#Eleazar Azoulay | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

quizzyisdone · 5 months ago

Text

The Colour Red (Pt. II) | Jason Hudson x Fem! Bell x Russell Adler

Chapter Title: Bad Moon Risin' Word Count: 3.7k Pairing: Jason Hudson x Fem! Bell x Russell Adler Masterlist Synopsis: Bell and Adler arrive at the safehouse in West Germany, where she meets the rest of her team, save Alex Mason and Frank Woods. The team gets down to business -- they've all gathered to take down the elusive Perseus, the infamous soviet agent whom they know next to nothing about, save for that he's planning something big. That much, Adler is sure of. To figure out their next move, Adler and Park use a memory recollection technique to help Bell recall Operation: Fracture Jaw, yet another memory Bell had lost due to her head injury two months prior. A/N: Hey! I'm back, totally not inspired by the new Black Ops VI trailer at all. Like, at all. Anyways, here is the next installment of my personal favorite series, The Colour Red. Keep in mind this is a slowburn fic, and sorry about the lack of Hudson in this chapter. I hope you enjoy! Warnings: Strong language, mentions of weapons, canon-typical violence.

**Title inspired by "Bad Moon Risin'" by Credence Clearwater Revival

[Part One] [Part Two]

You don't need to read part one to understand this chapter, btw

The car halted to a full stop as Bell fluttered open her eyes, Adler lightly shook her shoulder, stirring her even further awake.

“Bell. Welcome to West Berlin” He gave a half-hearted smile, a cigarette between his teeth. Bell groggily roused herself from the passenger seat, watching Adler closely as he held the lighter close to his face, letting a puff of smoke blow back in the wind behind him.

The light from the flame illuminated the scarred half of his face, and she could see that where he had shaven was uneven and choppy, a stark contrast to the close shave on the “normal” side of his face. Still rather handsome, barring his scars. He had a classically attractive, well structured face, resembling that of movie stars such as Robert Redford. Blonde hair, blue eyes and very charismatic. He must have many women wrapped around his finger back in the states, Bell presumed.

Adler took one last glance at her, then began to approach a woman that was leaning against an old, worn garage door. Bell took in her features as well.

She had an uncanny familiarity about her. She had silky, jet black hair cut and styled into a practical bob, unusually tall but athletically built, and she sported pragmatic yet stylish clothing. She had delicate, feminine features but still yet appeared to be able to keep up with the likes of a black ops legend such as Adler -- a strange dichotomy between graceful and deadly.

Adler had told Bell that she was a legend in her own rite at MI6, that’s why he had requested her for the op. Apparently, it was true that while she was known for her lethality and pretty appearance, it was her brain, not the obvious honey trap she is, that he was interested in. Adler had joked several times that she was a walking cliche, a classic femme fatale type.

The more Bell seemed to take in her appearance, her shattered memory would begin to piece itself together again. Her face. A red door. A jungle. Sterile white lights. Televisions. War footage. Then nothing. Whenever she was on the precipice of piecing her memory back together, it seemed it would shatter again.

Adler glanced back. “You comin’?” He said with a slight frown. Sheepishly, Bell nodded, not having realized she spent too much time what would appear to the others as staring into space for no apparent reason.

Bell hurried to catch up with him, trailing behind Adler closely even as the oddly familiar, yet bitter scent of tobacco filled her nose. That closeness, she wondered, it may be obvious to Adler, which she could live with, but would it escape the notice of the others? She hated that, her clinginess to him, but it made some sense (at least that is how Bell would justify it) -- Adler was the only kind face she could remember after her fall.

Although she didn’t want to admit it, she preferred to be close to him at all times. His presence was comforting, the anxiety she felt would fade away in an instant -- she could almost forget that she couldn’t remember. One might mistake the connection for romantic, as Hudson, their handler had pointed out rather astutely (and irritably) before they departed from Langley today.

Bell couldn't help but notice the parallels either, he very much played the part of her knight in shining armor, saving her from sure death, never having left her side while she healed, gently guiding her as she navigated regaining her lost memory. Although she must admit she has lingered on such an idea, Bell recognized Adler very likely felt no such way towards her.

She knew his feelings towards her. They had been through hell and back together, saved each other's ass, and understood each other like no one else. Bell knew where she stood, something more than a friend but less than a lover. It was a strange, blurry purgatory between platonic affection and passionate love.

He had helped her remember the basics. With his guidance, she now knew that her name was Anabelle Meyers, hence the name “Bell”. She was a cryptographer and a linguist working for MI6, she had spent the better part of a year in Vietnam with Adler when she began working a joint operation with MACV-SOG and MI6 and they’ve been friends for 13 years. Two months ago, on a solo operation, she had taken a long, hard fall, hitting her head. Bell would've died if Adler hadn't been there by random chance. Bell could recall that in perfect detail now, although it was fuzzy just a week ago.

