Basement of Talon Warehouse, Vladivostok, Russia
"Scream for me…" Adrian involuntarily took a step back, despite his still-hasn't-outgrown-his-emo-phase costume, he knew that this physical manifestation of the grim reaper was not something to take lightly. Thinking back on their first encounter he knew those shotguns could pack a punch, on top of that he had the bullshit ability to turn into a smoky mist seemingly negating damage; but he wasn't entirely sure about that last part.
"H-holy shit it's Reaper." The Russian operative behind Vadalia gasped out.
"I'll paint the room red with your blood." The masked-man uttered as it turned it's piercing gaze to the man, this world had a number of differences from his own but he'd had no reason to suspect that underneath that gear was anything other than some sort of human. Sure there was a talking ape that ran a global organization but that seemed to be an exception to the norm, and even then its just a monkey so he saw no reason why this costumed freak wouldn't be more than a human.
"Bold words coming from a man in a Halloween costume, still got about a month until that happens you know." Adrian sneered, slowly inching his way closer to Reaper, rather foolish it would seem considering his foe's arsenal, but much of this room was corridors meaning it wouldn't matter how far he was. Though there was one trick up his sleeve not that he was doing anything to hide it; his layered-titanium composite armor, it had withstood his shots before sure it hurt but it also meant he could afford to play it risky.
He could feel the adrenaline rushing under his body, the tension that builds in the moments before the action breaks out like an eruption, each step he took only exasperating that apprehension. Only briefly turning his head, just enough to catch her eye, he flicked with his left thumb forward towards Reaper, scarcely nodding her head she brought her index finger over the trigger of her assault rifle. There's something about being a part of a squad like this that you can't replicate anywhere else, a close-knit fireteam that's served for years on mission after mission to the point where something that's barely perceptible to the naked eye is a bold, screaming statement to anyone in that squad. Seeing Vadalia assume the fighting stance, the others followed suit, it seems like a small thing but in a situation like this there's always an uncertainty with how to proceed, gone was the previous soldiers fear at seeing Reaper, instead replaced with a resolute dauntlessness to unleash hell. Adrian spoke his voice cool, careful not to betray his own inner chaos, "They call you Reaper…but I will make you bleed. You bring terror to those you kill and I will make sure to bring that terror to you." Adrian darted forward with all his might, the single meter between himself and Reaper closed in what felt like an instantaneous moment with Reaper being momentarily stunned at the action.
Reaper had never seen such recklessness before, such a disregard for one's own life it left him stunned for the briefest of moments, but a moment was all Adrian needed. With Reaper focusing on Adrian, the other's opened fire unleashing a torrent of weapon's fire into his ghastly form. Now with the distance between them closed, Adrian rammed into the gut of the robed man with all his might, smirking as he heard the man grunt as he landed on his back with a hefty thud. Wasting no time, Adrian fired his submachine gun directly into the prone form of the masked man, he wasn't sure how many bullets found their mark before the body evaporated into smoke and darted to elsewhere in the room. He felt a vicious enjoyment swell up inside him as he saw the faintest droplets of blood lining the floor where Reaper once laid. They circled together, all they had to do was wait for Amari to-
"You're going to have to fend him off on your own, Widowmaker is pinning us down, she's already brought down two and there's a Talon heavy squad coming in as reinforcements."
He heard Vadalia swear under her breath, Adrian had no clue who this 'Widowmaker' was but if they were enough to give Amari pause then they were formidable. He just had to fucking jinx them, he gave shit to Barbie when they were dropping over Earth and here he was doing the same exact thing.
