maskormenace | EVENING NEWS BULLETIN

EVENING NEWS BULLETIN

"In our first news item this evening, America's ministry of imPort affairs has confirmed that it has suffered a serious data breach, claiming its networks were intercepted by a mysterious hacker.

The ministry has provided little detail on the incident, saying it applied to "the internet-based network where open information and data of the lowest classification level are handled."

Data with higher security classification is still secure, the ministry has said. Intelligence and security services are currently investigating the breach, and invite any citizen or imPort who might have information to come forward. The--"

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for a message from our sponsor of this particular news segment.

Citizens. ImPorts. The government is not as all-seeing or all-powerful as they would have you believe. Stand up and demand government transparency. Demand answers. Do not be complacent.

They know nothing about the Porter. They do not have control. Its origins lead to the Atlantic Ocean where it was pulled near the coast in 1985. They have no idea how it works. It is a mystery to both the government and their scientists. They have no control over it whatsoever. Any control you might think they have is an illusion. I have seen their files. They know no more than us.

Their main priority is trying to find ways to control the Porter so that way they can send back imPorts who have no interest in this world. Why have we not been told this?

Additionally, it is currently unknown why people suddenly go home. It is not the government's doing. They believe it is the fault of Lachesis. Additionally, it's been confirmed that the Porter has its own automated defenses that prevents anyone from prying too much information out of it-- even those already gifted with extreme powers it brings in from other worlds. Lachesis is

[The message suddenly cuts out, and you return to a confused-looking news anchor, who apologises for the break in programming and hurries on to the next segment, some boring item about a vacuumer cleaner scam.]

((This kicks off the mini-event I spoke of two days ago! I will not be running this post, though Skye will be around later! Please use this post to react, treat each top level comment like it's a new post in the community, for characters to gossip about and share their reactions, or maybe actionspam your character's realtime reaction as they watch at home or perhaps in the street. Jump each other, have fun!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That there would be other objects of similar origin and with similar powers was something Altaïr hadn't considered, but it made sense. Hadn't Al Mualim said that the miracles of the Abrahamic faith had been nothing but work of the apple? And didn't all cultures have their own mythology with similar or equally grand miracles?

It was troubling thought, but it all fit together too well to ignore.

Now there was another question.]

Those ancestors of ours, that you say created these objects... What do you know about them?

Not much. Aside from them being completely gone now. They created humans to be their servants. But for some reason they decided to...interbreed. That's why we have eagle vision. It's the one thing that made them different from us... having six senses instead of five.

[He remembers Juno's sharp words. "We should have left you as you are!" Pretty telling what she thought of the combination.]

[Well, slavemasters having children with their slaves wasn't that unusual, even if usually not on purpose and hidden. That these supposed precursors had decided to make a conscious effort to interbreed with their own creation -a thought that frankly distressed Altaïr more than even he cared to admit- raised questions. Nothing Desmond could really answer, unfortunately, but questions nonetheless.]

And the apple and the other objects?

It's their technology. ...Someone whose clues I found implied that they were made to control humans. That's why they work on other people, but not so much on us.

[Well, Altaïr has seen the controlling in action, so that much seems accurate.

Wait...]

One of them left clues?

Not one of them. Someone from my time, who went digging a little too deep.

[No need to elaborate on might have taken issue with too deep a digging.]

The Templars know about this, then?

Yeah. I think they were the first ones with the resources to put two and two together.

[He swallowed. It was disturbing, to him. Just how much that the Templars knew, that they didn't. So much had been lost to the Assassins... Even their own history.]

The Assassins...aren't doing so well, in my time.

[That's never a good sign. But it's not something you can avoid, either.]

What happened?

A man named Daniel Cross happened. The Templars...brainwashed him or something, and made him into a sleeper agent. He assassinated our Mentor and ran off to rat out all the headquarters he'd been to.

...They've all but obliterated us.

[Oh...

That... That was far beyond anything Altaïr could have thought. Losing a Mentor could throw the Order in disarray already, but if the Templars had the location of every location importation to the Assassins...]

All because of a single man...

