Assassin's Creed Revived North American Branch

Ryan crept through the streets of what had once been Dallas, Texas with only one thought in his mind, returning to the Anime system and getting away from Abstergo spies. On his body was his Assassin's cloak and his weapons but the assassin knew that if he were stopped then he would be killed instantly. Ryan could just see the door to the building and knew he was home free when he heard screaming from the alley to the side. The assassin cursed and slipped his hood over his eyes before hiding in the shadows. A woman was screaming because of a Templar agent holding her captive.

Location: Detroit
Time: 23:43 hours

David smiled to himself as he ran across the roof tops of the buildings of what once was Detroit, 85 present of the buildings were intact, it was the city with the second most buildings left standing after the 2012 event. the most being new York. the brown cardboard box (descriction of the box: has absergio's logo on all sides, on the top it was stamped reading PROJECT ANIMA PROTOTYPE. HANDLE WITH CARE. underneath his left arm was slowing him down. he herd a chopper in the distance. he swore to himself, with aid from his grapple he jumped into a parking structure to stay out of the spot light. the Templers had been chasing him for days now, they even destroyed his branch to try and retrieve this package.

his final orders (and to the other assassins in the branch) was to get to the closet safe branch, give it to them, and send out an S.O.S. to any surviving branches. a military personal carrier drove up. David dove behind a pillar and swore to himself, "Why couldn't we gotten control over the local military and gangs." he thought "This would be a lot easier if we did...god damned Templars.." he ready a smoke bomb in his right hand...waiting to make his next move

The shadows were a perfect cover as the assassin stepped out of the streets and into the still filthy alley. He knew that this Templar agent had been searching for the Dallas Assassin's Branch for years and had damn near taken out his friends. So when Ryan heard what the female was saying he knew what had to be done. Please, there isn't any way I can give you a box. I'm not even in Detroit anymore. The Templar did nothing other than shrug and raise his gun to point at her. Suddenly Ryan took off and was behind the Templar in a few seconds with his arms already around the guy's throat and a hidden blade through his back.

"Why was that Templar after you from Detroit, ma'am?" Ryan smiled when he saw her smile and then she handed him a piece of paper with a simple message. Detroit Brotherhood in trouble. Assistance please come to us. Ryan looked at the paper and sighed before picking up the woman who obviously had a broken ankle. "I guess I can talk to the Dallas branch and maybe we can send some people there to help." It was true that the Dallas Brotherhood was one of the largest branches in North America but they were also surrounded by Templars at the same time.

"Sweep the area, he is here somewhere, shoot to kill, but do not damage the package he is carrying." one of the soldiers yelled out. just as the they began to move away from the personal carrier David came out of cover, threw a smoke bomb at them while sliding the package underneath the car closet to him. he watched the Templars confused in the smoke. activating the tazor gloves he walked into the smoke picking them off one. once the smoke cleared (and deactivating the gloves) he went and collected the package and ran out the opposite end of parking lot where he use the grapple to get back onto the roofs. from there he would head to the river where one of his brothers would take him to the east end of the lake, from there they would regroup and head to new York, then continue down the east coast.

Soon the darkness swept aside as a door opened to a brightly lit room where multiple people stood with weapons already drawn. Around the room stood several assassin's with various bladed weapons at the ready and two more with guns aimed in case there was an issue. As soon as Ryan stepped into the building he handed the wounded woman to his second best assassin brother and then walked over to the planning room.

"We have great issues over in our Detroit Brotherhood. They are experiencing issues and I was just barely able to save this woman from a Templar agent when she handed me the note. It says that there is assistance requested soon but I believe that by now they have headed toward the next largest thriving Brotherhood and that is in New York. So who will join me in heading there?" Slowly four hands were raised and Ryan was proud to see that it was his second who volunteered to stay and watch Dallas.

"Okay people, we have ten minutes to make it to the jet and heading toward the drop off. It is a good distance away and even with the old jets we still have to be prepared. Let's go Brothers and may the Creed prevail in this time of darkness." Ryan took off toward the back of the building and ran up the stairs. Along the way he grabbed various sets of armor, for bullets and blades. He busted through the hatch and climbed into the jet, followed by four assassin's. The engine started and soon the jet was in the air heading toward the New York base.