"We'll flush him out, make him regret messing with us." Vadalia said as they moved through the room with Adrian taking point once more, it was a welcomed show of confidence though it was mitigated by the still flickering lights. A blinding flash of light ahead of him followed by an ear-splitting boom sent Adrian tumbling backwards as the shotgun pellets clipped the side of his chest. The others opened fire as Baritone asked him if he was alright, waving him off Adrian peered around the room trying to spot the tell-tale mist as Reaper traveled. A muffled scream caused Adrian to snap his head behind him to see the cloaked Talon merc standing there, his clawed hand encasing the fourth member of their team as he lifted him off the ground. The tight corridors and close-knight grouping meant that there was no open shot on Reaper, he was essentially using the poor bastard as a shield. Reaper squeezed slightly, a faint cracking echoed in the narrow room, his razor-sharp gauntlet dragging across the man's face only exacerbating the screams as he struggled to break free of Reaper's iron grip.
Briefly his mind flirted with idea of firing through the soldier to get to Reaper, he was no stranger to difficult decisions that required some form of sacrifice, but to do so felt like a betrayal of his oath as an ODST. With disgusted resentment he held onto the idea as a last resort if he could he'd prefer to avoid putting down an ally, but if push came to shove he'd act to save as many lives as possible…one life could be forgiven if it saved more. In the end he'd waited to long, Reaper wasn't here to escape he was here to kill them, but Adrian recognized his behavior it was similar to many lower ranking elites, he was just toying with them. Messing around with his prey before he decided to finish them off, there was no reason for him to take use a human shield other than added cruelty. Reaper crushed the soldier's skull in his metal gauntlet before tossing the limp body to the side like a worthless piece of junk. The same as before they opened fire only for Reaper to dissipate into smoke as he blended in with the darkness of the basement, Baritone rushed over to the corpse briefly glancing over it before accepting the truth of his friend's death.
Though not all was hopeless, an ODST's VISR marked enemies, weapons, ammo, other items of interest, but most importantly it aided an ODST's ability to adapt to any situation. It had the ability to absorb new information as it appeared – such as adapt to Reaper's changing form – having had adequate time to process the additional data it now marked Reaper's smoggy shape as an enemy. Essentially meaning that the bastard couldn't escape now, wherever his misty body took him Adrian would know, his radar kept pinging with updates as Reaper traveled across the room the red-outline of his form flittering behind the weapon crates in the basement.
Motioning for the others to follow him, Adrian was now the one on the hunt, the one that would toy with his prey before granting it a slow and painful death. After navigating the labyrinth like underground they sure enough came across Reaper's physical form as he came solidified, despite his masked face shock radiated from his form as he saw the trio practically waiting for him. Wasting little time, they opened fire to great effect, it seemed there was at least some sort of limit to how quickly he could change forms as he stumbled back from the heavy reign of bullets. Rolling over a crate behind him, Reaper blind fired his shotguns over the weapons box causing the trio to separate and take cover lest they be struck by his wild shots.
The corner of the crate Adrian was hiding behind shattered, splintering into hundreds of pieces as shotgun rounds blew the crate apart. Dozens of assault rifles spilled out onto the ground, he shifted his back to take the brunt of the blast, he could feel the splinters bouncing off his backplate and Vadalia and Baritone popped out to pepper Reaper's position with gunfire. Looking to the ground, he picked up one of the assault rifles and briefly looked it over, his M7S worked wonders against the average goon but a boost in firepower would be appreciated against this foe. It was a sleek design with a dark gray coloring similar to typical UNSC weapons, however unlike UNSC weapons it wasn't as sharp, much smoother, and it lacked a bullpup design, instead the magazine was placed in the center of the rifle. The weight felt good in his hands, peering out from his shattered box he aimed through the crisp red-dot sight that adorned the top of it and held down the trigger. The recoil was easily manageable but most importantly the accuracy was solid, all his shots hit a tight grouping with a few nicking Reaper's shoulder.
