Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe
Adrian hopped out of the sleek jet's secondary cockpit with a sack of covenant weapons slung over his shoulder. After his outburst at Winston he'd been relieved of his work at the relief camp, McCree would take his place for the final few days while he instead went back to Gibraltar with Winston. He supposed he could've refused, decided to stay at the camp until the end but…he'd just felt so damn tired of it all. He hadn't really cared one way or the other, so it'd been agreed with his consent or lack thereof that he'd head back to the base. Looking around the landing pad the base had seemed quieter than usual, turning to Winston he voiced his question, startling the large ape.
"Place seems like a ghost town, where is everyone?"
"Most active personnel are out on assignment; we're running a skeleton crew right now. Hopefully nothing major happens otherwise it won't be pretty."
Adrian nodded before turning to Winston, "Listen we need to be prepared for the worst. I'll admit that I could've…phrased it better back in Africa but I meant what I said, I'm not going to be here for much longer but regardless it seems the universe is handing us one shit sandwich after another. The Covenant have had slipspace tech longer than I've been alive, longer than most of my families been alive, and I get that time doesn't seem to matter but it's weird that despite all of that…the Covenant have only started showing up after I landed here."
Winston bobbed his head in thought, "Yes, now that I think about it the probability is extremely low, which of course doesn't mean it's impossible… but like you said…odd."
"Who knows anything about what's going on, maybe it is just some baffling cosmic coincidence that my worst nightmare follows me here, but that doesn't matter. My point is that what does matter is that more can come, likely will come, and we need to be prepared. Your ace in the sleeve for the Covenant is me, and I'm just one guy, pretty damn good at what I do, but I digress. What happens when another covvie phantom crashes in a populated city but I'm halfway around the world? What happens if the nearest Overwatch squad is just a group of rookies? Nine times out of ten it'll end in slaughter."
Silence filled the air as the realization hit Winston, he'd known the Covenant were a serious threat, but he'd never given much thought to the worst possible potential. The last two encounters were pure luck, the first was highly isolated and the second was a miracle that Adrian and Ziegler were there. In the future they can't rely on pure luck and hope that everything sorts itself out. Scanning the base, he saw the doubts that Adrian held but didn't voice, that they were still a small-scale operation running on a lack of manpower. They only reason they'd lasted as long as they did was that they managed to recruit the best of the best, and while he'd always argue quality of quantity, the fact was they needed numbers just as much. A few missions and the base were practically cleared out, it seems he'd found his next project, bolstering the base's forces.
Facing back towards Adrian he spoke, "I'll look into it, it may slow down research into getting you home but you're right. We don't have the numbers or training if these covenant forces grow any larger, when the main core of Overwatch has returned, we'll discuss options." With that the ape left, there was a lot on his mind, and he'd need the time to sort it out.
Leaving Adrian alone, he started walking back to his room enticed with the thought of a steaming hot shower to wipe the grime from his skin. The door to his room slid, stepping through the door he tossed the sack of weapons onto the unused bed causing the stiff pristine bed to creek under the newfound weight. Stripping himself of his armor, he stepped naked into the swelteringly humid bathroom, stepping under the boiling rinse of the shower's water he felt his muscles loosen. When he left the shower, he wasn't sure how much timed he'd spent relishing under the stream of water, only that his skin was as pruned as his grandparents. Sitting on the bed he looked over towards the sack of weapons, unzipping the bag he pulled out the beam rifle, shouldering it against the bare skin of his shoulder. The foreign covenant metal sent goosebumps rocketing up his arms as it almost seemed to caress his body with its unusually smooth stock. It was strange when looking at anything made by the Covenant, its design always gave it the feeling of life, odd as it sounded. With the UNSC everything is very sharp, blocky, angular, made for purpose over style, built to withstand hell no Earth if it came to it but it was very clearly artificial. Then you look at the Covenant, they're ships reminded him bugs really, like beetles you would find outside in your backyard, and they're weapons seemed…oddly natural, impossible smooth in their design.
