Seoul, South Korea, Asia
Adrian walked through the bustling streets filled with people, glass buildings towered around him as neon nights reflected off their crystal shells. The city was a bustling metropolis with tens of millions of people, it'd given him an odd sense of placement in the world as he passed by so many people on the way to live their lives. He'd seen bigger cities back home, absolutely sprawling megacities larger than one could fathom but every one of those massive cities would be damn near empty. Abandoned like a ghost town, the day he left Kholo was the last day he ever saw a bustling society like this, his missions never took him deep into the heart of the UNSC territory so his squad ended up seeing more ruin than life. If he was on leave the cities were more akin to Gibraltar, small towns that lacked the busy city life on the inner colonies.
"Stop staring you'll look like a tourist." Hana said as she waved her hand in from of his face, "I assumed you'd had big cities too or whatever."
"Bigger…they're just usually empty." He spoke as he focused his mind back on their mission, "So give me a refresher, we're here to find a musician?"
"Not just any musician, Lucio!" She happily replied, "He's practically the biggest music star around."
Adrian turned his gaze to the third member of their group, the bubbly Brit, "Don't look as me mate, I'm more into the classics but I have heard of him." She shot him a smile, "He's big with the youth."
Shaking his head, he voiced his bewilderment at this mission, "And how does this help us at all? He's musician great, how does that help us?"
"Weren't you paying attention to the briefing?" Oxton scolded, "Anyways Lucio may be a musician but he's also one of the most creative minds around, he makes some of the most innovative tech around though most of it is for his own use. Having him as an ally would be useful"
"Exactly! Besides as Winston said we can get information on Mr. Kim while we're here." Hana spoke up from the head.
Right, Adrian remembered as he thought back to the briefing. Lucio was preforming in South Korea, but more than that Winston had picked up on a lead that may point Overwatch to 'Mr. Kim', the Talon agent that Hana failed to capture. Oxton and himself were brought onto the mission as being relatively innocuous, McCree would stand out far too much and the rest of Overwatch either looked like they were early to Halloween or had been pumping steroids half of their life. Hana was brought along as more or less a local guide, having spent a large portion of her life in Seoul she'd be able to help them find there way around as well as acting as a local translator. Though on a more personal level Adrian thought she was here to make amends for her previous failure. So here they were, walking through the heart of Seoul to find the prodigal musician that would help him get home. Though if he thought he felt naked without his armor before then this was a whole new feeling of vulnerability, he wasn't even allowed to bring a weapon with him as they had to come in through mostly legal means to avoid suspicion. Winston had smuggled them in some small bits of gear, but with Korea's strict travel security it would comprise the mission if they carried around unnecessary shit. If things got dicey well, he'd just have to improvise.
"Pipsqueak I've been meaning to ask, what's with your getup? You get some restraining orders filed on you?" Adrian questioned; she wore a wide sunhat that started to flop down at the sides as well as dark pair of aviators all on top of a hefty surgical mask. To most it probably wouldn't seem out of place, but Hana was the opposite of trying to hide her appearance, usually she was trying to be as bold as possible.
"I don't want my fans to know I'm here, it'll compromise the mission, geez you can be dense."
"Oh right your streaming…so you think your famous enough to jeopardize the missions?" He scoffed in disbelief.
"She's not wrong, she's a bloody global phenomenon. Not like Lucio but she's got her own level of fame." Oxton spoke up.
"No way, you're shitting me, and you're also a public member of Overwatch. Is no one else seeing the problems with this?" He questioned; he knew she streamed as well as had a habit of letting her words fly but he never expected this. As if to mock him, a large virtual billboard flashed a giant image of some sort of drink followed by the unmistakable image of Hana in her mech suit. "What the hell."
"Don't worry about it oppa, leave everything to me and you can worry about not straining your back." He brushed off her remarks and resumed taking in the sights, it was a change from the usual areas he'd been sent, Vladivostok he barely saw any of, so at the very least he was appreciated the lack of a tense atmosphere. Before he knew it they had arrived at Lucio's location, as they walked through the doors he thought the use of venue gave it an air of aggrandizement when in reality, it was a large albeit spartan room with minimal decorations and a long bar lining the side, a club to be more precise though he was just being pedantic at this point. Walking through the building there were only a small handful of people, though they didn't seem to be patrons, rather they seemed to be part of the crew to set up the show. Lights were being strung up, stereos tested, wires crossed with some holographic tech, no one even passed them a glance as they walked to the back and up some stairs. On the second floor a door marked with the words "Lucio Correia dos Santos" blocked their path; Hana gave it an excited knock. On the other side muffled conversation could be heard before the door opened, a thin young man stood in the entrance with short blonde hair, he didn't seem like the musician but looks could be deceiving Adrian thought to himself.