“Park.” He acknowledged and nodded towards her. He glanced back, noticing how Bell followed so closely behind him and smiled to himself. It gave him some kind of pride that she leaned on him as a protector of sorts.

“She looks familiar.” Bell whispered as soon as they were out of earshot of Park.

Adler stopped in his tracks for naught but a second, “Maybe you saw her at the Century House in London back in the day.” She knew that it wasn’t likely they had never been acquainted, nor ever having even met each other, but Bell let the conversation go -- chalking it up as some kind of weird deja vu nonsense.

When the door opened it revealed a large warehouse-like room with a table set in the middle, a bulletin board with the face of man that was supposedly Perseus and a giant red circle around it (Bell quickly noticed how the picture gave her an uneasy pit in her stomach and her head would begin to hurt), an array of weapons upon a wall guarded by chain link fence with a lock, and all the other stereotypical features befitting a CIA safehouse.

“We’ll talk later, okay?” Adler whispered to Bell as he approached the gathering of folks around the table set in the middle. “Bell, this is Helen Park, Lawrence Sims who you’ve already met, and Eleazar Azoulay. We just call him Lazar, though.” He introduced her to them.

Lazar gave her a friendly but quiet hello, Park nodded, and Sims simply stared daggers at her before turning his gaze back to Adler. “Mason and Woods are finishing some business in Kiev, but you’ll meet them later.”

“Do I know them?” Bell asked meekly and Park cocked an eyebrow, smirking to herself as she glanced at Adler, silently beckoning him to answer the question.

“Ah,” Adler chuckled lightly. “No, you know them by reputation, but not, ah, personally.” Bell nodded in response before letting him continue. He turned back to the rest of the group, while Bell stood snug behind Adler. “There’s been a surge in Russian chatter for the past 48 hours. The CIA and DoD are tapping their inside sources for anything substantial, but no leads of Perseus so far.”

“MI6 has come up empty handed as well.” Park added.

“We’ll have to start somewhere, so we’re going back to 1968, Vietnam.” He strode towards to the bulletin board, pointing at a polaroid picture of Sims and Adler sitting side by side, labeled Operation Fracture Jaw. “One our closest encounters with Perseus. Bell, you don’t remember this, of course, but you were there.”

“Fracture Jaw, what a steaming pile of shit that one was.” Sims grumbled.

“Also the first time where Perseus pinged our radar. While you were on the ground, you dug up some intel on him.” Adler continued, he held a folder with a dried, bloody handprint and Cyrillic printed on the front. “We’re gonna help jog your memory so you can crack this. At the time, the CIA’s best analysts couldn’t decode that thing, but we’re gonna have you take a shot.” Adler placed his hand on Bell’s shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze.

“Yeah.” Sims scoffed. “If even Weaver couldn’t crack it, what makes you think she can?” He had said it with such venom, such doubt that it made Bell wonder what had happened between them. She made a mental note to ask Adler about it later, but for the moment, she hardened her gaze, attempting to make herself seem less vulnerable than she truly felt.

“It can’t hurt, Sims. She’s always been one of the best, you know that.” Adler said pointedly. “Anyways, we’re gonna use a hypnosis technique. While our little Bell will be in a hypnotic state, I will be reading the operation report, retelling every detail of what happened when she and you were boots on ground. Theoretically, she should remember it all and be able to decode it.”

Sims shrugged, Park and Lazar nodded in affirmation. The group disbanded wordlessly, Park headed over to the computer by the gun rack with Lazar trailing behind and Sims went over the gate that locked the chain link fence. That had left her and Adler, as he lit another cigarette (his fourth in the last couple of hours, Bell noted) and sat at a chair in front of the evidence board.

He stared quietly at it, his mouth was set in a frown but his sunglasses had made it impossible to even begin to guess what the man was thinking.

“Adler,” Bell spoke quietly, tapping his shoulder. Adler smiled ever so slightly, the small gesture was a welcome change from Sims’ behavior just a moment ago. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything, kid.” He said coolly, taking a drag of his cigarette.

“That memory exercise we’re doing, we can use it to recover some of my memories?” A glint of hope appeared in her chestnut eyes.

He chuckled, low and husky. “Ain’t that exactly what we’re doing, Bell?” She rolled her eyes but gave a small laugh in return.

“You know what I mean. Like, the memories that aren’t from war or anything like that. Something a bit happier.”

