February 24, 1981

After the debriefing, Bell went outside to test the new tranq gun Sims had given him. Within the hour they would set off on their mission to East Berlin to, according to Adler, "kill or capture" Volkov. However listening into a short conversation between Adler and Park, it was clear there were mixed feelings on the matter. In his mind, if he had the opportunity to capture Volkov he would, but he would not hesitate to kill him either.

Seeing two wooden crates by the door, he stacked them on top one another to use as a target. Pulling a tranq out of his pocket he loaded it into the chamber and pulled the trigger. When he heard the click of the pistol he realized there was something jammed inside.

"Careful not to shoot yourself." Sims teased as he shut the door to the safehouse behind him.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not letting that happen again." Bell chuckled.

"Here." Sims signaled for Bell to hand him the weapon. "You forgot to take the cap off the dart." He said removing it and handing the gun back. "But you knew that." Sims laughed.

"Of course." Bell added a laugh, a sheepish look on his face.

Bell aimed and shot the dart into the wooden target.

"The aim could be a bit better." Bell said as the dart landed a little below the red logo of the crate.

"Yea, the darts aren't as heavy as normal ammo. Just make sure you aim a little higher than you normally would. Don't want the dart dropping at the target's feet."

"That'd just be embarrassing." Bell said.

"Well I just came out here to give you some extra ammo." Sims said, looking at the tranq gun. "Stay safe out there." Sims patted Bell on the back as he returned inside.

"Thanks." Bell replied with a friendly smile.

He took Sims advice and tried aiming a little higher on the target this time. This time he made sure to remove the cap of the darts as he placed them into a new mag. He went to shoot again, but it wouldn't budge.

"Jammed again?" Bell said to himself. He banged his hand against the weapon to try and fix it. However in the process of doing so his finger pressed the trigger by mistake sending a dart flying out.

About that time the door to the safehouse opened and the dart landed at Park's feet. She picked up the dart, examining it.

"Oops." Bell said.

"Is that your response to the enemy when the dart lands at their feet too?" She chuckled.

"Funny." Bell smiled. "This tranq gun keeps giving me problems, if it wasn't too late I'd ask Sims for an alternative but we only got..." Bell looked at his watch.

"30 minutes before we leave out for the subway. What's on your mind?" Bell asked, wondering why she came out here. He put the safety on the pistol and set on top of the crate.

"Just came to take a break from stuff."

Bell could tell she was frustrated. "Adler?" He assumed. She looked at him, confused. "I've got a bad habit of eavesdropping sometimes."

"He's so insistent that we kill Volkov that he won't even realize all the questions he could answer for MI6."

"I remember hearing a lot about him back in London. Capturing him would be a significant win for us" Bell said, referring to MI6.

"After we were both assigned to an escort long ago, I forgot how infuriating working him can be." She sighed.

"Yeah. I try to think that the sooner we find Perseus, the sooner we can all return to our countries."

"Even if Perseus surrendered himself right now, I don't think I could return home just yet."

"Really?" Bell asked in surprise.

"I've been hunting down a lead for years, about a personal matter. I had little luck with the files in MI6, so when they told me Adler wanted to recruit me to his team, I figured I could also do some digging in the U.S."

"We're foreign agents, I'd be surprised if the CIA even gave us the time of day." Bell admitted. While Lazar, Bell, and Park had been recruited to Adler's team, it gave them insight on some of the necessary files and other top secret intel they needed to gain leads on Perseus. That still didn't mean that they were entitled to knowing everything of course. The CIA couldn't risk leaking intel to forgein agents, even if some of them may have been allies. It was on a need to know basis, and they didn't need to know everything.

"This lead... what exactly happened, if you don't mind me asking." Bell became curious about the topic.

