Familiar Places (open to assassins)

It had been a month. He had only just begun to experience some of the intricacies between the assassins and the Templars. After his run-in with some assassins, Harmon found that he had been working under the tyrannical templar order under the guise of Abstergo Industries. Beyond that, he learned that his grandfather had been a member of the assassins. He and his family had undergone assassin protection.

And after a month of getting settled in an assassin safehouse in Boston, the notice came in. After scanning the data that had been accumulated during that brief time in the animus, they found something. Something worth bringing Harmon in as a full time member of the assassins'. So here he was, on a train pulling into the central train station in Washington DC, a couple assassin escorts by his side. This was where his grandfather had operated over 50 years earlier. As soon as he got off, a stout man in a sharp business suit approached them. The two escorts nodded.

"Brother Ward." one of them said.

"Please. Zack. And you must be Harmon Grennan." He said extending a hand, which Harmon took. As they walked, Ward started explaining. "We do apologize for the secrecy, but you know how things go in our line of work." He said. By this point, they hard rounded a corner to a iron security gate, which Ward surreptitiously unlocked with a small key.  "Right this way." He said leading them all to a small alcove. In the back of it was the symbol of the assassins order, protruding out about half an inch. Harmon knew what this was.

"The assassins' underground tunnels."

"Very good. How did you know about them?" Ward asked pressing the symbol in, which opened a small door that the four silently slipped into.

"My grandfather's memories brought me to DC at the end of the 1950's. He used these tunnels to get around."

"Ah, that's right. Walter Grennan. A very decorated member of the DC brotherhood." Ward commented on as they walked in the dimly lit tunnel. "We're glad to have you here."

"Thanks." Harmon responded, as they rounded another set of corridors. Something about them was... familiar. He had seen this exact set of corridors when he was living as Walter. That meant that if he took the next left, he would see...

"Welcome to the Monument" Ward said. In the years since Walter had graced those halls, the overall infrastructure remained the same. Marble floor and collumns evoking the architecture of DC's famous monuments. But in addition, the whole place was kitted out with all kinds of tech. A lot of it Harmon recognized, but some of it he didn't. "This is the central hub for the DC brotherhood. But we get members from all over the world filtering through here."

"Wow..." Harmon said.

"Stay here. I need to go let Randal know you're here."

Harmon was about to ask who Randal was, but Ward had already begun walking away. His attempt to ask the two assassins that had accompanied him was also fruitless, as they had vanished into the various men and women milling about. Great. So now he was in an unfamiliar place full of trained killers. This was going to end well...

Not five minutes after Harmon arrived Ava stepped into the DC central hub. She had been asked here to help with a mission. She had come here all the way from Ireland leaving her husband and twins back in Ireland. Ava was a master assassin in with bright red hair and pale blue eyes. She wore a black hoodie with a hidden blade on each wrist along with four guns on her belt. She was what was know as a tech assassin using mostly her inventions to get jobs done. She also came up with tech for the brotherhood.

She took a look around the room until she noticed the man who looked a bit out of place. Deciding to introduce herself she moved over to him and smiled. "Well hello there laddie." She said with a kind smile. "Ya look to be a bit of a newbie with this crowd." She said holding her hand out. "Tha names Ava, lad. Nice to meet ya." Ava was known for how kind she was to others and she always liked to help anyone who needed it.

Harmon flinched a bit. There may have been all kind of people around, but pretty much every one of them could whip out a hidden blade and end his life if they wanted. So he was naturally a bit jumpy. Then he was approached by a woman who was clearly older than him, and who had hair possibly redder than his. That was something he had thought impossible by conventional science.

"Uh. Grennan. Harmon Grennan." He sputtered. "I'm, uh, just waiting for my contact to come back." He said. He wasn't sure how much he was allowed to say to this woman.

Ah, I see. They do like to make ya wait sometimes." She said with a kind smile. "Don't be so jumpy laddie. No one here is going ta hurt ya. This may be the safest place for you to be really." She said with a smile as a large blue brindle male pit came to sit beside her. "Ah, there you are ben." She said reaching down to pet the dog who eagerly licked her hand.

"So tell me laddie are ya here to make your vows to the brotherhood?" She asked smiling. "Or will they be assigning ya a mentor ta teach ya?" Ava was quite possibly one of the friendliest assassins around, especially to newcomers.

