Fitz stood in the middle of the shutterdome with his gray, great dane Zeus, waiting for his father's helicopter to land.
The shutterdome was a massive underground building that served as a base of operation for the Delta fighting unit, the dome-shaped ceiling rose about 950 feet with a mechanized vault, giving it the ability to open and close for aircrafts to land.
He looked around at arsenal of all the best and fastest military planes, cars, submarines and weapons at his disposal, he had 300 of the best fighting men and women on the planet, along with pilots, engineers, mechanics and technologists. He had a small but highly effective army all at his command.
The wind from the helicopter blades blew through his curls as he waited for his father to descend the aircraft. He hadn't the slightest clue why he suddenly decided to drop by the base but he wanted to get it over with quickly and send him on his way.
He waited until Gerry opened the doors of the helicopter and walked down the steps. To Fitz's surprised, he was followed by a woman.
Scott, his younger half-brother saw Gerry descend and abandoned his training and ran over to Fitz who was a few feet away.
"Looks like Gerry's got a new girlfriend? They are getting younger and younger, I think this one's a new record. Hmm...she's pretty though but I didn't know dad had an appetite for chocolate," he joked.
"Shut up Scotty," Fitz said casually.
"Hey, don't be mad at me."
Fitz, Scott and Zeus walked up to meet Gerry and the new mysterious woman that accompanied him. As they got closer, he took a look at her, she was young, beautiful, small in stature and had long brown curly hair flowing down her back. She was very well dressed, wearing a fitted white skirt with a matching long white blazer and high, pointy nude heels. She looked to him, like the very well taken care of wife or girlfriend of a very rich man, in this case, that man was most likely his father. Her walk was fierce, somehow subtle and confident at the same time, she seemed very polished not the typical trashy gold digger type his father liked, all that aside, she was still sexy without revealing much skin. She couldn't have been older than 25 maybe 26 years old but she looked younger which disgusted him because Gerry was 65.
He stopped right in front of them both, he looked Olivia up and down scornfully before turning his attention to Gerry. Zeus walked over to Olivia and started sniffing her feet and Fitz pulled him back before Olivia got the chance to pet him.
"Sorry, he sees a pretty woman and he gets all wound up," Scott said in an attempt to break the ice.
Gerry could see that Fitz was annoyed and decided to begin before Fitz could say anything.
"Hey my boys."
"Gerry," Scott replied.
Scott was more friendly and easy going than his older brother Fitz; who just stood glaring at Gerry.
"Who is this?" Fitz asked Gerry.
"This is Olivia-"
"-Do I need to remind you that this is a private military base. Just because you're fucking someone, that doesn't mean they have clearance to come into my base. Get her out of here now!"
"Fitz, she's right there-" Scott's said, "I'm sorry, my brother's rude, I'm Scott," he said apologetically to Olivia who still hadn't reacted to Fitz's rudeness.
Gerry turned to Fitz.
"Fitzgerald, that was very disrespectful. She isn't some girl I'm with."
"Then who is she? She's not NATO or U.S. Government, I would've known she was coming."
"That's what I needed to talk to you about. She's gonna be joining your unit."
"Really?" Scott asked surprised.
"No, she's not," Fitz replied evenly.
"Fitz, this isn't negotiable."
"You're right, this isn't. I don't have time for this Gerry, just -get her out of here- come on Zeus, let's go."
Fitz turned and walked away dismissively with Zeus, Gerry followed behind him.
"Fitz, this- you have to add her to your unit. I need you to do this for me."
Fitz turned and faced Gerry.
"Who is she?"
"Her name is Olivia, she fresh out of law school or something-"
"So she's a civilian? Yeah - see that right there is why she's not going to be apart of my unit, I have the world's best fighters here, all of whom paid their dues in their respective military branch before they made it to the big time. I'm not adding civilian to my unit because you're asking nicely. She can join the Navy and come back in 5 years."
Fitz turned and began walking again.
"Fitz-" Gerry called as he tried to catch him up.
"I have a signed order from the president, he's ordering you to add her to your roster."
Fitz stopped in his track.
"What?" He choked out a cackle.
"Yeah, it should have been faxed to you a few minutes ago."