Adler grimaced then sighed, ashing his cigarette and sitting up straighter, and the small smile that appeared on Bell’s face vanished, like she knew he was about to tell her some unfortunate news. The pair sat in an awkward silence as Adler thought about how to break it to her.

“We can’t really.” He reached for her hand, giving it a light squeeze before pulling away. “The memory exercise only works when you have either one or two things; a written documentation of a memory that we can actually get our hands on or someone who was also there that can recall the memory and tell it to ya.”

“Oh.”

“When we found you, you didn’t have a journal or anything on you. Not even dog tags. No one would have been able to identify you if I wasn’t there.” He pursed his lips, offering a small apologetic smile. “Sorry, Bell.”

“Well I mean, we’ve been friends for a while. What do you know about me? Anything about my family?” The hopefulness had returned to Bell’s eyes, and Adler could feel a lump forming in his throat as he thought deeply.

“Uh, well,” He cleared his throat. “You never spoke anything of them really, it seemed a sore spot for ya so none of us ever really pried.” She glanced down, looking utterly defeated as she sniffled. Adler tried to lighten the conversation at least a little. This wasn’t the place nor the time. “I know that you used to have a nicotine addiction worse than me.”

Bell chuckled. “I still crave them all the time.”

Adler chuckled, clapping her shoulder. “Tell you what,” He said, reaching into his pocket to grab his cigarettes. He handed one to her and she placed it between her teeth, giggling a little as he lit it for her. “I think you deserve at least one. Old habits die hard.” She took a drag, blowing a playful ‘O’ into his face. “Atta girl. I’ll get you a pack tomorrow.”

“I knew I liked you for some reason.” She smiled, the first genuine smile Adler had ever seen out of the woman.

“I’ve always been an enabler of your bad habits.”

January 26th, 1968

Camp Haskins, South Vietnam

0700

“Bell, time to wake up” A raspy voice had startled her awake, the boot of the offender shaking the fold up chair she had practically passed out in. She groggily opened her eyes to find her new teammate with a shit-eating grin on his face. “It’s crank time.”

“I’m up” She grumbled, rubbing her eyes. He swiped the chair back to the ground where Bell had been leaning, causing the legs to harshly meet the floor and she nearly fell forward. The man chuckled lightly.

“C’mon sleeping beauty, you knew we were doing this.”

“Yeah, I know.” The exhaustion was still evident in her voice as she rose from the chair, grabbing the M16 she had left leaning against the wall. She followed behind him, taking in the scene around her as she left the tent, the morning sun already beating against her skin.

It hadn’t been her first choice, being assigned as an agent working boots on ground with MACV-SOG, and it certainly wasn’t her first choice to be placed in the middle of buttfuck nowhere Vietnam. Her work was typically confined to that of a desk in an office, in the comfort of air conditioning and without the threat of an enemy attack at a moment’s notice. However, given her limited but notable military work, her handler thought she would be wasted back home in the comfort of an office in London.

Her handler was of course right, but she wished he wasn’t as the stench of gunsmoke, gasoline, and body odor filled her nose. She watched about a dozen shirtless, grimy men going about their business. Most had simply ignored her, but a few had leered at her as she passed by, perhaps bedazzled by the first clean and somewhat attractive thing they had probably seen with their own eyes in months, Bell cockily mused to herself.

“Camp Haskins, what a sausage fest.” Bell said quietly, chuckling.

“I heard that.” Adler yelled back good naturedly, and Bell half walked, half jogged to catch up with him. “You should be thankful, this place is a fuckin’ oasis compared to the shitstorm out there. Those boys keep it that way.”

“Yeah, yeah ‘God bless our troops’ and all that shit they keep telling us.” She jabbed Adler’s arm and he laughed softly.

“I know it’s not what you’re used to, but your handler could’ve done worse for you.” They approached the landing zone, her other new teammate, and Adler’s best friend, she had determined based on their interactions, sat on the ledge of a helicopter ready and waiting for them.

“Finally found Bell?” He hollered out over the sound of the whirling blades of the craft, without looking up from the magazine he was reading. Lawrence Sims was his name, he had dark skin with large, almost doe-like black eyes to match. He wasn’t a looker, but he had a friendly, jovial feel about him. Adler approached him, snatched the magazine from his hand to take a lingering glance at the lewd picture within.

“That shit’s gonna make you go blind, Sims.” He threw the magazine back at Sims as Bell loaded herself in.

“That’s why I want it all right up here.” He replied jokingly, pointing his finger to his temple and shooting a playful, friendly wink at Bell.

“You’re not helping Bell’s accusation that this place is a sausage fest.”

