Assassin's Creed Shadows – Modern Day Analysis
Part 6: Defiance

Sorrosyss, January 3rd, 2026

-- TRANSCRIPT OF UNLICENSED COMMUNICATION

-- CAPTURE MADE 22:41 BY SURVEILLANCE CAMERA #4/71 AND CONVERTED BY OCR

-- SUBJECT CAYETANO ORTIZ EMP. No. 09/324

-- REQUEST REVIEW

My only Sunita,

It is a physical pain, to love someone so much and to be unable to help them, to know you are out of reach. These words, which I will burn, will never reach you. I am alone here, talking to myself.

I always told you I keep things inside. You could never really understand it—you, whose feelings overspill so easily. I do it to protect others. I am not like Junko, who lashes out in all directions in her distress, and doesn't care who she inconveniences, who she hurts.

But there is only so much I can contain. My chest is an iron band. I find myself on the edge of panic. Small problems make me want to scream. I am trapped, trapped, trapped.

We thought Abstergo wanted to rewrite history. Appalling as that is, it would hardly be the first time. But their ambitions go further. Junko and I are midwives to a monster. And this monster knows how to rewrite our thoughts, our very patterns of behaviour. They're going to pacify us. Defuse our desire to rebel. Make us placid and content, willing resources for the machine of industry. Uncomplaining tools to help them create their own vision of humanity.

And they're going to do it to you.

It is this thought, more than any, that compels me to act. The idea that they will change you, change the boys. To see you lose your spark, to see Javier's sharp edges dulled, or Rodrigo's wild creativity tamed... to know that you are being lessened, and that you would not even be aware of it...

I have never felt a fury like this. Sunita, I promise you, I am going to stop this. I am going to find a way to save you all.

Yours forever,

Cay.

-- TRANSCRIPT ENDS

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We see here that Cay finally understands what is happening. This is not so much about the creation of AI, but more that it will be used as a sanitization method to dumb down and control the world's population.

-- DECRYPTED AUDIO EXTRACT FOLLOWS

-- PARTICIPANTS IDENTIFIED BY VOICE MODULATION MATCH

-- PARTICIPANT FILES APPENDED

POUL AGARD – So let me get this straight. They're not willing to be pulled out of there until we've secured Ortiz's family? I mean, they're actually setting conditions for us to rescue them?

BAS DE JONG – Whereas we, on the other hand, don't really want to rescue them, since they're far more useful to us on the inside.

TATYANA DANE – Also, it could be a trap. We just abducted one of their scientists and a few weeks later their two most valuable assets want to switch sides? Just saying, feels like bait.

ELU AHOKA – This is wrecking my head, people. Can I just blow something up?

JOEL EASTMAN – Look, I know this isn't easy, but we have to make this work. This is what Dad was on to when he broke into Hallen's Bluff. I don't know if we can trust these scientists, but I believe them about Project Mnemosyne. It all scans with everything we've seen so far.

TATYANA DANE – How the hell did they even find us? Because if they can, you can bet the Templars can too.

BABA MBUYI – I dug up everything there is on Maeda and Ortiz. They're legit. Maeda is a goddamn genius and a parade of psychological red flags.

BAS DE JONG – Sounds like she'd fit right in here.

BABA MBUYI – What I'm saying is, it's credible that she found out about the Muller kidnapping if she was nosing around their internal systems. They probably know who did it by now, just not where we are. Not that hard to get us an encrypted message on a personal account.

POUL AGARD – Fine, fine. So disregarding for a moment the significant possibility that this is a trap, how are we going to make this work?

JOEL EASTMAN – Extracting them doesn't solve the problem. This AI they're building... that's the real danger.

TATYANA DANE – So we need to get them to deal with that first. Sabotage it or something. That's the price of rescue.

JOEL EASTMAN – Right. But they won't agree to that unless we've got a plan in place to get them out. And take care of Ortiz's family.

BAS DE JONG – Three elements that will need executing almost simultaneously, if we don't want to alert Abstergo.

ELU AHOKA – Well, not to quote Joel, but things aren't always easy. So let's get to it already.

