Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe

Hana grunted as Adrian kicked her in the stomach after he'd battered away her attack with ease, sending her flying backwards. Swiftly rolling onto her feet she ground her teeth as she stared Adrian down, a couple days ago they'd moved on from weapons training to close quarters combat training and despite her own military training in Korea she'd found it exceedingly hard to land a hit on him. Even before they started she knew Adrian was in a league of his own, hence why she asked him to train her in the first place, but it took seeing his skills in person to truly understand. Despite being a mech pilot she was always proud of her physical prowess, in the Korean Army she'd usually scored high-marks on her evaluations and even in Overwatch she'd made constant efforts to keep herself primed for work outside Tokki, her mech.

Pushing herself off the ground, she circled Adrian as her eyes scanned for an opening in his form. Dashing forward she spun before launching a kick upwards to his head, he caught her kick in his hand. Grinning she twisted herself in his grip bringing her other leg swinging as she broke free of his iron-fist. To her astonishment he swiftly ducked under her kick before swiping her legs out from under her as soon as her first leg touched the floor. She landed with an echoing thud as her back hit the gym mat, groaning as a dull pain grew where she laid.

"You advertise your attacks way too much pipsqueak, I can see what you're going to do lightyears before you actually act on those thoughts." Adrian spoke as slicked back his sweat-soaked hair, sticking out his hand to pull the kid up.

Gratefully she grabbed his outstretched hand, rubbing her back with her free hand as she was pulled up onto her feet, "I've been doing fine against every Talon merc though… What gives? Do you have some wack reflexes like a superhero? I think that'd be cheating."

"Well I've been reading enemy movements for about thirteen years across six different species including humans, eventually you just learn what to watch out for. That said Talon ain't no slouch, there's a reason you were picked for Overwatch – just don't get lazy." He remarked as he pulled off his sleeveless tee, wiping his face and body down with it before tossing it onto a bench in the corner of the gym. With morbid curiosity Hana looked over his scarred body, she'd thought Reinhardt had some war stories to tell but compared to Adrian, the older man's scars looked like light-scratching that comes from a schoolyard. When he turned around there was one that had caught her attention more than the others, it looked like a splatter painting around his lower abdomen.

"If you keep staring, I'll have to charge you kid."

Hana felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she realized she'd gotten lost in thought, "You wish old man, I was wondering though…how'd you get that scar?" She pointed.

"Ah that one," He snorted as he sat down on one of the benches, taking a swig of water, "In my world, there's an ammo type that's essentially an explosive needle that fired by the rater unoriginally named needler. It's whole purpose is to maim the target beyond any medical help, humans would normally call this a war crime, but that term stopped being used as soon as we met the Covenant. Now before you think I pulled off some miraculous survival, I was never actually hit by it, whole host of shards got stuck into the poor bastard next to me. When they went off like a miniature bomb I got hit with the shrapnel, a real pain but entirely survivable."

"Man that's…"

"A lot less cool than you thought it'd be? Yeah war pretty much sucks all around."

She nodded as they enjoyed a comfortable silence, just enjoying the brief respite in their training. Hana's mind was stuck in the thoughts of what Adrian told her, not that there was anything to particularly focus on but more the constant war. He'd so casually mentioned that his comrade died, she remembered the footage he'd shown but there was always a bit of disbelief. It's hard to imagine everything he talks about, to actually think that he comes from a different universe, the whole idea is mind-boggling. In the end she was just glad to have been in such comparatively privileged world, just thinking about having to live with the knowledge that humanity was doomed was enough to build up an uncomfortable anxiety within in herself. Any further thoughts were cut off as a voice crackled through the comms.

"Mr. Kasporov, Winston is requesting that you look over his latest forays into Covenant slipspace technology." Athena spoke, "He knows your specific knowledge is limited but stated that he'd feel better have your opinion."

Adrian growled in annoyance, "I'll look at that f-" He stopped himself as he cast brief glance to Hana, "When I'm free I'll look it over."

"Thank you." She said as her voice left, filling the room once more with silence.