Looking through the bag he made a clear mental note that his thoughts didn't apply to anything Brute made. Fitting for their name, their weapons looked like an angry toddler smashed together two of its toys with pure brute force. Putting the beam rifle back into the bag, he donned some lighter Overwatch combat gear and made his way to the weapon range, might as well get back into the groove of firing some foreign weapons while he had the downtime. Stepping into the large room, he could hear a couple gunshots resonating throughout the room, but that was too be expected, the base wasn't empty, just light on personnel. Head to a stall against the farthest wall, he laid the bag on the ground while grabbing the beam rifle from the sack. Once more pressing the stock to his shoulder, he aimed down the foreign sights lining up the sharp reticle over the target, resting his finger over the 'trigger'. A key difference in covvie weapons is that there often wasn't any typical trigger to pull, instead it was more like a sensor built into the handle of the weapon that sensed pressure applied to the outside. So, while you could fire it like any human weapon, you'd just end up firing in the most inefficient way possible. Instead UNSC forces were trained more to almost flex your finger once it's wrapped around the handle, so instead of pulling your finger each time for a shot, you tighten the muscles in your index finger and well…it's pretty self-explanatory.
Flexing his index finger, the iconic tsch of the rifle greeted his ears as it barely kicked, easily held in his grip. The core cycled in center gun as it readied another shot, Adrian aimed a little further to the left and let off another shot on the target. Clicking his tongue as the shot hit a little lower than he would've liked, he'd need a bit more practice before he felt as comfortable with these weapons as he did with hie battle rifle.
Preparing to fire another beam, he stopped when he heard a string of foreign words arise from a few stalls down. He spent enough time in the military to recognize a curse regardless of the language, especially when it held such venous rage as these did. Peaking out from his stall he didn't see anything out of the ordinary before another string of curses graced the largely silent room. Leaving the beam rifle leaning against the wall, he began to walk down the row of pens, checking each one as he passed to see who'd had such a shit day. Eventually he came across an occupied stall, surprised to the young Hana Song filling it with her head held in her hands.
Clearing his throat, she turned in surprise, "Old man? What are you doing here?"
"I'm back from assignment, the real question is what are you doing here? I thought everyone was out on a mission." He said as he leaned against the side of her stall.
"None of your business, just killing time." She spoke sharply.
Adrian peered over her short form, spying a frankly pathetic display of accuracy with almost none of the bullets landing near their intended mark.
"Seems like somethings on your mind pipsqueak. You're no marksmen but you're aim is a hell of a lot better than what I'm seeing here."
"I told you it's none of your damn business!" She fumed as she stormed passed him, pushing past as she left the range. His eyes trailed after her with mild surprise, looking to the table at the front of the pen he saw her weapon lying there forgotten. Picking it up he holstered it on his hip before heading back to his own stall, he'd talk to her once she'd cooled her head but until then he had some time to kill. Picking up the beam rifle he resumed his practice until he was making consecutive shots on target, not wanting to waste it's battery until he'd found a way to utilize its rechargeable ability.
Stuffing the rifle into the duffle bag, he hefted it over his shoulder as he walked back to the crew quarters. Pausing briefly outside Hana's room he decided to instead pick up the TACPAD from his room first. Standing outside her door he questioned why he was even doing this in the first place, he wasn't the one to console others, to hear them vent their issues, but for this kid he just felt compelled to do so. In the end he always came to the same conclusion, she just reminded him so much of Chloe, of who she would've been if she'd just had a few more years to live her life.
Rapping the door with his knuckles he spoke up, "Open up pipsqueak, you know this was gonna happen sooner or later."
The unenthusiastic reply rang out, muffled behind the door, "Go away, I don't need your oldness to ruin my room."
"I'm not playing this game." He muttered to himself, then raised his voice, "Athena, is Song doing anything I'm going to regret seeing fi I open this door right now."
"No, she's simply moping on her bed." The slightly robotic voice rang out.
Shouts of protest rang out as the door whooshed open, giving Adrian the whole room view of Hana's stereotypically teenage room. Filled to the brim with posters, several of herself he noted with amusement, the table that he used as a workshop in his room was instead holding a multi-monitor computer screen with a hefty console under the table. Not unlike the uniform she wore in the field, the room comprised of three colors, blue, white, but mostly dominated by pink. The owner of said room sat angrily in the center of her bed, legs crossed underneath her as she glared at the intruder.
He walked in standing a few feet from the bed, "Listen kid sooner or later you've gotta talk about what's eating you. Otherwise you'll only make life worse for yourself and those around you. If you don't care about yourself, which I sincerely doubt, then at least think about how your attitude is going to affect the others, it may end up costing a mission."
"I already have…" She mumbled looking away from him.
