Talon Headquarters, San Polo Sestieri, Venice, Italy
"Our production and export of equipment into Russia is at an all-time peak, stirring up the locals with our own imbedded forces has only served to boost weapon sales." One voice spoke up.
"But what about the actual protesters? Won't they realize that our extremist sect is discrediting their work and attempt to disown our own forces? If that happens this will have all been for naught, we're trying to use this unrest to embed more of our operatives in higher official roles but that won't work if these reforms pass." A second voice spoke out worriedly, uncertainty lacing its words.
"Calm yourself for it is as you say, the extremists will discredit their country-wide demonstrations, but you worry needlessly. You must remember that despite that Democratic façade, it is an Oligarchy at its heart, change will only be brought out if the true majority of the population seeks change. These protests are widespread yes, but still a populational minority, most of the country is ignorantly uninformed of the true situation so when a radical group of the supposedly peaceful protesters resorts to violence…" The first voice trailed off, leaving the other to come to the right conclusions.
"The majority will only see the worst parts! Ah fantastic, this plan works from all angles, because not only will the aggravated loyalists seeks to then arm themselves from which they will of course come to us for support, but this will sow turmoil within the peoples! Doomfist's vision comes through the action taken by people of all sides, apologizes for my own ineptitude that I could not see such brilliance."
"Worry not, I understand that you've been preoccupied with your own worries, of which I'd like to bring one to the forefront of today's meeting." The first voice spoke out, his words taking a dark edge as he finished. Murmurs from others in the meeting grew, what could be such a problem that it need such prominent attention? "Members of Talon it has come to attention that Overwatch has recruited a new key member, name currently unknown that we have sources looking into it. Originally this was thought of nothing more than the hiring of some freelance mercenary, however, as are records consistently come up empty we are left with an enigma on our hands. This is only compounded by the fact that despite his recent foray into Overwatch, he is already proving to be one of their most versatile, capable of handling any number of missions with a skillset and gear unknown to the best of us, he is ruthless and poses a great threat to our objectives." The previously quiet murmurs exploded into full blown questions, demanding why such a vital piece of information had been kept from them.
The voices went silence as the first voice rose its hand, bring a silence to the room. "I understand that many of you have questions, are worried, or perhaps even furious, those feelings are to be expected but I must demand to control them. Yes, a new threat has arisen however there is an even more pressing matter that coincides with our first point. Overwatch and the Russian Federation are planning to collaborate to end the work we've put so much effort into, this must take priority. However as it so happens, according to informants within the Federation, this unknown new arrival is going to take part in the series of attacks against our facilities. While our priority is making sure not to lose our progress, I also want you all to learn as much as you can about this new arrival. Knowledge is our lifeblood, I doubt he poses any serious threat to Doomfist, but as an unknown he is a wildcard…and who knows, maybe he'll end up be more use for us than we thought."
Somewhere in the City of Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe
A weak groan broke the still silence of the room, Adrian's head pounded like a gorilla played the bongos with his skull. The previous night was all a blur, he vaguely remembered drinks being downed, an argument starting up, and then it all became an uncertain haze. Hesitantly he opened his eyes, afraid that the blinding light of the sun would scorch his eyes, to his surprise his eyes took in a cooling dark room, a place he'd never seen before. At first he thought he blacked out somewhere in the bar, but slowly as his other senses came to him the environment became clear. The caress of cool sheets touched his bare skin, his back was cushioned by a hefty mattress not the hard floorboards of the bar, a soft snore broke the thought process of his mind, turning to see the disturbance he was greeted with the sight of a woman laying not far from. Her back's pale skin shone from the little amount of light creeping through the blinds on the windows, dark short hair splayed out upon her pillow, Adrian couldn't help but take in the sight before grumbling to himself.