Hana looked on curiously at the interaction, " Doyou hate Winston?"

He looked up at her, "Odd question."

"Well I don't know; it just seems that whenever you talk with him it puts you in a foul mood."

"I don't hate him per se…it's…look I'm just trying to get home but my whole plan revolves around him working to do so. The project itself is damn near impossible so guess I can't fault him for that, but it seems the only thing I hear is set back after setback. Plus he has an odd resemblance to some of the covvie bastards from back home, though putting the brutes in the same category as any of the others…well let's just say they're fucking monsters among barbarians."

She shot him a small frown, "But Winston's really nice! Can't you just see that he's different?"

"Getting rid of a dozen years of hate and prejudice isn't happening overnight, let alone within the timespan I'll be in this world. I reign it in when I can but I'm not perfect." Standing up from the bench, he rolled his neck, "Eh that's enough talking, you ready for another round kiddo?"

Hana blanched at the thought but would never let a challenge go unanswered, "Ready as I'll ever be I suppose."

Adrian walked out of the training room hours later, only now beginning to feel the burn of the sparring leaving him wanting more. Though he knew it would be cruel to the kid, especially considering she'd done a hell of a job considering the differences in their experience. It's clear she'd had training before, but more than that she had a hell of a creative streak being able to think of moves on the fly that would take most at least a year to get the hang of. Regardless he felt himself getting restless, it'd just over two weeks since his last mission and was far past the length of respite he usually had. He appreciated a nice break occasionally, now though he just wanted to get back out into the field even if it wasn't any heavy fighting, just something to breath in some new air.

"Ah Adrian!" Someone called out to him from behind, turning he saw Ziegler in her doctor's attire making her way down the hall, "Just who I was looking for, do you have a moment to talk?"

He nodded, "What do you need Doc?"

When she caught up, they continued walking down the corridor, "An old friend who's served with Overwatch back in the day has been traveling the world collecting atmospheric and environmental data. She says there's been a myriad of anomalies that we need to see, as well as some other oddities that she wants us to look over. Ah verzeihung I'm rambling, back to my original point, Winston's asked me to meet her in Munich to get said data."

"And you need something from me before you go?"

"Not exactly, rather I was going to ask if you would like to accompany me. I've noticed how impatient you've grown lately, and while I doubt this excursion will offer any action it would at least get you out of the base. I know it's probably not what you were hoping for-"

"Alright, got nothing better to do."

"Really?" She said, slightly surprised at how easy it was, so had expected more of a fight or a refusal, not that she would blame him as this mission was fairly bland compared to much of what else was happening. That said an extra hand never hurt, especially considering how unpredictable Talon was. "Many thanks Adrian, we'll leave tomorrow though I expect it won't be very long nor should it require your typical outfit." Angela remarked.

Adrian nodded, "Though I've got a question if you don't mind me asking, why spend the effort to go out to meet this agent. Wouldn't it be easier to just fetch her and bring her here?"

"In most cases I'd agree, but her overall goal is yet to be completed, once we meet up she's going to continue across the globe to collect the last bits of data. Time spent coming here is time wasted in her eyes, though I imagine she only has two or three locations left so it shouldn't be long till she returns. That and with the recent Talon attacks, we're worried about potential leaks, so getting the information in person is an added measure, especially considering she's said she has something more she believes we need to see, so I'm inclined to think there's something that Talon shouldn't see."

"Another question if you don't mind Doc, but you mentioned she was with the old Overwatch, did you two know each other?"

"We did, her name is Mei though back then she served in a more auxiliary position on one of Overwatch's many climate outposts. There was an accident that her in cryogenics far longer than it should have, it's been ages since we last met so I'll be glad to see her again. Though I admit talking about this makes me feel like such a granny even though I'm only thirty-nine." Angela laughed at the thought.

Adrian almost felt his jaw hit the floor, "Thirty-nine? You're shitting me Doc, have you found the fountain of youth cause here I am at the ripe old age of twenty-nine getting called 'old-man' by Song and looking like I've lived through a hundred years of strife in a decade."