"It's the entire reason I even became involved with MI6. Back in '69 I was a student at Oxford. My brother worked long hours and that day he got off early from the airport. We rarely got to see each other with both of us having busy schedules, so we decided to meet for lunch. I waited at the table. It seemed like hours I waited, hoping he would show up. Then I hear a siren in the distance. I look across the street to see police and ambulances rushing down the street. That was when I knew something was wrong. I followed the cries of the siren down the block until I reached the scene of the murder. I saw his corpse lying in a puddle of blood on the side of the street. The police wouldn't let me anywhere near him, even after telling them I was family. Never once did I get to see his body, none of my family did. All we got were his ashes." He could have sworn he saw a tear shed.

"A few months later I landed a position in MI6 and worked my way up to an expert on international paramilitary organizations. It was difficult to get what small leads I could, whoever the guilty may be seems to know how to cover their tracks well. Even MI6 has come up empty on parts of the case. What I do know is that my brother along with three other people were shot, and killed. After digging through some files I found pictures of the other three bodies, all three were identified as Americans. I don't think that's a coincidence. CSI's branded it a terrorist attack, but I believe it to be a little more personal than that. I knew my brother well enough to know he was a secretive man, even more than our father. So it wouldn't surprise me to find out that it was his secrets that killed him. But now with Perseus on the loose, that will have to wait."

Bell took note of how she said all that with seemingly no emotion on her face.

"I'm sorry to hear that. If you would ever want help investigating this, I can pull a few strings in the CIA, I'v got some old friends who might help. Even if the CIA may not have been heavily involved with that, I'm sure they might be able to do something."

"That's generous, but I'd rather keep this matter disclosed to few people. Anyways, what about you? I'm keen to hear about how you got into MI6."

"Well I was born in the U.S, specifically Massachusetts. I didn't have any siblings growing up and we weren't close to any of my other family. My mother died during child labor, so that left me and my father. He wasn't kind either. I don't think he really even liked me, but I wasn't too fond of him either. We never got along, let's just say there were a lot of fist fights between us. Being that my father was involved in the military, he got stationed in London. So we moved there when I was 16. By the time I was old enough to make money I got a job and left, he never came looking for me. I had no family, no friends, nothing. Seeing there was nowhere else to go I enlisted in the army once I was old enough. As I progressed through the ranks, I eventually found myself fighting alongside Adler and Sims back in '68. After Vietnam, I was granted the option to work for either the CIA or MI6, since technically, I had citizenship in both countries. I chose MI6, and not long after Adler recruited me to his team."

"Odd. Your accent sounds so natural, I never would have taken you for American." Park observed.

"Yea, it's weird. I'm more associated with American culture, but I have a British accent."

It was silent for a moment. All you could hear was the sounds of the wind blowing leaves across the grass.

"Our stories are different, all of ours. But it's what we lost that brings us together and makes us a team." Bell said, breaking the silence.

"That's probably the wisest thing you have said, isn't it?"

"Yeah." They both laughed.

For a moment there was silence. And when their eyes found each others they shared a kiss. Bell smiled.

"Bell! We're about to leave, get in here." Adler called from inside.

"We should probably get back inside." Bell said with a smile.

"Agreed"

Daniel "Bell" Folten

CIA Safe House E9, West Berlin

March 15, 1981

"Duga. The radar array near Duga." Bell uttered as he looked at his reflection in Adler's glasses.

"Duga..." Adler said in realization. "Sims, get Washington on the line. Everyone gear up, we're leaving now." Adler removed Bell's restraints. Feeling began to flow back to his hands and feet. "You made the right choice, Bell. Come on, you're still one of us." He offered Bell a hand and pulled him up.

"Whatever, I was never one of you." That's what Bell wanted to say, but knew he couldn't. He had Adler on the hook, that's all that mattered. Perseus would do the reeling.

Sims was the first to approach Bell. "Sorry, but when it comes to the stake of the world-'' Bell cut him off.

"Yea I know." Bell said harshly as he walked off.

"I'm sorry I never did tell you before. You have no idea how many times I wanted to." Park said, walking up.