"What the fuck is going on?"
"Fitz, do this for me, she's a sniper and I know you just lost your sniper, you can use her."
"I'm not taking her."
"Okay, please, her father has serious dirt on me and if I don't do this then he's going to expose me, my reelection is coming up, I need you to do this for us, for our family name, I'm leaving you and Scotty a legacy and I can't do that if this man destroys it."
"And what does he have on the president?"
"I don't know what he has on the president but he got him to agree to it so you don't really have a choice."
Fitz sighed.
"So, she's blackmailing her way in here?"
"Not her, her father, she's might be a nice girl, I don't know."
"This unit is classified above top secret, how does he know about this unit much less the fact that your son runs it?"
"I don't know - he's some sort of spymaster for the government."
"What exactly does he have on you?"
"I'd be in jail if he talks. Subpoenas, investigations, indictments, is that what you really want?"
Fitz shook his head and shrugged.
"I keep telling you to stop doing all this illegal shit Gerry, it's going to catch up to you. It did catch up to you."
"I know, I know, so what do you say?"
"What deal did you make?" Fitz asked suspiciously.
"She has to be front and center, Delta team 1."
"No, I'm not putting her on 1."
"That was the deal Fitz, she goes with the first team, the best team, your team and also make sure she doesn't get harmed."
"You're asking me to put my fighters at risk because you were dumb enough to let some dick blackmail you. I'm not putting her on my unit, you're lucky I don't kick her off my base right now, matter of fact, I should, I'm not doing it, fuck you and fuck the president."
Fitz turned to walk off put Gerry ran in front of him to stop him.
"Fitz, be reasonable. Just keep her here for now.
"I don't have time babysit her, I'm a little busy, in case- you know- that hasn't occurred to you."
Gerry sighed in frustration. Both his sons had their issues; Scott was spoiled, reckless, entitled and immature. He was never a good student and he was also a jail magnet during his teens. He'd been arrested several times for public intoxication, DUI, and aggravated assault. When Fitz realized that his bad behavior was getting out of control he took him under his wing and made him enlist in the army and he's been under control ever since.
Fitz, on the other hand, was smart, meticulous and excelled at everything he did but his mother's death and along with years in the military made him ruthless, unfeeling, short-tempered and stubborn to a fault. The only things his sons had in common was their looks, charm and disdain for him. Fitz hated him because of how he treated his mother when she was alive and for how he treated him. Scott hated him because he felt ignored by him during his childhood. They had no respect for him and he knew it but Fitz was the only one who could throw him a lifeline so he was going to do everything possible to get him to take Olivia.
"Just keep her here, take her on a couple missions and make it so terrible for her that she'll want to leave; ice her out, hurt her feelings, make her cry and she'll go running back to daddy and our problem will be solved."
Fitz sighed.
"What is this: high school?"
"That's how you get rid of her and we'll be in the clear, as long as it's her decision to leave then we're good."
"Doesn't this all sound fishy to you, the spy who wants his daughter in a top secret unit? For what?"
"She's not dumb enough to try anything, if her father is a good spy then he knows your reputation and he knows you don't play and she seems like a nice girl, are you afraid of a girl?"
Fitz sighed, it was such a juvenile jab, it didn't matter to him.
"Fine."
"Thanks for saving my ass son, I owe you."
"Stop talking-" Fitz said in a sudden burst of anger and then he walked off.
Scott stared at Olivia briefly before beginning; she really was beautiful and he wanted to make a good impression before any of the other guys got a chance.
"I'm sorry about my brother, he's not so bad once you get to know him."
He stretched his hand for a shake.
"I'm Scott, I know I said that already,"
"I'm Olivia," she said as she shook his hand.
Scott picked up her English accent.
"Olivia, are you British?"
"No, but I grew up there,"
"So you've never been in the military?"
"No,"
"Wow, so what did you do before this?"
Olivia didn't hear the question, she couldn't focus with everyone gawking at her. She looked around at the huge hangar, filled with hundred of planes and other military vehicles. She'd never seen anything like it before. She realized she was ignoring Scott and turned her attention back to him.
