- "The idea of exploring someone's genetic memory, living an individual's life who's been long gone for hundreds of years, seeing how things really were back then, its just amazing. If the side effects of overexposure in the Animus weren't so bad, honestly, I would be in the Animus 24/7, living through multiple historical periods."
- ―Leah Chavez's thoughts documented in her journal, 2022
| Leah Chavez | |
|---|---|
| |
| Biographical information | |
| Born |
28 May 1998 |
| Political information | |
| Affiliations | |
| Real-world information | |
| Appears in |
Assassin's Creed: Incursion (modern day) |
Leah Chavez (born 1998) is an Abstergo Industries operative and a member of the Templar Order. An experienced Animus user, she initially joined Abstergo as a memory analyst before being inducted into the Templar Order herself. Gifted in IT, she provides technical and tactical support for various Abstergo field agents and projects.
In 2022, she relived the genetic memories of the seventeenth century Spanish-French Assassin Ramona Lucia in order to find a way to prevent the returned Isu's world takeover.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Born in Alberta, Canada in 1998, Leah lived a relatively mundane life but always seeked a purpose, striving to be part of something worthwhile. Growing up, Leah was disgusted by the injustices of the world and the horrific things humanity was capable of. After graduating university with a bachelor's degree, Leah applied for a position at Abstergo Industries with the belief that this was her true calling.
Hired as a memory analyst, Leah relived the genetic memories of several research targets while unknowingly searching for Pieces of Eden for the Templars. Eventually, Leah caught on to this and did some researching of her own - through her technological expertise, Leah learned of the existence of the Assassins and Templars, as well as their ongoing war.
Templar Induction[]
Her brilliant mind, intuitive nature, and iniative actions impressed the Abstergo higher ups so much so that Leah was "offered" to join the Templars. Having already learned of the Templar Order, she found herself gravitate to their goals of peace through control. Believing humans to be incapable of peace amongst themselves due to their violent and destructive nature, Leah saw this opportunity as a call to truly fulfill her purpose in life.
Following her induction into the Templar Order, Leah's skills would be utilised in both technological and tactical support for various Abstergo operations and projects. Leah has provided tactical support for Kyle North's team during his search for the Assassins Horatio Pierce and Hayley Yasutake as well as aided in the search for North once he went rogue.
Race Against Time[]
In April 2022, Leah leads a team of Abstergo agents to the Conservatory after the company had discovered its location through tracking down both North and Pierce. Investigating inside, they come across the Stasis Chamber and find the empty pods. The team begin extracting data and DNA from the chamber where she sequences the DNA found and discovers a triple helix genome and immediately realises that Isu were being held in the pods. Chavez contacts Abstergo and informs the current CEO of her findings, which she is then assigned to investigate further.
Returning to Abstergo's Ontario facility, she begins looking into members of the Assassins and Templars on record that encountered Pieces of Eden that could link her to finding the escaped Isu. Leah comes upon an Spanish-French Assassin, Ramona Lucia, who encountered a Piece of Eden that was described as "even scaring the Isu" in the seventeenth century. She requests Abstergo to locate her tomb and after a short amount of time, Abstergo's researchers come back locating Ramona's tomb in Carcassonne, France. Gathering a team of researchers and agents, she heads over to France with an Animus HR-8 to begin exploring the genetic memories of Ramona and learn more of the Piece of Eden.
Ramona Lucia's memories[]
Arriving in France, the team immediately set up shop and take a sample of Ramona's DNA from her remains. After allowing the animus to interpret her DNA, Leah begins to explore the Assassin's genetic memory. Eventually, Leah learns of the existence of the Eden Engines through the Assassin's memories, doubling down on her time in the animus, Leah later finds out what the Eden Engine actually looks like and exits the animus to send over the footage gathered from Ramona's memories to the Abstergo CEO.
Some hours later, she receives a call from her superior who informs her of an Eden Engine's location in a natural history museum in Cuba, ordering her to meet Sigma Team over there and retrieve it. Oblidging, Leah takes a private jet over to meet them, leaving her team behind to watch over Ramona's crypt.
First engagement with the Assassins[]
Arriving in Cuba some time, Leah meets up with Otso Berg and Sigma Team at the Municipal Museum Emilio Bacardi Moreau in Santiago de Cuba. During their search for the Engine within the museum, Leah questions why Abstergo never claimed the Piece of Eden, Berg explains that Abstergo was aware of its existence but it appeared deactivated and of little use to the company. Now, through Ramona's memories, they realise they were wrong. Leah expresses her surprise at Abstergo overlooking the Piece of Eden.
Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of gunfire and members of Sigma Team crying out, Berg demands to know the status of the situation to which one responds "Goddamn Assassins!" before being killed over the radio. Berg orders Leah to retrieve the Eden Engine while he and the other members of Sigma Team engage the Assassins.
Leah locates the Eden Engine but before she can retrieve it, she is suddenly halted by the arrival of Kyle North, Shakuru and the Isu who had located the Eden Engine through as of yet unknown methods. North attacks Leah but she manages to hold her own as a result of the Bleeding Effect, but she is quickly defeated. Moments from being killed, Leah is unintentionally saved by Horatio Pierce who launches a throwing knife at the Sage, still vengeful over the death of his father.
Horatio and North briefly duel but the Assassin is knocked into a weapon display. Utilising the historical weaponry within the museum, he picks out a sword and a kukri blade before attacking North once more. Meanwhile, Shakuru orders the other Isu to engage with the Assassins and Templars a few floors below them. She attempts to steal the Eden Engine but Leah delays her by attacking - surprisingly, Shakuru has some knowledge of ancient Isu martial arts and fights back against the Templar.
The gruelling fight continues between Leah, Shakuru, Pierce and North. However, Meaghan Allard and Hayley Yasutake's duel with Berg manages to find its way to the others, creating a chaotic three way fight between the Assassins, Templars and Isu. The Assassins prove a more formidable force through the tactics taught to them by Meaghan, as well as their unifed front as opposed to the disjointed cooperation between Berg and Leah, and the undisciplined Isu.
Pierce is able to manipulate North's emotional weakness by injuring Shakuru by throwing a kukri blade at her thigh. Distracted, North disengages and attacks Leah before she could deal a finishing blow to an injured Shakuru. Remembering her mission, Leah manages to retrieve the Eden Engine. Pierce manages to catch up to Leah and the two engage in a short fight with Pierce coming out on top as the more skilled of the two. Retrieving the Eden Engine, Pierce and the other Assassins escape. North and the other Isu manage to escape in the chaos.
Continued Research[]
Leah is later reprimanded by Otso Berg for allowing the Assassins to escape with the Eden Engine, as well as allow North to escape with the Isu. She aplogises to Berg for her failure, promising to make it up to him. Berg states that he will return to France with her and personally oversee the conclusion of Ramona's memories. Following an animus session, Leah is met by Berg when she emerges from the animus who irritatedly asks why Chavez is unable to directly access the memory needed to find Eden Engines. Leah explains that due to Ramona not being an ancestor she cannot simply pick and choose what memories to access, and reliving Ramona's memories from her DNA sample, she must sequence her memories in a linear fashion.
She asks if Abstergo have managed to locate any other Eden Engines, or at the very least, Kyle North. Berg informs her that Abstergo hasn't located either and states that their best chance of locating the Engines and drawing out North are locked away in Ramona's genetic memories. After taking a short break and refreshing herself, Leah prepares to re-enter the animus but Berg stops her. Leah is curious as to why, Berg informs her that he noticed that she had displayed signs of the bleeding effect in Cuba and that if Pierce and his allies were to get in their way again, Leah would need to stop him for good.
Berg then directs her to spar with him, complying the two spar and while Leah displays some talent with Ramona's skills, she is still handily defeated by Berg. Critiquing her style, Berg states that she will need to increase her animus sessions to better inherit Ramona's abilities. As well as this, he will regularly test her to see her improvement. With that, he tells her to return to the animus.
Allying with the Assassins[]
During that session, Leah is contacted by the Isu Magni directly through Ramona's memories and urges her to ally with the Assassins in their goal to stop North and Shakuru. Later that day, Leah spars once more with Otso Berg and the two discuss the recent footage. Leah expresses her bewilderment at being directly spoken to by a member of the Isu through the genetic memories of another, Berg explains that this is not an uncommon occurence, recalling of similar experiences by the Assassins Clay Kaczmarek, Desmond Miles, Charlotte de la Cruz and more, and that these indiviudals were referred to as Ciphers. Leah then questions if they should indeed work with the Assassins, at least temporarily, expressing that it made sense in her eyes.
Berg admits that this would not be the first time he allied with the Assassins, Leah then states that she remembered reading the reports on Resurrection Day. During their sparring session, Leah accidentally triggers Eagle Vision which she inherited from Ramona. Overwhelmed by her sudden activation of the sixth sense, she is quickly defeated by Berg. Leah explains to Berg what had just happened which he reveals to her the nature of Eagle Vision.