If there is one thing Sevray has learned from his time in the half-rebuilt city of Toledo, Ohio, it is that the streets are never safe. Sticking out in the crowd was a ticket to Death's doorstep. As Toledo is close to the border of the Templar heavy state of Michigan, he and the rest of his Branch had to work around the clock to ensure the Templars never gathered enough numbers to overwhelm them. Of course that was easier said than done.

Sevray made his way down the street like a ghost, invisible to the naked eye. His goal was clear in his head: Eliminate Aaron Miller, the corrupt politician who gave in to the bribery of the Templars and threatened to make life hell for the comman man. Sevray turned the corner and there was his target, making a speech to the locals. When he was finished, he began shaking the hands of his listeners. Sevray was already in position. Aaron Miller expected to shake the hand of another common peasant. What he didn't expect was the tip of a poison blade gently sliding into his wrist. When the poison kicked in Sevray was already halfway down the street, away from any suspecting Templars. One of the smoother assassinations he has done.

On his way home, a hooded man bumped into him and he felt something enter his pocket. Both men walked their respective ways and Sevray checked his pocket. There was a small note saying "Nothing is true, Everything is permitted". He took that as a sign that he had to speak with this man. Sevray turned around and followed the hooded man, most likely another Assassin. After a short while they ended up in a small coffee shop, where they finally started talking. The Assassin explained to Sevray that the Detroit branch was on the verge of being cleared out by the Templars. Sevray replied, "I will ask the General of our branch, but Detroit is crawling with Templars. We will need a lot more than one branch to gain control again, especially since we still have to protect our own areas." The other Assassin then explained that they were going to gather in New York, and there should be other branches there.

When they reached the Toledo HQ, Sevray reported his successful assassination and the other Assassin gave his message to our General who agreed to send a group of 5 Assassins to New York. Sevray was one of them. The next day they hitched a ride on a cargo ship headed for the Big Apple.

The jet descended slowly into New York airspace as five people stood up and hid their weapons carefully while donning armor made for specific times like this. What few people knew was that one of these people was already expecting to need more than just them to save this area. That one person was Ryan, a commander of the Assassin's in the Dallas Branch. He slipped his leather jacket on over the chain mail jacket that covered the thin plate mail and Kevlar body armor under that. He stepped out of the jet and headed over toward the New York Brotherhood base. It was a rather modest building of unassuming style that was made of brick and mortar just outside the city limits.

"We made it, now why are there no assassins nearby?" Suddenly a shadow slipped out of the other shadows and there was something really strange about it. Then there were two daggers gleaming in the shadowy hands and immediately Ryan pulled a manuever he hadn't used in years. His foot slipped out and he fell backward just to catch himself with one hand while the other foot went up into the guy's groin. There was a large gasp of air and the Templar went down only to disappear into the shadows again. "Men! Inside now!" The assassins ran into the building with their weapons at the ready.

He winced, as one of his brethren removed bullets and bandaged up sword wounds from his last battle. apon arriving at the edge of the lake they where ambushed, sold out by traitors to the creed. he held them off until their transport arrived, thankfully he was the only person from the branch who knew it was coming. they were know taking a different route to New York because they were trying to shake Templars off their tale. they would be delayed by 2 days at most. he swore as he slammed down his fist next to his package, completely undamaged. "what could be this important, to risk his neck for." he thought to himself, if they didn't get to new York soon his curiosity would get the better of him.

At last they reached the New York harbour, after a long and tiresome trip. Sevray and his brothers were able to easily sneak past the customs officers and guards, and were walking the streets as part of the crowds in no time. They were given directions as to where the New York HQ was, but actually getting there was a challenge. There were Templars stationed around every corner, blocking the way to their destination. As New York was densely populated, Sevray thought it was best not to draw attention to themselves by taking out those 'roadblocks'. They were told of a trusted contact within the city, the owner of a widely-used CCTV manufacturer by the name of Derrick. If anyone knew of secure path to the HQ, it would be him.

The assassins reached the office building, where Sevray chose to enter alone. It was best to draw as little attention as possible. Derrick's office was of course on the top floor, and was more like a penthouse than an office. Before Derrick could say a word Sevray spoke, "Nothing is true." The reply was almost instant, "Everything is permitted."
They discussed the current status of the New York brotherhood and Templar activity. The former had not made contact with him for a number of days and the latter was growing and was starting to take the place of the regular city Police Force. He told Sevray of another entrance to the Assassins HQ through an old series of tunnels that was used by the ancient assassins. There was an entrance to the tunnels in the basement level of the building there were in. Sevray thanked him, and promptly went back to gather his assassins and descend into the ancient maze of tunnels, lit by an occasional torch. Using the torches to guide them, they finally reach the door that would lead into the HQ. But what they found on the other side was not what they were expecting.

