Modern times

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"If there is one message Gavin brings with him in his tour around the world, it is this: The Assassins are no longer alone."

―An Initiate spy, 2014.

Buzz Aldrin picking up the Apple of Eden on the surface of the Moon

Modern times refers to the period from the start of the 20th century through the 21st century CE. This era saw the overall decline of the Assassin Order and the ascendance of the Templars, including Desmond Miles' capture for use in the Animus Project and the commercialization of genetic memory technologies.

The Templar Order recovered several Pieces of Eden during the modern age. Among the victims of their search were Harry Houdini, Mahatma Gandhi, and John F. Kennedy. Although not a victim, Nikola Tesla lost his Apple of Eden to the Templars, an incident which motivated him to help the Assassins in destroying the Imperial Sceptre, one of the Staves of Eden. Additionally, the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon was in fact a Templar expedition to recover an Apple of Eden that was on the lunar surface.

Events

20th century

Russian Empire

The Tunguska explosion

At some point before June 1908, Templar agent Grigori Rasputin stole the Imperial Sceptre from Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Without the Staff of Eden, Nicholas could not control his people, ultimately leading to the Russian Revolution. Meanwhile, the Staff was brought by Rasputin to a Templar research station in Tunguska.

Before the Templars could take advantage of the artifact, however, a team of Russian Assassins led by Nikolai Orelov and their ally Nikola Tesla destroyed the facility. Only Nikolai survived the explosion, during which he experienced a vision of an Isu and heard several voices from the past.

In 1914, Rasputin traveled with his disciple, Khioniya Guseva, to his hometown of Pokrovskoye in Siberia. Upon meeting her outside the town church, Guseva attacked Rasputin and sliced his stomach open, yet he miraculously healed and used a shard of the Imperial Sceptre that he wore around his neck to force Guseva to mutilate herself. On 29 December 1916, Rasputin was assassinated by Felix Yusupov and his co-conspirators, enduring poisoning and multiple gunshots before being clubbed to death. His body was discarded in a river, and was later recovered and buried near Petrograd.

In 1917, during the Russian Revolution, Nikolai was tasked by Vladimir Lenin to assassinate Tsar Nicholas II. Nikolai infiltrated the palace but spared the Tsar, only wanting to be sure that the Imperial Sceptre had been destroyed. Nicholas then told Nikolai about the shard worn by Rasputin, which appeared to be made of the same material as the Sceptre.

Seeking more information, the Assassin went to Krasnoyarsk and freed Khioniya Guseva from the local asylum. After she told him about her failed attempt on Rasputin's life and the powers of his shard, Nikolai agreed to end Guseva's life to stop her suffering. Nikolai later recovered the shard from Rasputin's grave, but chose not to inform the Brotherhood of his actions. In December 1917, the Brotherhood, with the help of the Soviet government, installed a scientific community at Protvino. Among their number was the Assassin Sergei and his wife.

Nikolai and Anastasia talking during the train ride to Kazan

In July 1918, Nikolai accepted one last mission for the Assassins before leaving Russia: recovering a Precursor box once held by Ezio Auditore, which was in possession of the Tsar's family, who were imprisoned by the Bolsheviks. In Yekaterinburg, Nikolai discovered that the Templars also sought the box and had executed the Tsar's entire family except for Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who had the artifact. When Nikolai found her, his shard from the Imperial Sceptre and the box came into contact, causing a Bleeding Effect on Anastasia and imprinting her with the memories of the Chinese Assassin Shao Jun.

Nikolai decided to bring Anastasia to the Assassins in Moscow to cure her, and the pair boarded a train to Kazan to escape the Templars. In Kazan, however, Nikolai was betrayed by his friend Leon Trotsky, who believed that Anastasia's continued existence as a symbol of the Tsar's power ran against the revolution's ideas and could only be resolved by killing her. Nikolai was subsequently captured and interrogated by the Templars before Anastasia rescued him, and they both escaped the city by boat.

In Moscow, Nikolai entrusted Anastasia and the box to Sergei. At the local Assassin bureau, Nikolai learned that the Assassins planned to use Anastasia as a test subject to recover Shao Jun's memories, despite knowing the process would likely kill her. Nikolai decided to betray the Brotherhood and save her from their laboratory.

Furious that Nikolai had impeded their plans by rescuing Anastasia from the facility, the Assassins sent a tank to kill him. Instructing Anastasia to run and wait for him at the Bolshoi Theatre, the former Assassin eventually destroyed the tank. As he had promised, Nikolai went to the theater and gave a false passport to Anastasia, who took the name of Anna Anderson. Nikolai then bid farewell to "Anna", who went to Germany to start a new life.

Assassins from the Bureau of Investigation sent to locate Nikolai

Abandoning the Assassins, Nikolai migrated to the United States with his family. During the Palmer Raids of 1919, his wife Anna and daughter Nadya were deported back to Russia, but Nikolai evaded arrest with his infant son Innokenti and subsequently raised him in a secluded cabin. When Sergei found them in 1926, he threatened Innokenti to make Nikolai hand over the shard. In response, Nikolai killed Sergei and trained his son to fight, anticipating the return of subsequent Assassins.

Eventually, a group of American Assassins who worked for the FBI attempted to explain to Nikolai that they had provided his family safe return to Russia, claiming to only want information about his vision. Nikolai refused to believe them and initiated a fight which left Innokenti as the sole survivor.

World War I

With the beginning of World War I, the Assassins were sent all across Europe to be at every theatre of the war. Many British Assassins enlisted in the British Army. During the Christmas truce of 1914, one Assassins worked undercover as a doctor to get close to and kill the Templar Erich Albert, a General in the German Army.

Lydia Frye and Winston Churchill in London

In 1916, the Templars installed a spy ring in London while most British Assassins left the city to fight in the war, leaving Lydia Frye as the sole Assassin in London. On behalf of Winston Churchill, she infiltrated a German Templar spy facility located in Tower Bridge and eliminated all the spies located there. Afterwards, Churchill informed her of a Templar going by the moniker of the "Master Spy" and his devoted followers who were all Instruments of the First Will members. Unbeknownst to them, the Master Spy was in fact a Sage.

Churchill asked that Lydia investigate the Master Spy and his followers, deeming it a pressing matter of national security, which he had been unable to broach with the government due to the lack of significant evidence. In exchange for her services, Churchill promised Lydia that he would do what he could for the enfranchisemet of women once he returned to parliament after the war.

Lydia eventually tracked down and confronted the Master Spy at his hideout; a struggle ensued, and the Templar used a stun grenade to disorient the Assassin, giving him an opportunity to slip away. He then made his way towards another stronghold, where he and his remaining followers attempted to burn documents containing evidence of Juno's existence. However, Lydia followed them and killed the entire group, including the Master Spy himself, thereby eliminating the cult's presence in London.

In 1917, Churchill became Minister of Munitions, putting him in charge of the production and delivery of tanks, planes, and ammunition to the front; his efforts were regarded as a significant contributor to Germany's defeat.

The Black Cross

By February 1927, Albert Bolden, a former soldier in the United States Armed Forces and World War I veteran, had become the latest Black Cross, the feared inquisitor of the Templar Order. Traveling the world under the guise of the lead trumpeter in Albie Bolden and the Harlem Hotsteppers, Bolden was tasked with maintaining the Order's integrity by eliminating corrupt members who used Templar connections and resources for their own gain.

Albert Bolden confronting Thaddeus Gift

While in London, Bolden tracked the British Rite's Grand Master Thaddeus Gift, who had embezzled money from the Order. As he fled from the Black Cross, Gift tried to call his son, Darius, but was killed before the latter could answer the phone. The revelation of Gift's corruption tarnished his family's name, and his subsequent funeral at the Temple Church was only attended by Darius and the Master Templar Ferris. After the ceremony, Ferris gave Darius an opportunity to restore his family's reputation, and tasked him to deliver a package to the Shanghai Rite in China without revealing its contents.

Meanwhile, Bolden traveled to China himself, where he prepared to ambush the Great Wall, a Templar train. The train had been hijacked by the turncoat Yuri Dolinsky, who blamed the Order for allowing his father to be killed by the Assassins. As the Great Wall traveled through Chekiang province, carrying White Russian soldiers to support the warlord Zhang Zongchang against the Templar-backed Chiang Kai-shek, Bolden boarded the train and killed Dolinsky and his men, leaving their bodies to be found by Chiang's forces.

Showdown in Shanghai

In April 1927, Darius Gift arrived in Shanghai, though the box he had been tasked to deliver to the local Templars was almost immediately stolen by a prostitute calling herself "Roo". As he tried to follow her, Darius was attacked by two Frenchmen who mistook him for the Black Cross. Fortunately, he was saved by Albert Bolden, who killed one of his assailants while the other fled. Inspecting the slain man's wallet, Bolden discovered that he was Henri Melville, a French policeman, and promised to recover the package Darius had lost.

As part of his investigation, Bolden eavesdropped on a meeting between the Shanghai Rite's Grand Master, Stirling Fessenden, and the Templars Coxworth, Joffre and Tatsumi. Ever since the previous Grand Master's, Sun Yat-sen, death at the hands of the Assassins, the Rite struggled to maintain order in Shanghai due to the growing conflict between the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek. To solve the issue, the Templars decided to recruit Chiang into the Order and offer him the position of Grand Master. The Rite had also been alerted to the Black Cross' presence in the city, and Fessenden instructed his underlings to offer him aid in any way they could.

Bolden standing atop the Great World's tower

After the meeting, Bolden approached Joffre disguised as a cab driver and questioned him about the documents found on Henri Melville, which mentioned the Hop Wo Society. Joffre directed the Black Cross to the Great World amusement park, but there Bolden was ambushed by crime boss Du Yuesheng and his Green Gang. Bolden allowed himself to be captured in order to talk to Du and ascertain whether he was behind the theft of Darius' package. After confirming that Du was not in possession of the box, Bolden retrieved his equipment and escaped.

Meanwhile, Darius discovered that "Roo" was in fact actress Ruan Lingyu after seeing her face on a movie poster. He traveled to the local movie production studio and managed to sneak his way into Ruan's dressing room, where he confronted her about her theft of the box. Ruan revealed that the package had already been sold before her husband Zhang Damin arrived and knocked out Darius.

Fessenden meeting with Chiang Kai-shek

As Chiang Kai-shek's troops marched into Shanghai, Zhang was distracted by the riots and Ruan seized the opportunity to knock him unconscious. She then freed Darius from the trunk of their car and together they sought refuge in a nearby temple. There, the two affirmed their feelings for each other with a kiss, and Ruan revealed that the box had been sold to Soong Ching-ling, Sun Yat-sen's widow, in order to pay off Zhang's debts. However, Ruan had secretly removed the box's contents beforehand: the severed ring finger of Thaddeus Gift.

Elsewhere, Bolden had deduced on his own that Soong was behind the theft of the box and paid her a visit. Soong revealed that she did not want the package to end up in Chiang Kai-shek's possession, as he did not care about the Templar cause and would inevitably betray the Order. Sure enough, while meeting with Stirling Fessenden, Chiang revealed that he had no intention of joining the Templars and had only used their resources to gain control of Shanghai. With that, he ordered his troops and Du Yuesheng's men to massacre all communists in the city, and also sent Du's enforcer Flowery Flag to kill Darius and Ruan.

Bolden falling to his 'death'

Learning of this, Bolden rushed to protect the pair and engaged in a fight with Flowery Flag, emerging victorious after hanging his opponent. However, Darius then grabbed Flowery Flag's gun and shot the Black Cross, having discovered that he was responsible for his father's death. Despite Bolden's protests that he had executed Thaddeus for the Templar Order, Darius shot him four more times and the Black Cross stumbled back and fell off a ledge to his presumed death.

Spanish Civil War

In April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, an Assassin cell led by Ignacio Cardona and comprising Glaucia Acosta, Dwight Adams and Miguel Carasso traveled to Barcelona, where they were to help the Republicans maintain control of the city. As they approached Barcelona, the group was ambushed by gunfire and Cardona ran out to meet their assailants, only to discover they were also Republicans who had mistaken the Assassins for Nationalists. In the end, the two parties were able to settle the conflict peacefully.

The following month, while camping in the war-torn city, the Assassins were approached by a man claiming to be Norbert Clarke, a British Assassin renowned for single-handedly wiping out an entire Templar branch in Tallinn the previous year. 'Clarke' revealed that he had been sent to aid the Spanish Assassins after the London Brotherhood received their request for reinforcements, and quickly integrated himself with the cell.

Cardona unleashing the Koh-i-Noor's power

When a fight broke out between the anarchists and communists in the streets of Barcelona, the Assassins were unsure which side to help. Pulling out the Koh-i-Noor diamond, 'Clarke' urged Cardona to use it to end the fight. As the Spaniard touched the artifact, it unleashed serpent-like energy creatures that surrounded everyone but drained Cardona of energy, causing blood to pour from his eyes and nose and eventually resulting in the Assassin passing out. Watching the scene unfold from a nearby rooftop, Albert Bolden grabbed the unconscious Cardona and brought him to safety.

When Cardona awoke sometime later, Bolden told him about his former identity as the Black Cross and how, after taking advantage of his presumed death to leave the Templar Order, he was tracked down by Rufus Grosvenor. Knowing Bolden to be safeguarding the Koh-i-Noor, Grosvenor demanded that he hand it over in exchange for not informing the Templars of his survival, but Bolden refused and made his escape. Undeterred, Grosvenor later tracked down Bolden's family and killed them to lure the former Black Cross into a trap and steal the diamond from him.

Bolden further explained that Grosvenor had tricked the real Norbert Clarke into taking his life so he could impersonate him and get close to Cardona, who had a high enough concentration of Isu DNA to activate the Koh-i-Noor's full power. With this newfound information, Cardona agreed to join Bolden in exacting revenge on Grosvenor and recovering the Koh-i-Noor, tracking the rogue Templar across the Spanish countryside.

Bolden and Cardona riding together to stop Grosvenor

Eventually, Cardona and Bolden arrived at a run-down church, where Grosvenor was waiting alongside the rest of Cardona's Assassin cell, who had been turned to his cause. In a last ditch attempt to activate the Koh-i-Noor, Grosvenor gave it to Cardona, who managed to resist its control and unleashed a series of animal-like apparitions and energy that destroyed the church. Grosvenor and Glaucia Acosta survived the confrontation and subsequently fled to the United States, believing the Koh-i-Noor to have been destroyed.

In reality, Cardona had cast an illusion of the diamond shattering to trick Grosvenor, while the real Koh-i-Noor remained intact on the church's floor. Cardona and Bolden decided to leave the artifact there, buried under rubble, and vowed to safeguard the site from any who might desire the Koh-i-Noor's power. The pair would subsequently train guardians to protect the artifact's burial site, and continued to fight together in the Spanish Civil War, becoming good friends in the process.

World War II

On the evening of 22 November 1910, several high-ranking Templars, including Henry Ford, Ransom Eli Olds, Paul Warburg, Frank A. Vanderlip, Charles Norton, Henry Pomeroy Davison, Nelson W. Aldrich, and German Templar Gero Kramer, gathered on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia, United States. They met to discuss the "Plan," a long-term strategy to consolidate power through capitalism and advance their vision of a New World Order. The Plan included creating the Federal Reserve System as the central American banking system (which they accomplished in 1913), establishing Abstergo Industries as a new front for the Templar Order, and initiating World War II in the late 1930s. This war would allow the Templars to reshape governments in its aftermath by leveraging their political influence.

On 22 May 1922, Henry Ford began a seven-year hate campaign against Jewish Americans through a series of antisemitic pamphlets titled The International Jew, published by the Ford-owned Dearborn Publishing Company and distributed via The Dearborn Independent newspaper.

On 11 February 1929, Ford attended Thomas Edison's 82nd birthday celebration alongside fellow Templar Harvey Firestone. Afterward, Ford was instructed by his Templar associates to send the Apple of Eden in his possession to Adolf Hitler in Europe. Hitler would use it to start World War II. Known for his antisemitic views, Ford willingly complied, stating that "that kind of purge [would] be good for Europe."

During the 1930s, the Templars played a significant role in Hitler's rise to power and the start of World War II. The true purpose of the war was to spread the Templar economic system of capitalism throughout war-torn Europe. However, the Templars eventually lost their influence over Hitler and the Third Reich, whose actions threatened to undermine the Order's goals. Thus, the Templars resolved to eliminate Hitler.

The founders of Abstergo Industries

In 1937, Henry Ford and other Templar leaders founded Abstergo Industries, a small company that would eventually grow into a multinational corporation controlling nearly every major organization and enterprise worldwide. In secret, the Templars used the company to influence the course of World War II. While only the highest-ranking employees of Abstergo were members of the Templar Order, many others shared the same goal of improving human life through scientific and technological progress. Abstergo successfully manipulated numerous political figures to support the establishment of a New World Order, including Winston Churchill, Henry Kissinger, and Margaret Thatcher.

In the early 1940s, Abstergo deployed the SS Ourang Medan to search for a crescent-shaped amulet—a Piece of Eden—hidden in the sea near the Strait of Malacca. The mission ended in failure when the ship and its entire crew mysteriously vanished.

In 1940, during the Blitz, the American Assassins Boris Pash and Julia Dusk asked Eddie Gorm, who was unaware of his Assassin ancestry, to help them with infiltrating the SS to investigate the Uranprojekt, Germany's nuclear weapons program. After two years undercover, Gorm's mission was compromised when he captured Werner Heisenberg, the head of the project. Heisenberg revealed that the Uranprojekt was merely a cover for Die Glocke, a machine developed by the Templars under Obergruppenführer Gero Kramer in Vemork, Norway. Before the SS could apprehend him, Gorm was extracted by Dusk.

Eddie Gorm bound to Die Glocke

On 27 February 1943, after being formally inducted into the Assassin Brotherhood, Gorm participated in Operation Gunnerside alongside Dusk. While Gorm acted as a diversion and attempted to eliminate Kramer, Dusk and the commando unit successfully sabotaged Vemork's heavy water supplies. During the operation, Kramer defeated Gorm and bound him to Die Glocke. The device, designed by Nikola Tesla and powered by his Apple of Eden, was capable of reading genetic memories. Kramer intended to locate a Piece of Eden using Gorm's ancestral memories. However, the machine exploded, allowing Dusk to rescue Gorm before they escaped.

On 15 July 1943, Pash directed Gorm and Dusk to infiltrate Książ Castle and eliminate Kramer while other Assassins targeted the underground facilities of Project Riese. This project aimed to develop superweapons using Tesla's Apple of Eden. Gorm successfully killed Kramer and recovered the Apple, while Pash's team destroyed the Templars' operations in the facility.

The USS Eldridge in Philadelphia

Following Kramer's death and the loss of Tesla's Apple, the Templars shifted their focus to Project Rainbow, led by scientist John von Neumann. This project sought to end the war, as the Templars had lost control of their proxies on both sides. Von Neumann brokered a truce with Pash to utilize Die Glocke, the Apple, and Tesla's research in an attempt to travel back in time and prevent Adolf Hitler's rise to power. When Gorm and Dusk uncovered Pash's betrayal, Dusk sacrificed herself by detonating a grenade in an attempt to destroy the Apple. However, the artifact remained intact and fell into Pash's possession.

On 28 October 1943, Pash and von Neumann prepared to execute Project Rainbow aboard the USS Eldridge in a Philadelphia shipyard. Gorm infiltrated the vessel, killed Tesla to sabotage the project, and ultimately took his own life. The experiment failed, forcing von Neumann to join the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons for the United States. The Templars retained Tesla's Apple, ending their alliance with Pash.

Scipione inspecting the Shroud

In 1944, Templar agent Keith Scipione secured the original Shroud of Eden for Abstergo Industries. That same year, Barthel Schink, an Assassin ally and member of the Edelweiss Pirates, was captured by the Gestapo. While imprisoned, he met fellow Edelweiss Pirate Miriam Kurtz, and tasked her to recover a Piece of Eden from the spire of the Cologne Cathedral and bring it back to the French Assassins stationed in Paris. She succeeded but the Third Reich reclaimed the artifact.

From the 1st to the 22nd of July 1944, the Bretton Woods Conference took place in the town of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to determine the international monetary system to be set up after World War II. 730 delegates from 44 countries were in attendance. Secretly, the conference also served as a cover for a meeting between the economic agents of the Templar Order, including John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White. On the final day of the conference, a speech was delivered to Abstergo Industries employees, economists, and world leaders, outlining the formation of the "Plan" by Henry Ford and Ransom Eli Olds in 1910. The speech also addressed the threat posed by the communist system and the efforts of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin to create the "turmoil and fear necessary" for the implementation of the new economic system, capitalism.

On 30 April 1945, as Allied forces closed in on Berlin, Hitler intended to stage his death and escape with his Apple of Eden to join the Templars and collaborate with Stalin. As Hitler made his way outside the Führerbunker, he was assassinated by the Brotherhood. His death marked the end of World War II, although the Templars succeeded in shaping the post-war global order.

Post-World War II

After the end of the Second World War, Abstergo controlled global, economic, and technological development, though it always remained behind the scenes to avoid suspision. In 1948, Abstergo eliminated former Templar and renowned economist Harry Dexter White. White helped organize the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, two organizations that allowed the Templars to spread their capitalist world vision. However, White was also passing information to the communists, and for his betrayal, Abstergo killed White and made it appear like a heart attack.

In the early 1950s, Abstergo took an interest in the scientific studies by the American chemist and educator Linus Pauling when Clinton B. Rosenburg of the Chemistry Life Foundation informed them of Pauling's studies of DNA and theories on the triple-helix DNA. Pauling had used Philip Syng Physick's lost paper on blood transfusions from the Library Company of Philadelphia in his own research into hemoglobin. Rosenburg suggested the executive play a more direct role in encouraging Paul's research. X-ray images were produced by Rosalind Franklin and initially appeared to confirm his theory. However, this was because Franklin's DNA samples contained small traces of Isu DNA, and the true nature of the triple-helix was kept secret by Abstergo. After Rosenburg passed on Franklin's X-ray images to Francis Crick and James Watson, the latter two put forward a theory of a double-helix and publicly invalidated Pauling's triple helix theory.

Abstergo agents in Pasadena in 1952

In 1952, the FBI were investigating Jack Parsons for selling state secrets to communists. A group of FBI agents, alongside a woman from Abstergo Industries, kidnapped Thomas Sean Morgan, a detective hired by Parsons' former colleague Theodore von Kármán to uncover information on his true activities. On 17 June, while having planned a flight to Mexico, Parsons' lab in Pasadena was blown up by the Templars, with Parsons himself still inside. Though the explosion did not kill Parsons immediately, he died several hours later of his injuries.

Abroad, Abstergo involved itself in foreign governments to ensure the spread of capitalism and Templar control. In 1953, Abstergo agents backed monarch Shah Pahlavi, Tehran strongman Sha'baan Ja'fari, and the National Intelligence and Security Organization, otherwise known as SAVAK, against the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. Abstergo and the Shah removed Mosaddegh from power and placed him under house arrest, where Mosaddegh later died in his home in 1967.

The Templars also played a role in the 1954 overthrow of Guatemala's socialist President Jacobo Árbenz and the installation of Carlos Castillo Armas as his replacement. In both instances, Abstergo worked through the CIA, a branch of the U.S. intelligence community it had controlled since its inception.In that same year, the Templars were also responsible for British mathematician Alan Turing's criminal prosecution and possibly his death. In a Abstergo phone recording dating to June, two Templars known only by the initials "V" and "N" mentioned the need for Turing to be killed. They feared "mass unemployment" if the mathematician successfully developed robots, and that such an invention would threaten the progress of the Plan.

Unreleased negative of the real Moon landing photo

In 1958, Abstergo helped establish the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to go beyond the bounds of the Earth. Ostensibly, NASA was a civilian branch of the U.S. government, but in reality, it was tasked with producing new space-going technologies for Templar use. When the Templars eventually became aware of the existence of an Apple of Eden on the Moon, it tasked NASA with working towards a mission to land on the Moon and retrieve the Piece of Eden. When U.S. President John F. Kennedy planned a joint lunar landing with the Soviet Union, the Templars decided that Kennedy had to be eliminated. Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, a Templar puppet, continued the push towards the Moon, and in July 1969, Templar agents Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon and retrieved the Apple of Eden for Abstergo.

Project BLUEBIRD

As the predecessor to Project ARTICHOKE, Project BLUEBIRD was officially established on 5 April 1950 and operated under the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. On the surface, the program aimed to study mind control methods to improve interrogation practices. However, it also served as a cover for the American Assassin Boris Pash's covert activities. Pash successfully used Pieces of Eden to secretly brainwash the soldiers of his Bloodstone Unit, turning them into perfect killers who were utterly loyal to him.

Bloodstone Unit

In 1957, Pash recruited the former Soviet hitman Alekseï Gavrani into the Assassin Brotherhood. On 8 February, both men traveled to the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where John von Neumann was. Though the colonel did not give many details, Gavrani knew Pash needed some privacy and so deemed it necessary to get rid of the guards. However, the guards did not fall for his attempts to distract them, so he was forced to knock them unconscious. Afterwards, Pash exited Von Neumann's room with an Apple of Eden. The colonel claimed Von Neumann had died of cancer and the two Assassins left, though Gavrani suspected something was amiss.

By 1963, Pash and his mentor, William King Harvey, had founded the Assassin taskforce known as the Bloodstone Unit. On 2 January, the Assassin unit boarded a helicopter at the Tân Hiệp US military base. Their mission was to take part in a communication operation involving the CIA, United States Army and South Vietnamese Army. Despite the expertise of their pilot, Zenia, the cell was forced to perform an emergency landing when troops of the Viet Cong began firing.

While Julia Gorm dispatched the soldiers outside, Gavrani and the others interrogated Cooper, a Templar who had infiltrated the US military. However, the door suddenly opened and Julia threw a knife into the neck of Muller, one of Cooper's fellow soldiers. The unnecessary violence angered Gavrani, but Julia quickly dismissed his complaints as the soldier would be "dead weight". On their way back to headquarters, Gavrani walked with Zenia and openly talked about his disapproval of Pash's brutal methods of interrogation. He also found it strange that Julia was only in her twenties but was just as skilled as them, and believed that Pash's actions were corrupting the Creed. Having secretly overheard the conversation, Pash dismissed Gavrani from the Unit, as he did not need weak-willed followers.

Kennedy's assassination

On 22 November 1963, three Assassins from Bloodstone Unit assassinated President John F. Kennedy as his motercade was driving through Dallas, Texas, while Templar sleeper agent Lee Harvey Oswald was publicly framed for the murder.

Alekseï Gavrani confronting William Greer

In the confusion that ensued, the CIA agent and Assassin William Greer, who was undercover as Kennedy's driver, grabbed the President's Apple of Eden. Prior to the assassination, Greer had been secretly trained by Abstergo using an Apple of Eden. Furthermore, using yet another Apple of Eden, the Templars made a "phantom" appear on a nearby hill, creating more commotion. While Greer attempted to flee with the Apple, he was stopped by fellow Assassin Alekseï Gavrani, who wanted to disrupt Boris Pash's plans.

After a short fight, Gavrani stole the Apple from Greer and brought it to William King Harvey, unaware of Harvey's true affiliations with the Templars and his connection with Pash. Gavrani told Harvey that the colonel was behind the assassination in order to obtain Kennedy's Apple of Eden, and that he had attempted to frame the Templars for the operation.

Harvey agreed with Gavrani that Pash had become corrupt and that his Assassin cell was a growing problem, and acknowledged that they could not do anything against Pash since all cells acted independently from each other and only the Mentor could authorize internal operations against Pash. Without the Broterhood's support, Harvey convinced Gavrani to become his Agent QJ/WIN in order to stop Pash.

Aleksei Gavrani's hunt

Gavrani confronting Dhogura in Hòn Mê

By 30 July 1964, Gavrani tracked down the Bloodstone Unit back to their base on the northern side of Hòn Mê. After a distraction from the USS Maddox, Gavrani made his way towards the base but found it being destroyed by his former teammate, Dhogura. Gavrani asked for Pash's location, but Dhogura attacked him immediately. However, in a small window, he stabbed Dhogura in the neck and then the abdomen before his former teammate fell over dead. Within four days, he tracked Pash, Zenia, and Doni rowing on the Red River.

Once the boats rowed to a narrower part, Gavrani attacked one of them and killed half of Pash's crew. While Doni fired at the wind, he soon held both Pash and his crew at gunpoint. Knocking down Pash, Gavrani attempted to kill him but Zenia pleaded their lives on the sake of the Apple and her unborn baby with Pash. Seeing Zenia pregnant, he soon was at standstill with a focused Doni. Tempers cooled further when Pash revealed a mentally-unstable Julia was after them. Working together, they all soon found a hut to sleep the night.

Julia killing Gavrani

Pash, Gavrani, Doni, and Zenia made their way to an abandoned hut and spent the night resting. However, Pash woke up to see Zenia and Gavrani talking and knocked him out with the butt of the gun. He argued with Zenia over the action and his distrust of him and Harvey. Suddenly, Julia attacked them, killing Doni and injuring Zenia. Pash guarded Zenia as Gavrani fought Julia. However, once Julia killed Gavrani, Pash prepared to fight, only for Julia to fall unconscious due to her injuries. Pash and Zenia talked about their options and relented to give Harvey the Apple's location for their lives and their baby.

On 4 August 1964, Pash sat besides an unconscious Julia as he talked with Harvey. During their conversation, Pash realized Harvey was a double agent working with the Templars. He accused him of influencing his actions and threatened him in response. Pash was told that his work was revolutionary and was introduced to Dr. Warren Vidic, who was holding his baby. Pash was informed Zenia had died from her injuries as Harvey held his baby's life over him. Pash, angry, agreed to help them on their ongoing work on memory resurrection as the young baby, Nathalie, would be taken into Vidic's care. Pash subsequently surrendered all his research on Project BLUEBIRD, which would serve as the pillars for the early Animus Project.

After Gavrani's demise and her recovery, Julia became the new Agent QJ/WIN for the Central Intelligence Agency. Rumors later emerged that Julia's methods of torture were so extreme that death was a mercy in comparison.

Early Animus developments

In 1977, Nathalie Chapman learned the story of her father Boris Pash through Warren Vidic's Animus experiments. Realizing she was a Templar hostage, the 13-year-old Nathalie stole the Animus blueprints and gave them to the American Assassin William Miles before fleeing with the Apple of Eden that Pash had used as a bargaining chip to save her and Zenia's lives back in Vietnam.

William giving the Animius blueprints to Medeya Voronina

With the Animus blueprints in-hand, William fled to Moscow, being pursued by Templar agents. After being rescued by Medeya Voronina, a fellow member of the Brotherhood who specialized in science, he bestowed her the blueprints and requested that she build the machine before the Templars. In turn, Medeya promised to keep William updated on her progress.

As William was about to leave, Medeya asked him how she would be able to contact him. The American Assassin told her they would use their present location, the footbridge between the zoo's old and new properties, as a meeting place, instructing her to come during full moon if she ever needed him. Still confused, Medeya asked him how he would know whether or not she had been there. William revealed there was another Assassin cell within the city, surprising the Russian Assassin, who had been unaware of this. As he was to meet said cell shortly, William then departed.

In 1980, the Animus Project officially started at Abstergo Industries, an initiative to explore the genetic memories of abducted individuals to locate Pieces of Eden. The project's head was Dr. Warren Vidic, who volunteered himself as its second test subject, after an unidentified descendant of the Assassin Aveline de Grandpré. During his personal Animus sessions, Vidic explored the memories of his 15th-century ancestor Geoffroy Thérage, the executioner of Jeanne d'Arc. During the early 1980s, the son of Aleksei Gavrani became another subject of the Animus Project. It was also during this time that Abstergo founded a facility in Madrid with the intention of searching for a specific Apple of Eden that had great importance to the Templar Order.

