#adler and park silently hate each other

[verynordiclars]

woods and bell pt2 ft adler and park

[laurenwritesfics]

The Pieces We Leave Behind

CHAPTER ONE: FRANK

Mary had buried herself in books again. She was a curious and intelligent young girl, but her love of reading was turning into obsession. So much so that Frank was beginning to worry about Vitamin D deficiency. She looked a little too pale. He usually hauled her out of her chair – met with screams and slaps of protestation – and took her to the beach or the park for ice cream, but today, he was piling her into the car to meet with the school principal. Mary had been accused of bullying, and Frank wasn’t going to let it stand.

“This is so stupid.” Mary huffed and crossed her arms. “I didn’t do anything.”

“I know, just get in the car.”

She rolled her eyes, slipping her backpack off her shoulder, throwing it onto the seat beside her. The engine of Frank’s 1974 sedan sputtered to life. Frank’s mother Evelyn called it a rickety rust-bucket, but it was his pride and joy – second only to his sweet, silly niece, who was currently sulking in the back seat.

That was the thing about Frank Adler. He didn’t fix broken things, he just knew when something was worth saving. He saw potential that nobody else could.

He was the first to break away from the family. He was tired, he said, of living a Stepford lie.

This was how he came to be Mary’s guardian. After the death of his sister Diane, the Adler family was irreparably splintered. In the midst of Evelyn’s grief, she had swept Mary up into a life she would never become accustomed to - piano lessons, private school, badminton, early bedtime and absolutely no television.

At just seven years old, Mary was wide-eyed and wise. A headstrong child who sometimes alarmed Evelyn with her ability to face the world fearlessly. Her teachers referred to her as ‘gifted’, which made Evelyn’s eyes light up. She was just like Diane. That was the beginning of the end of Mary’s childhood. Night after night, she would be tucked into bed with a book. As the months went by, childhood favorites were replaced with educational textbooks. Mornings started with a pop quiz. Her social circle grew smaller. She eventually found herself so frustrated by her restrictive life with Evelyn that she once threatened to run away, as children often do. But Evelyn knew that Mary meant it. So when it did finally happen, the thing that shocked her the most was not the act itself, but the fact that, of all people, Mary ran to Frank for help.

At ten years old, Diane scored her first grade A in mathematics. From that moment on, Evelyn decided to live vicariously through her daughter. She had devoted her youth to solving the Navier–Stokes problem (one of the unsolved Millennium Prize Problems), but had never been successful. Frank was the only one who saw her slowly disappear. Forced into a mold that didn’t fit her. He watched Diane suffer through countless socialite soirées, nodding politely, eyes glazed. He was the last person to call her. He found her. He blamed Evelyn.

She would never believe that the cause of death was suicide. Diane was so happy, she said. So intelligent. So perfect. Of course, perfection didn’t exist. She learned this a mere month later when her marriage fell apart.

Mary was the only piece of Diane that was left.

Frank knew that if Mary stayed in Boston with his mother, history would repeat itself. So he intervened. He sent care packages all the way from Florida. They called each other weekly. Six months into what Frank referred to as her kidnapping, he received a phone call in the middle of the night. She was uncharacteristically subdued. Whispering. Her voice trembled. She was trapped. Four hours later he was bundling her into a taxi. It wasn’t going to happen again. Not on his watch.

Evelyn would never forgive him, but he didn’t care. Frank loved his mother – he always would – he just didn’t like her.

The more time Mary spent in Florida, the more she began to dislike Evelyn, too.

It was an unspoken rule that Evelyn was informed of Mary’s achievements. She didn’t much care for the other things – the friendships, the slumber parties, the times she cried herself to sleep from stress and in fear of bullies – those were Frank’s problems. The only problems she cared about were mathematical. She didn’t visit on Mary’s seventh birthday, but she did attend the parent-teacher conference that came after it. Frank was sure that if Evelyn set foot in the principal’s office she would have a heart attack on the spot. So, here he was, driving Mary to school to correct the misinformed adults who believed that his niece was capable of hurting another child.

“Slow down!” Mary caught Frank’s eye in the rear-view mirror. “Mom said never go to bed or drive angry.”

“I’m not angry.” He said, almost flatly enough to mask his frustration.

“Yes you are.”

Frank tapped his index finger on the steering wheel. He counted to ten in his head, exhaling slowly.

“Fine, I’m angry.” He admitted. “These stuck-up bastards don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“Don’t swear.” Mary chided.

“Sorry.”

A short woman with a thin, pinched face emerged from the principal’s office.

Mary was leaning against the window, chin in her palm, counting the trees that passed by, partly to keep herself occupied, partly to quell the anxiety that was swirling inside her. She was always quiet, focussed, and polite. She went out of her way to make friends with the other children. This was entirely unfair. Back in Boston, she had spent time in almost every school in the city – co-ed, prep school, all-girls, but she never stayed too long. She was either too inquisitive, too restless, or – ironically – too smart. Sometimes it felt as though she didn’t belong anywhere at all.

Weaving through the long line of cars in the school parking lot, Frank stopped awkwardly and swung himself out of the car, keeping tight hold of Mary’s hand as they made their way inside. The occasional echo of chatter and footsteps cut through the otherwise silent hallway. The closer they got to the office, the easier it was for Mary to breathe. It was going to work out. Frank would take care of it. He had a talent for charming people into submission.

“Who’s that?” Frank straightened his shirt, still stained with oil and sweat from an afternoon spent fixing up a boat for a local fisherman.

“Mrs Weston.” Mary half-whispered, shrinking in her chair a little. “We hate her.”

Frank huffed, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips. “Yes we do.”

Then, an interruption from a harsh, husky voice.

“Mary Adler?”

Frank turned to Mary, slapping the arm of the chair. “Looks like we’re up, kiddo. You okay?” He tilted his head in concern.

“I guess.” Mary shrugged, her shoulders sinking for a moment before she pushed herself forward and took hold of Frank’s hand again.

The woman’s eyes narrowed and roamed over the two of them. She pursed her lips, paused, and finally spoke.

“Principal Mitchell is unavailable this morning.” She said curtly. “Vice-Principal Madeline Weston. Come in.”

Rustling papers. The pronounced tick-tick-tock of the clock on the wall. An awkward cough. Frank shifted in his seat, a creak eliciting from beneath the adult weight it clearly wasn’t made to support. Leaning out of a slouch, elbows resting on his knees, he tented his fingers and waited for the inevitable stretching of the truth. He raised his eyebrows expectantly, locking eyes with the woman who clearly didn’t know Mary at all.

“Do your worst.” Frank muttered not quite far enough under his breath.

“I take it you’ve done this before, Mr Adler?”

“Once or twice.”

A judgemental hum. “Then I’m sure you know why you’re here today. Mr Adler, your daughter-“

“She’s my niece.”

Madeline crossed her legs and adjusted her lapels. “Your niece is disruptive. She is preventing the other students from learning.”

“How, exactly?”

“Interruptions. Selfishness. Questions in math class are answered almost exclusively by Miss Adler.”

“Yeah, probably because she’s the only one who knows the answer.” Frank scoffed.

“Do not insult the quality of education provided at this school, Mr Adler.”

“I’m insulting the students. Mary can do so much better than here. She’s so smart – too smart.” His voice deepened, even and impassioned. “If you just took the time to get to know her-“

Madeline cut him off. “We don’t get to know the children here, Mr Adler. We encourage their talents.”

Frank tried and failed to fight the push in his calves compelling him to stand up. He tapped Mary’s shoulder and made his way to the door. Whether she liked it or not, Evelyn was going to hear about this.

“This is bullshit. Mary, we’re done here.”

Launching herself out of her chair with a scowl, Mary followed Frank back into the hallway.

“So that’s the Wicked Witch of the West, huh?”

Mary exploded into laughter.

The sun beat down on the asphalt as they re-entered the parking lot, hands pressing against searing metal, the air thick and musty inside the car. Frank adjusted the rear-view mirror, turned the key and hooked his arm around the passenger seat as he pulled away.

“Buckle up, genius. Let’s go get some ice cream.”

Read chapter one HERE. Read the full series on AO3.

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[quizzyisdone]

Guilty (Part VII) | Female Bell! Reader x Russell Adler

A/N: Sorry for this taking so long!! This takes place about two weeks after the last part. In this one, Adler receives intel on Bell’s location after being captured by Perseus, as well as finding out about who Bell was before 1981. Bonus for this being the longest part thus far. (2300+ word count)

Warnings: Strong language, mentions of blood.

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six)

Regrets and Realizations

1500

NJ Safehouse, Morristown, New Jersey

September 14th, 1984

“She’s not fucking KIA!” Adler shouted to Hudson. Park rubbed her temples, this argument had been going on for what, thirty minutes, she thought as she checked her watch. Nope, an hour. 

An hour of bickering back and forth about Adler’s gut feeling, what he saw when he was there, how you just couldn’t be dead. Hudson would argue that you knew what you were doing when you took the job, you knowingly assumed that risk of getting killed, that your memory should finally be laid to rest, that Adler shouldn’t even really care if you were gone. Adler wouldn’t have any of it. It devolved into a screaming match, repeating the same points in different words. At this rate, nothing productive could come from this argument. It was like watching a dog chase its tail.

Park had wanted to wait for the argument to settle down, so she could share with Adler what she managed to dig up back at the MI6 headquarters in London while you and him were gone. After she was sure that Hudson or Adler wouldn’t kill each other. It was a dossier on Ronald Clarkson, the same name of the man you kept invoking back when Adler first found you injured on that tarmac in Turkey. 

It was quite the feat to pull off, one that was years in the making. She had to reel in so many favors, blackmail, and maybe threaten a few people here and there. But her only regret in all of that was that you couldn’t be here to see it. She had done this for you, and now you were dead.

“This arguing won’t bring her back!” Park had finally had enough, she screamed it, so loud it echoed through the cold walls of the abandoned compound. It was enough to shock even Adler, who never heard Park raise her voice. Sweet silence rang through the room for a few seconds, before Adler regained his bearings.

“It won’t bring her back because she’s not dead.” He shot an ice cold glare to Park, so intense she felt what little resolve she had left completely dissipate. She went silent again, trying to tune out the back and forth that had resumed. She looked at her hand, at the source from which this all started. 

The verbal, almost turned physical, altercation began when Hudson offered Park your necklace he had found while going through your personal effects that you had left at the safehouse, which admittedly, wasn’t much. It was a token gesture of consolation, one that she hadn’t expected from the man who hated you. The gift was a half-hearted attempt to save face and pretend he ever really cared about your well being. 

But Adler wouldn’t have any of his fake condolences, because for whatever reason, he believed that you weren’t dead, you couldn’t be. He saw a glimpse of those men surrounding you, immediately bringing out a first aid kit to patch up what they could. Perhaps they intended to capture you to interrogate you. He had a hard time believing that Perseus would just simply allow one of his former agents to be killed, at least, not without extracting whatever intel he could first. Park and Hudson both knew he was just in denial, that his gut feeling was wrong, as it had been on so many occasions. Adler could never accept failure.

Park toyed with the small, silver locket in her hand, smiling sadly. She had gotten it for you for Christmas a couple of years ago, the first Christmas gift you had ever remembered. The gilded silver was beginning to peel off from all the wear and tear you put it through over the past years. She opened the locket, thumbing over the picture the two of you had taken in front of the House of Parliament when she took you back in the summer of 1982. Your smile was beaming, despite everything. That day was one of the precious few days that everything felt normal. 

 It normally went everywhere with you, but she thanked whatever all-powerful divine being that had intervened in some divine, inane way that forced you to forget it here. She had this, at least, but it paled in comparison to the real thing, what should’ve been.

Park had to stop the tears from falling from her eyes. You were the only person she considered to be a close friend, even after her complacency in MK-Ultra and the hell you had been put through. You were too forgiving, too good for her. And now you are gone. It felt so unfair, such a kind heart taken in place of Adler or her. The worst ones always had to survive, didn’t they?

In part, Park blamed Adler for your death, although her rational mind knew that it was just some random chance of fate that those bullets hit you instead of him. She didn’t know the specifics, Adler could barely recall the chase himself, but through her blind sorrow all she could think of was to use Adler as her scapegoat, to bring some faux sense of comfort to assuage her grief.

Park knew it was unreasonable, but damn, what she wouldn’t give to see you in Adler’s place right now. You should be there arguing with Hudson on what to do next. He should have given himself to save you, he should’ve succumbed to that fate. But he didn’t, and you paid the price for it.  

“It should be you.” Was all Park could choke out, tears streaming down her face, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Pardon?” Adler lowered his aviators, glaring down at the black-haired woman, his expression just as unreadable since the day she met him, and that enraged her. He should be on his knees, sobbing, begging whatever all powerful God to take himself instead of you. It was certainly an entertaining thought at the least. 

“It should be you.” She said, once more, louder, raging in her defiance. She rose from the pile of boxes she had previously been sitting on, grabbing Ronald Clarkson’s file. “It should be you dead on some street in Prague. Sh-she should be here. You don’t deserve to be alive.” She shoved Adler, causing him to stumble back. To her shock, he didn’t immediately jump down her throat, instead he took off his signature aviators, rubbing his eyes. Park could’ve sworn she heard the faintest sniffle.

“I know. I know I deserve it.” He sighed, collecting himself. That admittance that he should be dead satisfied Park to some degree, but it was ruined when he opened his mouth again. “But I swear to God, Bell is not dead.” Adler affirmed once more.

“You’re in denial.” Park spat, laughing cruelly at his naivety. 

Before Adler could reply, Sims walked in, holding a bunch of the files you had collected from Prague. A partial handprint of blood, your blood, was on the front of it. It made Adler and Park cringe even looking at it.

“Before y’all rip each other’s heads off, I decrypted them.” He announced, a proud grin on his face. “It was a hell of a job, considering I’m not Bell. But I did it.”

“And?” Hudson raised his eyebrows.

“Well, for one, it appears that Perseus intended for you and Bell to be at that ball. It mentions a lot about some ‘missing asset’ which I assume to be Bell, and they were operating on orders to capture her. Perseus was meant to interrogate her personally.”

“So, she’s not dead.” Adler’s mouth set into a barely noticeable grin, the first of which to be seen since he came back from Prague.

“Maybe. It’s taken forever to crack this.” Sims rubbed the back of his neck nervously, hoping not to invoke Adler’s rage at his next admission. Since the op, Adler had been prone to random outbursts, which only Sims assumed to be part of the man’s grieving process. Why he grieved over you, Sims couldn’t understand. It was uncharacteristic of him to be like this. Normally he just got over it within the day. “Given the person we’re dealing with, I think she’d be lucky to still be alive.”

Adler shook his head, this newfound hope reinvigorating him. “Nevermind that. Does it give a location?”

“Yeah, some abandoned Soviet Base in Kazakhstan, in the Tian Shan region.”

Adler turned his attention to Hudson, letting out a deep breath. “One op. One op to try and find Bell.”

“That intel was meant to be bait, to lure Bell in. For all we know, this could also be just some diversionary tactic.” Hudson took off his aviators, revealing the massive scar that ran across his eye. “Give me one good reason I should authorize this mission, waste resources, on chasing ghosts that should’ve been dead long ago.” Hudson said coldly.

Park began to approach Hudson, a hard glare on her face, but was stopped when Adler placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back slightly. It was a gentle, nonverbal reminder that maiming Hudson would do no good for anyone. 

Adler’s signature calm and collected, objective demeanor had finally found itself. “If this is a base of operations for Perseus, we should, no, we have a fucking obligation to blow that place to kingdom come.”

“Then why don’t I just order an aerial strike on the place?” Hudson snarled. 

“Maybe I should mention that the place has a warehouse full of Nova 6 gas. We can’t do that, not without extracting the gas first.” Sims chimed in, coming straight to Adler’s defense. The door in the back of the safehouse opened wide, causing everyone to jump.

“Hey asshole!” Woods had slammed the door shut behind him, much to everyone’s shock. No one had seen him since he came back from Prague. Woods must’ve been eavesdropping. “If what they’re saying is right, and you don’t act, that Nova 6 gets out and kills thousands.” Woods marched straight up to Hudson, pushing the man back aggressively before Adler could even react to stop him as well. “We’re getting Bell and securing the gas, with or without your authorization.” He declared.

“Woods!” Adler barked, and he backed off almost immediately.

Hudson sighed in defeat, knowing there was no way he could convince everyone out of the mission. “Fine.” He pointed his finger at Adler. “The primary objective is getting the Nova 6 out of there and grabbing whatever intel possible. Anything else, including Bell, is secondary.”

“Understood.” Adler acknowledged simply. But in truth, you were the primary objective, even though he knew that Nova 6 was objectively the more pressing issue. Everybody disbanded in quiet, Adler heading outside, a fresh pack of cigarettes in his hand. Park followed close as she shut the door behind them, making sure no one else was listening.

“I found something for Bell.” She said, taking the cigarette Adler offered. “I thought you might want to read it before she does, if she even is still alive.” Adler glanced over, shooting Park a dirty look but ultimately letting it go as he sighed. He took the file from her hands.

“Ronald Clarkson, huh?” Adler raised his eyebrows, Park nodded. “How’d you get your hands on these?”

“Called in favors. A lot.” She rubbed her eyes, absolutely drained from these past few weeks. “There’s a little bio about Bell in there. MI6 didn’t want to give her her own document so it’d be harder for moles to sniff her out.” Adler looked confused as flipped straight to the page on you.

There was a simple black and white photo of you, although you looked much younger, less worn out. Your eyes looked happier, less tortured than they did now. Adler cringed inwardly, knowing he was the one to take that happiness. 

“That part of the dossier was filed back in ‘77. She was only 23 when MI6 got a hold of her. ”

“That’s so… young.” His face scrunched in pain, Park watched as realizations and regrets swarmed through Adler’s mind as he read more into your basic bio. It was simple information, a bit plain and unnecessary in any other circumstances. But every little bit of information, your birthday, the place you grew up, your middle name, had meant everything. It was what made you human, and he took that away. This information only made him feel worse.

“September 19th, 1954.” He stated simply. It was your 30th birthday in just five days, and no one even knew, save for him and Park. 

“How depressing an existence must be to not have a name, a birthday, or even a place to call home.” Park’s voice was full of regret.

“We did that to her.” Adler said solemnly.

“She was never even a Perseus agent.” Park sniffed, avoiding Adler’s gaze. “Read the next page. Ronald Clarkson was her handler in MI6.”

Adler did as he was told, flipping to the next page, taking his time in reading it, learning exactly how you even got involved with Perseus in the first place. Your parents were Soviet political refugees seeking asylum in England back in ‘52, but were assassinated in 1976. 

MI6 had suspected it wasn’t officially sanctioned by the Soviet government, but was instead a rogue spy ring operating within Russia. They offered you a role in their organization using your grief as a recruiting tactic. They trained you in clandestine operations and cryptology before eventually sending you behind enemy lines to infiltrate the spy ring in 1977. With the utmost secrecy, of course. 

Apparently the last time you were in contact with MI6 as yourself, instead of as Bell, was shortly before your handler, Ronald Clarkson, had died in '78.  

“Oh my God.” Was all he could mutter.

________

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[guigz1-coldwar]

'Fighting spirit' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Fighting spirit"

"I'm always happy when I have you near me, knowing that we both protecting each other !"

Chapter Summary : 3 days has passed since the terrible mission that has cost Garrett's life, Yirina is finally ready to have an talk with Song after an discussion with Park....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3600

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

I couldn't know more about why I wasn't talking when I was captured and why I was sometimes sick during the end of December 1980, something that is intriguing me since that memory I had with Freya. I tried with Zasha, I didn't have any responses except for an little talk with them after 2 longs days and then, I tried with Sims....same result with him, nothing that could give me an clear answer to the first question, I guess that my memory will have to work hard to discover the answers I need but it will take an lot of time.

After that talk with Sims, I did go to the dorm and finally have some sleep...an troubled one to be honest, thinking about Garrett, Song....shit, I don't know how I can make myself able to go talk with Song after today. She's probably hating me and the fact that she didn't talk to anyone like Hudson claimed, it will be very hard to me to have an discussion with her. I will do it for sure but now....it's complicated.

