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Description
December 5, 2015; Indianapolis, Indiana

“This is stupid,” Ava anxiously said. “This'll never work. This'll never work! We're so gonna get caught!”

“Ava, you gotta calm down,” Ben said. “They'll only catch us if we draw too much attention to ourselves.”

“Ben. We are literally about to just walk in the front door of an Abstergo Industries building.”

“You've done it like a million times before.”

“Yeah! But that was back when I was just some college kid working as a clerk! Now they've got me on their hit-list along with you guys! They've probably got camera's all over this place specifically set to look for Assassins!”

“Ruby’s already taking care of that, don't worry.”

Suddenly, Ava’s earpiece buzzed as Ruby’s voice came on and said, “That's right, Champ. Just wait. In a minute, I'll have all their cameras all scrambled.”

“I hope so…” said Ava.

“You'll do great, Ava, don't worry. And we'll be right by your side the whole way through.”

“Well,” said Ben, “I will at least.”

Suddenly, a tiny object buzzed past the two and hovered right in front of them. The two jumped a bit and then looked down at the thing that looked like a palm-sized flying drone.

“We will be right by your side, Ava,” Ruby said on their earpieces.

“What's this thing?” Ava asked.

“Neat, isn't it? It's a tiny little camera drone that Chelsea gave me. It'll let me watch you guys on the mission.”

“Sweet,” said Ben.

“Alright guys. They keep the Animuses… Animi…? Whatever. They keep ‘em up on the twelfth floor. Lab Storage B.”

“Gotchya. We're going in. You ready, Ava?”

“No, but let's go anyway.”

Ben chuckled a bit. “Just stay close and follow my lead, okay?”

Ava nodded and gulped. The two walked into the building, straight through the front door.

The place was a bit quiet, not too active since the whole series of events that took place here a few months ago made the local people distrust Abstergo. The place was still pretty crowded though. Not very, but enough to give the Assassins some cover should the need arise. The two walked up to the front desk, casually as they could. Ava tried desperately to keep in all her nervousness. Ben approached the woman behind the desk. The receptionist seemed to be in the middle of a call with someone over her earpiece, but she quickly put it on hold when she saw the two approached.

“Hi! Welcome to Abstergo Industries. How may I help you?” she said with a smile.

Ben returned the smile. “We're here for an appointment with Ms. Rose Pond,” he said. “I'm Dean Singer, this is my friend, Mary Adler.”

The receptionist nodded. “Alright,” she said. “Just give me a minute and I'll let her know you're here.”

The receptionist quickly looked up the number she needed and gave a call to Ms. Pond, who Ava quickly realized was Ruby when she heard her talking to the receptionist through her earpiece. Eventually, the receptionist hung up the phone and smiled at the two. “Alright, she's ready for you,” she said. “You two go right on ahead. Elevator’s down that hall to the right.”

Ben smiled and nodded. Ava tried to do the same. “Thank you, miss,” he said kindly. The receptionist nodded, and then the two Assassins walked right past the front desk without any trouble. As they walked away, Ava let out a deep breath that she didn't realize she had been holding in.

“I can't believe that worked,” she whispered.

“Told ya,” said Ben with a smile. “This isn't our first rodeo.”

“Were those really the names we're using here?”

“Don't look at me. Ruby came up with them.”

Suddenly, Ruby buzzed in, “Don't judge my tastes,” she said simply.

Ben and Ava looked at each other, smirked, and rolled their eyes. They started making their way towards the elevator. They hit the button and stepped inside. The doors closed, and the two Assassins made their ascension.

Ruby buzzed in on their earpieces again, “Alright guys. I got the cameras all scrambled. You should be good for about ten minutes, so try to move as fast as you can.”

“Gotchya,” said Ben and Ava.

“Be careful guys. Good luck.”

The elevator started slowing down as it approached the twelfth floor. They stopped at their destination, and walked out. Ben pulled up his hood, and Ava copied him. He told her to stay low, and motioned for her to follow.

The two silently made their way through the halls, keeping their eyes and ears open for any signs of guards. They kept their eyes on the doors as they passed, looking for their destination.

