Present.
Cologne, Germany.
Teo Braga is many things. Estranged son of an equally and somewhat ironically estranged man. An individual with nonexistent boundaries on the moral compromises he is willing to make to achieve his goals. He is an emotional mute and commentator of the sarcastic, deadpan variety in private company. The shadow of a child who at one time had been happy, but now lies buried beneath the shell of a manufactured monster. Confident, cruel, calculated. Arthur Campbell's son is first and foremost a deceiver, a charismatic manipulator, a maverick against the grain of fate and chance and inevitable things like destiny. He is, in essence, the perfect spy.
The perfect weapon.
Yet for the first time in his life he finds himself at a loss, poised at the crossroads of a life he knew, and a life he has only ever dreamed of.
The beautiful woman standing at the edge of the Rhine is the reason his foresight seems to be lacking as of late. Her presence has done nothing but further complicate his already complicated existence. But despite his best efforts to evade her, it would seem some inevitable destinies were not so easily escaped after all. Blue eyes watch her intently, studying the way she leans against the rail above the river in the early morning light, the great bells of the cathedral echoing like a siren call of salvation through the cool fall air, ominous and heavy. Her dark hair, so different from her previous golden locks when he first met her, falls in soft curls across the slope of her shoulders, her lips moving furiously as she grips the generic cellphone in her hand and keeps it pressed against the flat of her cheek- knuckles white. She is flustered, agitated.
Of all the women who have walked in and out of Teo Braga's life, Annie Walker is the one that fascinates him most.
After several more seconds of frantic exchange, she returns the phone to the inner pocket of her trench coat and turns back toward him with a crestfallen look he cannot quite describe. It unsettles him though, and an indescribable heaviness festers in his chest, perhaps in the spot where his heart would sit. Her eyes have the same brief glint of viciousness as the split-second flash of the gun hidden at her hip. Then it disappears.
"You do realize you're staring, again, don't you?" She points out irritably as she brushes past him, close enough he can catch the distinctive smell of her perfume- citrus like, perhaps grapefruit of some sort. He has come to associate the scent with her presence. With a throaty chuckle and a crooked grin, Teo turns and follows Annie as she walks south along the riverside, always one step behind her.
"What's the plan?" Teo moves to her side, voicing his inquiry in all seriousness despite their customary banter. With shoulders brushing and hands shoved in pockets, he takes comfort in the odd rapport of familiarity her presence brings after weeks of living in one another's shadows. Something is wrong though, she is uneasy, on edge, her usual composure compromised by the anxiety that is uncomfortably obvious to him. The evidently negative change in atmosphere is enough to make his skin crawl. Instinct begins to rattle the puma's cage despite his best efforts ignore it; a reminder that there are only two options when danger threatens.
Flee or fight.
"There is no plan." The finality in Annie's voice is disturbing, defeated and different. Not expecting the ultimatum that came out of her mouth, Teo glances at her in surprise as they continue to walk, the church bells fading in the distance behind them. He waits for her to speak again, assuming she has more to say, but she seems preoccupied with something in the distance that he cannot see. Teo can only imagine what it must be like inside the labyrinth of her thoughts. He envisions the contents of her mind akin to something like a minefield made up of fractious emotions, warring with the compartmentalization protocols that the Central Intelligence Agency shoves down its agents' throats. Oddly enough he and Annie have more in common than either of them would care to admit, but at the end of the day it was her empathy, her passion for her loved ones, that would always be the thing to set her apart.
Teo learned to stop caring a long time ago.
Annie never would.
"There is no plan." He repeats her obscure and unenthused statement with even less gusto, as if reiteration can make him understand it any better, that heavy feeling in his chest growing tenfold.
"We're alone." Annie's voice is filled with nothing and everything at once; anger, despair, desperation. The edges of her fingers press against her temples in frustration and he watches her close her eyes and take a breath before she continues talking. "No one is coming. You know the saying 'we're out in the cold'? That's us, right now. Everything is falling apart. Calder can't help us, Joan can't help us, your father is in custody, Auggie is still missing -"
"Annie-"
"The DPD has been turned upside down, Henry is in bed with the entire CIA, and everyone is caught up in his propagandist bullshit, his lies, and they're buying it Teo. They're fucking buying it!"
Annie stops without warning as her voice crescendos into near hysteria. Teo awkwardly dodges out of the way in an attempt not to run her over, cringing and cussing under his breath while he regains his balance, brow furrowed and a scowl in place. He is ready to talk her off her ledge, calm her down, but as he brings himself to speak the disheartened brown eyes looking back at him keep the words nailed to his tongue.
"It's never going to stop, is it?"
Annie is broken, forlorn and exhausted. She does not hide it from him, not after everything, the emotions raw and clear as day- crippling. For the first time since the beginning, in all the hours and days Teo has spent in her presence, the man spies the undeniable glimmer of doubt haunting the shadows of her face. In a matter of moments the woman whose resolve and determination were irrepressible falls prey to her worst fears. Her initial question still hangs heavily in the air, but he cannot find the heart to respond, remaining silent, tight lipped in trepidation as the gravity of the situation sinks in.
She already knows the answer.
"I have to find him, Teo. I'm running out of time."
The puma knows the look on her face all too well; a wild animal cornered with nowhere to run. He can see the gears turning in her head, grappling for a solution, desperate for a way out even though they are standing with their backs at the edge of an endless abyss with nothing left to do but fall. Past experience has taught him that moments like this are when logic and self-preservation give way to brazen, reckless and impulsive behavior. Fear and panic are powerful motivators, qualities often underestimated by those who choose to instill them in their victims. What they also forget is that when an animal is given no other option, when they are threatened and can no longer flee, well…
More often than not, they choose to fight.
Even if it means losing.
A/N: This is a season 4 alternate universe that deviates from the show directly after the episode better known as Crackity Jones. Even though it might not seem like it... yet. Hope y'all enjoy it!