During the 3 following days after that terrible day, an part of the team including me, Park, Song & Woods stayed back at the base while the other part was making some travel in the jungle to clear up the remaining forces of Perseus & Naga in the region. It was at the end of that day, the 28th of May in the middle of the night....that Sims, Wolf & Rivas came back...with Garrett's body. They finally found him after days of research and when we saw him, I was nearly broke in the inside along with Park & Song....she was crying the tears of all her body when she asked everyone to leave her alone with Garrett in the medical room.

"Yiri ?" I was sit alone at my workplace when Park came back from outside after passing an call to London, calling me out in an low voice as she arrived near me.

"Yes ?" I demanded, putting my eyes away from the M1911 where the engraved bullet is still inside that mag, not having even shot with the pistol for days to look at Park.

"You might want to have some peace & an talk ?" She proposed with an small grin, gesturing in the outside, at the direction that she came.

"Yeah, it would be good for me." I replied, slowly getting up from my chair to grab my light browned military jacket and an cigarette from an pack on the desk. "Where are we going ?" I asked her.

"Somewhere quiet with some peace." She responded, repeating her words from her last sentence silently as I put on my jacket and then follow her outside. We've been doing that since 3 days now and it was good...just me & Park, trying to have some moments alone to think about the situation. "You're okay ?" She questioned, talking about my state.

"No, it will take time." I answered, still thinking about the mission and by looking at Park, it was the same thing for her. We finally stopped ourselves near an empty Huey, our usual talking spot. "I don't think that I will forget that easily, Garrett didn't deserve that." I added, once fully stopped.

"I know, me too." Park breathed before sitting down on the ground with her. "I managed to call London." She started after we got sit.

"You called the director ?" She nodded to my question, biting her lips.

"I had to tell him of what happened clearly." She said, crossing her arms and looking down at her feets. "His body will get send back to London." She continued in an sad tone. Manchester was where Garrett was born

"Does he have any family ?" I demanded as I didn't know about this but she shook her head.

"He had one but...." She snorted, sounding like an hard subject to talk. "His parents died during the Troubles in Northen Ireland and his sister...she's part of the IRA." She added, making my eyes goes wide.

"Garrett was Irish ?" I whispered, sounding an bit stunned.

"He was born in Manchester but an large part of his life, he lived it in Belfast, his parents were Irish." She explained to me, slowly pulling her head up to look at me, sad. "His parents only wanted an good life for him but they died in 1974, his sister has decided to join the IRA ranks while him....he fled Belfast to get to London."

"And he joined the MI6." I expressed discreetly, biting the left part of my lips followed by an nodding from Park. "I never thought that Garrett was in fact an Irish." I exclaimed, still surprised by that news.

"It's something that he wasn't so public about." Park stated to me, looking around. "He didn't want to be considered as an Irish and for him, his true links are in England." She grinned an little about it, an grin of sadness. "Even with where his sister is now, the MI6 will told her about it."

"Of course, she had to know even if she's working with the IRA." I affirmed, knowing that family is something to count on even if we're in cold with someone in it. "Did you work against the IRA ?" I demanded to Park, curious about it.

"No, I was more focused on what was happening around the world but I did never wanted to get myself involved with them." She replied, sounding sure of her words. "Even if I believed first that the IRA killed my brother, things weren't normal."

"If only I was able to avoid that to happen...." I breathed away, thinking about that day before Park put her left hand on my lap as I was sit just next to her.

"It wasn't your fault." She told me in an low voice, wanting to reassure me. "You tried to help him to know the truth."

"Yeah...the truth." I repeated this word, meaning an lot as I was really trying to help her brother William to arrest Stone and maybe reveal Perseus's threat long before.  "Things could have been different but here we are." I spoke up, looking at the direction of the hangar. "Trying to find the man who fucked up with my brain while hoping that Naga will talk." I added. We couldn't interrogate Naga until he was properly healed and it was only today that we could know if he's going to do it.

"Me...you...Woods & some others, no one want to put their lives on the line to save Adler but we have no choice." She stated surely, giving her thoughts that we share. "And if we don't, like Woods said, we will be all speaking russian." She continued, sounding like an joke but her voice wasn't following that thought.

"To say that this fight against Perseus could have been done if Adler wasn't so stubborn." I confirmed that to Park who nodded sadly, probably thinking of the 3 years I spent in an coma. "What can I say now ? I'm back, still struggling to not getting killed by Perseus or the CIA." I said before slowly starting to get up, back on my feets.

"You think that you're ready to talk to Song ?" Park questioned me, also getting up, an question that she's asking each time we end those moments.

"Yeah, I think I am." I responded, changing from the last answers I gave to her.

"You don't want to wait or you're sure to do that now ?" She questioned me again.

"It's better that I do that now." I breathed, joining my hands with Park for an second, looking at them with good eyes. "I will do it alone." I claimed even if Park said that she was always here to help me in case. "If I need you, I will ask you."I added before I did an kiss on her lips that lasted only an little second.

"Thanks." She whispered before we start to get away from the spot to return back inside the hangar.

As Park was going to take an shower near the dorm, I came back to my workplace, hoping to see Song at the moment but she was still inside the medical room with Garrett as the others said to me and advicing me to wait until she came back into the main room but she wasn't coming back after waiting almost 10 minutes, everyone going to sleep as Park came back at the workplace, awaiting for Song too.

I didn't want to wait too much so I decide to go to the medical room without listening to the others advices, taking my M1911 with me and letting Park alone as I requested from her. Passing through the door leading to the medical room was very hard for me to do, fearing to be greeted by something not nice but instead, nothing happened when I slowly entered the room and then, I saw her.

She was sit on an chair near an bed where Garrett body has been put in for the moment until he got transported to the UK. She had her hands all around Garrett left one, looking at him with sadness. On his face, he was also smiling too....he left his world, smiling....thinking maybe about Song.

"Song ?" I started in an low voice, slowly walking to get next to her, not wanting to erupt brutally.

"Go away." She ordered in an silent voice despite the words used. It was her first words she did pronounce in 3 days and....it was weird. "I want to be alone with him." She exclaimed, her look still on him.

"I know, Song but can we talk ?" I demanded, now not sure at all about actually talking after seeing her like that. "It's maybe not the time but I think I need to do this." I continued, causing her to look at me.

"You want to talk ?" She told me in an normal voice, holding Garrett's hand in hers as I nodded to her. "Park told me what happened." She said as Park actually tried last day to talk with her with no avail. "I'm not angry anymore."

"You're not angry against me ?" I expressed, sounding confused.

"Not anymore." She repeated, looking back at Garrett. "I know that Park always say the truth and what she said about you, I know it's the truth." She continued, me keeping an straight face, fearing her reaction if I smile...something that I wasn't really able to do since 3 days. "You're an good person, Grigoriev."

"Thanks." I breathed, finally getting next to Song and looking at Garrett with an little grin of sadness. "I'm sorry, Song." I apologized, putting my left hand on her shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault." She whispered before she put her hand in her jacket to grab something inside. "Something you might want to know." She added, handing to me an single black picture.

"What's this ?" I asked, trying to figure out what was this black picture until I realized...."No, don't tell me...." I stopped myself, fully realizing the meaning of that picture.

"It's been 3 months now." She responded, putting her right hand on her chest....she was pregnant...and Garrett was the father. "I was going to tell him after the mission." She explained as I was giving back the picture, stunned by that revelation. "It was....one of his dream to be an father." She continued, her eyes looking at me.

"Really ?" I chuckled and she nodded.

"Yeah but now....my child is going to grow up without an father." She muttered, her voice filled with sadness. "I can't tell anyone about this."

"Song." I started, moving to get at her level next to her, wrapping my hands around the one she had on her chest. "You can trust me & Park, we can help you." I admitted.

"I know." She smiled at me, looking at my hands. "You're my friends, I'm trusting you." She confirmed before her eyes was looking at the door direction. "To say that the man who is responsible for his death is in this very building." She thought.

"You wanted me to pull the trigger but I couldn't." I started to get my M1911 to remove the engraved bullet from the chamber to show it to Song. "This bullet....it was supposed to kill him...for Garrett." I showed her the bullet and Naga's name on it. "I will keep it until I do it." I said before I pulled back the bullet into the mag.

"I heard that he's in the interrogation room with Hudson." Song told me, immediately knowing what she wanted to do.

"You want to go with me in that room." I nodded at her, making her sure that I knew of her intentions. "I'm waiting for you with Park at the door." I added before I got up to stand, slowly moving away from Song & Garrett.

"Good night, Garrett." Song snorted as I saw her moving to pull an little kiss on Garrett's forehead before she start to follow me outside.

It was hard for her to actually leave that room and Garrett but now knowing that we are going to get to see Naga at his interrogation room, I was maybe ready to actually did what I wasn't able to do days ago. Of course, I told Park about our moves and she agreed to follow us but I didn't tell about Song's pregnancy, thinking that it would be better for her that Song reveal that to her directly instead by me.

The interrogation room wasn't so far from the dorm and when we entered it, we could see Hudson, walking around Naga who was tied up in an chair, an bandage covering his left arm after I cut off his hand and an lot of dressings on his face. Like the man who was tortured by Wolf, Woods & Rivas, Naga was almost naked, only wearing an pair of boxers, not even socks.

"You're here to interrogate him ?" Hudson demanded, seeing the three of us arrive in the room and stopping to move before getting leaned against an wall.

"Did he say anything ?" I asked him, not even responding to his rhetorical question.

"No, he's been inconscious after Woods came in to talk." He replied, gesturing to look at the cuts that Naga has on his legs. "Here's the tools if you need to." He pointed at us an table filled with said 'tools' : wrench, an big car battery, etc....

"You used them ?" Park questioned Hudson, moving to get next to the table.

"No, we wait that Naga's fully operational until we can use them." He responded, crossing his arms as I was looking back at the table, Song stayed behind.

"Park, give me those two metal stems." I pointed at her next to the battery. Torture was disgusting me but...when someone is hurting my friends...I have no choices.

"What are you planning ?" She demanded as she gave me the stems anyway in my hands.

"Something electric." I answered, sounding mostly angry in the inside, not even making an laugh of it. "Hey, you awake ?" I started to slap Naga's face, wanting to awake him up from his sleep.

"Uh ?" He muttered, slowly waking up.

"I need you to stay focused !" I exclaimed before I literally planted the two metal stems in his respectives kneecaps, causing him to scream painfully as Song closed the door to muffle his attempts to scream more.

"That's brutal from you." Hudson told me.

"I didn't ask for your opinion." I looked at him with deadly eyes, my rage fuelling up before looking back at Naga. "Fully awake ?"

"Fuck you !" He cursed, fighting the pain of having two metal stems in his legs as Park moved the car battery next to Naga, having realized my plans with Naga : torture by electrocution. She put the battery cables on the stems, ready to activate the battery.

"It isn't going to help you if you don't talk." I affirmed to him, putting my hands on his arms, holding them firmly in my hands. "Now...tell us where did Stitch has taken Adler ?" I asked him but the only thing he did was to spit on my face.

"Do it !" Song ordered in an low voice and I nodded to Park, not before putting an tissue inside Naga's mouth, avoiding him to fully scream. She activate the battery, causing Naga to look at the ceilling, receiving an lot of electricity inside his body as me, Park, Song & Hudson was looking at him. I was slighlty disturbed by my own actions to torture but Naga killed an friend....

"It's good ?" I gestured at Park to stop, removing the tissue from his mouth.

"Better to start talking, Naga." Hudson suggested, still in the same position and taking an deep breath.

"I ain't saying anything." Naga admitted before spitting again on my face, causing me to clean up my face and putting back the tissue in his mouth.

"Again." Song told Park who activate the battery again and making me Naga scream, muffled by the tissue. This time, we let him getting electrocuted for almost an minute. "I think it will talk now." She added.

"You can stop now." I said to Park who stopped the battery.

"So, Naga, willing to talk ?" Park questioned him, her hands ready to activate the battery in case an bad answer from him.

"I know....I know...." He whispered, struggling with the shock he has received in an short time.

"What do you know ?" Song asked him, walking next to me, her voice very dark & serious.

"I can tell....where Stitch has taken Adler...." He started, half-opening his eyes and sweating on all his body. "Kas....Kastovia....he took him to...Kastovia." He gave us an answer.

"Kastovia ?" I muttered.

"It's an small socialist republic in the Soviet Union near the Georgian SSR." Hudson explained to me, giving me more intels about what was this Kastovia. "It's an perfect place for Stitch to hide but now is to know where exactly."

"Where's Stitch, Naga ?" Park threatened him, making him look at her hands, posed on the battery, precisely on the switch

"I don't know." He breathed.

"Do it again." Song ordered, causing me to pull back the tissue.

"Verdansk !" Naga shouted before I could pull the tissue in his mouth, stopping me in my moves.

"You're saying that Stitch has taken Adler in the Kastovian capital ?" Hudson expressed, sounding astonished to hear that from Naga like us. "Damnit, something must be happening in Verdansk."

"And what now ?" Song demanded to Hudson.

"We will make an briefing tomorrow with Naga's new intels and to see if the crews in the field find something about it." He replied, moving away from the wall to grab an pack of cigarettes from his jacket. "For now, Naga's gonna stay here until further notice." He added before he start to go away but then....he grabbed my right.

"What do you want ?" I asked him silently, making some steps back as Park & Song were watching Naga.

"Officialy, the CIA want me to make Naga an informant about the Golden Triangle but...." He stopped himself to look at Naga. "I'll cover you three, you can do it, I will keep my eyes shut." He continued before releasing me and walking out of the room....did he really approved of letting us do what's needs to be done ?

"Song." I whispered as I took off my M1911 of my holstler, checking if the engraved bullet was in the chamber.

'Yes ?" She demanded, looking at me.

"I think that...you should be the one to pull the trigger." I replied, handing over my M1911 to her, she was the one who has to do it...I've been thinking of this since the whole torturing session.

"I don't know..."

"Trust me." I cut her gently, still handing the gun to her.

"Song, you're the one to do it." Park affirmed, giving some hope to Song as she finally took the gun from my hands.

"Hey, I made an deal with Hudson !" Naga protested with us but that wasn't avoiding Song to point my gun to him. "You will have big problems, girls !"

"We know." I told him, crossing my arms.

"That's for Garrett !" Song expressed in an rage before closing her eyes.

"Wait...." Naga pleaded but it was too late...as Song pulled the trigger of my M1911 and the engraved bullet flied straight to his head, hitting him right between the two eyes and his body went limp.....he was finally dead.

"That's for Garrett." Song repeated again before she turned around to face me to give me back my pistol. "Thanks, Grigoriev, you really have an good spirit in you." She confessed as I took back my pistol before she start to slowly walk away from the room, leaving me & Park with Naga's dead body.

"She's saying the truth, you have an wonderful spirit." Park added to Song's statement, putting her hands above my heart. "An fighting spirit." She exclaimed as I was pulling my M1911 in its holstler.

"Thanks...I did what was need to be done, Song was the one who needed to pull the trigger." I told her, looking away at the opened door and thinking of an lot of things right now. "It wasn't going to bring him back but now...he could rest in peace, knowing the man responsible is dead." I confirmed, taking back the same words I remember days ago before going into Laos.

"I'm proud of you like always, Yiri." Park affirmed to me as we started to walk away from the room, leaving Naga's body in here before closing the door behind me as Park was grinning at my side.....

"I'm sure that he's proud of you....you did really good."

[thegoopies]

Scottish Wake Up Call

Rafe has you helping him in Scotland at St. Dismas Cathedral, but one night you take a load off in a nearby town and Rafe is not pleased with you, at first. Then cue his sudden realization he has while picking your drunk self up.

Words: 2752

A/N: First request! and by anonymous. This dialogue drabble (lmao it’s a little long for a drabble, I got carried away) is 33. “I cannot guarantee that I’m not drunk.” Also, even though I wrote these prompts I still had trouble writing this one for some reason, so I’m sorry if some parts don’t feel like they smoothly fit. 

P.S. here’s the link to the dialogue list: https://thegoopies.tumblr.com/post/172740605658/112-dialogue-prompts-requests-open-for-uncharted

Life after Sam’s death was never the same. For so long your wagon had been hitched to the Drake brothers’, but it dissolved almost as quickly as it all started. After Nate had finally called it quits in Scotland and working with Rafe, things felt a tad bit apathetic. You had lost your lust for the treasure and the chase it gave. You weren’t sitting on the edge of your seat in life anymore, instead, you had a painful reminder to think about every day. But you couldn’t leave. How were you supposed to return to a normal life without your crazy boys constantly leading you into trouble? Without the threat of jail time or a bullet in the back? You decided biding your time with Rafe was a good enough option seeing as it felt the closest to old times as your life could get now. Even though he drove you crazy and he you, he was something you clung to, even if you used him to lash out against due to your pain, it was still something.

And speaking of that something, today had been a particularly rough one. With no leads, only dead ends being searched, and the overwhelming feeling to throw yourself off the cliffside that St. Dismas rested on, you and Rafe had taken it out on each other. Sure, you were no stranger to the occasional yelling match when dealing with this lifestyle, but it seemed to never end today. And was it just you or were you losing your voice over it? None the matter, as you had stomped off the sight, an irate Adler screaming after you to come back, you decided to blow off a little steam once you spotted his Jeep parked on the muddy ground a little ways away from the cathedral.

So here you were, stolen car parked in the lot of a hole in the wall pub while dodging constant phone calls from your soon-to-be-murderer/business partner. Things were going great.

“I have halfa mind to toss that stupid shit in my beer, girl if that means it’ll stop rattlin’ around like that.” Shaken out of your stupor (a.k.a you are staring at your phone screen and realizing you were digging your own grave as Rafe called again and again), you looked at the man sitting beside you at the bar. You could tell he was no nonsense and of the generation that really hated technology for some reason, as if it wasn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread. You realized leaving it on the bar top wasn’t the best idea, so you grabbed it and slipped it into your jeans back pocket.

“Sorry.” You said quietly, a little embarrassed. You took a swig of your beer to try and not seem awkward as he continued staring. You ran your tongue against your teeth after you swallowed, the beer was very different from American ales, tasting more like grass and having a higher alcohol content that you knew would soon have you spinning.

“Are you with the Americans up the hill at St. Dismas?” He asked, eyes boring into you as if he was reading your mind. What a feeling.

“How’d you know?” You asked, raising the beer to your lips again. It was starting to lose the dirt flavor as the alcohol started to hit you, making everything taste dull. He made a snort/huff combo as if the answer was obvious.

“It’s easy to tell when ya on yer third beer and wobbling like that.” There was something about his frankness that made you laugh. Compared to Rafe this guy was a ray of sunshine. 

“Well, nice to meet you. I’m the American who can’t handle her European beers and you are?” You held out your hand loosely, feeling at ease joking around with him. He met your hand with a firm grip, pumping his calloused palm three times.

“Walter Caird.” He said gruffly while returning his hand back to cradling his beer.

“Believe it or not, I’m starting to think you’re the only friend I’ll make here in Scotland.” You said with a smile and a rueful thought about Rafe, the beer definitely lowering a few inhibitions, like a filter that kept you out of trouble. In reply he gave you a look that should have set you on fire right where you sat.

“Right.” You said, turning away from him. Very no nonsense indeed.

It was only about two hours later when you checked your phone again. You had gotten swept up in your people watching and small talk as more and more locals filled the pub, stopping in after their work day to shout loudly as they noticed their friends were already there even though they had probably seen them yesterday. And the day before that, and so on. But you still had your pal Walter sitting next to you, quietly drinking and partaking in conversation when a neighbor showed up to clap him on the shoulder and ask about his day. It was nice. He at least didn’t yell at you like Rafe, you’d take his silent judgement any day.

