Talon Headquarters, San Polo Sestieri, Venice, Italy
"Despite a recent bump in our operation in Singapore, it shouldn't halt much of anything in our plan. The key instrument, who is simply referred to as Mr. Kim, escaped unharmed due in part to the arrogance of the child that Overwatch insists counting as part of their team. He's being relocated as we speak to a much more secure area, unless something arises, we can wipe our hands of our involvement for now." A haggard voice spoke.
"We were also told that the previous area was secure as well, what assurances will be made that the same thing doesn't happen again?" A fired-up youth spoke, a few murmurs of agreement echoed throughout the room.
"A fair question so allow me to clarify. The buildings themselves are not really of any difference, the change is in how information is handled. Previously we had far too large a web of connections to handle with any real care, admittedly a careless effort on our part. Now we have a much smaller line of information, a risk to be sure as now information is far more reliant on singular entities, but I believe that if we utilize the best e have, there will be no breaches in the network."
An older voice spoke up, a smoother tone to his words, "Rather are we looking for better men or more loyal men? I believe the latter should be the priority for it seems an inevitability that Overwatch will catch onto our actions soon enough, when that happens I would rather the agent not spill a single ounce of information." Another round of agreements.
"Agreed, I'll see to the necessary preparation. Before we adjourn this council, is there anything else of importance that needs to be brought up?" The haggard voice questioned.
Far from the back of the room someone spoke up, "How about the man in black? Wasn't a pushover for Reaper and put down a heavy squad. What makes him dangerous is the lack of information, sure Reaper's probably stronger than the dude one-on-one but we know nothing about him and from what the reports say, he doesn't seem to be as morally obligated as the rest of Overwatch."
"Don't worry, we've already put some plans into action, we'll know plenty soon enough."
Westside District, City of Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula
Morning light filtered through the window shades of the small room filled with the unrestrained sounds of an all-night fling; the glare of sun highlighting the glistening sweat soaked bodies currently occupying the room. Adrian grunted as he thrusted against Edith's firm body from behind, a muffled moan escaping her lips as she buried her face into the pillow. Her nails digging into the mattress as she gripped the bed with all her strength, each thrust from Adrian sending another wave of pleasure through her body. As Adrian continued to drive his hips into Edith, he slowly ran his right hand from the top of her ass and up her back until it rested on the nape her neck. Moving his hand to the empty bed next to her head, he bent over plowing deeper while lightly biting the side of her neck, his free left hand worming it's way underneath her, traveling down her chest to her groin. Her back arched under him as she let out another moan of ecstasy, Adrian felt his body let loose in sated relief as he finished.
They laid tangled for a few moments, catching their breath before Adrian moved back and off the bed, taking the used condom off now-becoming-flaccid member he tossed it into an empty bin next to the bed. Sitting on the edge of the sweat stained sheets, he grabbed one of two clear glasses of the bedside table, both filled with a warmly colored liquid.
Adrian downed his in one gulp, clicking his tongue once it was down the hatch, "Jesus that's good, what the hell is mixed this rum?" He questioned, as he grabbed the second glass handing it off to Edith.
Looking up at him from his spot on the bed, she offered a coy smile as she took the drink, "Maybe I'll tell you if we meet again."
"If I means I get more of this, I might have you take you up on that offer."
"Hopefully if we do meet up again, you'll tell me more about yourself than you did last night."
He offered his best attempt at a fake smile as he could while giving a nondescript shrug, he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was off last night, especially compared to how she was after their meet-up at the café, far more carefree. He mentally chastised himself for always thinking with his cock when a hot lady's involved, should've left last night when he had the chance but this woman…this fucking Edith was something else. Though there was a hint of his own curiosity brimming to the surface of his thoughts, wondering what made him unsure of her, what she was hiding behind her façade. His body shivered as he felt a pair of fingers dancing on the side of his neck, like a duo of figure skaters gliding across the skin of his body.
"This is an interesting tattoo; I can't say I've ever seen anything like it." She voiced aloud.
Slightly craning to the left he found a nude reflection of himself, a large mirror covering the outside of a sliding closet door. Edith was resting her head against his back likewise staring into the mirror, her fingers idly outlining his ODST tattoo, but what caught his attention were her eyes. Focused, like needles drilling into his soul.
"Unit tattoo," He lied, "So not surprised you haven't seen it. You stick with a squad long enough you feel a need to show your bond." Brushing her hand away from his neck he covered the tattoo as he stood up.
"Leaving so soon?"
"Not all of us have time to kill like you…speaking of which. What is it you do again?" He questioned as he threw on his pants, checking himself over in the mirror as he looked around for his shirt.
"I'm a freelance agent." Edith replied.
"Freelance what though? You a writer? Reporter? Actor?"
"Whatever I'm hired to do, I'm like a jack of all trades for those who hire me."
