CIA SAFEHOUSE E9, "DIE LANDEBAHN"
(Y/F/N) "Bell" (Y/L/N), (MI16, CIA, ETC.)
52.5200 N, 13.4050 E, West Berlin
March 2, 1981

♤♤♤♤ Bell's/(Y/N)'s POV. ♤♤♤♤
A finger tapped my shoulder lightly. "Bell?" I sat up, looking around and rubbing my eyes. Only to come face to face with a cup of coffee. "I figured perhaps you'd want your first caffeine intake for today?" I smiled. "Thank you, Mason." My heart sunk. Mason. All of my thoughts rushed back from yesterday and I felt super guilty. Although I do feel like I helped Adler, I can't help but feel bad about it. And I definitely cannot tell anyone. Not even Mason. I grabbed the cup from his hands and took a sip before getting up and out of bed. I stretched and Mason put his hands on my waist. "You even look good straight from 7 hours of sleep." I giggled, putting my coffee down next to Mason's on my night stand.

My arms found their way around his neck. "Maybe some time you should lay next to me so that you can wake up to me if I'm so fine." He smiled and pulled me closer to him. "Man, Bell. You're something else. Very bold, might I add." I looked into his eyes and wrapped my arms tighter around him. We were almost touching nose to nose. "What can I say? I'm known for taking what I think I deserve." My smile never left my face. You know, I didn't feel so bad anymore. This was good. It felt good. "We shouldn't.." I whispered, looking into his eyes. "Oh, but we should. At least this is okay. As long as Hudson and Adler don't find out too fast. At least, not until this Perseus stuff is over with." Mason pushed my hair back behind my ear. We both slowly leaned in until our lips were touching. It was super passionate. It's almost like I had been dying for this. Maybe Mason is the one.

We seem to be so in sync. Our lips parted, gasping for air. It was more like a kiss than any kind of make out. He trailed kisses down my neck. Thank god I keep applying some heavy duty ass makeup or else I'd be dead. Adler's apparently got a strong grip cause those are some hefty hickeys. "I'd love to take this to the next level, Bell. But we've got a briefing to get to. We can eat breakfast together and you can sit with Woods and I." He pulled apart from me and grabbed his coffee. Smiling at me and offering me his hand. I grabbed my coffee with one hand and his hand with my other. "My outfit isn't too bad, right?" I questioned him. "It looks casual?" I continued. "Bell, you always look attractive. Or cute, whatever you want me to say, I'll agree to it all. They don't even look like pajamas. Are they..?" He slowly became confused.

I giggled and slipped on a pair of shoes, grabbing his hand again. I was in shorts and a t-shirt. It honestly wasn't that bad. We stepped out into the hallway, hand in hand. Checking at every turn to make sure Adler or Hudson didn't see us. Even Park. She would tell Adler. It'd get around, and you know the rest. Or some other way. Either way, she couldn't know either. Plus, she was always glued to Adler's hip. I saw a photo of Adler's ex-wife yesterday. But no sign of Park in there. It was odd. Did he cheat on Park with me? Or am I just stupid and they aren't even together. They've gotta be! At least, like Mason and I. Not official, but want to be. That doesn't limit us from not seeing other people, just makes us feel guilty. There's no way I could tell Mason, at least not now. About what Adler and I did. It was crazy, kind of like a one night stand without the sex..? Or a prohibited, risky, one night stand.

It was crazy. We tip toed down the hallway, giggling. Coffee in our hands. Adler stood at the end of the hallway, back faced to us. We quickly let go of each others hands and pretended to be having a normal conversation. As if we had come out of our rooms at the right time and met up to have a chat. My heart should have come out of my chest at the sight of two incredibly hot men standing together. But I felt as if I was more so just, accepting. Or happy, about Mason's kindness. I didn't quite feel any fireworks with Mason. But that's normal, right? Right..? My mouth stopped moving as we reached Adler and he was all that was in my vision. I swear, I liked Mason.

Oh, heart please don't do this to me. Don't make me crush on the man who is so deeply mysterious and unreadable that his nickname is "America's Monster."
But I didn't like him. I like Mason. There's no way I like Adler. He's just hot, and.. Yeah.. We just.. It's confusing.. But I don't like Adler. Maybe, as a friend or teammate I do. Adler slightly turned his head to the left to catch a glimpse of Mason and I for 1 second before stepping down the stairs without a word. It was almost like he walked in slow motion. His muscles highlighted his body, as his veins popped out of his arms. Adler's famous leather jacket wasn't on. Just his black, collared button up shirt with the little gray outlined diamond shapes. His watch gripped his wrist, arms crossed against his chest. And God damn, did those pants hug him just right.