Holding your phone in hand, you noticed it was a little harder to focus on the screen, the small print taking a lot more work to process as your vision swam. Feeling the pulsing urge to pee again, you decided to finally get up and go to the bathroom, knowing full that well that once you opened the floodgates you’d be peeing every five minutes, but oh well. You stumbled a little hopping off the bar stool as everything seemed to tilt just a little bit. You gripped the bar top until your knuckles turned white and you stared at Walter silently as you tried to gather yourself.

“Well?” He asked.

“Can you tell I’m drunk?” You asked. Standing made you feel like throwing up, you regretted this.

“Very much so.” Walter didn’t even bother to continue looking at you as he went back to drinking. Staring straight ahead.

“Pfft.” You said under your breath and waved your hand at him before taking off on your journey. The small building was packed, people walking to their tables and booths, waitresses buzzing around, people milling about, blocking your access to the bathroom. It was all a little too much as you not-so-politely pushed through the crowd, earning some stares then being forgotten about as they shrugged it off and continued their conversations. Finally reaching the women’s bathroom you almost slammed into the door in your need. Once you finally opened it though, it seemed just a little bit too heavy, you realized relief was not going to happen soon. The line was cramped into the small room, ladies chatting quickly in their thick accents, overwhelming you as they leaned against the walls and waited. Exerting little energy over the fact that their bladders were about to burst from the all that they had drank.

You felt like screaming. Finding an open space to stand in, you leaned against the cinder block wall and focused on the pale pink color it was sloppily painted in. Sharpie covered the walls, full of young girls (and some guys’ penmanship, you noticed) handwriting about being there and falling in love or something. Everything felt a little too sticky due to poor ventilation in the tiny, damp room, but you couldn’t find an iota to care. Your bladder was shouting and you were listening. Suddenly, you were distracted by your phone vibrating in your pocket and you remembered. Rafe. You pulled your phone out of your pocket and stared at the screen for a couple of seconds trying to decipher the blob that you were staring at, you jostled with the group as more girls entered the room and tried to fit in, but you never took your eyes away.

“You alright?” The girl standing to your left asked, staring at you as if there was something incredibly wrong.

“What does this say?” You asked a little too loudly while shoving your phone in her face. She jerked her head back a little and blinked to combat the sudden brightness.

“Rafe Adler.” She said, not at all blindsided by your actions.

“Oh boy.” You squeaked.

“Boyfriend?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. You just stared at her with a dumbstruck expression.

“Here, I got it.” And before you could do anything she had taken your phone out of your hand and answered the call. The first thing she did was scrunch her face in reaction to what Rafe was saying, they probably weren’t great things.

“Calm down, mate.” You kept staring, what were you supposed to do? How could you even do anything in your dizzy, cotton mouth state? “Your girl’s right here with me.” You heard a pause on his end, then muted noise. He was probably demanding who she was.

“Me? I’m a friend.” She rolled her eyes. “Fine, here she is.” She handed the phone back to you and you took it in shaky hands. “Good luck with that one.” She said before turning away from you and back to her friends. The line started moving, but you didn’t notice. Hesitantly you put the phone up to your ear.

“So, where’s my girlfriend at?” Rafe asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm, but you didn’t catch it. You just felt your blood running cold through your body.

“Rafe.” You said quietly.

“Yes?” You blanked, then decided to say the stupidest thing you had ever said to him in your entire life.  

“I really have to pee.” You heard him laugh, it was like a bark, sudden and loud and definitely not what you were expecting.

“Where are you?” He asked.

“In the bathroom.”

“No,” you could feel him rubbing at his face through the phone. “Where did you drive MY Jeep to?”

“Oh.” You were a bit toned down as you talked, feeling a little overwhelmed you zoned out, staring at the floor and blinking. Where were you again?

“Y/n?” You focused back on the conversation at hand.

“I drove into town and then I just kinda stopped at the first little place I saw.” You said. “But don’t worry I can drive the car back, you really don’t have to do anything. It’ll be like I never took it.” You rambled.

“No, it’s fine. Stay there, I don’t need your drunk ass crippling yourself and my Jeep.” It’s fine? Fine? You had never once heard anything like that come from Rafe before. Why the sudden act of charity?

“Oh,” you repeated. “I guess I can do that.” He chuckled, his breath making the phone quality crackle a little. He was enjoying this more naïve side of you. The one that wasn’t constantly breathing down his neck. “But it’s not because I’m drunk, I swear.”

“Yeah?” You paused, pursing your lips in concentration. Rafe finding you drunk really wasn’t the best thing, but you were way past the point of trying to lie about it.

“Well…I cannot guarantee that I’m not drunk.”

“I know. I’ll be there soon.” You stayed on the line, losing focus and standing in silence as you tried to wrap your mind around the situation. He sighed on his end.

“Just hang up and piss, alright?”

“Yes sir.”

 Once you had peed, you wandered back into the bar. Unfortunately, someone had taken your stool, so you tried your best to stay propped up against the back wall, falling into the crowd and feeling that overwhelming feeling again like you were going to be swallowed up by it. Wave after wave of people passed by you, accidentally bumping into you, but ignoring your arms scrambling for a secure spot to hold yourself with.

Soon though, you heard your name mingle with the noise of the crowd. Someone was calling out for you. Pushing off from the wall you stumbled your way forward, catching your footing and trying to maintain a normal walking pace. While being drunk was fun, you hated acting like it. You knew how embarrassing you could get, and it made you cringe the next morning.

“Y/n.” You spun around to find Rafe, looking a lot calmer than you expected. In fact, he had a smirk on his face rather than the usual frown you had seen lately. Oh god, he was going to mock you to no end about this.

“Hi.” You said, eyes wide and ears ready to hear some yelling.

“C’mon, let’s go.” He wrapped an arm around your back, his hand gripping onto the back of your left arm as he led you out of the pub. You stumbled slightly at his fast pace, but every time he caught you, easing you back into his arm. Leading you outside you shivered in the cold; did you have your jacket? You couldn’t remember, and you really didn’t care as Rafe tucked you into his side more to block the cold. He felt so warm and you relished in it, snuggling into him slightly. You glanced at him from your peripheral, gauging his reaction. He didn’t, so you took it as a good sign.

Suddenly, though, you were on the ground, gravel biting into your arms as you tried to brace yourself. How graceful. Above you you heard Rafe laugh before he was reaching out to you. Groaning you grabbed his hand and he hauled you up. He held you in front of him, large hands gripping your cold arms and a huge smile on his face. You couldn’t stop your own smile and incredulous laugh.

“The first time I see you smile in months and it’s because I ate ass.” You say, laughing a little still. He rolled his eyes at you, but chuckled. You bit your lip, sucking it between your teeth. “I guess it proves that you still hate me though.” You added, what was that about keeping your filter while sober? He scoffed, rolling his eyes again.

“Who said I hated you?”

“I think you did last week when you were yelling at me about not find“

“Okay, okay.” He said, cutting you off. “I know I’m a dick, but I don’t hate you.” You pursed your lips again, super deep thought mode activated. He glanced down at your lips. “You’re basically my best friend at this point based on how much time we spend together.”

“Forced to spend together.” You chimed in, he frowned.

“Hey, you could leave at any time you want. You know that.” It was your turn to roll your eyes at him.

“Sure, like you wouldn’t hunt me down if I did. You need me.” You said cockily. “Without me, you’d be helpless, who else can handle you as their business partner.”

He cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

“Sure, I need you.” Hearing the words come from his mouth silenced you. It was sobering, kinda, of course. Your intoxicated brain switched the wires a little as you interpreted what he said.

“You do?” You whispered, eyes wide again and giving him an innocent look that hit him right in the gut. He had never felt that before, especially with you. He swallowed thickly, then licked his dry lips. Slowly, he brought his hand up to your face and brushed a stray strand of hair that had fallen on your face. He tucked it behind your ear, but that simple movement made your whole world stop. You glanced at his hand as he then rested it against your neck, cupping gently.

 “I think I do.” He said before pulling you in for a kiss. His lips were a little chapped from the cold weather, but other than that you only felt heat. The kiss was warm and slow, and when he pulled you against him it felt like a flush spread from deep down in your stomach. You knew your cheeks were already red, but you didn’t care. You moved your hands to his hair, twisting the dark strands between your fingers, pulling gently. You moaned a little when his hands suddenly found your ass, gripping tightly.

He was the first one to pull away, a light gasp coming from him as he caught his breath. His eyes were dark and devouring you. You stared up at him, breathless and completely blown away with your lips a little puffy from the kiss. He liked the look of your eyes looking up at him in wonder rather than staring daggers at him.

“Yeah, I need you.” He repeated.

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Fighting together' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Fighting together"

"I'm struggling to make sure that every of my friends will get through this !" Chapter Summary : Yirina is struggling to resist after her & Park's capture by the Perseus Collective as the 'first tests' are beginning soon about her....she needs to stay strong....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3700

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I was back alone in that cell with nothing to do and the only thing I could do right now was to stay sit in that bed, having my eyes looking at the security camera and then looking around, observing the whole emptiness of my cell : an bed, an simple sink, an toilet out of the camera sight and that was it, nothing else. Not even an window was there, this place was surely going to make full crazy, been surrounded by 4 concrete walls and doing nothing while someone is watching me through an camera, I was locked down and I wasn't able to do an thing.

On me, I lost everything that could have help me to know what time is it, knowing only that one day has passed since we were captured. They took away my watch and without any window to take an look outside, it was sure that I will lost the sense of time, not even able to know which hour is it. This place is going to freak me out, I need to stay strong, Bell needs to be acting more even if it's going to be long. I need to stay more strong than before, they maybe want me to suffer but I will try to resist if I can.

As I was lamenting myself about my state, lying down in my bed, the door was making some noises, meaning that someone was opening it to enter my cell, getting my attention and when the door opened, I could see Freya herself, holding an plate in her hands, entering the cell. She was looking strangely good to me...too good to be true.

"What do you want ?" I asked her directly, moving on my bed to sit on the edge of it as she was walking to get in front of me.

"It's time to eat, Bell." She replied in an low voice, handing over the plate and discovering some sweets on it.

"Which time is it ?" I demanded too as I wanted to know about it even if it was maybe minimal for me.

"Almost the evening, come on, eat." She answered, putting the plate on the ground before taking an particular sweets on it to give it to me. "Those were your favorites, Kara-Koum." She explained as I was looking at the sweet.

"Why are you like this ?" I questioned her in an curious tone. "Why I am an important person to you ?" I added, pulling aside her hand.

"Bell..." She breathed in an painful desesperation, looking down but not even removing the sweet from her hand. "I hate to call you like that but I have no choices."

"But, that's my name, remember ?" I made her recall of that, remembering the calls I had with her. "You didn't forget that, didn't you ?" I continued, deciding to get back on lying down on the bed, looking at the ceilling, hands on my chest.

"We are trying to help you." Freya said, getting herself sit on the edge of my bed, next to my legs. "Please, let us help you."

"By locking me down ? By avoiding me to see my friend ? By maybe torturing me ?" I told her in an clear and dark voice, refuting the help she want to propose. "You all have an strange behavior in your group !" I rolled my eyes, even releasing an little silent laugh from my mouth.

"Listen..." She put her hand on my legs and for an first, I wasn't going to rebuke her at all, preferring to stay focused on watching the ceilling. "It's maybe unorthodox but helping you means that we can't allow you to roaming the place like that." She explained.

"I'm an prisoner, nothing important." I whispered, putting my eyes on her face.

"You're important to my eyes, Y-...Bell." She claimed, almost saying my name and her voice, she was sounding to mean it.

"That's why you kissed me on that plane ?" I asked her and her reaction was to look at the camera in shame.

"I knew that they were something wrong at the moment I saw you, that you weren't you." She revealed, thinking about the pain she had the moments after she saw me after these years.

"You almost killed me, you know that ?" I raised my voice, slowly redressing myself to have an better look on her. "My throat took days to recover but that's because we're enemies that you hit me." I added.

"You weren't yourself." She repeated to me, moving her hands to touch my face. "Yiri..." She silently said, feeling her fingers along my skin but instead of staying without moving, I looked away and got my back on the bed again, now facing the wall.

"Go, I want to be alone." I ordered her.

"You didn't even eat." She protested, hearing her taking the plate in her hands.

"I'm not hungry." I don't know why but I lied to her, sensing something wrong in those sweets. "Go now." I repeated again.

"We're helping you, be sure of it." She proclaimed as I heard her put the plate back on the ground. "I'm leaving them in case." She told me before she got up from my bed and then, walking away from it before I could hear the door getting closed, meaning that I was alone....again....

I quickly peaked my head to see if she was really gone, discovering the sweets plate next to my bed and looking back at the camera for an second before I faced the wall again, hiding my face from the camera as tears start to fall from my eyes, feeling the pain to play 'Bell' in here but....I've been playing it since the moment I stepped inside that base. Those tears were reals, it wasn't Bell at all, it was me....I need to stay strong....

As I closed my eyes to have some sleep in here, taking care to not hurt my wounded left arm on the bed, I was thinking of an lot of things before suddenly, I got myself transported....back on that hill....at Solovetsky....wearing my actual outfit. Is this some kind of an dream or an nightmare I'm living right now. I looked around me to discover behind me....myself & Adler himself, holding each other at gunpoint.

It seems that I was like an spectator, seeing that I wasn't even spotted by him & myself...what is happening ?....Then, two gunshots were done : one by me and one by Adler but at the moment the two bullets went to fly in their respectives directions, the world was suddenly like stopped by itself, watching the two detonations of our guns. No more sound, it was like the world stopped at the moment the bullets start to fly.

Then, as I was watching where my bullet that I shot was trying to go, me...myself moved from her position, acknowledging that I was here, no longer an spectator and putting an scare in me.

"You want to know where we hit him right ?" Myself....Bell said to me, getting her own M1911 back in her holstler.

"Uhm...." I was an bit shocked almost falling on my behind on the ground at watching myself....talking to me. "Is...I'm going crazy for sure." I affirmed, looking at my hands.

"We're all going crazy one day." Bell stated as she moved to face the sea and me, stunned and mostly shocked. "I don't know how to feel about that place, what about you ?" She asked me like if she was unaware of everything.

"You just saw it, Adler was going to kill me....us." I corrected myself, wondering if I really had to, she is me and I am her.

"I know but what do you think of here, without thinking of him ?" She repeated again, clarifying  her words as I was trying to get myself back to normal.

"I don't know." I replied honestly, slowly moving to get next to Bell. "This place is...calm...peaceful...I don't know." I added, deciding to sit on the edge of the cliff.

"He thought that it would make an good place for us to go away." She suggested, sitting next to me too, watching how I was 3 years ago, an non-existant scar. "He never thought at any second that we wanted to live." She continued, taking an deep breath.

"He took us our chances to have maybe an normal life." I exclaimed, finding it now normal to talk with myself from 3 years ago...Bell.

"Yes." She changed my words, causing me to look at her with curious eyes. "He did succeeded however, he just killed one person here." She breathed away. "Me." She whispered in an low voice. "Bell died that day, not you."

"But I'm talking to you, you're alive...in my head." I wanted to recomfort Bell but she wasn't grinning or pulling out an smile on her face.

"You're playing myself, that's different." She told me, sounding sad & strange and her words did hit me hard. "You thought at first that you were still Bell until your memories of your real life came back." She expressed, not removing her eyes from me. "Everyone around you proclaimed that you weren't Bell anymore."

"I know." I snorted, feeling an tear on my left eye.

"You kept yourself saying that Bell was no more you but there's still something that make you remember that Bell is still in you." She proclaimed, moving her finger to point at my chest.

"I still got his memories in me." I sniffed, thinking about 'my time in Vietnam'. "Am I becoming like him ?" I demanded to Bell who shook her head.

"No, you will never be like him, we're not monsters." She answered clearly, sensing the truth in her voice. "Dying an hero...or living enough to become the villain...."

"Must be what Adler was thinking about us at this moment." I suggested and Bell nodded to me, an little grin on her face.

"Yeah and look where you are now."  She told me, looking at my clothes. "Do you think that...Stitch or Perseus will try anything like we suffered ?" She asked me and she was sounding worried & scared.

"I wouldn't want that." I responded, looking down at the sea. "They are maybe going to hurt Park and I don't want that." I claimed loudly.

"We both don't want that, Yirina." She admitted, calling me by our real name. "Jess Blackwell & Yirina Grigoriev are the same person but they both loved Park." She affirmed, smiling as an tear fell from her left eye like me.

"That's not the only common point between me & you." I grinned. "Bell was acting like Yirina...careful, generous and protecting the innocents." I slowly nodded, the tear still present in our both left eyes.

"You're right but Bell doesn't really exist anymore to be honest." She expressed, sadly. "You make me live even if it's painful for you." She said before she got up to slowly return to her original position. "We're maybe going to talk later but now, you have to go back into the real world." She added as she took out her M1911 back in her hand.

"You know that you don't have to do this." I told her, closing my eyes only to think about what will happen.....

"I know but it's the only way to make you live."

I couldn't move myself to avoid that to happen but I closed my eyes when the gunshots occured and them...they did actually wake me up back on that bed, still on the same position, facing the concrete, my eyes still looking dry after having silently cried all night and having lived that troubling moment back on that cliff. Talking to Bell...to myself...I don't know how to really feel about it, it's troubling....

"Still playing the sleeping beauty ?" An voice broke me out of my thoughts, realizing that someone was watching me and when I turned around, I could see Sonya Kuzmin themself, standing up at an few meters from the bed.

"Have you been watching me ?" I asked them, my voice sounding like I didn't drink or eat something like 2 days now.

"No." They simply said, moving their right hand behind their back. "Seems that you didn't drink, listening to your voice, take it !" They told me as they gently throw at me an little bottle of water and even if I was suspicious, I couldn't resist to drink almost all of it. "Damn, you're thirsty as hell."

"I didn't drink for days, Sonya." I exclaimed, putting the bottle aside and passing my hands through my face to clean any traces of water next to my mouth.

"Freya said that you didn't eat last night." They expressed, sounding like worried in them. "You should eat, you know." They suggested, gesturing to the plate that was still there, next to the bed.

"Why are you worried about me ?" I asked them in an curious tone. "That doesn't seems your style, you're mostly rude to be honest."

"Is that an compliment ?" They demanded, crossing their arms to me and I couldn't help myself to smile as they took back my words from last day.

"Maybe..." I raised my shoulders as I finally decided myself to take an sweet in my hands to eat it...only one. "Why are you here by the way ?"

"I was tasked, along with Knight to bring you to the 'first test'." They answered, making me curious.

"The first test ?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"They want you to have an talk with someone." They explained, uncrossing their arms and slowly walking towards me. "Can't tell you but you will know soon."

"And I guess that I don't have any choices ?" They nodded to me, biting their lips.

"Hey, Sonya, I don't have all time to be an fucking guard, move on !" I could hear Knight's voice outside the cell and in fact, he was standing next to the door.

"You heard the man ? Let's move on." They ordered, taking some handcuffs from their pockets as they approach me with it. "Show me your hands." They demanded and I showed my hands to them before they started to handcuff me. "Come on, let's not keep Knight and the other waiting." They breathed before they make me walk with them outside the cell.

It was looking to be my first time out of that cell as I was escorted by Sonya and the irish Knight away to the mysterious place they were bringing me to. I was nonetheless scared to be honest and each time we were passing next to an door, I was wondering where Park could be, fearing about her state and how is she. I just hope that she's okay in this shitty situation...I just want that for her, to be well & okay.

After an little walk inside that long building, also thinking about trying to see through an window to see the light of the day, we were arrived near an door that was kept by Freya & Stitch themselves, awaiting for us. They were looking about that test they are going to make me do, seeing by their faces.

"So, this is my first test !" I muttered, looking at Stitch with eyes that could say that it was stupid as Sonya was unhandcuffing me.

"We're going to see how advanced it is to make an evaluation." Freya explained and I narrowed my eyes, understanding that 'it' was meaning my brainwashing.

"You're going to have an talk with Adler !" Stitch directly said to me, making my eyes go wide....I was really going to talk with Adler himself, he was just behind that door and for real....