A young Daniel Cross following his release by Abstergo

By 1983, Vidic had developed a more stable version of the Animus and used it to manipulate the genetic memory of a young orphan boy who was dubbed Daniel Cross, Subject 4. As Abstergo explored his genetic memories, he developed a life-long severe case of the Bleeding Effect. Using a replicated Piece of Eden, Vidic inserted a hidden impulse inside his brain that would drive him to kill the Assassin Mentor when the opportunity presented itself. The young orphan was then thrown out onto the streets, eventually being found by a couple that was driving by.

In 1986, Alan Rikkin led a Templar strike-team to capture Mary Lynch in Baja California, Mexico, intending to put the Assassin in an Animus to uncover clues to the whereabouts of an Apple of Eden once wielded by her ancestor Aguilar de Nerha. However, they arrived too late as Mary and her husband Joseph were aware of the Templars' arrival and she committed suicide to prevent Abstergo from kidnapping her. Mary and Joseph's young son Callum witnessed this, mistakenly assuming his father had murdered Mary, and escaped before the Templars could capture him.

In 1991, after more than a decade since she had met William Miles, Medeya Voronina was still unable to fully understand and grasp exactly what she had been asked to build and was hampered by a lack of resources in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. She and her allies understood very little about the Animus, with the few subjects that had used it emerging as madmen. As a result, most of her fellow Assassins failed to see the project's use, desiring to either weaponize it or abandon it altogether. Not wanting to create even more victims, she chose to be the machine's sole test subject, causing her sanity to be slowly frayed away by the Bleeding Effect.

Abstergo's political influence

Boris Yeltsin speaking out against the attempted coup against Mikhail Gorbachev

In 1990, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, often dubbed the "man of the decade", introduced significant democratic reforms in Russia. He established the Constitutional Court, marking a pivotal step towards democratization. However, his leadership faced challenges from various factions, including covert interference from Abstergo Industries. When it became evident that Gorbachev had no intention of supporting their goals, Abstergo manipulated British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher into encouraging Boris Yeltsin's plans to overthrow Gorbachev.

In August 1991, while Gorbachev was on holiday, Yeltsin incited riots, which eroded Gorbachev's popularity and set the stage for his eventual downfall. By December of that year, a secret meeting took place in the Belavezhskaya Forest. During this meeting, the dissolution of the Soviet Union was formalized, leading to Gorbachev's removal from power. Yeltsin subsequently became the first President of Russia, serving from 1991 to 1999, during which he oversaw the country's transition from the Soviet system to a more capitalist model.

In September 1999. During the final months of Yeltsin's presidency, a series of bombings occurred in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk. These attacks, secretly orchestrated by Abstergo Industries, who had connections with Vladimir Putin, helped boost his popularity as a presidential candidate, setting the stage for his eventual leadership.

George W. Bush on the cover of a Newsbook magazine

In 1998, the American politician George W. Bush appeared on the cover of the Newsbook magazine during his tenure as Governor of Texas. Speculation swirled about whether he would seek reelection, and by November, he made history as the first Texan governor to win two consecutive terms. Behind the scenes, Bush had already caught the attention of the Templars, who saw him as the ideal candidate for the United States presidency. They believed he would be a malleable figure, enabling them to tighten their grip on American politics. The 2000 presidential election, however, became a battleground between the Templars and the Assassins. Al Gore, Bush's opponent, had the Assassins' backing in their shared quest to influence the nation.

The tide turned on 6 November 2000, when Daniel Cross, a Templar sleeper agent, assassinated the Mentor, leader of the Assassins. This unexpected strike crippled the Assassins' organization, leaving them powerless to affect the election. With no opposition, the Templars ensured Bush's victory, securing control over the American presidency.

Beagle 2 launch

Vanessa meeting Robert Getas

Around 1998, Vanessa, a scientist working at the British National Space Centre, was contacted by Robert Getas, an agent affiliated with Abstergo Industries' Lineage Acquisition division. Getas expressed interest in the LOCC's missions and offered Vanessa a substantial sum of money in exchange for her cooperation. She agreed to collaborate with Getas because he promised her financial security, which she believed would allow her to spend more time with her children. Over the next five years, they maintained contact, though they never met in person.

When the Beagle 2 landed on 25 December 2003, Vanessa routed all signals to her laptop, causing her fellow employees to assume the landing was a failure. Using the holidays as an excuse to leave early, she then handed over the laptop to Getas. Vanessa remained at the control center with several colleagues, awaiting updates on the Beagle 2 spacecraft, which had been launched six days earlier. Vanessa intercepted the Beagle 2's signal and secretly redirected the data and control codes to her personal laptop. As a result, the Mars Express mission was presumed to have failed by the rest of the team.

Following the transmission, Vanessa left the facility to meet Getas at a predetermined location, a café. On her way out, she was briefly stopped by a security guard, but after signing a form allowing him to clock her out, she was able to continue. At the café, Vanessa located Getas and handed over the laptop. The two discussed the payment and the true status of the Beagle 2, which was collecting soil samples and deploying probes. Getas assured Vanessa that the agreed sum had been deposited into her account and that any suspicions regarding the transaction would be handled.

Vanessa being subdued by Getas' accomplice

As they left the café, Vanessa commented on the irony of her involvement, as she was a descendant of Charles Darwin, whose work on evolution was influenced by his voyage on the HMS Beagle, after which the spacecraft was named. This revelation caught Getas' attention. Knowing her genetic lineage could be of interest to Abstergo's Project Legacy, he proposed a new offer, suggesting that she travel with him to work at his office.

Vanessa was taken aback by his sudden insistence, as the money she had received was already sufficient for retirement. However, before she could refuse, Getas signaled an associate—a large man standing behind Vanessa—who covered her face with a cloth soaked in an unknown substance, rendering her unconscious. Vanessa's fate was thus left ambiguous.

Daniel Cross' recruitment

Daniel, Hannah, and Paul at the Assassin camp

By 1998, Daniel Cross' life was marked by severe personal and psychological turmoil. On 23 April, after ignoring his court-ordered psychiatrist's advice to take his medication, Daniel's mental state began to deteriorate. He spent the night in a bar, trying to flirt with women; however, he started to experience heavy and vivid hallucinations, one of which involved an assassination attempt on Tsar Alexander III. His erratic behavior led him to nearly stab a man he mistook for a Templar, until he was stopped by Hannah Mueller, who mistakenly assumed he was an Assassin. She forced him into a car and took him to an Assassin camp near Philadelphia before they could draw more attention.

At the camp, the Assassins were confronted with a harsh reality: Daniel's name was absent from the Brotherhood's personnel records, despite Daniel possessing an Assassin tattoo. His memories remained fragmented, and he had no knowledge of the Assassins or the Templars. After another hallucination, Daniel's outburst prompted a physical confrontation with the Assassins, culminating in Paul Bellamy—the director of the camp—holding a Hidden Blade to his neck.

The next day, Daniel confessed to Hannah that he had run out of his medication. She reluctantly agreed to help him retrieve it from his apartment, but when they arrived, Daniel realized he had thrown the medication away. Overcome with despair, Daniel and Hannah had a brief discussion about his hallucinations, leading to a cryptic drawing on the window. This triggered a breakthrough when Paul, who had been in contact with William Miles in search of information, revealed that Daniel's great-grandfather had been involved in an Assassin mission to retrieve a powerful artifact in Tunguska in 1908.

Daniel speaking to his fellow Assassins, with Hannah in the background

As Daniel's hallucinations intensified, he realized that the memories he had been experiencing were connected to his bloodline. After hearing the name "Nikolai Orelov", a figure tied to the Tunguska mission, Daniel fled the apartment in a panic. He ran across the rooftops of the city, still consumed by the visions of the past, until he collapsed from exhaustion. As Hannah cradled him, Daniel finally understood his true purpose: to find the Mentor, the figure who could help him unlock the mysteries of his mind.

For the next two years, Daniel traveled with Hannah around the world, visiting multiple Assassin camps in search of the Mentor. He reached out to the Assassins at each location, appealing for their support and guidance. Despite facing constant uncertainty, Daniel's persistence paid off on 5 November 2000. While alone in his room, he was ambushed by masked individuals who sedated him and took him to a secret facility in Dubai.

After waking up, Daniel met the Mentor and his german shephard dog, who had been monitoring his progress and visions. The Mentor explained the history of the title and its significance within the Assassin Order. He spoke about how the role of Mentor had evolved and no longer focused on killing those who were too powerful or corrupt, but on guiding the Order through a changing world. The Mentor also revealed that he had closely followed Daniel's journey, seeing him as a unique asset to the Order.

The Great Purge

Daniel killing the Assassins' Mentor

In a pivotal moment, the Mentor handed Daniel his own Hidden Blade, which Daniel saw as a great honor. However, something triggered in him as soon as Daniel touched the blade; he was flooded with memories and a deep, subconscious impulse that had been instilled in him during his time at Abstergo. Memories of Hannah and his years at the Order went through his mind and, in a split second, Daniel acted on this impulse and fatally struck the Mentor.

Shocked and filled with immediate regret, Daniel struggled to understand why he had committed such an act. The Mentor, in his last words to Daniel, realised his mistake and that the Templars had placed a sleeper agent amongst their ranks. Hearing voices approaching, Daniel, driven by guilt and confusion, jumped through the window, shattering the glass and landing in the sea below. In his delirious state, he then decided to seek refuge in the one place he felt might offer him safety and clarity: Abstergo Industries.

By 21 November, Daniel had arrived at Abstergo's Philadelphia facility, demanding to be reconnected to the Animus. In the Animus, he explored the memories of Nikolai Orelov, which had a calming effect on him. However, during this time, the Templars initiated a global purge of the Assassin Order, known as "The Great Purge." Daniel, who had been restrained on an operating table, was subjected to interrogation by Doctor Sung. She was tasked with extracting information about the locations of the Assassin hideouts Daniel had visited during his two-year search. Despite Sung's objections about the potential harm to Daniel's physical and mental state, Alfred Stearns, a senior Templar executive, ordered Sung to administer a higher dose of serum to force Daniel to cooperate.

Abstergo hunting Assassins during the Great Purge

Daniel's betrayal led to the discovery of a hidden Assassin safehouse in Philadelphia, disguised as a Chinese laundromat. Templar forces quickly infiltrated the location and massacred everyone inside, including children. This event marked a significant escalation in the Templars' global purge of the Assassin Order. As the Templars continued their relentless assault on Assassin camps worldwide, the Assassins struggled to protect their remaining members.

Hannah Mueller, shocked by the betrayal of her friend Daniel, assisted Paul Bellamy with their camp's evacuation. Despite their efforts, Paul was captured within the next fourteen months. Abstergo placed him and other captured individuals into artificial comas, using them for experimentation at their Philadelphia facility. There, they were connected to the Animus, enabling Abstergo to explore the genetic memories of their ancestors for research.

In December, the Assassin Hajime Shimada learned of Daniel's betrayal. He immediately contacted Yuri, the overseer of an Japanese Assassin training camp, and ordered an evacuation to regroup with other Assassins in Osaka. However, the Templars, led by Maxime Gorm, had already discovered the camp's location through Daniel's intel. Gorm's Epsilon Team launched a deadly attack, resulting in the deaths of many Assassins, including Yuri, who was fatally shot during the assault. Before she died, Yuri urged Hajime to take her young son, Tomo Sakagawa, to safety. Hajime and Tomo managed to escape into the mountains, eventually reaching Tokyo. There Tomo would plan his revenge against Maxime Gorm for years to come.

A young Noa Kim finding his mother crying after his father's disappearance

In Korea, the father of Noa Kim, like many Assassins, was forced to abandon his family for their own safety and go into hiding without explanation. Noa, still a child at the time, was left with no closure or understanding for his father's sudden and mysterious disappearance. As a result, he harbored a deep resentment towards his father, feeling abandoned and betrayed, and vowed to never become anything like him.

In the aftermath of the Templars' purge, the Assassin Brotherhood was left in disarray. With the Mentor dead, key documents either seized or destroyed, the U.S. presidential election lost, the start of the War on Terror, and nearly all Assassin compounds overtaken by the Templars, the Brotherhood was forced into hiding. The Assassins continued their operations remotely, using concealed hideouts and cells to maintain their existence. Leadership of the Brotherhood eventually fell to William Miles, who assumed responsibility for overseeing their activities.

During this period, the Assassins learned the full extent of Daniel Cross' sleeper agent program. Rebecca Crane, an Assassin technician, found the program deeply disturbing and cruel, seeing it as something more akin to the methods of the Templars. She believed that it was a clear distinction between the Assassins and Templars—while the Assassins fight to protect people and their freedom, the Templars often see individuals as mere tools for their own ends, with little regard for their well-being.

Daniel's betrayal and actions would leave a lasting legacy. To the Templars, he became a symbol of success; to the Assassins, he remained a painful reminder of the destructive power of internal betrayal and its devastating consequences that led them into a new but dark age.

21st century

2000s

The Prophet's Codex

For thirteen months, Daniel Cross relived the memories of his ancestor, Innokenti Orelov, through continuous Animus sessions without breaks. In 2002, Dr. Sung disconnected him after detecting erratic brain activity. She explained how much time had passed and praised him as a Templar hero for eliminating the Mentor. Feeling guilt and confusion, Daniel moved to his new apartment in the Philadelphia facility, where he again experienced the Bleeding Effect and involuntarily accessed Innokenti's memories.

Daniel spooking Dr. Sung

Later, Daniel encountered Dr. Sung but, due to the Bleeding Effect, confused her with Anna Orelov, Nikolai's wife. He begged to return to the Animus, which she denied, citing withdrawal symptoms. After stealing her key card, he bypassed several machines holding captured Assassins who were forced to relive their ancestor's memories, and resumed exploring Nikolai's. Dr. Sung later found him and, disappointed, revealed the Animus he accessed was not active. Daniel apologized and asked if Abstergo had records on him and Nikolai. Confirming they did, Dr. Sung assured him he didn't need the past to feel connected, suggesting Abstergo as his second family. That night, after revisiting Nikolai's abuse toward Innokenti, Daniel angrily crumpled Nikolai's picture.

Daniel joined the Templars soon after, becoming a member of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order, and was tasked with training Abstergo employees and recruits in the Animi Training Program to combat the remnants of the Assassin Order. With new medication and weekly sessions with Dr. Sung, he began managing the Bleeding Effect. Meanwhile, Abstergo upgraded the Hidden Blade he had received from the Mentor.

Later, Daniel held a meeting with his fellow Templars and was sligtly uncomfortable with the presence of Warren Vidic, who considered him something like "a son" to him. Daniel learned he was assigned a new mission, with Rothschild taking over his training duties. Vidic sent him the details via email, prompting Daniel to travel to Moscow. There, he sought the Prophet's Codex, written by the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze, which was hidden in Ivan the Terrible's library beneath the Bolshoi Theatre.

Daniel reading the Prophet's Codex

On 19 October 2002, Daniel attended a play at the theater and quietly made his way through the backstage to find a hidden door to a tunnel, which led to the library. Upon entering it, he was spooked by an Assassin sentry who intended to greet him, causing Daniel to extend his Hidden Blade. However, Daniel pretended to be the Assassin's shift replacement, and the man eagerly told Daniel about the location of the Codex when Daniel inquired. After the sentry left Daniel alone, Daniel opened the Prophet's Codex and read out Minerva's speech to Vidic via his earpiece, noticing the name "Desmond". Afterward, Daniel took the box holding the Codex with him and killed the sentry, before calling in a clean-up team and leaving the library.

Later, Daniel went to visit a local church, where he sat next to an elderly lady. Unbeknownst to her, she was actually his great-aunt Nadya Orelov, but she did notice his resemblance to her own son. Communicating in Russian, she told him that she knew he was not from Russia by looking at the difference in the cross Daniel wore around his neck, as he wore a simple Latin cross while she carried a more ornate Russian Orthodox variant. Before Daniel left, Nadya told him that it would be nice if he came by again.

Dawn of the century

On 21 November 2000, Nancy Nilop was included in a carbon-copy of an email from Warren Vidic to Alan Rikkin, along with David Kilkerman. The email outlined Subject 4's, Daniel Cross, successful killing of the Assassin Mentor. Nilop and the other Templars were informed that Cross had returned to the Abstergo Philadelphia facility and entered an Animus after injuring a secretary.

In 2003, three years after his election as President of the United States, George W. Bush ordered a military invasion of Iraq, marking a major escalation of the War on Terror. The Templars had planned this invasion as early as December 2000, hoping that Bush would restart U.S-Iraq animosities and, therefore, provide work for Dick Cheney's military contractors. The war ultimately toppled Saddam Hussein's government and American occupation of Iraq lasted until 2011.

A photograph of the Farm

On 13 March 2003, Desmond Miles escaped the Assassin compound known as "the Farm" after years of growing disillusioned with his parents' stories about Assassins and Templars. His training proved to be useful as he was able to outrun and avoid the other Assassins who pursued him. Following this, Desmond traveled through "the badlands" and hitch-hiked for some time, until he eventually came across a person who advised him to go to New York City, prompting him to leave for the metropolis and blend into the crowds. Two years later, Desmond met a woman with whom he unknowingly conceived a child.

In 2004, the Templars Simon Hathaway and Anaya Chodary became romantically involved with each other. However, they later decided to end their relationship because they did not have time for each other due to their jobs. Despite their amicable break-up, Anaya was still in love with Hathaway.

In November, the American author and investigative journalist Gary Webb stumbled upon sensitive and classified information on Abstergo Industries after researching for his new book on the CIA's involement in corporate dealings. Gary met with a female confidant to explain his recent discoveries. He explained the situation to her and revealed that the Bilderberg Group was a puppet for Abstergo, a shadow corporation with no stock options and nothing above the boards. Gary further eloborated that Abstergo's members not only had ties to other companies like Coca-Cola and Kraft but also to Wall Street as a whole.

Convinced that Abstergo was on their way to world domination, Gary told his friend that Abstergo even had people in the government. Intrigued, she asked what he would do with this information that he had just shared, to which Gary reminded her that his book would explain everything. Unfortunately, an Abstergo agent had tailed and eavesdropped on Gary. He relayed to headquarters that Gary knew too much and was a security risk that needed to be dealt with. A month later, Gary was found dead in his home with two gunshots to the head. His death was later ruled a suicide.

In 2005, when the Assassin Lucy Stillman reached the age of seventeen, William Miles made the decision to raise her outside the Brotherhood. This was to ensure so she would be able to covertly infiltrate Abstergo Industries, and her ties to the Brotherhood were severed.

In 2006, a virus dubbed L-11 broke out in Africa. After three months, 96% of the continent's population had died, and even after six years, Africa remained essentially empty. This story was later alleged by Abstergo Industries to be a falsified account reported by Erudito, a hacking collective.

That same year, the Templar scientist Sofia Rikkin was part of the delegation of Abstergo Industries touring the University of California in Berkeley with the company's "young innovators" recruitment program, where she met the talented Layla Hassan who was following a degree in electrical engineering. She was intrigued by the woman's interest in technology, and as such offered her a job with Abstergo where she could work her way up to the Animus Project. That same year, Layla dropped out of the University and accepted to work for Abstergo, starting in the I+D division of Abstergo Fitness before being re-assigned to the Research and Development division.

In September 2007, Leila Marino, an employee of Abstergo Industries, was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Officially ruled a suicide, the true details surrounding her death remained classified, known only to a select few within the company. The coroner's report was quickly classified, further concealing the event from public view. Leila's friend Lucy Stillman, suspicious of her sudden death, sought answers despite repeated warnings from Warren Vidic. Five years after the incident, Lucy's probing had caught the attention of other high-ranking Templars, including Nancy Nilop, who denied her access to classified information regarding Leila's death; and Alan Rikkin, who ordered Vidic to silence Lucy's questions, which were threatening Abstergo's secrets.

That same year, an iron statue of the Buddhist deity Vaisravana resurfaced, sparking renewed interest. Looted by the Schutzstaffel before World War II, the statue had been lost to history for decades. On 28 September 2012, Abstergo Industries influenced The Guardian to falsely report that the statue was made from a meteorite that had crashed on Earth around 15,000 years ago. After applauding the Abstergo employee Erica Nichols for her work, Alan Rikkin ordered Laetitia England to recover the statue. On 22 November, Laetitia responded to Alan's message, stating the sculpture had been retrieved and replaced with a forgery.

In 2008, the Akashic Satellite Plexus was launched and appeared to simply be a collection of communications, weather, and observation satellites. The plexus was heavily shielded, in order to remain functional in the face of predicted solar flares. The plexus also had scramblers that prevented standard satellite imagery from effectively pinpointing the Abstergo campus' various facilities. That same year, Álvaro Gramática was recruited into Abstergo to work on the project. Though the Assassins believed Abstergo would use it to control the world, this was denied in their internal documents for their top agents, and emphasis was placed on the plexus becoming able to locate "individuals with potential".

In 2009, the Templar scientist Álvaro Gramática developed the Data Dump Scanner, a software that worked in conjunction with the Animus to let users relive any pre-recorded memories, regardless of whether they were blood-related, through uploading the extracted memories from another person's genetic memory. The Templars used this software for Project Legacy to obtain information on the Assassins and Pieces of Eden, among other things, and in their Animi Training Program to train their agents. Memories used in the projects had been previously extracted from certain individuals by the company. When combined with the Animus interface, the DDS technology paved the way for the creation of Helix.

In 2010, Warren Vidic was already laying the groundwork for the experimental Animi Training Program, recruiting promising subjects such as Juhani Otso Berg. One night, Vidic led Sigma Team into Berg's home in Helsinki, where they caught him off-guard and quickly overpowered him. Vidic then supplied Abstergo-brand medicine to Berg's ailing toddler, Elina, and promised more of the medicine to help cure the girl if Berg agreed to join the Animi Training Program. Berg accepted but demanded to kill one of Sigma Team's members, Jenkins, who had woken up and upset Elina, which Vidic allowed.

That same year, a former software company was reborn as Abstergo Entertainment, a subsidiary of Abstergo Industries. The company's main mediums included video games, movies and other media sourced from genetic memories. Their games were released in partnership with Ubisoft. The division's first major release was a 2012 game titled Liberation, entailing the story of the 18th-century Assassin Aveline de Grandpré.

On 13 June 2010, James Morse, who worked as a secretary in Abstergo's Washington, D.C. office, organized a game of tennis with his colleague Kyle Milton after work. On 27 June, James signed off on several purchase orders made by his fellow Abstergo colleague, Jansen March. On 11 November, Leonard Wong sent James an email, asking for help arranging an appointment with Alan Rikkin, as he had received no direct reply from Rikkin. On 28 November, security analyst Caroline Grey asked James to check on security and data after an attempted hack by Erudito. The following day, James received an email from Carson Kairns regarding a package with no invoice.

In December 2010, Hammerstein noticed several missing Animus blueprints from the Animus Project. Realizing that nobody was paying attention to his questions about it, Hammerstein started looking deeper into the matter, eventually finding the codeword "Project Siren". He speculated that it was related to Subject 17, and that Warren Vidic or Lucy Stillman was behind the leak. He sent an email to Erica Nichols with his findings and asked if she had more information for him.

On 9 December 2010, junior professor Shaun Hastings released confidential information on Abstergo Industries to WikiLeaks; Abstergo quickly had the letter pulled, and Shaun abducted for interrogation. The next day, while he was being transferred, the Assassin Rebecca Crane hacked the onboard computer of Abstergo's van to show that it was low on fuel. When the van pulled over to rectify this, Rebecca helped Shaun escape, and introduced him to the Brotherhood.

At some point in or before December 2010, a pregnant woman dubbed "Subject 15" was kidnapped by Abstergo Industries to explore her genetic memories. During the research, Lucy Stillman became concerned with the woman's well-being as she became confused and entered an accelerated state. This was due to the Animus being confused by the presence of the fetus in her body and attempting to read both her and the father's genetic memory simultaneously. On 10 December, Lucy expressed her concerns in an email to Warren Vidic, who agreed to end the subject's exposure to the Animus and told Lucy to take the day off. Shortly after, Vidic sent an e-mail to Steve Gibbs informing him of the need for "disposal units" at the labs as well as the drafting of a fake accident report by James Morse, implying the termination of the subject.

In January 2011, protests against then-president Hosni Mubarak and his regime erupted in Cairo and other Egyptian cities. Layla Hassan, feeling the need for revolution, asked for a leave of absence from Abstergo and returned to her home country. She was present for the Tahrir Square demonstrations. Although her fluency in Arabic was minimal, she managed to become strongly involved in the country's revolutionary youth culture. She helped her new friends communicate via social media and also in hacking digital devices despite the widespread government censorship.

On 13 April 2011, Caroline Grey, still employed as a security analyst, sent a Notice of Acquisition to Alan Rikkin. Having completed a security review, she believed that the key leadership at Abstergo Industries would be cooperative in achieving the objectives of acquiring a controlling interest. She acknowledged the need for additional planning to integrate the existing team. The on-site team sought guidance on implementing human resource procedures, and stated that Jake posed several questions during the discussion.

Circa 2011, Owen Meyers' father was part of an armed robbery at a branch office of the Malta Banking Corporation to pay off his gambling debts. He was found guilty by the court of justice of attempted robbery and the murder of an innocent guard. His incarceration and gambling debts forced his wife to sell the house to pay off the debt, and forced her and her son to move back into Owen's maternal grandparents' house.

Around the same time, the lowly criminal Moussa was discovered and apprehended by Abstergo, who brought him to their facility in Madrid. There, he was forced to relive the memories of his ancestor, Baptiste. Initially, Moussa was distrusted by fellow inmate Emir due to his ancestor's affiliation with the Templars, as well as Moussa's apparent willingness to work alongside their enemies. In time, however, Moussa became disillusioned with the Templars, realizing that his alliance with them had brought him nothing. Eventually, he convinced the other inmates – Emir, Nathan and Lin – that he could be trusted, and they joined his cause, dedicating their lives to the Assassins' Creed. Together, they became the protectors of Aguilar's Apple of Eden, which was sought by Abstergo.

In 2011, Daniel Cross led a group of Templars on a raid. Once they arrived at the Assasin hideout, the group found nobody but Hannah Mueller, who had stayed behind to slow down the Templars and try to return Daniel to the Assassins. However, her attempt failed, and Daniel killed her. Sometime before October 2011, Daniel was involved in the DIA satellite accident, an incident that took place in an underground Abstergo facility beneath Denver International Airport. As the Project Lead, Daniel and his team were experimenting with the Eye-Abstergo satellite when Cross fell under the influence of the project's Apple of Eden and killed everyone in the facility. Amidst the massacre, the Apple was destroyed.

On 3 October 2011, Isabelle Ardant, the head of Abstergo's Historical Research Division, took the Shroud of Eden with her to Mexico City, where she met up with Álvaro Gramática. She asked her fellow Templar to try and reactivate the artifact – a request he happily accepted – while she searched her archives for more information about people that had previously come into contact with it.

On 12 December 2011, after C-Wing was blocked off, an email was sent to employees to help ease tensions within the workforce. The move was intended to address growing unease and restore some stability within the company. The following day, Erica Nichols, an employee at Abstergo Industries working in a press-related role, had a release ready to be sent to James Morse at the Washington Abstergo office for both print and electronic distribution.

In early January 2012, Isabelle Ardant was invited by Álvaro Gramática to join him at an Abstergo facility in Paris to check on his progress researching the Shroud of Eden. She was unnerved to discover that he intended to shoot himself in a desperate attempt to activate the Shroud, as his work over the past few months had yielded little results. Isabelle reluctantly agreed and reacted with horror when an entity named "Consus" manifested itself through Gramática upon the artifact's activation.

In March 2012, violence erupted between Mexican border guards and undocumented immigrants from the United States. Despite hundreds of American refugees being killed and thousands more wounded, record numbers of Americans still continued to cross the border.

In June 2012, Isabelle Ardant arranged for Templar agent Violet da Costa to become Álvaro Gramática's test subject for six months, feeling it was too risky to have the head of Abstergo's Future Technology shoot himself each time to summon Consus. Upon arriving at the facility, she left Violet alone with Gramática as she had no interest to witness "the mess", which confused Violet as she was wrapped in the Shroud before being shot by Gramática. In the ensuing conversation with Consus, the Erudite God, he shared details about his past and the creation of the Shroud. He explained that he had been apprenticed to Hephaistos during the War of Unification, where they developed devastating weapons but also created Shrouds to heal the casualties of war. Consus described the body as a machine with repair blueprints, and he revealed that the Shrouds accessed these recovery centers to repair damage.

When asked about his consciousness residing in the Shroud, Consus explained that he had uploaded his mind into it to escape death but became trapped in his prototype in a forgotten lab. He expressed surprise at the advancements made by his descendants, who created the human race. The conversation concluded with Violet expressing amazement after Consus' mind left her body and a desire for another discussion, to which Gramática eagerly agreed and reloaded his gun.

On 3 September 2012, the Global Weather Association abandoned the phrase "North Atlantic Hurricane Season", since occurrences of the natural phenomenon in the North Atlantic had become so powerful and frequent that coastal cities in the East Coast lived in constant fear of the storms. Three days later, the last American film studio permanently closed down, as rampant film piracy and competition from the video game industry had rendered the American cinema industry nonviable. Meanwhile, the USA and European Union continued to build jointly-owned oil platforms in the Weddell Sea, despite protests that the platforms violated the Antarctic Treaty System.

On 12 September, the Canadian Assassin Janice contacted Gavin Banks to ask that more Assassins be sent to her location as reinforcements, since her cell only consisted of two other members besides herself. Gavin promised to do what he could, but ta that moment Janice heard one of her fellow Assassins scream, and as she went to investigate, she was intercepted by a team of Templars led by Daniel Cross and killed.

2010 – 2012

Project Legacy

In an attempt to acquire genetic memories of notable historical figures throughout history, which were important to the company, Abstergo Industries launched Project Legacy. Using the Data Dump Scanner software developed by Álvaro Gramática, they explored the genetic memories without needing to be blood-related to the hosts. These memories were extracted from various individuals before being placed for review, often through collaboration with the company's Lineage Discovery and Acquisition department.

In 2010, the project was officially released as a social media platform by the nascent Abstergo Entertainment. In November and December 2010, Erudito released phone conversations between the Project Manager for Project Legacy, Anson Peake, and his boss. On 4 July 2011, Erudito hacked into the DDS main page, and proceeded to change the logo into a red and inverted version of the Abstergo logo, under which read "-_-Erudito Industries-_-". Erudito also shared a link to some RAR files containing the Divine Science memories.

After the suspension of Project Legacy, the company announced that Peake had gone missing and asked for the recruits' cooperation in the event that he contacted any of them. However, Erudito thought he was "hooked into the machine".

At some point in 2011, Isabelle Ardant became responsible for archiving and managing the genetic memories of Project Legacy, which she considered a waste of her time and beneath her rank. However, while exploring the gathered data, Isabelle learned about Abstergo's acquisition of a Shroud of Eden during World War II. Due to recent setbacks the company faced, she saw an opportunity to ingratiate herself with Alan Rikkin and decided to repair the artifact. She ultimately assigned this task to Gramática, who was happy to know that the data gathered through Project Legacy was not going to waste. In 2012, the project was put on indefinite hold due to security concerns caused by Erudito.