“I’d say she’s made an astute observation, then.” Sims clapped his hand on her shoulder. She returned their grin. However, as the pilots began to load in, the mood shifted dramatically with it, like someone had sucked all the humor out of the situation and brought them back to the real world. Adler took this as his cue.

“We got a new assignment. FOB 4 Ripcord is holding a vital asset that Charlie wants real bad.” He shouted over the deafening sound.

“What kinda asset we talking about?” Sims asked.

“The kind you don't ask about. Ripcord has been taking a hell of a beating, so it's our job to secure the asset and get the fuck out.” Bell began to stiffen and her palms began to sweat inexplicably, which Adler seemed to take notice of. “Relax. We got fast fliers providing combat air support for this mission. It'll be a walk in the park.”

“I’m holding you to that.” She said, putting on her headset as Adler took his leave. He climbed in the helicopter just opposite of them, and with that, about half the armada began to lift off. The chatter rang loud through the headset.

“Badger-niner-one good to go.”

“Badger-niner-two clear to go.”

“Badger-niner-three rotors up.”

Sims shuffled a bit, pulling a cassette tape from his pocket. “You like music?” He asked. Bell nodded, a lump beginning to form in her throat. “Good because I was gonna play it anyways.” He inserted the tape into the helicopter’s radio. He bobbed his head to the beat, singing to himself. His voice sounded muffled, the chatter over the radio began to sound more distant and then eventually, nonexistent. The only sound she could truly make out was the lyrics to the song Sims had played.

I see the bad moon a-risin' I see trouble on the way I see earthquakes and lightnin' I see bad times today

She felt sick, nauseous, the sound of the music only worsening the deep pit that began to build in her stomach, she began to sweat, hyperventilate, her vision became blurry, all the colors merging with the blinding light of the rising sun until-

Present Day

“Shit.” An indiscernible voice cursed, and with that, she felt a sharp jab on some unidentifiable place on her body and all faded into darkness again.

January 12th, 1968

“You all sitting comfortably?” Adler’s voice quirked up over the radio.

“Why do I feel like you’re about to tell us some bad news?” Bell quipped, noting how her palms were no longer sweaty the way they were just a second ago, calm had overcome her senses once more as she glanced around her. No one seemed to notice her little episode. Good.

“Because you’re a smart girl, Bell. But the news isn't bad. In fact it could be very, very good. The asset at Ripcord is gonna have to wait a little while. We're breaking off from the armada. Taking a detour.”

Sims raised his eyebrows at this new development. “And... that's good because?”

“A source tipped us off that there may be a heavy hitter from town, a Soviet operative known as Perseus.”

Bell’s head began to hurt again, the pain teetering on intolerable but she attempted to ignore it for the moment. However, the pain seemed to get worse and worse the more she tried not to think about it, and once again, her vision became blurry and all colors became one again.

“First time Perseus pinged our radar…”

Present Day

Bell found herself back in bed, the overhead light shining directly into her eyes again with a pounding headache to boot. She tentatively lifted her head and rolled onto her side, confused as to how she even ended up here. One moment, she was smoking with Adler and the next she was here.

“Oh God…” She groaned painfully, grabbing the water bottle that had been left on the table adjacent to her bed, gulping down nearly half the bottle in one go.

After she had come to, she began to hear the muffled voices from outside the door, although most of what they were saying was unintelligible, she managed to make out some words and phrases.

“...too much…”

“...resistance…try again soon”

“...need something to…won’t be happy…”

Bell couldn’t make out anymore, and the pounding in her skull overpowered her curiosity and she laid back down. She closed her eyes, yearning to let sleep take over her body once more when the door opened, Park and Adler walked in, both staring at her.

Adler’s eyes were of course, unreadable through his signature sunglasses but his expression was set into that of frustration, while Park’s seemed more confused than anything, her brow furrowed as if she was working out some complicated problem in her head.

“How are you feeling, Bell?” Park asked clinically.

“Like I got hit by a bus.” She whined, Park nodded in assent as she scribbled something in a notebook.

“That’s to be expected.” Park replied, not looking up from what she was writing. Adler cleared his throat as he sat at the foot of the bed, beckoning Park to put the pen down. “Forgive me, I’ve just been documenting the recovery of your memories.” She smiled. “I have a vested interest in your case, seeing as the methods we are using to help you remember are relatively new and-”

“Cut to the chase, Park.” Adler interrupted, and Park sighed in frustration at his impatience.

“The exercise we attempted tonight wasn’t as successful as we had hoped.” Park explained, reaching into her pocket to hand Bell two blue-colored pills. “For your head, love. You had some kind of reaction at the mention of Perseus during recollection that disrupted the hypnotic state. Pitiful thing, really. Your subconscious must have fairly negative feelings regarding your time spent with Adler in Vietnam.”