Following this, Leah receives a notification ping on her laptop. Leah and Berg then find out they have been contacted by Jason Hart, his message details their shared information and Magni's message to both groups. Jason's message then gives them the choice of working together or remaining at odds, providing a specific meeting location should they choose to ally together. Leah asks Berg what they should do and the Master Templar states that it is in humanity's best interest if the Assassins and Templars come together this one time. However, he adds that once the North and Isu threat is dealt with, Pierce and Yasutake's cell are to be disposed of immediately and if possible, acquire genetic material from Pierce.
A day later, Leah and Berg meet up with the Assassins in the locatio they requested. They overhear a conversation between the Assassins, expressing their apprehension to working with the Templars while Pierce argues that its for the greater good and ensured future of humanity. Berg responds to this, agreeing with Horatio as he emerges from the shadows alongside Leah. Berg informs the Assassins that this is not his first time working alongside their Order for the greater good. Leah then adds that they will be able to locate the Eden Engines faster together than alone, Hayley shows her awareness that once the Isu threat is dealt with and asks what Abstergo plans to do with the Eden Engines after. Berg confirms that the capabilities of the Eden Engines are too dangerous for humanity to hold, revealing that Abstergo plans to keep them separated but locked away. Leah asks if the Assassins have the Eden Engine they recovered from the museum and Horatio confirms that they do but it has been hidden.
In France, the Assassins are brought over to Ramona's crypt where they are to begin working with the Templars. After sharing their discoveries within the animus, the two groups come to realise they have recovered similar information. Following this, Leah and Horatio return to the animus where their sessions are to be monitored side by side in the hopes of finding out information one or the other may not have access to due to the constraints of Ramona and Küpeyakwüskonam's memories.
A few hours later, Leah and Horatio are pulled from the animus, much to Berg's dismay as he argues time being of the essence. However, Hayley argues that Horatio and Leah's health and mental state are a priority as well, overexposure within the animus would make them liabilities if they were to re-encounter North and Shakuru again. Following this, Erica mentions that she noticed the day Küpeyakwüskonam and Ramona are in Pachena Bay was the same day of the Cascadia earthquake of 1700. She reveals that the earthquake caused a tsunami which struck the west coast of North America and the coast of Japan, including Pachena Bay, wiping out the Huu-ay-aht village with no survivors.
Expressing their shock, Leah is surprised to find out that Ramona and Küpeyakwüskonam were capable of surviving that earthquake. Berg then states that if the Eden Engines are powerful enough to cause a 9.2 magnitude earthquake, North and Shakuru acquiring all three Eden Engines was more dangerous than they realised. When combined, they had the potential to wipe out all of humanity through creating large scale earthquakes across the world. Horatio then recalls Canaqueese telling Küpeyakwüskonam that the Eden Engines were sought for in order to "create a new world", Leah adds onto this and realises that the Eden Engines must have restorative properties as well as destructive.
Mesmerised, Jason comments on how the Eden Engines are one of the most powerful Pieces of Eden in existence. Hayley begrudgingly adds that Berg was correct in wanting to keep them out of both Assassin and Templar hands. To Berg's dismay, Hayley proposes that Horatio and Leah take a break while she and Berg attempt to formulate a plan on what to do with the Eden Engines upon recovery. Leah asks Berg if they are going to spar later on today to which Horatio offers as he "needs to stretch his legs a bit". Reluctantly, Leah agrees.
A little while later, Horatio and Leah head outside and begin sparring. Horatio is clearly going easy on her which she notices and tells him not to, complying he puts in his full effort and quickly floors her, much to Leah's annoyance. Helping her up, Horatio asks Leah why she joined the Templars stating that she seemed young and "not the Templar-type". Leah responds stating that the Templars aren't emotionless evil white dudes like the men he's killed in his ancestor's memories, she further expresses her opinions on humanity and how inherently flawed they are and were too barbaric to be left to their own devices.
Horatio comments on how that's a bleak way to look at it, she asks him how he views it and how its any better than anarchy. Horatio responds that he views humanity like a child. That, like a human child, humanity collectively must grow and mature their behaviour as they age similar to a baby growing into an adult. And because of this, he believes that humans are capable of ultimately evolving from their barbaric nature through nurture and education. Leah asks how that's possible through freewill, seeing as humans without any structure or order turn to things such as piracy, revolution, murder, rape and more.
Correcting her, Horatio explains that the Assassins do not fight for anarchy or total freedom, agreeing that it does invite chaos. After having experienced the lives of multiple Assassins and experiencing their own thoughts and feelings on what it means to be an Assassin, he explains that the Assassin's Creed and its phrase of "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" is merely a guideline on how to practice freedom responsibly, as well as merely being an observation of human existence. He expresses true peace should be achieved through the freedom of learning from one another and acquiring wisdom and knowledge that allows it, as opposed to the Templar goals of enforcing peace.