Clay Kaczmarek's capture

In 2010, William Miles, the de facto Mentor of the Assassin Order, gave Clay Kaczmarek the task of infiltrating Abstergo Industries. His job was to access Alan Rikkin's personal computer and uncover details surrounding the secretive "Animus Project". Clay's efforts yielded information on the project's research funding, the name of its lead, and the location of the new facility in Italy. Thereafter, the Assassins decided to plant Clay deeper into Abstergo as a test subject of the program. He was informed that there was a mole already inside Abstergo by the name of Lucy Stillman, who would aid him in his escape when the time came.

On 1 February 2011, Clay was captured by the Lineage Discovery and Acquisition team and inducted into the Animus Project as Subject 16. He was forced to relive the memories of his ancestors, particularly Ezio Auditore, for long periods of time. Though Vidic kept the true purpose of their genetic explorations a secret, Clay realized that their efforts were focused on locating a mythical Apple of Eden; when Clay inquired about the Apple, Vidic threatened that Clay could not reasonably expect to be released if he knew what they truly sought. Later, William contacted Clay and assured him that when the time came, Lucy would rescue him, as they were a team.

Clay Kaczmarek writing symbols in blood

Eventually, Clay discovered the true purpose of the Animus Project—the release of the Eye-Abstergo satellite—and decided that it was time for him to escape. However, his over-exposure to the Animus caused him to suffer from extreme bouts of the Bleeding Effect. In addition, after conversing with Juno, Clay discovered Lucy's true allegiance to the Templars.

Following this revelation, Clay was convinced by Juno to deliver a message to his eventual successor, Desmond Miles. As he plotted his suicide, Clay created an artificially intelligent construct of himself inside the Animus by hacking the machine throughout the night. After sending one final e-mail to his father, Clay slit his wrists and used his blood to paint cryptic messages for his eventual successor to find.

New Fluoride disaster

In early 2012, Stephanie Chiu discovered that her father had developed the synthetic drug called New Fluoride which was introduced into the water supplies of various Chinese settlements, causing significant damage to the local population, and in a small town in the United States.

The American operation was partially exposed when the young activist Susan Drayton broke into the water supply of her home town in Prince George, British Columbia, and stole a sample of the drug, intending to leak it to the press. She was arrested while exiting the building only for the Canadian Assassin Janice to save and recruit her into the Brotherhood. Later, Susan attempted to steal a ship to chase Japanese whalers, but Gavin Banks stopped her, intending to make the ship a mobile Assassin base. The two agreed to work together, with Susan as captain of the ship they dubbed the Altaïr II.

News of Abstergo's operation in Prince George was still released to the public. Following this, documents were leaked on the Fluoride Enhancement Studies, resulting in Abstergo being placed under investigation by the American government. As a result, the company was forced to try and hasten the launch of Eye-Abstergo to 21 December 2012, in order to avoid the expected asset freeze.

As Stephanie realized Abstergo had never been apprehended for New Flouride's distribution in her home country, she fled to Hong Kong. Chased by Abstergo agents all the way, Stephanie eventually came across Susan and Gavin Banks, who saved her from the agents and recruited her into the Brotherhood. She subsequently joined the Altaïr II's crew as the ship doctor.

The fake Georgian Brotherhood

Around 2012, the Georgian brothers Akaki and Nodar Ninidze grew tired of the constant wars that plagued their home country and sought a way to end them. Inspired by the strong legacy of the Assassin Brotherhood in other countries like Russia, Syria, and Turkey, they founded their own "Brotherhood" to bring peace to their country, with Akaki fashioning himself as the "Mentor" of this Brotherhood.

Although the "Assassins" struck fear into their enemies at first, the Templars eventually caught wind of their actions. Believing them to be part of the official Brotherhood, they attacked them from many fronts. Effectively whittled down, Gavin Banks arrived to take in the remaining survivors and retreat to Pankisi Valley, where he relayed to the freedom fighters the secret history of the Assassin-Templar War. Now aware of the truth, the Ninidze brothers were inspired to join the Altaïr II's crew to take the fight to a larger scale than their home country, leaving behind an official Georgian Brotherhood.

Animi Training Program

Warren Vidic talking to the recruits

In late 2012, the Animi Training Program began shortly after the "escape" of Subject 17, under the supervision of Warren Vidic at the Animus Project facility in Rome, which housed dozens of Animi. The program was a secret Templar initiative to train Abstergo Industries employees in the skills they needed to fight against the remnants of the Assassin Order, such as combat and freerunning, through the use of the Animus, and to teach and induct them fully into the Templar Order.

During the first stage of the Animi program, subjects relived the lives of notable Italian Templars and non-Assassins during the Renaissance and used their genetic memories to face off against one another in various types of virtual training exercises. During the second stage of the project, subjects were transposed onto individuals who lived during the age of the Ottoman Empire, and more types of training were made available in various locations throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East. In addition, Vidic and Theodore Rizzo employed the aid of Daniel Cross in the training of the agents.

On 4 December, Abstergo CEO and Grand Master Alan Rikkin sent an email to most members the Inner Sanctum, summoning them to a mandatory meeting in Pebble Beach, California, the following night. In the email, he stated that "several urgent matters need to be addressed", among which was whether to promote Juhani Otso Berg to the rank of Master Templar after he completed the Animus Training Program with exceptional results. If Berg was to be promoted, the next question would be whether it warranted entry into the Inner Sanctum. Daniel Cross was notably omitted from the invitation list, with Alan claiming it was out of concern for Daniel's "medical condition," though a more likely explanation was that Rikkin sought to avoid an altercation in the likely event that Daniel heavily disagreed with the other members' decision to promote Berg.

Daniel remained unaware of the meeting and resumed his regular Animus sessions. Dr. Sung spoke to Vidic on 5 December after he returned to Philadelphia and noted that, while Daniel had little memory of his recently failed mission in Brazil and still needed much rest, he was faring far better than his previous sessions. Vidic asked if Daniel was "presentable", causing Sung to worry after Vidic ignored her last objections, but he assured her that this would not be a field mission and that it would only be for two hours, and then Daniel would be returned to her for further treatment.

Daniel injecting Berg with a tracker

on 6 December, Juhani Otso Berg was brought to a hidden office at Abstergo's Philadelphia facility, where he met with Laetitia England. There, he sat down in the seat in front of Laetitia's desk before being surprised from behind by Daniel Cross. Remembering how Berg had choked him to unconsciousness in their first encounter, Daniel decided to return the "favor" and restrained Berg with an arm to the throat as Cross' free hand threatened him with an injection gun holding a subcutaneous tracking chip. Laetitia stopped Daniel from knocking out the Inner Sanctum's newest member but allowed him to go forward and forcefully inject the chip into Berg's forearm.

On 10 December, Berg met with Vidic, Laetitia, Daniel, and several other Templar operatives in the same office room in Philadelphia, where Laetitia revealed that Abstergo had located the leader of the modern-day Assassins, William Miles, in Cairo, Egypt. Soon after, Berg was dispatched by Vidic with a team to capture the Assassin. Two days later, Berg led the reformed Sigma Team in cornering William inside the Egyptian Museum and successfully captured and extracted him from the city, taking him to Abstergo's facility in Rome.

After Berg's training proved successful, Abstergo began distributing their Animus technology worldwide through Abstergo Entertainment. Users of this technology were transposed onto individuals from the American Revolution. At the same time, Abstergo created the Geosimulation Workspace to study global war as a social process, allowing participants to experience the end of the Seven Years' War. Due to the success of stage three of the Animus Training Program, Abstergo released a pirate-themed sequel where players were transposed onto individuals from the Golden Age of Piracy.

Desmond Miles' capture

Warren Vidic and Lucy Stillman overseeing Desmond in the Animus

On 6 September 2012, the media announced that Abstergo Industries was being investigated for manipulating a small town's water supply in order to test a synthetic drug referred to as "New Fluoride". This pressured Abstergo to launch their Eye-Abstergo satellite by 21 December 2012, which was secretly a mind control device powered by a Piece of Eden. However, the Apple of Eden originally meant to power the satellite had been destroyed in the DIA satellite accident and Abstergo did not have another one available.

On 1 September, Daniel Cross and a team of Abstergo agents kidnapped Desmond Miles in New York after identifying him through his motorcycle license, and brought him over to their facility in Rome. The next day, Desmond was forced to confront his past as an Assassin. Under the supervision of Warren Vidic and his assistant Lucy Stillman, Desmond was given a choice: to willingly cooperate with the Templars by reliving the memories of his Levantine Assassin ancestor Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and assisting in their research, or be put into a artificial coma while they extracted the information from him, though this would take more time. In response, Desmond called Vidic "sick" before surrendering himself and willingly entering the Animus to find a map showing the approximate locations of the Pieces of Eden on Earth.

Desmond frequently exited the Animus as the machine "broke down" and overheated several times during his stay. During these breaks, he was able to sneak around the laboratory, reading Vidic and Lucy's emails over the next several days, while also getting to know Lucy more personally. After several days of reliving Altaïr's memories, the Templars found the map they were looking for on 9 September.

Desmond and Lucy escaping from the Abstergo facility

Alan Rikkin, accompanied by David Kilkerman and Henry Liman, ordered Desmond's immediate termination, prompting Lucy to defend him from Rikkin. As the others left the room to discuss, leaving Desmond alone, he awakened his Eagle Vision through the Bleeding Effect, and escaped with Lucy's help. She had made him believe she was an undercover Assassin to gain his trust. However, the escape was actually part of Project Siren, a plan devised by Vidic to facilitate a quicker recovery of Desmond's genetic memories.

On 9 September, Lucy safely brought Desmond to an Assassin hideout and rendezvoused with Shaun Hastings and her close friend Rebecca Crane, the latter of whom she had not seen in seven years. After quickly inroducing themselves to Desmond, Lucy explained that the Assassins were losing the war against the Templars and that everyday more of them died. Consequently, a decision was made to train Desmond as a true Assassin in the fastest possible way: through the use of the Animus 2.0, which was made from copied Abstergo blueprints. The Assassins intended to take advantage of the Bleeding Effect by having Desmond relive the memories of his Italian Assassin ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze to take on his skills.

After a prolonged time inside the Animus, Desmond was removed from the machine to test his retention of the skills he had learned, and also to prevent the mental degradation that Subject 16 had suffered after prolonged exposure to the Animus. While initiating security protocols around the hideout, Lucy tasked Desmond with using his Eagle Vision and newly acquired freerunning abilities. However, he soon began experiencing vivid hallucinations of the Third Crusade due to the Bleeding Effect.

Desmond experiencing the Bleeding Effect

Initially brief and harmless, the visions became more intense, incapacitating him after completing his task. When he awoke, Desmond found himself transported back to medieval Acre through the Bleeding Effect, reliving Altaïr's memories without using the Animus. During these visions, he discovered that Altaïr and Maria Thorpe had conceived a son, Sef, one of Desmond's direct ancestors.

The next day, Desmond had recovered and returned to the Animus, choosing not to inform his team about the hallucinations. He resumed viewing Ezio's genetic memories, though he was briefly ejected from the machine due to corrupted memory sequences. The team eventually learned that Ezio's nemesis, Rodrigo Borgia, Grand Master of the Italian Templars, had become Pope Alexander VI in 1492 to gain access to a Piece of Eden, the Papal Staff, and the Vault beneath the Vatican.

On 15 September, while reliving Ezio's encounter with Rodrigo Borgia before accessing the Vault, Desmond encountered the Isu scientist Minerva, who spoke directly to him through Ezio, warning Desmond that the Great Catastrophe from millennia past would soon recur. In order to avert planet-wide decimation, she warned him of the "cross" and told him to find a series of temples built by her kind.

Vidic and the Abstergo guards raiding the Assassin hideout

Soon after, Desmond and his companions were located by a team of Templars led by Warren Vidic. Lucy armed Desmond with a Hidden Blade so they could fight Vidic and the Templars, while Shaun and Rebecca quickly prepared for their escape. During the confrontation, Vidic reminded Lucy of all the lives she had helped him destroy, claiming that she, too, had blood on her hands, just like him. This prompted Lucy and Desmond to launch their attack.

After defeating the Templar guards, Vidic swore to Desmond that their conflict was far from over before making his escape. The Assassins hurried into the escape vehicle, discussing their next steps. The group was confused about what had just happened in the Animus, and Shaun, with help from Lucy's insights, concluded that the catastrophe that had once destroyed Minerva's civilization would happen again, and they needed to stop it. Unbeknownst to the team, Lucy had hidden a recorded copy of Desmond's Animus sessions at the abandoned hideout, which Vidic later retrieved.

Search for Ezio's Apple of Eden

On 16 September, Desmond, Lucy, Shaun, and Rebecca arrived at the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, the last Assassin safehouse in Italy. Lucy concluded that when Minerva had touched Ezio Auditore's Apple of Eden, she had somehow altered it, and they needed to trace Ezio's memories further to see where the Apple had ended up. Upon inspecting the Villa, Rebecca deduced that the secret entrance could only be opened from the inside, leaving them trapped. Desmond, still experiencing the Bleeding Effect, saw Ezio walking through the Villa and concluded that his ancestor might want to show him something. He followed him, accompanied by Lucy, through the catacombs of the city.

Desmond opening the secret passage for Shaun and Rebecca

After passing the Auditore Family Crypt and the medieval sewers, they reached the Monteriggioni Sanctuary. Desmond opend the door and Shaun and Rebecca entered, with Shaun mildly annoyed at how long it had taken. While Rebecca explored the Sanctuary, Shaun discovered strange markings near the entrance. Using Desmond's Eagle Vision, they deciphered the numbers: 1419, 1420, and 1421. Shaun decided to study these numbers during their stay in the Sanctuary.

Rebecca concluded that the Sanctuary was safe from Abstergo's satellites and phone lines, and with Desmond's help, they secretly rerouted the city's power to the Sanctuary, allowing them to work without interference. During their search for Ezio's Apple, Desmond encountered more puzzles from Subject 16 in the Animus and began receiving anonymous messages from the mysterious hacker group, Erudito. In these messages, Desmond gained access to the email accounts of his fellow Assassins, where he saw Lucy communicating with two different William Mileses. However, Desmond never brought this up to her or anyone else for that matter.

On 10 October, upon discovering that Ezio had hidden the Apple in the Colosseum Vault in Rome, the team concluded that the door protecting the Apple required a voice password to open. Shaun, to his surprise, realized that the numbers left by Ezio in the Villa were actually the password. He deduced that it had something to do with the 72 names of God and, with confidence, told Rebecca that the password was "72."

A hologram of Juno speaking to Desmond

That same evening, the Assassin set off for the Colosseum under the cover of darkness. During their exploration under the Colosseum, they discovered a secret passage leading to Santa Maria in Aracoeli, where Desmond was confronted by a "spectral" form of the Isu scientist Juno, whom only he could hear and see. Juno accompanied Desmond and spoke to him about her lost civilization, the human race and the "sixth sense." Eventually, the Assassins found the Apple of Eden hidden in the vault, and Desmond attempted to retrieve it by completing a short freerunning course.

When Desmond touched the Apple, the Apple froze everyone in the room in place. He was confronted with a vision that revealed that Lucy would deliver the Apple to the Templars, and they would launch the Eye-Abstergo, only for it to fail, and without the Apple they would be dooming the world for the second disaster. To prevent this future, Desmond was forced to kill Lucy.

Desmond killing Lucy after retrieving the Apple

As a consequence of using the Apple, Juno's influence, and killing Lucy, Desmond fell into shock and slipped into unconsciousness. William Miles would shortly thereafter arrive on the scene and dispatch several Assassins to retrieve the team from the Vault. He then placed his son inside the Animus due to his fear of sedating Desmond too soon. In the Animus, Desmond continued to relive Ezio's memories, and eventually found a restored memory sequence from 1506. From there, he received an email from William stating that the memory sequence would lead the Assassins to crucial information regarding another Vault.

At the end of these memories, Ezio and Leonardo da Vinci found another Vault in Rome, which was located beneath the Temple of Pythagoras. When Ezio's DNA activated a pedestal, the room projected the coordinates 43 39 19 N 75 27 42 W, which led to the town of Turin in New York, the location of the Grand Temple left behind by the Isu.

The Black Room

Clay and Desmond on Animus Island

Desmond awoke on Animus Island, where he encountered a virtual construct of Clay Kaczmarek, Subject 16. Clay explained that Desmond had to continue reliving his ancestors' memories until reaching a "Synch Nexus." Once found, the Animus would sever his connection to Altaïr and Ezio, allowing him to wake up. Clay coldly remarked that if Desmond hurried, he could make it to Lucy's funeral, triggering painful memories of the Colosseum Vault. Regretful but determined, Desmond relived Ezio's memories to reach a conscious state.

After completing the first memory sequence, Desmond overheard a conversation between his father, William, and Rebecca. William examined the Ezio's Apple and reassured Rebecca that he lacked the necessary genes to use it—implying Desmond might. Desmond was then pulled back to Animus Island, where Clay explained the Animus detected him leaving his designated partition. It pulled him back as a failsafe, ensuring his mind wasn't erased. Clay promised to keep the Animus distracted to prevent it from deleting Desmond.

As Desmond collected data fragments across Constantinople, he was able to enter a simulation on his own memories; however, they were fractured and thus required precision and caution to navigate. Desmond reflected on his past: growing up on the Farm, training as an Assassin, talking to his mother, escaping as a teenager, and eventually being captured by Abstergo Industries. He regretted not listening to his parents but now accepted his role as an Assassin, acknowledging he did not want to go back to his old life.

Clay saving Desmond

Throughout his stay on Animus Island, Desmond would converse with Clay. The latter, clearly distressed about being locked up in the Animus, once asked if Desmond would consider taking him with him, so they could both inhabit his body, but Desmond refused. Later, Clay questioned if Desmond regretted his choices, such as abandoning his parents and neglecting his Assassin duties. Desmond admitted he wished he had been more patient with his parents and that things with Lucy could have been different. Clay thanked him for "making sense."

At some point during his coma, Desmond relived Clay's own memories, experiencing his struggles as an Assassin, how he was forced to stay inside the Animus, and how Lucy had betrayed him and the Assassins. In a final interruption, Animus Island began to disintegrate, and Clay cynically stated that the Animus had scheduled their deletion. As the ground fractured beneath them, Desmond wondered if Clay planned for both of them to die together. Clay sacrificed himself, pushing Desmond through the portal, allowing him to relive Ezio's final memories.

After Ezio discovered Altaïr's Apple of Eden in the Masyaf library, he addressed Desmond directly, acknowledging that the latter had somehow been watching him. Afterward, Desmond entered the Synch Nexus, where he encountered Jupiter, another Isu.

Desmond awakening from his coma

Jupiter explained that the Isu had built Vaults worldwide to research methods of salvation from solar flares. The Vaults' findings were sent to the Grand Temple in modern New York, where Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva reviewed them. Though six solutions were tested and failed, a breakthrough seemed imminent before a massive solar flare struck, killing most of the Isu. Only 10,000 humans survived, and both races worked together to rebuild humanity. Finally, Jupiter tasked Desmond to find the Grand Temple so that he may have a chance to save his race from certain doom.

On the morning of 30 October, Desmond awoke from his coma, surrounded by Shaun, Rebecca, and his father. Sitting up, Desmond took in his surroundings and told the group, "I know what we need to do next."

The Grand Temple

That same morning, after Desmond used the Apple to open the entrance to the Grand Temple, the Assassins entered and began exploring. They quickly discovered a power source, which Desmond placed into a socket. Thisactivated the Temple's power system and erected an energy barrier at the end of the grand hall, blocking further access. Juno's voice echoed through the chamber, instructing Desmond to find "the key" required to enter the inner chamber. Shortly after, Juno triggered a Bleeding Effect that caused Desmond to lose consciousness. He later woke up in the Animus, placed there on William's orders.

Desmond, William, Shaun and Rebecca in the Grand Temple

Frustrated about being put into the machine without a proper check-up, Desmond argued with William. The tension eventually settled, and Desmond began a training sequence in the Animus to adjust to Rebecca's recent modifications. He then relived the memories of his ancestor, Haytham Kenway, an 18th-century nobleman who possessed an amulet capable of bypassing the Grand Temple's barrier.

The team was later shocked to learn that Haytham was a Templar. During a break from the Animus, Desmond and William clashed; William criticized his son for resting, leading to a heated argument where Desmond expressed his frustration about being treated like a pawn and that his father had been ordering him around for his entire life. After Desmond, in his anger, added that William was no better than the Templars, the latter punched him in the face. William then admitted that he might have pushed his son too hard, but told him to remain focused.

Shaun interrupted to diffuse the situation, informing them that additional power cores were necessary to fully activate the Temple. Desmond warned William never to strike him again, asserting that he would defend himself if it happened. When Desmond returned to the Animus, he continued viewing his ancestor's genetic memories. This time, he briefly experienced the memories of Kaniehtí:io, an Iroquois woman with whom Haytham conceived a son named Ratonhnhaké:ton.

Gavin's text message to William

On 2 November, Gavin Banks sent a text message to William from Stillwater, Oklahoma, informing him that his efforts at drawing the Templar's attention away from William's team had been successful. The next day, Gavin sent another text from New Orleans, updating William on the destruction of an Assassin team in Florence by the Templars.

By 15 November, Daniel Cross had grown impatient at Abstergo's apparent lack of action against Desmond and decided to take matters into his own hands. Shortly after being confined to his quarters upon finishing another Animus treatment, Daniel threw Abstergo into disarray by hacking their mainframe, looking for anything that could give him a lead on Desmond's location. A quick search revealed that the Templars had recently developed an interest in a set of Isu power sources.

Reasoning that the Assassins would also want the artifacts, Daniel used the chaos from his hack as cover to break out of his room, cut down the men guarding it, and leave without a trace. Although the only information he had were Abstergo files that acknowledged the existence of the batteries, within a day, Daniel had successfully located a power source in a Manhattan office in New York. Having found the artifact, Daniel then waited for the Assassins to inevitably arrive.

Hunt for the Power Sources

Desmond parachuting onto the tower

On 16 November, Desmond revisited New York City for the first time since his kidnapping two months earlier. His destination was a Manhattan office of Abstergo Industries, to recover a power source for the Grand Temple that Shaun had located. That night, Desmond carried out his first proper mission as an Assassin. He climbed what seemed to be an abandoned skyscraper while keeping in contact with Shaun, Rebecca, and William via an earpiece. Rebecca recorded the entire operation using drones.

At the top of the skyscraper, Desmond parachuted from a construction crane to another building. After opening the parachute at the right moment, he flew toward yet another building before retracting the parachute. Once inside the office, he encountered Daniel Cross, who was waiting for him, armed with a gun. Desmond quickly disarmed Daniel and knocked him out using the power source before making his escape.

Daniel confronting Desmond in the office

Back at the Temple, Desmond insisted on knowing who Daniel was. Shaun and Rebecca explained that Cross had once been a respected colleague but had betrayed the Brotherhood, becoming a broken man under Abstergo's influence. Despite her sadness over the past and the suffering Daniel had endured, Rebecca remained resolute that Cross was dangerous and needed to be stopped. Desmond thanked her for sharing this and told her that he was happy to be with them instead of Abstergo.

The next morning, on 17 November, Daniel woke up in the office alone and, disoriented, wandered New York's streets speaking Russian due to another Bleeding Effect incident. He was eventually spotted around noon by Juhani Otso Berg, who had been sent by Laetitia England to investigate the security breach at the office. A confused Daniel attacked Berg but was swiftly neutralized and returned to Abstergo, where he was detained in a holding cell until Warren Vidic could be contacted.

On 23 November, Abstergo psychiatrist Ctibor Hašek emailed Vidic and Laetitia on the subject of Daniel. Cross had proven by this point to be unwilling or incapable of completing recent assignments after claiming to be fit for duty, and thus requested they reconsider Daniel's status as an active agent. By his own assessment, as well as those from doctors Sung and Saravakos, Cross was well-known to be unpredictable and uncooperative, both traits that could be manipulated to make him a security risk. Vidic replied within minutes, saying that Cross would no longer report to the Operations Division to lead teams or be a part of any that were sent out. Vidic, caring deeply for Cross in his own way, refused to let Daniel's conditions inhibit how valuable he still was to the Templars. Instead of allowing Daniel's skills to be wasted staying out of the field, Vidic reassigned Daniel as his personal agent, overriding the medical objections of Dr. Sung, who felt her patient needed more treatment rather than work.

Juno explaining one of the Isu's failed solutions to Desmond

During his breaks at the Temple, Desmond reconciled with William after their earlier fight. William admitted he shouldn't have hit his son. Father and son then began discussing not only their work and the Temple, but also the decision William and Desmond's mother had made to separate in order to better focus on their missions. Desmond found this difficult to hear but ultimately agreed with their reasoning.

At one point, Juno started not only to speak to Desmond directly and walk around the facility, but sent emails to Desmond's account in an attempt to communicate with him. Shaun noted in a message that he suspected there was more to Juno's actions, as she seemed aware of his disparaging remarks about her.

By 2 December, Shaun discovered a second power source held by a wealthy woman attending a martial arts tournament in São Paulo, Brazil. The team traveled to the stadium, where Desmond realized that Abstergo had surrounded the area with agents. The team decided to enter the building discreetly through the rafters.

Desmond facing Daniel in Brazil

While making his way to the VIP section, Desmond again ran into Daniel, who had killed all the attendants in the room and attempted to escape with the power source. However, Desmond was able to catch up to him, defeat him in hand-to-hand combat, and incapacitate him before being discovered by additional Abstergo agents. With the power source in -and, Desmond fled the agents by boarding a train, and the team left Brazil aboard the Altaïr II, returning to the Grand Temple.

On 9 December, back at the Temple, Shaun located a third power source in a museum in Cairo, Egypt. Due to the rapidly approaching deadline of 21 December, and with Desmond still unable to locate the key to access the Temple's inner chambers, William decided to retrieve the power source himself.

On 10 December, Daniel, Laetitia, and Berg met with Vidic in Laetitia's office along with other Templar agents to discuss new intelligence. Vidic revealed that the Templars had discovered William Miles' location in Cairo. Given William's connection to Desmond and his status as the leader of the Assassins, Vidic and the other Templars deduced that his mission must be of great importance. They also correctly suspected that William was seeking another power source. To Daniel's surprise, Vidic assigned the mission to Berg, a recent addition to the Inner Sanctum, rather than opening the decision for debate.

William Miles' capture and rescue

On 11 December, Juhani Otso Berg and Sigma Team captured William Miles at the museum in Cairo after surrounding him. Before his capture, William sent an email to his son Desmond, expressing his regrets about his life and their strained relationship.

On 12 December, Daniel Cross, frustrated after Berg was put in charge of capturing William, repeatedly attempted to contact Warren Vidic at Abstergo's Rome facility. When Vidic finally responded, Daniel expressed his distrust of Berg's ability to complete the mission, citing his inexperience with the Templars. He also voiced his resentment toward the Inner Sanctum for trusting Berg over him. Vidic listened and revealed a secret: contrary to the group's belief, William Miles was not the true target; Desmond Miles was. Vidic instructed Daniel to capture Desmond when he came looking for his father. Vidic had also devised a plan to seize both Desmond and the Apple of Eden in his possession, which would allow the Templars to proceed with the Eye-Abstergo project as scheduled.

Vidic holding William hostage

Later, Desmond was removed from the Animus, and Shaun informed him that Abstergo had captured his father. Desmond, in disbelief, immediately headed for the Grand Temple's exit, only to pause when Rebecca mentioned there was more. Vidic had sent a video message to the Assassins, in which he was holding William captive. The Templar proposed a trade: the Assassins would get their leader back if Desmond handed over the Apple of Eden. Recognizing the trap, Desmond was nonetheless determined to rescue his father.

On 14 December, Desmond, Shaun, and Rebecca traveled to Italy and drove to the Abstergo facility. Upon arrival, Desmond confronted Abstergo security, eliminating anyone who stood in his way. He made his way to the fourth floor, where he expected to find his father in the Animus room, but instead encountered Daniel Cross, who fired a pistol at him.

Desmond narrowly avoided the gunfire by diving behind the Animus. Daniel then mocked Desmond for still fighting with a knife in the 21st century, only to be interrupted by his Bleeding Effect before he could kill the Assassin. Panicked, Daniel screamed in Russian that "they" needed to leave his head, and attempted to flee. However, Desmond pursued Daniel through the facility and eventually killed him.

Desmond using the Apple against Vidic and his guards

Meanwhile, Vidic observed the events from his office. After witnessing Daniel's death, he declared that Desmond had taken his "son" from him and the Templars. When Desmond finally arrived to confront him, Vidic had his guards point their guns at the captive William and ordered Desmond to surrender the Apple. The Assassin instead used it to command the guards to shoot themselves and Vidic. He then freed William, who reprimanded his son for risking everything to save him before embracing him. Desmond and William subsequently left the facility, using the Apple to fend off any remaining guards.

Back at the Temple, Desmond and William discussed the aftermath of Vidic's death. William believed it would have little impact on the Templars. However, Shaun later revealed that Vidic's death had a positive outcome: unable to secure the Apple, the Templars decided to indefinitely postpone the Eye-Abstergo project. As Desmond continued exploring the Temple, he came to terms with having killed Lucy. After speaking with Juno several times, he realized that whatever lay in the Temple's inner chambers would ultimately benefit her, and they would need to approach it carefully.

The Second Disaster

On 20 December, just hours away from catastrophe, Desmond found the memory he had been searching for. He discovered that Ratonhnhaké:ton had buried the Grand Temple's key on the Davenport Homestead, near the grave of Connor Davenport. The team subsequently hurried to the Homestead. After retrieving the key, the Assassins hastily returned to the Temple, opened the door, and entered the inner chambers.

Juno explaining her solution to Desmond

The team arrived in a dark room where, in the center, a glowing orb rested on a pedestal—the global aurora borealis device. Juno told Desmond to touch it to prevent the Second Disaster and save the world. Mere inches away from the orb, Minerva suddenly appeared through the Eye, shocking Desmond and Juno. She confirmed not only that Desmond's suspicions about Juno were correct but also revealed that Juno had deceived them all.

Juno had secretly enacted her sinister plans behind Minerva and Jupiter's backs—not to save the world, but to dominate it. When Minerva and Jupiter discovered her intentions, they attempted to eliminate her. Believing her to be dead, Minerva worked to help humanity rebuild after the first catastrophe. However, a lingering sense of doubt led her to take one last look at her efforts to prevent the second catastrophe. To her horror, she learned that Juno had not only survived and uploaded her consciousness into the Grand Temple's framework, but had sabotaged their plans, altering them to free herself from the Temple when the time was right.

Minerva explaining the consequences of freeing Juno

Juno responded, denying Minerva's accusations. She admitted she would indeed be freed but claimed the world would not burn. Minerva considered this a fate worse than death. Juno then demanded that Minerva show Desmond the future where he did not touch the pedestal. In a vision, Desmond witnessed the world descending into chaos. Volcanoes erupted, cities were destroyed, and people wept in despair. In the ashes he saw himself rising to lead humanity—first as a hero, then as a savior, and finally as a god. However, his words were later distorted and misused, leading to abuses of power and inquisitions carried out in his name; leading humanity into a dystopian era.

Minerva begged Desmond not to touch the device, saying that it would certainly kill him. Juno lied, assuring him it would be quick and painless. Despite Minerva's pleas, Desmond saw no hope in the future she offered. Determined, he believed the Assassins would find a way to stop Juno. Minerva, realizing she had lost the argument, reluctantly bid Desmond farewell with regret and disapproval before fading into nothingness. Desmond instructed his team to leave the room and activated the device, sacrificing his life to protect Earth from the solar flare.

Desmond sacrificing himself

By activating the device, a planetary shield had been erected, protecting the planet from the worst effects of the coronal mass ejection. Despite some technical problems, the world had remained largely unchanged.