“That makes two of us, Bell.” Adler commented, the distaste evident in his tone as he stared off. “Not my favorite time to remember either.”

“Well, I do believe recollection can still be therapeutic for Bell and is essential to the task at hand. Get some sleep Bell, we’ll pick up where we left off in the morning,” Park gave a courteous smile and left the small, sorry excuse for a room, closing the door behind her. Silence hung in the air for a moment as Bell and Adler were left alone.

“I’m counting on you, Bell. Get some good sleep, need ya sharp for this.” Adler broke the silence, standing from where he sat and heading for the door as well. As he turned the handle, he looked back towards Bell. “Remember, we’ve got a job to do.”

As she fell back asleep, the lyrics for the rest of that song tauntingly played again and again in her head.

Hope you got your things together Hope you are quite prepared to die Looks like we're in for nasty weather One eye is taken for an eye

Tags: @mayasnowforest @kult6 -- I know you guys asked to be tagged like two years ago, but here y'all are <3

#i changed it from magic carpet ride bc i think bad moon rising lends itself rlly well to the foreshadowing #russell adler #russell adler x bell #russell adler x reader #black ops cold war #frank woods #call of duty black ops 6 #cod #call of duty #bocw #bo:cw #black ops #helen park #eleazar azoulay #lawrence sims #quizzy writes #jason hudson #alex mason #call of duty black ops

67 notes · View notes

islandtarochips · 6 months ago

Note

[MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: UNKNOWN]

"Koa Nakiu.

Hope this message reaches you well. I've always wanted to say that you've been one of the closest aids I've ever met, and I'm grateful for your kind companionship. But now, with everything in my control, I just wanted to say this very thing to you — that I'm sorry.

I'm sorry that you went through all that pain just to come this far. You never deserved that in the first place. And I'm sorry that I have to let you go, as well. Maybe one day, I'll see you again. Because right now, we all are balancing on a tight string and a huge pit surrounding darkness is waiting for one of us to come down. I can't let that happen. I need to make things better, in my power.

That's why. I would only want you to tell the rest of our allies.. that they shouldn't worry about me. I could be everywhere, making sure you all are okay. Tell Aleks and Charles that I'll be fine, because I've vanished from the world now. Only for the sake of them, and for the world.

Your truly, Vorona."

Arthur's Note: I shall answer this one...with a ONESHOT story. Here it is! (And sorry @welldonekhushi for taking so long! It took me a while to find some time and ideas to get this right. Hope this is ok...)

-----------------------------------------------

“Vorona? Who the fuck is Vorona?” Koa asked himself after reading this mysterious letter.

He had found it in his drawer after withdrawing himself from the party. The party that they are celebrating for winning the war. Him and the gang had saved Europe from Perseus who was about to release the Nuke all over the area.

And they have stopped him. All thanks to Bell for telling them the location of where Perseus was at.

Koa had kept staring at the letter, trying to figure out who would put this paper into his drawer before heading out to finish the mission.

He also questions how this mystery person knows his name and knows about Aleks and Charles. He thought it might be a threat but the way he reads sentence after sentence.

It…doesn’t sound threatening at all. It somehow makes him feel…guilty all of a sudden.

Koa rubbed his head as he felt puzzled. He wanted to know of who actually left this letter in HIS drawer and how they know about him. Until he smells a familiar scent from the letter.

He slowly put it up close to his face as he took a good sniff from it. The scent of a cologne mixed with a smoking smell from a cigarette. And then it triggered his memory of seeing someone recognizable.

Koa looked at the wall as he remembered now. “...Bell?”

He imagined the Russian man smiling at him softly.

“What the-”

He looked back at the letter as he felt something bad had happened. Something happened that HE wasn’t there for the man he called his close friend and brother.

He read it again as his hand started shaking.

Why does he feel the heaviness in his heart?

Why does he feel like his body is shaking so much?

He folded the letter and put it in his pocket before walking out of his room. As he saw the gang is still partying.

Park, Sims and Lazar were talking. While Hudson was getting annoyed by Woods drunkenly talking to him as Mason was just laughing.

And then saw Charles and Aleks were chatting away remembering a good time.

But where is Adler and Bell?

He walked over to Charles and Aleks as he got the two attention.

“Koa! Hermano! You’re missing yourself with the drink that you like!” Aleks said with a cheerful tone and with a bright smile; as she grabbed another cup that was on the table next to her. She walked up to him before she saw Koa’s expression. “Hey…you ok? You seem like you saw a ghost.”

