Lucy Stillman

"Sometimes I feel so disconnected from everything out there. Nearly a decade of my life gone, searching for those Pieces of Eden."

- Lucy to Desmond outside the Villa Auditore.

Lucy Stillman (1988 – 2012) was a member of the Assassin Order and formerly a genetic memory researcher for Abstergo Industries' Animus project. During her infiltration of Abstergo, she reported information on the company's recent activities to the Assassins. However, Lucy's lengthy separation from the Assassin Order at Abstergo and distrust for William Miles led to her secret defection to the Templar cause prior to 2011.

When Desmond Miles was brought into Abstergo for testing, Warren Vidic instructed Lucy to earn Desmond's trust so that the Templars could ultimately find the Piece of Eden located within his memories and use it in their plans for world domination. As Desmond's condition began to worsen, Vidic ordered Lucy to take him some place that he would feel safe in, with the two of them orchestrating her escape from Abstergo. Carrying out her orders, Lucy would eventually relocate Desmond to a hideout to join her fellow Assassins Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane.

After a month and another relocation to the ruined Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, the team discovered the location of the Apple, which was inside the Colosseum. When Desmond's hand made contact with the Apple, his body was possessed by Juno, a member of the First Civilization. With her knowing of Lucy's true allegiance, Juno forced Desmond to stab and kill Lucy with his hidden blade.

Early life
"The university made it clear I had no future there. [...] Said keeping me on would discredit and embarrass them."

- Lucy speaking to Desmond.

Lucy Stillman was born into the Order and received her training from William Miles. When she was seventeen, Lucy was sent off into the world in order to become a mole and infiltrate Abstergo. All her ties to the Assassin order were cut. Before starting her work at Abstergo Industries, Lucy attended university to study cognitive neuroscience but was forced to leave when her mentors began to hold issue with her topic of study, which they considered a pseudo-science. Unable to remain at the university, she applied in a variety of locations, and tried everything to find work.

Eventually, she was contacted by Dr. Warren Vidic, who offered her a position at Abstergo Industries. She accepted the offer and immediately started working with Warren on the Animus project. In the first three years, Lucy was largely responsible for the design of a number of versions of the Animus' hardware and operating system.

While Lucy was on fairly cordial and friendly terms with a few other employees at Abstergo, such as Richard, these same individuals were later ordered to have Lucy killed. However, Warren intervened, knowing she was a valuable employee for his project.

Lucy was also a friend of Leila Marino, an Abstergo employee and apparent suicide whose death was under mysterious circumstances. Lucy became concerned about Leila, but her investigations were stymied by Abstergo staff. Vidic warned her to drop the subject or end up like her friend. Lucy was never able to find out exactly what that meant.

Subject 16
By 2011, William Miles, the de facto leader of the Assassin Order, charged Clay Kaczmarek to infiltrate Abstergo's Animus project in order to discover their motives and interest in Assassin DNA. William's plan was to have Clay be intentionally kidnapped so that Lucy could give Clay access to Abstergo's network at night without detection. Lucy was responsible for protecting Clay's research and physical well being, and once Clay discovered the Templars' goals, Lucy and Clay would escape Abstergo and return to the Order.

However, unbeknownst to the Assassins, Lucy's loyalties had shifted. Years of isolation coupled with William's withdrawn and careless personality drove her away from the Assassins and to the Templars. Warren Vidic offered Lucy guidance and protection, and she became a double agent for him as Project Siren.

Through Subject 16, Vidic discovered that the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze knew about the Apple of Eden and one of the Vaults, which the Templars desired. Vidic proposed that Ezio's Apple could be attached to one of their satellites and projected across the globe, ensuring Templar rule and domination. However, Subject 16's health was deteriorating, so Vidic needed a new test subject that was related to Ezio Auditore. Abstergo managed to gather enough intelligence to learn that Desmond Miles, William Miles' son, was a living descendant of Ezio Auditore.

Subject 16, still acting on his mission from William, discovered Abstergo's plan for domination, and resolved to leave the facility in order to stop them. However, Subject 16 also discovered security tapes, detailing Lucy's true allegiance. The tapes also included Warren's plans for Desmond: Lucy would allow Desmond to see her e-mails and give him access to Abstergo's network in order to gain his trust and affiliation. If he began to suffer from the Bleeding effect, Lucy would help him "escape" the lab and take him back to the Assassins, where he would feel safe. She would also keep Vidic informed of their actions, and once the Apple of Eden was discovered, she would bring it back to Abstergo. Despite knowing Subject 16 discovered her, Lucy still protected him but refused to let him leave or make contact with the Assassins.