I guess I didn't even realize I was staring until he was out of my line of sight and Mason looked at me with concern. "You okay, Bell?" He walked down the stairs with me. It was slightly odd of Adler not to respond to even the sight of me, especially since we kind of had a connection. I've never gotten that close to someone. Not even Mason. And has he gotten that close with Park? Or anyone else since his ex-wife? I brushed it off, popping my thought bubble to zone back in to Mason. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just.. tired, still." He smiled as we reached the bottom of the stairs. I was faced with Park, sitting at her desk drinking coffee. Once more, chatting with Adler. I never truly got to speak to her. Sims was at his desk with a pen in hand, and coffee next to him aswell. Damn, I guess we're all coffee addicts. Lazar was looking at some guns and wiping them off. And the big bossman who I've come to know, Hudson, was of course, famously on the phone. As always.

~
After some breakfast, chatting with Mason and Woods, then making small talk with Sims and Lazar. Mason and Woods sat on two chairs off to the side near the gate entrance of the safehouse. Sims moved up to the table filled with Adler's stuff and sat on a swivel barstool. Park stood next to the board, Lazar moving up on the other side of the board, next to Park. Adler spoke up as Hudson went to the back room to finish his phone call without being distracted. I wasn't sure where to be, so I stood between Woods and Mason, and Park.
"Let's get started." Adler walked away from his desk to the intel board.
"There's been a surge of Russian chatter in the last 48 hours. The CIA and the DoD are tapping their inside sources for anything substantial, but so far there are no leads on Perseus."

His focus switched to Park as she acknowledged him and nodded once, very slightly in return.
"MI6 has come up empty handed as well." Her arms shifted behind her back as she stood in place and looked around the room at everyone, then back to Adler.
He moved closer to the board, looking at it.
"We'll have to start somewhere. So we're going back here.... Vietnam, 1968.." He trailed off, turning back around after pointing at some photos in the board. "One of our closest encouters with Perseus."
Sims scoffed, grabbing everyones attention.
"Shit." He spoke up, grabbing one of Adler's cigarettes from his table.
"Some part of me always knew that mission wasn't done with us." He rose from his spot, keeping his eyes on Adler. He took a drag of his cigarette after lighting it, and walked away from the table.
Adler turned to Lazar and walked towards him.
"Pull up everything we've got on the attack in Da Nang and run it past Park. She'll cross reference it with MI6." He walked away from Lazar, back to his table.

Park turned to the rest of us. "We're looking for codenames, encrypted transmissions, Russian activity with NVA - anything that could be a lead." She had a flipbook in her left hand, and pen in her right. She finished off by closing the notebook and clicking the pen
"You got it." Lazar separated his arms and walked away from where he stood a minute ago.
Adler let out a breath of smoke from his cigarette and turned to me.
"Bell, this is where you come in."
He kept his eyes on the board, slowly walking closer to it. He made no eye contact. Just professional talk.
"Your MI6 experience helped our team back in 'Nam, and I'm counting on it once again."
His gaze still on the board.
"Head to the evidence board. We'll retrace our steps through Da Nang. Anything that could give us a lead on Perseus." He walked away from me, back to his table. Setting his cigarette in his ashtray. I turned to Woods and Mason, in confusion.

They shrugged as I stepped closer to the evidence board. Examining it, nothing really.. looked familiar. I couldn't shake this odd feeling I've had since arriving here. And now Adler was ignoring me too. He only spoke to me just now because he ordered me to do something. And something work related, at that.
It all felt foggy. I couldn't really remember the time I served in Vietnam, not well, at least.
After a bit of confusion and chatting with everyone again, including Park this time, asking a few questions, except for Adler who still wouldn't even look at me once. I wandered around the safehouse a bit, but felt watched. This was a very weird environment.

After clearing my head a bit, I returned back to the evidence board with no stupid distractions this time. None at all. My memories were very foggy. Even after getting encouragement of remembering my time back in 'Nam. Lazar and Park carried on a conversation I couldn't hear. Hudson was still on the phone, Mason and Woods talked amongust themselves and Adler smoked a cigarette, per usual, while analyzing something, and listening to the radio. I turned back to the evidence board and tried my best to analyze everything. After a few minutes, the whole team was in their own spot. And Adler spoke from behind me at his table.