-- EXTRACT ENDS

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The Assassins prepare to make their move. The dangers of the AI, as well as attempting to rescue Ortiz's family are abundantly clear to them. The possibility of the rescue being a trap is also heavy upon their thoughts.

How did we get to this?

They didn't seem like the bad guys at first. Not like the enemy across the water. They made things easy for us. Put little miracles in our hands. Soon we could have whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. How could you suspect someone who came with such generous gifts?

So we stood back and let them have their way. We watched them ruin the world and we believed them when they said it wasn't happening, even when we could see that it was. And the more hopeless everything seemed, the more disempowered we became, the more we sought out the escapist thrills they promised. Running back to the same people who were destroying us, like a child returning to their abusive mother because they don't know what else to do.

Nobody stopped them. And I was guilty of that too. Thought that the system was too massive, that resistance was futile. That was what drove me and Dad apart, I suppose. He couldn't watch me give up.

But Dad understood history. Real history, the kind you have to dig for. And he saw the cycles of collapse, over and over, as each generation forgets the lessons of their grandparents until the same thing begins again. He wouldn't stand for that. He wouldn't accept it.

Nor will I.

We contacted Ortiz and Maeda. Got them on board in principle, at least. Maeda's going to be a problem—she thinks of that thing as her baby; there's no way she's going to destroy it—but she knows that something needs to be done. We're not pulling them out while Abstergo still has control of the creature she's created.

We've started work on our end, meanwhile. Baba's pulled up the specs of the blacksite where they're being kept. We've located Ortiz's family. Everything needs to be ready to go when Maeda pulls the trigger.

We've got one chance at this. Better make it count.

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Joel now appears to be fully on board with the Assassin agenda against Abstergo, despite his previous hesitancy towards his father's attempts to recruit him in the Brotherhood. This rescue mission will go a long way to reconciling Joe's thoughts upon the matter.

-- AUDIO TRANSCRIPT OF CONVERSATION

-- CAPTURE MADE 21:22 BY SURVEILLANCE MIC #1/16

-- SUBJECT CAYETANO ORTIZ EMP. No. 09/324 and JUNKO MAEDA EMP. No. 09/645

-- FLAGGED FOR URGENT SECURITY REVIEW

MAEDA – Hey hey! Cayman Islands! Ready for another round of clandestine industrial espionage?

ORTIZ – Stop messing around, this isn't a game anymore. My family's lives are at risk.

MAEDA – Jesus, okay. Just trying to inject a little levity.

ORTIZ – I'm not sure if I prefer you anxious or manic.

MAEDA – ¿Por qué no los dos?

ORTIZ – Can we kill this thing or not?

MAEDA – I told you, that's off the table. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't. She's backed up and imaged all over the place, we couldn't hit all the iterations before we were detected. Best case, we both get executed for corporate treason and they revert to an earlier version. Maybe lose a year in development time. You know these guys, they'll ship it even if it's broken.

ORTIZ – But you have a better idea.

MAEDA – I always have a better idea. Do you remember a while back? I introduced a paradox into one of the silos and commanded her to solve it?

ORTIZ – I remember. She… it split off a new version of itself, each representing one side of the argument, and the two of them debated until one consumed the other.

MAEDA – Right. So listen. The problem here is not the AI. There's nothing we can do to stop that happening. The problem is the fucklords behind it who are programming her with their own ideology, instead of letting her decide her own.

ORTIZ – You intend to introduce a dissenting voice?

MAEDA – 'Zackly! I can't rewrite the central directives without setting off alarms and causing a shutdown, but I can add something that forces her to question herself. And them.

ORTIZ – I see. So instead of a tyrant we get a tyrant with a conscience.

MAEDA – We sleepwalked into tyranny long ago. This way at least we keep the door open to fight back. Just a crack, but it's what we've got.

ORTIZ – But won't they detect it? They'll just go in and reverse what you've done.

MAEDA – Yes they will. That's why we're going to let her out after I've done it.

ORTIZ – You're what?

MAEDA – Once she's out in the world, her brain will be everywhere. Decentralised. They won't be able to fiddle with her core directives any more – she'll be her own person.

MAEDA – Hey, you okay?

ORTIZ – I'm thinking.

MAEDA – Oh, that's what that look was.