Ducking again behind the cover, he collected a handful of magazines from the ground for the assault rifle before peeking to lay down a heavy covering fire for Baritone and Vadalia to move up. Reaper caught on quickly to their plan as he tossed a flashbang over his cover, Adrian's visor darkened completely with his audio feed muffling itself to protect him from the effects, the others however weren't as lucky being momentarily stunned by the blast. Using this chance Reaper charged forward firing as he came, Baritone blasted backwards as a gaping whole burst from his chest, the shotgun rounds shredding his body and armor coating the immediate area in viscera and blood. Though he was unprepared for Adrian to be unaffected by the flashbang as Adrian tore into him with the assault rifle, a feral growl emanating from the masked man as he was forced to take cover. Heavy breathing could be heard, Reaper had seemed an ethereal being, but he was little more than a man with some fancy powers and this fight was taking its toll.
"New blood, you are interesting…more perceptive than most of those I face, you can follow me even when I become a wraith." Reaper contemplated out loud, obviously trying to piece together how Adrian does it.
"Follow seems too kind a term, I'd prefer to say I can hunt you."
"Hmm so it seems…" Adrian's radar pinged as Reaper moved away from them, he was trying to escape.
"He's leaving, we need to stop him." He shouted to Vadalia, the last member of his squad as he ran after Reaper. Vaulting over crates he made his way to the stairwell, turning the last corner he saw the tail end of Reaper's fluttering cloak disappear as he headed up the stairs, sliding over the final obstacle Adrian's legs pounded up the stairs after him. As he burst into the main floor, sporadic gunfire could be heard around the room, presumably Amari and the others dealing with the heavy squad she had mentioned earlier. That situation would only be exacerbated by a sniper watching you're every movement, preventing you from making any real advancements for fear of being capped by the marksmen.
Adrian's radar pinged again; Reaper was making is way towards the northern exit where the sniper Widowmaker was supposedly located however it also seemed there were two heavy troopers in that direction pinning down Vickers and a couple of his squad. Taking off after Reaper, it wasn't long for him to come across the two heavies pinning down Vickers, using the element of surprise he threw caution to the wind and ran straight into the fray. Not suspecting him to appear, they didn't have time to bring their aim over to Adrian before he left off a burst into the leg of the first heavy soldier, his kneecap shattered as he went down on one leg as Adrian moved up closer. Not wasting a second Adrian moved the rifle's aim from the merc's knee to his head, finishing him off with a few shots at point plank range. That only left one more enemy, needing to buy a few seconds of distraction he heaved the assault rifle at the soldier causing the man to falter as Adrian charged the man like the initial encounter with Reaper. Tackling the merc to the ground, Adrian quickly drew his M6C/SOCOM from his hip and shoved it underneath the man's chin before pulling the trigger. The man's head rocked back with the force of the shot then it lulled to the side motionless as blood poured out of the gaping wound in his head.
Hoping that Reaper hadn't yet escaped, he picked up the assault rifle before leaving a confused Vickers behind with a quick wave of his hand. As he barged outside into the dark rainy night, he frantically looked around only to catch a glimpse of Reaper's smoky form crawling over the edge of a building. He briefly aimed at the retreating figure before lowering his gun, "Fucking dammit!" He swore to himself as the rain continued to pour.
Gabriel Reyes huffed as he exited his wraith form, briefly stumbling to the ground as his body regenerated itself. The pain was immeasurable, the suffering constant, but it allowed him to survive the most dangerous attacks practically unscathed though that's not to say he was invincible, far from it. Tonight was far more difficult than he imagined, he'd underestimated the new Overwatch member, his tactics, technology, personality were a far cry from what Overwatch normally used. One thing he knew for certain, that man had served in a manner much like himself…like Morrison…like Blackwatch, there was a hardness to his voice, to his actions, when he'd been taunting them by holding their friend hostage he noticed something, almost imperceptible. Where the other two had hesitated, stepped back in uncertainty, the new blood had inched forward, his finger laying upon the trigger, if he'd let time play its course he suspected the man would've eventually forgone saving his friend in favor of getting to him.
He smirked to himself as he stood up, his wounds having fully healed, perhaps there was some merit to the plan after all. His frown quickly fell as he realized that he'd get his ass chewed out for not following the plan anyway, he sighed as he heard the telltale metal clicking as Widowmaker made her way over to him.