"Alright Bell, we're going back to Vietnam. First time Perseus pinged our radar." This felt all so new to me. "It was late January, '68. We were a joint CIA SOG taskforce, embedded within the 3rd Marine Regiment near Da Nang. SOG was there to sniff out Soviet activity. Word had it Russian operatives were active in the region."
Park spoke from her desk, turning to face the team. "Perseus had no known presence in Vietnam." I looked at Park, then diverted my eyes back to the evidence board. My eyes scanned the photos on the board and I toyed with the physical evidence as Adler spoke. "That changed at Da Nang. Somehow Perseus knew about Operation Fracture Jaw."
Sims interrupted the pause between Adler's voice. "Fracrture Jaw? That one sure went sideways." Adler spoke up again, as I slowly backed away from the board. "We launched out of Camp Haskins." Sims seemed very disturbed. "Yeah, I'll never forget that shithole." Park continued her thoughts from earlier. "Good, we want those memories. No detail's too small, a face, a name. We're looking for anything that can lead us to Perseus."
"This feels like looking for a needle in a haystack... in a field of haystacks." Sims joked.

"Maybe. But that needle's somewhere." Adler was quite confident about finding all of this intel from our memories of Vietnam from years and years ago. I backed up against the table, already feeling confused and overwhelmed. "Remember.. We had a job to do."
My head started spinning, a strong migraine hitting me in the face. As I slumped on the table behind me, feeling weak, I only remember Woods and Mason at my sides before my vision went black.

My ears were pierced with a sharp noise.
"Fracture Jaw? That one sure went sideways."
Sims statement from earlier bounced between my head and rang through my ears.
A familiar sound. A familiar song, a... familiar environment..?
Pat pat..
"Bell."
My eyes slowly peeled open to the familiar voice. Adler stood in front of me. But, this time it was different. We were in a tent, listening to.. Magic Carpet Ride..? Was this really my memories flooding back to me of Camp Haskins and my time in Vietnam? Adler seemed much younger. With a promanent smile on his face. Something you didn't see often. But, with.. no scar. He had a bucket hat on, and some camoflauge clothing. His face strutted black paint, and those signature glasses.
"It's time to wake up. It's crank time."
His smile grew as he backed away from my face. I stood up and saw even more black stripes of paint on his arms. In his hand was an M16. He slowly stood with me, and lightly kicked my feet apart, forcing me to stand up further. My attention was drawn to my side, with guns propped up against a crate.

Adler began walking out of our tent. He stopped and stood right outside of our tent, turning to look at me. I quickly grabbed a random gun and caught up with him. We began walking away from our tent. "Welcome to another day in the life of Camp Haskins. Our little oasis in the middle of this godforsaken shitstorm." Adler joked as we continued to walk. He turned to another one of the guys and pat him on the shoulder, keeping his feet moving in front of him. A group of men ran past us, as the music continued to play over the radio. There was mud and dirt everywhere. The place was super crowded. People whistled and yelled, laughed and chatted. "You're pretty safe here." Adler didn't turn to look at me. We turned the corner of another tent filled with boxes. A "NO SMOKING." sign was planted onto one of the boxes of the tent. A few helicopters flew above us, their engines roaring. We turned the corner as the helicopter's departed. "Wow.." I let out a huff. My eyes locked onto the sunrise. "Beautiful, isn't it, Bell?" Adler finally turned to me and smiled. I smiled back and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah.. it really is.." The orange and yellow colors smudged into each other as the sun peaked over the horizon. This Adler was different. Much different. Nicer, smiled more. Made more jokes. And didn't ignore me. Even after a vulernable moment like that. Just all around better. But I get it, he's been through some things. But, I also just.. don't get it. "Hey Butcher! How's the arm?" Adler slightly turned his body to a nearby man sitting on a chair, helping another person fix up a car. He walked slowly, awaiting a response from the man. "Still hurts like hell, but at least I can move it!"

Adler turned back around and picked up the pace. The sound of helicopter blades getting louder and louder. Adler walked down a ramp, as we passed by a big wooden sign that read "Camp Haskins." I followed behind him as we left the tent area, and the populated part of the camp, where there was no air support or fields. And yet here we were. Exactly there. In an unpopulated part of the camp where there was a ton of air support in the middle of a muddy field. There was a man waving his arms and yelling things at a helicopter pilot. The sunrise creeped behind the mountains and palm trees. There were muddy paths and rocks separating different grass patches with a lot of helicopters on each patch. Adler directed me to the left, 2nd grass patch. Sims sat on a helicopter, reading.. what seemed to be a porno magazine. Not surprising coming from Sims, to be honest. Adler stopped at the side of the helicopter, waiting for me. I put my gun down as Adler got closer. "Hey, Sims! You know reading that shit's gonna make you go blind." He lowered his gun, stepping closer to Sims. "Yup." He replied. Adler took the magazine out of Sims hands, staring at whatever was on that page. "That's why I want it all up here." Sims tapped his helmet as Adler eyed it for 2 seconds. "Bell, you're with Sims. You usually bring out the best in each other."