"First lay in what feels like a year and I wasn't even sober enough to remember it." Despite his griping Adrian was rather enjoying the moment if simply because the cool pillow was doing wonders for his throbbing hangover. Using the mostly still sound to think, he remembered that Brigette should be done repairing his calf armor today, it was a blessing that the plasma bolt his such a relatively simple area of his gear for if it'd done any damage to the complex electrical systems then that'd be a whole new set of problems. Sitting up in the bed he planned to quietly make his exit and try to piece together what had happened last night, but a light grip on his wrist brought his attention to the woman.
"Trying to sneak out without so much as a goodbye?" She said with a deep husky voice as she rolled over, her voluptuous body breaking free of the constraint of the bed sheets. Internally Adrian couldn't help but wonder at what point he managed to snag someone he considered far out of his league.
"I thought sneaking out like an asshole was trendy these days." The woman gave an airy laugh before bringing her gaze to Adrian's body.
"I can't say I've ever seen a man so marred as you before, it's quite…exhilarating to be frank." She purred, and just like that the pieces fell into place, he was almost like an exotic exhibit though he wouldn't fault her in the least, hell he'd done the same thing plenty of times. Besides it's not like they decided to blindly fuck for their extraordinary personalities while piss drunk.
"It's far less exhilarating to get these wounds I can assure you."
"Why don't we see if we can make a few more…temporary…scars." She said as she slowly dragged her fingernails across the bedding. Adrian grinned, freak show or not they were both getting what they wanted especially when she was far above his reach normally, so all things considered he thought he was getting the better end of the deal. Still gripping Adrian's wrist, she tugged it closer to her placing his hand upon her breast, Adrian brought himself to her body, embracing her deeply as their mouths closed over each other muffling her moans. He felt a jolt of excitement as he felt the black-haired woman dragging her nails down his back as she wrapped her legs around his waist, bringing him in even deeper into their fiery embrace. Briefly Adrian wondered if he shouldn't get blackout drunk more often, the thought was immediately tossed from his mind as he felt her slowly pushing him down her body, an act that he gladly welcomed as he disappeared under the bedsheets.
...
Adrian sat on the edge of the bed as she made her made out the door, "If you ever find yourself bored, don't hesitate to give me a call." The woman –whose name he still didn't know– smirked as she closed the door behind her, he turned towards the bedside table upon which a number was scrawled in bright red ink upon a clean sheet of paper. Chuckling to himself he began to get dressed, grabbing the number off the table he stuffed it into his back pocket as he made sure nothing was missing. Satisfied that the woman hadn't robbed him or that he wasn't forgetting something he opened the door to be meet with a simple hallway expanding to the right and left. It then only occurred to Adrian that of course he wasn't in the damn bar, it had seemed such a simple thing, but he hadn't even given it a passing thought. After a short wander through the hotel, followed by an even longer period wandering through the streets of the city, he managed to find The Waterfront Lounge. Walking in he saw it was almost entirely empty, not surprising considering it was eleven in the morning, but Franco's niece Cassandra was cleaning the bar while McCree laid curled up in the corner snoring loudly.
"Ah I was wondering when you'd come back." Cassandra spoke up without even taking her eyes from her work.
"We didn't cause too many problems last night did we? It's all a blur for me." He sheepishly shrugged as he walked up to her.
She sighed putting the rag down on the bar top, "Honesty? Not really, you guys were loud sure, but you didn't cause any shit or fight anyone so that's a step up from most people already. Though I left not long after you got wasted so I can't say what else happened."
"And what about the big guy, did you see him at all this morning."
She shook her head while resuming her duties, Adrian thanked her before walking over to the passed-out form of McCree, he chuckled to himself at the rather demeaning sight of the macho cowboy curled like an infant. Crouching down onto the soles of his feet, Adrian looked at McCree's sleeping face before he pinched the man's nose shut. The dozing man stirred in his sleep as his brow furrowed before eventually his brain registered that something was wrong, his eyes opened with a start but as soon as Adrian released his fingers the man passed back out.