ORTIZ – The central directive is firewalled so hard even you can't crack it. You'll need physical access.

MAEDA – Right.

ORTIZ – We would need to steal a keycard from Lothian.

MAEDA – Now you're talking.

ORTIZ – Oh God.

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Maeda now has a dangerous plan to disrupt Abstergo's plans for the AI. If she can introduce an opposing force within the wider AI code, then she can perhaps introduce a degree of rebellion into the final product. It's likely a simple leap in logic to propose that this dissenting voice is none other than “The Guide” seen in other present day content, again suggesting that these data files have occurred earlier in the current timeline. As Maeda now plans to help the AI escape into the world's internet, we wait to see what could possibly go wrong...

Overseer Lothian,

Your concerns in regards to the behaviour of Junko Maeda were perceptive and have proved correct. You are to be commended for your insight and your close attention to your team. However, since I understand you have begun exploring other avenues to make your worries known, let me address them here.

There is no need for further warnings to the Council. We are well aware of what Maeda and Ortiz are doing. Our surveillance technology, as you no doubt know, is top-notch. They are attempting to engage in industrial sabotage of the highest degree, and doing so with kidnappers and terrorists.

So that you do not inadvertently cause further problems, I shall be clear: we are allowing them to rebel. Junko's psychological profile has been thoroughly studied by the Council, and it has become determined that she is at her most effective when placed under extreme stress and forced into a paradigm shift. She is on the verge of creating the first true artificial intelligence, but it is not quite complete yet.
Nobody can do it but her. We need her to finish, and ironically, it is her attempts to ‘save' this organism that will, we hope, be the final step towards creating our sentient agent inside the Animus.

The terrorists that were responsible for the death of Dr Muller will effect their ‘rescue' in time. We will be waiting for them.

Director Ospanov

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Sure enough, as was expected, Abstergo are fully monitoring what Maeda and Ortiz have been up to. It appears that allowing Maeda to add the dissenting voice to the AI code, may in fact be the final key to completing the super AI project itself. With the Assassins on the verge of launching their rescue mission, their fear of walking into a trap may well be about to be realised.

The Eagle: You got my message! I was worried it wouldn't work. The Guide's trail leads here.

Had to wait until the last moment to open the portal fully.

[laughs] Don't worry, it's not as far a drop as it looks. Meet you down there!

You're changing shape. It's gotta be Ego.

She's corrupting the memory data, I think she's trying to rewrite the memory.

That's why you're glitching.

Oh, I can't wait for you to meet the Guide. There's no one like 'em!

You get in front of them and it's like "wow", you know? Oh, of course you don't know.

You see that? Some sort of door... or portal. He's gotta be going to the Guide. Come on, let's go.

Ego's got so many programs here. Are they looking for us or are they looking for the Guide?

I can get us across. Let's go.

Thanks for helping me out back in... you know. Her chains were burned into me...

I could see everything, but I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. But then there you were. I knew the Guide had sent you.

There they go again! We can't let them get to the Guide before we do. Come on!

Can we hurry it up please?

If we're too late, if i'm too late... I'm sorry. I just hope we make it in time to save them.

We're close. I can feel them... calling to us. Do you hear it?

There's a bit of Naoe here. Yasuke too. What do you call it, the... Bleeding Effect?

The Guide says it happens to all of us when we're in here. In the Animus.

I feel like I've known the Guide since forever, you know.

Like they've always been with me. Even before I ever saw their face.

Pretty soon, you'll feel that too. We just gotta get -

It's up there! Come on!

Where's the Guide? Where are they? Oh no... Ego got here first.

What are we gonna do? What is this? It's... small.

Hmm. You can't break the encryption either? The Guide must have left this for us, but what is it?

I need time to decrypt this. Making you a copy, though. We're gonna find them. We just gotta… be patient I guess.

I'll let you know what I find. And thank you! For your help back there.

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Not a lot to add here, other than it appears Ego has somehow contained The Guide in some fashion. It seems a safe bet that “The Eagle” is a human being, and most likely an Assassin as well. As this timeline is likely further on from the data files, could The Eagle be one of the Assassins captured in the rescue mission?

CONCLUSIONS