Location: "The Rook", Burgas Province, Bulgaria
Date: December 25, 1991
Troy Marshall looked out to the blue waters that he had seen more than a dozen times, journal in hand the African American man jotted down his thoughts…a lot had happened over the course of the year and it had begun to wear down on him. From getting the initial peek behind the curtain about Pantheon's wearabouts, the Cradle…and of Jane's betrayal.
Marshall moved his pair of glasses up from the bridge of his nose to wipe his hand across his face and let out a small sigh.
"Long day lookin at nothin, huh kid?" a gruff voice called from behind as an older man moved towards him by wheelchair. In Frank Woods' lap were two freshly opened bottles of beer. Marshall gave him a small grin and grabbed one of the beers, gently clinking it with Woods' before taking a swig.
"Think its one of the few times I can get some calm in the storm we've been dealing with, Frank." he answered and closed his journal. "Livingstone's given us some good folks to rely on; Alvarez, Nazir, Payne-hell I'm still surprised he managed to talk Westpoint in on this."
"And?"
"-And it still feels like it won't be enough against Crimson and the rest of Pantheon. Whoever their commander is, has got us in a tight squeeze." Marshall went quiet for a bit as he took another sip of his beer and looked out to the sea; "Times like these, I woulda talked to Jane, have her try to…guide me to the right way."
Woods went quiet as he listened to the young man speak, taking occasional swigs of his own beer. It was not secret to anyone that Harrow was someone Marshall had been more than close with and to have someone close to you taken away…Frank winced a bit knowing the betrayal first hand.
'Your life will be consumed by absolute loss..' a voice echoed in the back of his mind…fucking Panama.
"Look, kid." Frank finally spoke up, adjusting his wheelchair for a moment to turn and face the man. "You have the whole world on your shoulders right now. Trust me, I know what you're feeling right now. I could count the amount of times I've been there. Harrow was used–deep down she found out she had been a puppet for Pantheon."
That was a lie…or maybe partially one, the drug Adler had used on her was something insane to say the least. Maybe during the interrogation he was able to breach through even for a moment…of course it was hard to fully believe that when the woman stabbed him moments afterwards. Regardless, it was something Marshall needed to hear at the moment.
"You can't put all this on yourself, Troy. You do that, the rest of us will go down with you…it's the holidays, we should try and make the most of it; even for a moment."
Marshall remained quiet for a long period of time, slowly nodding his head in agreement and finished his beer. He turned around to face Woods and gave him a weak smile. "You're right…thanks Old Man."
"Ah don't start with that shit, man." Woods let out a dry chuckle and moved his wheelchair towards the safehouse. Taking a moment to look at it with a content sigh. "Still surprised this old place is up after Pantheon came after us…"
"You're telling me–Livingstone's worked his ass off to make sure this place is considered compromised so no more come swooping in." Marshall said as he walked the same pace as Woods back inside, the warmth of the fireplace hitting the pair as they entered. "Shame I can't spend time back home, Terry thinks I'm still working."
"Hah, used the same excuse with David…" Frank let out a bittersweet laugh at that and clicked his tongue. "kid's spending it with Hudson's family while I'm here."
"Just a few more touches now…" A blonde man muttered to himself as he loomed over a desk and worked on an electronic. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the resident tech genius, Felix Neumann used a pair of tweezers to reattach a set of wires to the computer chip.
He had to make sure his hand movements were precise, for one wrong move and he could damage the ever sensitive wires. After what felt like an eternity, Felix leaned back in pride and set aside the tweezer to admire his work. All the parts were put back together and only needed to close it back up. Felix smiled to himself as he removed his pair of blue latex gloves. "You have done it once again, Felix…" he said to himself.
"I know that could never mean anything good." a feminine voice called to the German, making him jump a bit in his seat. Turning around he saw a woman leaned against his door, wearing jeans, a plaid dirty blue button up with a white tank top underneath and a side cut hairstyle with fading pink hair. Sevanti had a sly smirk on her face seeing Felix's reaction and him quickly stammering up from his seat.
"Sevanti–I did not think you would have been here. What with you leading our allies in Avalon." Felx said, moving the item he was working on, to be behind him. Sev noted the action the German had done, a natural action for her from her past, acting nonchalant the whole time. "I like what you did with your hair–reminds me of the people I had met in West Germany in their underground punk phase."
"Is that an insult or a compliment, Neumann?" Sevanti raised an eyebrow and walked to close the distance between the two of them. Felix went quiet for a moment as he pondered it himself, opening his mouth to try and think of a response.
"I say…a compliment with a hint of insult near the end." Felix joked, earning a playful punch in the arm by the short woman.
"Asshole." she laughed while crossing her arms, she tried to look over to the man's desk. "So what are you trying to hide anyway? Don't think I did not get a glimpse of you trying to be sneaky."
Felix smiled and let out a small scoff and raised his hands up. "Nothing gets past you now, Miss Dumas. If you must know, it was going to be a surprise."
"Never was one for surprises…" Sev remarked sarcastically with a smug smirk on her face. She motioned him to show the item in question. Felix turned around and grabbed the item before showing it to her. In his hands was a grey cassette player in hand. Sevanti looked at it for a moment and was taken back. "Is that…my tape recorder?
"You would be correct, this is the very same one that I had ripped apart for its parts earlier this year." Felix said and handed it over to her with a smile. "Now it is not the same–I have taken some liberties to adjust it to have a longer battery life as I had done with Case's old camera. Attempting to improve the speakers was a bit of a challenge, but some German engineering magic helped."