But their search was interrupted when they walked by a door that was slightly ajar. They heard voices coming from behind, one of which was very, very familiar

“We really must consider our next move, Trina,” the voice said. Ava froze as she immediately recognized that voice. The same voice that taunted her, tormented her as she was forced through an Animus for the first time. It was the voice that spoke to her on the intercom during her kidnapping. “Oh my god…” she whispered. She peaked through the door and caught a glimpse of the man's face. Ben did the same and silently gasped.

“Ben…” whispered Ava, “that's…”

“The guy that kidnapped you,” Ben finished.

“I thought you killed all those guys.”

Ben shook his head. “No. This guy got away.”

“What's his name?”

“Cole Morgenster. Bastard’s been on our hit list for years.”

The Templars continued speaking as the Assassins observed their meeting. The woman across from Morgenster looked up at him. She seemed tired, almost exhausted. She had a bitter look, like she really didn't care to be there.

“Our next move is to point as many guns as we can at the Assassins and pull the triggers,” she said.

Morgenster sighed. “You know, Trina,” he said, “the Assassins aren't our only problem to deal with. We've got our own inner problems to face. Like finding the Pieces of Eden?”

Trina scowled. “I don't give a damn about the Pieces of Eden, Cole,” she said. “Our empire got toppled by those hooded scumbags and I intend to build it back up using their bones for walls and their blood for paint!”

“As pleasing an image as that is, Trina, we can't just put all of our focus on fighting the Assassins, especially given how strong they are nowadays. We have to work on improving our own order.”

Trina suddenly shot up out of her chair and slammed her hands down on the desk. “The Assassins have been ruining everything for us for too long! We have to keep striking back!”

Morgenster seemed completely unfazed by her outburst. “And what do you honestly hope to accomplish by doing that?” he said plainly. “Hmm? Every time we've taken a shot at them, they crush us again. They've got the high ground now. The only thing keeping us in the fight at this point is our willpower and your ego.”

“I am the Grand Master here, damn it! And I will call the shots whether you like it or not!”

“Really? Because last I hear, you quit.”

Trina paused, then scowled. “I took time off,” she said.

“To recover from the massive beating the Assassins gave you?”

Trina just stared furiously at him. Morgenster remained unfazed.

“Whatever,” Trina said eventually, sitting down again. “If you want to go hunting for your stupid artifacts, go ahead. But I'm going to keep focusing on what's important.”

“I'm pretty sure you have to know what's important before you focus on it.”

Trina looked furious again. Ava and Ben looked at each other. Ben looked at his watch, and then motioned for Ava to follow him away. She nodded. They had to find that storage room before Ruby’s hacking failed. Ava looked back at the door as they left. Cole Morgenster. The man whose abuse dragged her into all this. She made a mental note: he's target number one.

The two Assassins kept creeping through the halls, and eventually, they found the lab that they were looking for. They looked through the door window and saw two scientists working on something on the other end of the room, their backs turned to the Assassins. Ben looked at Ava and put a finger up to his lips to tell her to stay quiet. She nodded.

Ben slowly opened one of the double doors as quietly as he could, and then rushed Ava inside. The two scurried in, closing the door behind them, and then ducked behind one of the lab tables for cover. They looked around for the door to the storage room and started stealthily moving towards it once they saw it. They heard the scientists making small talk as they moved.

“I can't believe they're still having us work on this Sample 17 stuff,” said one of them.

“Guy had a lot of interesting stuff in his DNA, I guess,” said the other.

“Yeah, but it's been, what, almost three years now since we recovered the body? I mean, is there really that much genetic memory to sift through?”

“Guess so.”

“Jeesh. I'm getting sick of getting cooped up in this lab all the time, and so is my wife.”

“Eh. I get a paycheck at the end of the week, that's all I care about.”

Ava noticed that Ben gave a weird expression as they heard the scientists talking, like he was almost offended by the way they talked about whatever they were talking about. They carried on though, and eventually made it to the storage room. They slipped inside and looked around. The shelves were filled with random tech of all shapes and sizes. The Assassins scanned it all for an Animus. Ava decided to use her Eagle Vision to help out, and help out it did. Behind a mass of random tech, she saw an Animus headset outlined in a golden hue. She gave a celebratory gasp and shut off her sixth sense.