Later that day, Abstergo located the Grand Temple and made their way to the inner chambers, where they recovered Desmond's body and a set of tape recorders, leaving his bag and broken Hidden Blade behind. The global aurora borealis device, however, was missing from the room.

2013 – 2015

Post-Second Disaster

At the same time as Desmond's sacrifice, while Medeya Voronina was in the Animus, a sudden power surge caused by the Second Disaster caused her to experience a vision of Eve, which she took as a sign to redouble her efforts. While the Assassin scientist forced the remaining members of her cell into the Animus, her daughter Galina was told of an old Assassin meeting place, the footbridge that connected the old and new properties of the Moscow Zoo. On the instruction of her twin sister Avdotya, who had learned of the location from their grandmother's journal, Galina began to visit the bridge every full moon, in the hopes of contacting other Assassins.

By the end of 2012, Abstergo had sold the Animus to the public as a game console through its entertainment branch, alongside other products such as the Angelus implant, Bodyband, and Herne+. While marketed as a revolutionary entertainment device, Abstergo's true motive was to secretly collect genetic material from users and upload it to their cloud servers for further research. They had also expanded into the international market, particularly in India, with Brahman V.R. consoles distributed by their subsidiary, MysoreTech.

That same year, Abstergo Entertainment released their Liberation video game, which was based on genetic material obtained from Subject 1. The game presented a heavily distorted version of Aveline de Grandpré's life, portraying her false defection from the Brotherhood to the Templars in a positive light. In response, the hacking collective known as Erudito worked to restore the truth within the game, allowing players to access the full extent of Aveline's memories. Despite Erudito's efforts, Liberation was considered a significant success by Abstergo. This led the company to expand its entertainment branch to Montreal and hire research analysts for upcoming projects.

William's first clue

On 14 May 2013, Shaun, Rebecca, and William broke a six-month "silence" following Desmond's death, and a week later the three arrived in a coastal region of Peru, awaiting pickup by Gavin Banks. Gavin welcomed the trio aboard the Altaïr II, only to be informed the next day that William was stepping down from his position of Assassin leader and naming Gavin as his replacement. On 24 May, William also gave Gavin a book that contained everything he knew about the Order, tasking Gavin with rebuilding the Brotherhood.

On 25 May, the Altaïr II docked in Acapulco, Mexico, with Rebecca helping to devise version 2.0 of the Hephaestus Email Network. Two days later, Gavin discovered a clue in William's book containing a poem and a set of numbers written in different directions. On 29 May, Gavin ordered Shaun and Rebecca to return to the United States, as he needed some "eyes and ears on America".

On 10 June, Rebecca sent a message to Gavin remarking that Texas "is awesome" – confirming their redeployment in the United States had been successful – and wishing him good luck. On the same day, an unknown person reacted to a magazine article that the Tunguska explosion had been caused by the Assassins, not a meteorite as per the official story. They also remarked that Nikolai Orelov knew about the event.

Abstergo Entertainment

Shaun and Rebecca visiting the remnants of the Farm

On 3 September, Abstergo Entertainment's Montreal branch put out an ad to hire five new employees, one each in Product Development, Technical Support, Customer Contact, Office Support, and Management. After Abstergo released the postings, Rebecca texted Gavin, claiming she wanted to investigate. Three days later, en route to Montreal, Shaun and Rebecca traveled to the Farm and found it in ruins. By 11 September, the Assassin team composed of Gavin, Susan Drayton, and Eric Cooper discussed potential happenings in Osaka, Japan, as Gavin's informant there had gone "silent". Gavin then announced he would be heading to the Philippines to do some "shopping".

On 1 October, Emmanuel Barraza inspected the weapons Gavin had bought from the Philippine gun makers in preparation for a possible fight in Osaka. On 11 October, the day Abstergo Entertainment celebrated its one year anniversary in Montreal, Rebecca sent Gavin a text message asking about Abstergo Entertainment CCO Olivier Garneau and what he knew about Templars and Assassins.

Rebecca and Shaun arrived in Montreal on 24 October, and quickly heard rumors of a vial contained within the facility. Rebecca informed Gavin on 28 October that they had a mole within Abstergo helping them search, and they would find the vial in time. Meanwhile, two of the company's employees, Jennifer Tam and Philippe Chartrand, exchanged emails about a new Abstergo employee and their involvement in the Sample 17 Project.

Shaun and Rebecca undercover at Abstergo Montreal

On 2 November, an unknown Initiate recovered the blood vial from Abstergo. Jennifer and Philippe continued to exchange emails about the memories of Bernard and Edward Kenway, and Jennifer mentioned that she had a crush on the new barista working in the lobby. Over several days, they continued to discuss the barista and the "Noob", but their conversations eventually turned to a string of hackings on Abstergo Entertainment's servers.

The hackings, perpetuated by the new research analyst at the behest of IT specialist John Standish, began as a means to retrieve information pertinent to Desmond; the data was then delivered to Shaun and Rebecca, posing as the lobby's barista and courier respectively. The hacking soon turned to data on Abstergo's internal workings, culminating with information about a board meeting in Chicago. Olivier subsequently disappeared en route to the meeting, putting Abstergo on high alert.

John Standish in the Abstergo Montreal bunker

As the hacking escalated, several employees were moved to containment cells in the basement of the Abstergo building, including the new research analyst. John gave the analyst the proper clearance to leave their cell, and instructed them to access the company's main server to remove all records of their activities. However, John's ultimate plan was for Juno – currently existing on the digital network – to possess the employee's body and take physical form. However, Juno was too weak to manifest and vanished, inciting John's rage.

In an attempt to make the employee a more suitable host, John snuck into their cell and poisoned them. However, Abstergo guards broke in and killed John before he could carry out his plan. John was subsequently blamed for the employee's hacking activities, clearing their name. On 2 December, Rebecca informed Gavin that their informant had been killed, and that she and Shaun would be leaving Montreal. However, the two then contacted the new research analyst, saying that they would be happy for the help if the analyst chose to keep hacking Abstergo Entertainment's servers.

Search for the Koh-i-Noor

Jot using the Brahman V.R.

In November 2013, Abstergo Industries launched the Brahman V.R. in India in an effort to access the genetic memories of Arbaaz Mir and Pyara Kaur, which they believed would lead to a Piece of Eden known as the Koh-i-Noor. Jot Soora, an employee of MysoreTech, was found to be a descendant of Raza Soora, Arbaaz Mir's servant who accompanied his master on many adventures.

One day, Jot brought a console home, and upon using it, his fiancée Monima Das learned that she was a descendant of Arbaaz and Pyara. Jot later discovered that the machine extracted memories from the operator's DNA and uploaded them to the Abstergo Cloud server, and relived some of Arbaaz's memories himself. Jot later spoke to his colleague, Siobhan Dhami, about the device, but claimed to be a descendant of Arbaaz out of embarrassment over his actual heritage. He then traveled to Mumbai to see his fiancée at her film studio, but was followed and abducted by Siobhan and her brother Jasdip.

Revealing themselves to be Assassins, Siobhan and Jasdip forced Jot into the Brahman V.R., believing his genetic memories would lead them to the Koh-i-Noor. However, upon placing Jot in the device, they realized he had lied about his heritage. Just then, Abstergo agents attacked the Assassin hideout to kidnap Jot, killing Siobhan. Amidst the chaos, Jot retrieved the Brahman V.R. and plunged out of the hideout into the slums below. He then fled for the studio, where he and Monima were apprehended by the Templars in a black van.

Jasdip fighting Abstergo agents

Jasdip attempted to free the couple as they sped down the highway, but caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle, which plummeted into the Back Bay. Jasdip managed to save Jot but Monima was lost to the bay's depths. Jasdip escorted Jot to the Assassin hideout in the Chor Bazaar, where Jot met another Assassin called Dinesh. Devastated by the death of his fiancée, Jot decided to relive Monima's memories in the Brahman V.R., even at the risk of exposing himself to the Templars. He revealed that Monima's ancestor was Pyara Kaur, which Dinesh realized could lead them to the Koh-i-Noor. Dinesh then downloaded Monima's ancestry data from the Abstergo servers onto Jot's mobile phone.

The Templars soon reached the hideout and Dinesh was killed in the ensuing conflict. While Jasdip fought the Templar attackers, Jot escaped with his phone into the crowded streets, where he eventually returned to the scene of the accident. He then played a video on his phone, showing his marriage proposal to Monima through her eyes.

After raiding the Assassins' hideout in India, Abstergo recovered data indicating that the Black Cross Albert Bolden was the last person known to have been in possession of the Koh-i-Noor. Juhani Otso Berg relived Bolden's memories at Abstergo Montreal, but the trail proved to be a dead end, as the simulation ended with Bolden's apparent death in Shanghai in 1927. The Templars thus put the search for the Koh-i-Noor on hold while Berg began considering the possibility of resurrecting the Black Cross mantle.

Breaking and entering, Paris

On 17 November 2013, Berg broke into Abstergo's Paris facility with Violet da Costa to interrogate Consus. Violet attempted to spike Álvaro Gramática's coffee with tranquilizers; however he had such an immunity to them that it had no effect. Gramática stormed into his lab to see the two about to contact Consus via Violet, but allowed them to continue. Berg then questioned Consus about Juno and only received vague answers, though the Isu did mention "the Grey".

Osaka, Japan

The destroyed Osaka base

On 3 December, another Initiate spy aboard the Altaïr II updated their database after successfully rigging the Hephaestus 2.0, and reported that they could now upload full reports to the Initiates database. The next day, the spy reported that Gavin and Emmanuel had found the Osaka Brotherhood's ruined compound. Using his Eagle Vision, Gavin determined that the yakuza, not Abstergo, were behind the attack. They then found the remains of Gavin's contact and former mentor, Kenichi Mochizuki; Gavin ordered his men to scout the area for survivors and begin searching out the yakuza perpetrators.

On 6 December, the Initiate spy reported that Emmett Leary discovered that a ruthless branch of the yakuza, the Onmoraki-Gumi, had recently been wiped out by gang warfare. Six days later, the spy reported that even though the Onmoraki-Gumi was gone, it was still somehow running its front-end companies. Susan tried her luck at finding the location of their new headquarters in a yakuza-controlled gambling den but failed. Emmanuel was more successful, tracking down the new headquarters.

The next day, the spy reported that the identity of the Onmoraki-Gumi's new leader was unknown, and crew members began placing bets on what the leader looked like. Gavin claimed that the only way to move forward was to confront the yakuza group directly.

Meanwhile, on 16 December 2013, at Abstergo's facility in Philadelphia, nurse Deanna Geary from the Lineage Discovery and Acquisition department performed a medical check-up on the company's new employee, Milton Jones. As Geary took a blood sample from Jones, she explained that it was standard procedure for company health records. However, she was unaware that her supervising doctor, Damian Saravakos, was a Templar. He analyzed the sample himself and reported to the department director and Inner Sanctum member, Mitsuko Nakamura, that Jones was of interest due to his descent from Edward Kenway's quartermaster, Adéwalé. Regardless of the fact that they are unlikely to find any artifacts in Adéwalé's genetic memory, they might still be able to make a video game about it. An Initiate spy later reported on this.

Kiyoshi impaling Emmanuel's hand

On 17 December, the Initiate spy aboard the Altaïr II reported that Gavin and Emmanuel visited the Onmoraki-Gumi's headquarters and requested an audience with their leader. The Onmoraki sentry, Kiyoshi Takakura, initially refused and fought Gavin. However, when Emmanuel overheard other gang members mention the Brotherhood and saw that Kiyoshi bore a Hidden Blade, he stepped forward to intervene, injuring himself on Kiyoshi's weapon. He then asked Kiyoshi to recite the first tenet of the Creed, which he did successfully, and Emmanuel revealed the Assassin insignia on his dog tags. Kiyoshi offered a sincere apology before allowing them inside.

The spy reported that Osaka's new Mentor was a 78-year-old woman, Saeko Mochizuki or "Osoroshii Baba", who took over the Brotherhood when the yakuza attacked their compound and killed her husband. In retaliation, she led the Assassins to attack and destroy the yakuza, subsequently taking over the gang. She also told Gavin that she used the Onmoraki-Gumi to blend her Assassins into the city, noting that the Assassins and the yakuza had similar ways of working in the dark to serve the light.

Saeko was happy to be reunited with Gavin, but warned that the Osaka Brotherhood was still recovering from its battles with Abstergo and the yakuza. She also noted that Japan's restrictive gun laws kept them at a disadvantage against Abstergo's unlimited resources. As a tribute to the new Osaka Brotherhood, Gavin offered the guns his team had purchased in the Philippines and gave Saeko the contact details of their supplier. In return, Saeko gave him a new Animus headset that the Brotherhood had recovered from an Abstergo facility in Japan, believing that the war between Assassins and Templars had escalated into a new dimension.

New Year's Eve celebrations in Tokyo

On New Year's Eve 2013, the spy reported on the Assassins' holiday activities, such as cleaning the Altaïr II at Saeko's behest and partaking in homemade toshikoshi soba. Meanwhile, Kiyoshi and Emmanuel sparred for three hours before going to a karaoke bar. Stephanie Chiu filmed Emmanuel singing with her phone and he swore that he would renounce his stance on killing if she ever showed it to anyone.

By 15 January 2014, Gavin was satisfied with the Assassin presence in Japan and made the call to move on. Again, the team took their direction from William's book. Emmett asked Gavin why they didn't contact William for the answer, to which Gavin replied that it was their mission to find out the answer for themselves. He also told Emmett that while William was back in the Order, Gavin did not know where he was or how to get in touch with him.

Abstergo Entertainment releases

In 2014, Abstergo Entertainment analyzed the genetic memories of the French pirate Alonzo Batilla in order to find the location of Olivier Levasseur's treasure, which included the Fragment of Eden. However, this trail ultimately proved to be a dead end and the Fragment's whereabouts remained unknown.

That same year, the genetic memories of a Jazz Age Assassin were used by Abstergo for a video game titled Jazz Age Junkies released via the Helix Navigator, which was teased in Abstergo's Employee Handbook with the tagline: "The lives and failures of the most degenerate Americans to ever grace the world's stage - Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Stein."

Layla's Animus developments

In February 2014, Layla Hassan and Sofia Rikkin exchanged emails regarding an Animus prototype for the Aerie facility in North America, which would provide users with more freedom of movement. Layla had overlooked the Animus blueprints Sofia had sent her and told Sofia she was "looking at it the wrong way," before suggesting improvements to the design.

Sofia was initially baffled by Layla's idea of having the subject suspended in midair. However, she passed the concept along to Gabriel King, the chief engineer at the Abstergo facility in Madrid. Like Sofia, Gabriel was initially puzzled by the idea, until something changed in his smile. Layla, however, would not hear much about this development, and on 2 January 2015 she asked Sofia about the progress on the device and that perhaps she could attend in person if needed.

Protvino, Russia

On 19 February 2014, the Assassin team aboard the Altaïr II solved the next puzzle in William's journal which led them to Moscow. The Initiate spy remarked that a new puzzle would help them narrow down their target within the city. Emmanuel and Emmett traveled to Moscow via the Trans-Siberian Railway, while the crew of the Altaïr II sailed to Saint Petersburg. With Emmett away, the spy accessed his computers and discovered a backdoor through an old Abstergo server to an Assassin lab in Protvino, just outside of Moscow. Abstergo appeared not to be monitoring the lab, or even know of its existence.

Galina meeting with Gavin's team

By 16 March, Gavin's team had made contact with the Russian Assassin Galina Voronina. During their meeting, Galina requested that Gavin's team assassinate her mother Medeya, who had been driven mad by the Bleeding Effect. Galina further explained that her mother had created her own Animus and forced the other members of her cell into it, and Gavin's team would have to fight through the mad survivors to gain access to the lab. Lastly, she told them that her mother claimed to be talking to Eve while in the Animus.

Emmett explained that it was impossible to talk to anyone inside the Animus as it is a one-way experience, and that there were few documented cases of encounters with anyone from the First Civilization, but Galina ignored him. She eventually agreed to help and believed Emmett could solve the problem using words, not violence.

On 20 March, accompanied by her new allies, Galina journeyed back to the Assassin lab in Protvino, which was overrun by deranged Assassins. She broke into the laboratory and despite requesting backup from Gavin and his team, she quickly single-handedly put down the crazed Assassins, including her twin sister. The team pushed their way inside the laboratory and found Galina's mother in the Animus, babbling about her "lost husband" and the color grey. Emmett looked at the wall-mounted monitors and saw Juno's face in the static; when Galina killed her mother, the spy saw Juno scream before disappearing.

Galina joining the Altaïr II crew

Six days later, on 26 March, Gavin's team reboarded the Altaïr II in St. Petersburg and brought Galina along. Since she was the last of the Russian Assassins, Gavin asked her to join his team and act as his enforcer. Meanwhile, Akaki and Nodar Ninidze sent word to their contacts in Georgia, who would be armed by Saeko funneling weapons from the Philippines. The two brothers also sent a message to the Assassins to send agents to Russia to rebuild the Russian Brotherhood.

Search for William Miles

On 10 April, the spy noted that Gavin had been in a foul mood since they left Russia due to the Brotherhood's losses in Brisbane, Whistler, Florence, Denver, Moscow, and São Paulo. Even though William had returned from hiding the year before, he had not reached out to the Altaïr II's crew. Taking the silence personally, Gavin soon brought his team together on 24 April and demanded that they find William.

The Altaïr II docked at William's secret bunker

Their efforts bore fruit a week later, when the crew located William, Shaun, and Rebecca on 1 May in a secret bunker in Norway. While Rebecca and Shaun were enthused at the reunion, William and Gavin were less so, and Gavin asked to speak with the former leader immediately.

Three days later, Gavin and William argued about the latter's recent behavior; Gavin asserted that William had been using him like a pawn, distracting him with solving the cryptic journal, while William reiterated that Desmond's death had put him in an unfit state to lead the Assassins. Rebecca cut their argument short the next day by informing the crew that she had discovered coded messages sent from the ship's computer systems to the Initiates database. Her discovery quickly led to a crew-wide manhunt to uncover the spy.

Eric protecting Stephanie

William spent the week interrogating the ship's crew – excluding Gavin and Galina –inside his "White Room". Upon learning that Stephanie was the spy, he ordered Galina to kill her. However, Eric jumped to her defense, claiming he wrote the reports and Stephanie simply uploaded them to the database. William, however, spared their lives, claiming that the Initiates seemed like a reasonable group, and the interviews had been useful in determining the character of the Altaïr II's crew.

Otso Berg's errands

In February 2014, the Assassins Harlan Cunningham and Arend Schut infiltrated an Abstergo facility in Rotterdam and stole the Precursor box once owned by Shay Cormac. Juhani Otso Berg and Sigma Team fought to reclaim the artifact and were ultimately successful, but the Assassins escaped.

In May, Berg was tasked to find the Ankh of Isis and went to Essen. He rapidly gave up, as his colleague Violet da Costa suggested that the Ankh was only a legend created by the Assassins to waste the Templars' time searching for a fake Piece of Eden. Later, Berg went to Long Bay to find the Observatory, but discovered that the Assassins had buried it two centuries before. The Templar decided to return later with an excavating group.

The Chicago fixer

The unknown assailant killing Oliver Garneau

On 30 May 2014, on his way to Chicago, Olivier Garneau's transport was intercepted by an unknown assailant. After attacking and destroying his vehicle on the freeway, the hitman shot Garneau as he tried to crawl away. The hitman's actions, however, were covered-up by Abstergo and kept deep under wraps.

In 2017, CCTV footage of the assassination was obtained by the Abstergo employee Layla Hassan, which she kept in her personal files on other mysterious disappearances and deaths related to the company.

Assassins-Initiates alliance

After uncovering the Initiates' moles, on 30 May 2014, William planned to use the Initiates' Outernet and their people to transform them into the Assassins' support operatives and potential trainees. On 16 June, Shaun established contact with the Initiates to recruit them into the Brotherhood under William's commands, and became their co-handler alongside an Assassin known as Bishop. On 13 October, Shaun and Galina infiltrated Abstergo's Phoenix Project laboratory in Paris, destroying the facility and all the research on Precursor DNA, as well as stealing data and melting their servers.

During the attack, Galina mortally wounded Álvaro Gramática with a grenade but the Templar was healed by the Shroud of Eden, which was destroyed in the process. Sigma Team members Berg and Sorkin tried to captured the two Assassins but Galina stabbed Sorkin multiple times and fled with Shaun. After this event, Laetitia England authorized the reformation of Sigma Team and Berg went to Montreal to help Violet with the combined attacks by Erudito, the Assassins, and the Instruments of the First Will.

In July 2014, Abstergo Entertainment assigned Robert Fraser to explore the memories of the French Assassin Arno Dorian to find the remains of the Sage François-Thomas Germain. As he experienced the Bleeding Effect, Fraser began aiding the Assassin Bishop in sabotaging the Templars' research. In August, with help from his psychiatrist Victoria Bibeau, Fraser erased his research and leaked Arno's memories to the Assassins. Fraser was later killed by the Templars, while Bibeau, unaware of her involvement, was inducted into the Order. The Journeyman was then tasked with continuing the search for Germain's remains.

In August, Abstergo Entertainment's CCO Melanie Lemay sent an email to Kristina Uhrich about a possible follow up to Liberation, having found footage of the Louisiana Assassin Aveline de Grandpré's time in New England, though recognized that it would take some resources they did not have at the time. The sequel game was later released on Helix as The Liberation of Lady Aveline.

Bishop contacting the Initiate

In November, Bishop began to recruit new Initiates through the Helix server. One of them was tasked to relive the memories of Arno Dorian as the Assassins wanted to find Germain's remains before the Templars in order to slow down the Phoenix Project's progress. The Initiate discovered that Arno had hidden the Sage's body in the catacombs of Paris and the Assassins decided not to continue the search since Abstergo would not be able to recover a DNA sample. However, the Initiate continued reliving Arno's memories and discovered that the Assassin had found an Apple of Eden in Saint-Denis and sent it to Egypt.

Violet and Berg at the Abstergo Entertainment offices in Montreal

That same month, Juno attacked Abstergo Entertainment's server with a virus hidden in the memories of Shay Cormac. The employee who relived Shay's memories and had unintentionally released the virus was tasked by Violet da Costa and Juhani Otso Berg to fix the server and to continue their research on Shay's past. Berg used the footage of Shay's memories to send a message to the Assassins, to show them their weaknesses and to warn them on the forthcoming hunt that Berg was going to lead.

However, the video ended up being a decoy used by Berg to make the Assassins run from Montreal, revealing their locations. After that, the employee was threatened with either joining the Templars or being killed for refusing, though they were also given time to think it over.

Hunt for Álvaro Gramática

In 2015, Harlan Cunningham and Arend Shut were interrupted on their honeymoon by Bishop, who issued all Assassins, on behalf of William Miles, to hunt down a high priority target: the Phoenix Project's lead scientist Álvaro Gramática. The two Assassins tried to contact the Georgian Brotherhood to ask for assistance in locating Grammática's secret laboratory, where the Templar planned to recreate an Isu body with the help of the Shroud of Eden. However, they received no response from the Georgian Assassins, which Arend considered worrisome.

Meanwhile, Jasdip Dhami was assigned to find Gramática's laboratory in Australia. However, unbeknownst to the Brotherhood, Jasdip's grief over his dead sister had made him defect to the Instruments of the First Will and become a devoted follower of Juno. Likewise, Saeko Mochizuki sent teams into China and both Koreas to assist the local Brotherhoods in the hunt for Gramática.

Search for the Shroud

After the destruction of the original Shroud of Eden, the Templars searched for another artifact. On 25 September 2015, Abstergo discovered a new Shroud in London through the memories of Arbaaz Mir's son, Jayadeep Mir. However, the Assassins tasked the Helix Initiate with finding the Shroud before the Templars by reliving the memories of the Master Assassins and twins Evie and Jacob Frye.

On 24 October, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane infiltrated Isabelle Ardant's office in London to steal the twins' genetic data and decided to wait for the Templar's return, but they were ambushed by Juhani Otso Berg and Violet da Casta. The Assassins managed to escape from the office and find an hideout in London. Because of Sigma Team's presence in the city, Bishop sent reinforcements for the couple; Galina Voronina joined the two Assassins to protect them.

Galina Voronina and Otso Berg fighting

Sometime afterwards, the two factions discovered that the Shroud was hidden beneath the Buckingham Palace. The Abstergo team retrieved the artifact but the Assassins decided to attack. Galina engaged Berg in hand-to-hand combat, defeating the Master Templar. Shaun killed Isabelle but Violet escaped with the Shroud and wounded Rebecca, who had jumped in front of Shaun, taking a bullet meant for him. The pair were saved by Galina, who used a smoke bomb to dispatch the rest of Sigma Team, and the group fled from the vault.

Later, Bishop revealed footage from Gramática's secret Phoenix Project laboratory where it was shown that Violet had delivered the Shroud to Gramática, who intended to use it to create an Isu body from scratch. The next part of the footage featured Violet talking to Juno through a screen, where it was revealed that Violet was an Instruments of the First Will member and that the recovery of the Shroud was part of Juno's plan.

The Initiate continued reliving the memories of the Frye twins during Jack the Ripper's Autumn of Terror and discovered his identity as an unstable Assassin. During this time, several Assassins demonstrated their disapproval of using the civilian-run Initiates; most notably, Eric Cooper and Jasdip Dhami. Heeding their advice, William Miles decided to stop using the Initiates' support in the future.

Berg delivering the Precursor box to Gramática

Following the events in London, Berg was called to Laetitia England's office. There, he was instructed to deliver the Precursor box to Gramática at a top-secret facility, to which the scientist would send him the coordinates. Berg did as instructed, and after some inquiries, Gramática told him that he planned to use the box in the Phoenix Project, hoping it would help him better understand the Shroud.

The discovery of Elijah

In October 2015, a woman brought her son Elijah to an Abstergo clinic in New York, which in secret collected DNA from the general population. As a result, Abstergo discovered Elijah's nature as a Sage and that he shared the patrilineal lineage of Desmond Miles.

Isabelle Ardant informed Álvaro Gramática of this discovery and he wished to kidnap the boy immediately and conduct a vivisection on him, Ardant opposed this, claiming the young Sage as her own project and that such a decision was inhumane. She instead planned to have Abstergo abduct the boy once he was old enough, and then put him into an Animus for fifty years so they could study his lineage. However, Isabelle was killed by the Assassins underneath Buckingham Palace before this plan could be enacted.

In December 2015, Bishop gave the Initiates additional memory sequences to keep the connection between them and Helix stable before William Miles ended the communication between the Initiates and the Assassins for the foreseeable future per the Rooftop Garden Protocol to protect them from the Templars.

Charlotte de la Cruz's recruitment

Charlotte meeting Galina Voronina and Xavier Chen

In late 2015, conspiracy enthusiast Charlotte de la Cruz was contacted by the Assassins for her ability to use Eagle Vision. After Charlotte illegally transferred money from the Malta Banking Corporation into Ms. Morehead's account to pay for her daughter's medical bills, the Assassins Galina Voronina and Xavier Chen met her in her apartment. Already aware of the Brotherhood's existence, she eagerly joined them, but within moments her apartment was stormed by three Templars feigning to be from World Share.

In the ensuing battle, Charlotte lost consciousness and was brought over to Xavier's hideout in the Salton Sea. There, she was introduced to Kody Adams and the Animus as the Assassins explained that they urgently needed her help. They revealed that the Assassin Joseph Laurier had apparently defected to the Templars to inform them of an artifact hidden by his ancestor during the Salem witch trials. The Assassins needed Charlotte to enter the Animus and relive her ancestor Thomas Stoddard's memories to determine if Joseph was telling the truth and had betrayed the Brotherhood or if he was just baiting the Templars.

Inside her ancestor's memories, Charlotte discovered there was no artifact but a girl who functioned as a conduit for Consus, confusing her ancestor as the Isu scientist used him to commune directly with Charlotte and deliver a series of cryptic messages. Believing that Joseph was innocent, Galina and Xavier decided to infiltrate the Templar safehouse in San Diego where Joseph was being kept.

As Kody and Charlotte stayed behind in a van outside the building, Charlotte started to ponder the strange messages from Consus and what they meant. Convinced there was more to the story, she convinced Kody to get her back inside the Animus to see Thomas' adventure until the very end. What she discovered frightened her, as David, one of the children who was with Thomas, was indeed Joseph's ancestor, meaning he knew where the girl was buried and that the two Assassins were walking into a trap.

Charlotte facing off against Joseph Laurier

Deciding to rescue them, Charlotte infiltrated the building and subdued the employee Brad to hide her presence. Using her new skills gained through the Bleeding Effect, she climbed through multiple shafts and found Joseph, who had already killed Xavier, gravely injured Galina's leg and was preparing to finish her off. Charlotte tried to fight Joseph but was no match as he easily overpowered her. Joseph then explained that he had betrayed the Brotherhood because his lover Christian had died on a mission overseen by Xavier, but he was still a "good soldier" and triple-crossed the Templars by planting a bomb inside the office. He wanted Charlotte to join him so she could not be corrupted by the Brotherhood, which she refused.

As Joseph's bomb went off, Templar agents burst into the room and opened fire. Charlotte carried Galina through an air vent, which returned her to the maintenance room Brad was in. Charlotte was shocked to find Brad had died, and after noticing his medical alert bracelet, realized he had asthma and suffocated because he could not reach his inhaler. She then dolefully carried Galina back to the van.

Galina ordered Kody to inform their leader Gavin Banks to send a team to Salem, but Charlotte told her it was unnecessary, as Joseph had never told the Templars where Dorothy Osborne's body was buried. As they drove away, Galina asked Charlotte how she felt after Xavier and Brad's deaths, to which she sarcastically responded she was happy.

2016 – 2019

Hunt in Mexico

Charlotte in the Animus

By early 2016, Charlotte de la Cruz and her fellow Assassins had fled to Mexico City to escape their Templar pursuers. Momentarily taking up residence in an empty Assassin safe house, Charlotte used the Animus to relive the memories of her ancestor Elsie during the Haitian Revolution in order to find Dutty Boukman's book, which contained information the Templars were after. Due to an Animus error, Charlotte was ejected from the machine and had to wait for Kody to fix it. After a conversation about their different roles in the Brotherhood, Kody repaired the Animus and Charlotte resumed her session, having learned to appreciate patience.

Later, Charlotte, Kody, and Galina moved into a motel. In their room, Charlotte spoke to her mother over a burner phone before two "doctors" arrived, having been paid in "blood money" to fix Galina's broken leg. However, it turned out that the male doctor was in fact a Templar agent who was sent to kill them, forcing Galina to take him out. Interrogating the woman, she claimed that she knew nothing about her partner as he was new, before Galina knocked out the doctor to appease Charlotte's wishes not to kill her.

After the Assassins relocated to a motel across the street, which was the last place the Templars would expect them to have moved to, Charlotte told Kody that she was considering quitting the team due to feeling she was not cut out for the Assassin life. Kody reassured her that there was a reason she was there and that, due to her impressive performance, she might even help them find the hacker collective Erudito. Realizing they were the ones Consus had directed her to find, Charlotte had Kody hook her up to the Darknet to find them.

Charlotte asking Kody about using the Darknet to find Erudito

Following a night of searching, Charlotte discovered an Erudito meeting was planned for the next week, but the location was password-encrypted. The sole hint was the question, "What does the cute Pishta say?". Charlotte recalled that her grandmother's childhood nickname for her was "Pishtaco", apparently shared by an ancestor who had lived during the fall of the Inca Empire. Waking Kody up, she asked him to place her in the Animus, where she began reliving the memories of the chasqui Quila.