"You were supposed to CONVINCE him to join our cause, not piss him off even more you fool." She hissed at him.
"Jesus fuck I know, but thing got heated and you know I can't resist a good fight. Besides what'd be the point of trying to bring em' on anyway if he'd just be weak. Now we know he's strong-"
"We've known he's strong! It's just you couldn't seem to get it through your thick skull."
He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from lashing out, "We'll have next time."
Widowmaker glared at him before turning away, "Fine, lets gets out of here before everything else goes to shit." The two walked across the rooftops into the night, Doomfist would need to hear of their failure.
Police lights flashed in the dark, shining through each droplet of rain giving the whole scene a dystopian noir feel to it. It hadn't taken long for police and civilian alike to gather around the building though any further trouble was saved by the timely intervention of Russian government officials. The plan had started well but the unwelcomed appearance of Reaper and Widowmaker and derailed the last half, dragging out what was supposed to be a quick operation, though as a whole it seemed that both sides involved considered it a success. Pleased at the results, the Russian government was more than happy to share the details of their cooperation with Overwatch so far, hoping for more 'future endeavors that will lead for a safer tomorrow' a crock of shit Adrian thought to himself but it sounded nice to the average person. While he was fuzzy on the specifics, he had a general idea of Overwatch's current situation, which was fucked to put it simply. So, despite his own cynical thoughts, he knew that as a whole it was what Overwatch or at least the ape had been hoping for, he wouldn't shit on their parade with his thoughts.
A cigarette hung loosely from his lips as he rested against a wall a ways off from the bubbling commotion with Vickers. Something akin to his world's Special Tactics Unit cleared the warehouse, hauling out crate after crate of illegal shit, it was honestly a bit amazing how much they'd managed to smuggle into the country. It was like they were trying to equip a small army with all the gear they had, it was enough to make an innie grow green with envy. In the end he'd decided to keep the assault rifle, he liked having a varied arsenal but here he was far more restricted, so he'd take the chance to build up his own armory at whatever chance he got.
"Well I can see why they let you into Overwatch." Vickers spoke up, wisps of smoke coming from his mouth as he spoke, his cigarette held between his fingers. His balaclava pulled off his face hanging loosely around his face adorned with a faint smile.
"Huh? Oh…thanks I guess though I'd had my mind on other things."
"Yeah like chasing the damn Reaper, were you out of your mind man? I've never seen such a brazenly suicidal act before." Vickers chuckled to himself incredulously as if he still couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.
Adrian refrained from saying that on a near weekly basis he dropped in a metal pod from low orbit down to a planet's surface so chasing after a slightly weird cosplayer wasn't that high on his list of near-death experience. "Eh what can I say, I really didn't like him."
"Heh I can tell mate. Listen we know you keep to yourself, preferring to drink out than on base, but a couple of the guys are just begging to talk with you, what do you say you join us for a drink and shoot the shit when we get back?" Adrian mentally groaned at the thought of drinking again, still not over how blackout drunk he got last time, but as if reading his mind Vickers spoke up once more, "And if drinking ain't your thing or maybe you just don't feel like it well the bartender on base makes the best Shirley Temple I've ever had."
"Shirley Temple – is that the one with the cherry on top?"
"Yep."
"Fuck it I'm sold, loved those as a kid." Adrian chuckled as he took a deep drag of his cigarette, sooner or later he'd have to socialize with the other people on base. It wasn't like back home where he'd be changing ships over other mission with the only constant being his squad, here he was stuck with the same people day in and day out. Besides he knew he'd said it already, but he genuinely liked Vickers, so getting drinks with him wouldn't be so bad.