Adler backed away, but not before slamming the porno mag back on Sims' chest. Sims grabbed his magazine, getting up from his spot and sitting on a seat. I climbed on board the helicopter. "We got a new assignment. FOB 4 Ripcord is holding a vital asset that Charlie wants real bad." I had been sitting in my seat, looking at Adler. Listening to his voice. Sims stared at Adler, then at me, while shaking his leg up and down. Then he went back to Adler. "What kind of asset are we talking about?" Adler pulled his hand off of the side of the chopper and pointed it into Sims' face. "The kind you don't ask about." He joked. His arm went back up to it's position that it was previously in. Sims sat up in his chair. "Ripcord's been taking a hell of a beating, so it's our job to secure the asset and get the fuck out." Adler's gaze lingered on Sims as he leaned his arms foward onto his knees. "Relax. We got fast fliers providing combat air support for this mission." Adler walked backwards, gripping onto his gun again with his other hand. "It'll be a walk in the park."

He backed away from the helicopter, I turned my attention from Sims to the cockpit and looked at both pilots. Standing up, one of the pilots noticed me. He turned slightly towards me and tapped his helmet. "Headsets on." I nodded and pulled the headset down, putting it over my ears. He turned back around and the helicopter departed from the dirt. A voice came over the comms. "All birds check in when ready."
A different voice chimed in.
"Badger Niner-One good to go."
Then, we lifted further. Flying away from the ground.
"Badger Niner-Two clear to go."
My hands rested on the backs of both pilots seats.
"Badger Niner-Three rotots up." The last chopper came over the comms.
Shortly after, the first voice revisited.
"All birds, go go go. Crank up and pull pitch."

I turned away from the cockpit, turning to the fully open side of the helicopter. "All birds are in the air." The man spoke one last time. A turret connected to the helicopter caught my attention. I stood in front of it as Adlers voice had now interrupted over the comms. "You all sitting comfortably?" He questioned. "Aww, man, Adler! Why do I get the feeling you're about to give us some bad news?" Sims whined, lowly throwing his arms above his knees. All helicopters were flying together, including us. We drifted in the air above the water. The sunrise becoming prettier and prettier. "Because you're a smart guy, Sims. But the news isn't bad. In fact it could be very, very good." I looked at Adler's chopper as it approached ours, facing me. "The asset at Ripcord is gonna have to wait a little while. We're bteaking off from the armada. Taking a detour." His voice cut off of the comms. Sims had moved closer, looking out of the same part of fhe helicopter as me, at Adler's chopper. "And... that's good because?" Sims asked. "A source tipped us off that there may be a heavy hitter in town, a Soviet operative known as Perseus." Adler came back through the comms.

"Aww, shit." Sims whined once more.
"Appreciate the enthusiasm, Sims. If our source is right, we could be looking at an intel gold mine."
My vision became white and blurry.
"First time Perseus pinged our radar."
Adler's quote also rang through my ears as I began to have another flashback. I shook my head and rubbed my face.
"Approaching the village now." A voice faintly spoke over the comms. I rubbed my temples, my head felt like it was gonna fall off. I quickly realized what was going on and grabbed hold of the turret on the side of the helicopter.
"Roger that. Moving to establish an LZ." My pilot spoke through the comms.
"RPG!" Adler's voice boomed through my headset.
"Chalk Two, light 'em up!" He continued.
I opened fire with the turret onto a village's rooftops. Killing multiple people with just a few hits.
"There! In the bell tower." His callouts were suprisingly helpful.
"Multiple EKIA." I reported over comms.
"Fuck yeah." Sims was on the other side of the chopper.
Buildings were exploding, debree flew everywhere.
"RPG down. He was in the bell tower." My voice went through everyones headsets.