“Found it,” she whispered. Ben came over and looked where she was pointing. He smiled.

“Wait a go, Ava,” he said. “Let's grab this thing and get out of here.”

Ava didn't hesitate. She and Ben quickly got to work on shoving all the tech out of the way and they grabbed the Animus’s hardware. Ben stored it away into his bag. He motioned towards the door, and Ava followed him towards it. The two silently left the storage room, and then sneaked past the scientists. They slipped back out of the lab and into the halls. They gave each other a celebratory smile.

“Alright,” said Ben. “Now let's get out of here before-"

But he was cut off when a loud alarm started blaring over the intercom. Red emergency sirens started flashing on the walls.

“Aw crap,” Ruby said over their earpieces. “Crap crap crap no no no!”

“Ruby? What's going on?” Ava anxiously asked.

“The Templars detected my hack quicker than I expected. They've kicked me out of their system! They know you guys are there! Run!”

Ava and Ben looked at each other. They started hearing footsteps rushing through the halls. They didn't hesitate. They took off sprinting down the hall.

“What do we do?” Ava frantically said.

“Get to the rooftop!” said Ruby. “There's a construction site next to the building. You should be able to use it to escape.”

“Got it!”

The two Assassins kept sprinting. The footsteps behind them got louder. They could hear the guards barking orders at each other.

Suddenly, as they rounded a corner, two guards stood waiting for them. They both had batons in their hands, and each weapon was electrified. Ava and Ben froze in their tracks. Ben stepped just a small bit in front of his friend.

One of the guards charged at them, and just as she did, Ben charged as well, ducking beneath the guard’s swing and sliding past her. In a split second, he flicked out his hidden blade, killed the guard, and spun around and slit the throat of the other. Ava looked down at the two bodies, suddenly feeling very uneasy. She just watched as the light drained straight out of their eyes. Her gut sank. She thought she would've been used to seeing death like this, given all she'd seen the past few weeks.

...Except, she hadn't been the one seeing it. Kahente and Aveza were the ones seeing it, and even then, all the death they witnessed was just a digital projection onto Ava’s mind, a fake replication of events long in the past. But Ava’s eyes were still fresh, and as they looked down at the dead guards, and the blood that slid off her friend's blade, she didn't know how to feel.

But the blaring sirens and Ben frantically telling her they had to run snapped her out of her trance. For now. She grabbed her friend's hand and started running again.

The two found a flight of stairs and ran up them until they finally reached the roof. They frantically looked around for a route out. They saw the construction site, and went to the edge of the roof to try and figure out what the best way to get onto it and climb down was.

But they were interrupted by the noise of cocking guns behind them. The two slowly turned around and saw five armed guards with their guns aimed right at them. And in front of them all, standing tall with an evil smirk, was Cole Morgenster. The Assassins scowled.

“Ah, Ms. Arlie,” he said. “It's been a while.”

Ava said nothing.

“You know, it was pretty rude of you to run out on us like that,” continued Morgenster. “I mean, Project Roanoke was going so well until your friend here crashed the party.”

“Go screw yourself,” said Ava harshly.

“I would if I could, Ms. Arlie,” Morgenster said in an slimy, joking tone. “Now, if I'm not mistaken, you two have something that belongs to us.”

“Sorry, Morgenster,” said Ben. “We ain't giving it back.”

“Oh I know, Mr. Dylan. That's why these fine people are here.” He spread his arms to indicate the guards. “You're outnumbered. Nowhere to run. So hand over that Animus.”

The Assassins said nothing. They tried desperately to think of a way out. Ben took a quick look over the edge and saw something in the corner of his eye. He stepped a little closer to Ava.

“Very well,” said Morgenster. He turned to his men. “Kill em.”

And then, just as the guards were in the process of pulling their triggers, Ben lunged to his side, grabbed Ava tight, and hurled the both of them over the edge just before the bullets came soaring over them.