"And...what I will talk about with him ? Our capture ?" I asked them.

"Well, we will see how it goes." Stitch told me before he put his hand on the door handle. "Have an good talk, Bell." He scoffed as he opened the door, forcing me to get inside and discovering that it was an interrogation room with an window like an mirror at our side and in the middle of the room....Adler, sitting on an chair next to an table...almost wearing an part of the outfit he use back in that mall.

"Bell, what an pleasure !" He started with an grin on an part of his lips, his jaw almost fully bearded.

"You look like shit, Russ'." I joked about seeing him like that as I slowly moved towards the empty chair in front of him....was he acting in front of them or it was just him been him ?

"See that you didn't lost your sense of humor." He exclaimed, looking at me with great eyes with me sitting on the chair. "I heard that you were captured, an mission that did go wrong, right ?" He questioned me.

"No, we got sold out by Hudson." I replied, feeling the angriness in my voice.

"Hudson sold you out....why ?" He was sounding an bit shocked to hear that.

"Don't know, must be one of the numerous CIA bullshits that I had to face in my life." I said, putting my arms on the table and taking a quick look at myself on the mirror. "What happened to you ?"

"Oh, they're trying to make me suffer like I did to the one-eyed guy." He responded, not even sounding ashamed of it, even breaking an little laught of it. "They're trying but it doesn't work." He affirmed clearly.

"Still thinking about our missions in Vietnam ?" I demanded as he was looking thinkful on his face.

"Yeah, wasn't the easiest days to live." He grinned, stretching his arm around.

"We've been in Vietnam together, we've fought together, we bled together, remember ?" I told him back, having remembered his words to me long ago and he nodded.

"You did remember that well !" He snorted with an smile as in the inside, I wasn't getting happier to have an talk with him, even moving my right arm under the table to clench my fist. "Remember the time you did come out to me after that mission in Khe Sanh ?" I nodded to them, fainting to remember an event that is fake. "You literally told me that you slept with an french nurse an day before." He was really making up an story here and I had to get along it.

"Yeah, it was...I could remember it well." I whispered, slowly nodding.

"But at that time, we got importants things...we had an job to do !" He....he said it again for real this time and my reaction was to close my eyes for seconds, knowing the pain of hearing it, my ears hurting me as echoes of that phrase was heard by me. "You know that." He added as I reopened my eyes.

"Yeah, I fucking know that." I muttered in silence as I got up from my chair. "It wasn't my way, Adler." I started, realizing that...it wasn't Bell talking, that was my real thoughts coming out of my mouth. "You made me participate in that war that wasn't mine."

"It was always for the greater good, kid." He claimed, still hearing him back on that cliff. "If you didn't came in Vietnam, you wouldn't have an big career in the MI6....I made you, Bell." He affirmed.

"You know that you weren't obliged to do that, there were other ways to make me but not that war." I expressed my pain, obliged to still talk about Vietnam, acting like Bell would do. "Did you actually cared for me ? You almost left me to die back there." I pointed in an random direction that wasn't in the window way.

"Bell, it was always for the greater good." He repeated again with an smile, urged to be punched. "And like I told you...it was never personal !" He added, closing my eyes for 4 seconds, realizing that it was too late to back down.  "Bell, we have....." He was going to say before I decide to literally jumped over the table, fully decided to punch him.

I wasn't going to contain myself any longer with him in front of him. I threw myself in him, causing him to fall with his chair on the ground before I start to threw punches at his face, wanting him to suffer like I did years ago, like I'm doing right now. Each punch, I was getting more angrier than before. He make me suffer, it was my turn now. He was trying to defend himself with his arms but it was useless as each punch I was making was always in an different places....

"Quick, grab her !" I heard someone shout loudly as the door of the room opened with me still punching Adler until two persons got my hands on me, taking me back from Adler.

"Let me go ! Let me kill that son of an bitch !" I ordered in an rage as Freya & Sonya were in fact the ones to hold me back as Knight was moving to hold Adler back.

"I want to kill that british cunt, let me go, fucking Irish !" Adler was also angry at me as Stitch put himself between the two of us.

"Get her back to her cell and make sure she's okay !" Stitch ordered Freya & Sonya before he start to look at Adler and that Freya & Sonya was dragging me out of the room.

"Calm down." Freya suggested as in me, I was starting to replace my rage by silent cries, starting to cry for real as the two were putting me back into my cell and on my bed.

"Let me kill him..." I demanded but this time, I was mostly crying, almost pleading as I looked around, away from Freya & Sonya sight, the two were like worried about me....

"Freya, what happened ?" Sonya asked to her.

"I don't know but...." She started as she wasn't sure of what she saw in that room, having seen me in an big rage and now, crying inside and outside.....

"Adler did really broke her apart like she was nothing, he will pay for that one day !"

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Meeting friends' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Meeting friends"

Chapter Summary : As Yirina has discovered that Zasha was still alive and the mysterious source helping the MI5, it's time for Park to meet Yirina's friend......

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3300

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It was Zasha all along......Zasha....my best friend, still alive after all these times, three years that I didn't see them as the last time I saw them was before I left them going away while me, I had to return back either to Russia or somewhere else as maybe asked by Perseus. Three years that I wasn't able to fullfill my promisi to protect them because an asshole decided it was better to left me in an lost place in the north of the USSR for dead instead of letting me live my life but fate....has changed almost everything today.

Realizing the day of my birthday that Zasha was in fact the mysterious MI5 source they called R. was something I never actually expected to happen, believing at first that it could have been anyone else from Perseus but it was my code that was used....a code that only me, Zasha & Portnova know well and if it was the MI5 who received the transmissions, it could have only been Zasha themselves since I know that they were going into England to join Dedov.....that never actually left the USSR....captured by Perseus and that letter in that memory where I recomfort Zed....it was an fake one. I have to fullfill my promise I kept years ago : protect my friends from Perseus.

I know it was going to be hard for me to see them again but I had no choice but to bring them back with me at my side to fight against Perseus. There's things that we couldn't have done together, things that I wasn't able to do too and it was time to catch up the lost time now that we found each other again.

"So, what now ?" Zasha asked as we both stepped out of the apartment complex in the street, with them behind me, still holding their personal bag where they have taken everything that they need and we need too.

"We're gonna join my friend and then, we're maybe gonna go back to West-Berlin." I replied, stopping myself to look at the direction where Park was awaiting for us to come back "You're sure that you want to go back there ?" They nodded to me at my question.

"By the irony, you're going to bring me back to the same city where you helped me escape." They added as we both start to walk on the sideway before getting next to an crosswalk, awaiting for the redlight to show up and to let us walk through the street. "Has the city changed in three years ?"

"Still the same." I scoffed about it, looking at the redlight. "I really want that someday, I will finally leave this city behind me and not going back." I added, making a little breath as the light goes to green, allowing us to walk on the crosswalk. "The MI6 safehouse we live in for the moment....it's the only good place there."

"Let's hope I will like it." Zasha exclaimed as we arrived on the other sidewalk from the street, next to the parking Park is waiting.

"They're making good coffee, I told you." I joked, making them laugh about it again before we had our feets on the parking and I could see Park standing next to the car, her door opened. "Park." I waved at her.

"Yirina." She said, staying at her position, smiling at me and also waving at me.

"I wasn't too long, right ?" She nodded to me as we were approaching the car, Zasha behind me and I could see that they were a little bit stressed to meet someone they didn't know. "Oh, Zasha, she's Helen Park, my partner." I looked at them as the two shook hands, winking at Park in an lovely way. It was like an slow and discreet way to show Zasha that me & Park is something.

"You must be the Zasha Smirnov that Yirina talked a lot about." Park presumed as the two finished to shake hands.

"Uhm....yes....miss Park..." They breathed, losing a little bit of their voice along the way. "It's a pleasure to meet you too."

"Oh, you can call me just Park." She expressed, smiling at them, to reassure them of her good intentions. "I think that's my turn to meet your friends, Yirina." She told me, referring that now, she was the one to meet my friends like I met hers more than a week ago.

"My friends....are your friends." I affirmed to her as she was passing her hand through the hair that was on her face before I start to walk behind the car with Zasha, opening the trunk for them. "So, where are we going now ?" I asked.

"I need to grab something at Century House and then, on our way to get to West-Berlin." She responded, moving to look at us as I was grabbing Zasha's bag to put it inside. "We should be arriving in the evening...maybe the beginning of the night." She then looked around us. "MI5 is going to call off the surveillance they put on Zasha."

"MI5 was watching me ?" Zasha raised an eyebrow at me, looking confused.

"Well, you didn't give your transmission in the usual way and with that, they were going to move to arrest 'Remi Baker'." I replied, making an silent laugh about it as it allowed me to see them again and to discover it was them behind that mysterious source. "By the way, thanks you for celebrating my birthday."  I then closed the trunk, looking at Zasha with an big smile, making an little tap on their shoulder.

"It was some sort of an tribute to you in case you were still alive." They explained as they moved to open the backdoor behind me.

"And finding you again....let's say it's like an big birthday present." I exclaimed as we got ourselves installed in our respectives seats : Park driving and me & Zasha at the passenger seats. "And to say that the day isn't finished." I whispered, looking at Park, smirking, causing her to laugh silently.

"You're right." She admitted before putting her seatbelt on. "Let's get going then." She started the car's engine and we were on our way back to Century House with Zasha.

It wasn't so far, like at almost 800 meters between Zasha's apartment in London and the MI6 headquarters in Century House and for that, we only had 2 minutes of driving to get at our destination. We arrived in the same underground parking like always but this time, Park decided to go alone at her office to retrieve what she needed and we didn't objected about it as she leave us alone, me & Zasha in the car, waiting for her to come back. I wasn't nervous anymore as I know that behind me, it was Zasha.

"Zed ?" I started after I could see Park in the elevator as its doors closed, talking in a low voice that they could hear.

"Yes ?" They said, having their attention, seeing them from the mirror.

"You remember that I told you that I did lose my memories for an while and I'm recovering them back ?" I asked and I saw them nodding through the mirror. "All of this happened because of an man called Russell Adler." I added.

"Wait." They redressed themselves to get their arms posed on my & Park's seats. "You said Russell Adler, right ?" At hearing them, I looked at them fully, surprised that they know that name.

"You know him ?" I questioned them, giving them an confused look.

"Yeah, an CIA agent that has been tracking Perseus since 1968 as far I can remember." They responded and by that, I was sort of jaw-dropped. "We saw his name in some documents that we decrypted at the end of the year 1978." They added with me, raising an eyebrow.

"Seriously ?" I whispered, not believing that I have discovered with Zasha, Adler's existence. "And....and did I have an opinion on him ?"

"To be honest, you were very curious and disgusted by the man by what he did." They continued, unwillingly describing my whole opinion on Russell Adler himself. "We did saw him in some operations that we had in the USSR back in our old Perseus days." My eyes went wide at hearing this.....did Adler knew me before all of this shit that happened to me ? "To maybe reassure you, he never saw us from upclose." I was now more looking relieved but still curious about if Adler knew about me.

"You may have learned that Stitch got his hands on him recently." I exclaimed, looking at them, having my arms on the seat. "And I'm trying to save the man who fucked my life....well, in fact, not for us for the moment."

"Really ?" They asked and honestly, I couldn't know if they were saying it on Adler's capture, the fact that we were trying to save him and the fact that we weren't going to work on him.  "You really have to save the guy who put you in an come ?" It was about saving Adler......

"Honestly, I would have let him like that....." I started, biting my lips and looking away from them. "But the only positive thing I can say about him is that if we don't have him, we all can start to speak fully russian." I added, sounding low about talking positively of Adler. "Even if we're both ex-Perseus, we can't actually fight alone."

"Yeah, I see what you mean." Zasha said, having their left hand on their chin, in an thinking mood "He's like the only man that can bring the fight to Perseus."

"Can say that." I breathed, joining my hands together and looking outside at the elevator. "For the moment, I'm working with Park to bring down Harry Stone."

"The ex-SAS soldier..." Zasha whispered. "You know, I have my eyes on him since some times." They added, revealing unintentionally to me that it was thanks to Zasha that we got the first mission on that warehouse that Stone had on West-Berlin. "I know that he was working with Perseus since a very long time and that the MI6 put her focus back on him."

"Yes, we're tracking him down and his arms trafficking since almost 2 weeks." I told them, looking at the mirror again before taking an deep breath, thinking od something important. "Listen...." I started, turning around to face Zasha. "Park has an long story....an very complicated one with Stone, he was her friend before and since she discovered the truth, Park is hating him so much." I bit the left part of my lips as I redressed myself, still facing Zasha. "There's things that you shouldn't talk with her.....only me can do it."

"I think I can't know ?" I shook my head to them.

"No and it's better, trust me." I affirmed to them as I finally looked in front of me again. "There's only one thing I can tell you." I started to smile, willing to talk about what I was thinking. "Me & Park, we're together in an romantic way." I could see them throught the mirror with wide eyes as I was keeping an smile on my way

"No way !" They peaked their head between the two seats, still with their wide eyes, looking at me. "You're telling me that you're in love."

"Why not ? Park is someone I can count on my life." I affirmed, proud of it as I saw the elevator's door getting opened, revealing Park with an little box in her hands. "She's the best I have met in my life." I added before Park arrived at her door, opening it.

"Wasn't too long ?" She asked as she handed me the box that I put behind my seat.

"Not at all." I replied, having finished as she was getting herself installed back on her seat before I decided to make a move, kissing her right on the left cheek and once I was done, I could see the blushing on her face and Zasha looking surprised.

"Been cheeky, are you, Yiri ?" She looked at me with big lovely eyes before she looked at Zasha, watching the whole scene.  "Oh....you....well, I think she told you."

"No, Zed figured it out by themselves." I said, giving an wink to Zasha, smiling, knowing that now, everybody in the car know.

"Well...." Park started to said, still blushing from my little kiss. "Time for us to go to West-Berlin." She started the car engine and before driving away, she put her eyes on Zasha. "You're ready, Zed ?" She asked and they nodded in approval before we drove off the place.

Frankly, I didn't expect that the feeling of having Park meeting Zasha was going to go very well and for me, it was so much good to see that happening : it was like my old world getting mixed with her own world and now, I was wondering about how it will happen in the future with Zasha in the team and how Garrett & Greta will see Zasha...hopefully good, I prefer. We left Century House to join the airport, taking an plane and going back to West-Berlin.

During the flight that lasted approximatively two hours, we didn't talk too much except about ourselves with Park learning more about my friendship with Zasha, talking about the memories I got back in my head and having their point of view on the spoken events as Park wasn't so willing to talk too much about herself, something I told Zasha about. It went quite well and it was very friendly with of course, me & Park exchanging lovely gazes to each other.

We arrived at West-Berlin in the evening, still at the Tempelhof Airport and each time I was going out of an plane in that place, I was like reseeing myself getting breathless during Park's rescue and we quickly got away from the airport with me, finally driving thanks to Park to the safehouse....because I know the path very well for that. We got there, at the safehouse 20 minutes after we stepped on the Berlinese soil.

"Zed, welcome to West-Berlin !" I exclaimed as I was walking with Zasha, their bag in their hands while Park was awaiting for us at the door. "It's time for us to get to work." I added as we arrived near Park who opened the front door.

"Garrett, Greta, we're here." Park almost said loudly as we entered the safehouse before we got into the living room. "Here you are !" She added as we were seeing Garrett & Greta having ordered some 'Burger Town' for themselves but also for us.

"Oh, Park, didn't hear you." Garrett scoffed about not having hear us, getting up from his couch to greet us. "Uhm....who are they ?" They asked, curious, seeing Zasha staying next to me.

"Garrett, they are my friend : Zasha Smirnov." I replied as Zasha was trembling, offering their hand to him. "They are going to work with us for the future." I added before the two finally shook hands, still seeing Zasha a bit nervous.

"Oh, well, the friends of my friends are my friends." He proclaimed, retaking the same words Garcia told me two days ago in Cuba, causing also Zasha to smile a little from it.

"It's a pleasure, sir !" Zasha breathed as I took their bags in my hands to put it at the place where we were putting ours before I could see Greta moving from her couch to walk to Zasha to shook hands as well.

"Hi, I'm Greta Keller, BND." Greta presented herself to Zasha, shaking hands with them.

"You can call me Garrett by the way and you can call her Greta." Garrett intervened with an smile, already seeing Zasha as an friend and frankly, it was good to see Zasha been accepted by Park's friends.

"Ok then." Zasha whispered to them before we all got installed in the couchs.

"So, now that you have returned, what's the next move ?" Greta asked to the three of us but mainly me & Park.

"Well....we're going to wait one more day until we can go to Moscow to try to talk with Portnova herself." I responded, looking at Zasha when I mentioned Portnova's name, seeing them having their eyes, sort of ashamed. "Unless we got something that will delay our travel here."

"About that..." Zasha started, resisting the urge to got up already from their seats. "I have something for us : have you heard of Sonya Kuzmin, an relative to Stitch ?" They asked to us and hearing that name, my eyes went wide and Zasha know that very well.

"Wait, they're in town ?" They nodded to me.

"Apparently, they are here to work with some Perseus contacts and maybe also Stone ones." They replied, crossing their arms as they started to look at the dashboard. "They're maybe an person of interest for us."

"So you think that we need to capture them before we got to Moscow ?" Garrett suggested and Zasha nodded slowly. "Mmhm, you got an point then, Zasha." He added with an smile.

"But it's kinda late to get ourselves to work...." Greta looked at her watch before putting her eyes back to us "Maybe we can start tomorrow, if you all want." We all nodded to her, apparently just wanting to have some rest now before we finally start to eat.

Park contacted them before she came back from her office, realizing why Garrett & Greta have bought more food than ever for them. Of course, the two didn't forget my birthday and decided to wish me happy birthday by surprise as I was drinking the soda they took for me, almost choking myself with it and I thanked them....not for almost having killed me with that of course.....

An hour passed and we were finished to eat where Zasha could finally verify my claim about the fact that the MI6 is having an lot of coffee in that safehouse and also that Park was making the best coffee and to say, Zasha was loving it by an lot. Garrett & Greta were the first one to go to sleep, having been trying to find any intels on Stone's operations in West-Berlin all day while us....well, we got an birthday to celebrate with Park and I found Zasha again.

"Aw shit..." Zasha yawned, putting their hands in front of their mouth as they were sit on the couch where Garrett & Greta were before while me & Park were together in our cocuh. "It has been an long day." They affirmed as they got up, stretching their arms.

"You're surely want to have some sleep, Zasha." Park exclaimed.

"Yeah, I might need that." They looked at us with an smile "Well, I guess that you two might need some private times together." They said, smirking.

"Oh....you're right." I told them with an big smile on my face, looking at Park, putting my hands on her lap "We have something that we couldn't finish today." I added, winking at Park again.

"If you wonder, there's an empty bedroom for you next to Greta's one just at the right of the top stairs." Park explained to Zasha as we're both got up from our couch.

"Thanks." Zasha smiled before they started to walk with their bag out of the living room. "Good night, Park.....good night, Yirina."

"Good night, Zasha !" Me & Park said in unison before they were out of the room, starting to get up the stairs.

"So...." Park started, getting her hand below my shirt and getting closer to me, having her right arm around my waist. "Where are we taking this ?" She asked me, referring to continue our little move that we start in her office

"Uhm...what if we took it in the car ?" I proposed to her, wanting to be alone and not to disturb the others with maybe our groans and our cries.

"Oh, follow me then !" She breathed, taking my hand as she start to walk away from the room with me as well, taking the car keys with her before we left the house to get to the car. We got inside, installing ourselves in the backseats and then, at the second we got in, that we jumped in each other for an kiss. "Yiri !" Park whispered to me as we broke the kiss to take some air.

"Who's the one cheeky one ?" I questioned her in a seducing tone as I passed my hand through her hair, having my arm around her.

"Since it's your birthday, I'm the one cheeky !" She teased, blushing as she got herself on her back, getting on top. We couldn't stop in our moves as we continued to kiss each other, slowly removing each button of her shirt until we stopped, looking at each other.....

