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Description
February 6, 2016; Indianapolis, Indiana

I rode the Cardinal to the alley that night. There was a light flurry of snow, so it was a bit hard to maneuver the motorcycle, but I wasn't going to let that get in the way. Not tonight.

I brought my bike to a stop and hopped off. I was alone. I could see the lights shining from the skyscrapers nearby, reminders that life continued on outside my little corner of isolation. I suppose knowing that was somewhat comforting. It certainly lessened the burden of the risk I was taking. I knew there was a good chance someone could end up dead tonight if things went sour, and that someone very well could've been me. But at least I had the benefit of knowing the city would long live on without me.

I simply stood there, examining the ground for little details as the noises of city life sounded all around the quiet, abandoned alley. I used the moment to practice a new skill, something I picked up from Priscilla actually. I had gained Eagle Vision from her memories. I had gained the infamous sixth sense that so many Assassins before me had used throughout history. It was rather cool, truth be told. It felt special, like I suddenly had something that only the greats could truly master. Grant it, mine, like Priscilla’s, was a bit choppy. It wasn't perfect, but it got the job done. I watched the world turn color-coded, and I used that to analyze every little detail I saw.

And that was about when I heard the scraping of boots behind me and the clacking of a gun soon after. I stood up slowly, and I turned around.

And there she was. Jess.

She stood there, gun in her hand, aiming right at my skull. The only thing preventing her from pulling the trigger was Vienna, who had appeared at the same time behind Jess and held a cocked shotgun right up against her skull, ready to fire the second Jess’s finger even flinched.

“Ms. Wolfgang,” I said calmly, “Glad you could make it.”

“Give me one good reason I shouldn't blow your brains away,” she said, not taking her eyes off me. I could tell the shotgun pushing against the back of her head was making her nervous. I could see it in her eyes.

I gave her a look that said, “If you say so,” and then gestured to the two rooftops above us. I made a high pitched eagle sound as a signal.

And within moments, my allies showed up. On one roof was Police Commissioner Henry Grayson and about a dozen policemen. On the other roof was Jonathan and an equal number of thugs from the Eagle Eyes. All of them had guns. All of them were aimed directly at Jess. She looked nervously at them, and did a terrible job at hiding it.

“And if that's not reason enough,” I said, pulling out my phone. I tapped into ctOS and used it to bring up the mechanical gates that closed off the exits to the alley. I locked them both.

Jess probably would've looked around in surprise if it wasn't for Vienna’s shotgun.

“What…” was all she could stutter.

“We need to talk, Jess,” I said, again trying to stay calm and collected.

“Why the hell would I say anything to you?” she spat.

“Well, for starters, we ain't letting you go until you do.”

“I'll kill you all.”

“The odds really aren't in your favor in that regard.”

She swiveled her eyes around at all the guns aiming at her. She lowered her own weapon slightly, but still kept it in the air. She stared daggers at me.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I told you: to talk.”

“About what?”

“What you said in Croydon.”

And that was when I saw true fear overtake her eyes. I saw her gun hand shaking a little.

“Go to hell,” she told me.

“Jess…”

“You don’t know me!”

“Well that's just the problem, Jess. I don't know you. But I have a pretty good idea from what I heard in the caverns.” I paused. “Look, I know growing up had to have been rough. I mean, with someone as cruel as Natasha-”

“Don't talk about my mother like that!” she shouted. It didn't sound like she was demanding respect, it sounded like she was fearful of what would happen in respect wasn't given. Still, I raised my hands up.

“Okay,” I said. “Okay, fair enough. Calm down. Just… look. What I wanted to tell you is that I know how you must've felt growing up.”

“You don’t know me. You don’t know what it's like!”

“But I do, Jess. I do.” I paused. My expression saddened. “I'm sure you're very well aware of who my mother is…”

“A terrible Grand Master compared to my mom,” she spat.

“I have no doubt she is. But you know my mom, what crazy lengths she'll go to. I faced abuse just like you did.”

“Shut up…”

“I just wanted to let you know it's okay to speak out…”

“Shut up!”