Ava screamed as they fell through the air. She gripped her friend tight. She was certain this was the end. But a few seconds later, the two landed on some sort of springy surface that held their weight and bounced them as they landed. The two had their breaths taken away for a moment, but they were alive. Once Ava regained her bearings, she looked around and saw that they had landed in a safety net that had been set up in the construction site. Ava looked over at Ben, who was also trying to catch his breath. He looked at her.

“Next time, let me know when you're going to do something stupid,” Ava said, half-joking, half-freaking out.

Ben laughed as much as he could. “Ah, but that would ruin the surprise,” he said.

Ava laughed a bit. Ben quickly checked his bag to make sure the Animus was okay. It was, to their relief. They looked up at the rooftop. The Templars were scrambling to figure out what to do next. The Assassins looked at each other and nodded, and then they leapt out of the net, made their way out of the construction site, and then sprinted back to the hideout.

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

“Holy crap that was awesome!” said Ruby as her friends returned.

The two laughed. “Yeah, but I'd rather not do that again,” joked Ava.

“Ah, come on. Where's your sense of adventure?” asked Ben.

“Back in Raleigh, I think.”

The three laughed.

“Trust me, Carter and I have done way stupider stuff on our own missions,” joked Chelsea. She pointed to her cousin, who was still in the Animus. “This little squirt once jumped across the Canal on my motorcycle and then leapt off and onto a target's boat while it was still on the move.”

“Wow. That's impressive,” said Ruby.

“Yeah, but then we had to meticulously search the Canal and lug my bike out of the gross water. I had to take like seven showers just to get the smell off.”

They laughed.

“How's he doing by the way?” asked Ben.

“He's almost done for tonight. We put him through one of Priscilla Abbott’s minor memories just to synch him up. We'll start putting him through the later memories tomorrow.”

“Speaking of genetic memories,” said Ben. He grabbed his bag and pulled out the Animus. Ruby grinned.

“Alright!” she said, taking the machine. “Give me a moment to do a little work on this thing. I'll hack it to make sure Abstergo can't track it, and then I'll upload the actual genetic memory program.”

The other Assassins nodded. Sure enough, about five minutes later, Ruby had the machine set up an ready to go.

“Alright,” she said. “It's all ready to go. You up to starting now, Ava? Or do you wanna wait?”

Ava shrugged. “Sure,” she said. “Let's go ahead and get this show on the road. I'm actually kinda curious to see what my Indonesian ancestors were like.”

“That's the spirit! Come on and take a seat here.” Ruby patted the comfy chair that she pulled out. Ava lightly smiled and sat down. Ruby grabbed the Animus headset and placed it on her head.

“That fit okay?” Ruby asked. Ava nodded.

“Alrighty then, Ava. I'll go ahead and start it up. You ready?”

“As I'll ever be.”

“Alright. Here we go. Good luck, Champ.”

Ruby lowered the visor over Ava’s eyes. Ava's view was filled with the virtual void of the Animus. She noticed this void was much cleaner. The flittering ones and zeroes that she'd gotten used to weren't there anymore, and neither was the bright white color. Instead, the void was dark blue. When she looked down and saw the “floor” of the void, she saw it was made up of a bunch of virtual dots that shifted around to emulate what looked like waves in the ocean. She thought it was a nice change of pace.

She heard Ruby clacking away at her keyboard as she uploaded the program. A bunch of glowing bars appeared in front of Ava's view. The leftmost bar flashed rhythmically as it waited to be selected. Ava looked up and saw a series of words above it:

ACCESSING GENETIC MEMORIES
SUBJECT: AVA GABRIELLE ARLIE
ANCESTOR: APSARINI RAJAWALI, AGE 14
DATE AND LOCATION: JUNE 22, 1882; BUITENZORG, JAVA
UPLOADING NOW…

And then the little flashing bar let out a bright light that engulfed everything in Ava's vision. She felt the familiar feeling of entering the past. She heard the birds singing in the jungles that surrounded the city around her. She felt the sun beating down on her as she stood on top the building, her brother at her side. She looked at him, he looked at her.

“You ready for this?” he asked.

Apsarini smiled. “Absolutely,” she said.