Koa looked down at Aleks, seeing her worried expression. He cleared his throat before looking around. “Have you seen Bell and Adler? I need to talk with them. Or…make that Adler.”

Aleks pondered a bit as she tried to remember. “Um…well…I only saw Adler. I was also questioning where Bell was as well. But I didn’t ask him yet.”

“Then where is Adler?”

“He should be outside smoking.”

Charles stepped in looking at the two. “What’s going on?”

“Koa was just asking where's Adler and Bell.”

Charles was taking a sip from his drink before looking around. “Hmmm. All I can remember is that it was only Adler who came in last. I don’t think I’ve seen Bell anywhere.”

Charles saw Koa’s expression had turned pale and saw he didn’t hear him. “Nakiu? Helloooooo? Earth to NAKIU.” He snapped his fingers in front of Koa.

The big man jolted at hearing the snap of the Professor’s fingers. “U-Uh- Sorry! I um…”

“¿Estás bien? What’s going on?’ Aleks asked as she looked even more worried for her Māori friend.

Before Koa could answer, he saw Adler walk back in. “I’ll be right back.” He quickly walked past Charles and Aleks as he hurriedly walked up to the CIA man.

“Adler!”

Adler turned his head to see Koa walking up to him so quickly as he stood firm. While flicking his cigarette away. “Yes, Nakiu?”

Koa got up to him as he took a deep breath and looked at him. Looking deep through this man’s sunglasses that he always wore wherever he goes. “Adler…I…I need to know. Where is Bell?”

Adler raised his eyebrows a bit after hearing that question. Before looking away to avoid the Captain’s gaze.

Koa knew something was up. He kept asking him that same question. “Adler. WHERE is BELL?” He saw him trying to turn away from him but he stopped him.

“Don’t you fucking turn away from ME, Adler. ANSWER my question.” Koa started to protest while blocking his way.

“MOVE. NAKIU. I got other business to get done.” Adler warned the Captain.

“The business shit is ALREADY done!”

Aleks quickly stepped in between the two before looking at Koa. “K-Koa, calm down. What’s going on?”

Koa started to point at Adler as he didn’t listen to Aleks. “Where IS he, Adler? I just want to KNOW!” He didn’t pay attention to anyone else except to Adler. He was so focused on getting an answer from this CIA agent. He KNOWS that he had something to hide.

He’s feeling impatient but did his best to stay cool.

Charles also stepped in before touching Koa’s shoulder. “Nakiu. You need to calm down.”

Koa shoved his hand away before pushing Aleks aside gently as he took a step forward towards Adler.

The Agent took a step back as his back touched against the wall. While staring up at the angry Captain.

The rest of the gang saw this as well as they walked over to see what was going on.

Mason stood next to Aleks. “What’s going on? Why is Koa like this?”

Aleks was just looking worried as she wanted to stop Koa from doing anything stupid. But somehow deep down inside of her tells her to wait and see. “I-I…I don’t know. Koa kept asking Adler where's Bell…”

“You know…I was questioning that too.” Woods said as he took a step in. “Hey ADLER! Where IS Bell huh? I thought he was with YOU.”

Adler was silenced as he was just staring at Woods, who is a bit drunk, through his sunglasses before looking back at Koa.

The Māori man was towering over him a bit, he was DESPERATE to know where his friend, his ally, his BROTHER.

“ADLER. PLEASE. I’m begging you. WHERE is BELL?”

Adler was still being quiet as he looked away. Koa was getting annoyed at this. He took another step forward, cornering Adler, and glared at him. “ADLER! Where is BE-”

“HE’S GONE!”

The garage was in deep silence after Adler had yell with those TWO simple words. The words had cut so deep into Koa’s heart.

Aleks, Charles and everyone else in the garage were shocked to hear this. Except for Hudson, Sims and Park. For some reason...

Koa was just standing there with wide eyes. “W-What…?”

“He’s FUCKING gone, Koa! You happy now?” Adler said with an annoyance in his tone but with a small guilt mixed with it.

Aleks was covering her mouth in shock. While Charles was just standing there also being shocked and was gripping his glass.

Mason walked over as he touched Koa’s shoulder while glaring at Adler. “Russel. What do you mean he’s GONE?”

“What did you do to him, Adler?” Woods asked the question as he took a step forward while glaring at him.

Adler was silenced again as he sighed trying to find the right words.

Aleks looked at Adler with saddened eyes. “Adler…?”

He was about to say something before jolting at Koa, grabbing him by his leather brown jacket and getting his back slammed against the wall.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HIM?!?” Koa yelled, making everyone panic.