"Uh. Both. Sort of." Harmon said. "I have 'memories' that the brotherhood wants. Or this also could be about that tech I accidentally took from Abstergo a couple months ago that put me at the top of their most wanted list." He explained, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Ah. Ava. Glad to see you've arrived. We've got that package for our brothers' overseas for you." Ward said walking back into the room. Clearly he had been expecting Ava. He then turned to Harmon. "But if you have some time, we have some very interesting business regarding this young man here." He motioned for Harmon to follow.

Tech?" She said with a bit more interest but before she could ask about it Ward spoke. "Ah thank ya very much. I'll be sure it gets to where it needs to go safely." She said as he spoke again. "Ya know I always have time for the brotherhood and my flight isn't for another day or so. I would be happy to hear what business you're talkin about." She said smiling. "Shall we go somewhere a bit less crowded to talk?"

Ward simply nodded and brought them back into another room. At a fine oak desk sat a man whose slim figure was quite notable against that of the rather stout Zack Ward. "Randal, this is the Grennan boy we were expecting. We also just recieved that Irish assassin we've been expecting this week." Ward explained.

"Ah. Very good." The man said.

"So is this about my grandfather's memories?"

"Yes. We found something interesting when we were looking through his memories." Randal said turning around. A picture appeared on the screen.



It was a mask. The same mask Harmon had seen when he first entered the animus. Ava would easily recognize the patterns and overall feel of the mask quite well.

"Do you recognize this mask?"

"Yes. I saw it as I was syncing up with my Grandfather's memories when I was in Boston."

"We believe at some point, your grandfather came into contact with this Mask. The Mask of Eden."

Ava tilted her head and stepped closer. "I've only ever seen pictures of the pieces of Eden." Ava said with her dog sitting quietly beside her. "I would very much like to help in any way I can." She said smiling. Ava had always been interested but the pieces and had studied all about the, It would be incredible for her to see one up close.

"Piece of Eden?" Harmon asked.


"Yes. Powerful pieces of technology left behind by a mysterious precursor race. Remember that big solar flare a few years back? That would have cooked the planet if one of our own hadn't found a precursor site and activated it."



"You're kidding. Now I know I'm in some crazy conspiracy theory. It's like I'm on one of those crazy forums..." 



"But you've seen it yourself. This thing exists." This shut Harmon up. He couldn't argue that after what he had seen... it was certainly possible. "Bottom line. Somewhere in your memories is this piece of eden. And we need to find it. Despite what you saw out there, we're stretched very thin. Your grandfather was one of the best the DC brotherhood has ever had, and according to what remains of our records of the period..."


"But it was only 50 years ago."


"We stored a lot of our records in a secret chamber in the library of congress. Unfortunately, the Templar's found it back in 70' and torched most of it before we drove them off."


It was at this point that Ava offered her assistance.


"That would be optimal. We're currently fighting a full scale cold war with the Templar's here in DC. We don't anyone to spare to walk Harmon here through the bleeding process."


"Bleeding?" Harmon said, a twinge of fear in his voice.

Oh, don't worry. It's not as bad as it sounds laddie." Ava said with a smile. "The Bleeding Effect is a disorder wherein the genetic memories of one's ancestors begin to blend with the sufferer's own, real-time memories often leading to difficulties in distinguishing between the two," Ava explained smiling. "I've dealt with an Animus and have never had any problems myself." She said smiling as she looked back at the man in the chair.

"And you want me to undergo this bleeding effect?" Harmon asked. "Sounds uncomfortable."


"Sort of. We want you to undergo a skill bleed. In which your ancestors skills as an assassin will be transferred to you. We've been working on improving the process over the years."

Then Ava mentioned she had gone through an Animus before.


"Really? You've been through an Animus?" Harmon asked.

Oh aye." She said smiling. "To my own ancestor Fiona. She was there during the revolutionary war here in America." Ava explained. "You have nothing to worry about at all laddie, I won't let anythin happen to ya." Ava smiled like she always did. There was hardly ever a time when she wasn't smiling. "So!" She said turning back to the man in charge. "When shall we start?"

Ava smiled giving a nod. "May I ask you where the machine is?" She asked smiling. "I would like to look it over. Perhaps I can run him through a short memory to get him use to the feel of the machine?" Ava smiled kindly. She simply wanted to find a small memory just to let him adjust to what it would feel like. She wouldn't start with anything big or risk his health in any way.

"Very well. Just follow me and we'll get you settled in Harmon." Ward said leading the two out of the meeting room, across the entryway, and into a separate chamber. If Harmon recalled correctly, this chamber was right next to the library the assassins' had. In this chamber was a much more well put together animus. Either the animus those two in Boston had was lower end, or the Assassin's really were pulling out all the stops. Just how important were these pieces of Eden that they'd entrust something like this to a complete stranger? Or where they just that undermanned?