Description
December 5, 2015; Indianapolis, Indiana

“This is stupid,” Ava anxiously said. “This'll never work. This'll never work! We're so gonna get caught!”

“Ava, you gotta calm down,” Ben said. “They'll only catch us if we draw too much attention to ourselves.”

“Ben. We are literally about to just walk in the front door of an Abstergo Industries building.”

“You've done it like a million times before.”

“Yeah! But that was back when I was just some college kid working as a clerk! Now they've got me on their hit-list along with you guys! They've probably got camera's all over this place specifically set to look for Assassins!”

“Ruby’s already taking care of that, don't worry.”

Suddenly, Ava’s earpiece buzzed as Ruby’s voice came on and said, “That's right, Champ. Just wait. In a minute, I'll have all their cameras all scrambled.”

“I hope so…” said Ava.

“You'll do great, Ava, don't worry. And we'll be right by your side the whole way through.”

“Well,” said Ben, “I will at least.”

Suddenly, a tiny object buzzed past the two and hovered right in front of them. The two jumped a bit and then looked down at the thing that looked like a palm-sized flying drone.

“We will be right by your side, Ava,” Ruby said on their earpieces.

“What's this thing?” Ava asked.

“Neat, isn't it? It's a tiny little camera drone that Chelsea gave me. It'll let me watch you guys on the mission.”

“Sweet,” said Ben.

“Alright guys. They keep the Animuses… Animi…? Whatever. They keep ‘em up on the twelfth floor. Lab Storage B.”

“Gotchya. We're going in. You ready, Ava?”

“No, but let's go anyway.”

Ben chuckled a bit. “Just stay close and follow my lead, okay?”

Ava nodded and gulped. The two walked into the building, straight through the front door.

The place was a bit quiet, not too active since the whole series of events that took place here a few months ago made the local people distrust Abstergo. The place was still pretty crowded though. Not very, but enough to give the Assassins some cover should the need arise. The two walked up to the front desk, casually as they could. Ava tried desperately to keep in all her nervousness. Ben approached the woman behind the desk. The receptionist seemed to be in the middle of a call with someone over her earpiece, but she quickly put it on hold when she saw the two approached.

“Hi! Welcome to Abstergo Industries. How may I help you?” she said with a smile.

Ben returned the smile. “We're here for an appointment with Ms. Rose Pond,” he said. “I'm Dean Singer, this is my friend, Mary Adler.”

The receptionist nodded. “Alright,” she said. “Just give me a minute and I'll let her know you're here.”

The receptionist quickly looked up the number she needed and gave a call to Ms. Pond, who Ava quickly realized was Ruby when she heard her talking to the receptionist through her earpiece. Eventually, the receptionist hung up the phone and smiled at the two. “Alright, she's ready for you,” she said. “You two go right on ahead. Elevator’s down that hall to the right.”

Ben smiled and nodded. Ava tried to do the same. “Thank you, miss,” he said kindly. The receptionist nodded, and then the two Assassins walked right past the front desk without any trouble. As they walked away, Ava let out a deep breath that she didn't realize she had been holding in.

“I can't believe that worked,” she whispered.

“Told ya,” said Ben with a smile. “This isn't our first rodeo.”

“Were those really the names we're using here?”

“Don't look at me. Ruby came up with them.”

Suddenly, Ruby buzzed in, “Don't judge my tastes,” she said simply.

Ben and Ava looked at each other, smirked, and rolled their eyes. They started making their way towards the elevator. They hit the button and stepped inside. The doors closed, and the two Assassins made their ascension.

Ruby buzzed in on their earpieces again, “Alright guys. I got the cameras all scrambled. You should be good for about ten minutes, so try to move as fast as you can.”

“Gotchya,” said Ben and Ava.

“Be careful guys. Good luck.”

The elevator started slowing down as it approached the twelfth floor. They stopped at their destination, and walked out. Ben pulled up his hood, and Ava copied him. He told her to stay low, and motioned for her to follow.

The two silently made their way through the halls, keeping their eyes and ears open for any signs of guards. They kept their eyes on the doors as they passed, looking for their destination.