Mason quickly grabbed Koa’s shoulder trying to pull him away but he’s too stubborn and strong to be pulled back. “KOA! CALM DOWN!”

“Koa! Let go of him NOW!” Hudson ordered the Captain.

But he didn’t listen as he slammed Adler again against the wall. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO BELL?!? TELL ME!”

Adler groaned as he grabbed onto Koa's arms. “Let GO of me, you bastard! Get OFF!"

“Not until you TELL me what you did to the man who had HELPED us!”

“For fuck sake- LAZAR!” Hudson rubbed the bridge of his nose before pointing at Lazar.

Lazar stepped in and helped Mason to pull Koa away.

The Captain struggled to get out of their grip while still yelling at Adler.

Charles scoffed seeing this scene before looking at Adler. “Answer the DAMN question, Adler. What did you do to him and WHERE is he?” Then he glared at Hudson. “I know YOU have something to do with this as well.”

Hudson glared back at the Professor. “What made you say THAT?”

“Don’t play the dumb shit game here. You both are in the same agencies to SAVE the world but I know deep down that you’re just a bunch of BULLSHITS.” Charles snarled at both of the CIA agents. “So tell us the truth or I might reconsider Nakiu here to disfigure BOTH of your faces.”

Charles gave them both a daggered stare as he took a quick swig on his drink down to his throat. Before Adler sighs in defeat and fixes himself up.

“The CIA had already put Bell under a death sentence. We’re only using him and keeping him alive for some information about Perseus.” Adler explained.

Aleks was confused as she looked at Adler. “DEATH sentence? What does that supposed to mean?”

Hudson stepped in to answer that. “Which means that he’s already no use for us after this mission.”

Everyone was stunned. Except for Park and Sims as the two looked away. Koa caught the two as he glared at them. While still being held back by Lazar and Mason.

“You two know about this DIDN’T you?” Koa said with anger.

“Hey man! I’m just a guy who solves problems! Which, in case you FORGET, that I provide materials for y'all. I didn’t know about the death sentence until NOW!” Sims raised his hands in defense.

“Yeah, by putting a SYRINGE into his fucking EYEBALL?”

“You WHAT?” Mason looked at Sims and Park with a dumbfounded look. “You put a syringe into Bell’s EYES? WHY?!”

Park motioned her hands towards Mason to calm down. “It’s the only way to get his memory back for him to tell us of where Perseus was at.”

Woods walked up while pointing his finger at her. “BULLSHIT! He could’ve died from how many times you have to put that in him!”

Hudson stepped in between Woods and Park. “Alright ENOUGH! Let’s just take a breather!”

Aleks was just looking at the gang back and forth before looking at Adler who was just standing there. “Adler…why would you do that? He TOLD us of where Perseus was at. And yet, you decided to…to KILL him?”

“That wasn’t my choice. He’s already on a death sentence under the hands of the CIA. It’s unfair, yes. Which is why Hudson wanted me to end him instead of them.”

“You CAN’T even think of another way to let him stay? O-Or let him walk freely just for a bit?”

“It’s not that simple Aleks-”

“It should’ve been simple!” Aleks yelled at Adler as tears slowly appeared into her brown sad eyes. She could feel a small pain piercing into her chest. “He TRUSTED us! He trusted KOA! He trusted CHARLES! He trusted WOODS! MASON! ME! EVERYONE in this fucking safe house!”

Everyone was looking at Aleks, seeing her for the first time being upset. Of course, she’s upset most of the time but not like this.

“¿¡¿CÓMO PUEDES HACERLE ESTO?!?” She walked up to him as she pushed him back. “¡¿POR QUÉ TIENES QUE HACER ESTO?!”

She started to hit him against his chest with her fist while still crying and yelling at him. Before Charles walked over and gently pulled Aleks away from him. He comforted her a bit before he gave a disappointed look at Adler.

Adler was just staring at Aleks who was crying as he was about to reach out to her. “I’m sorry…”

“No you’re not.”

Adler looked at Koa seeing him walking up to him. Lazar was about to grab Koa but stopped himself as he knew that the Captain needed to say something.

“You’re not SORRY because if you were you wouldn’t killed him.” Koa said as he blocked in front of Adler from Aleks. Towering over him again. He looked at the CIA Agent as he wanted to end him so badly. But Koa had been learning all of his life. Since the very beginning of him joining the army. He didn’t come this far to end with violence to someone who he was working with.

He took a deep breath as he slowly leaned back. “And even if you DIDN’T. You still won’t trust him.” He looked at Adler with sadden eyes before he slowly dug into his pocket and brought out the folded letter. The letter that he had found from his drawer.