Putting her hand up to her mouth she smiled, "Very much the truth though a fact I'd rather not focus on. As for yourself think of it this way, it's unlikely you'll ever have to get checked for your I.D if you buy alcohol."

Adrian scoffed lightheartedly, "First the pipsqueak, now you, I swear old men like myself just aren't respected by you youngsters." They laughed as their conversation dwindled down to an easy silence, eventually splitting their separate ways as Angela headed back to the clinic leaving Adrian alone to his thoughts.

"Thirty-nine huh? Jesus I've seen officers half her age look like they were living through their midlife crisis." He chuckled as he made his way to his room to prep for the mission tomorrow.

Munich, Germany, Europe

The streets were bustling but to Adrian it held a far different energy compared to Seoul, obviously this place was far less densely populated with people actually having room to breathe. More than that the bustling felt more natural, he wasn't sure how to explain it but in Seoul it felt oddly organized, rather people had a destination to get to and hell or highwater they'd get it. Still maybe it was just a culture shock compared to his own experiences with cities back home because this place felt like he'd stepped into a classical medieval world. Massive gothic architecture dominated the streets, the painstakingly crafted stonework and soaring clocktower stood out amongst the warm autumn sky. Bringing his attention back down to the street, he looked around at the crowd flowing around him, human and Omnic alike. It was still strange to him to see these humanoid metal bodies traveling the world, interacting with humans. Apparently he wasn't the only one though the others of this world took it to a disgusting extreme, as it seemed there was a deep civil unrest that grew with every passing day with regards to whether these Omnics deserved the same status allotted to the humans. Initially he believed it odd as it seemed that everyone would have a vested interest in stopping Talon, however he had quickly learned that not only did many not know of that shady organization, but that Talon was a key figure inciting the unrest by supporting many anti-Omnic organizations.

The Omnics were odd to him but he found it ridiculous to deny them their basic rights given the self-aware intelligence they seemed to present. It reminded him of the few encounters with smart A.I, fully intelligent beings with varying personalities and beliefs, while the technology was still a work in progress if it ever evolved to the point that they became fully independent mobile beings, he could only imagine that they would never face such discrimination. Though he supposed it was a bit hypocritical especially his earlier talk with Hana, many of these people had experienced a devasting war not too long ago against said Omncis though the details were far more muddled than that.

Focusing back on the mission at hand, he brought his attention to Ziegler a few steps ahead of him dressed in casual clothes with a thin tan long-coat to protect against the slight chill that came despite the days sun. Adrian followed behind as she led the way through the crowded city, slightly adjusting the back of his pants where he kept his SOCOM concealed away, the cold metal pressing against the flesh of his back. Walking he could also feel the pressure of his sheathed combat knife hidden inside his boot; despite what she had told him about this being a simple pick-up mission, he felt far safer carrying especially considering what had happened in Korea.

He caught her eyes as she slowed down a bit to match his pace, "I used to visit here when I was a child, my parents would often travel here to visit family in the region."

"Must've been nice," He spoke as he eyed the architecture, "Where are you parents now?"

Her smile became sad, "They passed during the war, though it's what drives me to heal people, to strive for solutions that don't resort to violence. I was initially hesitant about joining Overwatch because I was afraid of their militaristic agenda, still am today, but I also see it as a chance to try to make my parents proud."

"By pushing for your overseas clinics and public speeches? Hoping to push Overwatch in a different direction can't be easy but considering they're only a shell of their former self…well anything's possible."

She gave a determined nod, "All I can do is try."

"Not to derail the conversation, but where exactly are we heading to meet with this Mei?"

"There's a cozy restaurant I remember my family used to visit a lot, not exactly what Winston had in mind I'm sure, but what he knows won't hurt him." She shot him a cheeky grin with a wink.