"Can I help you?" He asked, his face impassive.
"We need to talk to you about your talents." Adrian spoke up.
The thin man quirked an eyebrow at Adrian before turning his gaze to his companions, "If you're going to waste my time please leave."
"No no, my friend here is confused, we're here to see Lucio, it's important." Hana quickly explained to cover up Adrian's ignorance.
"I'm sorry but we don't just hand out invitations to any eager fans, if you wish to see him, you'll have to wait." The man said as he began to close the door before a voice rang out from the room.
"It's fine Andrew please, it would be hypocritical of me to spread my messages of love and freedom if I then denied those same people happiness no? An early meeting won't hurt, please invite them in."
The thin man gave a resigned sigh as he opened the door, stepping back as Hana and Oxton made their way in first with Adrian following behind. Looking around it was a simple room, but quite large, it seemed this room doubled as both his pre-show prep room and his sleeping quarters. Clothes littered a sizeable bed in the corner as well as several instruments, a large window filled almost the entirety of the left wall giving a clear view of the surrounding area. Though it wasn't much of a view as several tower buildings blocked any real sightseeing. Sitting in the center of the room upon a table strumming lightly at a guitar was a dark skinned with a set of thick dreadlocks tied up. Just based off a glance Adrian could tell the man carried a similar enthusiastic attitude to Oxton, almost scarily positive and he shuttered internally unsure if he could handle that amount of constant unbridled optimism and energy.
"So what can I do for you today? An autograph maybe or a picture together?" Lucio said as he tuned his guitar.
Oxton spoke up first, "Sorry mate but we're not here as fans, or at least not all of us." She said as she took a glance at Hana who seemed she was one word away from bursting with excitement.
Lucio looked up at those words, uncertainty crossing his features as he looked at the trio, "So what's your purpose then? If you're from Vishkar then don't bother wasting your beath, I won't bow down to you slave drivers."
"We're not with Vishkar, we want your help." Oxton explained.
"Help with what? And whose 'we'? I assume its more than you three."
"We're with Overwatch, we've been looking for the best of the best to help and we think you could help bring change to the world." She continued, at the mentioned of Overwatch his demeanor changed to more of surprise.
"Overwatch? Here? I thought you'd disbanded; I saw some news out of Russia about a New Overwatch but I thought that was just false hope."
"We're back alright but we need help."
"Help with what?"
Adrian walked up, fishing out a series of folded papers from his pocket and handing them to Lucio. The man looked it over, scoffing in joy as he read the data.
"This is…wild! I've never seen anything like this before, and this is real?"
"Real as it gets." Adrian spoke, "We've hit a roadblock in turning the data into a physical device for practical use. Given your propensity for creative assembly, it seemed you'd be able to bring in an outside perspective."
Lucio was speechless as he flipped through the papers, not only was he asked to join up with his heroes, a group who could bring the change he'd been trying to do for so long, but on a more selfish level the chance to work with such exiting technology and data was tantalizing.
"I'm…I'm speechless but…I gotta be able to finish out my tour, there's so many people that I want to inspire with my music that if I can just reach them I might be able to make a difference."
Oxton smiled brightly, "Of course! We're not here to force you, consider it a formal invitation that you can choose to take up at any time."
"Though sooner rather than later." Adrian butted in, earning a glare from Oxton. Lucio nodded as he handed back the papers to Adrian who promptly stuffed them in his pockets.
Turning to Oxton he spoke up, "We've got Lucio, now what about this lead? What have we got to go on?"
"According to Winston, we had a contact here that was supposed to message Winston with a place and time, but we've heard nothing from this bloke. So for now it seems we're dead in the water."
"Fucking great."
Lucio stepped in, "I can offer my help, small as it may be. I've traveled quite a lot building up quite a network of contacts, if you're looking for something I can put in a few calls and see if anything's made any noise."
Adrian looked at Lena, she gave a shrug and replied, "It can't hurt, no reason not to at least try."
Lucio nodded pulling out a phone, "I'll see what I can dig up before my show."
As he turned away the trio felt their comms crackle to life with Winston's voice, "Aha! We've made contact with well…the contact, he wants to meet outside the Seoul Arts Center as soon as possible." Winston relayed.