"Mmhm, it's time for you to have your big present that you highly deserve, Yiri !"

[guigz1-coldwar]

New chapter for 'Overlord: Cold War' is out!

Chapter Summary: Yirina is getting Adler's attention in the plane while Zasha is sleeping as in Turkey, the CIA is waiting for them to arrive at their destination...

To read it on AO3, click here!

Taglist: @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

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3rd June 1984, 20H00

Yirina Grigoriev, Ex-KGB, MI6

I never felt the plane so silent since we took off from London to reach our destination that was in Turkey, no one was talking as Zasha was sleeping on their seat while the other, Russell Adler, if I remember right, was staying silent on his own, smoking his cigarette and looking away through the porthole even if sometimes, I could see him take a look at Zasha & me, using a rather curious look but I wasn't really caring about him, doing my things away from the two.

In my bag, I did take only what I thought to be necessary for me and that wasn't too much: a combat knife, my M1911, some clothes, and my personal diary. Those were the only things that I took with me from my car and honestly, it wasn't bothering me, the CIA was surely going to give us the main part of the equipment we were maybe going to use but for the moment, I wanted a bit of relaxing for the rest of the flight.

But, that wasn't going to be easy when I heard some footsteps behind my seat while I was writing down in my diary and when I turned around, I could see Adler going in my direction and arriving near me.

"Can I help you?" I asked him.

"Can I sit over there?" He pointed out to the seat that was in front of me with his left hand, asking it in a demanding voice as if I couldn't refuse actually.

"Why? You want to discuss?" I said, moving my head back to concentrate on my writing but I could still feel his presence next to me and when I just peaked my eyes for a second in his direction, he was still here, hands on his waist. "Fine, take a seat," I sighed, really annoyed, gesturing towards the free seat.

"Thanks," He simply said before he moved finally to get sit in front of me, wondering why the fuck I agreed to let him do this as I wanted peace here. "So, you're Yirina Grigoriev, right?" He started his voice, a bit low as he was having a cigarette between his lips.

"I guess that I was clear when I present myself to you before getting inside the plane," I stated, finding his question a bit stupid. "Of course, I'm Yirina Grigoriev...how stupid..." I muttered at the end to myself, keeping myself on writing.

"Why are you like that?" He demanded, causing me to close my book in an instant, the pen still inside.

"Because I have my reasons, that's all," I told him, putting the book on the little table that was between us. "It's not because I'm here that I will like working with the CIA," I added as I was coming for Zasha but not for working with the CIA and liking them.

"What? Got any hatred with us?" He scoffed, blowing some smoke out of his mouth.

"Yes, I do, no wonder why I was advised to defect to the MI6 & not the CIA by one of your own," I replied, my arms on the seat armrests as his look was getting a bit curious at me by my words I said to him. "You, the Americans are not so different from the KGB; always been messy & not discreet," I alleged.

"What did we do to you? Something bad?" He asked, curiously, his cigarette between his fingers.

"I lost my BND girlfriend during one of your operations in 1982, that's why," I responded, clenching my fists only to think about that day that I managed to get over but still present inside of me. "Name was Greta Keller," I divulged her name...impossible for me to forget it but I managed to get over it...I did.

"Shit, sorry," Adler spoke up, feeling sorry about me. "I knew her a little but I'm sorry if your girlfriend died that day,"

"Oh yeah, someone broke her neck and it was a CIA agent doing that, don't know if you actually mean it," I claimed, remembering when I was tied up on that chair with her, seeing an undercover CIA agent willingly going to put his arms around her neck and broke it as if it was nothing just seconds before the CIA raided the place we were. "He could have not done this but he did it, that's why I hate the CIA," I finished, taking a breath and putting my left hand on my forehead.

"Listen..."

"No, if you're here to talk about this, you better go up of this seat before I threw you out of the plane," I warned him clearly, never been so threatening to someone like him but he was looking unimpressed by my voice and to say, it was better for me to stay calm if I don't want to do this for real.

"No, I wanted to talk about Zasha with you," He exclaimed, getting the palms of his hands on the table at a few centimeters from my diary. "How long do you know them?" He asked.

"I met them in August 1981, a few days after they entered the MI6," I answered, my voice cooling down. "I was already in the MI6 since mid-1980 if you want to know, defected from the KGB and now, trying to do her best to survive," I guessed the future questions he was maybe going to ask me, knowing the curiosity of this man.

"And how they were when you met them?" He demanded.

"In bad shape, they lost their brother and a common friend we got in the same day, I tried the best but it got worse when their wife died, I never saw them hitting the bottom like that," I breathed, remembering the difficult moments that Zasha faced, thinking that the whole world was against them. "Since, they're like me, trying to survive," I added.

"Hmm..." He mumbled, passing his hand through his jaw on the side where he got some weird scars. "And I think that you two have another common friend: Helen Park, right?" He presumed and I nodded. "How is she by that way?"

"Do you know her?"

"Yes, we worked on some projects & joint missions in the past, the last one was in 1981," He answered perfectly. "It was some basic missions & some special projects but nothing too interesting...how far do you know her?" He continued in his questions, finding myself trapped to answer them in front of him.

"Park? I know her well, she's...we're together for 3 months but she disappeared two months ago, impossible to locate her," I replied, passing my hands through my face to avoid in fact, any tears to come out and to hide my pain a bit. "No one knows where she is,"

"Sounds bad, I'm sorry for you again," He apologized, sounding right in his words. "I hope that you will find her again," He said, causing me to shrug in a questioning mood, wondering if I could really do this.

"Yeah, maybe..." I whispered before I locked my eyes on his own, wanting now to turn the table. "And you, how did you know Zasha?" I decided to be the one asking the questions here, starting by it.

"Zed...Zasha...they defected in January 1981 during an operation in Turkey, helped us to stop Greenlight to be used by Perseus, and then, I let them go join the MI6," He responded, his eyes moving to his cigarette in his hands before moving it to smoke between his lips. "I needed them for this mission as I know that they were the best in their domains and looks like they bring you with them,"

"As I told you, I'm doing this for them," I stated, getting my hands back on my diary as his left hand and fingers were slowly sliding to my diary. "I think that I'm done with you for the moment if you please can let me enjoy this flight in peace," I ordered as I opened back my diary to start writing back on it.

He stayed in front of me for about 10 seconds before he actually decided to get up from the seat and walking away from me, making me release a relieving breath when he wasn't at my sight anymore, going back to his own seat and letting me in peace to write and relax until the plane was going to put its wheels on the Turkish soil...

If only that guy can stop being so curious, maybe I will be relaxing...

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

3rd June 1984, 23:58

Katinka Goodman, Ex-Perseus, CIA

CIA backed-up military airfield in Van, Turkey

My past as a Perseus agent was one of the big arguments for my CIA superiors along with my cryptography skills to transfer me in a mission that was involving Perseus in the Kastovian Civil War and of course, I wasn't going to refuse that perfect occasion to put myself back into the field against Perseus, the things that happened in my life fueling my whole hatred against the people I saw once as friends and now, as my enemies.

However, I was a bit surprised when I heard that there were going to be other old Perseus agents joining the mission along with me and the first one I met was none other than Bellamy Petrov, the former son of Perseus himself and to say, I was astonished to see him arriving in the base like that, not blasting his guns to every CIA members inside the compound but he was looking changed and even if the two of us knows each other before, that wasn't the case when I first talked with him.

Right now, two days after my arrival and one after Bellamy, I was alone in the big mess of the military airfield, taking a coffee when I saw Bellamy coming inside the mess alone too.

"Hey, Bellamy," I waved at him when he passed in front of me at my table.

"Hi, Kat," He simply mumbled, waving a very little to me, sounding a bit low in his voice as he was reaching the coffee machine near my table. "Good or bad day for you?" He asked me as he was taking a little cup from his jacket.

"Mixed, that's the thing," I replied, taking a sip from my coffee as he was getting in front of the machine. "Bellamy, why aren't you talking to me like a friend?" I demanded by curiosity to him even if today, he was speaking better but only a little as we didn't talk a lot today.

"It's not because we're both former Perseus agents that we're still best friends, Kat," He responded, moving his hands to start the machine, pressing some buttons. "Come on, are you going to work, you stupid machine?" He raised his voice against it, clenching his right fist.

"Don't be too harsh towards it, Sims only fixed it this morning," I stated, having witnessed him trying to repair the machine after someone punched it hard in the front of it to make it work but then, he didn't listen as he slammed his right fist on the top of the machine, making a loud echo around the mess. "Bellamy..." I sighed.

"I fixed it now," He proclaimed as the machine was really turning on, the coffee going inside the cup he put. "As I said, changing sides are restarting everything in our lives...including our friendship," He alleged, his back turned at me. "We didn't defect from Perseus because we lost a loved one, right?" He scoffed but it wasn't funny for me, having lost someone.

"We did," I whispered in a low voice, enough to have Bellamy look at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait, who did you lose?" He asked, taking his cup of coffee in his hands and walking in front of me, staying up.

"Jackal," I breathed saying this name to Bellamy who sat down in front of me, curious. "Stitch betrayed him after a mission in South Africa, a simple bullet to the head and when he saw me witnessing the scene, I fled as fast as I could," I added, recalling in my head the events of that day, spending an entire night hidden from Stitch's men before managing to flee & surrender later to the CIA.

"Shit, we both lose people to him..." He muttered, sounding shocked as he looked away from me, getting my attention on him and what he said. "I did lose people too...Liliya & Kory,"

"They...they're both dead?" I demanded, almost choking myself with my coffee in my mouth when he pronounced their names.

"It was a few months ago: Stitch said that I needed to make a sacrifice for the cause and he tied up the two, asking to shoot dead one of them..." He stopped himself to take a sip of his coffee before taking a deep breath. "When he saw that I wasn't going to do a thing, he shot both in the head, impossible for me to see their faces, that was at this moment I understood that I wasn't working on the good side anymore,"

"Perseus was never good, Bellamy," I stated at him.

"It was...but when it was my father in charge. Now, it's no longer the same with Stitch in charge," He corrected me, sounding convinced still of his father's 'good' deeds to the Collective. "Maybe I should hate my father for making me become a 'soldier' with Liliya & Kory, maybe I shouldn't," He continued, his fingers tapping softly on the table.

"You should hate him, not glorifying him," I suggested to him and I was met by a shrug from him.

"Whatever, now, I'm finding myself working with those I was fighting against before," He sighed, putting his arms on the table and looking around him, seeing the emptiness of the mess. "You heard that there were others Perseus coming in lately?" He questioned and I nodded.

"Yes...Uhm...Zasha Smirnov & Yirina Grigoriev, as I remember," I replied, remembering the name I heard from Sims who was the one making me learn about it. "I didn't know that Zasha was still alive...and coming here," I added, my head trying to remind me of the days I knew Zasha before.

"We'll see if I'm going to punch them for my father's death or not," Bellamy spoke up, clenching his both fists on the table. "And...you said Yirina Grigoriev, wasn't she the former cryptographer of the KGB who was helping the Collective?"

"She did but she wasn't so much involved with us," I answered, remembering her only a very little, talking to her like one or two times exactly. "Said that she became an MI6 agent along with Zasha and now, the two are coming to us,"

"That's funny to think about it," He exclaimed with a smile, looking at the door of the mess getting opening from afar and we could see both Sims coming in, dressed in his usual clothes.

"I hope that you two are getting well along," Sims scoffed from afar as his eyes were on us, the only person around at this time of the day.

"We do, Sims, we do," I affirmed to him as he was stopping behind Bellamy. "Any news from the others?" I asked him.

"Adler & the others will arrive in a few minutes, their plane is in the region," He revealed to us, taking his cap in hand to pass his other hand through his hair. "We also have another former Perseus agent that will arrive tomorrow," He added, causing me & Bellamy to look at him with great curiosity. "Is Sonya Kuzmin means anything to you?"

"Sonya Kuzmin?" I & Bellamy said in shock & unison to hear that name from Sims' mouth.

"Yeap, it said they defected a few days ago and that they will be going to help us," He responded, putting his cap back on his head. "You should get prepared soon for the arrival of the others," He ordered before he decided to walk away from us, meaning that he was just here to learn us of the news.

"Damn, Sonya themselves," Bellamy expressed his shock, eyes all wide like me and very surprised with me...Sonya Kuzmin themselves...coming to help us in that mission...and to say, both of us were literally thinking that the odds were small to have this happening...

"Guess that we will have a big reunion of former Perseus agents soon,"

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Overlord: Cold War' new chapter is out!

Chapter Summary: Feeling obliged to follow Adler in his mission, Zasha enlisted Yirina's help and now, both are preparing what they need...

To read it on AO3, click here!

Taglist: @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

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3rd June 1984, at the end of the afternoon

Zasha Smirnov, once known as 'Bell, MI6

Zasha's apartment in London, England

We didn't take too much time to left Century House and to go prepare the necessary at our respective places for the mission I was now obliged to participate with Adler but strangely, Grigoriev insisted to accompany me to my apartment instead of going to hers first, saying that she wanted to see how my place was looking by curiosity and not wanting to separate ourselves for the time being and obviously, I accepted to let her follow me before we could head to her place.

I was now walking all around my apartment to gather what I wanted to take with me for the mission: clothes, a bit of food, and some useful equipment that I was allowed to keep in my apartment including my pistol and a knife. All of that while Grigoriev was staying at the front door of the apartment, leaned against its frame, arms crossed as she was looking at me, doing my things.

"You know, you can enter instead of staying over there to look at me," I offered to her again that after doing it 5 minutes as I was starting to put everything inside a single black bag and as before, she shook her head to me.

"No, I prefer to stay here," She stated, her eyes wandering around the living room.

"Says the one who wanted to see how my place was looking," I scoffed in a fake positive voice, putting my hands on the few clothes that I was going to take with me. "It was you that said that you wanted to have a closer look," I added.

"I can take a look inside without having to step in further," She said before a little silence moved in between us, her staying at the door while I was filling up the bag with my things. "Is that an urn?" She asked, getting my attention on her as she was pointing out something that was posted on the dresser of the living room.

"Yeah...Dedov," I whispered, looking at it and stopping to walk to it. "Been 3 years now, I'm planning soon to return it to Russia," I explained to her my goal with it but even with the mission Adler asked me to come with and that Kastovia was one of the numerous Soviet Republic until last year, I couldn't take it with me. "I hate myself for what I did that day,"

"Why that?" She demanded, sounding curious.

"Because I'm the one who pulled the trigger," I replied in a low voice, moving away from the urn to leave it be and going back to make my bag. "It was stopping him or letting him kill everyone, I couldn't let that happen," I continued, holding my things harshly in an urge to not break down in front of her, just to think of that day. "And I was stupid enough to let someone else die by my fault," I whispered, my voice rising.

"I'm sorry, Zasha," She apologized to me, thinking that she shouldn't have asked that...yeah, she shouldn't have.

"Let's not talk about this now," I ordered, closing my bag after I was done with my things before taking it with me in my hands. "Now, we can go," I exclaimed with a normal face, passing my hand through my eyes to clean the few tears that came.

I walked towards the front door where Grigoriev let me pass by going in the big hallway outside, giving me the space to take a last look inside my apartment before I closed the door, and then, locked it with my keys, still getting watched by her in my moves. Then, we walked out of the building to get to her own car as she was the one who was driving. I installed it on the front left passenger seat and her in the driving seat before we headed off the place.

"I'm curious to see how is your apartment," I spoke up to her as the car was stopped at a red light under the heavy rain of London but she didn't respond to me. "Grigoriev, did you hear me?" I asked her as she was looking outside, a blank stare on her face.

"Yes, I did," She simply replied before she could drive, the redlight becoming a green one.

"So, why aren't you...saying something about it?" I demanded to her, looking at her with curiosity.

"Because I don't have an apartment," She responded to me, making my eyes go wide at her, surprised to hear that, and with her using a normal voice, it was more troubling. "This car...this is my home," She added, shocking me as if my blood was frozen in place.

"You...you're sleeping in your car...what...why?" My voice was really following my state right now, my eyes looking in front of me.

"It's been 2 months now...since Park left," She answered, her right hand on the steering wheel, the other on her lap while the car was heading towards the airport direction. "I'm sleeping on the backseat under Century House, I ain't enjoying the comfort of a good place," She continued, sounding harsh & sad about it. "It's not because I became an MI6 agent that my paycheck isn't helping at all, life is really a piece of shit, right?"

"I...I didn't know that, I could have let you live with me, you know," I suggested, meaning it for real.

"No, I don't want it, that couldn't have helped me at all," She refused it, shaking her head and slowly tapping on the steering wheel with her right fingers in her fingerless gloves. "As you see now, life isn't really peaceful as I thought, I did also went through shit and I still am," She clarified as she was looking to not cry at all costs.

"Listen, Grigo-..."

"You ain't the only one who's suffering here," She cut me in my words, staying focused on the road after she turned off the radio with her left hand. "I thought that I would be free but not a goddamn second, I'm feeling actually free,"

"And you think that I'm not feeling the same thing?" I asked her, seeming offended by her words. "Our own lives went to shit after something bad happened, that's why we're here...still suffering," I told her, watching outside my window, holding my head with my hands.

"Each other, we want to know what happened to the other one but I don't want to talk about it and you don't want to talk about it, ain't helping," She implored, referring to the fact that we never actually talked about the reasons we defected. "Let's start with you: why did you defect?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I mumbled, not wanting to put on the line what happened to me, I already suffered enough.

"See? We're staying silent about it...After all, maybe we should shut our mouths about it," She proposed and by my instincts, I nodded to that, at least agreeing to not talk about it anymore. "The CIA guy...you seem to know him well by what I heard from him, how?"

"He's an old friend," I lied to her, fainting a good voice. "I...let's just say that he needed me for a service and I couldn't let him down," I put myself deeper into a lie.

"About the mission? And by that, why aren't you letting me see the file?" She asked me that as she was also curious about it.

"Adler said that the file wasn't filled up with everything, said that he would talk about it when we are at our destination," I continued to lie about it, unable to talk about it without mentioning Park as she could freak out if she sees that name in the file. "Everyone would be put aware of it, don't worry," I reassured her.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," She stuttered, giving me a look with her eyes before she went back on the road, letting the silence come back between us.

The rest of the drive stayed very silent, no one willing to open their mouths to make a new conversation in fear of getting ourselves talking about something that we don't want to talk about and get angry about it, I was still completely shocked that this car...was where she was now used to live, not having an apartment despite she was here longer than me in England, a year prior me but damn...she was living in that car...

That troubling thought stayed in me for the rest of the drive until we arrived at the airport, Grigoriev parking the car in an isolated place before we left the car, taking my bag on the backseat as Grigoriev was going to open the car trunk, taking what she needed as she let me go join Adler that was waiting for us and to say, he was easy to find under the rain of London, staying near a private plane without any umbrella to cover himself, the plane ready to take off near one of the main runways, the door opened for us.

"Zasha," He was the first one to speak as I was arriving under the rain, my hair getting wet pretty quick, with my bag in my hands. "I'm glad that you came,"

"I didn't have many choices," I stated as he was offering his hand to me but...no, I wasn't going to do it for him.

"Come on, kid," He insisted, still handing over his hand but I stayed normal, not breaking to shake his hand and it took him several seconds to resign himself, removing his hand. "Well, if you don't want to, I'll not insist,"

"Yeah, ain't something that you did years ago," I proclaimed, a deadly glare taking over my face at him.

"No, don't start about it, it was the past," He ordered, using a very serious voice towards me, even raising his finger at me.

"People don't forget, nothing is forgiven," I claimed to him, still having a hatred for him for what he did, sometimes still seeing myself on that cliffside, unable to stop it to happen.

"Is that one of your friends?" He demanded, his finger pointing at something behind me and I turned around to see Grigoriev with a simple bag in her hands, a hood over her head as she was arriving near us. "Hi, I'm Russell Adler," He presented himself to her, offering his hand for a shake.