He's dead. I took care of him. [He hesitates, realizing something.]

He was my first actual target...

Your first?

[That seems kinda...]

That seems like a dangerous mission to send a novice to...

I wasn't exactly a novice, but... There was a long stretch where I wasn't doing any training, period.

...I ran away from home when I was sixteen. Lived in the outside world for ten years.

[Altaïr didn't say anything. Young novices running away, or at least trying to, wasn't unheard of, really. Most were caught, of course, so Desmond was only telling him something he didn't see often in that regard.

There wasn't much that Altaïr could say to that, so far removed was it from his own situation and experiences as a novice. It did, however, bear a question.]

And they sent you after a Templar with Assassin training when you returned?

I didn't go back. [He finished off his beer and reached for the next one in the six-pack of bottles. He was going to need to be more than slightly buzzed for this.]

I messed up. Ten years living in paranoia, keeping my name secret, using cash money for everything so I couldn't be traced... And then I made one slip. And the Templars found me.

See...after a while I just...stopped believing the whole Assassins and Templars thing. I thought it was just a bunch of bullshit. That my parents were just fanatics. Especially my dad...god my dad's an asshole, you have no idea. He was also kind of our de facto Mentor, still is. But he's terrible at so many things that aren't training or planning.

[He fell silent then, and looked sheepishly at Altair.] Sorry. I doubt you want to hear about all this.

[No, Desmond was wrong there. He did want to know. They were the only two Assassins in that world, and they would need to have everything out on the table to work together. Desmond had already made it more or less clear that he knew a great deal about Altaïr; it was only fair that Altaïr knew something more about Desmond.

He motioned for Desmond to continue.]

Keep going.

[It was like something out of a fever dream. This wasn't like Ezio, who had known Desmond's name and possibly even his face. The fact that Altair was even remotely interested in his whole shitty story was...humbling, really.]

Looking back now...I wish I would have stayed. That I'd been more patient. They were right. But I was sixteen. But I don't regret the time I had. I'd rather have known what it was like than spend my entire life living outside of it. But that's...not really relevant. The reason why the Templars took me is.

[He took a deep breath.] What if I told you that in my time, they've discovered that our ancestors don't really die...not completely? That their memories, their stories, live on through us? In our blood?

After the apple and coming here, I am capable of believing much more than I was before.

[A pause as he tried to collect his thoughts.]

You said you were my descendent, and that my memories are still alive within, you, correct? Is that why the Templars too you?

Yeah. You... You've seen something they wanted. That map from the Apple. They threw me into a machine called the Animus, forced me to relive your memories. From Solomon's Temple to that moment.

[He hesitates, not sure how to proceed, not sure if it's even something he should even be telling Altair. What if it changes everything?]

...Sorry.

[That was honestly something Altaïr was not sure how to process. The idea that someone had watched the move defining moments of his life once he was gone was... Something else entirely.

But he didn't think Desmond had anything to apologise for.]

You have nothing to apologise for. You were forced.

I guess. But...it still feels like...I don't know. [He sighed, and then he went on. To Ezio. And Connor. And cooking his arm into one solid mess saving the world.

By that time his second beer is finished, and he's pondering whether he should take a third or not.]

...When I got here I was clinically dead. They saved my life. Though I'm not sure if I should be grateful or not. Because now I'm just back in another mess.

[And Altaïr listens, trying to process it all, sometimes wondering whether Desmond telling him all this is what makes the timeline what it became, or whether it means things can change... It's a sobering thought, and he's glad Desmond is mostly sticking to what's relevant to the Assassins and the pieces of Eden.

Once he's done, Altaïr is silent for a few moments, processing it all.]

What do you intend to do? Do you think bringing what we know to the government will accomplish anything?

I think it would make things worse. If we do say something... Then they're going to want us to figure it out. By any means necessary. So they can duplicate whatever it is that makes us tick. I've already been through that kind of shit once.

[Altaïr nods. That's certainly a likely scenario.]

Agreed. Should we let it rest for now, then? At least until we can discover more.

EVENING NEWS BULLETIN

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