“We can help, Jess. We'd gladly help if you'd let us…”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

I saw her finger start to move on the trigger, and so I acted on instinct and whipped out my own pistol at lightning speed, took aim, and fired. My bullet smacked into her gun, sending it skittering away across the pavement. She was unarmed, and it clearly terrified her. Tears rolled down her face, though she tried to keep them back.

“You don’t know me…” she said shakily. “You don’t… My… my mother was… a
... a… hero to the Order… She was… was…”

I saw her gaze trail off, like her mind was slipping back into a dark, dark place.

“Jess…” I said, legitimately concerned for her. “I think we both know you know you don't really believe that…”

She was shaking. I slowly stepped towards her. Vienna glanced over at me, her eyes begging caution. “Jess…” I said, extending my hand as a gesture of comfort, but she suddenly yanked away violently, like she was appalled by the sight of it. Vienna quickly fixed her aim and she was about to shoot when I told her to hold back.

Jess stumbled to the side, thankfully to the side opposite of her gun. She stared bitterly at both me and Vienna. She was breathing heavily.

“You don’t know my life…” she sobbed. “I have… a responsibility to my Order. And I don't give a damn about what you say!”

“Jess…”

“Let me go right now.”

“Jess…”

“Now!”

I stared sadly, and eventually I nodded. I pulled out my phone and unlocked the gates, retracting them. She slowly walked to the exit, never taking her eyes off me.

“I saved your life, Jess,” I said quietly. “Don't forget that.”

She gave me one last fiery look, and then took off in a sprint, not even stopping to reclaim her gun. I watched her go with a heavy heart.

“I'm sorry Jess…” I said under my breath.

Vienna tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a look that said, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I'm fine. Thanks, Vienna. I just… I just wish I knew how to help her…”

She sheathed her shotgun between her bag straps and pulled out her phone. She typed out and showed me, “Maybe she just can’t be helped.”

“She can be,” I said. “I know she can. I was helped.”

“She's a Templar.”

“A Templar with doubt.”

Vienna didn't type anything; she just kinda paused, and then nodded slowly.

For a while we just stood there. Henry and Jonathan asked if they should withdraw their men and women, and I told them yes, pack up and head home. Soon it was just me and Vienna in the silent alleyway.

My phone buzzed after a moment, and so I pulled it out to look at the text. It was from Ruby:

“Hey kid! Just wanted to let you know we've got the Animuses… Animi… Ani… whatever, hooked up and ready to go. Just head on down to the hideout whenever you're ready to head back to 1849.”

I looked at Vienna. “Well, I should probably get going,” I told her. “We've still got a mission to complete.”

Vienna nodded and gave me two thumbs up. I smiled. “Thanks for helping out, Vi,” I told her. She smiled and nodded and shook my hand. And just before I made to leave, she typed out one last thing to show me: “Good luck with her. I know you can help her. Just give it time.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Vi.”

She smiled back at me and I turned to leave the alleyway. I pulled up my hood, hopped on the Cardinal, and sped back across town towards Assassin HQ.

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

“So we found out something interesting about the Staff and Marbles you guys picked up,” Chelsea told me when I walked into the hideout living room.

“Do tell,” I said.

“Apparently, the thing only works at full potential when it draws in energy from other devices.”

“That so?”

“Yeah. We nearly shorted out all the lights trying to get that thing locked away.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah. I'm just glad it wasn't on a larger scale. God only knows what trouble that could cause.”

“Where'd you put that thing anyway?”

She stood from her chair and motioned for me to follow, which I did. She led me down towards the warehouse basement, into one of the hidden catacombs that was built over as the years went on. Come to think of it, a lot of these old secrets were actually built by our family. Priscilla was the one to really start to advocate for improvisation, and her son James was the one who really got it going. We found a lot of their old trinkets. Most were from James, given all the memorabilia he acquired over the course of the Civil War. We even found his old Assassin robes and armor set locked up in one of these underground chambers, sealed behind locked gates that only opened through completing a bunch of puzzles. Because for some reason, the Assassins like to lock their armors behind old gates with obnoxiously complicated puzzles. I don't get it either.