"I'm sorry, what is this place? I don't exactly know where I am?"
"This is the base of operation for the Delta unit. This base is in the Sudranian cold desert located in Antarctica."
"Your brother is?"
"An asshole but also he is the commander here," he answered.
He thought she would have laughed at his jab at Fitz but she didn't which slightly disappointed him.
"What is the Delta unit?" she asked.
"We are a covert unit of the best fighters in the world-"
Before Scott could finish his sentence Fitz was a couple feet away and stopped right in front of Olivia, closer than he was the first time. She looked directly at him for the first time since she landed. He had been so rude to her earlier that she didn't care to acknowledge that he was even speaking but now that he was so close to her, she had to take him in.
His eyes were blue and hard, there was no softness behind them, at least not for her. He was very tall and the kind of handsome that you couldn't ignore or forget but everything about him seemed defensive and guarded. He wore a black long sleeve fitted shirt that revealed every cut and corner of his hard muscles, paired with black camo pants that had a gun holster attached to his right leg and he had two knives secreted in his belt, as she looked closer she realized that they weren't just knives, they were daggers. Everything about him screamed warrior; a fierce, merciless, unforgiving fighter. His brother Scott was the opposite, he was almost as tall as Fitz but he didn't seem nearly as intimidating, Scott stood maybe at 6 feet, Fitz was maybe 6'3 but his posture made him seem taller, she couldn't tell the exact number but they were tall. He had blonde hair while Fitz had brown hair but his eyes weren't blue like Fitz's, they were green. Scott was more open and friendly. He too was dressed in a black fitted shirt and camo pants but he didn't seem as ready for a fight as Fitz was, he also was considerable skinnier.
She zapped back to the present when she heard Fitz clear his throat quite loudly. Gerry walked up beside Fitz and Zeus a second later.
"You need to pass the 90th percentile in the marksmanship test, which should be easy if you're a sniper."
Olivia nodded.
"Good," he said flatly.
"Alright, I'm gonna leave you guys to it," Gerry said as he headed to his helicopter.
Fitz turned and began walking, Zeus, Scott and Olivia followed.
"If you can pass the marksmanship test, then you can begin training, after you pledge your allegiance to us."
He turned and faced her.
"Is that a problem?"
She stared him directly in the eye. Fitz was a little taken aback by her eyes. They were so pretty, so sad, so confident, defiant, big, brown and doe.
"No, it won't," she said in her light english accent.
"You are english?"
"I'm American." She said with an eye roll
"But?"
"But I lived in Europe from an child until I was 20."
Fitz didn't reply he just turned and around and kept walking. He headed straight to the group of about 25 men and women who all stopped training and talking when Fitz and Olivia began walking in their direction. Fitz walked up to the group and stopped.
"Akio, can I get a Chey-tac intervention simulation riffle, let's see if she can shoot," Fitz said.
Akio was a one of the best fighters in his unit, he was a japanese born ninja and been serving in the unit for 16 years.
"Scotty, set up the target practice simulation,"
He turned to face Olivia.
"There are 50 targets, the objective is to kill them all, the record is 50 hits and 50 kills. Do you think you can get that?" he asked.
"I know I can," she replied.
Fitz smirked and turned around.
"Akio," he called.
Akio walked over and gave her the rifle.
"Are you ready Olivia?" Scott asked.
She dropped her bag, took the gun and positioned herself and nodded. Fitz stepped back to watch.
He launched the simulation.
"Go!" Scott yelled.
Olivia watched carefully as each target popped up as quickly as it disappeared. She shot quickly and precisely, each and every target and at the end of 25 second challenge, she had 50 targets and 50 kills.
The small group of men and women applauded with a few exceptions, one of whom was a tall brunette that had been glaring at her the minute she stepped off the helicopter.
"Alright, alright," Fitz said claiming everyone down. He was impressed but he wasn't about let her know that.
He turned and face Olivia.
"You'll need to be able to do alot more than shot a target if you want a spot on our team.."
"So she's in?" Scott asked.
"She's tentative."
Fitz turned and faced his group of fighters.
"Introduce yourselves, alpha team 1 first," Fitz said loudly.
Scotty was the first to step forward.