Horatio then shares his views on the Templar ideology, stating that he empathises with their wish for peace but heavily disagrees with their methods, sharing his belief that an enforced peace is not true peace and that not only does it rob us of our freedom, but also our individuality, essentially our humanity. Leah meets his response with silence, taking in everything that Horatio said, having her view of the Assassins challenged by Horatio and spending so much time in the memories of an Assassin had begun to waver her belief in the Templar ideals. However, she kept this information to herself, meeting Horatio's ideologies with a dry joke that he was "practically a hundred years old" with "all the old dead men" in his head.
Leah then confesses that Horatio isn't as bad as she thought she'd be...for an Assassin, however she calls him an "asshole" for "beating her up" in Cuba. To which Horatio accepts, taking the slight on the chin. With that, he offers to spar again.
Pierce's sacrifice[]
The following day, Leah and Horatio return to the animus and eventually learn of the Eden Engine's location a few hours later. They exit the animus and without having to discuss what they found with the others, all prepare to split up and recover the Eden Engines.
Leah, Berg and Sigma Team are accompanied by the Assassins to Champ de Mars with the plan of flying over to the Algohoma District in Northeastern Ontario, once they recover the Eden Engine in France. The Assassins and Templars arrive in Paris 7 hours later at 1:00am, making their way over to Champ de Mars Horatio finds a dug up hole where the Eden Engine is supposed to be. The group are horrified to realise that they have been beaten in recovering the Eden Engine, Jason rationalises this and comments that the Eden Engine they recovered in Cuba was safely hidden but Berg refutes this, stating that the revived Isu are just as dangerous with two.
Suddenly, Horatio's precognitive Eagle Vision is triggered when he begins loud ominous whispering, alerting the others that the Isu are still here. Following this, Sigma Team members who suddenly kill themselves. They are then met by North, Shakuru and the remaining Isu clad in armor and wielding Swords and Apples of Eden. Shakuru mocks the two groups, calling their war pathetic and miniscule in the grand scheme of the Isu's resurgence, and it was this very reason as to why they needed to be wiped out.
Horatio asks how it is they located the other Eden Engines to which North reveals that D'aureville was a reborn Isu and he was able to access his past memories much faster than an animus. Leah comments on how that doesn't explain how they managed to find the Eden Engines specifically. North reveals to the Assassins and Templars that during D'aureville's fight with Küpeyakwüskonam and Ramona, the explosion that occurred when Küpeyakwüskonam separated the Eden Engines, D'aureville was granted a vision of the Eden Engines across time, including where they would be in 2022. Shakuru then adds that they also recovered the second Engine in Canada, confirming they have two now.
Shakuru then activates the Apple of Eden which she uses on the Assassins in an effort to make them kill themselves, however, due to Horatio's high concentration of Isu genes, he is able to resist its effects. Picking up a pistol from one of the dead Sigma Team members, he shoots at Shakuru but a Ring of Eden she is carrying prevents her from being shot, however, it was enough to break her concentration on the Apple. The others are broken from their compelling and Horatio urges them to rid themselves of all their weapons so the Isu cannot compell them to commit suicide.
Berg refuses revealing that Abstergo had created a prototype device that protected humans from the effects of Apples, using it on himself and Leah they aid Horatio in his fight against North and the others. Weaponless, Hayley aids them as well. Meanwhile, Jason and Erica are forced to remain on the sidelines as they aren't field operatives. During the skirmish, Horatio and Leah were able to remove an Eden Engine from North and Jason and Erica are able to recover it, fleeing toward Dupleix. North and Shakuru give chase with Horatio and Hayley following suit after Berg elects to remain behind and handle the other Isu, ordering Leah to follow the Assassins.
Leah, Horatio and Hayley come to find Jason and Erica have been forced to hand over the Eden Engine by North through the Apple of Eden, and that Shakuru has proceeded to unify the two Eden Engines together to destroy France. Resuming their fight against the reborn Isu and his lover. Hayley and Leah manage to disarm both North and Shakuru of their Apples, and Jason and Erica are able to kick them away, keeping them out of the Isu's grasp.