You may think I'm getting off track again, but I'm actually not this time. Because we went down to the chamber that once held the armor. Of course, now the robes were gone. They actually looked modern enough for me to wear around town for a bit without too many heads turning. I must say, I look quite swell in my ancestor’s robes.

...Dang it. Now I'm getting off track.

In place of the armor now was the Staff and Marbles. We locked the gate up again and broke the mechanisms to the puzzles. Now the gate was the only barrier between the artifacts and the outside world. And that steel is freaking strong, trust me. We tried blowing it up once and it didn't even scratch. Nothing can get through that gate.

This intrigued Jacob, who was in the room when we arrived, eying the Pieces. Eying them in a way I admittedly should've been more concerned about, looking back. His eyes flickered around the chamber and the gate, before he shook his head and turned to the group.

“The chamber’s really secure, huh? They aren’t going to suddenly go missing one night, right?”

“Not if our ancestor had anything to say about it,” Chelsea said.

“Man must've been very protective of his robes,” I said.

Chelsea chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so. At least the cage suits us well now.”

I looked over at Jacob. He was still eying the Pieces curiously.

“Good. Don’t want those disappearing,” he said. “They could change the balance of everything.”

“Indeed…”

There was something off. I knew there was. But I didn't get a chance to think about it at the time. My main mission literally came knocking at the door.

“Hey Carter,” Ben said as he came into the room. “Just wanted to let you know, Ruby's upstairs waiting for you whenever you're ready to head back to 1849.”

“Gotchya. Thanks Ben. I'll be right up.”

He gave me a thumbs up. He turned to leave, but Chelsea stopped him.

“How's Ava doing?” she asked. “Is she…?”

“She's been feeling a bit better, thankfully. That date with Ruby really lifted her spirits.”

“Those two finally hooked up?” I said, proud of my friend for overcoming her nerves.

Ben laughed. “Well, I wouldn't say ‘hook up’-”

“Yeah you would,” Chelsea said.

“Yeah I would. But Ava's still on edge and I can't imagine she'd enjoy her social anxiety getting in the way on top of… everything else.”

“Gotchya.”

“I ship them,” I joked.

Jacob let out a laugh and yelled, “Sail!” before turning away from the Pieces, smiling widely at us. The look in his eyes had vanished and he almost seemed normal again.

“You're both such dweebs,” Chelsea said to us.

“Blame Carter. He’s a bad influence.”

“That is 100% accurate,” I said.

And then Chelsea smacked us both upside the head. We yelped in pain and rubbed our heads before all of us started laughing again. Jacob grinned at me, heading towards the stairs.

“You heading out, dude?” I asked him.

“Yeah. Gonna go check around town. See if anything new has come up. Do some thinking. You know, the usual.” He gave me a two fingered salute, smiling. “Call me if you need me.”

I laughed. “Gonna be a bit hard to do from 1849, but sure,” I said.

“What happened to never give up?” He laughed as he headed out.

I watched him go, smiling.

“Y’all are still dweebs,” Chelsea joked.

“I learned from the best,” I told her, and then rushed to the exit with Ben before she got another chance to smack me.

We all headed up to the living room, where Ruby had the Animus ready and waiting. She stood up energetically as we walked in, and patted the chair.

“Come on, kiddo! That Key ain't gonna find itself!” she joked.

I laughed and sat down in the chair. It wasn't long before Ruby had the headset over my eyes and she started clacking codes on her keyboard. The others wished me luck like normal, and I saw the white void of the Animus take shape around me. A strand of digital DNA started blinking, ready to be selected. Ruby clacked one last bit of code, and the little molecule suddenly exploded into a blinding hail of light that filled my vision and overtook my senses. The mechanical hum of the machine was replaced by the songs of birds and the clatter of carriages outside. My mind slipped away, replaced by another as she looked down at the book she was engrossed in. Her hand instinctively caressed her gut as she read. There was a lot to come in the near future. Priscilla figured she'd get some family time while the peace lasted.

