Assassin's Creed II
=== Plot ===
After the events of Assassin's Creed, test subject Desmond Miles is rescued from confinement by undercover Assassin Lucy Stillman and taken to a remote safe house, where he meets her team, consisting of historian and analyst Shaun Hastings and technician Rebecca Crane. Using design plans stolen by Lucy, they have constructed their own version of the Animus, dubbed "Baby", which they intend to use to train Desmond as an Assassin through the so-called "Bleeding Effect". Desmond is assigned to investigate the memories of his ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze, starting with his birth to a wealthy Florentine family in the late 15th century.
The story then skips forward several years, with Ezio growing into a reckless young man in the time of the Renaissance. After his father and brothers are hanged after being framed for treason by a corrupt magistrate, Ezio kills him and flees to his ancestral home of Monteriggioni with his mother and sister. There, his uncle Mario explains that both he and his late father served an ancient order known as the Assassins, and agrees to train Ezio in stealth and combat. With his new abilities, Ezio embarks on a quest to kill the men responsible for arranging his father's death, including politicians, bankers, clergymen, and merchants. The search takes him to cities such as Florence, San Gimignano, Forlì, and Venice, where he also makes a number of new allies, including philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, the latter of whom provides him with new equipment based on information left by Altair's Codex. While in Venice, he learns the identity of the Templar grandmaster known as the "Spaniard": Rodrigo Borgia, who has been planning to secure all of Italy for the Order by unifying the most influential families behind his leadership. Dressed as a soldier, he confronts Rodrigo while helping him transport an Apple of Eden to Rome. Armed with the papal staff -which turns out to be a Piece of Eden- Rodrigo reveals his intention to unlock the "Vault", a chamber he believes to contain a power greater than any the world has ever known. He manages to escape, leaving the Apple in Ezio's possession. As a reward for service, Mario has him formally inducted into the Assassins.
Around this time, Desmond uncovers a random memory left over from his time at Abstergo, in which Altair is shown conducting an affair with the Templar Maria Thorpe. He also finds a series of glyphs similar to the drawings he found in his cell, which, when deciphered, reveal a vision of two human slaves stealing an Apple. The video ends with the ASCII codes (in binary) for "EDEN" (01000101 01000100 01000101 01001110). The team theorizes that the two humans may be Adam and Eve, the first man and woman.
With several sections of memory too corrupted to access (later made available as DLC Sequences), the team sends Desmond to the final memory, set in 1499. With Rodrigo now secure in his position as Pope Alexander VI, Ezio infiltrates Vatican City during Mass and beats him in a fistfight. Rather than kill his nemesis, he lets him live with the knowledge that he has failed. Combining the Apple and Staff, he opens the entrance to the vault. Inside, he is contacted by a strange woman named Minerva. Aware that Desmond is listening, she explains how her people, the "First Civilization", created humanity to serve them, but were subsequently destroyed by an unknown catastrophe. The survivors joined forces with their former servants, building a network of vaults to both preserve their technology and culture and serve as a preventative measure against a future disaster. Before vanishing, she tells Desmond that only he has the power to fulfill this "prophecy", leaving both him and Ezio confused as to what she means.
Shortly thereafter, Abstergo agents led by Vidic enter the hideout, forcing the team to abandon everything except the Animus. As they head to a new location, Lucy informs Desmond that the Assassins have detected strange occurrences in the Earth's magnetic field; a solar flare scheduled to pass the planet in a few months would likely trigger the same event that ended the First Civilization. Desmond prepares to reenter the Animus, beginning the story of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
action, murder, historical fiction