Chapter Text
December 23rd, 2012
--They descended into the dark, flashlight beams playing across the dark underground as the troop pushed onwards, relying on their small illumination to prevent them from tumbling down a shadowed crevice. Once the area opened up into a larger space, complete with blue-tinged structures that aided in seeing where one was going, the leader ordered a thorough search as the search lights were set up. "We have little enough time to waste before those rebels return. Salvage everything that can be saved so that we can get this mission over with," His voice was at once commanding and yet oddly bored, yet still managed to ring out through the expansive silence that pervaded the cavern. He frowned in distaste at the sight of the devices scattered throughout, wrinkled gray coat flapping as he watched his subordinates get to work at their own pace, uncaring of how his light clothes struck a stark contrast to the sleek, blue-black crystal that composed most of the precursor temple. On the other hand, his accomplices-dressed in black kevlar, armed with stun guns and assault rifles-fit in perfectly well.
After their few minutes of investigation revealed that the Assassins had left in too much of a hurry to retrieve their equipment, attempts were made to open up the hard drives for any useful information. However, in some unfortunate bad luck, it turned out that the computer systems and portable Animus used by the rebels was rendered useless already, knocked out by the global field they had somehow triggered. The man in the gray coat growled quietly, frustrated that his superiors continued to be stingy with the details of that event; trust Abstergo to expect so much and end up making his job even tougher than it had to be.
So far the most he'd figured out about the field personally was that it unleashed a simultaneous EMP wave that destroyed any electromagnetic equipment located within twenty miles of the origin location, as the rebels' technology could clearly attest to. The confusion following the event-now referred to as an Act of God by much of the populace, at least within the states-were a hectic affair, resulting in his division being called in to cordon off the area and detain whoever was responsible. It was all a very hush-hush affair in the sense that Abstergo felt the need to make unspoken threats about revealing this information to anyone, not that the man would, he needed this job after all. But he did wonder if anyone at the origin site would even have survived it and the upper echelon insisted it didn't matter. That was an annoying answer; since when could you interrogate a corpse?
Regardless, it was just a damn job and he did his best not to stick his nose where it didn't belong when the paychecks were steady, even if it was a giant pain. "Doctor Reis, there's something that you need to see," The man adjusted his coat irritably as one of his soldiers rushed over and interrupted his thoughts, following the disturbed subordinate over the long bridge extending into the cavern's depths. In truth he wasn't expecting to find anything extraordinary to somehow explain this madness and just an inkling of sense. Maybe the jumpiness of his soldiers ("brave, loyal and committed like a drunken bum," he snorted), gave them another shadow to bother him about. They were almost useless in the aftermath of the flare and that freakish EMP, so Doctor Reis was doubly surprised to see that glowing orb and a mass of white drawing startling contrast in the near darkness.
Drawing his coat tighter once again-the damn thing was torn, old and needed replacing-the man winced at the aching of his joints as he knelt down next to the prone body, recognizing him immediately. It would have been hard not to; Abstergo undoubtedly pulled a great deal of strings to get his face on wanted posters and search warrants for countries around the globe. The United States, Brazil, Italy, and Egypt were just a few examples, Doctor Reis didn't have a high enough clearance to know the details of why besides his apparent status as an Assassin and Animus subject. All he knew about that machine was that it was intended to allow viewing of past events somehow, frustrating in it's secrecy.
This mission promised to change that limited clearance and he was all too eager to upgrade from the dolts he'd been assigned to-all the right guns for the military, yet none of the delicacy and know how required for matters like these-and move up, tempted by the mere thought of 'knowledge,' rather than authority and a hefty pay raise. Though with all the unreasonable demands lately, the doctor did believe that he surely deserved a raise; not all alleged Templars sat in the lap of luxury after all. Goodness, being a Templar could be a rather thankless job, and Assassins worked for free.
The world was fucked up.
"Miles, huh..." Doctor Reis sighed quietly, having honestly not wished to become so deeply involved in a mission that involved this subject in particular. People who pissed off blood-born Assassin-Purebloods, he dubbed them-tended to end up with a blade to the kidneys. Or, in Doctor Vidic's case, a bullet in the brain. The old man did manage to tread on a lot of toes ("Ah, Warren, how I miss your emails that look like they've been written by an illiterate fifteen year old"), not the least of which being Miles himself, both of them in fact.