Description
February 6, 2016; Indianapolis, Indiana

I rode the Cardinal to the alley that night. There was a light flurry of snow, so it was a bit hard to maneuver the motorcycle, but I wasn't going to let that get in the way. Not tonight.

I brought my bike to a stop and hopped off. I was alone. I could see the lights shining from the skyscrapers nearby, reminders that life continued on outside my little corner of isolation. I suppose knowing that was somewhat comforting. It certainly lessened the burden of the risk I was taking. I knew there was a good chance someone could end up dead tonight if things went sour, and that someone very well could've been me. But at least I had the benefit of knowing the city would long live on without me.

I simply stood there, examining the ground for little details as the noises of city life sounded all around the quiet, abandoned alley. I used the moment to practice a new skill, something I picked up from Priscilla actually. I had gained Eagle Vision from her memories. I had gained the infamous sixth sense that so many Assassins before me had used throughout history. It was rather cool, truth be told. It felt special, like I suddenly had something that only the greats could truly master. Grant it, mine, like Priscilla’s, was a bit choppy. It wasn't perfect, but it got the job done. I watched the world turn color-coded, and I used that to analyze every little detail I saw.

And that was about when I heard the scraping of boots behind me and the clacking of a gun soon after. I stood up slowly, and I turned around.

And there she was. Jess.

She stood there, gun in her hand, aiming right at my skull. The only thing preventing her from pulling the trigger was Vienna, who had appeared at the same time behind Jess and held a cocked shotgun right up against her skull, ready to fire the second Jess’s finger even flinched.

“Ms. Wolfgang,” I said calmly, “Glad you could make it.”

“Give me one good reason I shouldn't blow your brains away,” she said, not taking her eyes off me. I could tell the shotgun pushing against the back of her head was making her nervous. I could see it in her eyes.

I gave her a look that said, “If you say so,” and then gestured to the two rooftops above us. I made a high pitched eagle sound as a signal.

And within moments, my allies showed up. On one roof was Police Commissioner Henry Grayson and about a dozen policemen. On the other roof was Jonathan and an equal number of thugs from the Eagle Eyes. All of them had guns. All of them were aimed directly at Jess. She looked nervously at them, and did a terrible job at hiding it.

“And if that's not reason enough,” I said, pulling out my phone. I tapped into ctOS and used it to bring up the mechanical gates that closed off the exits to the alley. I locked them both.

Jess probably would've looked around in surprise if it wasn't for Vienna’s shotgun.

“What…” was all she could stutter.

“We need to talk, Jess,” I said, again trying to stay calm and collected.

“Why the hell would I say anything to you?” she spat.

“Well, for starters, we ain't letting you go until you do.”

“I'll kill you all.”

“The odds really aren't in your favor in that regard.”

She swiveled her eyes around at all the guns aiming at her. She lowered her own weapon slightly, but still kept it in the air. She stared daggers at me.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I told you: to talk.”

“About what?”

“What you said in Croydon.”

And that was when I saw true fear overtake her eyes. I saw her gun hand shaking a little.

“Go to hell,” she told me.

“Jess…”

“You don’t know me!”

“Well that's just the problem, Jess. I don't know you. But I have a pretty good idea from what I heard in the caverns.” I paused. “Look, I know growing up had to have been rough. I mean, with someone as cruel as Natasha-”

“Don't talk about my mother like that!” she shouted. It didn't sound like she was demanding respect, it sounded like she was fearful of what would happen in respect wasn't given. Still, I raised my hands up.

“Okay,” I said. “Okay, fair enough. Calm down. Just… look. What I wanted to tell you is that I know how you must've felt growing up.”

“You don’t know me. You don’t know what it's like!”

“But I do, Jess. I do.” I paused. My expression saddened. “I'm sure you're very well aware of who my mother is…”

“A terrible Grand Master compared to my mom,” she spat.

“I have no doubt she is. But you know my mom, what crazy lengths she'll go to. I faced abuse just like you did.”

“Shut up…”

“I just wanted to let you know it's okay to speak out…”

“Shut up!”