Oxton and Adrian turned to Hana looking for her input, "The arts center?! That's on the Southern end of the city, it could take us at least half-an-hour to get there!"
"Alright we're on it." Lena replied to Winston. "Adrian stay here with Lucio; we'll check out the contact."
"The hell? Why do I have to stay, why not leave the kid or hell leave anyone at all?"
"She knows the city, besides with Talon I'd rather not take any chances. Sometimes it feels like they're always one step ahead and Lucio's too important right now to risk."
"Damn alright, I'll stay with him." He grumbled as the two took their leave, leaving Adrian alone as Lucio and his assistant made a number of calls. With little else to do he looked around the room, his eyes landing on a row of various instruments lining the wall opposite the large window. It included everything from tambourines to trumpets to bass guitars and anything in between, he wasn't sure how long he spent looking at the instruments, but it was long enough to be asked about it.
"You play?" The voice of Lucio spoke to his right.
"Nah, never had much time for it, was occupied with other things."
"Fair enough, but what about a favorite? Everybody's got something musical they feel a connection to, for me it's always been the drums, specifically a kind called a Cuíca. It reminds me of my home, Brazil."
Adrian looked from Lucio back towards the row of musical tools, looking over each and every one, "The saxophone."
"Really? Never would've pegged that for you, into jazz then?" Lucio said in mild surprise.
Adrian nodded, "In terms of music, there's not much I hate but a nice, slow, jazz piece really just feels…right."
Lucio smirked, "I get that man, sometimes it's hard to explain."
They continued like that, lightly chatting about music and their interests until the thin assistant came to remark that Lucio's show was to begin soon. Adrian was offered a premier spot in the club to which he politely declined instead deciding to wait out the show at the bar, while a drink was always a plus in his books the position of the bar also gave him a complete view of the club. If Talon showed up anywhere on the first floor, he'd have a clear line of sight compared to being in the middle of a dancing crowd. When the show finally began, Adrian was at the furthest edge of the bar counter, nearest to the main entrance. Pounding bass with techno beats filled the room as a young crowd filled out the club, cheering, dancing, falling into an almost cathartic lull as the show went on.
Adrian signaled the bar tended for a second shot of rum as he continued his vigilance over the dance floor, he was starting to think that Talon was literally anywhere else than here. The light clink of ice on glass to his side drew his attention to the refilled booze, wrapping his hands around the cool glass he took a sip as his eyes prowled the crowd lazily. A burst of crisp night air flowed into the room as the main door opened, Adrian's eyes turned towards the newcomer, a man dressed in casual attire but without the posture of a man on his time off. Adrian's back straightened as he stood up a bit more, gaze glued to the odd man. Another gust of wind accompanied by another odd induvial though this time it was a woman; more casual clothes without the feeling that they were here for enjoyment. As it happened a few more times the pieces clicked together, they thought they would be clever coming in individually to through off the suspicion of a large group. Good soldiers they might have been but good undercover agents they were not as he easily followed the various individuals spreading out along the outside of the mass of Lucio's fans. Any shred of doubt he had about their aims vanished when one of the goons adjusted their pants, a brief reveal of metal reflecting the strobing lights gave Adrian all the conformation he needed. On what Hana hold told him Korea wasn't exactly an open carry country, and the likelihood of them being a well-meaning yet misunderstood vigilante…well he was more likely to fuck a grunt then believe that crock of shit.
Downing the rest of the rum, he spoke up to the bar tender, "I'll take the whole bottle." Pushing himself off the counter, he grabbed the bottle in one hand and the empty whiskey tumbler in the other. Walking towards the gun-totting goon, he lightly pushed his way past several people with each step bringing him closer to the bombastic sounds emanating from the speakers.
Standing next to the man Adrian looked him over, nothing really out of the ordinary but the posture, the attitude, every feeling you get when you go to a club was absent from him. "Nice show huh?" Adrian said to the man, practically yelling.
The man turned to face him, his visage scrunched up into one of contempt, "What? Man just back off."