After two hours spent in the Animus, Kody ended the simulation as the machine needed to be recharged, angering Charlotte. Galina then ordered the group to kidnap a Templar named Garcia-Lopez who had a connection to Joseph Laurier, but Charlotte objected, believing her trip into the past to be more important than finding Joseph. Angered by this, Galina threatened to take away her Animus privileges and kick her out of the team. Needing to find Erudito, Charlotte reluctantly accepted the mission.

Garcia-Lopez thwarting Charlotte's kidnapping attempt

At Chapultepec Park, Charlotte attempted to follow Garcia but got spotted. When she and Kody tried to get close to her, the Templar smacked Kody in the face and pepper-sprayed Charlotte. Kody helped Charlotte get back in the van to escape before the authorities could arrive and Galina accused her of failling the mission on purpose and endangering her own family for showing her face to the enemy. Charlotte then ignored Galina's order to watch the van and re-entered the Animus. Galina and Kody soon discovered her and pulled her out, the former being mad that she had ignored her orders and the latter noting that the Animus' batteries were cooked. Fed up with Galina, Charlotte decided to leave to find new batteries.

At a train station, Charlotte contemplated whether the life of an Assassin forever on the runwas even worth it. She considered calling her mother to tell her she was coming home but was distracted by a man getting tormented by a thug and decided to step in. After saving the man, she felt a sense of accomplishment and decided to stay with the Assassins, though she would carry on in her own way.

As she searched for new power cells, Charlotte noticed that someone had been following her the past three blocks and decided to hide around the corner to find out who it was. It turned out it was Galina and she needed Charlotte's help as Kody had been kidnapped by the Mexican Cartel, who sent his severed left ear as proof.

Charlotte making a deal with Ortega Sanchez to ensure her friends' safety

Charlotte joined Galina in a rescue mission at the Estadio Azteca, where the former used her stealth skills to sneak around the stadium while the latter took a sniping position. As Charlotte made her way to Kody, Galina placed the blame for their current predicament on her, as the female doctor they had spared alerted the cartel, preventing the Assassins from leaving the city. After reaching Kody, Charlotte was ambushed by the cartel's leader Arturo Viera, who shot her in the right foot to force Galina to surrender, but Charlotte managed to break free of Viera's grasp so Galina could have a shot at him.

Just then, a Templar strike-force arrived in a helicopter, gunning down Viera and his girlfriend. The leader of the strike force was a Templar named Ortega Sanchez, who showed interest in Charlotte. Suspecting that the Templars believed her to be very important to come after her, Charlotte pointed a gun at her head. She then cut a deal with Sanchez: in exchange for Galina and Kody's safety, she would provide them with the location of Erudito's meeting in three days. Sanchez gave her a day to find out the password to the location before striking her injured foot with his cane, saying it was insurance against a double-cross and threatening to harm her friends and family if she did not uphold her end of the bargain.

Charlotte relived the memories of Quila one last time and learned the password was "Don Gonzalo Pardo", revealing that the Erudito meeting was in Argentina. Soon after, a worried Charlotte prepared to turn herself over to Sanchez, only for the cartel to attack the Templars, in part because of Galina having made a deal with the cartel to avenge Viera's death. Taking a commercial flight to Buenos Aires, Charlotte spotted a man sporting a sign reading Don Gonzalo Pardo, who showed them to their Erudito contact, revealed to be her grandmother, Florencia.

Assassin-Erudito alliance

The Assassins meeting with Erudito

Over the course of two days, the Assassin stayed at an unknown island in Argentina where Erudito's hideout was located. They attended a meeting with Florencia, who held a video conference with the other leaders of the organization. Florencia insisted that Erudito had to take a stand against the Templars through becoming more active in the field, a decision which was opposed by Dewalt, who was more traditionalist and wanted Erudito to stay in the shadows.

When Charlotte suggested that they try to find a way to make everyone happy, she was informed by Guernica Moneo about the Phoenix Project and its ultimate goal of resurrecting Juno. When Dewalt asked for a full-membership vote of non-confidence, Florencia begrudgingly told him to send the message and that they would meet in an hour.

Afterwards, Charlotte questioned Florencia on what exactly her mission was supposed to be, as all she knew was that she was going to be looking for Consus. Florencia explained that Consus was known to have spoken to the Assassin Giovanni Borgia in his childhood, but they had since deduced that Consus had likely communicated with Giovanni more than once and delivered an important message. Charlotte then deduced that one of her ancestors had witnessed the encounter, which Guernica confirmed to be correct. After Florencia explained that Charlotte's ancestor had been with Giovanni twice, once in 1515 and a second time in 1516, Charlotte agreed to explore her ancestor's memories to uncover the truth but she had to wait until the conference was over.

Charlotte trying to convince Galina to work with Erudito

Exploring the compound, Charlotte found a nearly healed Galina sparring with two Erudito agents, My'shell Lemair and Sheed. The two Assassins talked to each other and Galina protested against the idea of Erudito and the Assassins working together, claiming that she was no speech maker and that they already had a mission: to track down Joseph. Charlotte on the other hand believed the mission had changed to something much bigger and that it was stopping the Phoenix Project, which surprised Galina, who recalled how she and Gavin Banks had nearly died trying to do the same.

At the Erudito conference, things became heated between Florencia and Dewalt as the latter tried to convince the collective not to change their strategies. Charlotte tried to convince Galina one more time to speak but she refused as nobody would listen to her. Having had enough, Charlotte decided to speak up despite Florencia's protests. She understood why Erudito was reluctant to accept Florencia's plan, but explained that the only way to defeat their common enemy was for the collective and the Brotherhood to merge, a plan which Galina furiously objected to. However, Charlotte continued, insisting that if they worked together they could rebuild the Brotherhood and in exchange the Assassins could train Erudito's field agents.

Charlotte proposing an Assassin-Erudito alliance to stop the Templars

Charlotte then made a proposal: she would go inside the Animus to find Consus for Erudito and in exchange the collective would find Joseph for the Assassins, describing this as a test of sorts to see if they could work together. After this, the votes came in and the majority favored Florencia's approach. As it had been decided that the Brotherhood and Erudito would work together, Charlotte went to relive her ancestor Hiram Stoddard's memories while Galina left with My'shell and Sheed on a mission to Somalia, where Joseph had allegedly been spotted.

Exploring Hiram's memories under Kody and Florencia's supervision, Charlotte witnessed Giovanni Borgia being "possessed" by Consus, who spoke directly to her. Referring to Charlotte as "the watcher, who soon become the shepherd", the Isu told her that, in order to stop the Phoenix Project, she had to "let the wolf dwell with the lamb".

Templar assault in Argentina

Upon emerging from the Animus, Charlotte was informed that the Templars had somehow found Erudito's hideout and launched an assault. As Guernica walked into the room with Dewalt and a group of armed Erudito agents, he insisted that they had to follow protocol and wipe the servers clean remotely. Kody objected as he was worried what would happen if the Templars got their hands on the data first. He then tried to convince Charlotte to escape with them and asked her how many times she would risk her life for her grandmother, who continuously put her in harm's way. Charlotte, having witnessed Hiram betraying the Brotherhood, his "family", did not wish to repeat her ancestor's mistake and declared that, regardles of what Guernica and Kody were going to do, she would stay with Florencia.

Galina fighting against Joseph

At the same time in Mogadishu, Galina, My'shell and Sheed tracked Joseph to a ceremony attended by the Templar Zehra Okur, who had financed the mission that killed his boyfriend. He attempted to flee to a nearby construction site, where he was able to subdue Sheed and overpower Galina. However, My'shell distracted Joseph with a flanking strike, allowing Sheed to recover his gun and aim it at Joseph. Just then, an Erudito distress call reached the team, informing them that Erudito's base in Argentina was under attack. Determined to save Charlotte from the Templars and give her a choice to join him willingly, Joseph offered his help and his jet.

At the Erudito complex, Kody placed explosives to destroy the server room, while Florencia uploaded the data on the Phoenix Project on a data box. When Charlotte saw the security forces were being overwhelmed by the Templars, she pulled Florencia out of the room, causing her to drop the data box. Kody ran back to retrieve it, only to be gunned down by the Templars, much to Charlotte and Florencia's shock.

Charlotte standing over Kody's body

Charlotte consoled the fatally wounded Kody in his final moments, assuring him that he had done well to save the data box. Afterwards, she was approached by Florencia, who stated that Kody was a good soldier for saving the data and that they needed to honor his sacrifice and get moving. However, Charlotte blamed Florencia for Kody's death, stating that he would have still been alive if they had been at the boats. Charlotte then blamed herself for dragging Kody there, but was consoled by Florencia, who remarked that both Charlotte and Kody had done what they had to do.

At that moment, they noticed an airplane flying overhead, which got shot down and crash landed somewhere far away from them. Unsure if the plane belonged to the Assassins or Templars, they decided to follow Florencia's plan to head to the boats she had stacked inside the caves for emergencies like this.

A small Templar strike team went to the crash site to search for any survivors, and discovered the dead body of Sheed before being jumped by Galina, Joseph and My'shell. Galina hoped that the Assassins had received her coordinates before they crashed so they could be extracted. Realizing that any hope of rescue relied on taking out the warship that had shot them down, they headed towards the west coast.

Florencia lashing out at Charlotte

After a roughly six hour walk, Charlotte and her companions were almost at the cave where the boats were stored. However, Charlotte was hesitant to approach the cave, suspecting it to be a trap. After she informed Florencia of this, she dismissed Charlotte's worries, stating that she had made sure they were not being followed and that, without phones or tech, the Templars had no way of tracking them. However, Charlotte remembered that she had been stabbed by Ortega Sanchez back in Mexico, and deduced that the Templars had been tracking her and found the island through her. She used her Eagle Vision to explore the cave and tried to convince the group that the Templars were waiting for them there.

After Charlotte told the group that she was the reason that the Templars had found them, Florencia lost herself in an outburst, yelling that she had not completed the security scan and that Charlotte was an embarrassment to her as a granddaughter. Charlotte apologized for everything and devised a plan for the group to split up, with herself acting as a distraction to allow the others to escape. Florencia, although still angry, wanted to stay with her granddaughter, but Charlotte insisted that it was too dangerous and that she had to make up for her mistakes.

On the island's west coast, Galina, My'shell and Joseph assaulted the Templar warship. The crew retaliated, and explosives on the deck were hit amidst the gunfire, effectively destroying the ship. Joseph was badly wounded and told the two women to leave him behind and find the survivors. Before passing away, he asked Galina to not let the Assassins corrupt Charlotte, to which Galina responded that Charlotte would change the Brotherhood instead.

The Assassin helicopter coming to Charlotte's rescue

After Florencia, Dewalt, Guernica and the other Erudito survivors met up with Galina and My'shell, they discussed the situation and the whereabouts of Charlotte, whom Guernica had been tracking, before Florencia interrupted them when she heard a noise. It was a rescue helicopter piloted by the Assassins Arend Schut-Cunningham and Kiyoshi Takakura, whom Gavin Banks had sent to help after receiving Galina's distresss signal. After the group boarded the helicopter, they went to pick up Charlotte, who had been cornered by Ortega Sanchez and his men atop a cliff.

Using the helicopter's weapons, the Assassins gunned down the Templars before Charlotte jumped into the helicopter. As the group flew away from the island, Charlotte talked to Florencia, who apologized for her harsh words and claimed that she saw a much better version of herself in her granddaughter. She then advised Charlotte to take some time off to reflect on all the recent events and recover, but Charlotte claimed that she could not stop until the Templars were defeated.

The Identity Project

In 2016, Abstergo Entertainment launched the Identity Project, centered around the genetic memories of Lo Sparviero, an Assassin active in early 16th-century Italy, during the Renaissance. Later that same year, the Abstergo Lineage Acquisition in Madrid acquired the genetic memories of the Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha, and later used the data to create an expansion for the Identity Project.

The Brexit votes

On 23 June 2016, the data mining company Newton Analytica was involved with the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union. The company was secretly paid a large sum by the Templar Agneta Reider, a member of the Inner Sanctum and head of the Abstergo Financial Group, to influence the Brexit votes, which saw the United Kingdom leaving the European Union in 2020.

Layla and Sofia's falling out

By August 2016, the relationship between Sofia Rikkin and Layla Hassan had completely deteriorated. At some point Sofia had asked Layla questions regarding the Animus, which to the latter seemed like "innocent" questions. Layla, however, later learned that her ideas were being used to develop a portable version of the Animus at the Abstergo Lineage Acquisition facility in North America, with no recognition or credit given to her. This discovery angered and confused Layla, and thus on 4 August she decided to send an email to Sofia, demanding an explanation for the situation.

On 31 August, at 11:50, Sofia ended their relationship via email. She began by recalling how she had once seen potential in Layla for Abstergo's Young Innovators Program. However, Sofia explained that, over time, she had become uncertain about trusting Layla to join the Animus Project in Madrid. Sofia pointed out that Layla had repeatedly ignored boundaries throughout the years, making her unpredictable and risky. While acknowledging Layla's brilliance, Sofia emphasized that Layla's behavior made her too unreliable to work with on such an important project. Sofia advised Layla to focus on the Historical Research Division and improve her work habits. She suggested that if Layla changed her ways and demonstrated more consistency, Sofia might reconsider involving her in future projects. The email ended with Sofia asking Layla to respect her decision and cease all communications with her. Layla later deleted the email.

Return of the Black Cross

That same year, Juhani Otso Berg and Violet da Costa were placed in charge of Abstergo's Historical Research Division facility in Philadelphia. There, the Templars resumed their search for the Koh-i-Noor diamond, with the aid of senior technician Caitlin Gift and a doctor called Freddy. After locating a descendant of the Black Cross Albert Bolden, Abstergo contacted and brought him to their Philadelphia facility, allegedly to receive treatment for his Vietnam War PTSD.

Berg and Caitlin greeting André

The 72-year-old Vietnam veteran André Bolden was greeted by Berg and his team, then put inside the Animus, where he relived the memories of Jan van der Graff in the Barbary Coast, much to the surprise of the Templars, who expected him to be the descendant of Solomon Bolden. The incident caused André to neutralize two guards and then flee the complex once he woke up, but Berg let him escape by overriding Caitlin's order to apprehend him, as Berg intended to speak with him.

André was tracked back to his hotel, where he and Berg discussed the Bleeding Effect and an important item that was tied to André's family, coming to an agreement: André would continue helping Abstergo on the condition that Berg not lie to him again. Once back at the facility, the team discussed the possibility of a fractured timeline and the loss of an entire Black Cross bloodline because of André's ancestor, with Caitlin noting that their only possible lead on Graff was a brief mention in the accounts of Tavis Olier. Regardless, the team decided to continue exploring Graff's memories.

During André's Animus session, Violet and Berg discussed the notion of trust along with secrets of the Assassin-Templar War, with Berg explaining why André was helping. Violet noted she had never known him to be so trusting, to which Berg remarked that he trusted her. As they witnessed Graff's imprisonment, Violet asked Berg whether he planned to reveal everything to André, as he had now also heard about the Koh-i-Noor, though Berg answered that he did not know whether he would.

Berg and André attacked by unknown assailants

Later that day, Berg joined André at a bar and paid for his drink. There, they discussed the purpose of Graff's memories and Berg revealed the truth about the Assassin-Templar War, something André dismissed as nonsense while Berg thought it did not sound too far-fetched given everything André had experienced. As they left the bar, they were attacked in a drive-by shooting. Berg saved André and managed to jump into the vehicle to eliminate its occupants.

Afterwards, Berg called Violet and instructed her to return to the lab because of the recent attack, mentioning that he was bringing André in. Back at the lab, Berg was surprised by Freddy's presence beside Violet, who assumed Berg might have been hurt. Berg stated he was fine and instructed the doctor to check on André. He then told Violet about the attack before Caitlin arrived, and the team continued André's Animus sessions. When questioned further by Violet, Berg said he suspected that they had a leak and that this unknown party knew something they did not.

When André's session reliving Graff's torture caused him to scream out in pain, Berg asked Caitlin if they could skip the memory. Caitlin eventually managed to fast-forward the memories to a few days afterward. When the session was finished, Berg informed Violet they could not force André to continue, before handing her Albert's Templar pin to give to André while Berg cleaned the mess caused by the drive-by shooting. Finally alone, Berg spoke with the proxy used to arrange the attack that won him André's loyalty, then received a phone call that there had been an incident in the lab.

André giving Berg the Templar pin

Berg and Violet returned to the lab, where they found Caitlin's body. Privately, Violet and Berg discussed her innocence, with Berg being convinced it had been done by a third party. With the assumption of a mole, Berg was concerned that a fifth column had infiltrated the Templar Order and instructed Violet to find the mole, then convinced André to once more enter the Animus to further explore Graff's memories.

Berg and André met again after the last Animus session showed Graff giving the Koh-i-Noor to the Assassins. Bolden revealed to a dumbfounded Berg that his ancestor had deceived the Assassins and kept the artifact, while also stating he wanted nothing to do with the Templars' war. He then returned the Black Cross pin to Berg as Bolden believed he would need it. Berg agreed and, reflecting on his conversation with Violet that he could not trust anyone, decided that he would assume the mantle of Black Cross.

In preparation for becoming the next Black Cross, a role he viewed as being grafted from the skill set of the Assassins, Berg returned to Abstergo Entertainment in Montreal. There, he explored the memories of some of the Brotherhood's most notorious members – Ezio Auditore, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Edward Kenway, and Ratonhnhaké:ton – in order to see what lessons he may learn from their lives.

Search for the Prongs of Eden

By late 2016, the teenager Owen Meyers had long become obsessed with proving that his father had been falsely accused of murder. Driven by a strong sense of justice, he wanted to use Sebastian Monroe's secret Animus to prove to himself and others that his father had died unjustifiably in prison.

As the appointment with Monroe drew near, Owen felt that he needed someone to stand by him. He asked his friend, Javier Mondragón, to help him prove his father's innocence, and despite the fact the two had grown apart over the years, Javier promised to be there. However, when the two met with Monroe, the man told them that he could not help them as Owen only had access to his father's memories from before his own conception. As Owen's frustration grew, Monroe offered Javier the chance to use the Animus, and Owen suspected that this was the real reason Javier had agreed to come along.

Despite Owen's disillusionment, feeling stuck and angered with Javier taking his place, he was still mildly curious about the machine. Thus, the two teens decided to go inside the Animus together and experienced a shared simulation of the memories of their ancestors who had met during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. As they relived their ancestors' memories, Owen and Javier unknowingly witnessed Hernán Cortés using a Piece of Eden to brainwash Javier's ancestor, Chimalpopoca.

Realizing they had discovered a Piece of Eden, Monroe terminated the simulation and sent the two confused boys back home. For the next couple of days, Owen had a feeling he was being watched and felt increasingly nervous as he and Javier found out that Monroe had completely gone off the grid.

One day, Owen noticed he was being followed by a stranger in a coat and decided to confront the man. The stranger said that he worked for Abstergo Industries and that he wanted to help Owen prove his late father's innocence, which caught the teenager's attention. However, just mere moments later, the man got struck down by an Assassin who was hiding on a nearby roof. Not wanting to stick around to see what happened next, Owen fled the scene with the help of Monroe, who came out of hiding and promised to explain everything once they were safe.

At Monroe's hideout, Owen reunited with Javier and was introduced to four other teenagers: Sean Molloy, Natalya Aliyev, and the siblings Grace and David Collins. Monroe explained that he had worked at each of their schools, that all of them had used his Animus before, and that they were all instrumental in locating the Piece of Eden that Owen and Javier had found in his simulation. He also told them about the Assassin-Templar War while using holographic projections to illustrate the grand scale of the conflict. Finally, he apologized for incidentally drawing them into the conflict, as he had believed he had fire-walled the Animus and had now made sure to double check.

After Monroe explained that the Pieces of Eden were sought by both the Assassins and Templars, who would abuse their powers, and that he wished to keep them hidden from both organizations, the teenagers agreed to aid him in his quest and entered the Animus. They experienced a shared simulation of the New York City draft riots in 1863, and over the course of a single night, discovered the resting place of the Piece of Eden.

Monroe thanked the teens for their help and offered them a ride home. He retrieved the Animus Memory Core as they made their way to the exit, discussing who they should drop off first. However, before they could make a proper decision, they were suddenly interrupted by a Templar strike force that had found them, with the intent of capturing them alive. Monroe, pursued by Templars, reluctantly jumped into his van and drove off, leaving the kids to fend for themselves. Javier used his newfound abilities to defeat a Templar agent and jumped with Owen on Monroe's parked motorbike outside, successfully losing their pursuers but separating them from the others.

The Aerie

Quickly overwhelmed by the Templars, Natalya, Sean and the Collins siblings were captured and escorted to an Abstergo facility called The Aerie, where they met Dr. Victoria Bibeau. She was able to de-escalate the situation by answering the teenagers' many questions to the best of her abilities while trying to make them feel safe. As they explored the facility under Victoria's guidance, the doctor tried to show the teens the many positive things done by Abstergo. Later, she was joined by her colleague, Isaiah.

Believing that Abstergo was not as bad as Monroe had made them out to be, Sean and Grace told Victoria what they knew about the Piece of Eden they had found, displeasing Natalya. Victoria and Isaiah then deduced that they did not need to keep secrets anymore and revealed they were Templars. Victoria went on to explain the history of the Piece of Eden found by the teens, revealing it was once part of the Trident of Eden, a powerful artifact wielded by Alexander the Great which was split into three Prongs after his death. These Prongs had exchanged hands many times over the centuries, but their current whereabouts remained a mystery, which was what Victoria hoped the teens would help her and Isaiah discover.

Isaiah added that Monroe used to work for Abstergo as a Templar scientist before going rogue. His field of expertise was to study the "Ascendance Event", when various bloodlines crossed through the centuries, coming into contact with Pieces of Eden, as if guided by an invisible hand. The Templars deduced the teens before them were part of a new Ascendance Event and were willing to compensate them if they worked voluntarily with Abstergo to discover its origin and purpose. They added that the teens were in no way prisoners and that, should they wish to leave, they could do so whenever they wanted. Intrigued by the benefits of working with the Templars, some of the teens accepted the offer, much to Isaiah's satisfaction.

Meanwhile, after escaping from Monroe's hideout, Owen and Javier were debating their next course of action when they were greeted by a man named Griffin. As Griffin pulled out the tracking device from their stolen motorbike, Owen recognized him as the Assassin who had followed him and Monroe the previous day. Griffin convinced Owen to trust him, and the teen in turn convinced a reluctant Javier to work with the Assassins, explaining that the Pieces of Eden always ended up being abused and that Monroe may suffer the same fate.

The teenagers told Griffin about the Dagger of Eden they had found, which had been hidden in Ulysses S. Grant's house. After Griffin prompted them to use Eagle Vision to see if he was truly trustworthy, and after promising to secure the Brotherhood's help in order to prove the innocence of Owen's father, the Assassin brought them to his safehouse. Noticing the boys' disappointment in their dilapidated surroundings, Griffin talked about the Great Purge that had nearly driven the Assassins to extinction and explained how ruthless the Templars truly were.

After equipping themselves at Griffin's hideout and receiving a call from Gavin Banks, who revealed that the Dagger was in fact a Prong of the Trident of Eden and that the Templars knew of its location, Owen, Javier and Griffin took a private plane to New York and from there drove to Grant's house. However, someone had arrived there first and left with the artifact beforehand, the stash being empty. Before they left, three helicopters filled with Templar agents arrived at the house, but Owen was able to destroy two of them with an EMP grenade, allowing the trio to escape.

Once they had made it to safety, Griffin scolded Owen for disobeying his order not to engage the Templars, and threatened to renege on their deal if it happened again. He then reminded that Abstergo would not rest until the other Prongs of the Trident were found and that Owen and the other teenagers were the key to finding them. Offered a choice to carry on, Javier considered dropping out but Owen, determined to find the truth, agreed to help the Assassins.

Elsewhere, Monroe had successfully lost his Templar pursuers and, after recuperating, berated himself for being so careless and vowed to rescue the teenagers from Abstergo. To that end, he used a burner phone he had purchased to call Cole, a Templar mole who owed him a favor.

Search for the Precursor manuscript

At the Aerie, Isaiah was keen on exploring the memories of Sean Malloy's ancestor, Tommy Greyling, believing they held the answer to better understanding the Prongs of Eden. Inside the Animus, they discovered that Ulysses S. Grant had been in possession of a Precursor box which he used to decipher a Precursor manuscript, learning how to use the Prong of Eden more efficiently to win the Presidential election.

Sean Malloy conversing with Isaiah while using the Animus

During a short break in-between Animus sessions, Isaiah contacted Victoria on videocall, as the latter had left for London to aid Simon Hathaway with his research. As they discussed the importance of finding the manuscript, Victoria urged Isaiah not to take drastic measures as Sean was still recovering from his traumas, and using the Animus could prevent Sean from accepting his body's new limitations.

However, Isaiah decided to still push boundaries. As a result, Sean's prolonged exposure to the Animus and Tommy's encounter with a Templar agent named Alice turned deadly, and the teen experienced a violent desynchronization and needed to be brought to the Aerie's medical wing. Natalya, angered by Isaiah's lack of care for Sean's well-being, confronted him, but stormed out of the room when Sean decided he would go back inside the Animus, much to Isaiah's delight.

In the gardens of the Aerie, Natalya was comforted by David and Grace, as they, just like her, believed that Isaiah was using Sean and would "drop him like a fly" as soon as he was finished with him. However, they did not want to say anything for the time being, as they feared the Templars might keep a closer eye on them if they spoke up.

After resuming his Animus sessions, Sean experienced Tommy's failed capture of Alice and the manuscript pages, leading Isaiah to conclude that the pages were presumably in Templar hands by now. He thus decided to abandon the search, much to Sean's disappointment. The teen subsequently went to speak with his friends, and Natalya, David and Grace all revealed that he was being used by the Templars. After Sean described Alice's escape with the manuscript pages, the teenagers felt that something did not line up and spoke to Isaiah about their theory.

They deduced that Alice was smart and took the first steamboat back to America under a pseudonym, and that Tommy was most likely on the ship as well. Intrigued by their hypothesis, Isaiah allowed Sean to jump back into the Animus. Tommy's memories confirmed the teenagers' theory, revealing that after being confronted by Tommy on the ship, Alice jumped into the ocean to avoid capture, killing herself and destroying the manuscript. Isaiah subsequently thanked Sean for his intuition and gave the teens some time off to enjoy themselves, but in private declared that the hunt had only just begun.

Turbulence in the Inner Sanctum

In October 2016, Simon Hathaway was inducted into the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order. Believing the Animus Project had not yet realized its full potential, he wanted to explore history in a different approach; Simon wished to explore memories of Templars to uncover lost secrets. He believed a historian and Templar like himself could see things others could not and volunteered to go inside the Animus.

Alan Rikkin granted permission to Simon when the Templar historian told him about his new project: to learn more about Jeanne d'Arc's personal Sword of Eden. Rikkin gave him a deliberately tight one-week schedule and brought Dr. Victoria Bibeau over from the Aerie to supervise Simon's mental health and report to him as he dived into the project. Over the course of several days, Rikkin grew more and more disillusioned with Simon's research as prying too much into the history of the Sword, once wielded by the revered Grand Master Jacques de Molay, could lead Simon to learn about de Molay's influence over the Order, which could interfere with Rikkin's own ambitions for how the modern Templars should operate.

As Simon started to become increasingly more aware of his moves being followed, he became more stressed and began anxiously searching his surroundings, wondering if Abstergo was following his every move. He enlised the help of his former lover Anaya Chodary to help him. Later, after Hathaway and Bibeau discovered the hidden truth behind the "death" of Jeanne d'Arc in the Animus, Simon met Victoria and Anaya Chodary in Hyde Park. Simon decided to reveal to the Order the secrets that Rikkin had been trying to prevent him from uncovering, asking for the help of his two fellow Templars, who agreed. Eventually, Rikkin saw Simon and his research as a definitive threat to his plans for the Templar Order. He then commanded Omega Team, a clandestine task force that answered solely to him and was kept secret from the rest of the Inner Sanctum, to kill Simon.

That night, Simon and Bibeau downloaded data from the servers, staying in contact with Anaya through earbuds. After Bibeau's departure, Simon, while stealing the Sword of Eden entrusted to him by Rikkin for his studies, was warned by Anaya that armed men were coming to kill him from every stairwell. With Anaya's help, Simon evaded the agents, using his newly acquired skills to wound one of them. He then relied on his knowledge of London's underground tunnels to escape his pursuers. Eventually, Simon would presented himself later to the Inner Sanctum with the now-restored Sword of Eden and the wisdom he had gathered from Jacques de Molay. His discoveries inspired some of the members of the Sanctum to reconsider how the Templar Order should operate in the modern age and with the overwhelming majority of votes, declared that Simon was innocent from all charges made to him.

Later, inspired by Jeanne d'Arc's survival and her eventual reunion with her lover, Laxart, Simon called Anaya. He asked her to give their relationship a second chance. Anaya accepted and told him to come to her flat.

Alan Rikkin, unpleased with Simon's intervention and the Inner Sanctum's response, privately activated Omega Team, preparing them to move against the Sanctum as part of a contingency plan known as "Double Epsilon." However, he was preoccupied with events in Spain, where his daughter, Sofia Rikkin, had found a lead to Aguilar's Apple of Eden. He left Omega Team on standby, waiting until his business in Madrid was settled.

Search for the second Prong of Eden

It had been several weeks since Natalya Aliyev, Sean Molloy, Grace, and David Collins had arrived at the Aerie and joined the race to find the second Prong of Eden. Without Sebastian Monroe's Animus Memory Core, Dr. Victoria Bibeau and the other Templars had been forced to place the teens in different Animus simulations. These simulations, based on wild guesses and incomplete data, took place in various time periods, all in an attempt to find the last two Prongs of Eden before the Assassins did.

The simulations had been especially intense for Natalya, as the Templars had a promising lead on the location of the second Prong of Eden, hidden within the memories of her Mongolian ancestor, Bayan, a warrior of the Buryat tribe. She had to endure the stress and horrors of war.

Meanwhile, Owen and Javier had spent the past few weeks training in basic Assassin combat and freerunning under Griffin's guidance. Owen had begun to notice that the influence of Varius was slowly fading from his mind. Everything had changed when they were forced to abandon their safehouse after the Assassin informant, Rothenburg, had warned Gavin Banks that the Templars had found them. Griffin had no choice but to activate the safehouse's self-destruct sequence to protect the Assassins from being tracked. Owen, Javier, and Griffin had gotten caught in a deadly brawl with Templar agents but had managed to shake most of them off by taking a series of taxis. As Griffin had said, it was "hiding in plain sight."

When they had finally reached their new safehouse, Owen had remarked that it looked like something out of The Addams Family before the front door was opened by Rebecca Crane. After exchanging pleasantries and introductions, and informing the group that she had set up the house's security, she let them tot he basement where an Animus was set up for Owen to use. When Owen and Javier brought up their friend Sean, Rebecca mentioned that she had a friend named Shaun Hashting, who had recently stolen Animus blueprints from Madrid. She explained that they had been looking into the history of the Trident and believed that Owen's Chinese Assassin ancestor, Zhang Zhi, might hold the key to finding the second Prong of Eden.

Before leaving, Rebecca told the three that the Assassin leader William Miles had sent her on another mission and that the Brotherhood was too thinly spread as it was, requiring her assistance elsewhere. With Owen in the Animus, Javier felt restless and wanted to help his friend. He asked Griffin for permission to leave the house, which Griffin reluctantly granted. Outside, fearing Griffin's reaction to his betrayal of trust, Javier took the getaway car and traveled to the police station where Owen's father's case file was kept. After alerting the police, Javier quickly made his escape with the case file, evading authorities before returning to the safe house.