He just chuckled to himself, the doctor worked harder than just about anyone else he knew on base, for her the work never stopped until there wasn't a single person left in need. A righteous thought but also a taxing one, letting her bask in relaxation if even for a brief moment seemed a well-earned reward. Stopping beside him, she nodded her head towards a red brick building to their right, the words, Bohemian Biergarten, emblazoned above the entrance. Walking inside he felt his senses assaulted on every front, the interior was lavishly decorated with an array of warm colors and memorabilia adorning the walls with the heavy aroma of spices and meat filling the restaurant space. The building was spacious with a large square bar filling up the center of the room, booths lined with wall while open tables filled the empty space between the booths and the bar. Letting Angela take the lead, she spoke with the server at the entrance in German before holding up three fingers. The server nodded with a pleasant smile as he led them to a quiet booth in the corner of the building that had a window to it's side opening up to show the vast Old Town district of Munich.

"Gorgeous isn't it?"

Adrian gave a light bob of his head, "I haven't seen anything like it really, this classical architecture really on exists on Earth or in the hands of a wealthy few."

She gave a slight frown, "That's a shame, though it seems we've arrived quite a bit earlier than we needed to in. While we wait, I could show you some of the local cuisine, it would prove quite different to what you're used to I'm sure."

He shrugged, "Why not, I can't remember the last time I ever actually sat down at a restaurant." When she tilted her head he elaborated, "I'm either aboard a military cruiser or fighting on the ground, of the few times we get shore leave the first thought for most marines isn't to find a nice restaurant to get a warm meal at. Always on the move I suppose."

"You travel a lot then." Adrian nodded as she continued to talk, "Not to make light of an awful war, but traveling across a galaxy's worth of planets…it's hard to wrap my head around."

"If there had to be one silver lining in this whole thing, I suppose that be one of them." He'd never given it much thought before though she had a point, even in the age of intergalactic colonization it was unusual for the average person to travel off world especially if you lived in the outer colonies. Being apart of the UNSC had taken him to dozens of planets across the milky way, something that most people would never experience. "Tell you what, I can't read tit for tat from this menu, so you pick something good and I'll dazzle you in tales of far off lands."

Angela agreed, skimming over the list of dishes as a rather gloomy waiter came over, presumably to collect their order though Adrian couldn't make heads or tails of their conversation. Despite that he found the rhythm of the language to be enjoyable in a way, it had a harshness that remind him of Russian, reminded him of home. Ziegler responded to the waiter, pointing out a handful of items with a cheerful tone, the positivity was so infectious it seemed to brighten up the previously solemn waiter into a cheerful mood. As the waiter left to deliver the order, she turned back towards Adrian while resting her elbows on the able, folding her hands and resting her chin atop them expectantly waiting for him to hold up his part of the bargain.

"Let's see…ah here's an interesting one, how do you feel about spiders Doc?"

"Eck." She made a disgusted face.

"Well on this planet, the first non-colonized planet I ever went too, there existed these massive ten-legged beasts that were at least three feet long." Adrian held out his hands to give an approximate size, laughing as Ziegler shuddered at the thought of such a creature existing. For the next half an hour Adrian regaled her with stories of planets that seemed straight out of science fiction. From planets with constantly raging storms with monolithic monsters roaming the plains to barren deserts whose only source of 'liquid' was a gelatinous white ooze that seeped from the grounds, toxic to any lifeform other than one of the unkillable few that thrived in such desolate wastes. He told her of mountains so high they practically pierced the atmosphere where upon reaching the peak, he could only see the vast expanse of dark clouds below them covering the landscape. Adrian painted a picture of a prairie land only populated by massive sprawling trees with canopies so large they cast shadows for miles. Initially what had begun as a simple way to pass the time became an engrossing adventure for them both, Adrian becoming so invested in the telling of his travels that he was almost disappointed when the food finally arrived – almost. Though any doubts were washed away as the enticing sent of their meals hit his nose; when the plate hit the table he saw that it consisted of what appeared to be a few thin piece of fried meat topped with garnish and a lemon as well as a long. well roasted sausage of some kind, and a side of diced seasoned potatoes.

Taking a bite of everything was like an act of pure euphoria for him; being in the military all but guaranteed that you wouldn't be a picky eater, that being said there were a select few foods that he truly enjoyed. After this meal however it seemed he would have to expand that list.

