Rebecca Crane

"The Templars might have deeper pockets than us, but they've got no ambition, no passion, no competitive edge! That's why, even with all their resources, anything they can do, I can do better. Faster too."

- Rebecca Crane.

Rebecca Crane (born 1984) is a member of the Assassin Order and the creator of the Animus 2.0, which she affectionately referred to as "Baby."

She was a member of Lucy Stillman's team, which concentrated on acquiring the Apple of Eden before Abstergo Industries, as well as training Desmond Miles through the use of the Bleeding Effect. She provided technical support for the other members of the Assassin Order alongside her fellow Assassin, Shaun Hastings.

Early life
"I was into sports, but then I broke my leg and started playing with computers. Who knew that coding could be just as exhilarating as strapping on a board and dropping out of a helicopter?"

- Rebecca Crane.

Rebecca was one of the few Assassins who were not born into the Assassin Order, but recruited instead. Prior to joining the Order, Rebecca engaged in sports, including extreme snowboarding and skydiving. However, when she suffered a broken leg, she began pursuing an interest in computers during her recovery, and found coding to be as entertaining as her previous hobbies. Rebecca also had a relationship with an electronics engineer before she was contacted by the Assassins.

Some time after her own recruitment into the Order, Rebecca was responsible for the recruitment of Shaun Hastings. Since he had discovered some of Abstergo Industries' secrets, Shaun had begun spreading the word about their plans, thus provoking unwanted attention. Rebecca attempted to ward him off, saying that he was "messing with the wrong people." She assumed that Shaun did not believe her, as he continued his work. Shaun later admitted that he would have wound up at the bottom of a river had Rebecca not stepped in to save his life and brought him into the Order.

Rebecca was Clay Kaczmarek's teammate when he was tasked with infiltrating Abstergo Industries.

Rebecca was also an old friend of Lucy Stillman, though the two did not see each other for seven years after 2005, during the time Lucy was working undercover at Abstergo. The two only reunited in 2012, after Desmond and Lucy's escape from Abstergo's laboratories.

At one point, Desmond asked Rebecca if she had ever used the Animus to learn about her ancestors. She commented that the lives she had relived were "lame" compared to those of Desmond's ancestors, complaining how boring it had been spending the whole day using firearms as a Prussian mercenary.

Hiding out
"Here we go. I've got you all hooked up. Got a long drive ahead of us. Figured you might want to play around with the Animus on the way."

- Rebecca to Desmond after leaving the Hideout.

In the Hideout, Rebecca served as technical support for the Animus 2.0, ensuring that nothing went wrong with the machine or with Desmond's interaction with it. She often left notes within the Database articles that Shaun created, usually when the entries were locations that held Glyphs or Assassin's Tombs.

After Lucy had given her the memory core of the Abstergo Animus, Rebecca excitedly integrated it with her own, successfully (albeit accidentally) also transferring the encrypted files that Clay Kaczmarek had left behind in Ezio Auditore da Firenze's memories.

On irregular occasions when Desmond exited the Animus for a break, Rebecca would speak to him about the Order and his progress with the machine, once approvingly telling him that he was a natural at working with it.

Shortly after Desmond received the warning from Minerva, Abstergo agents found and broke into the Hideout. Rebecca helped Shaun collect the Animus equipment while Desmond and Lucy held off the Abstergo guards. As they escaped in a van, Rebecca managed to set up the Animus within it, allowing Desmond to enter the Animus again and finish any remaining memories while on their way to a safe location.

Stay in Monteriggioni
After the team arrived at Monteriggioni and gained access to the Sanctuary, Rebecca was again responsible for the Animus and their other equipment. To power the underground chamber, Rebecca gave Desmond several devices of her own making, which would re-route small amounts of power to their new base upon being attached to circuit boxes across the town.

Throughout their stay in the Villa Auditore, Rebecca regularly sent e-mails to her teammates, usually involving minor matters, such as her missing MP3 player and how Shaun had stolen Lucy's yogurt. She also informed Lucy, seemingly worried, that Desmond had been shouting in his sleep.

Journey to the Colosseum
When Desmond found out the location of the Apple and the team arrived at the Colosseo, Lucy took Rebecca and Shaun on an alternative route through Capitoline Hill at Shaun's suggestion (as he and Rebecca did not possess the necessary free-running abilities to reach the Apple's location). When Juno, a member of the First Civilization, appeared and spoke to Desmond in the Colosseum Vault, Rebecca, along with Shaun and Lucy, could neither hear nor see her.