He moved closer, pulling the chair from the desk to sit in across from her, "What happened?"
"It was some big Talon guy or something in Singapore, I wasn't really paying attention during the briefing."
"You could start improving yourself by paying attention." He quipped, her only response was a scowl before she continued.
"It was going like all the other missions ya'know? We were fighting them off, clearing out the base or whatever when the radio said that the Talon bigwig was making a run for it. Genji called pit that he'd had the guy in sights, but I'd been on a hot streak and was streaming so I had to make it entertaining for my fans. Ignoring them I winged a couple shots with my mech, but they went wide and instead of hitting the target I destroyed some neighboring property. I…I don't think anyone died but they could've, and not only that but I let him escape! What good am I if I can't even do the job I'm supposed to do. I don't care about 'everyone makes mistakes' because we're supposed to be the best of the best right? The best don't make mistakes, they adapt, and instead I messed up the whole plan."
Adrian stayed silent a bit before speaking up, "Yeah it sounds like you fucked up, got too cocky for yourself and decided you could handle everything on your own, if you weren't so lucky innocents could've died because of your arrogance." Her eyes started welling up as he spoke, "I won't say it's fine cause it's not… but there's one thing that you don't seem to realize that shows why you're qualified for this – that shows why you're apart of the best- because you know you fucked up." She looked up at him, confusion etching her young features.
He continued, "You accepted responsibility, which is more than most would do, and I've seen a lot of people mess up. After pending thirteen years in the service I've seen a lot of shitty people in what is supposed to be the defenders of humanity. No one wants responsibility, its downright terrifying to know that people depend on you, that you're responsible for your own actions. Especially in our line of work responsibility means more than just ourselves, we're responsible for our comrades, for those we're supposed to protect, and the prospect of having that weight on your shoulders isn't easy. Its easier to pin the responsibilities on others so that if it goes to shit its not on you. Before I was an ODST, when I was still just a marine on the front lines, I knew a captain who treated responsibility like an easy whore. When his plan's went well it was all showers, praise, and self-centered praise, but when his plans fucked up and led to the deaths of the best squad in the company? Well then it was no longer his problem, it was on the dead soldiers and how they weren't cutout for their objective. You mentioned that the best don't make mistakes, which just ain't true, the reality is that the best don't have room to make mistakes because one mistake and the missions ruined. But the best also take responsibility for their fuckups, that's part of why their trusted to do the vital missions. You're sitting here lamenting how you're not sure if you're worthy of being here because you failed but that thought process is exactly why you deserve to be here. You could've easily blamed your squad, blamed the civilians, blamed any number of things but instead you take the blame upon yourself.
"Most importantly Hana…you're still just a kid, You've got a whole life to live, mistakes to make and learn from, hopefully your future mistakes won't be as drastic but you shouldn't be worrying about your self-worth when you're barely old enough to drink. Leave that doubt for your mid-life crisis." As the final words left his mouth, she let the tears flow freely, the emotions that had built up now bursting free. Adrian stood up awkwardly, stretching out an uncertain hand he placed it gently on her back not expecting her to take it as an invitation to embrace. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he cried into his stomach, with stiff movements he rubbed her back like he did with Chloe when she would cry, Briefly he wondered if the tactics for calming a six year old girl also applied to a nineteen year old. When he felt she'd let it all out he sat down on the bed next to her, the pink comforter contrasting sharply to his black combat pants.
"Hearing such kindness from you makes this all seem like a dream." She joked, wiping a stray tear from her eye.
"Well even I can have my moments I suppose." They sat in amiable silence for a few moments before Adrian pulled the TACPAD from his pocket. "You know…I had a younger sister, Chloe. See here she is." He handed the TACPAD to Hana, on it's screen showed a teenage boy with messy dark hair smiling broadly as he held a smaller girl on his shoulders. The girl had flowing black hair with deep brown eyes and deep dimples at the edge of her smile, light freckles coated her cheeks like a light cinnamon dusting. Adrian smiled at the memory, his lips wavering as he took the TACPAD back into his hands.
"Had? Oh…" She murmured.
