentor now. What is the name of your Brotherhood?”

“It's not mine, it's all of ours,” she corrected before she started thinking. She put her finger on her chin. Everyone looked at her in eager anticipation. She needed to think of something unique, something the Isu would dread every time they heard it. These rebels were the ones who killed Isu kind. They hunted down the former oppressors and made sure they paid for their sins. They weren't butchers, they were protectors. They were killers, but they were freedom fighters. They only killed those who harm the innocent and promote a world of hate and dominance. That's what this Brotherhood stood for.

And so she decided on a name. She looked at the people at her table, and at everyone in the seats around them. She stood tall to address them.

“Assassins,” she said. “We shall be called the Assassins.”

She had never heard her people happier.

She smiled as they celebrated in their seats and the room around them was engulfed in that blinding gold light. The sounds of the hideout were replaced by a mechanical hum as she slowly began to come back to her own body. The light faded away from her view, receding back into the disk. Arktalaki shook her head as she came out of the experience and looked around to confirm that she was in fact back to the snowy forest settlement. She put the disk back into her satchel for now and laid on her sleeping mat next to Iwakuk. She thought over what she saw. The Assassins were founded on justice, not vengeance. Those values carried on to her people, and to the Brotherhood that survived to train her. She felt ashamed for not upholding those values when she took the life of Uuginix…

She closed her eyes and tried to get to sleep. The tribe would be moving tomorrow, and she needed to be ready to go as well. Her eyelids made the world go black, and she let the whispers of the wind calm her to sleep. The winds hummed in her ears, shifting to the sounds of mechanical whirring. The blackness behind her eyelids became the blackness of the Black Room void as she was transferred from one time to the next. And the next thing Ava knew, she was back to being stranded on Animus Island.

Great.