From under the chair, a young woman with long blonde hair poked out. "Oh. Hey, you must be Harmon. I'm Lexi. Just putting the finishing touches on your animus."

Ava smiled as she looked at the machine. It impressed her greatly. "I must compliment ya on yer work lass." She said crossing her arms over her chest. "It's quite impressive." Ava began examining the control panel just to look things over and making sure everything was in working order. She wanted this to be as safe as possible.

"Yeah. I'd love to give it a closer inspection. But I know that you wanted me to run a couple memories. And I've been itching to get back into the mind of my ancestor." He said sitting on the side of the animus chair. That was okay right? He wasn't going to break a multimillion dollar piece of equipment by sitting on the one part you're supposed to sit on right?

Ava smiled at the control panel pressing a few buttons before looking up. "Why don't ya lay down lad. I'm almost ready to get started." She said as she walked over. "I won't keep ya in for very long. This is just a way to get you accustom to the machine. Now, remember ya need to just go with what is happening. Ya can't change any events of the past. Don't fight it ok?" She said with a soft smile.

"Yeah. I remember. I did pretty well the first time I went through with this." Harmon said laying down. He closed his eyes and let the years wash over him. He found himself running through a nexus of data. The patter of his feet seemed to echo slightly. As he looked to his right, he saw a vauge figure. His grandfather, running right alongside him. And with one movement, the two merged.

Past and present.

Washington DC 2018 and...

Washington DC 1960

Walter stood outside the senate building. He had been sent there to scope out a potential Templar within the senate. One who stood to gain a significant amount of political power in the near future. Texas senator Lyndon B. Johnson. In two weeks, the democratic national convention would decided whether or not Johnson would receive the democrat nomination for the President of the United States. This was a big deal. It would be an astronomical blow to the assassins.

Of course, to approach a templar directly would be... unwise to say the least. So instead, the brotherhood had set him up with a contact at the senate. The man who stood oppose Johnson's bid for the nomination. The man who approached Walter from an open doorway, flanked by two security guards. That senator from Massachusetts...

"Ah. Senetor Kennedy."

"You must be Mr. Grennan. I've heard good things."

Ava recorded the events and monitored the controls as she let him continue. Taking notes while at the same time making sure he was still safe inside the machine. She wasn't really sure what to expect out of this but hopefully they would find the piece of Eden. She highly doubted it though it would be too soon to find that. Once she got him back to Ireland then they could continue searching.

"So. How goes the race?" Walter asked, walking along the slickly dressed senator.

"Oh, it goes as well as it can. With the convention in a couple of weeks, things are tense around here."

"And Johnson. What do you think of him."

"A good man. If he gets the ticket, you won't see me complaining."

Walter couldn't be sure how to take this. It could mean that Johnson was on the level... or it could mean that he was just doing a good job at fooling everyone. Something both Templar's and Politicians seemed good at. Combine the two and you get a messy situation indeed. Or maybe Kennedy was just putting on a friendly show and couldn't stand Johnson. Who could be sure.

Ava wrote down everything she thought was worth noting. Ava always found the stories in the past incredibly interesting. She knew she wanted to make this trip into the animus a quick one but she didn't want to pull him out too soon. It was about an hour before a young women came into the animus room. "Excuse me, ma'am?" She said walking over to Ava.

Aye lass? Speak." "Well, I was sent to tell you your flight has been scheduled. You're leaving at six in the morning. There are your tickets and a hotel room has been rented for the both of you." She said handing her the tickets and a key. Ava thanked him before going back to her work. She checked the time and decided that it would be best to continue once they landed in Ireland. "Alright, I'm bringin him out." She said as she began working the control panel once again.

As Walter walked out the door, the world broke up into data, as Harmon found himself pulled from the past. He sat up, and slid the visor screen that had moved over his face to the side.

[color:14e3=ff3300]"JFK huh? My grandpa really got around didn't he?"

It seems so." Ava said with a smile as she began to shut everything down. "Our hotel rooms have been reserved and we leave in the morning at five A.M So we should leave and get some food before getting back to the hotel." She said smiling as she held up the hotel room keys and two plain tickets.

Harmon nodded, taking his ticket. "Sounds good to me."

A full 24 hours later, they were in the air, bound for Ireland. Private plane, with all the equipment needed for the Animus stored in the cargo hold. Harmon took one last look back at the mainland as the plane flew east.