The room was pretty well empty with blank walls and papers strewn across the floor like week old trash tossed out by some careless traveller. Light flickered through the large room casting blinding pools through the menacing pits of shadows. Five assassins walked through the wreckage and then had their weapons ready and aimed at another group that entered through a secret entrance.

he was woken up by one of his fellow assassins, she shook him awake and told him they where coming up to new York. there was a loud banging from the wall drivers seat in the truck, that was the signal for a security check up ahead, the assassins stuck in the back with him lifted up the fake bottoms of they're cargo climbed in, then covered themselves back up. they were disguised as a delivery van bringing in a cargo of diapers for babies.

the security check passed with out a problem, you could tell these men were Templers just by the way they walked, they hand heavy foot steps then an assassin but lighter then the average man and the stance they had made them look like they were going to pull out a sword and dice you if any moved. once they got far enough away from the security check, they came out of the cargo and got out of different locations one bye one, he would be dropped off within walking distance of time square, there he would wait at a café for somebody to bye him a drink and pass him a note with the code, to verify they were an assassin.

now he sits there with the package in his back pack waiting reading a news paper.

Sevray and another Assassin pushed the stone door open only to see a group of shadowed-figures staring them down, weapons drawn. "Identify yourselves!" said one of the men. Feeling a bit of deja-vu, Sevray once again recited the Creed, "Nothing is true." They sheathed their weapons while one of them stepped forward. "Everything is permitted," he said. Sevray could now see him in the light, he was definitely an Assassin. Both parties stepped out of the shadows and into the light. "I take it you are the New York branch?" Sevray asked.

"Dallas Branch, actually, and we're also here in search of the New York Branch of the Brotherhood. Name's Ryan Kenway of the Dallas Brotherhood." Already the sandy haired and blue eyed twenty one year old assassin sheathed his twin swords and glanced around at the other group of the assassins. There was something strange going on but what was it that was happening? The room was still cold and empty but the ten assassins were warming up to each other and Ryan motioned for his men to stand down and sheathe their weapons.

The area was secure to the best of his knowledge and so when Ryan heard the soft scrape of something moving outside, he took it as the simple movement of an assassin. Even though that was unlikely since assassins made no noise when moving the leader of the Dallas Branch was at ease with the situation.

-----

The shadows hid many things these days since the fall of the world and the disorder had encroached upon the people in its grasp. Still there were many things that hid from those in the shadows and right now a whole group of predators watched from the shadows. The glint of light off of metal showed as two pairs of gloves were slipped on and then a grin showed off of white teeth. "Men, these assassin scum need to die! Let's take 'em quick and get outta here. Try to secure the package but if you can't then just tell the boss it wasn't here."

Templars stood up and one of the group, a female with blonde hair, stayed on the ground with a rifle already aimed at the window of the building. A soft click was just barely heard and the whoosh of a bullet as the rifle fired. Shattering glass echoed and the building was sent into a flurry of action. Templars burst forth from the many shadows and filed into the building through the entrances they could find.

David's "peaceful" afternoon "reading" a newspaper at a shabby café in town square, was interrupted by a shattering, as he saw a group of swat officers with the Templars emblem on there right shoulder, running across time square to a building where glass had just fallen down from, they secured the entrance making a semi circle around the door. he sighed "nothing is like how it used to be." he thought to himself "the world goes kaput and they stop being shuttle about trying to kill us off." he folded up the newspaper and popped into his back pocket. he pulled out his phone in the same movement. it was connected to an assassin network ran by an AI called m0us3, Detroit had stole a few months back and reprogramed it to suit there needs, it eased it self from the Abstrugio's computers and sense then was never detected. he enterend the code for Detroit branch, and typed in
"[//location// : New York // Time Square //]
[//request// : blackout//]
[//duration // 15min]"

he had his thumb over the send button, Detroit had planned to send m0us3 to every branch but then the world ended. he watched the sun set behind the buildings, the only light in time square was from electric. he sent it. slowly the lights went off, one bye one, he now moved in shadows. using the grapple he entered the build through the broken window, one the way up he dropped a knock out smoke pellet above the group guarding the door. he landed silently behind two Templars ... who he threw off the building. three more ran towards him, he flicked his gloves on and "shot"(actually threw it) out a steel rope which wrapped around their legs with weighted end and other end was in his glove. the electric current travelled down the rope and fried them.
the final few Templars (2) had now just taken notice of him. he activated on of his swords (which now had arcs off electricity flowing onto metal around it. he looked up in casual stance and his best Brooklyn accent he said "how you doin' mother f**kers?"