"Talon really got you by the balls huh? Must suck to be the bottom bitch in the Talon hierarchy." Adrian remarked, watching as the man's eye turned to one of surprise before narrowing. Adrian didn't give the man any more time before he smashed the whiskey tumbler across the goon's face, the shattered glass lacerating his skin. The man fell to the ground screaming as he held his hands over his face, blooding pouring through his fingers. Adrian stomped the back of the goon's head, sending his face crashing into the hard floor with a sickening bone-crunching crack. People around them screamed at the sight but their fear was lost in the deafening cacophony of Lucio's concert. Leaning down he pulled out the concealed pistol, briefly considering the use of it before dismissing the idea, too many civilians and the bureaucratic clusterfuck he'd get caught in wasn't worth it. Cocking the slide against his leg several times, he ejected on the bullets before tossing the empty handgun opposite of the crowd. Making his way towards the next Talon merc he slid through the mass of clubbers, the music blasting in his head as he looked at the half-empty bottle of rum in his hand. Looking up at he saw the next unfortunate soul that would face his unarmed brutality, a tall man standing a solid head higher than himself. He wasn't burly but looks could be deceiving; tossing the bottle in his hand so that he was holding onto the neck of it he patted the towering man on the shoulder, calling up to him.
"Hey man you dropped this."
When the goon looked, Adrian swung the bottle with all his force landing his hit with a solid thunk.
He looked at the bottle in his hand, "I really thought that was gonna shatter." He said to the stumbling man grabbing the side of his head, "Well I'll make sure it cracks on the next hit."
Adrian's arm shot out to grab the man by the scruff of his collar, pulling the stumbling merc towards himself as he swung the bottle again. This time hitting with a satisfying shatter. Not wasting anytime Adrian grabbed the back of the dazed goons head before forcing it down onto the knee that was rocketing upwards sending the man flying onto his back. The Talon merc groaned in pain as Adrian stood over him, reaching down to grab the man by his scalp, tugging his head upwards Adrian let loose a furious right hook knocking the man out cold.
Standing up he noticed that a crowd had gathered around them, the music was still going but it seemed that more of the patrons were becoming aware of the brawl occurring in the back of the club. Before he'd left the bar, he counted five likely Talon agents enter the bar, if Lucio was joining Overwatch then he was sure the man could take care of himself but that was under regular circumstance. In a crowded club where the man only had his instruments, Adrian wasn't willing to take the risk. Scanning the surroundings, he couldn't see the other three, they were likely already starting to make their move on Lucio but his ears caught a some the tail end of some unhappy customers.
"What the hell man?"
"No need to push, Jesus Christ."
"What crawled up your ass and died?"
Turning towards the exclamations he could vaguely make out a familiar looking character pushing their way through the crowd. Following suit, he made his way through the clump of people, ignoring the barbs they threw his way as he drew closer to his target. It seemed he wasn't the only one keeping his ears opened as the Talon merc turned to him as he was barely a meter away. In one smooth move she drew a knife from a hidden pocket and thrusted it out towards Adrian, it was a quick strike likely to get most people she comes across but ODST's weren't most people. With practiced reflexes he batted her knife away with an open palm, using that same hand he reached under grabbing the bottom of her forearm. Twisting until he could feel the grinding of bone-on-bone, causing her to drop the knife in pain and allow him to turn her around. Kicking the back of her legs she dropped to her knees while he still held onto her twisted forearm, now in a painfully unnatural position. Wrenching her forearm with a force turn, he heard the bones in her forearm snap followed by a cry of pain, he pushed her onto the floor of the club. Picking up the knife he looked around for the final two only to realize that the music had cut out.
Looking up towards the stage he saw that Lucio was engaged with the final two mercs, holding them off as he swung a guitar into the chest of one of the mercs, sending her flying off the stage. Lucio ducked under a swing from the final goon before he pulled out a weird handgun, if one could call it that, it was more like a hand cannon with a massive flat…speaker as the barrel? Pulling the trigger on that strange contraption Lucio sent the merc blasting off the stage with a shockwave burst. The goon landed in front of Adrian groaning in confusion, with a swift kick to the head Adrian put that man out cold before heading up towards Lucio. People cried out, shuffling for the exists turning the club from a bustling hive of activity to an empty ghost town.
"Oxton was right, they were probably on us like ticks the moment we stepped foot inside the city."
Lucio nodded, "We should get up to prep-room, it's not much but it'll funnel Talon into one area…but first…" Lucio trailed off as he stared past Adrian. Twisting around another Talon agent walked into the now empty building, he was large, wide as a truck with arms like fucking tree trunks. Lucio sprinted out from behind Adrian firing his odd pistol at the merc, but where it had sent other men flying it only seemed to irritate this behemoth of a human, at most only sending him skidding backwards. Twirling the knife he picked up between his fingers, he gripped the blade between his fingers before hurling it at the large man, sticking with a solid twump as it buried itself into the man's chest. Though much like Lucio's attempts it only served to piss the goon off more. As Lucio ran circles around the giant, keeping up a constant barrage of shots, the merc threw out his arms grabbing onto Lucio's body before tossing him across the room, flinging him into the bar as he landed with a thunderous crash of glass.