"Is it fair to say that you enjoy it?"

Wiping his mouth, he settled back into the booth with an exaggerated frown followed by a heavy sigh, "Well it's alright I guess."

"Just remember that I'm the one who patches up your mistakes, it'd be a shame if my hand were to accidently slip would it not?"

"Now my memory on the law is pretty fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

She gave a noncommittal shrug, "Accidents happen." Her stony face could only last a few seconds before cracking into a grin as Adrian followed suite. At this moment Adrian came to realize how much he genuinely enjoyed the time he spent with the Doc, here with this comfortable feeling existing between them as they joked and conversed like old friends. Part of his mind, the rational part, told him that following this train of thought was doomed to end in tragedy, a fact that Adrian himself knew too well. Another part of him wanted to continue this feeling, ask something of her while this comfortable air was still here though he stifled that thought just a touch too long. Angela's eyes drifted beside him and lit up as she spotted something outside their booth. Turning to where she was focused, he spied a cute Asian girl with her hair tied up into a tight bun.

"Mei!" Ziegler called out moving out from the booth, confirming his own suspicions he decided to stay put, knowing this was a reunion for friends whereas he was simply along for the ride. The two women closed the gap and embraced each other tightly, the Swiss doctor absolutely beaming upon seeing her old friend. "It's been weeks since we last spoke, you'll have to fill me in on all your adventures. Though first there's someone you should meet, Mei this is Adrian Kasporov, Adrian this is Mei-Ling Zhou."

Mei stuck out her hand with a smile, "A pleasure Mr. Kasporov."

"Likewise, Ms. Zhou."

He shifted to further down the seat as Angela took a seat next to him as Mei sat across from them, it was at that point that Adrian had noticed that Mei wasn't alone. A small white robot of some kind appeared next to her floating silently in mid-air as if it was simply taking in the situation.

"Do you like him Mr. Kasporov?"

"I haven't really seen anything like him before. Some kind of drone I'd assume?" Adrian's interest was piqued in the odd device, more curious about it's technology than anything else, to be able to adequately propel itself so effortlessly with such limited engine space and which practically zero sound.

"Don't get too attached Adrian, snowball is more mischievous than he seems." Angela chimed in.

Snowball huh? Odd name. He thought to himself as he continued to look over the small bot. As the two women talked, catching up on old times Adrian wasn't ashamed to admit that his mind wondered to other thoughts as he let to the friends catch up with each other. He continued his stare down of the robot before his eyes drifted out towards the city, watching people pass by on their way to work or to do some shopping. As his eyes scanned the crowd aimlessly, he felt his instincts kick in as he thought he spied a familiar face, not one from his world of course but someone he'd had growing concerns over. Edith Hansen, the women he'd spent a couple long nights with. It was hard to see through the mess of people though he could've sworn he saw her face as she was walking this way. Moving closer towards the window he looked out, trying to spot another sign of Edith, the chances of meeting her out of country, in a random city, at a random god damn restaurant was just too far beyond simple coincidence. Despite his efforts he couldn't spot her again, he wasn't sure whether to be glad that he was wrong or worried that he simply overlooked her previously.

Pushing the uncertainty from his mind he turned back to the Mei and Angela, noticing that the conversation had shifted into the purpose of the mission.

"As you know Angela, I've traveled the world collecting data from all of our former outposts, most of it related to the climate anomalies that have spiked over the past couple years. While I believe it's necessary to reverse that recent rise, that's not why I called you here. Rather there's two things that caught my attention, the first is something I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to be. Over the last several months there been unusual weather patterns in a handful of areas in the stratosphere, none of these last long, rather they're akin to a quick burst of energy before almost immediately fading."

Adrian sat up in his seat, sharing a brief knowing glance with Zeigler before speaking up, "And I assume you've got the data collected, what does it show you?"

"Well that's the thing, I'm not entirely sure, it seems like its more up Winston's alley because as it stands, I can't make any sense of it. Though there's something more immediately pressing that I picked up, a number of encrypted Talon communications that talk about such high-ranking arms-dealer."