Adrian raised his brow before deciding he wouldn't get any useful answers and focused on stepping into his boots. As he made his way to the door he looked back at Edith's still bare form.
"So I guess if I find some free time I'll give you another call."
She gave a feral smirk, "Sure, or maybe I'll take the initiative. We'll see." She whispered the final part as Adrian closed the door behind him. Waiting until she was sure he wouldn't be coming back the grin dropped from her face, standing up she strutted over to the table in the rented room where her purse laid haphazardly tossed. Opening it up she grabbed the slim black box, placing it close to her ear a faint whirring sound could be heard, smiling once more she flicked it off. She liked Adrian well enough, though not for his personality, but well…she liked her job even more.
...
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...
By the time Adrian returned to the base, it was already late into the morning, the sun blasting down on him combined with the early Autumn humidity made it miserable to be outside. More so after the endorphin rush of a long night wore off, he could no longer ignore the soreness growing in his ribs. It wasn't excruciatingly painful, more like an intense throbbing but he only had himself to blame for worsening the feeling. The base was slightly more bustling than the day before, but he still failed to see any familiar faces. A rumbling in his stomach stopped himself from wandering any further from the dining wing, doing a one-eighty on the heel of his foot he walked to a large of double-doors that opened into the main cliffside area of the base. Pushing through the doors he found it unsurprisingly light on personnel. Walking through the room, he loaded up a hefty plate's worth of food before sitting at one of the many open tables. He'd barely bitten down on a piece of sausage when the clatter of a tray hitting the table sounded across from him.
Looking up he saw Hana taking a seat across from him a grin on her face, "Long night?"
He bit down on his sausage, continuing to eat instead of responding. Hana gave an exaggerated huff before chowing down as well, after an awkward few second she spoke up.
"You never finished helping me y'know."
"Huh?"
"Before you got deployed, you we're helping me. If you've got the time I wanna continue it."
His chewing slowed as mind raced in recognition, "Ah shit your right kiddo, and you're sure you want to keep doing this?" She nodded so he continued, "All right…okay sure. We'll start right after we're done eating; until my ribs are healed we'll stick with weapons training, after that we can start some combat training. I don't expect you to be some CQC master, but knowing some basic concepts will help if you're ever without your mech."
The rest of his meal passed with Hana talking his ear off about anything and everything, most of it revolved around current pop-culture and so escaped his understanding. When they finished eating he almost considered it a blessing, did all teenagers talk like the world was about to end? He wasn't sure but welcomed the familiar sound of weapons fire as they entered the gun range. He started her off simply working on her stance, before she could work up to other weapons Adrian wanted to make sure she had the basic foundation down. Despite his initial thoughts that it would take a while to break her out of her habit, she learned quickly though that didn't stop her from complaining about the odd feel of the stance. When he handed her his own pistol, it went just as smooth, after initially finding the bulkier pistol odd he found that she would easily settle in to using it. There would still be a lot of work to be done, but he was pleasantly surprised at how comfortably she was able to switch gears, she was adaptable.
Before he knew it, hours had passed, improvement had started to slow but that was to be expected, the greatest jump is always at the start. The more you practice the harder it becomes to make noticeable differences, but that's the difference between being a good shot and being able to cap an elite one-hundred meters down range with confidence. He didn't expect to see that in his time training her, not because he thought she lacked the talent – quite the contrary – but a practice range can only get you so far. The last bit before one can nail perfection is all about honing your skills in the field; a fact which he'd likely no see because he doubted he'd still be here when that happened, or at least hoped.
He skipped dinner that night opting instead to see if he could find anything about Edith Hansen, the idea had been gnawing at him most of the day, everything…well most everything…set him on edge. Granted he was basing this off of the one encounter they had at the café, still an ODST never doubted his gut. He'd be shaking a split-chins hand before he doubted his instincts. At some point during the night he passed out sitting at his desk, only waking when knocked over a pile of tech equipment off his desk.
The next several days passed in much the same way, most of his mid-day consisted of Hana's training, if he wasn't with her he was either looking into Edith with little success, or doing whatever exercises he could without straining his ribs. Eventually Overwatch personnel started to trickle in as day came and went, one of the first to return was Angela, McCree, and Vickers with his squad. Adrian had wondered what or rather how much Vickers had been told about the whole situation.
When he passed the man a few hours after he returned from Africa, he said to Adrian, "Fucking aliens man, what the hell's next? Mole men from the underground? It's been a long few days since I learned that, I need a drink."
Adrian couldn't help but empathize with the man, later when Vicker's was properly sloshed to realize the existence of aliens Adrian would have a talk with him. For now though it was probably best to let him sort everything out on his own, Adrian still remembered his father telling him about the first time the Covenant became publicly known. Pure and utter disbelief his old man had said, it took everyone in their neighborhood at least a week to come to grips with the fact that not only did aliens exist, but they were here to murder all of humanity. He didn't see anyone else until he was leaving the gun range with Hana later in the day.