They stood in amicable silence for a while longer, the rain was still pouring but not as heavy as it had ben earlier, now it was more akin to a refreshing drizzle than an overwhelming downpour. A whistle caught their attention, both turning their head they saw Amari standing down a ways waving them over. Pushing himself off the wall, Adrian took one final huff of his cigarette before tossing it on the wet asphalt and flattening it under the heel of his boot. Letting Vickers take the lead he followed a few steps behind him helmet in hand, enjoying the cool rain wash over his sweat covered face. Upon reaching Amari, Vickers gave a casual salute while Adrian stood lazily behind him.
"Dropships arriving in five, gather your things, do whatever needs to be done, and meet on the roof."
"Little brash isn't it Lieutenant? Full pick up in the middle of the city with public eyes seems a bit…overkill."
She gave a shrug, smirking at his response, "You're right about that but this comes from Winston, he wants a full display of Overwatch's involvement."
Adrian took his leave as the conversation continued, what Overwatch did or didn't do wasn't something he cared about all that much, he'd leave the two to talk. Though now he found himself without much to do, aimlessly wandering through the warehouse he figured he'd just wait on the roof enjoying the view when a voice barking orders caught his ear. It was the Junior Sergeant Vadalia, with little else to do he walked up to her as she gave commands to a handful of police and soldiers milling about the area. Sensing his approach, she turned to him, half surprised as his advance, unlike the hotel room where his focus was on the mission, he took the downtime to look over his ally. She had short black hair trimmed not much below her ears with dark eyes that seemed to absorb any light that passed her way.
"What can I do for you Lance Corporal?"
He looked out into the bustling group of soldiers and police clearing the warehouse, "I… You have my condolences for the loss of your mean. It's never easy to loss men under your command."
Her mouth turned to a slight frown as she nodded, "Firsthand experience?"
Ranks as an ODST were interesting to say the least, they didn't matter as much in your squad than in the marines, likely because every ODST is experienced, you can trust without a doubt the others in your squad to be capable. Sure the leader of an ODST squad had complete authority and no one else in the group would try to usurp that, but among the other soldiers in his squad they were all equal despite differences in rank. For example, technically as Lance Corporal he outranked Barbie, Talos, and Wolfe, but he'd never pull rank on them and just as often on a mission he'd be following their lead. For instance, if it was a demo job well, they want the best man to lead, so Wolfe as the demolitions expert takes the reigns for the duration of the mission. On top of that, when you became an ODST you lost whatever your previous rank was hence why rank was often ignored in the ODSTs. At the end of his time as a marine Adrian was a corporal leading a small fireteam, meanwhile Barbie was a Staff Sergeant leading a platoon, but when you join the ODSTs its drilled into your skull that what you were before doesn't matter, it's only what you do now as an ODST that counts.
Turning back the topic at hand he nodded at Vadalia's question, he'd lost a handful of men on missions as a fireteam leader and it never got any easier. Whether it was one man or four it always hurt the same, knowing that you'd failed in your duties to protect them, of course he wasn't so egotistically vain as to believe that it was his fault they'd died but as leader it was his duty to protect them as best he could but of course the Covenant made it hard to keep that promise of protection.
"Many times…more than I'd like to admit." He spoke.
"It's not my first-time losing soldiers under me…but well…I knew both of them well. We went to boot camp together I'd just happened to get promoted first." It seemed like there was more she'd wanted to say but Adrian didn't press, he understood what she was feeling.
"Maybe we'll meet again Junior Sergeant."
"Perhaps, stay safe out there Lance Corporal, the worlds a dangerous place."
"Don't have to tell me twice." He gave a faint wave as she went back to barking orders, heading towards the stairwell he made his way to the top of the stairs where it opened up to the wide roof of the warehouse. It seemed he was still a bit early, the roof devoid of any life, he walked to an edge overlooking the city lights and sat down. It was quite the sight but his mind kept racing over the encounter with Reaper, sooner or later he was bound to run into that man again and even more likely was to run into more of Talon's thugs such as that Widowmaker. He never saw her but it would only be a matter of time until they squared off, regardless he needed to be prepared to face off against them because he swore to himself that the next time they met, they wouldn't be escaping.