"Don't talk to me, please." He wanted to unleash all his anger right then and there, but there would be a time and a place for that very soon. They gave him his space as Sims went to go help her prep her gear. Adler was distracted with a phone call. This left Bell with the perfect opportunity to make his move. He walked over to the small gate by Lazar's old work space and opened it. He went over to a small radio lying on the desk and quietly adjusted it to the right frequency, one he remembered from his memories. Talking would be a dead giveaway to his planned ambush. Instead he used a code he remembered to speak with his new allies.

"Tell Perseus I'm bringing Russel Adler's team to Duga. I'll lewer one vehicle astray while you take care of the other. Have reinforcements follow a slow pace once we're 2.5 miles in, I'll send you the plate number."

"Affirmative." The man frequenced back.

"We won't let the President down." He heard Adler say over the phone.

Daniel "Bell" Folten

3.5 miles from Duga-2 Radar Array, Khabarovsk Krai, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

March 15, 1981

Bell rode in the passenger of the truck while Adler drove. Park sat in the backseat of the crewcab, while Mason and Woods took their truck to scout ahead.

Bell was silent the entire ride. He was content with the decision he made. He was never "part of the team", he was their tool. Volkov was right about one thing, he really was just damaged goods, tossed around for others to use at their disposal until they decide they don't need him anymore. Even if he had sided with Adler, he knew a secretive man like him wouldn't hesitate to take him out. He knew too much. He practically knew Adler better than Adler knew himself. Sharing memories with him only prepared him more for the idea that he would most likely turn on him and kill him. But while he didn't like the fact he was running back to Perseus, he didn't really have anywhere else to go. A life on the rub isn't much of a life. However he was sure word had reached Perseus that one of his best agents had been shot and killed, left for dead. He didn't even come looking for Bell. But in Bell's mind at least he didn't strip him of his identity and everything he ever found joy in. After dealing with Adler, he would find out what to do about Perseus next.

"How far out are we?" Bell finally spoke up.

"2 miles, why?" Adler asked, a bit suspicious.

"I'm just ready to kill Perseus and get this over with."

"Ah." Adler said.

Bell looked in the side view mirror and saw his reinforcements in vans, buried deep within the trees. As they passed, Bell put his arm out of the truck's window to signal that he was about to execute his part of the plan.

Bell swiftly hit Adler with the stock of his LC10. He put his hands on the steering wheel, trying to steer them off road, but in the process Adler jerked the wheel back to right causing the truck to flip and it began to roll.

The truck landed upside down, fire erupting from it. When he woke up and could taste the salty blood in his mouth. He undid his seat belt and crawled outside the window. As soon as he made it to his feet, he heard the cocking of a pistol from behind his head.

"I should have figured you'd try to pull something like this." Adler said. Bell turned with a bloody smile. He knocked the pistol out of his hands and tackled Adler to the ground. Landing punch after punch he saw Adler's nose began to drip blood. He would have killed him if Park wouldn't have hit him across the temple with her pistol. Disoriented, he stood up, temporarily forgetting Adler. He weakly swung but missed as Adler came up from behind him and restrained his arms. Bell heard a loud pop as his shoulder dislocated. He screamed in pain. Adler kicked his knees out from under him. His head drooped in exhaustion as he fell to his knees.

"Do it Park!" Adler demanded.

He saw her hesitate as she pointed the pistol at him. "You won't kill me." Bell managed to say. "Adler you put your trust in the wrong agent." He said, referring to Park "Do it, Do it now!" Bell screamed, trying to toy with his former friend. Was he witnessing her trembling?

"Pathetic." Bell said in disgust.

Seconds later something was thrown in the middle of their small triangle.

"Popping smoke!" A russian soldier said.

"Perfect." Bell said with a sinister smile.

Author's note: Im heavily considering doing a prequel to Bell's story. Theres a lot of backstory that I want to cover but won't be able to in the next few chapters. This would be long before he met Adler and the team. Thoughts?