"Yirina Grigoriev, Grigoriev for you," She mumbled in annoyance, not even paying attention at him and she passed through us, already getting inside the plane with my eyes all wide and Adler, looking pissed off as she was disappearing inside.

"Who is this?" He asked me.

"Someone whose life isn't easy like me," I replied to him before I decided to go inside, walking on the little stairs before stopping myself to look at Adler who was confused at hearing this. "Welcome to the normal world, Adler," I told him in a clear voice, stating that our life couldn't be in color every day unlike him and his 'success' in the CIA.

I walked inside the plane where I could see Grigoriev, sit down away from the others as it was only her, I & Adler in the plane along with the pilots, and I decided to not bother her for the moment, installing myself in a seat that wasn't too close to her, near the door I just used to enter the plane and putting my bag under my seat.

Adler, looking like he wanted to talk, got sit in front of me but I wasn't in the mood anymore to talk with him, wanting only now to take a little rest and I even had to show him that I didn't want to be bothered any further: not looking at him, outside the porthole of the plane, crossing my arms and leaning myself comfy in my seat and thankfully for me, he was convinced to go away from me, leaving me finally alone with my thoughts, now trying to stay silent and close my eyes....

He would never leave me to live a normal life for once...

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

29th July 1981

Zasha Smirnov, once known as Bell, MI6

Saint-Paul Cathedral, London, England

"Hands up, Dedov!" I took out the gun of my jacket to point it at him, a pain in the chest to see him hereafter having watched all over the cathedral for the morning to search for Stitch or Dedov. His reaction was to spin around and look at me, his face going down.

"You shouldn't be here, Zasha," He said, staying very calm in his voice and gestures.

"You know I have to be, I can't let you do this," I told him, my fingers getting near the trigger without touching it. "Please, Dede, you can stop..."

"Don't call me like that," He cut me in, sending chills inside my body at the voice he used. "I'm not your Dede anymore," He added before he revealed in his hands a small detonator.

"Drop it," I ordered, taking a step forwards but he holds the device up, giving me a clear sight of it.

"No, after what you did but we can go home," He snapped, trying to stay calm at me, seeing his face in anger. "Come back home with me,"

"I'm not following you, you're the one following me, you need to stay here, Dedov, it's my only chance," I stated as inside of me, it was painful to point that gun at my own brother, the only person I couldn't lose and I was aiming a gun at him.

"How could you? Perseus was taking care of us, building a new world but you threw us away, threw me away!" He almost shouted in the room we were, starting to aim my gun down slightly as his hands were shaking

"I tried to get you back but you kept running, you can't say that," I insisted, remembering the time I saw him fleeing away from me like that, without any remorse.

"Maybe but you were too late for that," Dedov sighed before he flips the cap of the detonator open "Your consciousness is maybe back but is your mind has followed or was it stolen by the Americans or the British?"

"Zasha, I'm coming," I heard a voice in my ear before it went off, not taking care of it.

"You were blinded, getting corrupted by their system," Dedov tried to convince me of it, giving me a deadly glare.

"And by unleashing Nova-6, it will fix it?" I raised my voice against him as the sounds of people down there were getting heard loudly. "Innocents are going to die, that's what you want?"

"That doesn't matter," He answered, shaking his head again as his finger was near the red button of the detonator.

"Don't do this, Dedov, please," I ordered, my hands almost starting to tremble as the impossible was surely going to happen now. "Don't make me do this, please," I continued in my pleas, feeling tears in my eyes as he wasn't stopping as a loud voice was echoing in the cathedral, the priest's one.

"This is the only way!" Dedov said in a low voice, making me close my eyes, not wanting to see it.

"Zed!" I heard someone shout my name before I heard 3 gunshots in the room in rapid succession.

I couldn't know what happened but...I pulled the trigger of my gun in fear, filled with sadness inside of me. The sounds that I heard was covered by the sounds of the crowd below us, roaring & cheering for the royal couple as my eyes didn't want to get opened again, not wanting to see what I have done before I resigned to do so, seeing the detonator sliding on the floor...Dedov..on the ground...

"Zasha?" His voice was sounding calm as his left hand was holding his bloodied chest, the other one releasing on the ground a pistol, seeing the smoke out of it but I wasn't wounded...

"Hey, hey...it's okay," I quickly moved to get to him, put him slightly on my lap. "You're going to be okay," I affirmed, starting to hold pressure with him on his wound, his head in my arms.

"I'm sorry, Zasha," He breathed in pain, looking at me with eyes that were crying.

"It's...it's my fault..." I chuckled, my eyes crying with him.

"No, don't...don't blame yourself, it's okay," He wanted to reassure me as the blood couldn't stop even with what I was doing, his moves getting slower. "I'm sorry, Zeze...I love you..." His voice was getting lower and lower at each word before his eyes went away, slowly shutting down. "I'm a monster...I love you..." He snorted before...his eyes were closed, his body going limp in my arms.

"I'm sorry, I love you too," I closed my eyes in shame for what I did, putting Dedov's head on the ground gently as the pain in my chest was going high, impossible for me to be normal.

"Hey...Zed..." A voice got up behind me before I could see Lazar himself in his suit...holding the left side of his neck...and traces of blood on his suit.

"No!" I panicked when I saw the blood on him, realizing quickly that Dedov shot at him & not me, Lazar came...but as I was starting to move to get to Lazar that he fell on his knees, looking at the ground.

"You...you're a good person, Zasha..." Lazar chuckled as I was moving my hands on his neck wound, seeing the blood coming out despite the pressure he was putting on it with his hands. "Truly...one of ours...as always..." He told me.

"You're going to get help, Lazar, don't give up," I tried to reassure him too before his body went back, making me move quickly to not let him down. "Stay with me, Laz'" I almost shouted like the roaring & cheering below was continuing.

"Tell Park...no...keep...a eye on her...she..." He breathed before his eyes went to look up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath as the blood was getting on his suit, too much to be stopped, getting around us. "I'm sorry...Park..." He said with a little smile on his face before his eyes went back on me...keeping his smile. "Keep an eye on her...please...Zasha..." He took a deep breath again before his eyes closed, his hands not doing anything, his whole body going limp.

"Laz...LAZAR!" I shouted in the room, in pain, all the tears of my body were coming out, having lost today...2 persons that I couldn't lose in the same room.

I stayed like this, unable to move my body when I saw Park arriving in the room, running and when she saw me...Dedov...Lazar, she was...unable to speak, her eyes seeing the darkness of what happened before she fell on her knees too, in shock, looking at me, at Lazar & Dedov, tears on her face...unable to speak and starting to cry with me, looking down at the ground as I was looking at my both hands, both bloodied....both...having Lazar's & Dedov's blood on them...

I couldn't be the same again...I lost my friend & my brother...their blood on my hands...

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Friendly talks': New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Friendly talks"

Chapter Summary : Yirina is facing her first morning in the CIA safehouse in Moscow with her new revelations in head.....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3000

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My life....is really a real mystery to even me. Each day, I'm discovering more about myself and if at the beginning, the process was like slow with only my brain to work with, Zasha's presence with me allowed me to accelerate the slow process of my recovery of my own memories that are all hidden behind a door.....a door that opens to an random memory but even like that, I can know about who was 'Yirina Grigoriev' before someone in the Perseus Collective tried to end my life by putting 3 bullets in me and then someone inside the CIA avoided me to know more with a bullet in my head.

I couldn't still believe that during all this time, my father was an british man that worked with the SAS & the MI6 during & after WW2. In fact, I'm half-russian by my mother, half-british by my father and frankly, it kinda make me smile to think that I maybe find a part of my origins in this world. Park was like me and honestly, I couldn't smile more about the fact that me & the United Kingdom aren't only linked by the fact that I'm an MI6 agent now.....british & russian....what an life !....

After we got out of our 'sleeping place', the car, we decided to return back into the warehouse to join the others and by surprise when we entered in it, there were nobody that was awake : Greta & Zasha still sleeping silently in their respectives couchs and no one else in the big main room. We were still in the early morning so that can make sense that me & Park were the only one standing up.

"Guess that we don't have to make too much noises." I started in an low voice to Park, watching Zasha sleeping in their couch as Park was looking at both.

"That make senses, let's go find the kitchen if this place has one." She suggested also in an low voice as we didn't want to wake everyone up with our voices before she started to walk with very silent step while I'm following her, getting ourselves inside further in the warehouse until we managed to find the kitchen : it was quite big and it was just a few steps from Zasha's couch just behind an door. "Here you are." Park twinkled when she entered the kitchen with me behind her as I closed the door.

"Now, where's the coffee ?" I asked as I looked around the kitchen before I found it on the counter right next to an fridge. I was ready to go next to it until Park stopped me, putting her hand in front of me.

"Wait, let me do it & go sit at the table." She ordered and she was sounding like an mother that is avoiding her children to do something stupid.

"But...."

"Sssshhh." She cut me right away, pointing an chair to me while having her left index finger in front of my lips. "I told you that I will make your coffee so be nice and let me do it." She affirmed, making remember that only 2 minutes ago, she said that she will do to me 'an big coffee'

"Yes, ma'am." I breathed as Park smiled lovely before I move myself to get sit on the chair she pointed at me. The kitchen table was big enough that it was almost separating the kitchen in two. I watched Park as she was trying to find cup for us....since we only take our equipment with us...not our cups. She found them in a drawer just on top of the coffee machine.

"Let's do this." Park whispered as she was getting the coffee machine ready and when she activated it, it start to make some loud noises....like if it was an jackhammer in function in the room.

"Very silent." I taunted as we were both looking at the coffee machine desesperated by it. It could be seen on our both faces, sniffing.

"CIA equipment...." Park crossed her arms, taking an quick look around the kitchen....to say that we're going to live, work in here for days...and sleeping in the car because I'm not sleeping in the same building as Hudson. Our cups of coffee were finished and Park took the two in her hands. "It's gonna be like that every day." She added as I took the cup she was handing to me.

"The risk of working with the CIA." I said before I took a sip from the coffee...it was pretty good since Park was the one to do it despite the horrible coffee machine and its noises. "Taste so damn nice."

"I always doing them like you love them : sugar and an bit of milk." She exclaimed as she smile at me and me too before she drink her coffee as she make me remember that I love coffee with sugar & milk. Then, the door of the kitchen opened, revealing Zasha themselves.

"Looks like someone hear an jackhammer in here....or the coffee machine to say." I scoffed, laughing about it before I waved at Zasha with my free hand, the other holding the cup. "Hi Zed." I & Park spoke in unison.

"Hi." Zasha waved back at us with an smile, sounding in an low voice before they streched their arms again. "The couch...is not so comfortable to be honest." They affirmed as they sit down just next to me before Park got up from her own chair.

"I'm going to make your coffee if you want, Zasha." She proposed and Zasha nodded with an grin on their face as she was walking back to the coffee machine.

"So, you sleep well in the car ?" Zasha asked to me, looking at Park as she was launching the coffee machine again....or the jackhammer.

"Well, it's much better than sleeping on the ground." I replied referring to Hudson stupid advice, taking the cup in my two hands before I took an sip from it. "You see the bald man with sunglasses ? Better than you keep your distances with him." I added, serious in my voice as Park was finished with Zasha's coffee.

"She's right, Zasha." Park exclaimed, having the same thoughts as me while she was walking back to us, handing an cup to Zasha. "Hudson is an real douchebag and he doesn't really trust non-american people."

"Like an true american patriot." Zasha expressed, sounding right as we nodded to them.

"In fact, Hudson doesn't really like to have me & Yirina around him and as far I can see on his face last night, I can say you've just been added to his list." Park affirmed, looking at Zasha who have just drink their coffee and they were looking so relieved....can say that they're liking the coffee Park just made..."I can see that you're liking it." She added, seeing their good face.

"Oh yeah, it's so nice." They confessed, bringing me to smile about it, knowning their love for coffee.

"Zasha is an big lover of coffee so if one day, we don't find any coffee here, we know who has done it." I joked before they do a little friendly nudge to my shoulder while I have just put my empty cup on the table.

"Hey, I'm not like that." Zasha was sounding an bit offusqued before I looked at them with an raised eyebrow, knowning that they were faking it. "Okay, I may have one day almost emptied the entire reserve of coffee that we had in our old office in the Lubyanka." They added, making me laugh as I wasn't aware of that and Park was smiling at us, maybe wondering if it was true or fake before an minute of silence arrived in the room, everyone in their thoughts. "Oh, talking about the old days, I managed to find out who was your father."

"Yeah, me too." I breathed, looking at them at the same time as them. They were looking surprised of that since we have both dreamed of the same thing. "He was named James Doyle, an SAS soldier and an MI6 spy." I continued and Zasha nodded, meaning that we really had the same dream. "But after I killed those mens, what did we do ?" I asked.

"Uhm..." They started, putting their cup down. "Well, we...hide the bodies, we closed the place down for coming back later to it and then, we took the dead guys truck to burn it in a isolated place." They fully replied, confirming my suspicions on what happened next that day.

"And after that, we came to this Perseus base before returning to Moscow." I added.

"If I didn't left earlier, Portnova would have been here with us....well, were we going to be there in Moscow ?" They questioned me and I raised my shoulders as I couldn't find an simple answer to that.

"I don't know but now that we're here, we can try to fix our mistakes." I finally spoke my thoughts out as I looked at Park. "Do you have any ideas to start with ?" I asked to her.

"Well, not exactly." She said in an low voice as she put her cup down. "As we preferred to have some rest, we can start to work on it when Garrett & Greta are fully awake." She then got up from her chair, taking her & my cup with her. "For now, we can check what Woods's team has been working on."  She proposed and we both nodded with Zasha as Park took their cup too as they were handing it to her and put them next to the sink.

After that, we then left the kitchen to see if someone else than us was awake. In fact, when we arrived back into the main room, we could see Greta that started to get up from her couch and we said hello to her before she got to the kitchen to eat breakfast as for me, Zed & Park, we moved to look at the mysterious dashboard that Woods and his team were using and looking at their works they have done since 2 weeks.

In fact, it was quite filled to be honest. They've been working non-stop as they were pictures of Perseus agents with notes next to them, pictures of some locations that Woods has raided with his teams and at the center of dashboard, an picture of Adler himself noted 'MIA'...how I can hate an man like this alongside Hudson ?.....But of course, there were nothing that could have helped us with Stone and nothing for us that could help them on Adler.

Since the dashboard had no more space for us, we wanted to find an free wall on the warehouse for our own operations but....we don't have anything on Portnova yet except her presence in Moscow, meaning that we have to find a lot of things before we can act to save Portnova and get her out of the country with everyone alive. Then, we put ourselves on the couch that Zasha used to sleep, now awaiting for the others of our team to arrive to discuss of what we can do today.

"What are you doing here ?" A familiar voice arrived in the main room and it was Mason, looking stunned to see me & Park in here.

"Hey, Mason." I moved from my seat to walk to him, handing my hand for an shaking. "Long time no see." I added as we both shook hands, still looking shocked as Park arrived with Zasha at her side.

"I don't believe that you came here, Woods didn't tell me an word of that." He explained as he moved to shake hands with Park.

"All of our safehouses in Moscow are used so we had no choices to come here." Park told him as the two finished before Zasha moved next to her, offering their hands. "Mason, they're Zasha Smirnov, Yirina's friend." She added as Mason smiled to shake hands with them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Zasha breathed, sounding astonished to see the man.

"Oh, you can call me Mason." He grinned before he put his hand on his head, like having an headache. "Fuck, this fucking headache again." He added, narrowing his eyes as he passed through us to get sit on his own desk that was just next to the dashboard.

"Woods said that you were pretty tired last night." I exclaimed, saying what Woods told us.

"Yeah, some bad thoughts that came back and....to say that this night, it didn't help me by an lot." He sniffed, scratching his shoulder with his left hand. "Let's just say that two person didn't go silent all night." He added and me & Park looked at each other, understanding his words....did Garrett & Song really do this loud ?....

"I second that statement !" Another voice came in the room and by turning our heads around, we could see Woods with an cup of coffee in hands. "I wasn't able to close my eyes for one hour straight without getting up by an woman who was groaning loudly in another room." He continued, arriving next to us, looking tired.

"Did they really do this ?" Park put her face inside the palm of her hand, snorting to think about it.

"What ? You didn't hear at all ?" Woods asked confused.

"We slept in the car." I replied, sounding like proud of it. "I wasn't going to sleep on the floor like Hudson said....by the way, where is he ?"

"He's not here for today." Woods responded, putting his coffee down on Mason's desk. "He left in the middle of the night first because of the two lovebirds in their room but most importantly, to meet some peoples around Moscow all day."

"So, he's not going to be around to harrass me ?" Mason & Woods shook their head to me. "Well, that's better."

"By the way, you didn't explain much why your group are here." Woods turned his head towards Park as we didn't speak too much about it.

"We are trying to save an friend of Yirina & Zasha that is working with the KGB and Perseus." Park exclaimed, crossing her arms as she moved next to the dashboard with us. "She's basically our only lead against Stone right now."

"What's her name ?" Mason asked.

"Yirina Portnova." Zasha whispered to him, breathing away to pronounce that name....it was very painful for Zasha to have left Portnova alone 3 years ago and I could see the guilty on their face.

"No, don't know her at all." Mason & Woods said in unison, shaking their heads to hearing that name before we could see Garrett & Song themselves coming inside the room, stretching their arms along the way while Greta was just behind them, looking embarassed.

"Hi everyone, how was sleeping ?" Garrett asked obviously to us, we nodded to him with Park & Zasha.

"Mmhm..." Mason & Woods however weren't so sharing that feeling with us, looking away from the two.

"We didn't wake you up ?" Song asked in an low voice.

"Not at all !" Woods almost said loudly to her in an lazy voice, making me, Park & also Zasha laugh silently as Garrett & Song literally blushed from that....you weren't silent, people.

"Uhm....well...uhm, how's everyone doing then ?" Garrett scratched the back of his head, looking embarassed as hell.

"Quite good to say." I was the one to reply on behalf of everyone if it was mixed for some....Woods & Mason to be honest. "Guess that we can all start to work on our goals." I proposed before Woods removed himself from Mason's desk.

"Before we start, I need to show you something." Woods said as he was getting something out of his desk....like playing cards before he got back to us. "Seems that attack on the mall in the US wasn't just for killing civilians." He then showed us an playing card with Adler's picture labelled as the King of Spades "We found this in a Perseus safehouse in Astana."

"Isn't something that the CIA used before to track their targets ?" Garrett asked as we gave the playing card to him, knowning apparently more about the subject, Woods nodded.

"Yeah but it seems that Perseus has decided to do the same." Woods added to that, giving us more infos about it. "With the hatred that Stitch had with Adler, we can understand why Adler was kidnapped that day."

"And that's why you are here ?" Park questioned the two as she gave back the card to Woods.

"Perseus has some agents that are linked to Stitch around Moscow and we have something in South-East Asia but for now, we can only focus here as our lead over there isn't too concrete to investigate." Mason was the one to respond, crossing his arms on his chair.

"How much time you think you will stay here ?" Woods demanded. "For us, it's gonna be like more than one week and an half to be sure."

"Well, I think we can try to have 4-5 days to get Portnova before we return to the West." I suggested, looking at Park & Zasha who kinda agree to my suggestion before they both nodded.

"Wait, we can help you with that." Garrett expressed, looking at Woods. "I know a lot of people around Moscow and I could help you while still working with Park, it can shorten your presence here."

"Why not ?" Woods put his hand on his chin, the same for Park.

"Yeah, since I worked here before I got called by Park, I can use my contacts in the BND for that." Greta proposed as Woods was thinking about it before he agreed by nodding while Park does the same.

"It can work but you're still helping us with Portnova." Park ordered, removing her hand from her chin. "You're now our two intermediaries between each group : you help us while helping them."

"Of course." Garrett told her as he looked around the place. "We need to make some calls for that."

"Don't worry, I will show you both ." Song exclaimed as she was walking away with Garrett & Greta and everyone looked at them with narrowed eyes.

"Watch out : we got good ears now !" Woods warned them in an funny way before the two got out of sight from us and then, he looked at us, especially me & Park, knowning of our relationship since we had to tell them weeks ago....