The next morning, Griffin was waiting for him and scolded him for being reckless, reminding him of the Three Tenets of the Creed. Griffin warned Javier that he was lucky not to have compromised the Brotherhood. Though Javier protested, Griffin retorted that Javier would eventually have to choose a side, whether he wanted to or not.

While in the Animus, Owen observed similarities between himself and Zhang Zhi, who had recently lost her father. Her fierce determination to honor her father's memory by completing her mission inspired Owen, and he admired her resolve. However, Zhi's memories proved to be a dead end. After assassinating the Templar Möngke Khan in his sleep, she was left crippled and abandoned by her Brotherhood. The group concluded that her memories held no clues to the whereabouts of the second Prong of Eden.

Outside the Animus, Owen had to recover from Zhang's experience, which Javier empathized with. Owen was surprised to learn that Javier had gone behind Griffin's back to steal the evidence from the police station and was touched by this gesture of kindness. Owen discovered a spit sample containing his father's DNA from after the robbery. Griffin explained they would first need to decode and upload the memories to the Abstergo Cloud and use Helix. Despite the challenges, Owen became filled with hope that he could finally prove his father's innocence to his family, the world, and himself.

Griffin concluded that he needed to infiltrate the Aerie facility to rescue the other teenagers and locate the second prong. Despite his initial reservations, Owen and Javier persuaded him to let them join the mission, arguing that their skills and familiarity with the other teenagers would increase the chances of success. Reluctantly, Griffin agreed but insisted they follow his orders strictly to avoid detection.

Raid on the Aerie

That night, armed and equipped, the group traveled along abandoned highways, leaving their vehicle behind to minimize detection. They approached the Aerie on foot, using Eagle Vision to evade infrared sensors and security cameras. However, during the infiltration of the facility's grounds, Owen and Javier became separated from Griffin. Determined to complete the mission as Griffin would have wanted, they captured Cole—unaware that she was secretly Rothenburg—and coerced her into unlocking a security door before tranquilizing her.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Monroe launched his own rescue attempt the same night, aided by Cole. Disguised as an Abstergo agent, Monroe infiltrated the facility grounds and caused a fire, triggering a circuit blackout that unlocked the doors to the teenagers' quarters. He eventually located Grace, David, and Natalya. When Sean refused to leave, Monroe respected his decision. Grace expressed doubts about the rescue, prompting Monroe to reveal that Isaiah had been manipulating them. David and Natalya chose to leave with Monroe, but as Grace deliberated, the power was restored, separating her from the group. With limited time, Monroe led Natalya and David to the garage, where Templar agents opened fire on them. Owen and Javier reached the garage and were surprised to see Monroe. They joined the fight, using their Assassin equipment to combat Abstergo guards. As Abstergo gained the upper hand, Owen sacrificed himself to ensure the others could escape. Reluctantly, Javier, with Natalya and David in the car, sped out of the garage and drove as far away from the Aerie as fast as possible.

Isaiah confronted Owen, identifying him as an Assassin and dismissing Griffin's distraction as ineffective. Monroe, who had stayed behind, surrendered and convinced Owen to do the same. Both were taken to separate rooms within the facility. Meanwhile, Javier continued driving until he spotted Griffin on the road. After picking him up, Griffin expressed frustration over leaving Owen behind but acknowledged there was little they could do. He decided they should return to the safe house. Before leaving, Griffin offered the teenagers the option to part ways if they felt uneasy about being associated with Assassins. However, they chose to stay together.

Upon arriving back at the safe house, Griffin expressed a desire to vacate the premises immediately, fearing that Owen would be interrogated with drugs or have his DNA analyzed through Helix. He contacted Gavin, who informed him that Rothenburg was deeply displeased with the raid and had nearly severed all contact. Gavin also revealed that Isaiah was planning an expedition to Mongolia. With their safe house secure for the moment and Isaiah still days away from departing, Griffin asked Natalya to re-enter the Animus to locate the second prong. Natalya agreed, on the condition that Griffin would take them all to Mongolia—a proposal she then discussed with Gavin.

That night, while staying at the safe house, Natalya reflected on the contrasting lives of Assassins and Templars. She noted the Assassins' constant struggles, living in poverty and on the run, while the Templars enjoyed a more luxurious existence. She also appreciated that Griffin did not pressure her into immediately entering the Animus to explore her ancestor's memories, valuing her health and choices—something she found hard to imagine from Isaiah. During their conversation, Javier revealed that Owen's father had died in prison and that Owen had been obsessed for years with proving his innocence. This revelation deepened Natalya's sympathy for Owen.

At the Aerie, Owen was brought before Isaiah, who tried to convince him that the Assassins had framed his father. Refusing to believe it, Owen provided the DNA sample he had on him to verify the claim. Isaiah thinking carefully, agreed to analyze it but requested a day to decode the memories. The following morning, Owen accessed his father's memories, which appeared to confirm Isaiah's allegations. After leaving Helix, Owen obtained Isaiah's promise to speak with Monroe. However Owen later learned in a group meeting with Dr. Victoria Bibeau, whom Owen immediately disliked due to his past dealings with "shrinks," that Isaiah had not kept his promise. Victoria claimed no knowledge of such an agreement. After being told that Isaiah was preoccupied, Owen and Grace deduced that he was heading to Mongolia to find the second prong. Owen then admitted that he had seen the prong, which piqued Victoria's interest, before telling her that his DNA was a dead end and thus wouldn't be able to help them find it.

After Bibeau left the room, Owen, feeling a connection to Grace through the Bleeding Effect as their ancestors, Varius and Eliza, were well-acquainted with each other through there affiliations with the Assassin Brotherhood, asked Grace if she wanted to help him free Monroe and head to Mongolia. Partially influenced by the Bleeding Effect and wanting to find her brother, she joined him. Sean promised not to rat them out as long as they didn't cause problems with his stay at the Aerie. After creating a fake pain grenade in the bathroom, they were caught outside in a hallway by Cole, who was unimpressed by Owen's attempt and brought them directly to Monroe, revealing that she was helping them escape the facility. Owen, realizing something, asked her if she was Rothenburg, the Assassin informant inside Abstergo, to which she simply responded that she had no idea who that was.

Excavation mission, Mongolia

After Cole sealed the trio in the shipping crate, Owen turned to Monroe for confirmation of his suspicion. The ex-Templar stated that Cole had helped him infiltrate the Aerie for his own independent rescue attempt and advised not to ask questions that might put Cole in danger. During the journey, Owen caught up with Monroe on what had been happening with them, learning that Monroe didn't have the first Prong. Monroe then asked if Isaiah had mentioned the Ascendance Event and, at Owen's request, explained what he knew: that it was somehow linked to the Collective Unconscious and that all six teens made up the whole of the sub-DNA.

At the Assassin safehouse, Griffin soon informed them that Isaiah was mounting an expedition to Mongolia and asked Natalya to re-enter the Animus to find the second Prong's exact location. Natalya agreed on the condition that Griffin bring all of them to Mongolia. However, when Natalya began experiencing Bayan's induction into the Templar Order, she purposely desynchronized, which angered Griffin. Though Natalya protested that she didn't want any involvement in the Assassin-Templar war, Griffin stated that a side had to be chosen eventually and that her hesitancy would likely get her killed. They soon packed up for Mongolia, with Natalya promising to find the Khan's tomb once they arrived. Gavin Banks had informed the Assassin cell in Mongolia of their arrival in search of the second Prong of Eden. Arriving in China, the Assassin Yanmei provided a jet to Griffin and teenagers for their journey to the Tomb. Yanmei made a somewhat positive impression on Natalya, as she was friendly and listened carefully to her and everybody's story, curious how a bunch of teenagers had become involved in this secret war of society's.

Around that same time. Owen, Grace, and Monroe arrived in Mongolia, they infiltrated Isaiah's camp but were quickly discovered by the Templars, who captured them. When they spotted a jet, they logically deduced it was from the Assassin Order and shot it down with rocket launchers. After surviving the crash, the Assassins confirmed the location of the Abstergo camp. Fearing that her brother was in the crashed jet, Grace told Isaiah to set off a series of lights to lure David in so he could give Isaiah the location of the tomb. Letting Grace do what she had to, they lured David into the camp. Once David was captured and interrogated by Isaiah, he claimed that the tomb of Khan was south of the Templar camp. After Isaiah left, Monroe asked David why he would betray the tomb's location, to which Owen retorted that it was better than the Assassins getting their hands on it. Owen then told Monroe how he had accessed his father's memories with Isaiah's help, but Monroe claimed that Isaiah had falsified the memory to show Owen what he wanted to see. Owen stubbornly refused to believe it.

After David got a guard to let him use a portable toilet, Owen and Grace felt a strong Bleeding Effect between them, enabling them to use their ancestors' skills to incapacitate their captors. David led them to the Tomb's real location, where they would meet up with Javier and Natalya. In the meanwhile, Natalya had sedated Griffin and Yanmei with an Assassin crossbow. She explained to a shocked Javier that she did not want the Assassins nor the Templars to find the Piece of Eden. As they excavated the Khan's tomb, Owen, Monroe, and the Collins siblings joined them. Owen told Javier what Monroe had said, to which Javier agreed with the ex-Templar that Isaiah had tricked him.

Once they finished the excavation, Isaiah appeared, having let them believe he was deceived so he could follow them. As the battle ensued between the two groups, Griffin and Yanmei recovered with Hidden Blades drawn and joined the fight. Owen and Javier pursued Isaiah into Khan's tomb, but they were unable to stop him from getting his hands on the second Prong, rendering them helpless before its fear-inducing powers. Once outside he used the power of the Prong on his opponents. Yanmei, in tears from remembering some of the terrible things her father had done to her, charged at Isaiah but was fatally wounded by him when he plunged the Prong inside her. Isaiah declared then declared his defection from the Templar Order, quoting J. Robert Oppenheimer: "I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds," before assembling the remaining Templar agents to become his new followers and leaving Owen and his friends behind defeated.

Upon reaching the Abstergo camp, Natalya felt regret for not telling the Assassins the tomb's location earlier, but Griffin reminded her that people die in war and that Yanmei would've respected her principles. Soon after, Victoria arrived at the camp, having just learned of Isaiah's betrayal and that he had found the first Prong at Mount McGregor beforehand. When the Templars drew their weapons upon hearing that the Assassins were present, Natalya reasoned that both sides needed to work together before Isaiah destroyed both Orders, at which Victoria and Griffin agreed to a ceasefire until they defeat Isaiah and recover the third Prong, which Victoria believed to be in Scandanavia.

Later, at the Aerie facility in North America, Sean relived the memories of his Viking ancestor, the legendary Styrbjörn the Strong, under the supervision of Anaya Chodary. After Sean confirmed that Styrbjörn had indeed been in contact with the third Prong of Eden, Anaya inexplicably fell silent before being replaced by the voice of Isaiah who told him that the Aerie was no longer safe and that he needed to take him with him to a new location for his safety.

Search for the third Prong of Eden

After returning from Mongolia the Templar Order kept searching for Isaiah. Ten days later, after Isaiah had announced his defection from the Order, the Aerie had stayed largely deserted, with everything Isaiah deemed important taken with him. Dr. Victoria had been assured by a member of the Inner Sanctum that the Aerie would remain available to them for the duration of the crisis. This allowed her and her allies to continue her search for the final Prong of Eden. Victoria had kept her alliance with Griffin and Monroe hidden from the Order, ensuring they could work undisturbed.

In Isaiah's now-abandoned office, Victoria, Owen, Javier, Natalya, Grance, and David Collins gathered to discuss their plans. Victoria offered the group the option to leave, assuring them that the Templars would not trouble them. However, the teenagers chose to stay, believing the danger posed by Isaiah was too great to ignore. Natalya, still struggling with Yanmei's death and showing signs of depression, decided to remain, wanting to save Sean from Isaiah.

Victoria explained that they had a lead on the third Prong being in Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Javier and the Collins siblings were found to have ancestors active during this period, making them suitable for the Animus simulations. With little to contribute, Owen and Natalya chose to assist Monroe in his investigation of the Ascendance Event. Monroe used the assembled sub-DNA to simulate an ancient collective human memory. He admitted uncertainty about the outcome, as the simulation delved into early theories of human evolution and psychology making it very different from a normal genetic memory.

During the simulation, Owen and Natalya found themselves in a dark space, wearing clothes generated by the Animus from their subconscious memories. A stone portal materialized, emitting light, and a voice instructed them to pass through three trials: Fear, Devotion and Faith. After stepping through the portal, they arrived in a forest that felt strangely artificial. Natalya noticed Animus glitches and moving objects that appeared unnatural, which unsettled her. Monroe, monitoring the simulation from his computer, explained that the Animus was struggling to render the visual data properly. He relied on their descriptions to guide them and stood ready to extract them if the simulation became too dangerous.

The Ascendance Event

Some time later, Grace stepped out of the Animus, allowing her brother to take her place. Restless and looking for something to do, she wandered the Aerie and entered Isaiah's office. There, she discovered a book on Norse mythology. As she read about Odin, Loki, and Fenrir, after turning some pages a strange document slipped out from between the pages. After reading the document Grace knew the situation had changed. Distrustful of Griffin and Victoria due to their alliances with the Order and the Brotherhood, Grace hurriedly took the paper to Monroe.

Monroe, also concerned by the document, decided to focus on the ongoing simulation for now. He advised Grace to do the same, telling her they would address it later. Grace agreed but remained uneasy. Wanting to contribute, Grace asked Monroe for help and dove back into the Animus. She joined Owen and Natalya to explore the Ascendance Event. After completing the last two trials, the group reached the summit of a mountain and entered a cave. Natalya noticed the futuristic design of the room and recalled Monroe's mention of an ancient civilization—the Isu—that had created the Pieces of Eden. She pointed to a nearby workstation as proof.

At that moment, Minerva revealed herself besides them them. Natalya was shocked to see the goddess standing there. Minerva explained that she had been known by many names, such as Athena, Sulis, and Saraswati. She guided them through the room, revealing that her people, the Isu, had created humanity as a workforce. However, humans rebelled against their creators, leading to a decimating civil-war. The war was abruptly ended by a solar flare that devastated the Earth, wiping out much of both civilizations. Minerva continued, explaining that, in an effort to help the world, she had hidden or destroyed the most dangerous Pieces of Eden to protect future generations. However, the Trident of Eden, the weapon of "absolute authority", had eluded her, and now she looked ahead, planning for the Ascendance Event. This event would involve a group of people, linked by bloodlines throughout history, drawn towards the Trident, and would eventually destroy the weapon.

She showed the three teenagers a human to whom she had added sub-DNA for the progress. To ensure her succes, Minerva had foreseen their involvement and had designed a trial to grant them immunity against the Trident by giving them a "shield." When the conversation ended, the simulation slowly concluded, and Owen, Grace, and Natalya found themselves back with in the Animus room with Monroe who helped them get out of the machine. They explained everything that had happened. Monroe confirmed their findings, acknowledging that Minerva was indeed part of the Isu and that her advanced civilization had once ruled over the planet. He explained that they had faced a great disaster, which scientists and archaeologists referred to as the Toba Catastrophe. The Pieces of Eden and several discovered Temples around the world were relics of their civilization, and the objective truth they existed.

Monroe explained further that the Assassins and Templars had worked seperately a few years ago to prevent a coronal mass ejection, which could have caused a second catastrophe. He also delved deeper into the information Grace had given him earlier. They learned that Isaiah had been a member of an organization called the "Instrument of the First Will." Monroe admitted that he didn't know much about the organization, except that it was a secret society that had infiltrated the Templars. From Isaiah's document, it was clear that Isaiah had defected from that organization as well. He was convinced that both the Assassins and the Templars were wrong to prevent the second catastrophe, believing instead that it was a cycle that needed to be completed. They concluded that Isaiah's goal was to use the Trident of Eden not only to rule the world but to control the remaining remnants of civilization. When the question was raised how he would destroy the world, Owen suggested that Isaiah might use nuclear weapons and rule as a new Alexander the Great.

International treasure, Sweden

For the time being, they decided to keep the information secret, but they knew they still had to discuss their findings in the Ascendance simulation with Victoria and Griffin. That evening, Javier and David discovered the whereabouts of the last remaining Piece of Eden. The group gathered in the common room, where Monroe, Griffin, and Victoria engaged in a conversation in front of the group. When Monroe pressed Victoria, suggesting that something deeper was going on, she seemed confused about what he meant. With the adults still clearly holding secrets because of the presence of the teenagers, Owen grew frustrated. He broke his promise to Monroe and revealed that they knew about the Instrument of the First Will, which annoyed Monroe. Victoria, shocked that they knew the name, asked where they had learned it. Grace handed over Isaiah's document. As Victoria read it, the gravity of the situation suddenly sank in. She explained that the Instrument was an internal problem the Templars were dealing with.

The conversation took a darker turn as it was revealed that the Instrument was a secretive organization bent on restoring the Isu civilization and allowing them to dominate the human race—Juno standing at the helm as their leader, with the Trident in hand. Griffin, however, pressed the point, suggesting that perhaps the Instrument was indeed the true form of the Templars, the final, untainted version, so to speak. This suggestion only served to infuriate Victoria further. Her face tightened, and her eyes narrowed in frustration as she vehemently denied his claim. She quickly denied it, adamantly stating that the Instrument did not represent her organization in any way. Griffin persisted, pointing out that the Templars sought to control humanity and had created the Animus to recover the lost relics of the ancient civilization—something the Instrument seemed to be doing as well.

After the conversation, Victoria claimed she wasn't hungry and left the room, but her abrupt exit betrayed a deeper feeling of hurt—she had hoped for support from her allies, and their silence had clearly stung her.

During dinner, Monroe pointed out that the Assassins had their flaws too, citing Ezio Auditore's act of burning down a bay in Constantinople with Greek fire—an action that, according to historians, had resulted in the deaths of many innocent people. He also revealed that Jack the Ripper, infamous for his brutal killings, had once been an Assassin—something that shocked the teenagers at the table. Natalya, added that perhaps serial killers like Jack the Ripper reflected a darker side of the Assassin Brotherhood by insueting that perhaps they are the final, untainted version of the Brotherhood. The conversation eventually took a tense turn as Griffin, unable to contain his anger any longer, stormed out of the room. But before he left he stated that Assassins stopped Jack the Ripper and they always clean there house.

The next morning, Owen, Natalya, Grace, and Griffin decided to take a commercial flight to Sweden with fake IDs, suspecting that Isaiah was monitoring the flight patterns of private Abstergo jets. In the morning, Monroe apologized to Griffin for hurting him and said that the Assassins indeed cleaned their house, something Griffin appreciated. When they arrived in Sweden, they got themselves some shoffels for the excavation and drove toward the location where the Piece of Eden was believed to be. When they could no longer drive, Grace took it upon herself to lead the group to the site. Having been familiar with the area due to her expiering in the Animus, she was able to recognize the surroundings and pointed the way.

Grace led the group to her ancestor's farm, only to find that an excavation was taking place and a museum had been set up. Unsure if Isaiah had been there or if others had, Grace and Griffin decided to enter the museum as tourists and asked the receptionist about the history of the excavation and museum. The receptionist revealed that an ancient dagger had been unearthed and was considered a national treasure, pointing to a glass case where the dagger was displayed behind him. However, the museum wasn't open yet, and the receptionist suggested they return later. Grace and Griffin recognized the Piece of Eden and thanked the receptionist for his time. Once outside the museum, Grace and Griffin confirmed to the group that the dagger on display was indeed the artifact. They considered stealing it immediately, but Griffin pointed out that even if he forcibly took the dagger, there would be many witnesses. Since it was a national treasure, they could likely close the borders, making their escape impossible. With that in mind, the group decided to wait near the museum, watching people come and go, staying until late in the evening.

Around the same time, Isaiah relocated with his soldiers and brainwashed Abstergo employees to Sweden to search for the artifact more easily. Sean began to suffer intensely from the Bleeding Effect in the Animus and begged Isaiah to release him, but Isaiah refused, forcing him to relive the same memories repeatedly. When Cole rushed into the Animus room, Sean saw a shieldmaiden storm the room and be attacked by a raven. Initially confused, Cole returned to the task at hand when Isaiah told her to ignore it. She handed him a newspaper article that had caught her attention. Isaiah and Cole discussed the likelihood that the dagger mentioned in the paper was the Piece of Eden. Cole added that Owen and the others had been spotted arriving at the Swedish airport and that she had visited the museum. The receptionist had told her that two tourists had asked about the dagger. Convinced by Cole's arguments, Isaiah complimented her and instructed the team to prepare for the retrieval of the dagger. Sean, asking if Isaiah would release him now, was told that he was nothing more than broken equipment and was no longer useful. Isaiah left the room with the staff.

Sean didn't know how long he had been bound to the machine. It could have been hours, days, or even weeks. Eventually, a hallucination of his ancestor, Styrbjörn the Strong, appeared before him, invoked by the Bleeding Effect. He told Sean to be strong and that he could escape the Animus, but he had to want it. With those words, Sean broke free from the Animus and fell to the ground. In disbelief, he crawled to his wheelchair and left the room. He evaded the remaining staff and made his way to the parking lot, entering Isaiah's car. He told the AI to drive and reconnect with the Aerie facility to contact Victoria Bibeau. On the dashboard, Victoria appeared, shocked to see Sean. He quickly explained his situation, that he had been in the Animus too long and needed her help. Victoria asked if he could drive, but Sean replied that he couldn't, but the AI could. She then instructed him on what to do.

Late in the evening, when the museum and surrounding area were empty, Griffin broke into the museum. Isaiah's helicopters arrived, and soldiers jumped out, entering through the roof. Natalya hesitated, saying they should wait as planned, but Owen and Grace rushed downstairs when gunfire erupted. Griffin, injured and with the dagger wrapped in cloth, ran out of the museum and struggled to climb over the fence, landing awkwardly on the ground. As Isaiah's soldiers began to close in, they were ambushed by the teenagers. After defeating the first wave, Grace dropped the shovel and rushed to help Griffin to his feet. The teenagers then led him into the forest in an attempt to avoid the helicopters.

The group made their way through the forest, with Griffin using all his strength to tell Owen to give his Hidden Blade to Javier, as he deserved it. Owen responded that Griffin should do it himself before the three teenagers were forced to lay him down near a river stream. Griffin lost consciousness from blood loss. Owen administered CPR, performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and pressing his hands to Griffin's chest, but it did not work. They realized with horror that Griffin had bled to death from a gunshot wound. A moment of silence followed. Natalya recognized that they had not yet left the country, had no adults to assist them, and lacked money or contact with Victoria. Reluctantly, she searched through Griffin's wallet. Grace took the dagger, wrapped in Griffin's bloodstained cloth, and Owen took Griffin's Hidden Blade. They had no choice but to leave his lifeless body behind by the river.

With no other options, they made their way to the abandoned car, but were ambushed by soldiers from behind. Isaiah appeared, having nearly lost hope that the teenagers would return. He seized the dagger from Grace, stating that he had no intention of killing them, hoping they would survive in his new world so he could continue his research on the Ascendance Event. Owen explained that the Ascendance Event was not a weapon, and that Monroe had uncovered the answer. The Ascendance Event had given the teenagers a shield that would protect them from the power of the Trident of Eden. Owen did not mention that he was unsure how the shield would work.

Isaiah considered the information carefuly and concluded that the teenagers and the Ascendance Event posed a threat to his new world order. He ordered Cole and the other soldiers to prepare the execution of the three teenagers, while he compared himself to the Nors mythological creature known as the Fenrir Wolf. At that moment, Sean drove in, forcing Isaiah and the soldiers to jump aside. Sean ordered them to get in the car, and they did. The car locked automatically and was immediately pelted with bullets. Victoria appeared on the dashboard, expressing relief to see them, but quickly realized Griffin was missing and heard that he was dead. She processed the information quickly and directed Sean to their next destination. The car sped off.

Upon arriving at the location, they were greeted by a stewardess from a private Abstergo plane. They boarded the plane cautiously, which then flew throughout the night to America, where Victoria personally met them at the airport and took them all back to the Aerie facility.

The Trident of Eden

Back at the Aerie, Owen, Natalya, and Grace learned that Javier and David had completed the Ascendance simulation, and only Sean remained to undergo it. They processed the news of Griffin's death, and Owen gave Griffin's Hidden Blade to Javier, sharing Griffin's final words, which took Javier by surprise. Victoria, observing the situation, chose to ignore Javier's initiation, as the current circumstances were far more urgent.

After Sean completed his simulation inside the Animus, which appeared to restore some of his psyche damaged by the Bleeding Effect, the group learned that Isaiah, now in control of the full power of the Trident of Eden, was heading to the facility. The teenagers, including Victoria and Monroe, prepared for the final confrontation. They set traps around the facility and made the ground unsuitable for helicopter landings.

As Isaiah launched a frontal assault, they heard the booby traps working against Isaiah's foot soldiers outside. In an improvised plan by Owen and Javier, they raced to the rooftop against Monroe's objections and threw an EMP grenade at a helicopter that had opened fire on them before retreating back inside. The attack worked in Isaiah's favor, as the rooftop portion of the Aerie was destroyed by the falling helicopter, and Owen narrowly avoided decapitation by a flying metal propeller.

As they made their way to the garage, they guarded all entrances and attacked every soldier who entered the room. The confrontation was interrupted when Isaiah entered the room, dressed in a white robe with the Trident in hand. He was challenged by Sean to combat. Isaiah accepted the challenge, allowing his soldiers to stand aside, and prepared to fight all six teenagers head-on. He used the full power of the Trident against them. Near succumbing to its power, Owen reminded everyone of the simulation. The shield they had received was actually the lessons Minerva had given them in the simulation—the challenges and realizations they had encountered along the way. With this revelation, the power of the Trident gradually diminished, which frightened Isaiah.

The teenagers stormed Isaiah, who fought back furiously. They used all the skills of their ancestors against him and overpowered him, with Javier delivering the killing blow with his Hidden Blade. When the battle ceased, Victoria attempted to seize the Trident, but Natalya, who had gotten to it first, held it firmly to protect it. Victoria demanded the Trident, but Natalya refused. Monroe intervened, and Victoria reminded him of his break from the Order, stating that she was working toward a better future. Natalya, disillusioned with both the Templars and the Assassins, spoke out, saying neither side deserved the Trident and that the endless bloodshed over the Precursor relics must stop.

The six teenagers gathered around the Trident, each placing a hand on it. They felt the weapon's energy coursing through their bodies. Owen heard Minerva's voice one last time, just before a burst of energy rendered the Trident powerless. Victoria, shocked, asked what they had done to the Trident.

After the destruction of the Trident of Eden, life gradually returned to normal for the teenagers. Victoria assured them that the Templars would not harass them as long as they kept a low profile. However, that made Grace deduce that they were still being watched. Despite this, she was content to be home with her brother and parents. Natalya, relieved to have escaped the eternal war between Assassins and Templars, returned to her grandparents and explained that the Abstergo project she had been involved in was no longer active. Owen went back to his grandparents and mother but knew he couldn't offer the same explanation as Sean, Natalya, Grace, and David Collins, whose parents believed were part of an "educational Abstergo program." Owen intended to tell them that he had found answers and that his past with his father no longer troubled him.

When Javier returned home, he was bombarded with questions from his brother and parents about his whereabouts. After locking himself in his room, he thought about the phone number Monroe had given him, which would connect him to the Brotherhood. He had memorized the number and destroyed the paper, uncertain when he would dail the phone number. Sean continued therapy with Victoria to cope with the Bleeding Effect.

Some time after Monroe escaped the Aerie facility with the Trident, he was told the artifact was powerless. He remained uncertain, suspecting the weapon still held hidden secrets. For the time being, however, he decided the teenagers needed rest and time to themselves.

Callum Lynch's capture

By 2016, Callum Lynch had spent much of his life immersed in criminal activities. One example was his habit of stealing Animus software from stores and selling it to wealthy teenagers on the streets—kids he believed had far more money than they deserved. Despite his criminal lifestyle, he held firmly to this moral stance on his dislike towards violence against women. One day, he witnessed a pimp violently smashing a 16-year-old prostitute's face against a counter. Driven by anger, Callum intervened, and in his frry he attacked and killed the pimp, leading to his arrest and transfer to a prison in the state of Texas.

Callum waking up in the Madrid facility

On 21 October 2016, Callum was sentenced to death by lethal injection. However, this was merely a ploy orchestrated by the Templars, who faked his execution and transported him to the Abstergo facility in Madrid. There, under the supervision of Templar scientist Sofia Rikkin—who sought what she called a "cure for violence"—Callum uncovered the truth about his Assassin heritage and Abstergo being a front for the Templars. He was subsequently forced to relive the memories of his ancestor, the Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha, to find a specific Apple of Eden sought by the Templars.

During his captivity, Callum not only explored the memories of Aguilar but also suffered immensely from overexposure to the Animus. He began to experience "ghostly" hallucinations of Spanish Assassins, including Aguilar, María, and Benedicto. Callum was often threatened by them with their Hidden Blades. Aguilar, in particular, would violently attack Callum and even cut his throat during these horrifying episodes.

Despite the torment, Callum gradually began to acquire the skills and abilities of his ancestor and eventually he was able to "train" with Aguilar. This development caused growing concern for Alan Rikkin and the facility's security guard, McGowen, as they believed they were making Callum stronger.

Callum walking with Alan Rikkin

Motivated by external pressure to expedite the search for the Apple of Eden, Rikkin offered Callum an opportunity for revenge. He proposed that Callum kill his father, Joseph Lynch, who had been imprisoned at the facility since his capture in 1986. Understanding Callum's desire to destroy his past rather than come to terms with it, Rikkin correctly assumed this offer would resonate with him. Presented with Joseph's Hidden Blade, Callum accepted the weapon and confronted his father. During their tense encounter, Joseph revealed that Callum's mother's death had been a necessary sacrifice to prevent the Templars from placing her in the Animus and using Aguilar's memories to locate the Apple, which would allow them to eradicate free will.

Though Callum ultimately chose not to kill his father in cold blood, he was deeply dissatisfied with Joseph's explanation. Fueled by anger, Callum vowed to him that he would destroy the modern-day Assassins and their Creed by aiding the Templars in their mission to locate Aguilar's Apple of Eden.

As Callum made his way to the Animus room, he was ambushed by the other inmates, who sought to kill him in a desperate effort to prevent Abstergo from discovering the Apple's location. Their attack, however, ended in failure and only served to strengthen Callum's determination to complete his mission—a resolve that greatly pleased McGowen. Once inside the Animus, Callum was prepared for the next phase of the simulation. Rikkin, Sofia, and McGowen watched the proceedings with eager anticipation, their focus entirely on the unfolding event. Meanwhile, Moussa and the other inmates, knowing they were running out of time, began planning a prisoner rebellion in a last-ditch effort to stop the Templars from finding the Apple.

Callum participating in the prison rebellion

Inside the memories of Aguilar, Callum understood for the first time, through witnessing María's sacrifice to protect the Apple from the Templars and experiencing Aguilar's deep love for her, why his mother had sacrificed herself decades ago to safeguard the Creed. Achieving full synchronization with Aguilar within the Animus, Aguilar performed a Leap of Faith to escape from the Templars. As the simulation concluded, Sofia and Rikkin learned the Apple's location. However, against Sofia's wishes, Rikkin ordered the immediate extermination of the facility as the prison rebellion started outside the Animus room. Leaving with his subordinates, Rikkin abandoned Callum and the other prisoners to their fate.

Having acquired Aguilar's skills through the Bleeding Effect and undergone a version of the Assassin initiation trial through the Animus, Callum joined the rebellion by standing with his fellow inmates who embraced him into the Brotherhood. Armed with Aguilar's Hidden Blades and a bow and arrow, he fought and killed numerous security guards. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to save Nathan's life, while Emir heroically sacrificed himself in the security room. Ultimately, only Callum, Moussa, and Lin survived among the self-proclaimed "protectors" of Aguilar's Apple and escaped the facility.