"We've already been acquainted, how recent were these broadcasts?" Angela asked, leaning forward on the table."

"Two weeks at the earliest, they make reference to numerous locations across the globe, its hard to determine if any of these is where this official is stationed or merely sending weapons to."

"Well figure it out, thank you for all your help Mei."

Zhou smiled, before looking down at a watch on her hand, "Ah I've already stayed far longer than I meant too! I must get going to continue but very soon I imagine we'll be working together at Gibraltar."

"I hope so-" The rest of Angela's sentence was cut off as a deafening boom sounded from the front of the restaurant as glass shattered and people screamed. The concussive burst shook the restaurant and all its patrons to the core, Adrian's mind flashed of living on the frontlines before focusing on the situation at hand. His mind was in daze as he pushed himself out of the booth, looking towards the front he saw a gaping hole at the entrance where it looked as if a bomb had gone off. Thick smoke and dust bellowed out through the building; he covered his mouth as his eyes watered looking back to see that his squadmates were alright.

"Verdammt! What was that?" Angela coughed out as she waved her hand around to clear the air.

"A bombing by the looks of it."

Mei looked around in horror, "Is it Talon? How did they find us?"

Briefly glancing back to the now shattered window, Adrian knew that it wasn't just a passing thought nor was it the most miraculous spot of coincidence in human history, "I've got a a few solid thoughts, but we've got a few more pressing issues." He choked out through the smoke as he kneeled on the ground behind a flipped table, waving Zhou and Ziegler down with him to avoid being spotted.

"We can't just leave the injured unattended, especially if they're in critical condition. By the time the paramedics will have arrived it will be too late, it's our fault Talon is here and as a member of Overwatch I cannot stand idly by while they commit such atrocities." Angela spoke with a firm tone, her eyes hard.

Adrian peaked over the table, drawing the pistol from it's hidden holster, the red eyes had drawn closer thought they also split-up to cover more area. A vicious grin grew across Adrian's face as the adrenaline began to course through his veins. Of the six, two had stayed by the entrance while the other four had split in half with each group taking one side of the restaurant.

"Stay back Doc, I'll clear the restaurant. Zhou stay back and make sure no one surprises us from the back."

They both nodded as Adrian slipped out from the makeshift cover, silently making his way closer to the front of the restaurant where the Talon mercs originated from. Ducking into a nook in the bar where the waiters could enter, he waited for the two goons to make their way past him, their footsteps growing louder with every step as they crunched glass and rubble beneath their heavy boots. Drawing the knife from his boot, he held in serrated knife in one hand while his SOCOM occupied his other. As soon as the armed men passed, Adrian struck. His knife slicing through the back of the closest man's leg, the serrated edge tearing the flesh and cloth with ease sending a spray of blood across the flood. As the Talon merc feel to one leg, he turned to see where he'd been hit only to be meet with the barrel of a pistol staring him down. Adrian pressed the trigger down, the armor-piercing round splattering the man's head as his body fell backwards. The second Talon soldier didn't have time to react as Adrian fired once, the bullet tearing through the gap between the helmet and chest armor. The poor bastard raised his hands futilely to his throat, trying in vain to halt the bleeding as blood leaked from his hands like a dam about to burst.

He felt face first to the ground as their comms came bursting to life, "Kilo 4-3 did you engage with the targets over? Kilo 4-3 respond! God dammit."

With the element of surprise lost, he knew he didn't have time to waste. Slamming against the bar counter, aimed over the countertop aiming at the sharp red eyes by the entrance. Sure, it helped them to see through the thick smog, but it also meant that if Adrian could see their eyes then he had a clear line of sight. With practiced ease he fired two bursts at each target, their armored helmets offered laughable protection to weapons mean to cut through covvie shields. The guards went down with no resistance, but Adrian was forced back down behind the counter as splinters erupted around him under a hail of gunfire.