"It's the same for you two, little lovebirds !"

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Sticking together' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

'Sticking together'

Chapter Summary : Bell is getting ready to put her life in line to save Park from Perseus.....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +4800

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'You're fucking serious ?'......That was the thing I could see AND heard from Mason, Woods & Adler at the same time. They couldn't believe one single second that I will be proposing this idea at all and that I would volunteer myself to be the main element of that plan. Who would be so damn crazy to let themselves captured ? Well....I was the only one that could answer that question and I was that person who was crazy to do it. Here, it was the life of Park that was at stake and if I had to put mine in line to save her from Perseus.....so be it !

They all argued with me, saying that it was too dangerous for me to put myself in danger and because of my previous links with Perseus himself but I didn't care about the last thing. If we were going to kill those who has taken Park, who will know that I was here ? Minutes after minutes, they realized that it was in fact the only plan that we could have without risking to lose Park during our fight to get her back as the possibility that Perseus kill her before we attack the place......no, that wasn't going to happen !

Finally, we finally agreed together that my plan will be used to save Park :  I will be 'taken prisoner' by Duriot himself as he will use the car I have stolen to transport me to the meeting point at the Tempelhof Airport. Then, I will maybe be brought with Park herself and I could free myself and then her, allowing us to attack Perseus's mens from two sides : from the outside for Mason, Woods, Sims & Adler and from the inside with me & Park after I freed her. That is the plan we're having right now....the only possible plan.....

After that, Mason & Woods started to prepare the equipment they will use for their attack, Sims were keeping an eye on Duriot for the moment as Adler explained him the situation and his usefulness for our plan, warning him that no cooperation from him will led him to his quick death and somehow, Duriot agreed to help us even if we all have some doubts about him but now, he's the only person that we have for our plan. After that, Adler make some calls to call for backup from the CIA and informing them of the plan.

Me.....I just needed to prepare myself for my acting again a second time in a day and staying in the main room, watching the others doing their part wasn't going to help me at all and I decided to go to the bathroom, trying to appease myself. I arrived in it and the first thing I did was to put my hands around the sink, looking at it and then at the mirror, seeing my face filled with dressings all around it.......why I am such a walking mess ?......Why I can't be fucking normal ?....Why all this shit for someone like me ?.....

While I was looking at me in the mirror, I could still hear them.....her screams....her pleadings for my name. I'm trying to save her because I wasn't fast.....I'm trying to save her because I love her and I believe in her, she didn't deserve what happened to her : learning that she was tortured for months....that has literally broke a part of me. I think that everything she has been trying to fight has come back in one day. I have to save her, save myself.....save us !

"Kid." I hear this and I looked through the mirror to reveal Adler standing, leaned against the door frame of the bathroom that I left open.

"Stop calling me kid !" I whispered, not moving my head at all to see him in person, still facing the mirror "I'm not your friend....and I'm 31, now." I was still holding the sink with my hands, not trying to break it.

"I wanted to talk to you in private." He said, having his arms crossed, his glare focused on my face.

"Hmm...." I muttered silently, wondering what he want to say.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry !" He exclaimed, getting my attention as I move to face him in person, looking away from the mirror.

"You.....you're sorry ?" I started, confused at hearing Russell Adler in person that he's sorry to me after what he did to me, he nodded at my question. "Sorry.....sorry for what ?"

"For everything." He added but I couldn't believe it from him.

"Everything ?" I repeated his words. "Sorry to have fuck with my mind ? Sorry to have me act like I was your fucking puppet ? Sorry to have put me in a coma for 3 years ? Sorry to treat me like shit ?" Each question to him was raising my voice louder and louder as his face decomposed itself before I stopped myself.

"Yes..." He replied in a low voice, looking down at his feets.

"No." I told him, I couldn't accept his apologies from him, what he did can't be undone, I'm now living with his memories and his actions can't be forgiven "I'm not accepting your bloody apologies."

"Hey, you can do...."

"Better ?" I cut him straight, having guessed his last word in advance. "This is what I'm doing, I'm trying to do better by trying to remove you from my head but I can't forgive what you did." I looked away for a second, just wanting to be alone but he was staying there, looking at me.

"And you forgive Park, like that ?" He added, sniffing at me "She was maybe against brainwashing you but she manipulated you into loving her."

"Oh, yeah ?" I started as I was clenching my fists "I know that she's hating herself for having helping you and I understand why. She apologized to me....3 years ago after I left that room and those revelations you did."  I pointed him with my left index finger, showing my angriness at him"For 3 years, she believed me to be dead because you lied to everyone, she has been through hell for months because you and the CIA refused to save her in North Korea and now, I'm putting my life in line to save her because I know that no one will move its fingers to do it."

"Maybe you're right but...." He started

"Of course, I'm right !" I cut him again for the second time, frustated to see him still in denial with me.

"You know, you don"t have to do this." He exclaimed clearly

"If I don't do this, who will ?" I asked, biting my lips and looking at him with wide eyes, he was looking away in shame and I realized that I was right : I'm the only one who can do this. "I'm pretty sure that you were happy to see her in that North Korean prison."

"No, do you think that I'm a monster to think one second of that ?" He asked me and I raised an eyebrow to him, he's already a monster and I saw it well. "I cared about her !" He added, sure of himself.

"You don't try to strangle the people you cared about." I said, referring to the day when I faced him for the first time....when I saw him put his hand on her throat. "You never cared a single minute for her." I then looked back at the mirror, my hands back on the sink "You just saw her like nothing....like me, you just saw us as stupid lesbians." I added, taking back his own words he used to describe me & Park back on that stretch. "I love her, I'll help her....I'll save her !" I affirmed before I started to remove the dressings that was on my face, realizing that Perseus need to believe that Duriot was the one who captured me.

"Mason healed you !" Adler told me as I was removing one by one, my dressings.

"I need to act like if Duriot was the one to win the fight, do you think he would like to heal a enemy ?" I affirmed, finally turning back around after I was finished with my face. "I need to fool them enough."  I added before I could see Woods arriving behind Adler, equipped with some military gear and his famous headband.

"We intercepted communications from the Tempelhof Airport : Perseus men are there ! Apparently, they are waiting for Duriot to come." Woods first said, finally breaking that moment between me & Adler. He looked at me, seeing my face without the dressings. "Do you think you're ready ?" I nodded,

"Well, let's go save one of us." Adler ordered as he leave the room, passing next to Woods before I followed him.

There were no step back for me and I don't think I can't afford to think about this option. I'm the only one in here that can succesfully fool Perseus men from the inside and save Park from them. It's a big risk that I'm taking but it's a good one to take. We left the bathroom to join the main room where Mason was finished to have prepared himself to the mission as Sims was still watching Duriot with a close eye. He was freed from the interrogation room and he knows well that he can't try a thing to escape as he will die the second he will do that.

Adler explained the plan for the last time from his side since I will have to improvise for a part as I don't exactly how it will play for me. They will have to wait for the good moment before they could act freely without having me or Park harmed at all. To reinforce the credibility of our actions, it was decided that I will have to have my hands tied up with a rope and my head covered in a bag, I can thanks Woods to have think of this idea that wasn't bad at all.

Once it was done, it was time for Duriot to play his own role, been watched by the others as he was given a empty gun to not trying anything on me or to lead us to a wrong place and that....he didn't know. Now, I had my hands tied up and my head in a bag as I was lead by Duriot himself to the car I used to bring him here. The bag on the head allowed me to see a little throught it and I could see the others watching him closely as he decided to directly put me inside the car trunk before he closed it, making my vision go all dark.....awaiting until we were arrived in destination.

Working on the floppy disk concerning Operation Chaos leaded by an rogue CIA agent named Robert Aldrich was like an pain in the ass because there weren't any big things that could have helped me but by the odds, I was able to decrypt it thanks to piece of paper containing a secret code as well with the title of a newspaper who were hiding also a cod.

I was finally finished with it and I decided to stand up from my desk to get a coffee after working non-stop on it for hours. The safehouse was pretty silent for the moment as I was the only one present in it. I was arriving next to the coffee machine, starting it.

"Hey !" A familiar voice said behind me, causing me to jump scare in place as I thought to be alone. I turned around to realize that it was Park herself.

"Damnit....almost gave me a heart attack !" I exclaimed, scared and angry at the same time. "I thought I was alone."

"I'm sorry, Jess." She apologized, putting her left hand on me before she looked away in the Dark Room direction. "Are you free ?"

"For ?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and catching my breath as I was scared as hell by her.

"I need help with some pictures you have made back in Ukraine." She explained, causing me to put my cup of coffee back in the coffee machine.

"Need extras hands, I see...." I smiled at her, saying it in a kinky voice

"Do that means yes ?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at me, I nodded and then I followed her.

I wasn't so sure of why she would have needed help on the pictures I have made in Ukraine since I thought that it was done days ago but anyways, I complied to follow her slowly until we were arrived in the room. I was the first to arrive in it and the first thing I did was to look at the table where the pictures were usually put on but there were nothing on it. I turned around to look at Park who in a second, has closed the door and directly pulled me in for a kiss.

I was also surprised from her to doing that but I should have expected it before as it was very suspicious from her to ask me help on something that I knew was done after we came back from Ukraine. I decided to reinforce the kiss who lasted a few moments before I was pulled against the empty table by her.

"Well, well, well." I started after we broke the kiss to catch some air for us "That was fast."

"I've been dreaming of touching your lips all day." She affirmed in a lovely voice.

"It's been only one day that we're together and you're acting like if we have been together for years." I said, my arms posed on her shoulders, looking at her with a big smile. "I would like for us to happen for a lot of years."

"I know you will say that." She told, rolling her eyes to look around but for me I wasn't joking, I was meaning it.

"I mean it, Park." I exclaimed, repeating my thoughts to her. "Just me....you....somewhere nice and quiet....maybe in the british countryside." I could see in here that she was looking happy to hear that even if I could feel that there were something strange...until I saw some tears coming from her eyes.

"You....you remember when I talked to Lazar and you about my scar ?" She started, sounding moved as I nodded to her question. "Well, even with that, I'm still feeling ashamed of it....feeling insecure..."

"Hey, it's okay." I whispered, gently cutting before I start to pass my left hand to clean her tears while I passed the other hand through her messy hair. "Your scar like I said the first time, it's highlighting your beauty." I grinned to show her I wasn't lying

"You really want to dream of this with me ?" She asked, looking insecure....not sure of her own words.

"Park, I will do everything for you !" I affirmed, giving my thoughts to her.....what I really think about her. "You're in danger, I will make sure the people who hurt you regret their actions." I added, putting my arms back on her shoulders. "You're my world now."

"I never thought of that from you." She began to smile a little, having heard me.

"I see Laz' like the brother I never had and you....as the woman I always wanted to be with, you are...." I wanted to finish to give my thoughts until she put her index finger in front of my lips.

"Shhhh....you talk too much." She smirked, finally feeling secure and happy with me before she removed her finger from my mouth as she leaned, nearly touching my lips with hers, our foreheads against each other,

"You're also my world but....let's enjoy our moment !"

I was moved to see that memory back, giving me the reasons I'm doing all of this to have her back at my side to fight against Perseus. I'm doing this for her....for me. I tried to not cry because I just relived that special memory but also I need to stay focused on my acting as I'm literally in a car trunk, driven by an Perseus agent and leading me either to the meeting point or to an ambush but the first option was chosen by him as I wasn't freed up. After I woke up one minute of that memory, the car finally stopped, meaning that we were arrived.

The trunk opened, allowing me to see Duriot through the bag, looking stressed but also trying to not screw this up, knowing that he was maybe in a sniper rifle scope sight. He finally took me out of the trunk, freeing me from that car as I could see the night.....he decided to drag me during all the way, to get to what I think to be the meeting point...and a group of Perseus soldiers.

"Duriot !" A man shouted as we were getting close. "You wanker, do you realize that we almost got caught by the US Army ?" I started to recognize slowly that voice....Stone....Harry Stone himself....here.....masked.

"Sorry to not have myself get caught by the police." Duriot countered him as we were finally arrived....he dropped me at Stone's feets I could see through my bag. "Got a problem to deal with." He then redressed me on my knees.

"I think I told everyone that only the british was the one to take." Stone proclaimed, crossing his arms. "The passenger....you could have killed her."

"Yeah but she can be useful for us." Duriot said, having one of his hands, touching me, wanting to control me in case. "I managed to beat her and to capture before the cop arrived."

"And she managed to break two of your fingers ?" Stone must have seen the broken fingers I did to Duriot throught the gloves he was wearing. "You're an amateur or something, frenchie ?"

"Don't call me an amateur, sale batard !" I could see the two facing each other, almost getting into hands as Duriot was clenching his fists.

"That's not what 'Wraith' is thinking of you !" Stone told him, spreading his arms, meaning he was ready to fight with Duriot in case. I was wondering who could 'Wraith' until.....

"What the hell is going here ?" A woman said, going out of the plane, breaking me out of my....that voice....Fre....Freya....no.....what is she doing here ?.....She was masked but I could see her eyes....her hair changed by a lot.....

"Ah.....'Wraith' " Stone replied as Freya was approaching us...she was this 'Wraith'.... "Frenchie brought to us the passenger that was with Park." He added, moving himself, allowing her to face me.

"Duriot, the passenger was meant to stay in that car." She exclaimed, clearly like an order. "You took a risk to take them here."

"Maybe but....she was tough and it was better for me to take them as well." Duriot defended himself before Stone approached him.

"Show us their face !" He ordered, causing Duriot to put his hand on the bag. I was fearing that moment, seeing Freya and Stone in the eyes as they both know me. I was going to break down but I realized that I need....to be 'Bell'....I don't know them.... He finally removed the bag, allowing Freya and Stone to see my face.....I could see their eyes going wide and petrified at my sight as me.....I was keeping a straight face....painfully....

"Duriot...." Freya said, slowly "She was the passenger ?" Duriot nodded "It's you who did this ?" She showed him the multiple wounds that was on my face.

"Yeah, cette salope, she was mainly....." He started, enthusiastic.....until he was completely cut off by Freya herself....a bullet right in the head, killing him with her pistol before she looked at a soldier next to me.

"You !" She pointed him, sounding very angry. "Get her in the plane with the british, I need to talk with Stone." The soldier executed himself and moved to grab me.

I was shocked.....in all the possible situations, I just saw Freya for the first time in person.....in real since years and I don't know how it was possible at all to meet her here as I'm trying to save Park. My look was on her as the soldier was dragging me inside the plane until she was completely out of my sight. I could hear her saying to Stone to quickly flee the area and to not talk about this at all, having realized that it was me....the mysterious passenger.

The soldier finally opened a door, leading to a secluded part of the cargo hold of the plane where I could see Park after long hours for me, tied up to the wall, a headband covering her eyes....her face showing signs of fears at hearing the soldier arriving with me. She was wounded too at her face and her clothes were badly in shape, one of her coat sleeves was almost away from her jacket and there were some holes in her jeans....they tortured her for some times before bringing her here.

After installing me on the ground in front of Park, the soldier left the room, leaving me alone with Park. Thanks to Mason who was the one who tied up my hands, he didn't make them so hardly, allowing me in any occasions to remove the ropes around them and to put them back like nothing happened. Once I was freed from the rope, keeping it around my hands in case, I decided to move to get to Park, to release her.

"Don't touch me !" She started, sounding panicked and trying to move, blocked by her links as I touched her shoulder.

"Park, it's me !" I exclaimed, wanting to reassure but she was still panicking.

"Please, don't touch me.....please...." I could hear her starting to cry behind her headband, covering her eyes....she....she must have relived her nightmares....."Please...." She continued, making me moved...in pain to see her like that....

"It's me...." I whispered before I decided to remove the headband, allowing me to see her eyes again....filled of tears....moved....in pain...."It's me...." I repeated again.

"Yi-....Yirina ?" She said, slowly realizing that it was me....only me "Yirina !" She ontinued, grinning a little and taking back her breath after the scare she had.

"I'm here, I came for you." I affirmed, putting my hand on her face

"You....you came....for....for me !" She was getting relieved, smiling more.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, Park." I told her as I started to remove her links, blocking her hands to the wall but there were more hard than me but then, I started to hear some footsteps coming towards the room, making me panick. "Okay..." I started, moving back to sit. "Act like if I was still named 'Bell'." I ordered her and she nodded as she has maybe realized who was there, the door opened, to reveal Freya.....unmasked.

"Well, you managed to remove your headband." Freya said, having seen Park without her headband around her eyes but instead of focusing more on her, she moved to get next to me. "Yiri..."  She whispered as I was still keeping a straight face towards her.

"Don't touch 'Bell' !" Park spoke, acting like I said even if I could see that she was having troubles to say that name again.

"I'm not talking to you !" Freya pointed her, angry before she focused back on me, this time, getting in front of me. "It's been....3 years."

"3 years ?" I fainted an incomprehesion to her, playing 'Bell' "3 years of what ?"

"I thought that you were dead, Yirina." She replied, sadness in her voice.

"Who the fuck is Yirina ?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as inside of me, I was pleading myself to stop acting.

"It's you !" She put her hand on my left shoulder but I slowly moved to get it away.

"Bullshit, I'm 'Bell'....Jessica Blackwell !" I smirked at her, using my old identity....the fake one....stop it, Yiri !....."I don't know you." She then put her hands on my face, holding it gently.....before she leaned herself to kiss me on the lips, taking me by surprise and making my eyes wide open.

I.....I was more shocked than before....Freya & me, it was more than just 'sisters' link but.....we were together, romantically involved.....in love. I never ever thought of that possibility but now, it was true : I was with her before all of that. I was more surprised than Park herself who were also shocked to see that happening in front of her. I wasn't taken aback but I acted like if I was.

"3 years I missed you, that I missed those lips...." Freya breathed, smiling from it but then, her face goes in horror when she saw me.

"I...I don't know you !" I said again, my voice on the verge of cracking down. She was....starting to cry, tears falling down her eyes.

"What...what did they do to you, Yiri ?" She asked before we started to hear some loud noises outside the plane, like multiple gunshots, causing everyone to look at the door as someone opened it at the same time.

"Duriot was followed, the CIA is here along with the US Army !" A soldier shouted to her and at this moment, I decided to act to liberate me & Park....even if I had to hit Freya, something that I never wanted to do as Yirina.

I took the advantage that she was looking away to free myself from the rope wrapped around my hands and then, I punched Freya in the face and in the same time, grabbing the gun she had strapped on her bulletproof vest before I pushed her away with my feets, the other soldier tried to react with his own gun but I quickly reacted by shooting him three times dead before he fall inside the room. Once I dealt with him, I moved rapidly to free Park from her links as Freya was knocked out on the ground.

"I'm sorry, she took me by surprise." I exclaimed with an smile to Park, still acting as I feared that Freya was still awake, winking at Park to continue as well. "Not jealous ?" I scoffed, removing her links around her hands

"No..." Park replied in a low voice, she was still shocked to see Freya kissing me but she has maybe realized at the same time that I wasn't aware of it as well. "Good job....'Bell'." She added, finally free as I help her to get up.

"Time for us to go home." I said, putting one of her arms behind my neck as she was apparently hurt at her right leg.

We started to slowly go out of the room, Freya's gun still in hand, checking if there were anybody to surprise us at all during our escape. Everyone was looking busy outside fighting Adler's team and we were near the door that could have allowed us to get out of that plane until I was hit by someone behind me, causing me to fall with Park along me. When I looked who did this, it was Freya herself, that were going to strike me again until I make her fall touch with my legs.

"Go ! I'll take care of her !" I ordered Park to get out of the place without me as we were just at the exit of the plane. Even if she was wounded at her leg, she was able to move with difficulty without me as I was getting up, awaiting Freya to get up as well.

"They're manipulating you, Yirina !" Freya shouted, angry....lost....sad....all at the same time.

"Shut up !" I yelled in return before I decided to move to attack her. I had no choices but I was still acting and I wanted it to stop but I couldn't do it at all....my body pleaded me to stop but I couldn't.

