Assassin's Creed II

Following the events of Assassin's Creed, Desmond Miles (Nolan North) is rescued from Abstergo by undercover Assassin Lucy Stillman (Kristen Bell) and taken to a safehouse, where he meets her team, consisting of historian and analyst Shaun Hastings (Danny Wallace) and technician Rebecca Crane (Eliza Schneider). They have constructed their own Animus, which they intend to use to train Desmond as an Assassin through the "bleeding effect," which allows the user to learn their ancestor's skills at a rapid pace. Desmond is instructed to relive the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Roger Craig Smith), born into a wealthy Florentine family in 1459, during the Italian Renaissance.
By 1476, Ezio has grown into a charismatic but reckless young man. After his father Giovanni (Romano Orzari) and brothers Federico (Elias Toufexis) and Petruccio are framed for treason and executed by corrupt magistrate Uberto Alberti (Michel Perron), Ezio retrieves his father's Assassin equipment and murders Uberto in revenge. Ezio and his remaining family—his mother Maria (Ellen David) and sister Claudia (Angela Galuppo)—flee Florence and head to their ancestral home in Monteriggioni. There, Ezio's uncle Mario (Fred Tatasciore) explains their family's role as members of the Assassin Brotherhood, and reveals that Giovanni was killed because he had uncovered a conspiracy masterminded by the Templar Order, the Assassins' sworn enemies.

After being trained as an Assassin, Ezio pursues vengeance against the Templars, most of whom are members of noble families like the Pazzi and Barbarigos. His journey spans over a decade and leads Ezio to make several allies, including inventor Leonardo da Vinci (Carlos Ferro), who provides him with equipment based on information left by the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad; statesman Lorenzo de' Medici (Alex Ivanovici), whom he saves from the Pazzi's assassination plot; and Caterina Sforza (Cristina Rosato), the Countess of Forlì. Eventually, Ezio uncovers the identity of the Templar Grand Master, Rodrigo Borgia (Manuel Tadros), who plotted to secure control of Italy and obtain a powerful Apple of Eden. In 1488, Ezio intercepts the Apple in Venice and confronts Rodrigo, who reveals his intention to unlock "the Vault", which he believes will grant him god-like powers. Rodrigo almost overpowers Ezio, but is forced to flee and abandon the Apple when the latter's allies arrive to help. Believing Ezio to be "the Prophet" destined to open the Vault, Mario, along with other Assassins, formally induct him into the Brotherhood.
In the present, Desmond suffers side-effects from the bleeding effect, experiencing a memory of Altaïr. Inside the Animus, he finds glyphs similar to the drawings he found in his cell at Abstergo, which, when deciphered, reveal a video file of two human slaves stealing an Apple. The video ends with the ASCII codes for "EDEN". The team theorizes the two humans are Adam and Eve, the first man and woman.
With several memory sequences too corrupted to access (later made available as DLC), the team sends Desmond to the final memory in 1499. After discovering the Vault is located underneath the Papal Palace, Ezio infiltrates the Vatican and battles Rodrigo, now Pope Alexander VI, who is empowered by the Papal Staff—another Piece of Eden. Ezio defeats Rodrigo, but spares his life, having overcome his desire for revenge. He then unlocks the Vault using the Apple and the Staff, and is contacted by the hologram of Minerva (Margaret Easley). Aware that Desmond is listening, Minerva explains how her people, the First Civilization, created humanity to serve them, but were destroyed by a catastrophe. The survivors joined forces with humanity, building a network of vaults to preserve their technology and prevent a future disaster. Before vanishing, she tells Desmond that only he has the power to fulfill the "prophecy", leaving Desmond and Ezio confused.
In the present, Abstergo agents led by Warren Vidic (Philip Proctor) attack the hideout, forcing the team to evacuate. 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 is scheduled to occur in a few months, which will likely trigger the same event that ended the First Civilization. Desmond prepares to reenter the Animus, leading into the events of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

The Battle of Forlì

In 1488, shortly after recovering the Apple of Eden from Rodrigo, Ezio meets with Mario, Leonardo, and the Assassin Niccolò Machiavelli (Shawn Baichoo) to discuss what to do in order to protect the artifact, ultimately deciding to send it to Caterina Sforza in Forlì. However, when Ezio and Machiavelli arrive in the city, they find it under siege by an army of mercenaries led by Checco and Ludovico Orsi, who have been hired by Rodrigo to obtain a map made by Caterina's late husband showing the locations of Altaïr's Codex pages, which in turn lead to the Vault. The Orsi brothers kidnap Caterina's children to force her to surrender the map, but Ezio is able to assassinate Ludovico and rescue the children. However, he learns that while he was away, Checco stole the Apple, which Ezio had left with Caterina. Although Ezio ultimately kills Checco and retrieves the Apple, he is stabbed and collapses as an unknown black-robed individual walks up and steals the Apple. After being nursed back to health by Caterina, Ezio obtains the map from her and sets out to recover the Apple. Suspecting that the thief is a friar, he travels to a nearby monastery and questions the local abbot, who reveals that the man who stole the Apple is Girolamo Savonarola.

Bonfire of the Vanities

In 1497, after searching for Savonarola and the Apple for nearly a decade, Ezio tracks them down to Florence, where Savonarola has used the Apple to remove the Medici from power and take over. After meeting with Machiavelli, Ezio devises a plan to bring Savonarola out of hiding by assassinating his nine lieutenants, who preach in the city during the bonfire of the vanities. After killing all the lieutenants, the people become furious and form a mob, prompting Savonarola to come out and preach to them. When this fails to dissuade the angry crowd, he tries to use the Apple on them, but Ezio disarms him with a throwing knife and recovers the artifact. Savonarola is then carried by the mob to the Piazza della Signoria, where he is set to be burnt at the stake. However, Ezio, believing no one deserves such a painful fate, quickly ends the friar's life by stabbing him in the neck with his hidden blade. He then stands before the confused crowd and declares that all should follow their own path, as he was taught by his mentors.