Rebecca Crane

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

―Rebecca bragging of her creative advantage over Abstergo.

Rebecca Crane
Biographical information
Born	3 February 1984
Species	Human
Database entries	Rebecca Crane
Political information
Affiliations	Assassins

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

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

Biography

Early life

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

―Rebecca Crane.

A descendant of a Prussian mercenary, Rebecca is among the Assassins who were not born into the Assassin Order, but rather recruited instead, and she regarded her ancestors as not nearly as interesting as that of her friend Desmond. Prior to joining the Order, Rebecca engaged in sports, including extreme snowboarding and skydiving. However, when she suffered a broken leg, she began pursuing an interest in computers during her recovery, and found coding to be as entertaining as her previous hobbies. Rebecca also had a relationship with an electronics engineer before she was contacted by the Assassins.

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

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

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

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

Hiding out

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

―Rebecca to Desmond after leaving the Hideout.

Rebecca introduces Desmond to her Animus

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

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

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

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

Stay in Monteriggioni

Desmond: "You seem focused."

Rebecca: "I've been busy patching new systems into Baby here. She's only gonna get better."

—Desmond and Rebecca in the Sanctuary.

Rebecca plugging Desmond into the Animus in the Sanctuary

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

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

Journey to the Colosseum

Shaun: "Santa Maria Aracoeli. See those columns along the aisles? They're lifted from Roman ruins. Now, supposedly, this church was built on top of the ancient Temple of Juno."

Rebecca: "I like the ceiling."

Shaun: "You like the ceiling. Oh well, you are a fascinating traveling companion."

—The Assassins arriving at Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

Rebecca, Shaun and Lucy frozen in time

When Desmond found out the location of the Apple and the team arrived at the Colosseum, Lucy took Rebecca and Shaun on an alternative route through Capitoline Hill at Shaun's suggestion; this was due to Shaun and Rebecca not possessing the necessary freerunning abilities to reach the Apple's location. When Juno, a member of the First Civilization, appeared and spoke to Desmond in the Colosseum Vault, Rebecca, along with Shaun and Lucy, could not perceive her.

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

Monitoring Desmond

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

―Rebecca, regarding Lucy's death.

Rebecca, William and Shaun monitoring Desmond

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

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

Grand Temple

"You've sacrificed a lot for me. You and Shaun both. You upgraded the Animus, helped train me, pulled me out of that coma... You put all that work into the database. Helped me solve Clay's puzzles... I know I haven't been the easiest person to work with... And I'm sorry for that. And I just want you to know that even if I'm shitty at showing it-I appreciate everything you've done."

―Desmond thanking Rebecca.

After Desmond encountered Daniel Cross in Manhattan, Rebecca mentioned that she had heard of him previously. Though she hadn't known Cross personally, she knew Hannah Mueller, an Assassin that tried to turn him away from the Templars and was murdered by him. She explained that he had been important to the Assassins, and became upset when recalling how he used to be.

Rebecca and Shaun in the Grand Temple

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

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

Undercover at Abstergo

"We've talked it over and we're going to find Desmond's body, or at the very least, find out what Abstergo plans to do to genetic info. We owe this to William. But where to start?"

―Shaun texting Gavin.

Rebecca and Shaun at Abstergo Entertainment

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

On 2 December, Rebecca e-mailed Gavin Banks, informing him about John's death, and their intention to leave Montreal in order to analyze the information they gathered and plan their next move.

Discovering the Initiates

"It's freakin' beautiful! It reminds me of what we used to have before the Great Purge. I never thought I'd see something like this again."

―Rebecca describing the Initiates' network.

Rebecca discovering the messages

By May 2014, Rebecca and Shaun had reunited with William in his bunker in Norway. When the Altaïr II docked there, Rebecca came aboard to perform maintenance on the Hephaestus Email Network, when she discovered a series of coded spy reports sent to the "Initiates' Database".

Rebecca and Shaun subsequently tried to determine where the reports were being sent, while William interrogated Gavin's crew to figure out who was the spy.

Eventually, what Rebecca found on the Initiates convinced William and Gavin that they were a reasonable group, convincing them to spare Eric Cooper and Stephanie Chiu after they were exposed as the spies.

Rebecca was impressed when Cooper and Chiu showed her the Initiates' secret satellite network, dubbing it an "Outernet". Subsequently, William tasked her and Shaun with recruiting the Initiates. By November 2014, she and Shaun were already working with the Initiates.