But their search was interrupted when they walked by a door that was slightly ajar. They heard voices coming from behind, one of which was very, very familiar

“We really must consider our next move, Trina,” the voice said. Ava froze as she immediately recognized that voice. The same voice that taunted her, tormented her as she was forced through an Animus for the first time. It was the voice that spoke to her on the intercom during her kidnapping. “Oh my god…” she whispered. She peaked through the door and caught a glimpse of the man's face. Ben did the same and silently gasped.

“Ben…” whispered Ava, “that's…”

“The guy that kidnapped you,” Ben finished.

“I thought you killed all those guys.”

Ben shook his head. “No. This guy got away.”

“What's his name?”

“Cole Morgenster. Bastard’s been on our hit list for years.”

The Templars continued speaking as the Assassins observed their meeting. The woman across from Morgenster looked up at him. She seemed tired, almost exhausted. She had a bitter look, like she really didn't care to be there.

“Our next move is to point as many guns as we can at the Assassins and pull the triggers,” she said.

Morgenster sighed. “You know, Trina,” he said, “the Assassins aren't our only problem to deal with. We've got our own inner problems to face. Like finding the Pieces of Eden?”

Trina scowled. “I don't give a damn about the Pieces of Eden, Cole,” she said. “Our empire got toppled by those hooded scumbags and I intend to build it back up using their bones for walls and their blood for paint!”

“As pleasing an image as that is, Trina, we can't just put all of our focus on fighting the Assassins, especially given how strong they are nowadays. We have to work on improving our own order.”

Trina suddenly shot up out of her chair and slammed her hands down on the desk. “The Assassins have been ruining everything for us for too long! We have to keep striking back!”

Morgenster seemed completely unfazed by her outburst. “And what do you honestly hope to accomplish by doing that?” he said plainly. “Hmm? Every time we've taken a shot at them, they crush us again. They've got the high ground now. The only thing keeping us in the fight at this point is our willpower and your ego.”

“I am the Grand Master here, damn it! And I will call the shots whether you like it or not!”

“Really? Because last I hear, you quit.”

Trina paused, then scowled. “I took time off,” she said.

“To recover from the massive beating the Assassins gave you?”

Trina just stared furiously at him. Morgenster remained unfazed.

“Whatever,” Trina said eventually, sitting down again. “If you want to go hunting for your stupid artifacts, go ahead. But I'm going to keep focusing on what's important.”

“I'm pretty sure you have to know what's important before you focus on it.”

Trina looked furious again. Ava and Ben looked at each other. Ben looked at his watch, and then motioned for Ava to follow him away. She nodded. They had to find that storage room before Ruby’s hacking failed. Ava looked back at the door as they left. Cole Morgenster. The man whose abuse dragged her into all this. She made a mental note: he's target number one.

The two Assassins kept creeping through the halls, and eventually, they found the lab that they were looking for. They looked through the door window and saw two scientists working on something on the other end of the room, their backs turned to the Assassins. Ben looked at Ava and put a finger up to his lips to tell her to stay quiet. She nodded.

Ben slowly opened one of the double doors as quietly as he could, and then rushed Ava inside. The two scurried in, closing the door behind them, and then ducked behind one of the lab tables for cover. They looked around for the door to the storage room and started stealthily moving towards it once they saw it. They heard the scientists making small talk as they moved.

“I can't believe they're still having us work on this Sample 17 stuff,” said one of them.

“Guy had a lot of interesting stuff in his DNA, I guess,” said the other.

“Yeah, but it's been, what, almost three years now since we recovered the body? I mean, is there really that much genetic memory to sift through?”

“Guess so.”

“Jeesh. I'm getting sick of getting cooped up in this lab all the time, and so is my wife.”

“Eh. I get a paycheck at the end of the week, that's all I care about.”

Ava noticed that Ben gave a weird expression as they heard the scientists talking, like he was almost offended by the way they talked about whatever they were talking about. They carried on though, and eventually made it to the storage room. They slipped inside and looked around. The shelves were filled with random tech of all shapes and sizes. The Assassins scanned it all for an Animus. Ava decided to use her Eagle Vision to help out, and help out it did. Behind a mass of random tech, she saw an Animus headset outlined in a golden hue. She gave a celebratory gasp and shut off her sixth sense.