During this fight, the Eden Engine inches closer and closer to merging - Erica theorises that the energy generated from the complete union of the two Eden Engines was enough to completely wipe out France. North elects to stay behind to ensure that the Eden Engines unification is successful, hesitant at first Shakuru agrees and promises him that his sacrifice will not be in vain before quickly knocking down Hayley before preparing to flee. However, she is stopped by Leah with the Templar slicing at her throat with a knife, Shakuru drops to the floor, gargling on her own blood before dying. Enraged at the death of his lover, North attacks Leah but Horatio steps in, engaging him briefly once more before assassinating him, killing him for good. Watching as the reborn Isu dies, Horatio reminds him that that was for his father.
The Eden Engines are close to completing their unification when the surrounding area begins to rumble, showing signs of an impending earthquake. Horatio tells the members of his team to flee, reminding them that his Isu genetics will be able to separate the Eden Engines and if he was unable to, they would all have a head start at making their escape. Hayley, Jason and Erica initially refuse but Horatio manages to convince them that its the right thing to do, and that they need to go on to fight another day. Hayley tells Horatio that she loves him with him reciprocating.
Leah and the other Assassins make their way to the exit with Leah telling the others to escape before Berg calls for reinforcements, offering to lie to the Master Templar and say that they escaped during the chaos. Jason asks why she, a Templar, would do this with Leah stating that she'd seen enough death for one day.
Leah witnesses the same and hangs her head low before she is met by Berg. He asks what happened and where the Assassins were, Leah lies to him telling him that the others fled in the chaos but Horatio sacrificed himself to stop the Eden Engines. Acknowledging this, Berg calls in an Abstergo recovery unit to collect the two Eden Engines and search for Horatio's body, mentioning that his genetic memory may be useful.
Back to 'normality'[]
A week later, Leah is at an Abstergo facility in North America. She is overlooking the data from Horatio's genetic memories that were uploaded to the Abstergo Cloud, feeling an immense regret at how Horatio's memories were being exploited despite his sacrifice. Leah overhears some Abstergo executives discussing on what will be done with the samples recovered from Horatio, revealing that they plan to launch an initiative similar to the Sample 17 Project in order to locate Pieces of Eden that his ancestors may have recovered or interacted with in the past, or at the very least find suitable material for Helix programs, feature films, and other related content.
Bothered by what she is hearing, Leah makes her way to the animus facility where she enters a HR-8 with Ramona's DNA uploaded and interpreted onto it. In order to distract herself from the guilt she is feeling, Leah begins reliving Ramona's later memories in order to satisfy her curiosity on what happened to the Assassin following her time in New France.
Personality and traits[]
Leah's outlook of the world aligned with the Templars, outraged by the injustices and the abhorant acts humanity was capable of made her a perfect candidate for the Templar Order. With her less than flattering opinion on humanity and their behavioural tendencies, Leah had no faith that it was capable of reaching consensus on its own and truly believed that the best way to achieve peace was through forcing it on humanity, whatever the cost.
Leah was a logical and analytical individual, rarely displaying her emotions and taking a more professional approach with a strict adherence to policy and protocol. Despite this though, Leah has a sense of humor and a more laid back side of herself as shown in her journal entries.
Chavez inquisitive mind made her highly interested in the technology of the animus and the concept of reliving a historical figures' genetic memories, which in-turn resulted in an interest in history itself, being able to explore how history truly happened. In her journals, she expressed her desire to extensively research the lives of various figures through history if the bleeding effect wasn't such a huge risk.
Equipment and skills[]
Following her time spent reliving the genetic memories of the Spanish-French Assassin Ramona Lucia, Leah began to inherit some of the Assassins skills and abilities via the Bleeding Effect which included freerunning and Ramona's vast knowledge of combat, including hand-to-hand fighting. Leah also developed Eagle Vision from her time as Ramona.
Prior to this though, Leah was highly intelligent which resulted in her discovery of the Assassin-Templar conflict, leading to her induction into the Templar Order. Having graduated college with a bachelor's degree, Leah was a highly skilled individual capable of engineering, analytical research and using a variety of technology. Leah used her skills to provide technical and tactical support to a variety of Templar teams.
Trivia[]
- Leah is a biblical name of Hebrew origin meaning 'delicate' or 'weary'. The surname Chavez is an alternate spelling of the name Chaves, an ancient Portuguese surname that literally means "keys," from the Portuguese Chaves and Spanish laves (Latin clavis). Often an occupational surname was given to someone who made keys for a living.
- Leah stands at 5'7 and weights 129lbs.
- Similar to her Assassin counterpart Horatio Pierce, Leah is apalled by the injustices in society. However, as opposed to Horatio who believes peace can be achieved through educating man and allowing them the freewill to make peace, Leah believes that humanity is incapable of peace on their own.