"You've got to be kidding me." Adrian muttered to himself as he repeated the actions except when McCree's eyes fluttered open, he gave the woozy cowboy a thunderous slap across his face. So forceful it knocked McCree's head into the wall not far from them, Cassandra barely even paid them any mind as she'd probably seen this schtick a thousand times before. Though in the end it seemed to work for the cowboy as he grumbled about a splitting headache as he clumsily pushed himself from the floor.
"I didn't think you were a lightweight Jesse." McCree slowly turned his head to look at Adrian, the faintest flickers of recognition gracing his face.
"Adrian? What the…Jesus I feel awful."
"You don't say? Come on we've gotta get you out of here." With measured action Adrian slowly got Jesse on his feet, with one last wave to Cassandra he guided the stumbling cowboy out of the bar and into the daylight.
"Do you remember anything? It all just feels…my mind just blanks when I try to think of last night." McCree questioned.
Adrian shook his head, "Same here, got fucking zilch, though I woke up with a high-class broad so I'm not complaining."
McCree's head shot towards him, "You're shitting me? You of all people? Been here for half a month and already making yourself acquainted with the locals."
"Maybe it's karma for fighting a losing war for thirteen years, luck decided to grace me with something nice for once." Adrian joked, "But don't be too hard on yourself, we both know cowboys aren't the hottest trend anymore."
"Not that it matters but I'm doin mighty fine as it is."
"Sure buddy…sure." They both laughed as they walked back towards the base, when they eventually arrived McCree decided to hit up Doctor Ziegler for some pain meds, still complaining about his head. Adrian refrained from enlightening the man but wished him the best, as he begun his walk to find Brigette for his armor he was intercepted by Amari, apparently Winston had new plans for them.
"Only gave me brief details but he wants to brief us on our mission in Russia, apparently we won't be working alone." Amari explained as they walked towards the ape's lab.
"Already, I thought that wasn't going to happen for at least another week?"
She gave him an uncertain shrug, "Guess they pushed it up a bit? Maybe realized that it was serious problem? Who knows."
Adrian nodded, he knew especially well that military bureaucracy was a whole crock of shit full of red tape and inexperience, taking his mind from Russia brought up an important question for him, "Have you seen Reinhardt at all today?"
"Hmm? Yeah came in early this morning, said that he'd left you to bring back McCree. That man's a lot more of a lightweight than you'd think, being a cowboy and all you think he would be able to hold his liquor."
Adrian chuckled at that, "No shit."
When they entered the labs, there was a sizable number of Overwatch members gathered around the table, apparently Winston had plans for all members on base. When they entered, Winston motioned for them to wait while he finished briefing the group in-front of them, it seemed to be more on the logistical side than anything else, so Adrian tuned it out.
When Winston had finished up he waved over Amari and Adrian, "I'll brief the others as they come but for now I'll lay out the general plan. I've been in contact with Lieutenant General Valinsky and the diplomat Gorgoi, they've said that shipments into the country have increased and the radicals are becoming more aggressive, so they want us to act as soon as possible. Coordinating with their intelligence branch, we believe we've found one of their main hideouts in Vladivostok, a port city on Russia's Eastern coast. It's located in a commercial district, likely an easy way to allow large amounts of people to come and go without arousing suspicion.
"As you can see on the map, despite its location in a commercial district the building itself is quite large, so you'll be inserting with a number of Russian operatives as well. Also important to note is it's public location, so you'll gather in this hotel here a few blocks down in casual clothing to avoid suspicion. At the hotel you'll equip your gear, meet the Russians, and formulate your plan of attack. There's a back alley that stretches to the hideout from the hotel, you'll use that to hopefully avoid catching the public eye but well there's not much else we can do. We're trying to keep this discreet so keep it quiet, don't arouse suspicion and it should go fine. Any questions?"
