Blue was sitting calmly in an arm chair with his bourbon while Park slept, the warm fire crackling was the only sound in the keep. Park knew Blue had nights were he would stay up all night long, kept awake by the horrors she and Adler had put in his head.
Blue was reminded of his time in the kingdom conflicts, trying to stop the war that was inevitable.
"Fucking idiot." Blue muttered to himself, sipping his drink. He could hear the breeze and the sound of people whispering outside, Blue looked down at his wedding ring and sighed. "So much for retirement."
Blue gulped down the drink and walked upstairs into his and Park's room, sitting on the bed as quietly as he could, but Park could feel the bed move, she turned to look at Blue, wishing they could both just be left in peace in retirement, left to a normal life.
"Are you alright Blue?" Park said softly as Blue pulled out his cassette player.
"Yeah...just remembering Vietnam." Blue said with an empty voice.
"You or implant?"
"Me, definitely me. I specifically remember it, we were bugging out from a mission and some kid had been serving us at the bar the day before, Americans destroyed his home while we were on mission, he begged that I take him with me to safety, so I helped him onto the chopper, it was only after we took off that I noticed he had a grenade with him, the chopper went down, I was the only survivor, when I came to they told me what happened and discharged me temporarily until they realized they needed me." Blue said as a cold sweat ran down his back.
"you couldn't have known."
"I should have searched him, asked him to turn his pockets out. I was naive and it cost good people their lives, from that day I swore that I wouldn't let it happen again." Blue said as he felt Parks hand on his shoulder.
"You can't hate yourself for having a conscience Blue, you're one of the few people I know who would have spared Volkov and Perseus, Last time we were in Berlin you put Greta's needs before your own safety."
"I know but still, I'm the one who allowed the kid on, Lying to myself won't change that. Wait...Greta, she's still an available contact right?" Blue said having an epiphany.
"I would assume so. Why?"
"She can get to people that right now we can't, she has the BND. Alert the BND and then they can keep an eye out for any leads." Blue said as he walked over to a duffel bag and pulled out a phone.
He dialed Greta's phone number.
"[German] Yes, who is calling?" Greta's German voice said over the phone as Blue tried to remember his countersign.
"[German] 1983, I'm the best." Blue said Greta let out an audible gasp over the phone, recognizing the hint of the accent in Blue's voice.
"My friend how are you and Park doing on your honeymoon?" Greta said warmly as Blue put the phone on loudspeaker for Park to hear.
"Greta...someone has the rest of my team hostage, me and Park are the only one who escaped, has the BND heard anything on their end about anyone fitting a team members description, Adler perhaps?" Blue said clinically.
"We have a report of a strange anomaly of some type, one of our agents spotted it in Ukraine when they were investigating reports of activity at that old soviet base you infiltrated in '81."
"That sounds like mum. Thanks, we owe you one." Blue said as he hung up tossing the phone on to the bed. Both Park and Blue began to pack their equipment ready to establish their own safe houses, Blue still struggling with his arm needed help from Park when he was packing his equipment.
'We got a job to do.' Adler's voice said as Blue shook his head.
Park noticed it.
"What's wrong?"
"That's the second time I've heard Adler say the trigger phrase today. Like it's all coming back again." Blue said as Park looked at him with a worried expression.
"Blue, you should have told me when it first happened." Park said as she pulled out her old notepad.
"You kept that thing?"
"We never knew if the episodes would return so I thought it prudent to keep just in case they came back in a bad way."
"What if it's permanent? What is it never goes away. maybe we just have to live with it." Blue said using his working arm to pick up his equipment bag.
"Don't talk like that, we'll find a way to stop this I know it."
"yeah, sure. Meanwhile let's try and get our team back." Blue said as he opened a portal to a safe house in Kiev.
As they appeared in the safe house they found evidence that someone had been living there recently.
"Someone's been here within the past 24 hours."
"Blue?" A Russian voice called out, the woman stepped out from the shadows, her ginger hair tied in a pony tail and her face baring a look of recognition.
"Yirina? what are you doing here, I thought you were in Australia. They have him...they took him and are keeping him hostage, threatening to kill him if they learn that I'm trying to get to them, so I need you to help me get him back." Portnova said as she nodded to Park.
"Welcome back to the squad then." Blue said as he walked over to a large table and laid his equipment out on it to begin preparing for the next mission. Resting his XM4 down and beginning to clean it, Portnova left for the armory and picked out an AK-74U sub machine gun equipped with a silencer, a spetsnaz stock, a spetsnaz grip, a GRU elastic wrap, a GRU mag clamp and a laser sight. Park was using her MP5 with an agency suppressor, a 9.5'' Task force barrel, a field agent foregrip, SAS mag clamps, an Airborn elastic wrap and an SAS combat stock.