"Hey you're back!" Hana yelled in joy.
Following her line of sight, he saw Ziegler walking down the hallway the Valkyrie armor having been replaced with a standard doctor's frock. Hana rushed forward leaving Adrian to trail behind, ahead he could see bright smiles adorning both their faces as Song spoke animatedly with the Doc.
As he neared the duo Angela looked up at him with a smile, "Good to see you Adrian! Hope you've been taking it easy with your injuries, though Hana tells me you've been training her?
"Just weapons training for now, he says he doesn't want to strain his ribs, but I think it's just because he'd getting old." The younger girl teased. Shaking his head he gave the girl a light wallop to the back of her head to which she responded with a dirty look.
"Keep talking pipsqueak, besides why do you keep singling me out, Ziegler's gotta have a few years on my at least right?" He joked.
"You have no manners, asking a woman her age? Geez now I know why you're single." Song scolded him; Angela broke out laughing as Adrian felt those words pierce his heart.
"Take it easy on him, its cruel to point out the obvious." Angela spoke up between gasping laughs.
"Tag teaming the crippled war veteran, real classy." Talking with them he realized he come to enjoy their company more than he thought, especially Angela's. The time spent at base the past several days had felt empty, dull, but here right now there was a mirth he the air that he'd come to appreciate. Turning his gaze to Ziegler he felt his mind drawn to her carefree laugh, the warm smile that emanated from her at all points of the day, her sharp blue eyes, her- he stopped his train of thought. These thoughts were a mistake, he liked Angela…maybe…something else existed but he wouldn't be here forever, let alone live to see old age if he got back to his world. Hana joked about relationship or lack thereof, but the fact was that most people you got close to back home died, so people tried to avoid any serious relationships. It was hard to attach yourself to others knowing that a stray plasma bolt would rip the skin from their face. Shaking his head of the intrusive thoughts he turned back to the duo of woman in front of him.
Hana looked at her watch, "Ah damn, I forgot I have a virtual interview! Bye Angela, see ya oppa." She said as she sped off down the hallway, leaving Adrian and Angela standing in her dust.
Ziegler turned to Adrian with a grin, "It seems she's really taken a liking to you, I know she was struggling with failing a mission but it seems whatever you said to her really picked her back up."
He rubbed his neck uncertainty, "Eh I don't know about that, she just…" He trailed off with a jumbled hand gesture.
She laughed, "I think you don't give yourself enough credit, she called you Oppa you know." He shot her a confused look. "It means big brother, regardless I think you're a good inspiration for her. She has a good family, but her between her work and her time at Overwatch she doesn't seem them as much as she'd like I think." Angela looked to where the kid had run off to, "Besides getting her some training is a good thing, she has a lot of potential but well…" She trailed off chuckling to herself.
"She's still a kid." He agreed.
Any further conversation was cut off as Athena announced that Adrian was requested in Winston's lab. Shooting Ziegler a confused glance he made his way towards the lab giving her a small wave as he left. Upon entering the lab, he saw it was in more disarray than usual, stacks of paper littered the room with dozens of folders spread out across the tables with Winston studying one in particular.
"What do you need?" Adrian questioned.
Looking up from the file in his hand, Winston spoke with excitement, "Good you're here! Listen after our talk I started really looking into some potential members, I'm always on the lookout but really narrowed my search to those who could help round out our forces. So I spent the last few days sending out inquiries, looking at previous records, and well…I think I found a few perfect additions."
"Alright…but what's this have to do with me?"
"These newest additions are brilliant, all very creative minds with some unusual creations under their belt. I've had my eyes on them for a while, but I think they could help with getting you back home. A fresh set of eyes might be just what we need, especially with technology that we've never delt with before." Winston rambled as he handed Adrian a file.
He flipped through it, his brow scrunching in doubt, "Really? You're shitting me right? You expect me to place my trust in them?"
Winston handwaved his concerns away, "Trust me I know what you're thinking but they'll be an invaluable asset, beside we can't be picky we who we choose. You want to go home right?"
Adrian wanted to argue, looking back to the folder in his hand he sighed in defeat, "Yeah…I just can't believe that my apparent return is going to rely on a musician and a fucking kid."
A/N:
Rook435: Glad you've been enjoying it, though I definitely understand that the Overwatch lore side has been a bit lacking. With how vastly different the two universes are in terms of their backstories and depth, I find myself tending to explain more of Adrian's backstory and world than Overwatch's but I'll try to balance them out in the future so the world that Adrian's stuck in feels more developed.
Guest: You pretty much nailed it on the head though I'll admit my early hints of his family nd Chloe were a bit messy and muddled, so even more me I'm glad to have gotten that out in the open.