Soon thereafter, Subject 16 left clues and messages for Desmond inside the Animus research wing and in the Animus itself. His health quickly worsened, and he committed suicide in August of 2012. Lucy would be haunted by this, knowing that she had risked Clay's health by putting him in the Animus for, sometimes, days at a time, a stretch that fragmented Clay's reality with the Bleeding Effect.

Subject 17
In September 2012, Desmond Miles was discovered and transported to the Abstergo research facility in Italy. Lucy was responsible for pulling Desmond out of the Animus after she noticed that his subconscious would not let him view the specific memory Abstergo wanted. As Warren explained to Desmond what the Animus did and what genetic memories were, she explained Abstergo's goal, though without revealing too much information to Desmond.

In a seemingly sincere attempt to gain his trust, Lucy asked Desmond questions between his Animus sessions concerning his past and tried to answer his questions about Abstergo while not revealing too much. She also stated that he was not the only person Abstergo was detaining and that she was also an unfortunate captive.

She then told him a story of how, in the past, Abstergo had decided to silence her in order to keep her from speaking about the Animus. However, before her assailants could eliminate her, they were ordered to stand down by Vidic. She claimed that he had saved her life that day and told Desmond not to judge Vidic so harshly, seeing as he was under a lot of pressure.

As more time passed, Lucy left the door access codes in Desmond's wardrobe, so that he could finally leave his room, having hacked the surveillance feeds to disguise Desmond's wanderings. On top of the Animus, Desmond found Lucy's access pen, which had also been left there for him to find. This allowed him go through her computer and read her e-mails. Lucy also left hints for Desmond to gain access to the conference room and to steal Warren Vidic's pen, giving him access to the Abstergo internal e-mail network. Later, Lucy convinced Desmond that she was also an Assassin and was working undercover to learn more about Abstergo's plans.

When Desmond finished the desired memory, three Abstergo executives, along with Vidic, decided to kill Desmond. They figured that the information they had retrieved rendered Desmond an unnecessary burden. However, Lucy intervened and convinced them to keep Desmond for more testing, as his memories could still reveal more about the locations of the Pieces of Eden.

Escape to the hideout
"We're going to train you. Turn you into one of us."

- Lucy to Desmond.

A few hours passed after Lucy and Vidic left, leaving Desmond trapped in the lab where he had used his new skill to view Subject 16's hidden messages. Suddenly, Lucy rushed into the room with bloodstains on her shirt from fighting her way through the Abstergo facility.

Lucy told Desmond that there was no time to waste and that he had to get into the Animus to retrieve the memory core data. Lucy wrote the data on a disk and, along with Desmond, fled the laboratory. The two successfully fought their way out of the facility and began their escape.

There, they found themselves confronted by more Abstergo guards. Quickly disposing of them, they continued onward through aisles of office blocks and Animi, until they reached another coded door. Lucy's access key unexpectedly did not work for this one, but Desmond was able to unlock it by use of his newly acquired Eagle Vision. As they entered the parking lot, they were blocked by more Abstergo guards. The two eventually fought them off and arrived at Lucy's car. She ordered Desmond to climb into the trunk for "[his] own protection." When the journey was over, the pair had arrived at the hideout. Before they entered the main room, Lucy told Desmond that she had brought him there to train him to be an Assassin, using the Animus 2.0 and its Bleeding effect to imprint skills onto him through another ancestor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Entering the main room, Lucy's fellow Assassins, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, introduced themselves to Desmond and began preparations for the sessions. Later that day, Lucy evaluated Desmond's progress by tasking him with setting up the security system. In between sessions, they also discussed issues such as the Templars and the status of other Assassin teams.

After Desmond had discovered the Vault in Rome through Ezio's memories, the alarm went off as Abstergo invaded their hideout. Hurriedly, Lucy gave Desmond a hidden blade similar to Ezio's, and they made their way downstairs. When they encountered Warren Vidic in the warehouse, he reminded Lucy that he had saved her life. Both Lucy and Desmond engaged in a fight with the Abstergo guards, quickly defeating them. Warren had climbed in the back of a truck, stating that the attack was only the beginning, before fleeing the hideout.