The glass shattered as a bullet flew itself into one of the assassins. A foolish move, since bullet proof vests were standard issue. "Templars!", Sevray shouted out. They came from all angles, there was around 25 of them in the building and another 5 outside with rifles. The assassins had to act fast. Sevray pulled two knives from his belt and within the same second flung them at two Templars. The other assassins finished them off as he told two others to handle the Templars outside.
From a broken window, an unknown assassin grappled in, killing some of the Templars in the process. When he looked up, Sevray recognized this assassin. It was David from the Detroit branch. But there was no time to stop and catch up.

Sevray's group took the left half while Ryan's took the right. David interchanged between both. Two enemies charged at Sevray, one in front and one to his left. He swiftly dodged as the sword swung past his face, drove his left hidden blade into the same Templar, turned and then fired his concealed pistol straight into the other enemy's unsuspecting face. He looked over at Ryan: He crushed the face of a Templar using his brass knuckles, stunning him, then finished him with his hidden blade. The two assassins who were outside had handled their job and re-entered the building through one of the broken windows, taking Templars by surprise as they did so. Sevray turned back and went to help the rest of his group who were being pinned into a corner by the few remaining enemies. "Smoke!" He yelled as he threw a smoke bomb into the crowd. The assassins knew what to do; they covered their faces and took advantage of the coughing Templars.

Two Templars remaining. One tried to escape: Ended up with a knife in his throat. The other simply cowered and begged for mercy. "Interrogation?" Sevray asked Ryan and David.

you ignored my move completely

Lol, didn't realise it was the same building you were talking about. I'll re-write it now.

im on the same floor as you.

"Not here." he said while knocking him out, he turned off and put away his weapons, and brought out m0us3. he tapped a microphone icon and spoke into it. "Location New York Time Square. Request Warehouse. Duration 48 hours." a route appeared on screen, he walked over to Sevray and showed it to him.

"I'll meet you here, where house 4E along the river. then we can all ask questions. the blackout will last 9 more minutes, use the back ally to blend back into the crowd" he walked over to the window "nothing is true... Detroit lives on." he said aloud, he grappled to the building across the street. once there he pulled out m0us3 again and spoke into it "Location New York Time Square. Request show the truth file Detroit at the end of blackout." he left to go meet up at the where house.

***

at the end of the black house every jumbotron, TV, cell phone and laptop began to show footage of Templars killing citizens in Detroit and at the end of the video the words "Nothing is true. Open your." eyes flashed on screen before turning back to normal.

Ryan had just finished dispatching a couple Templars with his brass knuckles when he noticed someone still outside in the shadows who looked to be wielding blades of their own. If the assassin had to guess, that was the Templar leader and they had noticed the assault go south and bailed at the last minute. Yet that wasn't the end of the fight for now there was another assassin who walked in and was ready to help but he was already speaking about going to some designated warehouse for interrogation. Ryan knew a bit about this area because he had been in contact with the New York branch and so he knew where the warehouse was. "Detroit Branch? I thought they were the reason we were here?"

Ryan shrugged and pulled his men out carefully to head to the warehouse while looking for the Templar but by that time they were long gone. The blackout was almost over and that meant they had to move quickly so Ryan gave a few brief instructions to his fellow assassins and then slipped into the shadows before heading into the crowd. Soon the lights were back on and the jumbotron showed scenes of the massacre in Detroit done by the Templars and that made Ryan wince with anger. Quickly he moved until he could see the warehouse and then he climbed in through a busted window on the second floor where he dropped to the floor and slipped down the stairs. "So how is it that Detroit was destroyed by the Templars but you survived? Name's Ryan Kenway of the Dallas Branch."