"I'm Scott also known as Striker Eureka, I'm a hand to hand combat and weapons specialist and I'm way cooler than my brother."
The group chuckled then another man stepped up; he was tall and handsome but not as handsome as the Grant brothers.
"I'm Jake also known as Romeo Blue, I'm 32, hand to hand and weapons combat specialist."
"Why do you guys have two names?" Olivia asked.
"We go by the second name when we are on missions," Jake replied with a smirk.
Olivia nodded and then another man stepped forward.
"I'm Akio aka Ronin, I'm train in ninjutsu, so that's hand to hand, marksman and swordsman ."
"People still fight with swords?"
"You'd be surprised," Scott interjected.
A woman with red hair stepped forward.
"I'm Abby aka Crimson Typhoon, which they call me because I have red hair and they say I'm crazy like a typhoon and also it's the name of a Yeager, hand to hand and weapons specialist."
The tall brunette who had been staring Olivia down stepped forward.
"I'm Mellie, Gypsy danger, hand to hand, weapons."
Another man stepped forward, he was at least 6'8 and he had platinum blonde hair, he was huge and intimidating just like Fitz.
"Anton aka Cherno Alpha, engineer and hand to hand and weapons."
"I'm Harrison aka Slattern, communication, hand to hand and weapons."
"I'm Huck aka Diablo Intercept, hand to hand, weapons and technological specialist."
Those seemed to be the main team, everyone else just took turns calling out their names.
"Darius aka Anarchy."
"Joshua aka Scunner."
"Baron aka Reckoner."
"Duke aka Hardship."
"Marvin aka Dementor."
"Leroy aka Onslaught."
"Jasmine aka Barricade."
"Jade aka Cacophony."
"Raymond aka Frenzy."
"Hallie aka Catastrophe."
"Georgia aka Alchemy."
"Tyrell aka Dreadend."
"Tyreke aka Deadend."
"Tyson aka Dreadman."
"Andy aka Red Snapper."
"Lizzie aka Ultraviolence."
"Patty aka Circumstance."
Jake walked up to Olivia.
"Welcome to the Delta fighting squad," he said with a sly smile.
"Abby?" Fitz called.
Abby ran up to Fitz.
"Commander?"
"Give her a room, and then bring her to my office."
"Gotcha,"
Abby walked over to Olivia.
"Hi, like I said earlier, I'm Abby, I can show you around if you'd like?"
"Yes, I'd like that very much, thank you."
Abby smiled and took the rifle from Olivia and handed it to Akio.
"Follow me Olivia, I'll show you to your room."
Olivia followed Abby, leaving the rest of the team behind as they walked to the living quarters.
"Do you all come up with those names by yourselves?" Olivia asked as they walked.
Abby chuckled.
"No, our commander comes up with them, they aren't special or anything, he picks them from like comic books or cartoons or he just makes them up based on personality traits or talents, you'll get one when you've officially joined us,"
"Does he have a weird name too, I mean the commander or is his name just commander?"
Abby chuckled again.
"We call him commander, he is a general so rightfully we should call him General Grant but he doesn't care if we call him that or Fitz or Jugular. He's pretty laid back."
"Jugular?"
"That was what the old commander called him before he was commander. He likes fighting with daggers and knives and if he's trying to kill you then his go to spot is the jugular vein, one stab and you're a goner, so they called him jugular."
"Seriously? That's horrible."
Abby smiled.
"Yes but he's the best fighter here, never lost a fight or failed a mission, that's why he's the commander, the youngest ever, 32 years old. We're all killers here, the worst ones you'll find in the world but we are on the side of justice, we aren't monsters or maybe we are but we're the right kind of monsters, if you become our sniper, you will be a killer too, it's just apart of the job."
Olivia was becoming anxious and decided to change the subject.
"How does this work? Do you live here all year round?" Olivia said.
"Yes but you are free to leave whenever you want to take care of business on the outside as long as we don't have an immediate mission. Our planes are very fast, most of them so faster than the speed of sound, most going 2 or three times that, so we can move across continents pretty quickly. He's pretty lenient that way, he understands that we have lives and he lets us live it."