“We can help, Jess. We'd gladly help if you'd let us…”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

I saw her finger start to move on the trigger, and so I acted on instinct and whipped out my own pistol at lightning speed, took aim, and fired. My bullet smacked into her gun, sending it skittering away across the pavement. She was unarmed, and it clearly terrified her. Tears rolled down her face, though she tried to keep them back.

“You don’t know me…” she said shakily. “You don’t… My… my mother was… a
... a… hero to the Order… She was… was…”

I saw her gaze trail off, like her mind was slipping back into a dark, dark place.

“Jess…” I said, legitimately concerned for her. “I think we both know you know you don't really believe that…”

She was shaking. I slowly stepped towards her. Vienna glanced over at me, her eyes begging caution. “Jess…” I said, extending my hand as a gesture of comfort, but she suddenly yanked away violently, like she was appalled by the sight of it. Vienna quickly fixed her aim and she was about to shoot when I told her to hold back.

Jess stumbled to the side, thankfully to the side opposite of her gun. She stared bitterly at both me and Vienna. She was breathing heavily.

“You don’t know my life…” she sobbed. “I have… a responsibility to my Order. And I don't give a damn about what you say!”

“Jess…”

“Let me go right now.”

“Jess…”

“Now!”

I stared sadly, and eventually I nodded. I pulled out my phone and unlocked the gates, retracting them. She slowly walked to the exit, never taking her eyes off me.

“I saved your life, Jess,” I said quietly. “Don't forget that.”

She gave me one last fiery look, and then took off in a sprint, not even stopping to reclaim her gun. I watched her go with a heavy heart.

“I'm sorry Jess…” I said under my breath.

Vienna tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a look that said, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I'm fine. Thanks, Vienna. I just… I just wish I knew how to help her…”

She sheathed her shotgun between her bag straps and pulled out her phone. She typed out and showed me, “Maybe she just can’t be helped.”

“She can be,” I said. “I know she can. I was helped.”

“She's a Templar.”

“A Templar with doubt.”

Vienna didn't type anything; she just kinda paused, and then nodded slowly.

For a while we just stood there. Henry and Jonathan asked if they should withdraw their men and women, and I told them yes, pack up and head home. Soon it was just me and Vienna in the silent alleyway.

My phone buzzed after a moment, and so I pulled it out to look at the text. It was from Ruby:

“Hey kid! Just wanted to let you know we've got the Animuses… Animi… Ani… whatever, hooked up and ready to go. Just head on down to the hideout whenever you're ready to head back to 1849.”

I looked at Vienna. “Well, I should probably get going,” I told her. “We've still got a mission to complete.”

Vienna nodded and gave me two thumbs up. I smiled. “Thanks for helping out, Vi,” I told her. She smiled and nodded and shook my hand. And just before I made to leave, she typed out one last thing to show me: “Good luck with her. I know you can help her. Just give it time.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Vi.”

She smiled back at me and I turned to leave the alleyway. I pulled up my hood, hopped on the Cardinal, and sped back across town towards Assassin HQ.

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

“So we found out something interesting about the Staff and Marbles you guys picked up,” Chelsea told me when I walked into the hideout living room.

“Do tell,” I said.

“Apparently, the thing only works at full potential when it draws in energy from other devices.”

“That so?”

“Yeah. We nearly shorted out all the lights trying to get that thing locked away.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah. I'm just glad it wasn't on a larger scale. God only knows what trouble that could cause.”

“Where'd you put that thing anyway?”

She stood from her chair and motioned for me to follow, which I did. She led me down towards the warehouse basement, into one of the hidden catacombs that was built over as the years went on. Come to think of it, a lot of these old secrets were actually built by our family. Priscilla was the one to really start to advocate for improvisation, and her son James was the one who really got it going. We found a lot of their old trinkets. Most were from James, given all the memorabilia he acquired over the course of the Civil War. We even found his old Assassin robes and armor set locked up in one of these underground chambers, sealed behind locked gates that only opened through completing a bunch of puzzles. Because for some reason, the Assassins like to lock their armors behind old gates with obnoxiously complicated puzzles. I don't get it either.