I threw myself on her, wanting to tackle her down but she resisted to not fall and she decided to nudge at my back, exactly where my gunshot wound was, causing me to scream in pain as I tried to fight back, I removed myself from her and I was going to hit her in the face but she moved in a second and quickly kneekick me in the chest and suddenly, she striked me precisely at the throat with her hand, stopping any air to come in and out of me.....breathless.

"No !" She exclaimed, realizing what she has done as she put her hands on me. I was holding my throat in pain, my knees on the ground. "Yirina, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to...."  I stopped her by pushing away before slowly walking out of the plane, slowly and in difficulty "Yirina !" She shouted.

"'Wraith, we have to go !"  I could hear someone said as I was out of the plane.

I then start to see the door of the plane closing, seeing Freya for the last time before it was completely closed and the plane was starting its engines, taking off second after second as me...I fall on my knees, trying to have a breath, holding my throat in pain. The gunshots were over but I was in trouble as I fall on my back, looking at the dark skies of the city.

"Yirina !" I could hear Park arriving next to me and start to hold me, having seen me in trouble. She realized that I was breathless and she looked around "Medic, help !" She yelled as I could see some peoples running towards us before she looked at me, scared. "It's going to be okay, Yirina !" I tried to smile but I was feeling that I was going to pass out....maybe die, I put my right hand on her face, trying at my best to reassure her....

"Gonna....be....okay !"

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Troubles at the Pines' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Troubles at the Pines"

Chapter Summary : Yirina, along with Park & Adler, is going to face Stitch at Mall of the Pines.....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +4300

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Seeing Hudson face after all these times and seeing him acting like Adler did in my first days back in the safehouse, I can say that everything was starting all over again....with me, trying to make sure that I'm no longer seen as an terrorist, as an Perseus agent. Of course, with that coming back, my anger was with it too, letting myself a little bit overreacting when Adler taunted me about sarcasm and to be honest, I really think that sarcasm was something helping me to not let my rage get in control of me......and that's happening a lot of time with Adler & Hudson.

We needed a bigger plan than just 'broke in and kill Stitch for good' like Adler explained to us but even if he finally agreed to planify our moves inside the mall.....it wasn't still a bigger plan we had : we just added 'separate in teams' to the original plan and Adler been Adler, he refused to lose time and we quickly had to prepare ourselves for the mission as Stitch wanted his plans to occur, according to Adler, in the night of the same day.

Weirdly, Adler wouldn't agree to let Mason, Woods & Sims to participe in the operation and frankly, I wonder why that and even if they were trying to protest along with us, he didn't want to hear it. Instead, me & Park was obliged to go with Adler, Zeyna & Bulldozer as part of their own team and it wasn't the time to argue with that. Once we were ready, we got into a military truck and we were on our way to 'Mall at the Pines' as it was called. Part of my equipment were given to me by either Park or Adler himself.

"So....Grigoriev, right ?" Zeyna called me out while I was checking the Krig 6 I was given as we were in the truck, our seats facing each other with Park at my side and Zeyna having Jones & Adler next to her. I nodded to her, putting the gun on my lap. "Where are you from ?" She asked me.

"I'm from Ukraine." I replied as I was wondering what questions she wanted to give me, given to her curious look.

"Really ? Even if the name is Ukrainian, you're sounding very british." She muttered.....I can thanks Park for that accent I still got.....

"I've been working for the MI6 for years now and....." I started to say before looking at Park " I was very influenced by them." I added, grinning. It was just like when I told Wolf of my 'story' but this time, Adler was there to assist the conversation and when I looked at him, I could see on his face that hell will be on that truck if the truth was on the air, he needed himself to cover that.

"Grigoriev helped us by a lot." Adler exclaimed, lying him too, he was in his element to be honest. "She worked with me as we stopped Greenlight along with Park." He added, having a neutral face on me & Park.

"After that, she joined me to work inside the MI6." Park intervened at my side and I looked at her with an smile. On her face, I could see that it was hurting her again to lie about the long 3 years I wasn't really there.

"You didn't stay to work with us ?" Bulldozer scoffed, his voice muffled as he was now wearing his riot helmet on him. "Are there something you didn't like ?"

"Let's just say that the CIA wasn't so good with me in some ways." I joked, giving to Adler a look that could be described as an warning to him, knowing that at any moment, I can change my mind and finish the job with him.

"Oh, that's why Hudson were like pissed off when he saw you ?" Zeyna asked and I nodded again.

"Hudson isn't the type of person that will put his trust on people that aren't americans." Park said, looking at Adler too. "I can talk about this by a lot." She whispered likely to herself.

"Never like the guy anyways." Bulldozer snorted, everyone must be hating Hudson on something and all for a good reason. "Still forced to work with him however."

"We had to, Hudson authority can't be contested at all." Adler told him, having heard his statement.

"Even if he has to stay the dick I met 3 years ago ?" I questioned him.

"Yes." Everyone except me replied in unison to me.

"Anyway, I didn't asked but is anyone of you ever met Stitch before except for Adler ?" Zeyna wondered, looking at everyone before I slowly raised my hand.

"I did." I answered in a low voice, getting Adler attention on me.

"Wait, really ?" He was sounding very surprised by that even if he know of my status.

"Yeah." I breathed at him, looking sure of me. "I had a run-in with him in Ukraine back in my days in the KGB....a few days before I defected in January 1981." I added, mentioning the memory I had before I woke up in that base. "I broke his left arm."

"You....you broke Stitch left arm ?" Adler was again stunned by that, guess he isn't the only one who had history with Stitch. Everyone else was also like him, Park realizing that it was the memory I had in the car.

"Succeeded to corner him but I didn't have the chances to finish him before he was saved by one of Perseus." I continued, looking a little bit out of myself.

"So, Adler make him lose an eye and you broke his arm....kinda brutal !" Bulldozer admitted, having his look either on me or Adler. "You two have quite a grudge against that guy." We both nodded to him.

"If he's in the US, something big is gonna happen." Adler muttered. "Even if what we are going to do is without a plan, we need to take the risk." He affirmed his opinion on the mission before he looked outside the truck to see that we were near our destination. "Okay, get yourself ready, we arrived." We checked our guns for the last time before the truck stopped completely on the mall's parking.

I was the first one to have my feet back on the ground, soon followed by the others pretty quickly before Adler moved to adress the team that were going to support us from behind as Mason, Woods & Sims has their team taking the other side of the mall for them. Once Adler was finished, he gestured us to follow him at the entrance of the place who was blocked by numerous wooden planks.

"Bulldozer, use your hammer on that !" Adler ordered to him as Bulldozer took the hammer that was on his back.

"On it !" He complied as he moved to get to the entrance and then, he start to use his hammer to smash the planks covering the entrance. He wasn't going easy on his moves as the planks were falling one by one but the loud noises from him removed the element of surprise from us....guess there weren't any of it at all. "Finished." He said after the entrance was clear for us and to be surprised, we weren't greeted by bullets once it was done.

"Let's move inside, the support team will enter when I'll order it." Adler stepped inside the mall as we start to follow him. I rolled my eyes at it because we were literally going into the lion's den but can't back down as we were already there. "Support team, get your team ready on my signal !" He said to his radio and I could hear the chief of the other team agreeing to it from mine.

The first thing we started to do once we got in was to have our guns pointed in all the directions, wondering why nobody was there to attack us like that after we did a lot of noises. The first part of the mall was pretty silent and that wasn't normal if Stitch got his base planted here, he couldn't be silent like that, something in here was very off. In my head, I was thinking about what will Stitch will say when he will saw my face as I have nothing to cover it : the last time I saw him....I broke his left arm.....was it really the last time I saw him before Turkey ?

Park, on her side was trying to keep her cool as we were slowly advancing inside the mall, checking every corner, potentials cover and traps in case Stitch left any for us. Each step I was taking, each time I was thinking that we were going to walk straight into a hidden mine somewhere but nothing like that happened, it was more like walking straight into a damn trap and Adler know it well, we all know it well now. If we die, we all have someone to blame for that and of course, it would be Adler.

"Nothing here." Park whispered to me as we were advancing together, checking quickly a sports store as Zeyna & Bulldozer were covering from their side, a electronics store while Adler was taking the lead.

"We all going to get jumped on and we act like we don't know it." I exclaimed to her silently, keeping our voices down as Adler ordered to us. "If you lied to us, I will kill you myself, Adler." I affirmed to him, serious in my voice.

"I know that, Yirina." He said, focused on watching in front of him with his gun before we start to arrive in what was looking the center of the mall : a sort of fountain.....and in it, there were light blue barrels connected to each other with something marked in red on it until we all discovered what was those things. "Shit, he's started reproducing Nova-6." Adler lowered his gun for a second, looking at those barrels with his gun flashlight until.....

"Hands up !" We heard a man voice coming from behind a cover on top of some escalators with an assault rifle in his hand and then, it was more than just a guy as a lot of black-dressed soldiers come out of their cover in front of us and behind us....we walked right into a trap !....Thanks you, Adler !....We looked all around us, our guns still up and facing those guys.

"Is this all you got ?" Adler shouted to these guys, taunting them and worsening our own case until we heard the noise of a elevator going down just at a few steps from us.

"You had to ask !" Park told him, almost angry in her voice as she was behind me, I was aiming to those guys we first spotted with Zeyna as Park was with Bulldozer, aiming at where we came in. The elevator's door opened to reveal....Stitch himself in the same clothes in that memory with some modifications on them. He was holding a sort of shotgun in his left hand.

"Adler !" He started as Adler looked at him with deadly eyes. "You are very stupid to have fallen into my trap."

"It was the risk, I really wanted to make you lose your other eye." Adler replied, joking around with him as it wasn't the time for that, we are trapped !

"Is this what you think ?" Stitch almost laughed until he got his both hands on his gun, looking at these mens around us. "Kill the others, Adler.....is mine !" He was ready until I made a little eye contact with him just for one second and I could see on his face that he recognized me. "You....Yirina Grigoriev." He said my whole name and now....I was kinda mixed by having my name mentioned by him....I had....to play....'Bell'.

"Who is Yirina ?" I asked him, fainting to not knowing him at all, getting Zeyna incomprehesion in the process by saying that.

"On my signal, you run to hide." Adler started, whispering it to ourselves before we start to hear some gunshots inside the mall, meaning that the support team did came to our rescue a bit late. "Run !" Adler shouted as he throw two smokes grenade he was secretly holding in his hands around us and we immediately complied.

I think that I have never sprinted fast in my entire life as the bullets started to be heard in our area against us. Of course, we were all separated from that, away from Park, finding myself to run with Zeyna at my side to hide somewhere in the mall and we quickly find a cover in a store that was just a few meters from our original position before the fight started. Once we were both into that store, we moved away from the windows looking at the center of the mall to get behind in cover behind the counter of the store.

"Putain !" Zeyna cursed in french, realizing the situation we got ourselves too, checking the drum mag of her MP5. "Those bastards were awaiting for us."

"Of course, they were going to trap us." I exclaimed, trying to have a look above the counter before getting myself down back behind the counter, avoiding the bullets coming towards us. The mall really became a warzone now. "Adler knew the risk of it and now, look at where we are."

"Shit, where are the others ?" She asked before putting her hand on her radio. "Bulldozer, what's your status ? I'm with Grigoriev in a clothes store."

"I'm with Park in the electronics store just next to yours but Stitch's goons are going to overwhelm our position." He responded, firying at the same time with his gun.

"What about Adler ?" I questioned him.

"Don't know, he took another direction from us." He said before his radio got shut down like if someone attacked him and when that happened, we looked each other with Zeyna.

"Merde, we need to go join them before they got into bigger troubles." She exclaimed and for that, I couldn't agree more to it.

"I second that but...." I peaked my head a little to check at the store's state we were : filled with bullets holes and in bad shape. "We might need another exit for that."

"There !" She pointed to a side door that was maybe leading to a reserve. "We can join them by there." She added before she started to fire in the front entrance direction to kill a guy that tried to get to us.

"I'll go first, cover me !" I ordered before I start to run to get to that door.

I fired a few shots from my Krig 6 to help Zeyna before I opened the door and get myself inside the reserve of the store....to be greeted by an Perseus agent in front of me once I was inside. I tried to react quickly but he was more faster, putting his hand on my gun as I was trying to shoot him with it, getting myself into a struggle for my own gun. Unfortunately, he was more stronger than me and he managed to throw my gun away before he grabbed me by the collar and smashed me against the wall behind him.

My back was now hurting me a little from the impact and I could thanks my bulletproof vest to have protect me from the biggest part of the pain. I thought he was going to continue until he was suddenly grabbed by behind by Zeyna, having a big stick getting planted into his left feet, making him fall as Zeyna removed her stick to strike him right into the head, killing the guy and saving me from him.

"Wrong time, wrong place." She taunted to the dead man, getting her stick on her back before she moved to get to my gun. "Must be to you, je pense !" She took the gun and throw it at me gently.

"Merci." I said in french as I grabbed the gun in my hands, changing the empty mag of it before I could her, looking at me curiously.

"Didn't know you could speak french, Grigoriev." She told me, taking her MP5 in hand.

"Got myself some good skills, I can say." I didn't want to brag about myself, considering the situation we're in. "Let's go join Park & Bulldozer." I affirmed, getting ready again.

"They must be behind that door, Jones said that they were just next to us." She took the lead as we moved to get to the other door of the reserve that was certainly leading to the store they were.

When we arrived near the door, we could hear some gunshots in it and we couldn't stay here so we forced open the door, our guns ready to shoot in case. Park was fighting hand-to-hand with two Stitch's guys, getting one of them under her right arm who she broke his neck like that before she pull out a gun from her holstler, to kill the other guy with it. She was an damn expert in it and I saw it happen ! But then, a third guy that was already on the ground tried to shoot her and I was the one to react quickly, killing him in a second and making Park aware of our presence.

"Thank god, you're here." She exclaimed at us, relieved before we could see Bulldozer fighting with another goon before he took his hammer in hand, hitting the guy with the back of it right behind his head....before literally striking the guy in the jaw with the hammer, making some teeth and blood to fly away.

"Everything looks like a nail !" He said to the dead guy before he got quickly back to cover as bullets came into our direction, taking his M16 in the process. We mimicked him too, getting behind the counter with Park.

"You're alright ?" I asked her, worried as I could see a little bit of blood on her face.

"I'm okay, Yirina." She replied, getting her hand through her face to clean it from the blood she had. "Just the blood of these douchebags." She added, taking the gun she had in hands.

"Have you seen Adler ?" Zeyna asked.

"I saw him running right into the arcade but then, no more radio signals from him." She responded before she got out of cover to get next to Bulldozer who were covered just next to the store entrance.

"Our guys are slowly advancing to get here." Bulldozer explained, looking outside the store to see that the support team were near the center of the mall. "Perseus's boys are either shooting at us or them."

"And to say that Adler is alone in the arcade...."  I whispered, finding out that the arcade was just at a few meters from us....having just to face bullets from Perseus soldiers. "I think I should go trying to save Adler's ass before something wrong happened to him." I suggested....was it a bad idea ?.....

"Maybe, we can cover you with our guns as you try to enter that area." Zeyna wasn't sure of it before she looked outside, in the arcade direction. "You could do it. Bulldozer, Park, be ready !" She ordered as she prepare herself to get ready to cover me.

"Be careful, Yiri." Park said silently at me, knowing the risk I'm taking now as she got herself next to Zeyna.

"I will." I replied discreetly too before I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes, trying to think straight....finally ready.

"Go !" Zeyna got out of cover to fire, starting my run to get to the arcade.

The three opened fire at the same time as I was out of the store I was hiding with them. I started to run as fast as I can to get to the arcade, exchanging some bullets with the few guys that I was in my way until I arrived near the entrance, getting my gun reloaded, not wanting to make any mistakes in case it wasn't going to be Adler to greet me inside. I breathed and then I moved inside.

"You will soon experiment the hell on earth, Adler !" I could hear Stitch talk to Adler himself and when I fully arrived in the room, Adler was holded by two Perseus soldiers, each one by his arm as Stitch was facing him, looking sure of himself.

"Fuck you, Stitch." Adler said before he was knocked out by the guys behind him and I moved to react quickly to save Adler.

"Stitch !" I yelled at him to get his attention off Adler, ready to shot him dead....until I got myself grabbed by someone who was hidden, getting above the counter of the arcade with the same person.

"Let's get out of here, we're done here." I was able to hear Stitch starting to walk away as I was on the ground behind the counter as the person who attacked get on me, trying to control me and then, they got their knife out ready to stab me and I quickly reacted by putting my hand on their arms. I looked the masked person in the eyes and then.....Freya ?.....It was her, behind that mask.

"Yirina ?" She just realized that it was me she was going to kill....More than 1 week after the events of the Tempelhof Airport, I saw her again and inside of me, I couldn't believe myself....After all what happened, she was there with Stitch but again....I don't know but I was still forced to play 'Bell'....something that it's breaking me in the inside but I can't do something against it. She slowly removed her knife from me, allowing me to push here back with my feets before I managed to take my M1911 in hands.

"Stop calling me like that." I ordered her, aiming her but not bringing myself to shoot as she removed the hood she had on her head.

"Please, Yiri, come back with me." She pleaded, offering her hands towards me, still scared about been targeted by me.

"I don't know you for fuck sake." I exclaimed at her, angry and inside of me, starting to get more broken even if I wasn't shooting her like 'Bell' would have done. Then, she moved her hands slowly towards on her pocket "What's this ?" I asked before I could see....a ring....in her right hand.

"This...this was your mother ring, Yirina." She replied, making me look at the ring, keeping my gun in hand. "You proposed to me in September 1980 before you took back the ring in January 1981....I was able to take it back." She added....making me realize that this was the same ring I took from her in that memory....my mother ring....how ?

"How...." I was in a loss of words, thinking as 'Bell'....acting as Yirina. "I....I don't believe you." I started to breath more loudly, thinking that I was going to pass out from all of this and I was keeping my control up. "You're lying." I said in a low voice, nearly cracking.

"Please, we can go home." She slowly tried to move towards me.

"Stay back....don't....don't move, I'm not Yirina." I told her, having my gun still on her, still acting as 'Bell'

"Freya !" Someone entered the arcade as I could hear from behind the counter that I couldn't see because I was leaned against it, sit. "Freya, we need to get the hell out of here." That voice....it was that Sonya.

"Go...." I whispered to Freya, not wanting to harm even if I know more about her and what she has done to me, I couldn't do hurt her....I still feel that sister link inside of me.

"Yirina...." She breathed, still offering her hand.

"Go !" I repeated myself silently to her as she realized that she couldn't bring me back 'home' with her and that she was thinking that I wasn't 'Yirina Grigoriev' but 'Bell'. She slowly put the ring back in her pocket, holding back her own tears as I could see on her face.

"I will bring you home, Yiri. That's a promise !" She told me before she got up, putting back her hood on and then, she left without telling Sonya or anyone else that I was here, maybe going to say that she killed me to them.

When she was out of my sight, I was holding back my tears like her. I was close to crack down and to tell her everything about me when she showed my ring....the ring of my own mother that I can't even remember because I don't have any memories of my childhood. After a few seconds after Freya's departure on the ground, getting back in control, I moved to get up to see the arcade, realizing that Adler wasn't there anymore.....taken away by Stitch. I moved to get next to the outside entrance of the arcade, discovering an helicopter where Stitch and his men were bringing Adler inside of it before taking off.....I couldn't do a thing as they were too many for me to handle at all and it would have been too risky for me.

I was slowly shocked as I was getting back to the entrance I first take to enter the arcade before been greeted by Park herself who has came to see if everything was okay for me. Apparently, the fight inside the mall was finished a

"Oh my god, Yirina, you're okay ?" She first said, getting her hands on my arms and to be frankly, I couldn't nod after what happened, I wasn't okay at all so I shook my head, closing my eyes, trying to not cry and breaking down.....but I couldn't resist anymore and I fall in her arms, crying at my best....

"They took Adler away.....and Freya was there."