Adrian voiced his thoughts, "Normally when I've dealt with innies…insurrectionists that is, they'd have multiple smaller safehouses spread throughout the area. I'd assume it's not different here, so what's the plan for those smaller ones?"
"Good question, we have a couple places marked as potential safehouses and the Russians are keeping tabs on them. The idea is that when you raid the main outpost, they'll simultaneously breach the safehouses, if you find any relevant info regarding possible other locations, we have a back-up team waiting on call for such an event. Any more questions?"
With silence as his answer Winston gave a firm nod, "Alright then, get your gear packed we're leaving tonight and attacking tomorrow."
Covenant Cruiser Ordained Salvation In Orbit Above Viz III, Diub System
Shipmaster Roj'Kaskan Vazamee was irritated to say the least, these pesky heretical heathens we're dug into their planet quite well. After a fruitless initial invasion that only ended with severe losses on their end, it had been advised that they first attempt to weaken the humans. An absolutely preposterous idea, that these worms beneath his feet need to be weakened first before they can be killed like the filth they are. This planet held no value whatsoever, there was no artifact of the Gods hidden upon it but for whatever reason the Prophet of Reparations had demanded that he take the planet without resorting to glassing. It was pointless in Roj's opinion but who was he to deny the words of a prophet, and despite his own disagreements he couldn't stand the thought of simply glassing this world after being so humiliated. No…this planet would fall to his might yet, all he needed was time but in the meantime, he would plan his attack from the command center.
"Shipmaster, I bring urgent news!" A Minor walked up from behind him, interrupting his thoughts and worsening his already foul mood.
"Spit it out, I have no time to waste on meaningless tirades."
"I can assure you this is worth your attention; do you know the corvette Breath of the Gods? It sustained a large amount of damage in a previous engagement with the humans, mid-jump the combined strain of slipspace and its dangerously weakened hull caused it to split apart."
"Yes yes a tragic event," He replied dismissively, "is there any point to this or are you simply wasting my time with my failures?"
"Erhm no Shipmaster my apologies, when the corvette was stripped for supplies everything was taken into account, and its now come to my attention that while just about everything was documented, there is an odd discrepancy."
Now he wouldn't outwardly show it, but that had piqued his interest. The destruction regarding Breath of the Gods was unusual enough, it was extremely rare for ships to be destroyed during a slipspace jump, but now there was supposedly more to it. He motioned for the lower ranking Sangheili to continue.
"As I was looking through the documentation, I noticed that there was a missing ship. Which I understand doesn't sound unusual on its own, but every single piece of the ship was marked, whether it was still functional or beyond repair it was noted down. However every major piece of the ship came out through the slipspace jump, except for this once single ship…A phantom carrying a handful of troops has just seemingly vanished. There's not a sign that the ship was ever destroyed, it appears as if it just simply disappeared from existence."
"Hmm…this is quite the anomaly. I want you to look into this further with whatever resources you need. If you provide results, I can guarantee great things for you in the future, so be warned…do not disappoint me."
"Yes Shipmaster." The Sangheili left the command deck leaving Roj to think in piece. He doubted this new information would offer any aid to his current problem, but it was an interesting development…quite interesting indeed.
A/N: Sorry for the relatively slow chapter, not a lot happens but I mostly used it to set future plot points that I hope you all will enjoy!
Zero: Meant to get back to you earlier but to answer your question, Adrian has a relatively neutral view of Spartans as I briefly brought up a couple chapters ago. The way I envision it is that he doesn't have that personal hatred for them like some do, but he doesn't fully 'get' them if that makes sense. He can appreciate their success but still seems them as strange ONI toys that set him on edge a bit.
The big chihuahu: I'll be honest the idea of the food had completely passed my mind, but now that you've brought it up I can definitely see an interesting way to take this story if I bring them in. Thanks for the reminder because I just completely blanked on their existence!
TisButAQuery: Ah a fellow man of the plin plin plon, glad to see another person of culture here.