While the rest of the assassins left, Sevray decided to stay and search the building by himself for a while. It was empty except for some random garbage littering the floor. But there was something in on the far wall that peaked his interest. It was the Assassin symbol. Upon closer inspection Sevray realised its true purpose: It was a lock. To open it you had to push the middle section inwards, pull the outer section outwards and then twist it. There was one in every HQ, to help prevent important information or supplies from falling into enemy hands. A small hatch opened up in front of him allowing him to access the small and cluttered room on the other side. On the left side were maps of New York and the tunnels beneath, detailing ways to get to anywhere in the city (even the warehouse) undetected. On the right wall were lists of assassin contacts within the city and their respective resources. But on the front wall were the names and faces of the most influential Templars within New York. Sevray recognized some of them but the rest were unfamiliar. This information would be crucial for the assassins to survive their stay in the city, but one question was still burned into his head. Where is the New York branch?

He decided it was time to catch up to his allies at the warehouse, so he took one of the maps and a list of the local contacts and headed back into the tunnel, where he found his way to the rest of the group.

"Nice to meet you Ryan," David said while holding out his hand "the name is David Costello, one of the 6 serviours from Detriot." After shaking Ryan's hand he kicked over a make shift interrogation chair for there unconsus Templar. "The others should be here soon," he nodded towards his phone which was pluged into a computer moniter "I contacted them through m0us3...you can say hi mouse." the word Hello appeared on the screen. "now as for how we survived. the branch leader's second in command went missing the day the world ended, turned out he was an Templar undercover agent. for revenge my squad, squad seven snuck in to abustgio's base over there and stole this bad boy." he waved the project anima box side to side before tossing it to Ryan, "our branch leader was the only who knew what was in that box, after looking inside he kept mumbling 'portable animus' etc., etc."

walked over to a crate and sat down on top of it. "When the Templars attacked our branch base he ordered me and my squad to bring that package to the New York branch. then he split up two other squads to go seek help from other branches that were still alive."

"I herd over radio chatter while trying to escape from Detroit that they captured and killed some of the members of my branch who stayed back to by us time...who knows what they are doing to them now."

Ryan nodded sadly because he knew exactly how it felt to have to be paranoid about everything and so even though it wasn't necessary, he had done back ground checks on every assassin in the Dallas Branch. "I was actually just pulling off an assassination back in Dallas when I came across a woman who was being attacked by a Templar. She was about to die if I hadn't made it there and killed him with my hidden blade. As soon as I made it back to Dallas HQ with her there were only a few minutes for us to plan to attack the Templars here in New York. Do you happen to know what happened to the Branch here in New York?" It was strange because there hadn't been anyone there before.

At that exact moment Ryan's phone buzzed and he pulled it out and hit the answer button. It was a direct call from HQ and that meant there were issues back at Dallas. "Yeah? I'm about to wra...What happened?!? Templars in the HQ but how did you guys not find them on the streets before they entered. You are assassins for God's sake! We have an HQ that is impossible to enter without going through security checks and they entered anyhow! Is everyone alright and do you know if...Darren is dead, and Stephen is fatally wounded? Dammit why is it that we are attacked and so are you? I'll figure it out just let me talk to the rest of the guys."

Ryan ended the phone call and looked back up at David Costello with a mix of horror and a cruel sense of understanding. It wasn't just Detroit or New York that they were going after. Dallas was one of the largest branches and now it was being slaughtered. "Is there anyway we could send assassins to Dallas? They got hit hard just an hour ago and had to flee to the underground tunnels with hope of taking HQ back later."

"I was squad leader of 17 of our brethren and know I'm the leader of 6 people including myself. I can't spare any and as long as you guys hold on to that package your stuck with me. But I just hope whatever is in that box is wroth it, I risked my neck to get it here....look go ahead and use m0us3 he might be able to do something, cause a blackout, false alarm for a nuclear meltdown, etc.,etc."

After a couple minutes of traversing the tunnels, Sevray happened upon another large stone door. He heaved it open and knew he had come to the right place when he saw his fellow assassins camped inside. His group debriefed him about the current situation. He walked up to Ryan and David, "I found the New York branch's stash inside their hideout. It has everything we need; maps of the tunnels and city, the lists of contacts and the main Templars in power here in the city." He showed them the map and list. "The maps seems to be accurate since it's how I found my way here and I bet if we ask these contacts we will be able to find out the status of the branch here. I was told about the attack on the Dallas branch and I think it's linked with the ones here. In the New York HQ I found some notes about a Templar meeting which has been happening every Saturday for the past few weeks. Some of the highest ranking Templar leaders will be there, including ones from Dallas. It's our best lead right now."