“Found it,” she whispered. Ben came over and looked where she was pointing. He smiled.

“Wait a go, Ava,” he said. “Let's grab this thing and get out of here.”

Ava didn't hesitate. She and Ben quickly got to work on shoving all the tech out of the way and they grabbed the Animus’s hardware. Ben stored it away into his bag. He motioned towards the door, and Ava followed him towards it. The two silently left the storage room, and then sneaked past the scientists. They slipped back out of the lab and into the halls. They gave each other a celebratory smile.

“Alright,” said Ben. “Now let's get out of here before-"

But he was cut off when a loud alarm started blaring over the intercom. Red emergency sirens started flashing on the walls.

“Aw crap,” Ruby said over their earpieces. “Crap crap crap no no no!”

“Ruby? What's going on?” Ava anxiously asked.

“The Templars detected my hack quicker than I expected. They've kicked me out of their system! They know you guys are there! Run!”

Ava and Ben looked at each other. They started hearing footsteps rushing through the halls. They didn't hesitate. They took off sprinting down the hall.

“What do we do?” Ava frantically said.

“Get to the rooftop!” said Ruby. “There's a construction site next to the building. You should be able to use it to escape.”

“Got it!”

The two Assassins kept sprinting. The footsteps behind them got louder. They could hear the guards barking orders at each other.

Suddenly, as they rounded a corner, two guards stood waiting for them. They both had batons in their hands, and each weapon was electrified. Ava and Ben froze in their tracks. Ben stepped just a small bit in front of his friend.

One of the guards charged at them, and just as she did, Ben charged as well, ducking beneath the guard’s swing and sliding past her. In a split second, he flicked out his hidden blade, killed the guard, and spun around and slit the throat of the other. Ava looked down at the two bodies, suddenly feeling very uneasy. She just watched as the light drained straight out of their eyes. Her gut sank. She thought she would've been used to seeing death like this, given all she'd seen the past few weeks.

...Except, she hadn't been the one seeing it. Kahente and Aveza were the ones seeing it, and even then, all the death they witnessed was just a digital projection onto Ava’s mind, a fake replication of events long in the past. But Ava’s eyes were still fresh, and as they looked down at the dead guards, and the blood that slid off her friend's blade, she didn't know how to feel.

But the blaring sirens and Ben frantically telling her they had to run snapped her out of her trance. For now. She grabbed her friend's hand and started running again.

The two found a flight of stairs and ran up them until they finally reached the roof. They frantically looked around for a route out. They saw the construction site, and went to the edge of the roof to try and figure out what the best way to get onto it and climb down was.

But they were interrupted by the noise of cocking guns behind them. The two slowly turned around and saw five armed guards with their guns aimed right at them. And in front of them all, standing tall with an evil smirk, was Cole Morgenster. The Assassins scowled.

“Ah, Ms. Arlie,” he said. “It's been a while.”

Ava said nothing.

“You know, it was pretty rude of you to run out on us like that,” continued Morgenster. “I mean, Project Roanoke was going so well until your friend here crashed the party.”

“Go screw yourself,” said Ava harshly.

“I would if I could, Ms. Arlie,” Morgenster said in an slimy, joking tone. “Now, if I'm not mistaken, you two have something that belongs to us.”

“Sorry, Morgenster,” said Ben. “We ain't giving it back.”

“Oh I know, Mr. Dylan. That's why these fine people are here.” He spread his arms to indicate the guards. “You're outnumbered. Nowhere to run. So hand over that Animus.”

The Assassins said nothing. They tried desperately to think of a way out. Ben took a quick look over the edge and saw something in the corner of his eye. He stepped a little closer to Ava.

“Very well,” said Morgenster. He turned to his men. “Kill em.”

And then, just as the guards were in the process of pulling their triggers, Ben lunged to his side, grabbed Ava tight, and hurled the both of them over the edge just before the bullets came soaring over them.