As Desmond retrieved the Apple, he was possessed by Juno. She presented him with a vision of what would happen if Lucy was left alive, and influenced Desmond to kill her with the Hidden Blade. When Juno relinquished her control, Rebecca and Shaun appeared physically unharmed.

Monitoring Desmond
"Every death is a tragedy. To somebody, somewhere."

- Rebecca, regarding Lucy's death.

After Lucy's death and William Miles' arrival, Rebecca presided over the comatose Desmond, who had been placed back into the Animus. While William was confident that Desmond would be safe, Rebecca cautioned that the Animus wasn't built to sustain cognitive processes, and that connecting Desmond to it in such a state was risky. However, after Desmond had relived Ezio's adventures in Constantinople, he managed to regain consciousness.

When he woke up, the Animus had once again been placed inside a van, and Rebecca occupied her usual spot beside him, keeping an eye on the machine and Desmond's health.

Grand Temple
After Desmond encountered Cross in Manhattan, Rebecca mentioned that she had heard of him previously. Though she hadn't known Cross personally, she knew Hannah, an Assassin that had died trying to reason with him. She explained that he had been important to the Assassins, and became upset when recalling how he used to be.

Rebecca and Shaun helped locate the missing power sources in order to unlock the temple door, leading Desmond first to New York, then to Brazil and then the Abstergo Industries building in Italy, where Desmond had been held captive.

After finally unlocking the door, Desmond and the team, including Rebecca, encountered Juno and Minerva within the depths of the temple. When he was given the choice to let the world be destroyed or save it and release Juno, Desmond told Rebecca, Shaun and William to leave and get as far away from the temple as possible. Once they had retreated, Desmond sacrificed himself to protect the Earth from the Second Disaster and liberated Juno from her prison.

Undercover at Abstergo
In late October 2013, as a part of their mission to learn what they could about Desmond's fate, Rebecca and Shaun infiltrated the Abstergo Entertainment facility in Montreal. Rebecca acted as a courier, collecting a number of data files that had been obtained by an Abstergo researcher at the behest of John in IT. When John's true motives were revealed, Rebecca contacted the researcher directly, claiming that she and Shaun were willing to continue with the hacking project if the employee was as well.

On 2 December, Rebecca e-mailed Gavin, inform him about the last events in Montreal, and informs him that she and Shaun will leave Montreal soon to analyze the information gathered and plan their next move.

Characteristics and personality
"Look, it's not ideal. And taking a life is never easy. But sometimes there's no other way. Sometimes, Desmond, people have to die for things to change."

- Rebecca speaking about an Assassin's duties.

Rebecca was an energetic and somewhat immature young woman. Also, despite the fact that she had saved his life multiple times, Shaun was quick to belittle and gibe at her, though she was rarely provoked. At one point, when she commented on a movie as Shaun was explaining the historical background of the Bonfire of the Vanities, he irritably told her to be quiet since "the grownups are talking."

Rebecca was tolerant and optimistic, representing a foil to Shaun's more cynical and brash personality. As the polar opposite of her colleague, she was friendly and talkative. She was also deeply affected by the loss of those in the Order, becoming quieter and more closed off after Lucy's death and at the mention of Hannah's passing. She showed great pride in her work, praising her redesign of the Animus as having a far more enlightened and creative construct; a "competitive edge" as she called it.

She also remained convinced that, despite Shaun's dubiousness of their methods, the Assassins were, as Desmond put it, "the good guys."

Trivia

 * The name Rebecca is derived from the Hebrew name Rivqah, רִבְקָה, which is traditionally associated with the meanings "to trap, to tie, to secure" or "snare, trap."
 * When in the Animus 2.0, Rebecca added information to the database using the name REBECCAC84.
 * Rebecca's e-mail password is Snowmass84, likely to reflect her previous hobby.
 * In one of her e-mails, Rebecca talked about sometimes missing her family and her dog.
 * Rebecca was originally intended to have shorter hair in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, though this was reverted for the actual game.
 * In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, it was suggested that Rebecca was a reckless driver, as when she offered to drive the van, Shaun refused, saying, "Ah, nice try. I've seen your car."
 * It was implied that Rebecca was either a vegan or vegetarian, as she accusingly called Desmond a "carnivore" after seeing him eat a burger.
 * In The Lost Archive DLC trailer, Rebecca could be heard saying "Vidic, you kept him in Animus too long." However, she did not appear in the DLC.