Now that we had pretty much iced everyone on the roof on the other side and the RPG's in the bell tower, Adler's focus was changed.
"Focus fire on the courtyard."
I once again, sprayed my turret at the men. Debree flew everywhere again, spreading pieces of building, blood, body parts, whole bodies, weapons, ammo, and more.
"Nice shooting, Bell!" Adler seemed happy. I blushed. He was proud of me, wasn't he? I hid my face with my hand as Adler came back through the comms.
"Goddammit, more RPG's on the rooftops!" I pushed my feelings aside and sprayed my bullets at the men standing on the roof.
"Hold on, swinging around!" My pilot came over the comms. Sims returned to my side as I continued to spray at the roof. Soon enough, my attention was focused on the men at the ground as we slowly descended. I let go of the turret. "Visiual on LZ. Taking us down." Sims got up from his spot and looked ready to jump. We both readied our guns and got prepared. Sims turned to me with confidence. "You and me, Bell. Let's do this."

We hopped off the chopper, opening fire on everyone we saw while runinng past the streets. They were filled with ammo and weapons. Blood, dirt, fallen soldiers and scattered debree. "You sure about this, Adler? Streets ain't exactly empty!" Sims took cover behind a barracde, as I took cover behind one next to Sims. We both shot at everyone we saw while taking cover. "Your priority is securing any intel." Adler replied. Wow, okay. He really wanted us to do this. The helicopter above us acted as support, using their front turrets to help take out the men who had higher ground than us. Bullets and rockets flew past us as we shouted an occassional "Reloading!" to each other.

When the coast was clear, we ran past. With me going first before Sims. "Our source eyeballed the Soviets at a building in the center of town." We kept running and shooting. Yelling and footsteps could be heard everywhere. Gunshots, rockets, every little thing. I ran into a building and followed the doorways and staircases. "Keep pushing foward. You're getting close." Adler came through my walkie. I peeked out here and there to shoot at men walking on the streets. "Sims, Bell. That's the building." We shot everyone surrounding the middle building and followed the street. "Keep your heads down. We got this."
"Okay, Adler." I beeped into my walkie while reloading my gun and continuing to shoot. Sims took cover.
"Switching spots." He stood up carefully and moved from where he was to run to the building. "Area clear." Adler's chopper came over my walkie. "Okay. Get inside. See what we can get." We ran through the doorway, entering with caution. I shot a man standing in the doorway. "Go, Bell. I'm right behind you." Sims said, protecting my back.

We shot some more men. Protecting each other, following the stairs and running to each spot where we would kill another Vietnamese soldier. Soon, Soviet soldiers began popping up. Something wasn't right, maybe Adler's intel was correct and Soviets were doing Perseus' bidding here. We reached a door. A red door. A heavy, red, metal door. It seemed oddly familiar. My vision became blurry and whited out again, "Like looking for a needle in a haystack." Rang through my ears once more. My vision came back clearly to the red door, Sims coming up in front of me, standing next to the door. "You hear that? It's on you, Bell. Open the door."
I kicked open the door aggressively. Sims pratically tackled the Soviet soldier coming to attack us. He then headbutt him with his gun and shot the second Soviet soldier in the head. We lowered our guns and looked around. "Adler, we confirmed it. Soviets on site." Sims beeped through.
"You sure?"
"Well, I'm staring at two bodies that sure as hell don't look Vietnamese to me." Sims turned from the dead men to scope out the room.
"Definitely Soviets. No doubt about it.." I said, turning to look at Sims. He agreed, nodding and pointed to the table next to us. "Bell, grab that comms log. Let's see who the fuck they've been talking to."
I reluctantly grabbed the file from the desk and opened it.

"Mission accomplished. We have the intel. Let's bug out." Sims turned to look at me as I looked up from the documents. I looked back down after Sims looked away and walked towards the doorway. "Good work. Hang on to that intel. We're coming to pick you up." Adler spoke lightly. I looked up, putting away the files and pulling out my gun again. Following Sims, who did the same. "Alright. Let's go rejoin the armada and get this fucking asset." It was almost like Adler actually spoke, and with personality.

Sims and I proceeded with caution out of the building, shooting at soldiers who presented a problem, until they were all gone.
Adler's chopper flew above us, and landed just outside of the village's exit. "Go! Back to the bird!" Sims yelled from behind me.
This time, a new voice came over my walkie. I hopped off of the platform and swiftly sprinted to the helictoper with Sims.
"Badger Niner-One, this is Ripcord. We are still under heavy fire. VC are breaching the perimiter. What's your status?" We approached the exit to the helicopter, while Adler came through.
"We're inbound now, Ripcord. Get that asset ready for transfer." I walked closer to the helicopter to see Adler standing on the ground, on one knee, with his gun ready as support.
Sims boarded the helicopter from the other side. "Roger that Niner-One. We'll keep the asset safe for as long as we can. Ripcord out." I approached the side Adler had been guarding, he stood as I was about to board it.