Ava screamed as they fell through the air. She gripped her friend tight. She was certain this was the end. But a few seconds later, the two landed on some sort of springy surface that held their weight and bounced them as they landed. The two had their breaths taken away for a moment, but they were alive. Once Ava regained her bearings, she looked around and saw that they had landed in a safety net that had been set up in the construction site. Ava looked over at Ben, who was also trying to catch his breath. He looked at her.

“Next time, let me know when you're going to do something stupid,” Ava said, half-joking, half-freaking out.

Ben laughed as much as he could. “Ah, but that would ruin the surprise,” he said.

Ava laughed a bit. Ben quickly checked his bag to make sure the Animus was okay. It was, to their relief. They looked up at the rooftop. The Templars were scrambling to figure out what to do next. The Assassins looked at each other and nodded, and then they leapt out of the net, made their way out of the construction site, and then sprinted back to the hideout.

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

“Holy crap that was awesome!” said Ruby as her friends returned.

The two laughed. “Yeah, but I'd rather not do that again,” joked Ava.

“Ah, come on. Where's your sense of adventure?” asked Ben.

“Back in Raleigh, I think.”

The three laughed.

“Trust me, Carter and I have done way stupider stuff on our own missions,” joked Chelsea. She pointed to her cousin, who was still in the Animus. “This little squirt once jumped across the Canal on my motorcycle and then leapt off and onto a target's boat while it was still on the move.”

“Wow. That's impressive,” said Ruby.

“Yeah, but then we had to meticulously search the Canal and lug my bike out of the gross water. I had to take like seven showers just to get the smell off.”

They laughed.

“How's he doing by the way?” asked Ben.

“He's almost done for tonight. We put him through one of Priscilla Abbott’s minor memories just to synch him up. We'll start putting him through the later memories tomorrow.”

“Speaking of genetic memories,” said Ben. He grabbed his bag and pulled out the Animus. Ruby grinned.

“Alright!” she said, taking the machine. “Give me a moment to do a little work on this thing. I'll hack it to make sure Abstergo can't track it, and then I'll upload the actual genetic memory program.”

The other Assassins nodded. Sure enough, about five minutes later, Ruby had the machine set up an ready to go.

“Alright,” she said. “It's all ready to go. You up to starting now, Ava? Or do you wanna wait?”

Ava shrugged. “Sure,” she said. “Let's go ahead and get this show on the road. I'm actually kinda curious to see what my Indonesian ancestors were like.”

“That's the spirit! Come on and take a seat here.” Ruby patted the comfy chair that she pulled out. Ava lightly smiled and sat down. Ruby grabbed the Animus headset and placed it on her head.

“That fit okay?” Ruby asked. Ava nodded.

“Alrighty then, Ava. I'll go ahead and start it up. You ready?”

“As I'll ever be.”

“Alright. Here we go. Good luck, Champ.”

Ruby lowered the visor over Ava’s eyes. Ava's view was filled with the virtual void of the Animus. She noticed this void was much cleaner. The flittering ones and zeroes that she'd gotten used to weren't there anymore, and neither was the bright white color. Instead, the void was dark blue. When she looked down and saw the “floor” of the void, she saw it was made up of a bunch of virtual dots that shifted around to emulate what looked like waves in the ocean. She thought it was a nice change of pace.

She heard Ruby clacking away at her keyboard as she uploaded the program. A bunch of glowing bars appeared in front of Ava's view. The leftmost bar flashed rhythmically as it waited to be selected. Ava looked up and saw a series of words above it:

ACCESSING GENETIC MEMORIES
SUBJECT: AVA GABRIELLE ARLIE
ANCESTOR: APSARINI RAJAWALI, AGE 14
DATE AND LOCATION: JUNE 22, 1882; BUITENZORG, JAVA
UPLOADING NOW…

And then the little flashing bar let out a bright light that engulfed everything in Ava's vision. She felt the familiar feeling of entering the past. She heard the birds singing in the jungles that surrounded the city around her. She felt the sun beating down on her as she stood on top the building, her brother at her side. She looked at him, he looked at her.

“You ready for this?” he asked.

Apsarini smiled. “Absolutely,” she said.