The burly man turned his attention to Adrian who took a step back, no guns, no knifes, no armor, and a fucking human golem, the odds weren't looking good.
"Adrian, the contact didn't show but a bunch of Talon did, the whole thing was a setup." Hana spoke over the radio.
"Yeah we're already well acquainted." He snarked as he rolled under a hefty swing from the brute, "Can't really focus on talking, trying not to die." He kicked with all his force into the gut of the merc, causing him to grunt in pain but not before he wrapped his sausage fingers around Adrian's ankle, whipping him over head and into the concrete floor. Dazed, Adrian barely dodged the heavy stomp of the merc's boot rolling out of the way as it crunched the concrete next to his head. The swimming in his head only grew worse as he rolled along the floor, trying to stand up he felt himself stumble backwards into a wall. Lucio got up from behind the bar and began letting loose shot after shot turning the human brute's attention away giving Adrian a chance to get himself together. Looking around for anything to give them an edge, he spied a hefty steel speaker naught but a few feet away from him. When the goon lumbered around putting Adrian out of his line of sight, Adrian went over to the speaker and hefted the weighty metal box into his arms. He grunted as he picked it up, it weighed more than he though which would end up be a good thing in this case.
Lifting the speaker over his head he inched closer to the Talon merc before chucking the burdensome box at the legs of the behemoth. The speaker hit his legs with a sickening crunch as the leg bent inwards at a sharp angle, causing the man to howl in pain. Taking advantage of the respite Lucio ran out from behind the counter like a bat out of hell, jumping up at the merc he clapped the mans ears with a strike the echoed throughout the room. Blood poor out of the man's ruptured ear drums as his wailing grew worse, looking to end this as soon as possible Adrian dashed over to the merc and raised his leg for a final blow as he drew near. With a fierce kick into the bent leg he felt the last little bit of resistance crumble as the bone broke the skin, jutting out like a rugged iceberg as the man fell to the floor, blood pooling around him. Adrian looked around at the destruction they caused, groaning bodies littered the room with blood spattering the floor.
"Think they'll invite you back?" Adrian asked through rugged breath, still not feeling great after the slam to the floor.
Lucio laughed, "Heh maybe, but what about your friends? Seems they missed out on all the fun." As if summoned by his words, Oxton and Song burst through the doors weapons drawn.
"Calvary's here…love…Well now I just look like a fool." She lamented.
"Geez you really went all out; can't believe I missed some an epic fight. My stream would've loved it!" Hana said as she stepped over a mysterious liquid on the ground.
"Yeah well it wasn't as fun as it seemed." Adrian said as he popped his back, "We should focus on getting out of here first, preferably somewhere secure."
"I have a hotel room that should be safe, I always book a spare room when I travel under a false name. Andrew mostly uses the rooms to organize business away from music practice, should be safe enough for now." Lucio spoke up as he looked around at the trio of Overwatch agreement, they nodded in agreement. "Great I'll pull my car around back, should let us leave in peace."
After he left Adrian turned to Oxton, "You were right, but how'd they know we wanted Lucio? Are we that easy to read or is there a mole? We barely even know what the plan is until we're in the air, the whole mission is compromised now."
Oxton could only shrug, "Talon has lack of moral boundaries means they're willing to do stuff we're not, that's not much of an answer but they could have any number of possibilities."
Adrian swore under his breath, this whole thing just became a shitshow that they were stuck in the middle of. A loud groan to the side of him drew his attention to the Talon merc that Lucio hit off the stage with his guitar, an idea popped into his mind as Lucio told them to pile into the car.
"Oxton, help me lift this fucker into the car." He spoke as he put his arms under the man's shoulders.
"What for?" Despite her question she helped him regardless, lifting the man by his legs.
"We're gonna get some answers." He replied as they unceremoniously tossed him into the back of the trunk. As the rest piled into the car, none of them spied the mysterious figure watching them upon the rooftops across from them. As the car pulled out into the street and sped down the road, the mysterious figure that no one had seen followed them from rooftop to rooftop. More than just answers were going to be dropped that night.