Sevanti stayed silent as the former Stasi continued to ramble on for some techno-jargon she had no idea what it meant half of the time. Her eyes were glued to the tape recorder–she had expected it to be gone forever. One of the last gifts from the person she loved, feeling the side of the recorder, she felt the small bumps remain. Binary that was etched in saying one simple word:
'Pascal'
Sevanti took a sharp inhale, keeping her emotions back, something Felix noted, turning his head to the side confused. "Is…everything alright, Sevanti?"
"Y-yes, Felix…" she nodded her head, her lips curled to form a smile. "It's perfect. I…"
"Ah-ah-ah. No need for thank you's or any of that, Miss Dumas." The German was quick to say. "Consider it a Christmas gift. And…an apology for taking it for parts."
"(You idiot.)" Sevanti muttered in her native tongue in a playful manner. Wiping the water from her eyes to compose herself. "Now, I owe you a gift in return."
"Oh? Well you don't have to–it really does not need to be reciprocated." Felix tried to wave it off.
"Well if you say so…I was only going to offer you dinner at one of the best places I know. Where they have the most exquisite cuisine that Avalon has to offer." Sevanti shrugged her shoulders and over exaggerated her disappointment. "But, I suppose the great Felix Nuemann has other matters to attend to."
"Hmmm…" Felix said out loud and put a hand on his chin to gently rub, like he was in deep thought. "I was going to spend time decoding some messages for Marshall, but I suppose I can set that aside for today."
"Then it's settled." Sevanti smiled, a genuine one. "I'll see you later, Felix."
"Ja…oh, and Sevanti." the German spoke up, stopping the Moroccan woman in her tracks. "I would watch where you are, I believe there may be mistletoe hanging around."
"Shut up, Neumann." She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Focus less on childish traditions like that and more on getting ready."
Later that day…
"Watch your step, Felix did a number on this bridge when Pantheon decided to come in." a blonde man wearing a pair of aviators told a woman as they crossed a makeshift bridge made from some pieces of wood over the ruined remains of the brick one. In his hands were a few items, mostly paper bags, along with a lit cigarette in his mouth. The woman meanwhile shook her head and scoffed.
"Y'know Adler, when I asked for some time off, travelling to Bulgaria was not what I had in mind." The woman spoke up with an English accent clear in her voice, she let out a small huff as she finished crossing the temporary bridge. "At least install some rails or something in the future."
"I'll note it down in the list of other things we have to do, Park." Adler said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, as let out a puff of smoke. "Don't know how much longer we'll be using the place in case Crimson tries sneaking around here again."
"Perseus to Pantheon, it's all happening so fast…think this has to do with the broadcast."
"I wouldn't doubt it all too much–one last fuck you from Stitch." Adler spat his cigarette out of his mouth and stomped it. The man winced a bit, recollecting the final moments, how everything he had done in the last two decades to hunt the rogue spy was for nothing; that he had died prior to cancer. A piece of him died that day along with the mad man that was Vikhor Kuzmin. But almost as quick as the hole left by Perseus had arrived, everything in Panama happened. Felt like a never ending cycle for him, one that Adler was more than ready to take if it meant the lives of innocents were saved while his own name was tarnished…but another part of him wished he could hang it up one day and retire.
Even a devil like him needed some rest.
'I should call her, see how the kid's doing…' Adler's train of thought was cut when he and Park reached the entrance to the front door to the Rook. By the front were Marshall and Woods. Park smiled and moved forward to greet the two, while Adler lingered behind in his own thoughts.
"Frank–its been too long." Helen greeted the seasoned man, setting her items down for a moment to shake his hand. There was a tinge of regret in her face in regards to his current condition.
"Park. Shit, I could stay the same. Staying outta trouble?" the man returned the handshake and smiled, he motioned over to the other man. "You remember Marshall right?"
"Yes. We worked together in Iraq for all that with the Cradle. Honestly from what Adler's described it…"
"It was not something to play around with." Marshall interjected, crossing his arms. "Good thing Pantheon's lost their only way to make more."
"Quite right. My condolences for Case." Park said, placing a hand over her heart.
"Thank you. He's in a better place now." Marshall muttered, looking away for a moment.
"Let's get inside, it's starting to get cold." Adler spoke up, giving a silent greeting to Woods before walking in through the door.
"Guy comes in like he owns the joint." Frank dryly joked, turning his chair around before wheeling himself in. The dining room table had been adorned nicely, plates and other cutlery were set up around for the group and a small tree with a few lights was set up near the door outside to the view of the Black Sea. The far end of the table had a few photo frames. One was dated back in 1981 with a picture of the group at the old safehouse in West Berlin, with Woods, Adler, Park, Alex, Lazar and Sims in the forefront and Hudson in the back trying not to be in the picture.
Woods made his way towards the picture from 81 and examined it, a small scoff escaped him. "Fuck me…I have't change a bit in the last decade. Still a handsome bastard."
"Wish I could say the same for Adler." Park jested, taking a look at the photo as well, she grabbed it to take a look. Scanning around, she let out a weak sigh when seeing the Azoulay. A decade now since the man she had fallen head over heels for had sacrificed himself so that she and Bell would have made it out alive in Cuba. Helen placed her right finger tips up to her mouth to kiss them and placed them over him. "Merry Christmas, Lazar…" she said under her breath before setting down the photo. Woods gave the English woman a solemn nod, knowing the pain in her eyes well as he gave her a pat on the back.
"I'm certain they're both lookin down at us proud, Helen." Franks said, poppin up a beer and setting it down on the side of the photo where Mason was. A gentle clink of his own and Woods down some of his own beer. "Semper Fi, Alex."
"I can say the same for William…" Marshall said, putting down a more recent photo of him, Jane and Case back in Kuwait before everything had begun with Pantheon. Case as always wearing his comfort bandana wrapped around his face. The African-American patted the photo frame and looked over at the two others. "C'mon. Foods gonna get cold."