Abby stopped in front of a room door and walked up the small steps and opened the door, Olivia followed her into the room.
"This is your room."
Olivia took a look around and she was impressed. She expected a bunk bed and a chess but instead there was a queen bed, a flat screen tv, a mini fridge and a computer, it looked like a hotel suite.
"Wow."
"We are very well funded."
Abby gave her time to look around the room and when she was finished she dropped her off to Fitz's office. They stood outside the door and Abby knocked a couple times.
"Abby, it's open,"
She turned the knob and opened the door.
"I just came to drop her off,"
Fitz looked up from the papers he was reading.
"Thank you Abby- one more thing, can you get her some clothes, something far more practical than she is wearing right now."
Olivia rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"Yes sir," Abby nodded and closed the door on her way out.
Olivia stood in the middle of the room while Fitz kept his eyes on the files he was reading.
"Have a seat," he said without looking up.
She walked over and sat on the chair directly in front of his desk and crossed her legs. He kept reading for a while, it was quiet and awkward. Olivia felt absolutely uncomfortable and she was sure he was doing it on purpose. She leaned forward towards his desk.
"Lean back, I like my personal space."
She smiled and leaned back.
He read for a few minutes longer then stared directly at her.
"Olivia Carolyn Pope, born December 25th, 1985. You were born in Brooklyn, New york, you migrated to England with your mother Maya Pope when you were 1 years old. Your mother died when you were 9 and then you went to live with your father. You attended 4 different boarding school across Europe until you attended Oxford College then moved to the Connecticut to attend Yale."
Fitz paused and flipped through a few pages on the packet he was reading.
"Your father, Eli Pope apparently runs the Smithsonian- a big what the fuck to that because it's obviously not true."
He read down a few more lines.
"You have no family, immediate or distant. No close friends - not as far as we can tell but we're still looking."
He dropped the papers on his desk.
"So you blackmailed your way in here-"
"I did not-"
"You or your father, I don't care, either way you are here because of blackmail and that's not gonna fucking cut it."
"I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here. I was supposed to start my first job out of college today but instead I was brought here."
She watched as his facial expression turned from frustrated to annoyed to angry.
"If you didn't want to be here then why did you come?"
"I came here because I didn't have a choice."
"Really, explain that?" he said sarcastically.
"My father told me I had to come here, he said I should be of service to my country, that is all. I'm not a military person, I don't want to be, I don't even believe in violence okay, I'm just doing as I was told."
"You don't believe in violence but you want to be apart of a fighting unit. Do you see the conundrum?
He was quiet for a while, he seemed to be thinking to himself. She was about to say something when he handed her a stack of papers.
"This is a covert operation, so don't breathe a word to anyone about anything that happens in this base. I expect you to pledge allegiance to us, if your loyalties lie somewhere else, we will know. I will take you to the medbay for a thorough medical evaluation and security vetting. I'm gonna run your prints and if you aren't who you say you are, if you do anything to purposely endanger any of my men or women or I find out you are actively working against us, I will not hesitate to kill you, I'm not joking. I don't care who your father is."
He paused and stood up.
"Read and sign these."
He made a condescending gesture and continued.
"Until your background check is cleared, you'll be confined to your room."
"Okay."
"I know your not accustomed to military courtesy so let me familiarize you. I'm your commander and that's how you will address me. Is that understood?"
Olivia debated whether or not she wanted to have a showdown with him so soon, Abby already told her he didn't care what anyone called him so she knew he was just being difficult with her. She liked picking her battles, it wasn't worth getting worked up over because that was what he wanted so she decided to let it go.
"Yes, commander."
"Good, you can learn."
Fitz picked up a brand new file of papers and began reading. His condescending behavior was getting on her nerves but she continued reading through the paperwork and signed and completed all the forms.
"I'm finished."
"Akio, is waiting just outside the door to take you to the medbay, I'll join you two shortly."
"Can I go now, commander," she said with sarcasm dripping off her tongue.
He looked up at her.
"You can go."
She stood up and took her paperwork then turned and walk out. Fitz watched her strut out of his office and slammed the door as a final 'fuck you' to him and he couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright Olivia, game on."