As Desmond started to go after him, Lucy stopped him and said that they would eventually bring Warren to justice for what he had done. Lucy and the others evacuated the hideout since it was no longer safe, and Abstergo would surely be back with reinforcements.

They left in a van to hide in the mountains, and Desmond prepared to enter the Animus again to continue their search for clues. Meanwhile, Lucy continued to study the session notes to try to figure out what the "goddess" Minerva had meant, telling Desmond that everything she had feared was starting to happen.

Search for the Apple and death
After a long drive, the Assassins finally arrived in modern-day Monteriggioni, setting up their new hideout in the Sanctuary underneath the Villa Auditore. Lucy and Desmond opened the door to the Sanctuary by passing through the underground sewers and tunnels.

As Desmond continued to relive Ezio's memories, he eventually discovered another message from Subject 16. 16 warned Desmond that "she is not who you think she is" and everything he wanted "was already gone". He instructed him to find Eve and Eden, though Desmond was not able to fully understand what 16 meant.

After Desmond relived Ezio's memories in Rome, the Assassins discovered that Ezio had hidden the Apple of Eden in a vault underneath the Colosseum. As soon as Desmond retrieved the Apple within the vault, Juno, who was aware of Lucy's true allegiances, took control of Desmond's body and warned that "the cross darkens the horizon". Desmond was then forced to stab Lucy in the stomach with his hidden blade, killing her. These events put Desmond under a great deal of emotional stress, and, as a result, he fell into a coma.

Lucy was buried shortly thereafter in a small cemetery near Rome. Shaun was the only one of her team to attend the funeral, as Rebecca was presiding over the comatose Desmond with William.

Personality
"Let me guess, you're more the in-bed-at-six type."

- Desmond to Lucy while they travel to the Sanctuary.

In contrast to Warren Vidic's personality, Lucy was a warm and appreciative individual with a bright personality. She always lent encouraging words and sympathy to Desmond, though this often annoyed him. On a few occasions, when Warren attempted to force Desmond to go deeper into the Animus memory, Lucy stopped him from doing so and pleaded with him to allow Desmond to rest, as forcing Desmond to continue would cause more harm than she wished to see and would not gain the Templars enough to merit such.

However, it appears that, after Lucy left the Assassin Order, she became much more jaded and disheartened by the world. In a letter to Subject 16, she explained that William Miles was using them to fuel the war, while Abstergo cared about people and understood humanity's limitation. However, she still showed 16 compassion, as she promised to protect him.

Lucy proved to have a gift for deception, as she was able to hide her Assassin ties during her infiltration of Abstergo and later her affiliation to the Templars from her Assassin colleagues. Despite her true allegiance, she appeared to show genuine care and compassion to her team, and her regrets about Clay still haunted her to the end of her life.

Trivia

 * It is implied throughout the series that Lucy and Desmond have feelings for each other. Evidence of this is her concern for his well-being, particularly with the bleeding effect, as well as her hugging him and saying that she's glad for him being with the Assassins.
 * In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, a certain e-mail Lucy receives from William Miles states that she should not keep Desmond out of danger "just because of feelings she may or may not have" for him.
 * Also, in Assassin's Creed: Revelations, when William asks Lucy's teammates about her feelings for Desmond, Rebecca replies that there were a few "misty-eyed moments" between the two, and Shaun confirms that Lucy had told him she liked Desmond.
 * The achievement "Conversationalist" can be unlocked in the Xbox 360 version of Assassin's Creed by talking to Lucy every time Desmond exits the Animus. Desmond has to talk to her completely, until she says that she is too busy to talk, or asks if he is tired.
 * In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Lucy has Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy up on her computer in the Sanctuary, set to the memory sequence for Mario Auditore.
 * From Sequence 6 to 8 in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Lucy is missing from Monteriggioni, though the reason for this is unknown.
 * Lucy's password for her e-mail account is Juno57. This proves to be foreshadowing, as it is Juno who forces Desmond to stab her.
 * In a very rare glitch, on her way to the Colosseum in the van with Desmond, Lucy can be seen wearing her outfit from Assassin's Creed II.