He wasn't sure how much time it'd be until the local authorities arrived, not only did they need t be gone by then but the longer this went on the likelier it was that Ziegler would be treating corpses. Peaking above the wooden countertop he spotted one merc directly across from opposite of the bar while the other was slowly making his way around the front to try and flank him, Taking a deep breath he instantly regretted it as he inhaled a lungful of smoke. Rolling over the countertop he opened fired on the flanking Talon soldier, his first few rounds only landing glancing blows before the last two hit the goon straight in the chest. Looking towards the final soldier, Adrian brought his pistol to fire only to hear it click on an empty magazine. Swearing he sidestepped behind a rack of alcohol as machine gunfire riddled his position, he berated himself for not bring spare magazines on this assignment. Foolish to assume it would go smoothly but more so for making such an amateur mistake. Waiting until there was a respite in the action, he charged out from his cover throwing his combat knife at the last goon. It landed with a sickening squelch as it burrowed itself deep into the man's soldier, the Talon soldier stumbled back in surprise. Adrian vaulted over the bar when he reached the counter, his legs shooting out like missiles as they hit hard into the Talon mercs chest sending him flying back into a table.

"You're all clear Doc! Try to keep it quick though, the last thing we need is for the police to get involved."

He didn't hear a response but could here Mei and Angela rushing to check out the injured civilians as Adrian walked over to the groaning Talon agent laying in the remains of a wooden table. Lifting the man up by his collar, Adrian twisted the knife in his shoulder before slowly taking it out, making sure to drag the serrated blade across the man's skin.

To the man's credit he didn't scream, though he supposed that was the only thing he could laud the man for, involving innocents was sickening, but bombing a densely populated restaurant? Fucking pathetic. Adrian raised the knife to the man's throat.

The man cracked his eyes open, a pained grin spreading across his face, "I don't remember Overwatch being so into violence, maybe you'd fit better somewhere else? Or are you going to fit right into Overwatch's pathetic excuses of moral superiority."

Adrian grit his teeth as he stared the Talon merc in the eyes, what his mind told him to do was at odds with the feelings of his heart. Normally this wouldn't even warrant a second thought, but as he heard Ziegler caring over the civilians, he thought back to his first show of UNSC hospitality to the Talon prisoners in what felt so long ago. He hated the doubts that were planted in his mind, gripping the knife tighter in his hands he sighed as he sheathed the knife. This wasn't his world; he'd promised Angela all that time ago that he'd make an attempt to avoid senseless violence while he was under the protection of Overwatch. Throwing the Talon agent hard against the ground, Adrian felt disgust rise in him as he saw the man lying on the ground with an arrogant smirk. Raising his boot, Adrian knocked the man out under the gruesome step of his boot, a sickening crunch emanating from under his foot.

"I only promised I'd make an attempt." Adrian spit on the man's unconscious form.

Heading over to where Mei and Angela were looking over the injured civilians, he kneeled down by Ziegler as she turned to face him. "Oh my god, Adrian are you…are you alright?"

Looking down at himself he saw his clothes were stained with blood, "It's not mine." She frowned at the bluntness, disapproving of his excessive violence, a fact that he couldn't readily deny. He raised in hands in half-hearted defense, "Besides not all of them are dead, despite my gut telling me otherwise. How are the injured?"

Her glare softened at his admittance of restraint before she turned her head towards the patrons laying in the floor, "I haven't seen any critical injuries, most were broken bones or concussions. Without any supplies there's not much I can do for them, though I tried to mitigate the worst of the damage."

The sound of sirens pierced the relative silence, as the trio's eyes shot up towards the street. "I think it's best we make our leave." Mei spoke, "We should go through the back."

Adrian nodded as he stood up, surveying the carnage one last time as he turned to follow the others out.

"Over here!" Mei called them over, waving from a door marked Employees Only. They made their way through an abandoned kitchen, half cooked meals laid scatted across the floor. Continuing to make their way to the back exit, Adrian took point as they came across their exit. As he reached for the handle the door burst open, a red-eyed Talon agent stood in shock right in front of Adrian, both surprised to see each other with the former probably some form of backup in case it became worst came scenario. Adrian didn't have to do much as the man in front of him froze in the blink of an eye. Snowball shot passed him, some sort of liquid ice covering the merc in less than a second. Staring in stunned silence he could barely register when two more Talon agents ran to block the exit of the alley. Like the first bastard, these two were subsequently frozen before they could even raise their rifles.