By December, Sofia and her father, accompanied by Ellen Kaye, had successfully retrieved the Apple from Christoffa Corombo's tomb. They then traveled to Holborn Hall in London to meet with other Templars, including the high-ranking Council of Elders, for Rikkin's unveiling of the Apple.

Callum assassinating Alan Rikkin

On the night of 14 December, Callum, Moussa, and Lin infiltrated the crowd without the Templars' knowledge. Callum managed to get close to Rikkin, kill him in front of all the assembled Templars, and reclaim the Apple before the lights shut out. In the ensuing chaos, he escaped with the other Assassins to the city's rooftops, evading the police and performing a Leap of Faith.

The Templars quickly covered up the assassination, with manipulated British press claiming that a gas leak had endangered the entire street and resulted in one fatality—Abstergo CEO Alan Rikkin—thus keeping the true circumstances of his death secret. However, the suspicious nature of the event raised doubts. That same night at 10:45pm, Layla sent Sofia an email asking if she was alright in the wake of her father's death, but she did not receive a reply. Layla also exchanged emails about the incident and its news coverage with her Abstergo colleague Deanna Geary. By October 2017, still suspicious about the official story, Layla had collected published articles and other suspicious materials on her laptop, including a digital copy of the newspaper.

U.S. presidential election

Berg observing Donald Trump's win

On 8 November 2016, the United States held its presidential election between the Republican candidate Donald Trump and the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump won the election and, in January 2017, was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States, a position he held until 2021.

In March 2017, Juhani Otso Berg expressed his disappointment with the election results to his colleague Violet da Costa, reflecting that "not much makes sense these days". Later that year, in a conversation with Guernica Moneo, a member of the Instruments of the First Will, Berg brought up the topic of the 2016 election again.

The Historical Research Division

In November 2016, Simon Hathaway exchanged pleasant conversations with Layla Hassan over lunch. About a week later, Layla sent a thank-you email to Simon for his kind words and gently requested to be assigned to more "Person of Interest" assignments. She stated that this was not a sign she disliked her work, but she felt she could use more variety, and she tried to persuade Simon that it might improve her "social skills."

By December, Layla was falling behind on her operation reports, and Simon insisted that she finish them before the end of the year, or he would file a formal complaint. Layla promised she would complete the reports. On 18 December, Layla's colleague from the Lineage Acquisition Division, Deanna Geary, contacted her with news of the suspicious death of Abstergo's CEO, Alan Rikkin, who had passed away a few days prior in London. Deanna also extended an invitation for Layla to spend Christmas at her parents' house, but Layla declined. While she appreciated the offer, she wanted to focus on completing her assignment from Simon, as she still had at least twelve reports left to finish. She liked her boss and was partially motivated by the desire to avoid being stuck with a mediator, which she considered nothing short of torture.

The Uprising

Charlotte fighting Jasdip Dhami

In February 2017, Charlotte de la Cruz traveled to Hong Kong alongside Guernica Moneo to gather intelligence on the Phoenix Project from an abandoned Abstergo facility in a skyscraper, with the aid of the Assassin Barindra Mitra and his cell. As Guarnica waited outside the building in a van, Charlotte and her team found themselves ambushed by unknown assailants with high-tech gear, who also seemed to escort a young boy who "recognized" her. To escape, Charlotte jumped out of the window and landed on top of the van, injuring herself.

As the assailants chased her and Guernica across the streets of Hong Kong, they used their high-tech mobility and parkour skills to keep up with them. Charlotte fought off the rogue leader of the assailants, who was dressed like an Assassin, in the back of the van. Eventually, one of the assailants threw shurikens through the front window, cutting off several of Guernica's fingers and hitting him in the face, which resulted in him crashing the van, though everyone survived.

Driven by her sheer force of will and desire to know the truth, Charlotte walked toward the injured rogue Assassin and threatened to torture him while holding her Hidden Blade close to his face. However, upon realizing that her teammate was gravely injured, Charlotte elected to escape to a safe house to save Guernica's life instead, and disappeared deep into the night.

The Templars investigating the Hong Kong facility

The next morning, Juhani Otso Berg and Violet da Costa were called to investigate the former Phoenix Project site, where several Assassin bodies had been found. On-site, Berg was perplexed as to why a small unidentified army appeared to be defending an Abstergo archive against the Assassins. The Master Templar ordered Violet to bribe the Chinese police to leave the site as it was and retired to his hotel room for the night.

After changing into his high-tech Black Cross attire, Berg secretly returned to the skyscraper to conduct an investigation of his own. Assisted by André Bolden, who was acting as tech support, the Black Cross discovered evidence that both high-tech Templar equipment and Assassin weaponry had been used by the mysterious group who butchered the Assassins.

Inside a safe house, Charlotte was being patched up as she spoke over the phone to Galina Voronina, who was currently in London with Arend Cunningham, Kiyoshi Takahura, and My'shell Lemair. She explained the situation over the phone, stating that the operation in Hong Kong was a setup, but to what purpose she did not know, and she needed immediate extraction.

Charlotte and My'shell talking in a public house

The following month, Charlotte met with My'shell in London at a local public house, and they got some drinks. As Charlotte and My'shell started talking, Charlotte questioned why My'shell wanted to become an Assassin, citing the fact that she now looked at ordinary people around her and immediately calculated multiple ways to kill them. The Bleeding Effect had turned her into a living weapon, and she began to wonder, after having spent so much time inside her ancestors' memories, if her own life was just a simulation; one that someone in the future was currently examining through her DNA.

That same month in Montreal, Berg and Violet continued to discuss the strange events that had occurred in Hong Kong, with Berg still confused about how the Assassins encountered a better-equipped force in what should have been a secure environment. Unbeknownst to him, Violet was working for the Instruments of the First Will and was prompting Berg to reveal all that he had deduced. Suddenly, their phones and those of other Templars around them rang, displaying the Black Cross symbol.

Knowing it was the Inner Sanctum summoning him to a nearby retreat, Berg sent André Bolden to protect his secret identity as the Black Cross. Disguised as the Black Cross, André was allowed entrance after showing his invitation, and was confronted by the Inner Sanctum inside the meeting room. The Black Cross refused to reveal his true identity, asserting his independence and informing the Sanctum that the Order had been infiltrated by a fifth column.

The Inner Sanctum interviewing the Black Cross

When asked for proof by Laetitia England, André responded by pulling his middle finger to the Inner Sanctum and saying that "this was his proof." Feigning anger at the Black Cross' insolence and disrespect towards the Sanctum, Berg attempted to "subdue" him. However, André easily threw Berg over his shoulder and warned the Inner Sanctum that they were all suspects. He then promised to return and left the scene by deploying a smoke bomb.

Returning to his apartment, Berg was joined by André who was still wearing his Black Cross outfit. Thanks to their trick, Berg was now sure that for the foreseeable future, the Inner Sanctum would stay impervious to the fact that the Black Cross was one of their own. Berg then revealed to Bolden that the Abstergo goggles he had found in Hong Kong were from the company's division in Europe, and decided to head to Berlin to investigate further.

In Berlin, the Assassin mole Heinrich Hart was intercepted by Galina and Arend outside the Abstergo offices. The pair were seeking answers about their losses in Hong Kong and threatened Hart because it was his information that had led the Assassins into the ambush. Hart swore that he knew nothing of what had lie in wait for them at the Hong Kong site, and told them that the Templars did not know what had happened either, with rumors that the feared Black Cross was investigating the matter. After demanding that Hart find answers or else they would come back for his blood, Galina and Arend left.

Unbeknownst to the Assassins, Berg, dressed in his Black Cross attire, was hiding on a nearby roof, listening in on the conversation. Following Galina and Arend's departure, Berg confronted Hart, though to the Black Cross' surprise, the Assassin mole revealed that he had left a trail on purpose for Berg to follow, and told him that it was about time he arrived.

Berg defeating Heinrich Hart

Unleashing an electric whip, Hart attacked Berg but was quickly subdued. As Hart cryptically revealed his true identity as an Instruments of the First Will member, he pulled out a high-caliber explosive from his pocket with a blast strength of 0.25 kilotonnes. He then detonated the explosive in an attempt to kill both himself and Berg, but the latter dived out a window and landed in the river below, narrowly surviving the blast.

Sometime later, at the London safehouse, Charlotte and the Assassins reviewed the media, where a large explosion in Berlin dominated the headlines. Kiyoshi argued that killing 170 people in public did not fit the Templar ideals and suggested another faction might be involved. My'shell revealed that she had a list of Pieces of Eden recovered from the Hong Kong Abstergo lab and pulled up an image of the Koh-i-Noor. Charlotte realized that it was the 'mountain glimmer' Consus had mentioned in his message to her. With My'shell convinced that it was present in the Spanish Civil War, Charlotte strapped herself into a makeshift Animus. The machine appeared to malfunction, however, with Charlotte becoming trapped inside a simulation and unable to be awoken.

Meanwhile, Berg returned to his hideout to find André waiting. Expressing frustration over the apparent fifth column that had infiltrated the Templar Order, Berg was advised by André to look for the blood of the situation; namely money, which had to be redirected somewhere.

Jasdip Dhami holding Felix Oladele's head

In London, Guernica returned to the Assassin hideout to find the team surrounding the unconscious Charlotte in the Animus, and was shocked to learn that My'shell had repaired the machine with unvetted Abstergo parts. Fearing the Animus was now compromised, Guernica instructed the Assassins to find Felix Oladele, an Erudito plant within Abstergo Montreal who was familiar with Animus extractions. Kiyoshi and Arend immediately flew to Montreal, though upon infiltrating the Abstergo offices, they were ambushed by the same high-tech rogue Assassin from Hong Kong, who had killed Oladele. After a prolonged fight, the two Assassins managed to defeat their assailant, who escaped by jumping out a window, though they were both heavily injured in the encounter.

Back at the Assassin safehouse, Guernica, who was secretly an Instruments spy, attempted to kill Charlotte with a knife but was caught and stopped by Galina. The Assassin threw him to the ground and broke his finger before beginning to torture him to learn who he was serving.

Meanwhile, My'shell, blaming herself for Charlotte's situation, decided to investigate leads on old Assassin accounts. In Geneva, Switzerland, she met with a banker to discuss the accounts of Vetulus De Montanis Ltd. Apparently William Miles retained ownership, but had been receiving substantial cash deposits from a shipping subsidiary of Abstergo Industries. Seeking answers to this anomaly, the banker suggested that My'shell speak with Berg, who was waiting outside. Held at knifepoint by Berg, My'shell was questioned about the money transfer, but she swore that the Assassins were just as oblivious to it as the Templars.

Just then, Berg noticed a drone spying on them and shot it before several assailants attacked the pair. After knocking My'shell to the floor, Berg engaged the assailants but was soon overpowered by the high-tech Assassin, revealed to be Jasdip Dhami. Threatening the life of Berg's daughter Elina, Jasdip warned the Black Cross to end his investigation and told him that the future and its vision belonged to a 'she', before throwing Berg over a guard railing.

At the London hideout, Galina explained to a recently-arrived Kiyoshi and Arend her suspicions that My'shell was a spy just like Guernica, while Charlotte relived a memory of Juno in the Animus. Learning about the Isu's plan to conquer humanity to save it from itself, Charlotte realized Juno had been scanning her mind and awoke from the Animus before telling the others that they needed to warn the Templars.

Elijah standing before the Instruments of the First Will

Meanwhile, at the Instruments' hideout, Violet reprimanded Jasdip for harming Berg, believing that the Black Cross could be recruited to their cause. Jasdip retorted that only those chosen by Juno would live to see Eden reborn, just as Juno appeared on a monitor, stating that she had learned what she needed from Charlotte: the Koh-i-Noor's whereabouts. As Elijah, Desmond Miles' son and a Sage, was guided to a crowd of waiting Instruments, Violet voiced her concerns that the boy might end up betraying them, but Juno assured her that Elijah was just a cog in a machine, one that would turn mountains into idols.

Assassin-Templar truce

After a failed attempt by Arend to warn the Templars of Juno's plans by calling Abstergo tech support, My'shell arrived at the London hideout with a wounded Berg. Despite some initial hostilities from the other Assassins, especially Galina, they all agreed to get breakfast together, where Berg informed the group of his findings and concluded that the Instruments of the First Will had been playing both the Assassins and Templars. He then suggested a temporary truce to deal with their mutual enemy, given that both of their factions had been compromised and they could trust no one.

The Assassins reluctantly accepted Berg's proposal and returned to their hideout, where Charlotte entered the Animus to relive the memories of her ancestor Ignacio Cardona during the Spanish Civil War in the hopes of finding the Koh-i-Noor, which was instrumental to Juno's plans. However, after only a short time spent in the machine, Charlotte began to feel sick and had to get out. The Assassins concluded that it was due to Juno's recent attack, but despite the risks of returning to the simulation, Charlotte decided to do so anyway, believing they had no other choice if they wanted to find the Koh-i-Noor.

Berg reliving Albert Bolden's memories

Meanwhile, My'shell questioned the captive Guernica Moneo regarding his reasons for siding with the Instruments, but ultimately left the room in disgust, unable to recognize the man she had once considered a good friend. Later, Galina decided to resume her torture of Guernica, just as Berg entered the room, having been asked to leave Charlotte's presence due to making her feel uncomfortable. Left alone to talk, Berg and Guernica discussed the state of the world and Juno before Berg went to pick up a package from André Bolden.

Later, Charlotte suffered a brain hemorrhage and had to be removed from the Animus once more. While Charlotte received medical attention, Berg volunteered to take her place in the machine and explore the memories of Albert Bolden, the last known Black Cross and a friend of Ignacio Cardona, whose DNA was in the package he had received. The Assassins reluctantly agreed and Berg entered the Animus to synchronize with Bolden's memories.

Tomo Sakagawa's revenge

By July 2017, Tomo Sakagawa had become proficient in computer science and hacking, living independently while working at Mr. Takanori's amusement arcade. Driven by the desire for revenge over the death of his mother, he relentlessly searched for Maxime Gorm. His investigations led him to Switzerland. Determined to find his mother's killer, Tomo convinced Hajime Shimada to allow him to travel to Switzerland. Using the alias Dr. Florent Carpentier, Tomo secured a position at Nathalie Chapman's clinic, where he was assigned to work with Elisa Adler.

Tomo using Nathalie Chapman's Animus Omega

Within a month of his arrival, Elisa confided in Tomo, revealing her real name. However, Chapman, who revealed herself to be an Assassin, had discovered Tomo's secret sometime ago. She brought him to her base at the Gorges du Pont-du-Diable, where she tasked him with decrypting an Abstergo Industries firewall to access the memories of former Assassin Alekseï Gavrani. After successfully decrypting the firewall, Tomo entered Chapman's Animus Omega and relived Gavrani's life, triggering the Bleeding Effect. As Tomo became more suspicious of Chapman's true intentions, he reported his concerns to Hajime.

During a trip with Elisa to Geneva, Tomo uncovered Chapman's disturbing experiment: she was using amnesiac patients to implant past Assassins' memories, essentially reviving the consciousness of former Assassins in new hosts. Realizing that Elisa was one of Chapman's test subjects, Tomo reported his findings to Hajime and decided to return Elisa to her parents, hoping to ensure her safety.

Around the same time, in November, Elisa's parents Alice and Thomas Adler were hiding in Madrid with a stolen version of the Animus and had apparently kidnapped Maxime Gorm from the now destroyed Abstergo facility in the city. They sought to explore the memories of Gorm's ancestor Eddie Gorm to locate Hitler's Apple of Eden, believing the combined power of the Apple and the Bleeding Effect could restore Elisa's lost memories. However, despite their investigation, they found no clues as to the Apple's location. As they prepared to plan their next move, the doorbell rang, alarming the couple, who hastened upstairs, fearing their hiding place had been discovered.

Tomo lying unconscious following his defeat by Maxime Gorm

While discussing Elisa's recovery with her parents, Tomo struggled with the effects of the Bleeding Effect, which Elisa noticed and was concerned about. Tomo dismissed her worries, unwilling to reveal his condition. As they sat together on a sofa in the Adler home, Gorm unexpectedly appeared and revealed that he had been held captive in the basement. Elisa's mother attempted to justify their actions, explaining that they had been using Gorm to locate Hitler's Apple of Eden, hoping it would fully restore Elisa's memory. Elisa, horrified, called their actions insane.

Realizing the danger, Tomo immediately alerted the Brotherhood and, partialy influenced by the Bleeding Effect, attempted to assassinate Gorm himself, going against Hajime's command. However, his knife missed its mark, fatally striking Thomas instead. Alice attacked him in retaliation, but Tomo swiftly killed her with his Hidden Blade. During a fight with Gorm, Tomo was overpowered, stabbed in the eye, and left unconscious while Gorm abducted Elisa and fled. Maxime and Elisa managed to escape the Assassins' grasp.

Natalie Chapman faking surrender

The next day, Nathalie Chapman was informed by her security officer, Stanislas, that Tomo had been killed by Gorm and that Gorm and Elisa had escaped. When Nathalie returned home, she discovered that her security system had been hacked. Realizing that an Assassin had broken into her clinic, she discreetly warned Stanislas and decided to investigate. Inside the clinic, Nathalie encountered the intruder and feigned innocence, engaging him in conversation to buy time. She strategically positioned herself within view of a window, ensuring that Stanislas, who was positioned outside, could take the shot. Stanislas fired through the window, killing the Assassin.

With the immediate threat eliminated, Nathalie admitted to Stanislas that she could no longer continue her research with only Gavrani's memories—she needed Maxime Gorm. Determined to locate him before the Assassins did, she began preparing to leave her clinic. Before departing, she visited her father's grave and expressed her frustration with the ongoing war between the Assassins and Templars. She vowed to continue her father's work on memory resurrection, believing that unlocking genetic memories was the key to freeing humanity from the constraints of genetic barriers.

Elisa falling under hypnotic control

Nathalie then used a coded phrase to activate Elisa's hypnotic conditioning, ensuring that Elisa would follow her orders. Under this control, Elisa forced Maxime to cooperate with Nathalie's plans, ensuring her objectives remained on track.

Sometime later, Tomo, still alive but now blind in one eye, awoke from a deep slumber in Nathalie's old base, now under Hajime's leadership. Hajime explained the situation: Chapman was close to completing her memory resurrection project, and Tomo's synchronization rate with the Animus made him the only person capable of continuing to relive Gavrani's memories to uncover the location of the Apple of Eden and Chapman's true intentions. However, as Tomo began his time in the Animus, it was abruptly paused when Hajime's team spotted Chapman escaping.

As the simulation halted, Tomo awoke, disoriented, and mistakenly believed himself to be Gavrani, with those around him appearing as Assassins working for Boris Pash. In his confusion, Tomo destroyed the facility and killed several Assassins, including Hajime. As the Bleeding Effect wore off, Tomo realized the destruction he had caused, apologized to Hajime, and was instructed to contact Saeko Mochizuki, the leader of the Osaka cell.

Maxime Gorm talking with Chapman

Meanwhile, Nathalie and Stanislas prepared to transport Gorm and Elisa to the Swiss Alps, where Nathalie had a secluded base. On the flight to the Alps, Nathalie revealed to Gorm that he had been brainwashed by Abstergo to serve their agenda. She also explained her version of Project BLUEBIRD, which she was developing at the base. Upon arrival, Nathalie assured Gorm that she would restore both his and Elisa's memories—but only after Maxime relived his mother's memories.

After obtaining the final pieces of information she needed, Nathalie activated the memory resurrection machine at five percent. She then had Elisa and Maxime escorted to their rooms. In her room, Elisa was unexpectedly confronted by Tomo, who had broken in through the window. Despite her anger and desire for revenge, Elisa was quickly overpowered by Tomo, who explained that he was not there to kill her but to stop Chapman's dangerous plans. After hearing Tomo's apology and reasoning, Elisa agreed to help him.

Elisa eventually located Maxime, who was being escorted by Stanislas and his guards. Stanislas accused Elisa of conspiring with Tomo, but she revealed that there was a blind spot in the security system, which Tomo had exploited to kill the guards and Maxime. Elisa and Tomo then bargained with Nathalie for their freedom in exchange for a cure to the virus Tomo had introduced into her system. Nathalie reluctantly agreed, and Elisa and Tomo escaped by helicopter.

Tomo and Elisa escaping the base's destruction

As they flew away, Elisa questioned whether Tomo had truly provided the virus cure. Tomo explained that he had actually released a virus aimed at sabotaging the facility's cooling system. Moments later, the base was destroyed in a large explosion, presumably destroying the Apple of Eden and killing Nathalie, putting an end to her plans.

Re-discovery of the Hidden Ones

In October 2017, as part of Abstergo's Historical Tactical Team, Layla Hassan and Deanna Geary were sent to Egypt to find and retrieve an important relic. Layla discovered the artifact was in fact a tomb that housed the mummies of Bayek and Aya. Without informing her superiors, Layla used her Portable Animus HR-8 to relive their memories in order to prove her worth to the Animus Project, while Deanna monitored her vitals remotely from a nearby hotel.

From the memories of Bayek and Aya, Layla discovered the origins of the Assassin Brotherhood as the Hidden Ones and their millennia-long conflict with the Templars, as well as Isu messages lef tfor her that spoke of a new disaster awaiting Earth in the nearby future. Meanwhile, Layla's refusal to regularly check in at Abstergo made the company send in Sigma Team to investigate the expedition to Egypt. Upon discovering the team had gone rogue, they killed Deanna but were unable to eliminate Layla, who used her new abilities to defend herself.

Layla and William making a deal

Later, Layla was awoken again from the Animus, this time by William Miles. Aware of her current predicament and her keen interest in the Animus Project, William offered Layla a place amongst the Assassins, where she could fight back against Abstergo and explore the Animus with more free reign. Seeing no other choice, Layla agreed to align herself with the Brotherhood and left with William via helicopter.

By the end of the year, Layla joined the Assassins as an official member, befriending several of her fellow members, including Charlotte de la Cruz, Arend Schut-Cunningham, and Harlan Cunningham. As part of her first Assassin mission, she and Kiyoshi Takakura went to Quebec to retrieve a relic which had belonged to the Recollects from the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec. Things went sideways when they were confronted by Abstergo, but Kiyoshi's past as a yakuza helped him save Layla from danger.

Resurrection Day

"Resurrection Day—a date that will go down in the annals of history of our secret war as one of the darkest for both sides. Yet the world won't know anything happened."

―Charlotte de la Cruz, 2018.

By August 2018, Juhani Otso Berg had discovered the Koh-i-Noor's burial site in Spain from Albert Bolden's memories. He subsequently called André Bolden to tell him about his discovery and ask him to assemble a team, unaware that André had been taken hostage by the Instruments of the First Will. Now aware of the Koh-i-Noor's location, the Instruments decided to put their plan to resurrect Juno into action and traveled to Álvaro Gramática's secret laboratory in Australia. There, they forced the scientist to cooperate and later executed André, who had outlived his usefulness.

Meanwhile, Berg and his Assassin allies traveled to Spain to recover the Koh-i-Noor from the church where it had been buried. While scouting the area, Arend Schut-Cunningham and Kiyoshi Takakura were attacked by an elderly man and woman, who were the guardians appointed by Ignacio Cardona and Albert Bolden to protect the site. During the fight, a helicopter arrived and dropped off Jasdip Dhami and an Instruments strike team, who took the two Assassins and the guardians hostage.

Charlotte activating the Koh-i-Noor

After Charlotte de la Cruz, Galina Voronina and Berg retrieved the Koh-i-Noor, the Instruments were alerted to their location and arrived at the church with their captives. Kiyoshi used his Wire-Razor Blade to break free and sever the limbs of the Instruments holding them hostage, and a fight broke out. While her allies battled the Instruments, Charlotte grabbed the Koh-i-Noor, causing it to emit a blue glow that knocked down everyone around her. Quickly recovering, Jasdip killed the old guardians and stole the Koh-i-Noor before flying away in the helicopter as the Assassins and Berg lamented their failure.

Meanwhile, in London, another Instruments strike force was sent to eliminate Guernica Moneo for being a loose end. They infiltrated the Assassin hideout, where they were ambushed by My'shell Lemair. Guernica helped the Assassin kill their assailants, but was mortally wounded in the process and the safehouse was destroyed. As emergency services arrived to contain the fire, My'shell and Guernica reflected on the fact the bodies in the safehouse could have been them. After claiming that Guerncia's actions could never be justified as a necessary evil, My'shell left him to succumb to his injuries.

Deciding to stop the Instruments before they could resurrect Juno, Charlotte, Galina, Arend, Kiyoshi and Berg flew to Australia in a private jet. During the flight, Arend reminded Berg of their encounter in Rotterdam four years prior and vowed to kill him once they had dealt with Juno; a threat the Templar returned. The group then devised a plan to infiltrate Álvaro Gramática's laboratory; Charlotte would sneak into the facility through a vent shaft, using a sandstorm as a cover, while the others engaged the Instruments as a distraction.

Galina killing Jasdip Dhami

As Berg, dressed in his Black Cross uniform, approached the laboratory's main entrance alone, he was greeted by Jasdip, though the Instrument was quickly silenced when Galina killed him with a sniper shot to the head. Meanwhile, Kiyoshi and Arend engaged the Instruments at the facility's rear entrance, ultimately resorting to the use of a rocket launcher to eliminate the cultists.

Inside the laboratory, Elijah, whose DNA had been used in conjunction with the Shroud of Eden to create a new Isu body for Juno, conversed with the Instrument Richmond. Recalling the day when the Instruments had murdered his mother to kidnap him, Elijah killed Richmond with a screwdriver to the neck and made his escape.

Once Juno was fully reborn, she broke free from her vat, damaging the room around her and injuring Gramática in the process. Just then, Charlotte arrived and tried to eliminate the resurrected Isu, but her assassination attempt was thwarted by Juno's energy powers. As Charlotte was lifted into the air, her fate appeared to be sealed until Elijah approached her and handed her the Koh-i-Noor. Together, through their bloodlines, the Assassin and Sage tapped into the artifact's power and summoned an illusion of Consus to distract Juno, causing her to release Charlotte.

Charlotte assassinating Juno

Charlotte then used the Koh-i-Noor to guide her fellow Assassins and Berg to her, just as Juno realized she had been deceived and fired an energy beam in anger; hitting the ceiling and causing debris to fall on Gramática and crush him. Juno then turned to Elijah and demanded that he hand over the Koh-i-Noor, but he refused and, with the Isu's back turned, Charlotte seized the opportunity to stab her in the throat with her Hidden Blade. As Juno collapsed to the floor, dead, Elijah declared that Aita was a "ghost in the wind" and his legacy would end there, before escaping from the lab through the air vent, leaving Charlotte behind.

Meanwhile, the other Assassins and Berg ran out of the facility and were met outside by the last of the Instruments' forces led by Violet da Costa. After revealing that the odds were in his favor, as he had summoned a Templar strike team as backup, Berg grabbed Violet's gun and shot her with it. He then took out a remote detonator and clicked it, destroying the laboratory in a large explosion. As Charlotte had been unable to escape in time, she was killed in the blast while Elijah watched from a safe distance away, with the Koh-i-Noor in-hand.

Discovery of Atlantis

By October 2018, Layla Hassan had become the leader of her own Assassin cell, consisting of Kiyoshi Takakura, Alannah Ryan, and ex-Abstergo employee Victoria Bibeau. Layla had become obsessed with Isu artifacts and culture by this point, and in her search for knowledge she discovered Lost Histories, a volume by Herodotos that had been lost to time. The volume was buried alongside the Spear of Leonidas and Layla extracted a DNA sample from it, discovering the Spear had belonged to the Spartan mercenary Kassandra.

From Kassandra's genetic memories, Layla learned the location of the lost city of Atlantis, where she believed the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, a powerful Piece of Eden, to be hidden. Believing the artifact would allow the Assassins to gain the upper hand over the Templars, Layla led her team from their hideout in London to the coast of Santorini, boarding the Altair II.

Upon arriving at their destination, Layla explored the underwater caverns and found the entrance to Atlantis. Examining the tunnel leading to the ancient city, she found no way to access Atlantis and, believing Kassandra's memories held the answer, she returned to the Animus to continue exploring the mercenary's life.

Kassandra passing the Staff of Hermes to Layla

Once Layla had the necessary knowledge to open the city, she realigned several mirrors reflecting a light beam and the gateway to Atlantis was opened. It was then that she met Kassandra, kept alive for thousands of years by the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus. Having traveled the world and personally witnessed most of their exploits throughout history, Kassandra warned Layla that the Templars and Assassins represent order and chaos, respectively, and that either side prevailing over the other would result in the world's doom.

Declaring Layla to be the prophesied individual who would restore balance to the world, Kassandra requested her to destroy the Staff once she had fulfilled her mission with it, as well as all other Pieces of Eden, continuing Kassandra's life work. After Layla agreed, Kassandra relinquished the Staff to her and passed away moments later. Layla then returned to the Animus to synchronize with the remainder of Kassandra's memories.

The Trials of Atlantis

After discovering that the Staff held the consciousness of the Isu Aletheia, who had guided Kassandra throughout her journey, Layla began to communicate with her. Aletheia tasked Layla to access the Great Seal to Atlantis, which contained gateways to three simulations created by Aletheia meant to allow the wielder of the Staff to learn how to master its power. Layla did so after finding three symbols hidden in the tombs of Agamemnon, Orion, and Eteokles, whose locations were revealed through the memories of Kassandra and her brother Deimos.

During this time, Victoria became increasingly worried for Layla's mental health due to her prolonged exposure to the Animus and decided to join her in Atlantis. Inside the Great Seal, Layla went back into the Animus to experience Kassandra's memories of the Trials of Atlantis and learn how to avoid being corrupted by the Staff's power.

Layla killing Victoria under the Staff of Hermes' influence

As Layla continued to relive Kassandra's memories, her behavior became increasingly aggressive, which caused Victoria to forcefully pull Layla out of the Animus. This culminated in Layla accidentally killing Victoria with the Staff during an outburst. Horrified at what she had done, Layla was approached by Aletheia, who proclaimed that Layla might not be the true "Heir of Memories" after all, and that she needed time to reflect. Layla refuted Aletheia's statement, blaming the Staff for her actions, though Aletheia reminded her that she dictated who the "Heir" was and not Layla.

Layla eventually convinced an apprehensive Aletheia to let her finish the Trials. Upon completing Kassandra's memories she was awoken from the simulation by Aletheia who warned her of an intruder, revealed to be Juhani Otso Berg. Layla confronted the Templar and tried to make a compromise with Berg to use the Staff to heal his sick daughter, Elina, but Berg warned her not to bring up his daughter and that there was no compromise to be made. Layla was forced to defend herself and easily bested Berg before impaling him with the Staff, paralyzing him from the waist down.

Layla crippling Berg

As Berg passed out from his injuries, Layla approached Victoria's body, speaking to her softly before taking her earpiece. In doing so, she regained communications with Alannah and her team, informing them of what had transpired and requesting the team to pick her up from the throne room. Following this event, Berg was captured by the Assassins and interrogated for information, while Alannah and Kiyoshi lost their trust in Layla due to her killing of Victoria and elected to leave the team, leading to Layla being re-assigned to a new Assassin cell.

Rebellion project

In November 2018, Abstergo Entertainment released a video game called Rebellion. The game was created using a mobile version of the Animus 4.3 connected to the Helix servers, which was dubbed the Mobile Animus 4.38. The product primarily dealt with the prelude to and immediate aftermath of the Granada War during the Spanish Reconquista, following Aguilar de Nerha and the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins as they fought the Spanish Rite of the Templar Order who operated under the guise of the Inquisition led by Tomás de Torquemada.