Ciri appeared behind them with her Witcher's sword on her back, a pair of glock pistols (one in a holster on either thigh) and an AK-47 with a 4x scope, a GRU suppressor, a 16.5'' cavalry lancer, an ember sighting point, a spetsnaz grip, a GRU mag clamp, a GRU elastic wrap and a spetsnaz PKM stock.
"Sis, what the hell are you doing?" Blue said calmly as he filled his magazines with ammo.
"I'm coming with you, I'm going to help get our mother back." Ciri said as Blue sighed. "you taught me how to shoot when we were on that ship in another reality remember, I know how to use one of these."
"Fuck it, fine put a combat vest on and prep your equipment, we leave in an hour." Blue relented as he sharpened his sword and his combat knife.
Park was listening as she looked through her old records, she was reading the transcript of the brainwashing procedure when she and Adler were turning Blue into Bell.
'Adler: we fought together, bled together. Been through the hell of Vietnam together'
"why the hell didn't I stop the procedure?" Park asked herself as Images of Blue on the table undergoing the procedure flashed into her mind.
'Park: Breaking a subject's will and erasing their mind is a difficult and painful process.
Adler: That's a small price to pay'
"Why didn't I tell him to piss off?" Park said as she read her own words from the past, they were cruel and clinical to 'Bell', but to her and Adler who knew her history with Blue they were her attempt to distance herself from the pain she was going through. "I'm sorry Blue."
Parks thoughts were interrupted by the sound of arguing in the neighboring office, she could hear Blue's and Anarietta's voices raised.
"Oh come on! I care for what we had!" Blue exclaimed.
"You were an idiot to go off to fight in the war and you know it!"
"I've known that for years, but I'm not trying to get back what we had once, I have Helen, I love her, full stop. So don't try and claim that I'm trying to get back with you, I came back to ensure another war didn't start, not for what we had not for you, I'm not your knight in shining armor anymore! Beside why do you care what I'm doing with my life anymore?!" Blue yelled as he opened his desk drawer.
"Oh don't flatter yourself, I'm just worried that you'll die before you've served your purpose of stopping that threat you are worried about." Anarietta retorted as she laughed.
"Really, why don't you leave me to it by getting off my back about the woman I marry and my job!" Blue said harshly as Anarietta stormed out the office, shaking her head.
Portnova walked in to Parks office, sitting down opposite to Helen.
"I think they're catching up on years of missed spats." Park said as Ciri entered and Portnova smirked.
"Yes, they'll get over it they usually do." Ciri said calmly as she sat down and poured the three of them a drink. "they're like Geralt and Yennefer, regardless of how many time they argue they always make up."
Blue was in his office reading through a fax Greta had sent him to help with the investigation. Blue's mind was memorizing all of the small details, looking for links, looking for differences, looking for anything to help him identify the looming threat.
'Dirty blonde, shoulder length hair, seen wearing strange armor, all reports indicate they are highly trained and employ a wide variation of combat methods. The report states that they were displaying a keen ability to lead and knew their shit when it came to tactics.' Blue thought to himself as Park entered his office.
"Are you alright? I heard the argument."
"I'm fine, just need to work that's all Blue said nervously fidgeting with his wedding ring, twisting it on his finger trying to take his mind off his memories.
"Really, try telling that to your face then." Park smirked as she reminded Blue of something he had once told her.
"Laugh it up, for once you get the smart arse comment." Blue resigned as he rubbed his eyes.
"Did you manage to get any sleep last night?" Park asked, concerned with how far Blue had been pushing himself recently.
"I'm fine, nothing a few hours kip after the mission is finished won't fix." Blue said calmly as Park shook her head.
"No you're not fine, you didn't did you, the last time you slept was at Beauclair palace." Park snapped as she sighed. "How can you hope to beat these people if you're not properly taking care of yourself, you're already at a disadvantage with the shoulder injury."
"You sound like my mother, good god." Blue said as he stood up and approached the coffee machine.
"No but for now I'm the only doctor here meaning that I'm ordering you to get some rest. an hour at least." Park said as Blue sighed.
"Sure, after the mission is finished then I can sleep."
"God she was right, you can be annoying when you want to be!" Park growled as she left to return to Portnova and Ciri.
"Great job Blue. You managed to piss of both Anarietta and Park in the same hour, new record for being an arsehole." Blue muttered to himself as he left to check the transport.