Reis shook his head to clear it of those unnecessary thoughts and looked over the body, not able to find any sign of injury other than a thoroughly blackened right arm that looked like it had been in some kind of flash fire. The only object that he could see that might have caused such damage was the pulsating sphere across from him, and the splayed position as though Miles had been thrown violently away from it. He leveled a glare on the increasingly uncomfortable soldier who'd led him to this strange find, "I hope you weren't stupid enough to touch that."
"A small shock sir, nothing more," The younger man admitted in embarrassment, rubbing at his presumably stinging fingers and confusing the doctor even more. Either what had happened to Miles was a one time only occurrence or something else was responsible for it.
"Never mind then, I'll figure it out later. Have the rest of those sluggards finish up their tasks. We'll complete the lock down and I'll finish my report for the directors," As soon as the soldier hurried off, Doctor Reis paused curiously as he tried to piece together the convoluted puzzle that had been presented to him. The precursor site, the Assassin cell that was operating here, the EMP wave and Desmond Miles... Experimentally, the doctor extended two fingers and felt for a pulse...and immediately jerked his hand backwards as though he had been burned as well. No pulse but...he was still warm. That simply shouldn't be possible.
'How in the hell? It's been two days and still... Did this place preserve him somehow?'
There was a rumble of footsteps signalling the arrival of his soldiers and Doctor Reis straightened up quickly so that his subordinates wouldn't get the chance to see how shaken he was by the unexpected find. "Good, you're all here. It's time to head out. Load up everything of value, including this one, we'll be taking him with us as well. And take their Animus core as well; it's likely fried to trash, but the director might still be able to use it for something."
Soon after he gave the order, everyone went directly to work, moving with a decent speed that Reis normally wouldn't expect from them except on good days. With their transport loaded and ready to leave, only waiting for the outside agent to finish locking down the sector in case any Assassins tried to return to their former base, the doctor sat alone in the black vehicle with their precious cargo and Mile's black bag in his hands. Reis had immediately started rifling through it once he'd been left by himself, setting aside potentially valuable articles and hoping for another clue to his personal mystery.
Suddenly, he became very still, face creasing in fascination as the man lifted something from the bag he was not expecting to find. It was a metallic sphere made of some kind of silvery substance, pulsing with a golden-yellow light and familiar symbols. Entranced, Doctor Reis simply held it for a few moments in complete silence, until an unexpected knock caused him to hurriedly stuff the strange artifact into the folds of his coat. "Doctor Reis, everything is ready to go when you give the word."
It took him a moment or two to answer this time, his voice slightly stressed and still fixated on the object he'd hidden away. "Good to know... Take us straight to the Manhattan sector, I need to talk to the nearest project lead," Reis spared a quick glance towards the sealed tank where Abstergo's precious escaped test subject was held, somehow excluded from the typical effects of degradation. His voice lowered to a near whisper as the transport's engine rumbled into wakefulness, leaving the old precursor temple behind them with every passing moment, "Any idea what this little toy is, Desmond?"
Naturally there wasn't an answer, but Reis pulled the sphere out from his pocket to stare at it again, turning the artifact over and over in his hands as it began to emit a pale glow. That was the moment that he decided that it wasn't strictly necessary for his superiors to know about this unusual curiosity. 'It's just an early pay raise, that's all. The director can keep Miles if he really wants to, but this find is mine.' Then a smug smirk split the normally impassive face of Doctor Jeremiah Reis, bathed in the golden light of the stolen treasure.
--A van drove silently to the north, disappearing into the tall spires of the city to nurse their wounds, waiting for the next opportunity. But their presence did not go completely unnoticed as a series of unexplained yet strangely elegant murders where carried out in the depths of Manhattan, targeting not ordinary people or street thugs, but a selected assortment of businessmen and politicians. No one knew who was responsible for the killings, but questions were being asked and it wouldn't long before the investigations became more desparate.
In particular, the man in the black jacket found his curiosity peaking. For once, something other than his actions had found its way into peoples' fearful speech, and that was something to investigate.