You may think I'm getting off track again, but I'm actually not this time. Because we went down to the chamber that once held the armor. Of course, now the robes were gone. They actually looked modern enough for me to wear around town for a bit without too many heads turning. I must say, I look quite swell in my ancestor’s robes.

...Dang it. Now I'm getting off track.

In place of the armor now was the Staff and Marbles. We locked the gate up again and broke the mechanisms to the puzzles. Now the gate was the only barrier between the artifacts and the outside world. And that steel is freaking strong, trust me. We tried blowing it up once and it didn't even scratch. Nothing can get through that gate.

This intrigued Jacob, who was in the room when we arrived, eying the Pieces. Eying them in a way I admittedly should've been more concerned about, looking back. His eyes flickered around the chamber and the gate, before he shook his head and turned to the group.

“The chamber’s really secure, huh? They aren’t going to suddenly go missing one night, right?”

“Not if our ancestor had anything to say about it,” Chelsea said.

“Man must've been very protective of his robes,” I said.

Chelsea chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so. At least the cage suits us well now.”

I looked over at Jacob. He was still eying the Pieces curiously.

“Good. Don’t want those disappearing,” he said. “They could change the balance of everything.”

“Indeed…”

There was something off. I knew there was. But I didn't get a chance to think about it at the time. My main mission literally came knocking at the door.

“Hey Carter,” Ben said as he came into the room. “Just wanted to let you know, Ruby's upstairs waiting for you whenever you're ready to head back to 1849.”

“Gotchya. Thanks Ben. I'll be right up.”

He gave me a thumbs up. He turned to leave, but Chelsea stopped him.

“How's Ava doing?” she asked. “Is she…?”

“She's been feeling a bit better, thankfully. That date with Ruby really lifted her spirits.”

“Those two finally hooked up?” I said, proud of my friend for overcoming her nerves.

Ben laughed. “Well, I wouldn't say ‘hook up’-”

“Yeah you would,” Chelsea said.

“Yeah I would. But Ava's still on edge and I can't imagine she'd enjoy her social anxiety getting in the way on top of… everything else.”

“Gotchya.”

“I ship them,” I joked.

Jacob let out a laugh and yelled, “Sail!” before turning away from the Pieces, smiling widely at us. The look in his eyes had vanished and he almost seemed normal again.

“You're both such dweebs,” Chelsea said to us.

“Blame Carter. He’s a bad influence.”

“That is 100% accurate,” I said.

And then Chelsea smacked us both upside the head. We yelped in pain and rubbed our heads before all of us started laughing again. Jacob grinned at me, heading towards the stairs.

“You heading out, dude?” I asked him.

“Yeah. Gonna go check around town. See if anything new has come up. Do some thinking. You know, the usual.” He gave me a two fingered salute, smiling. “Call me if you need me.”

I laughed. “Gonna be a bit hard to do from 1849, but sure,” I said.

“What happened to never give up?” He laughed as he headed out.

I watched him go, smiling.

“Y’all are still dweebs,” Chelsea joked.

“I learned from the best,” I told her, and then rushed to the exit with Ben before she got another chance to smack me.

We all headed up to the living room, where Ruby had the Animus ready and waiting. She stood up energetically as we walked in, and patted the chair.

“Come on, kiddo! That Key ain't gonna find itself!” she joked.

I laughed and sat down in the chair. It wasn't long before Ruby had the headset over my eyes and she started clacking codes on her keyboard. The others wished me luck like normal, and I saw the white void of the Animus take shape around me. A strand of digital DNA started blinking, ready to be selected. Ruby clacked one last bit of code, and the little molecule suddenly exploded into a blinding hail of light that filled my vision and overtook my senses. The mechanical hum of the machine was replaced by the songs of birds and the clatter of carriages outside. My mind slipped away, replaced by another as she looked down at the book she was engrossed in. Her hand instinctively caressed her gut as she read. There was a lot to come in the near future. Priscilla figured she'd get some family time while the peace lasted.