"I was sixteen when I joined the military, hadn't even finished highschool when I decided I wanted to serve. Didn't tell my family because I was afraid they'd pull me out if they knew, looking back they probably would've and I think some part of me wishes they did. A few weeks later I'm in a space station when I hear the news over the radio that my planet's been glassed from existence. The Covenant came in so quick that there was no time for any survivors to get off planet, it's barely classified as a battle, more like a slaughter. The last time I'd talked to my sister was over a vid-call, she'd been bawling her eyes out wondering why I hadn't told her I'd be leaving. Chloe was still so angry with me that we barely talked, my parents were disappointed but at least had calmed enough that we could talk." He looked up at the ceiling, blinking away the inevitable, "I never got to tell Chloe how much she meant to me, how I joined because I'd wanted to protect her form the Covenant. Instead I left her crying wondering why her brother wasn't there to protect her when the spooky aliens she heard about wiped the planet clean of humanity.
"Hell I don't really understand why I'm telling you all this…part of me says it's because you remind me of the spunk my little sister had, but another part is telling me that it's because I don't want you to end up on the same path I did. Live your life as a kid while you've still got the time." His mouth felt dry as he finished his rambling, he'd just meant to talk to the kid to help her sort her own feelings out, instead he spilled his damn life story. "Well I don't know how much of that actually matters but at least it sounded pretty profound right?" He chuckled.
She gave a faint smile as she turned to look at him, "I think I got what you were saying…so…thanks. It doesn't feel as suffocating as it did before. Though maybe the big take away is that if I mess up again, I'll have to listen to you talk for ages again, so that's a reason not to mess up." She jested as he stood up, patting her on the back he took his leave to let her sort out her own feelings. Walking outside looked up at the clear evening sky, putting a cigarette in his mouth patted his pants for a lighter, when he stuffed in his into his pockets his fingers brushed against a crumpled piece of paper and a metal box. Taking the lighter out with the paper, he lit his cigarette before unfolding the crumpled note, written in bold red ink was a number followed by a heart. Letting out a breath of smoke he looked around the desolate base before stuffing the paper back into his pocket and started walking towards the city of Gibraltar.
Adrian sat stretched out in a metal chair outside a small café, his head laid over the back of the chair while the short stub of a cigarette stuck out from his mouth. A familiar husky voice broke him out from his daydreaming.
"I'll admit I wasn't holding out for you to call again." Bringing himself upright in the chair, he turned to see the woman from his drunken escapades standing across the table. Her short hair swept to the side as her skin glistened in the warm rays of the sun, she took the open seat as Adrian replied.
"And I wasn't expecting to meet up at a café, seems it's full of surprises for both of us." He remarked as he noted that she had a different air around her today, granted he wouldn't consider there last encounter a reliable benchmark.
"I was hungry." She gave an indifferent shrug, "Besides I wanted to know more about you, the more I thought of your scars the more interested I became…" She trailed off, asking for his name
"Kasporov, Adrian Kasporov." He said as he remembers the words she told on their last encounter, that she found his scars 'exhilarating'.
"Edith Hansen." She replied, Adrian found his guard rising the longer this conversation went on, maybe he was still just rattled from his earlier conversation, maybe the conversation did feel unnatural, he wasn't sure.
With subtle movements Edith flicked the switch on a small box within her purse, nearly inaudible it began to whir as it activated, putting her full attention to Adrian she asked, "So what's the story?"
A/N: Well managed to knock this chapter pretty fast, so I'll use this extra time to answer some reviews.
Rook435: Glad you're enjoying it, I always appreciate the support. Interesting view on the XCOM comparison, hadn't thought of it before but I can see it now.
Mr. Salty: You're not wrong, again wasn't expecting it to basically be Adrian as a glorified trashman but oh well. Maybe a spinoff in the future where ADrian becomes a trash collector.
Friggleberry: Well this comment is from Chapter 1 but hopefully if you do read to this point in the story you've enjoyed it so far and that I've hopefully kept it balanced well. Love to hear your thoughts if you get this far.
ArbyandtheChief: Thanks for the support.
Sm0keyPanda: Glad to see you're enjoying it!
When Doves Cry 130: Love the name but to answer your question, yes. Been trying to keep the pacing building up and revealing a whole host of key Talon members deflates any build up or expectation.
Long Live the Red Prince: I hope you've been enjoying it and that the pace as keep up enough for you.
Hotstud: Thanks for teh support, always appreciated!
Guest: Lots of guest reviews but I'll focus on the drugs mentioned, and the answer is maybe. I'll ahve to see where the story goes and if it becomes a viable plotline, but tis a possibility.