Everyone was looking at Koa confusingly as they saw a paper in his hand.

Koa was just staring at the folded paper.

Breathing calmly before clutching onto it and looking Adler straight into his eyes. Through those ridiculous sunglasses “I’m done.”

Adler raised his eyebrows after hearing that from the Captain. “What?”

“I’m DONE. I’m done with this mission. I’m done with this war. I am done with you and your CIA bullshits.” Koa slowly looked at Adler with seriousness in his eyes. “I’m going back to New Zealand. Going back to the Army. And I would appreciate it if you NOT contact me. EVER.”

Adler was dumbfounded to hear this from Koa. It was unexpected that he would actually let one person who had passed. Could make him quit.

Koa then glared at Hudson. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning. I’m sure there are other people who would like to be your little PUPPET.”

Hudson was silenced when the Captain had pointed out to him. Which he looked away.

Koa kept his glare as he looked at Park and Sim. “I thought you guys knew better. Then being DESPERATE to solve or finding the answer.”

Sims rubbed behind his head and looked away. While Park looked at him with guilt as she rubbed her arm.

Koa sighed calmly before turning around to look at Woods and Mason. “Woods. Mason. It’s…an honor to be working with you both. I apologize that this meeting won’t last long.”

“Hey, we understand your struggles. And…we’re sorry that this is a twisted night.” Woods said as he put his hand out to the Captain. “It’s nice meeting you, Captain.”

Koa looked at Woods' hand and smiled at him a bit before shaking his hand.

Mason also did the same with Koa and gave him a hug after. He appreciated this from him.

So Koa leaned back and gave him a nod before walking over while looking at Lazar. “Lazar.”

“Captain. ….I…” Lazar was trying to find words to say but seemed like he was too ashamed to even speak.

But Koa understands and just gives him a reassuring smile before patting his shoulder. “It’s alright, Lazar. I’m not blaming you.”

Then he got to Charles and Aleks. He slowly looked down at the woman who was crying still. He could see pain in her eyes as if she was blaming herself for not knowing the truth.

“Aleks…” Before he could say anything else. He suddenly felt Aleks hugging him. Koa showed his expression of being worried for his dear friend. As he hugged her gently.

“Lo lamento…” Aleks said it between her sobbing.

It broke Koa’s heart to see this woman who he called sister like this. He gently leaned her back and placed his hand on her cheek before wiping her tears away. “No lo seas. No lo sabías.” He said it softly before smiling at her.

Aleks was still feeling guilty when she saw Koa’s soft smile. She just smiled back a bit before hugging him again.

He chuckled as he didn’t reject another hug. And saw Charles was fixing his glasses. “Are you crying?” Koa cooed at him in a teasing way.

“Tch. As IF. I just got something in my eye.”

“Uh huh. Riiiiiiiiiiight.”

The Captain chuckled as he saw the Professor walk over. Seeing him sigh before running his hand through his brown hair.

Aleks leaned back and wiped her tears before looking at the two.

Koa and Charles were just staring at each other. Despite them hating each other, teasing each other and even getting on each other’s nerves. Koa knows deep down that Charles cared.

“Soooo. Wanna hug it out?” Koa asked with a small smile.

Charles rolled his eyes as he fixed his glasses before putting his hand out to Koa. “A handshake would be sufficient.”

The Captain smiled a bit as he took the Professor’s hand and shook on it.

“As much…as I despise you from the very beginning. I will be missing your annoyance around here. It will be quiet without you.” Charles said as he looked into Koa’s eyes. As if he meant it really well.

“Getting soft on me, Charlie?” Koa said with a teasing grin.

“DON’T make me take my words back, Nakiu.”

Koa laughed a bit before smiling at Charles and then at Aleks. “I…I’m really glad that I have met you both.” He said it softly.

“We’ll see you tomorrow when you go out.” Aleks promised as she wanted to see her friend one last time before departure.

Koa just smiled at her. “I would like that.” Then he sighs before turning to face everyone. “I’ll pack my things.”

After that, Koa had left to go to his room to get his things. Of course, he doesn’t want to leave. He doesn’t want to go away after everything that they have been through.

With some laughter, arguments and working together.

But…

It wasn’t the same without that ONE person that he deeply cared for. Hoping it’ll give him a second chance to change once and for all. And now…he lost it. AGAIN. ----------------------

Words: 3040 Characters (Left -> Right)

Koa "Hunter" Nikau -> Me

Aleksandra Clarke R. -> @alypink

Charles "Charlie" Moore -> @deeptrashwitch

Vasili "Bell" Sokolov -> @welldonekhushi

32 notes · View notes