He showed the Chinese woman an incredulous look as he witnessed her handiwork, wondering the ramifications of such technology and if one of those poor fucks fell over…would they shatter into dozens of tiny pieces?

"I've got a few tricks of my sleeve."

"So it seems." He could only dumbly get out as he snapped himself back to reality, "Now we need to focus on getting the hell out of here."

"Well I know where we can go, though I can't promise it'll be enjoyable." Angela spoke up as she nodded her head to the side, Adrian followed her directions to look at the steaming manhole cover in the far end of the alley.

"Well shit." Adrian grumbled.

"Quite literally yes." Ziegler dryly remarked.

Walking over to the cover, he dug his fingers into the side and lifted with all his might as Mei helped once he'd gotten some finger space to grab onto. With her helped he managed to slide it far enough for them to climb into to, though as he looked into the sewer tunnels the rancid, warm smell hit him at once. Mei went in first, followed by Angela, he stepped onto the ladder after her making sure to enjoy the last bit of clean air he'd have for the next while. As he climbed down into the dark, dank depths of the sewers the last thing he heard was the blare of sirens stopping right outside the ruined restaurant.

Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe

Winston sighed as he looked at the brief report, he'd been given by Angela upon her and Adrian's return, once again Talon had interrupted their plans though this time involving the civilian populace. It sickened him to see such violence, he believed in acts of force only as a last resort though when dealing with Talon he had to admit there hasn't been much in the way of discretionary use. Though he did it curious that out of everyone Mr. Kasporov was the one to have a possible lead on how they were being tracked, that's something he would have to follow up later with the man when he had some time. Scrolling through the rest of the file, he was surprised to see that they might have another lead at Mr. Kim. After the previous…failure, he told himself he wouldn't fall so easily for information but coming from Mei he choose to believe that this was genuine, especially if Talon was willing to kill to keep this information hidden. Speaking of which, he could only hope that Mei would stay safe in the last leg of her journey, according to Angela the group had split not long after escaping the city with Mei adamant in visiting the last set of deserted climate outposts. It would frankly be a blessing to have her on base, her intellect would be a great help as well as having another operative to bolster their growing ranks.

Continuing to scroll he gasped in surprise as he reached the end, seeing the wealth of data Mei had collected. She'd mentioned the anomalies previously, something that much like Angela and Adrian he assumed was the slipspace ruptures. Any information was useful, but he didn't have his hopes up, initially assuming that it wouldn't be much more than the bog standard results he'd been receiving here. Oh how wrong he was, the data was…overflowing with wealth of information that even that seems to be an understatement. In his lab he'd been too focused on the immediate results of the ruptures, live recordings of what was happening but of course the climate outposts would account for all the possible variations, environmental shifts, and different areas affected by the ruptures. He knew it was a fault of his, once something entered his mind he would focus on it to a point, while good for somethings also meant that he could lack the wider picture.

"Is everything alright Winston? Your heartbeat is usually high." Athena's voice broke the silence of the dark lab.

Winston smiled as he looked through the data, "It's not a miracle Athena, there's still a difficult path ahead of his, but by God we've got a chance now."

A/N: Apologies for the alter than usual upload but well with the servers being as unreliable as they are, I was hesitant to upload it any earlier especially considering the problems a number of you have had reading the previous chapter. While this is my main site, I do also have this story under the same author name posted on AO3 (Archive of Our Own), so should more problems prevent you from reading just know that you can also keep up to date on the story there as well. Well enough of that, to compensate for the late update this should be the longest chapter in the series by a decent bit, so I hope you all enjoy!

Wolfboy: I'm glad you enjoy it! I do try to keep a regular upload schedule of every week to every week and a half, hwoever that doesn't always work as as evident by this latest chapter. Anyway I hope you continue to read and enjoy it.