Through Rifts in the simulation, players could experience Events which occurred in other time periods, ranging from the Peloponnesian War to the Roman Empire's rule over Egypt. During its 2018 anniversary Event "Echoes Through the Animus", the product's servers were hacked by an unknown individual using the handle 3P3EC74R, who revealed the next planned Event was to take place in the Golden Age of Piracy.

Notre-Dame incident

On 15 April 2019, the spire of the Notre-Dame in Paris suddenly caught fire, resulting in a significant portion of the cathedral being destroyed, which shocked the entire world. Gavin Banks secretly had an Animus housed inside the cathedral, which was seemingly destroyed in the fire.

Kō Risa's treatment

In 2019, the Japanese teenager Kō Risa began attending therapy at the Abstergo clinic in Yokohama to help with her violent tendencies. However, unbeknownst to her, her doctor Kaori Kagami was uninterested in helping Risa and only sought to uncover the secrets of her ancestor Shao Jun, specifically the location of her Precursor box. As Risa relived Shao Jun's memories over the course of several days, she began to suffer from the Bleeding Effect, which made her worry for her mental health. She also became aware of the existence of the Assassins and Templars and their ongoing conflict.

Kiyoshi talking to Risa and Mari

One day, while at a cafe, Risa and her cousin Mari were approached by Kiyoshi Takakura, who introduced himself as an Assassin and invited the girls to meet him the following day to discuss in private. After they accepted, Kiyoshi explained to them the dangers of the Bleeding Effect and how Dr. Kagami was a Templar who was using Risa for her own gain, but the latter refused to believe him and stormed off. Left alone with Mari, Kiyoshi told her about the Templars' far-reaching influence through their front company, Abstergo Industries, and, understanding the danger her cousin had gotten herself into, Mari offered to help Kiyoshi save her.

Eventually, Risa came to understand that Kiyoshi's warnings were true and began to question Dr. Kagami's intentions. After discovering that the doctor indeed did not care about her well-being, Risa decided to end her treatment, only to be forced back into the Animus at gunpoint. Thanks to Shao Jun's skills, Risa managed to escape and overpowered Dr. Kagami, just as Kiyoshi and Mari broke into the facility to rescue her.

Risa and Mari being recruited into the Brotherhood

After shooting and destroying Dr. Kagami's Animus, ending the Templar's search for Shao Jun's Precursor box, Risa, Mari, and Kiyoshi left the facility and were greeted by Saeko Mochizuki, the Mentor of the Japanese Brotherhood. Saeko praised Risa for everything she had accomplished and invited her to join the Assassins. After Risa accepted, Mari also asked to join the Brotherhood and was welcomed by Saeko. The Mentor then tasked the two girls to find Shao Jun's box, whose whereabouts remained unknown.

A modern virus

In late 2019, Aliyah Khan, an English card shark and dropout of the London School of Economics, traveled to the enclave of Chinatown, where she played poker with the Assassin Gavin Banks in an attempt to earn enough money to pay off some of her student loan debt. After losing to him, Aliyah sought out Gavin after the match and demanded to know his identity. Gavin gave her an address, telling her to find it if she wished to know more.

The next day, Aliyah was contacted by the school's registrar and learned that her funds had been paid by an "alumni." After recovering from the shock and disbelief, she went to the school to meet with the school officials and registrar and learned that it was indeed true. She surmised the mysterious "alumni" could have been none other than Gavin.

Following the address given, Aliyah went to meet Gavin, leading her to a warehouse on the London Docklands. There, she met My'shell Lemair who let her inside. They were soon joined by Gavin, who explained himself to Aliyah, telling her that he knew of her former business partner Jarrod Eubanks with whom she had established a crypto company in September. However, he later betrayed her and fled with the company's funds, making her severely indebted to her investors, among whom was her friend Bianca's father. Gavin then offered Aliyah an opportunity: if she was willing to help them, they would tell her where her old associate had hidden her money.

Gavin summarized the Assassin-Templar War for Aliyah and told her of her ancestor Omar Khaled, a 17th-century British Assassin and apprentice to Isaac Newton. After some hesitation, Aliyah agreed to enter the Animus in exchange for the promised return of her crypto funds.

As the simulation began, Aliyah stated that she could not see anything, but she heard the sound of the street around her. She heard Omar save two beggars from the path of a horse carriage rushing past, but remained unable to see. Believing something was wrong with the simulation, she called out to get out of the machine. After being informed that Omar was in fact blind, she did not understand how she was supposed to see the inscription on a coin, but Gavin simply asked her to listen, in hopes that the answer would present itself in due time. As the simulation continues, Aliyah's vitals seem to be elevated by her claustrophobia, something My'shell worries about, Gavin however reassures her that Aliyah will be fine.

After some time passed, Aliyah was pulled out of the Animus and was told by My'shell that the Templars had found them. Gavin questioned how she knew this, and My'shell informed him that someone appeared to be monitoring the Animus. After taking a look outside and confirming nothing was there, Gavin asked Aliyah to continue her Animus session. When the girl questioned what the historical coin inscription was needed for, she was told that it was supposedly a fail-safe code for deactivating a new software program that Abstergo intended to use to influence the Dark Web – giving them control over the likes of weapons and trafficking deals. Knowing the risks of continuing, Aliyah elected to get back in the Animus.

Aliyah was later pulled from the simulation again, as My'shell turned out to be correct and the Templars were about a mile away from their location. The Assassins frantically started packing items, but were forced to leave the Animus behind. Gavin revealed that there was a secret escape tunnel leading to the docks that was formerly used by smugglers, hidden under a bathtub within the building. Aliyah and the two Assassins slid into the tunnel just as a large smash was heard from the building's entrance. As they walked through the long tunnel, they heard more loud bangs behind them; deducing the Templars were getting near them, they decided to sprint to the end, which led to a shipping container unit.

Looking at the monitor feed on My'shell's phone, the trio knew that the Templars were searching for a hidden exit. A commando snuck around outside the container, and the group heard him on the same comms as the other Templars. At that moment, Aliyah struggled with her claustrophobia and dropped the phone, making a loud thud. The commando shot the container lock, and as the door opened My'shell slit his throat with her Hidden Blade, horrifying an already-panicked Aliyah.

After Gavin calmed her down, the group fled the docks and managed to hide at the London Zoo. They discussed how to locate another Animus, but there were none in London. Aliyah suggested an alternative – that they could visit the London office of ExploreDNA, an ancestry service run by Abstergo that scourde people's DNA, located in Soho. Gavin sourced a van and dropped Aliyah and My'shell off at the ExploreDNA office disguised as cleaners. Inside the building they managed to locate a DNA terminal, and Aliyah plugged in a VR Headset. Upon being caught by a security guard making his rounds, Aliyah tackled him to the floor and tied him up, before returning to the VR headset and logging in to the ExploreDNA terminal.

Inside the simulation, she found herself in a limbo form of a loading screen, where she was greeted by the voice of an AI calling itself Shaun Hastings. After My'shell turned the AI assistant off, the simulation began. Later, My'shell pulled Aliyah out so they could have a break to eat. During the break, My'shell revealed that Gavin had faked a gas leak to keep the street to themselves. Afterwards, learning the security guard had not been fed, Aliyah went to give him some food and had a short chat with him, promising to release him once her mission was over.

When Omar and his companion Rose Galloway shared a kiss, Aliyah was transported from the memory to the limbo state of the Animus, where she heard the voice of the Shaun AI once more. The AI informed her that the ExploreDNA terminal was set-up only for family experiences and thus did not allow any display of sexual content. Because of that, they had to wait for the romantic situation between Omar and Rose to be completed before the simulation could be resumed. Aliyah asked the AI if he could locate Jarrod Eubanks, and he stated that he would look into it.

The session was abruptly ended by My'shell as she realized what Aliyah was trying to do, and the Assassin promised that Aliyah could trust the Brotherhood as they knew Jarrod's location, namely the Channel Islands. Aliyah once more vowed to find the coin for the Brotherhood, and re-entered the simulation.

Later, Aliyah was awoken from the simulation prematurely. My'shell told her that they had looked into Jarrod's background some more. Not only were his funds tied up in Abstergo Financial, but his personal banker was the company's CEO and member of the Inner Sanctum, Agneta Reider, one of Aliyah's biggest idols before knowing the Assassins. Her staff also included Aliyah's father – Fahad Khan - who she believed to have been dead for ten years. Aliyah refused to accept this news and returned to the simulation.

As they finally discovered the inscription code, Aliyah called out to be released from the simulation. My'shell opened a program on her laptop and typed in the code but suddenly all the lights and power in the building got cut out. An explosion then occurred as Fahad Khan and several Templar soldiers stormed the building and picked up Gavin, who had been knocked unconscious by the blast. Fahad advised the soldiers to leave the two women, assuming they were part of the company's cleaning staff as they still wearing their disguises.

After the Templars left, Aliyah and My'shell regained consciousness. My'shell confirmed that the man who had captured Gavin was indeed Aliyah's father, though she could not prove it as her laptop had been destroyed. Contemplating what to do, Aliyah suggested that they ask the Shaun AI for assistance. The AI informed them that Fahad Khan was working on Project Lighthouse with Agneta Reider, whose goal was to take over the DarkNet – though apparently only Abstergo Financial was aware of this Project, making it a secret from the other high-ranking Templars. The two women then asked the AI to locate Agneta, and discovered that she would be attending a public function later that day.

After Aliyah suggested a different strategy to get to Agneta – steal something from her, and have her come to them – she and My'shell traveled to the Four Season hotel, where there was a press conference with Agneta in attendance. Feigning admiration for the CEO and claiming to be her biggest fan, Aliyah convinced her to shake hands and, as they did so, she discreetly stole Agneta's handwatch. When she realized her watch was missing, Agneta believed she had left it in the restroom, though as she went there to retrieve it she was confronted by Aliyah.

Aliyah attempted to blackmail Agneta by threatening to share information on her clandestine operations, and offered her a deal: her watch in exchange for Gavin. When Agneta's bodyguard walked in to investigate the commotion, he was quickly knocked unconscious by My'shell. The Assassin then proceeded to repeatedly hit Agneta, who refused to cooperate with the two women at first, but eventually relented and told them where Gavin was being held in exchange for her life and her activities remaining secret. Learning that Gavin was held at the Newton Analytica headquarters, one of Agneta's side projects, and that Fahad Khan was indeed her right-hand man, My'shell respected the agreement and tasered Agneta before escaping alongside Aliyah.

The two women obtained a car and drove north to Cambridge. My'shell was convinced that Newton Analytica would not hold Gavin at their offices, so she reactivated the Shaun AI, who told them that the company had several buildings around Cambrige, but the most likely hostage location should be the newly constructed Isaac Newton Cambridge Museum. The two women arrived at the museum at nightfall, and My'shell gave Aliyah a Hidden Blade just in case she needed to defend herself.

Sneaking inside the complex, the pair found Fahad and several commandoes torturing Gavin. In an attempt to distract the commandoes, the Shaun AI deactivated the surveillance system, by activating nearby drilling equipment and detonating it. With the soldiers distracted, My'shell seized the opportunity to assassinate some of them. She and Aliyah then made their way to the private office where Gavin was being held and freed him. As they grabbed a nearby laptop to insert the fail-safe code once more, they were suddenly attacked by Fahad, who shot and destroyed the laptop.

My'shell was also hit by a bullet and fell to the floor, injured. As Fahad approached her to finish the job, Aliyah rushed to My'shell's side and confronted her father, asking if he recognized her. He replied that he did not before Aliyah recalled her mother's name, causing him to pause for a moment. Aliyah then instructed the Shaun AI to kill the lights, causing Fahad's claustrophobia to kick in. Thanks to her time in Omar's memories, Aliyah's senses had become more finely attuned to the darkness and she was able to make her way to Fahad and stab him with her Hidden Blade. After the AI restored the lights, Aliyah watched her father succumb to his injuries and vowed to never become like him.

While Aliyah tried to process her first kill – made more difficult by the fact it was her own father – Gavin inserted the fail-safe code, which successfully disabled the Abstergo software. He then comforted Aliyah, assuring her that her actions had likely saved thousands of lives. When asked about the fate of Omar, Gavin told Aliyah that her ancestor went on to get married and have a son, before dying in 1703 while freeing slaves held aboard a ship. He then claimed that Aliyah resembled Omar in more ways than she realized and invited her to join the Assassins. However, she rejected the offer, wishing to find her own path in life.

Later that day, Aliyah arrived at her flat to find Bianca playing a video game. She dropped a bag on the floor and handed Bianca a cheque, returning the full amount that her father had invested plus some extra money as "interest". Bianca thanked her and asked if she had heard that Jarrod Eubanks had been captured in the Channel Islands and brought back to London for assault charges by a "rogue group" who claimed that "Prince George sent them". Aliyah felt relieved at the news and, recognizing the password to the Chinese restaurant where she had first met Gavin, decided to visit it.

She once more returned to the poker table, but was distracted whilst playing, lost in thought. The dealer asked for her blind, at which point Gavin appeared at the table along with My'shell. Aliyah remarked that she had heard about Jarrod and Gavin replied that "it must have been quite a group that brought him to justice." Gavin then revealed that apparently there were other ties to other targets under Abstergo Financial, and the Assassins would likely need someone with street smarts to help bring them all to justice. The dealer asked again who was in. Gavin stated that he was in before My'shell looked at Aliyah and asked again if she was in. Aliyah paused for a moment, before she declared she was all in.

The COVID-19 pandemic

Cases of COVID-19 were first reported in December 2019, with the outbreak traced to Wuhan, China. The virus quickly spread across the globe, leading to widespread illness, lockdowns, and significant disruptions to daily life. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, marking the start of a historic and ongoing global health crisis.

By 1 May 2020, Layla Hassan and her brother, Rami, exchanged emails about her disappearance, with Rami asking if it was related to COVID-19. Layla denied this, explaining that she and two trusted companions were strictly following the required social distancing guidelines.

On 5 May 2023, the WHO downgraded COVID-19 from a global health emergency, although it continued to classify the virus as a pandemic. While the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic has largely subsided, the virus remains a global health concern, with ongoing cases and periodic outbreaks in various regions.

2020s

Tokyo extraction

Layla's mission in Tokyo

By 2020, Layla Hassan had been joined by Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane because of their similar experience with losing a teammate, when Desmond Miles, under the influence of an Apple of Eden, killed Lucy Stilman back in 2012. That year, the team traveled to Tokyo and Layla was reunited with Kiyoshi Takakura, who joined the team on an assignment. Layla had previously intercepted a message from the Abstergo facility in the city involving extensive analysis of Isu artifacts upon non-voluntary test subjects. While the main entrance was poorly guarded, the team elected to enter through the roof, bypassing the facility's security.

An informant within the facility had left the group a note encrypted within an Animus. Upon obtaining and decrypting the note, the Assassins discovered that the Templars were performing experiments with a Staff of Eden. After Layla, the only one with detailed Animus experience and training, entered the simulation of the Venetian Assassin Bastiano da Mezzo, they discovered that their informant was his modern-day descendant, Dr. Kazui, and they moved to extract him. Intent on hindering the Templars' plans, the group secured the facility's DNA analysis room and destroyed Dr. Kazui's DNA to prevent Abstergo from exploring his genetic memories.

The group safely found Dr. Kazui before Abstergo could use him. Along the way, they also analyzed any data and documents they could about their experiments regarding the Staff. Disguising the doctor in an Abstergo guard's uniform, the four Assassins were able to exfiltrate him before Abstergo even realized what was happening. Along the way, however, the doctor got cut, leaving behind trails of blood. Returning to the premises, any trace of Dr. Kazui had to be wiped clean. They also stopped to erase his DNA data from the Abstergo database.

Before they could leave the facility, the Assassins were cornered by Layla's nemesis Juhani Otso Berg, no longer a paraplegic, and fought him as the building was engulfed in flames. After a four-on-one fight, Berg came close to killing Kiyoshi but the latter was saved by Layla, who was finally able to subdue the Templar, and the four Assassins escaped. This was the last time Layla worked with Kiyoshi, but despite their previous falling out, the two were able to part ways on good terms.

Finding the Wolf-Kissed

Layla observing the aurora borealis covering the world

On 27 December 2019, Layla was contacted by an unknown group through a private account. They discussed the state of the world and claimed they were the "cure." By 17 January 2020, the conversation shifted to a virus in Asia, the Earth's increasing magnetic field, and rising earthquakes. They presented Layla with a "cure" in the form of a message they believed was the solution. However, they warned Layla that, if she failed to respond, follow the protocol exactly, or send another team to track them down—implying that a previous team sent by Layla was now dead—they would end all communication. Layla agreed to the mission and began following the protocols.

By May 2020, the Earth's magnetic field, which had continued to increase in potency since the 2012 coronal mass ejection, had become strong enough to create several major electromagnetic disturbances around the world, resulting in a permanent aurora borealis over the globe. Seeking a solution, Layla, Shaun, and Rebecca investigated the mysterious message the former had received, which led them to a Viking grave in North America dating to the 9th century.

Using her Animus, Layla was able to relive the memories of the Norse warrior buried there, the Raven Clan shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir. Shaun also placed a mood stabilizer on Layla's neck, to ensure she did not succumb to the Bleeding Effect or the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus' influence again. Initially, Layla encountered some difficulty while trying to synchronize with Eivor, as two different data streams overlapped in the Viking's DNA would sometimes destabilize the simulation.

Layla completing an Animus Anomaly

While inside the simulation, Layla encountered ten strange floating symbols that, when touched, revealed a complex digital structure, with a data packet at its top. Each one of the packets included a small clip of video that, when coupled together, formed a memory that showed nine members of the Isu uploading their DNA to the human gene pool using the Yggdrasil device, intending to reincarnate themselves in the future. Layla also witnessed some visions in Eivor's memories that confirmed to the cell that the Viking was the late reincarnation of Odin, as the visions represented altered versions of the Isu's own memories.

After synchronizing with Eivor's memories, ending with her discovery of the Yggdrasil Chamber in Hordaland, Layla traveled to Norway to find the Isu vault. After finding a way through the debris of the chamber, Layla connected herself to Yggdrasil, dropping the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus in the process and becoming vulnerable to the lethal radiation present within the cave.

Layla Hassan's sacrifice

Layla meeting Basim in the Grey

Layla ended up entering the broken simulation of Valhalla that Eivor had experienced and eventually managed to access the Grey. There, she found the trapped consciousness of Basim Ibn Ishaq, a 9th-century Hidden One and the human incarnation of the Isu Loki, who revealed that he had sent the message directing Layla to Eivor's remains. Working together, the two were able to slow down Yggdrasil, which had caused the strengthening of the Earth's magnetic field, ending the anomalies affecting the planet. However, this unknowingly released Basim from the simulation.

After noticing Basim's absence, Layla encountered a being of pure light calling himself "the Reader". He informed her that there was a specific node in time that demanded the world to end, with the event that she had just stopped being an attempt. Because of that, he was analyzing different calculations, trying to understand what the Assassins could do beyond that point to stop another eventual catastrophe.

Layla suggested the analysis of a potential timeline in which the Second Disaster had not been stopped in 2012; perhaps the survivors could have learned something from it and would, somehow, prevent it from happening again. A hopeful Reader then hypothesized that the solution could be in those timelines that he had left aside, inserting them in his calculations.

Layla joining the Reader in the Grey for eternity

In order to read each one of the billions of calculations in time, Layla volunteered herself to stay in the Grey to help him, to which the Reader quickly informed her that if she disconnected from the device at that moment, she would still have a minute left to live before succumbing to the radiation in the Yggdrasil chamber. In part to atone for the people she had hurt and to redeem herself, Layla decided to stay with him and continue to search for a solution, in the process becoming a being of pure light herself.

From her new residence, the Grey, Layla sent one last transmission to her teammates Shaun and Rebecca. She told them not to come looking for her, noting the peril of such a task. Letting them know she had made peace with her choice and that she was safe, she explained her task and asked her fellow Assassins to look after themselves and the world they still had.

Basim Ibn Ishaq's return

A reborn Basim with the Staff of Hermes

Shortly after receiving this message, Shaun and Rebecca were met by Basim, who had used the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus to rejuvenate his physical body and be reborn in the modern world. After enduring the couple's anger at Layla's fate, Basim remarked how his brotherhood of the Hidden Ones had renamed themselves to the Assassins, and requested a face-to-face meeting with their Mentor, William Miles, to discuss action against the Templars.

After Shaun and Rebecca reluctantly left to bring William, Basim was left alone in their cabin. He visited Eivor's grave, remarking how, thanks to the Animus, he had access to Eivor's memories, which he hoped to use to find his missing children. Following an extended period of time in the Animus, Basim began to experience the Bleeding Effect, seeing an apparition of Eivor sitting by the campfire, where she smiled and nodded at him; a gesture he returned.

While waiting for Shaun and Rebecca to return with their Mentor, Basim took to reading the books Shaun had gathered in his research of Norse culture and mythology. One such title, Viking Myths, recounted the tale of Loki and Baldr's exploits and Loki's eventual betrayal of Odin's son. While the events and setting differed over centuries of retelling, certain details remained the same, which Basim reacted to with an ambiguous smile.

Basim in the Animus, exploring Eivor's memories

Eventually, Basim finished reliving Eivor's memories in the Animus, realizing that the Viking's connection with her Isu self, Odin, was different from his own connection with Loki. At that moment, William remotely accessed his Animus simulation for their "face-to-face" meeting. As the Mentor was curious to learn how Basim had survived for so long in suspended animation, the latter agreed to help him understand while they worked together to further the Assassin cause.

Before they could begin, however, William requested that Basim provide the Assassins with a blood sample, to parse its genetic sequences through the Animus and allow the Brotherhood to relive his memories. Basim complied, musing that William was in for "quite a ride", before leaving the cabin to clear his mind. Outside, he had another Bleeding Effect-induced hallucination, this time of Eivor and Odin discussing the Great Catastrophe and that which had caused it.

After experiencing Basim's early life as a Hidden One, William was reluctant to share the genetic memories with the rest of the Brotherhood, fearing the wrong lessons might be learned from them. However, he later changed his mind and, believing Basim had many things to teach them, tasked one of his Assassins with researching the former Hidden One's memories.

Vejovis' attempted resurrection

In November 2022, the museum guard Joey came into possession of one part of Vejovis' dagger, a Piece of Eden. They were soon recruited by Colm and Alera, who explained that they were part of the Assassin Brotherhood and that they needed Joey's help to find the other half of the dagger, in order to keep it out of the Templars' hands. Joey complied and went into the Animus to explore the genetic memories of other individuals who had come into contact with the dagger: Cadmus, Khepri, Alva, Faisal, and Giulia.

Several of these individuals also came into contact with Vejovis himself, who had survived the Great Catastrophe by uploading his consciousness into the Grey and seeding his memories into the human genome so that his future incarnations would unwittingly work towards his resurrection as a corporeal being. After finding the location of the second dagger piece in an Isu vault in Venice, the Assassins traveled there, only for Colm to betray the group and reveal himself as a Templar double agent. Fortunately, he was killed by Alera, whereupon Joey combined the two dagger pieces to complete the artifact.

At that moment, a hologram of Vejovis appeared and congratulated Joey for finding his dagger before explaining that this was part of his plan to become corporeal again. Alera tried to attack the Isu but he made Joey swipe at her, revealing that Joey was one of his reincarnations and that by reliving the memories of his other Sages and completing his dagger, Vejovis' consciousness would soon bleed into Joey's. To stop this process from happening, Joey separated the blades, shattering one half of the dagger, and destroying the part of the pedestal that the hologram was coming from.

After Vejovis' hologram glitched out of existence, Joey and Alera decided to leave before the Templars got there, with Joey taking the intact half of the dagger. Joey then asked if they had managed to kill Vejovis, and Alera remarked that she was uncertain. At that moment, Joey's phone received a message from their boss at the museum informing them of their firing. Alera offered Joey a place among the Assassins and the latter accepted, becoming an official member of the Brotherhood.

The Nexus Eye

In 2023, an elite hacker received a mission from Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane to infiltrate Abstergo's Nexus Eye Project, led by Abstergo's chief of cybersecurity, Dominika Wilk. The initiative aimed to extract code fragments from the Antikythera mechanism, merging them with the Animus to create a computer with the power to predict and influence human behavior. Once infiltrated, Dominika tasked the hacker to relive the genetic memories of a number of Assassin-affiliated figures at key points in history: Kassandra, Ezio Auditore, and Ratonhnhaké:ton.

With Dominika unaware of the mole in her team, the hacker strategically placed logic bombs disguised as beacons inside the memories to thwart Abstergo's fragment retrieval. Upon completing Ezio's memories, Dominika became aware of the mole in her organization and exposed them as a spy, but they were saved by Shaun and Rebecca. The hacker then delved into the last memories of Kassandra and Ratonhnhaké:ton while evading Dominika and her forces, culminating in a pursuit where the hacker was forced to fight the Templars in a corrupted memory to escape after placing the last logic bomb and dismantling the Nexus Eye. Despite this victory, Dominika was able to track down the hacker and sent an Abstergo team to capture them.

Noa Kim's abduction

Noa kidnapped by Abstergo agents

That same year, Noa Kim, a Korean-American college student, was abducted by Abstergo agents after being lured with a vacation prize trip to Macau, China. Taken to the Exitus research vessel, Noa was forced to relive the memories of his ancestor Edward Kenway under the supervision of Doctor Shimazu Sei, who had been tasked to search for a Piece of Eden in order to salvage relations between the Templars and her family, the Shimazu clan.

At first, Noa refused to do as he was told, so Sei struck a deal with him, promising him his freedom in exchange for his cooperation. The two then began to bond over the course of their Animus sessions, with Sei telling Noa about her views of the Assassins, whom she regarded as self-righteous criminals. However, Noa decided to learn the truth for himself and became interested to uncover his family's roots through Edward's memories.

After running into a roadblock and being unable to continue tracking Edward's memories, Noa told Sei to take him to Macau, claiming to know where the Assassin had gone next. Sei reluctantly conceded and the pair traveled to the A-Ma Cultural Village, where Noa retrieved an old ledger containing information about Edward's later activities. However, Sei and her bodyguards came under attack by several thugs and Noa was approached by two agents who claimed they were there to rescue him. Refusing to leave with them, Noa went to protect Sei and returned with her to the Exitus.

Following several more Animus sessions, Noa and Sei ran into another roadblock and the Exitus had to relocate to Cebu in the Philippines to physically trace Edward's footsteps. While exploring the city in search of leads, the Abstergo convoy containing Noa, Sei and the latter's bodyguard Yuki came under attack by Doom Eagle, a criminal organization led by the Assassin Nathan Zhang, who worked with the Zhawang Corporation to try and rescue Noa.

Noa facing off against Nathan Zhang

Escaping the ambush, Noa, Sei and Yuki headed to a nearby shopping mall, though they were again attacked by Doom Eagle and Yuki was injured in the subsequent shootout. Noa and Sei fled into the mall, where the former protected Sei from the Doom Eagle thugs pursuing them. However, they were eventually cornered by Nathan, who challenged Noa to a fight after the young man refused to come with him.

During their brawl, Nathan informed Noa that his father, who had abandoned him during his childhood, was an Assassin and had done so to protect him from the Templars' purge. However, Noa refused to believe him and continued to fight until he was eventually subdued by Nathan. As Noa still refused to give up and with Sigma Team closing in, Nathan decided to respect Noa's wishes to follow his own path and left after giving him an old sea log belonging to Edward's companion Mustafa.

Using the information from the sea log, Noa and Sei were able to continue tracking Edward's memories once they returned to the Exitus. Before they did so, however, Noa decided to ask Sei if what Nathan had said about his father was true, and the doctor responded that it was impossible to determine if Noa's father had been among the Great Purge's casualties or even a member of the Brotherhood. This answer satisfied Noa, who claimed that he did not care what had happened to his father, as he had still abandoned him regardless of the reason.

Eventually, Edward's memories revealed the whereabouts of the crescent amulet hidden in the Strait of Malacca, though because of his long Animus sessions, Noa began to succumb to the Bleeding Effect. Sei contacted her superiors to update them on the situation, only to be taken aback when they ordered Noa's termination, believing the test subject had outlived his usefulness. Sei disagreed, considering Noa still had his uses, and was contacted by a hacking syndicate on Nathan Zhang's behalf.

Noa finding the crescent amulet in the Ourang Medan's wreck

Nathan proposed a mutually beneficial deal to ensure Noa's safety, which Sei reluctantly accepted, before the doctor was informed that Noa had gone on a Bleeding Effect-induced rampage aboard the Exitus. Sei calmed Noa down and helped him return to his senses, and later convinced her superiors to keep the test subject alive so that he could retrieve the crescent amulet from the shipwreck of the SS Ourang Medan.

Accompanied by Yuki, Noa used a diving bell to descend to the shipwreck's location, but while investigating, he was separated by Yuki and stumbled onto a moray eel nest. After escaping from the eels, Noa found the amulet, but its powers, combined with the Bleeding Effect, caused him to experience hallucinations of Edward's memories, including an apparition of Bartholomew Roberts. Noa ultimately overcame the amulet's powers and retained control of his mind, impressing Roberts, who cautioned him that he would not be able to resist the Piece of Eden's effects forever before vanishing.

Following this, Noa and Yuki returned to their ship, where they and Sei were confronted by Sigma Team, who had been ordered by Abstergo's executive committee to terminate Noa. Sei convinced the agents to delay Noa's execution by pointing out that, with him gone, any hope of studying the amulet was also lost. After Sigma Team left, Sei informed Noa of her intentions to betray Abstergo and help him escape, just as the ship came under attack by Nathan Zhang and his men.

Taking advantage of this distraction, Noa, Sei and Yuki escaped with the amulet, which had been placed in a briefcase, and were brought by Nathan to a Zhawang Corporation safehouse in Singapore. As Noa began to show signs of succumbing to the amulet's corruption, he was taken to receive medical attention while Sei decided to track down another Piece of Eden that could cure him. To do so, she entered a prototype Animus HR-8 left to her by her old friend, Layla Hassan, in order to relive the memories of her ancestor Shimazu Saito.

Search for the Southeast Asian Pieces of Eden

Nathan Zhang and Yuki watching over Sei in the Animus

After her first session in the Animus, Sei already began to suffer from the Bleeding Effect and struggled to differentiate between her own and Saito's memories. While Nathan mocked the doctor for finally experiencing what she had put her past test subjects through, Noa, who had partially recovered, volunteered to take Sei's place in the Animus. Sei protested, but Nathan explained that Noa was risking his life for Sei's because he trusted her. In the end, the doctor reluctantly allowed Noa to enter the Animus and he continued to synchronize with Edward's memories.

Edward's memories eventually revealed the whereabouts of a Piece of Eden in the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar, just as Abstergo tracked down Sei, Noa, Nathan, and Yuki and dispatched Sigma Team to capture them. The group managed to defeat several Sigma Team members and avoid the rest of the squad, who were forced to call off the pursuit. They then boarded a cargo ship and sailed to Myanmar, with Sei returning to the Animus during the voyage.

After arriving in Yangon, Sei, Noa, Nathan, and Yuki easily passed through a military checkpoint despite the ongoing civil war in Myanmar and entered the city. While staying at a hotel, Sei went to speak with Noa, who believed himself to be Edward due to the Bleeding Effect. Sei convinced "Edward" to help recover the Piece of Eden from the Shwedagon Pagoda and, that night, the two infiltrated the temple while Nathan and his men fought the soldiers guarding the pagoda.