Searching for the Shroud

Rebbeca and Shaun confronting Ardant

In 2015, together with Shaun, they were tasked by Bishop to infiltrate Isabelle Ardant's office in London to gain access to the search of Abstergo on Pieces of Eden. However, they disregarded Bishop's orders by waiting for Ardant to arrive only to be ambushed by Sigma Team agents Violet da Costa and Juhani Otso Berg. The duo narrowly escaped Otso Berg and da Costa after Bishop detonated their pre-planted explosives.

The pair made it to the safety of an abandoned warehouse, where Bishop informed them that the initiate had identified the artifact as the Shroud of Eden. As Shaun said that Sigma Team is too much for them to handle, Bishop promised to send backup and asked the two to keep a low profile while the initiate continued to synch the data to the Shroud's location. Rebecca later went to sleep while Shaun kept watch, at which Galina Voronina joins their company.

Later on, the initiate's data synch confirmed that the Shroud was beneath Buckingham Palace, but the Templars got there first. The Assassins engaged Sigma Team and during the fighting, Shaun shocked Ardant with his Shock Blade, but Rebecca took a bullet for him from Violet. As the rest of Sigma Team showed up and Violet fled with the Shroud, Galina eliminated all the Templars while Shaun remained by Rebecca's side waiting for Galina to clear the exit. Some time after she was shot, Eric Cooper managed to extract her and Shaun from London.

Helping Griffin

In 2016, Rebecca had since recovered from her injury and returned to active duty as a field agent. Setting up in an abandoned house, Rebecca built a new Animus from a processor and blueprints that fellow Assassin Shaun Hastings had retrieved from the Abstergo Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Madrid, although she was forced to disable the Parietal Suppressor that had come with it. 

She was later joined by Griffin, Owen Meyers and Javier Mondragón, who had narrowly escaped a Templar raid on their own Assassin safehouse. Rebecca assisted Owen in reliving the memories of his Chinese ancestor, Zhang Zhi, in a desperate bid to search for the second prong belonging to the Trident of Eden, before being forced to leave on a separate mission, much to Griffin's disappointment.

Personality and characteristics

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

―Rebecca speaking about an Assassin's duties.

Rebecca at her computer in the hideout

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

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

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

Rebecca is a vegetarian, which was first expressed in 2012, when she called Desmond a 'carnivore' after seeing him eat a burger. In the database entry he made on her in 2015, Shaun complained that it made finding food difficult whenever they were on an assignment.

Trivia

• The name Rebecca is derived from the Hebrew name Rivqah, רִבְקָה, meaning ""snare", "noose", "tied up", "secured", and sometimes "beautifully ensnaring". The surname Crane is derived from the bird, crane, originally deriving from the Old English and German words Cron, Krahn and Kranich all meaning "crown".
• When in the Animus 2.0, Rebecca added information to the database using the name REBECCAC84.
• Rebecca's e-mail password is Snowmass84, likely to reflect her previous hobby.
• In one of her e-mails, Rebecca talked about sometimes missing her family and her dog.
• Rebecca was originally intended to have shorter hair in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, though this was reverted for the actual game.
• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, it was suggested that Rebecca was a reckless driver, as when she offered to drive the van, Shaun refused, saying, "Ah, nice try. I've seen your car."
• In Assassin's Creed III, Shaun made a similar remark. When Desmond attempted to parachute from one skyscraper to another, Shaun doubted he'd make it, saying "I'm pretty sure she was high when she ran the numbers.", referring to her occasional recreational use of drugs.
• In The Lost Archive DLC trailer, Rebecca could be heard saying "Vidic, you kept him in Animus too long." However, she did not appear in the DLC.
• In Assassin's Creed: Unity, Bishop mentioned that she has worked with Rebecca in the past.

Gallery

Early concept art of Rebecca

Concept art of Rebecca's appearance in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

Rebecca as she appears in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice

Rebecca at the Animus 2.0

Rebecca reuniting with Lucy

Rebecca with the Abstergo memory core

Rebecca meeting Desmond

Rebecca setting the Animus up for Desmond

Rebecca and the others escaping the hideout

Rebecca in the Sanctuary

Rebecca with Shaun and Desmond in the Colosseum Vault

Rebecca and Shaun in Ardant's office

Rebecca and Shaun apprehended by Violet and Otso Berg

Rebecca examining Shaun for wounds

A wounded Rebecca being held by Shaun

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Assassin's Creed III
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
• Assassin's Creed: The Official Collection
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice – Tokyo XXI