Isabelle Ardant

== Isabelle Ardant (née Chu; 1969 – 2015) was an Operations executive in the Historical Research division of Abstergo Industries, and a member of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order. ==

Early life
Isabelle was born in Hong Kong in 1969 and moved to the United Kingdom to attend the University of Cambridge, where she specialized in computer science.

Early years with Abstergo
At one point, she was recruited by Abstergo Industries as a part of their "Young Innovators" program. She worked as a digital archivist for the Project Legacy program, eventually learning about the existance of the Pieces of Eden. Isabelle worked her way up through the ranks, finally securing her position as the Operation Executive for the Historical Research division, and being inducted into the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Orden in 2011.

Thanks to her former role as archivist for the Project Legacy, Isabelle found out about the Shroud of Eden that Abstergo had found during World War II. Isabelle took the Shroud, and offered Álvaro Gramática to hand it to him, to see if he could make it work. Álvaro accepted, since he wouldn't miss the chance to "take Vidic down a peg" after the failure of the Eye-Abstergo project.

In 2014, Ardant sent an email to Álvaro Gramática, in which she briefed him about the 2.7 seconds of footage depicting the First Civilization, that had been successfully extracted from John Standish's genetic memories. Although the data was relatively mangled, she was able to make out architectural styles and large guard-like figures, which excited her.

Quest for the Shroud
In 2015, Abstergo was on the trail of a Shroud of Eden. Ardant entered her office in London, where she shared a video conference with Gramática, who was heading the search, promising to bring in Sigma Team. Seconds after she ended the call, she was confronted by the Assassins Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. However, Juhani Otso Berg and Violet da Costa turned up, but a set of explosives allowed the Assassins to escape. Angered by their escape, Isabelle ordered Sigma Team to hunt them down.

Some time afterward, the Templars learned that the Shroud was hidden underneath Buckingham Palace, but unknown to them, so had the Assassins. Hastings, Crane and Galina Voronina attacked Ardant, da Costa and Berg. While Ardant attempted to escape with the Shroud, Hastings snuck up behind the Templar and stabbed her in the back with his Shock Blade, killing her. Though the Assassins were forced to retreat without the Shroud, Violet managed to escape with it, leaving an unconscious Berg and a deceased Ardant behind in the process.

Trivia

 * Ardant's maiden name, Chu, can be written as 朱 in the, in which case it would mean "red, scarlet", or as 楚 in the , referring to one of the kingdoms in the Zhou dynasty.