"Good job, Bell." He stood up and smiled at me. I grabbed the pilots hand in, who helped me get up. Adler climbed up behind me and they all took their seats. I put my headset back on and took the seat in the cockpit.
"Badger Niner-One in the air." The pilot next to me reported. "VC are all over the mountains. No civs here." Adler chimed in. I shot my turret at the VC below us in the little houses and villages, while flying through the mountains.
"All targets are valid. Tear 'em up, Bell!"
"Nailed 'em good!" Sims voice came through my headset. I continued to shoot at the VC below us, until a voice shot through my ears. "Badger Niner-One. We have confirmed a visual on an enemy bird headed your way." Shit. This was a lot to take in already.
"Since when did the Cong have birds?" Sims sounded insanely surprised, not to say I wasn't surprised about it either.

"They don't. Fucking Soviets.." Adler really wanted to get the asset, intel, and get the fuck out. So that was my main goal.
"Take down that Hind!" Adler shouted. I shot my turret at the helicopter as it shot back.
"Yes! We got your ass zeroed!" Adler shouted words into my ears again.
"That's it! Stay on him!" Sims shouted this time. I focused fire on the bird as I navigated through the mountains, also trying to kill the VC below us. God only knowing what weapons they had. "Opening fire on VC below, Bell! Keep shooting at that Hind!" Adler used the turret and Sims watched from the side, occassionally shooting his gun at whatever he could reach. My turret kept on the helicopter, as I shifted the bird to accomidate for where it was going to move next. It began smoking and falling apart. "I think you got him." Sims said proudly.
"Yeah! You got him. Good job, Bell." Adler exclaimed excitedly.

But eventually, he came back onto the comms with his regular Adler voice.
"The fact that they sent that Hind after us shows us how pissed they are about us snagging that intel."
The pilot next to me opened up his mic to speak to everyone in our chopper. "Ripcord base, twenty seconds out."
"Ripcord, this is badger Niner-One. We're on final approach." Adler spoke to all over comms.
"Roger that, Niner-One. Base is still hot, so watch yourselves." Ripcord warned. The man continued. "We'll do what we can to clear an LZ, and get the asset ready for transfer."
"Roger that, Ripcord."
I flew around the mountains for a little bit, shooting here and there. Before Ripcord tapped back in.
"Badger Niner-One, this is Ripcord. You need to push back the VC reinforcements before we're overrun!" It was like a plea for help.
"Be advised: We have multiple birds in the air. Watch your fire."
"Badger Niner-One, understood, Ripcord. I'll do my best." I spoke over my mic, right as Adler spoke over his.

"Enemy's dug in all around the hillsides!"
I sprayed at the hill, killing multiple VC. More RPG's, regular soldiers, and even cars. Including many VC, or even just one. Armed or unarmed, they were going down. "We don't have a hope in hell of landing if we don't take out these positions."
"Roger, Adler." This is one difficult position to be put into, but I have to do it. For my team, and country.
"Badger Niner-One, our scouts have identified a significant enemy force approaching from the south!"
I turned the chopper to face south and flew above Ripcord's base.
"Light 'em up!" Adler watched as I sprayed at all reinforcements coming our way, defending Ripcord's base.
"Divert to intercept!"
"Roger that, Ripcord!"

After some more words exchanged through the comms and some shooting, Ripcord returned to the mic with a problem.
"Badger Niner-One, they're breaching the main gate! We can't hold out much longer!"
"Hold on, Ripcord, we're on our way! You heard that, Bell. You have to help out Ripcord, turn to the main gate and open fire! Or that asset is as good as gone!"
"Sure thing, Adler!" I responded. Tipping the helicopter to the front gate, my turret fired at all of the VC and their cars.
With some spraying and more comms chats, we were finally cleared up to land.
"Badger Niner-One, you are clear to land."
"Copy that, Ripcord. Badger Niner-One setting down." The pilot next to me was calm and collected. While I nearly crapped my pants. It felt very intense to me. I switched spots with the pilot, sitting in the back with Sims and Adler after we landed.

"The base is still hot so watch yourselves."
Adler moved to the side of the chopper, waiting for the asset.
"Roger that Ripcord."
A group of men ran over, with the asset in hand.
One of the men held his hand on his head, over his helmet. "You Adler? MACV-SOG?" The man asked loudly.
"Yeah, yeah. Just hurry the fuck up already." Adler ushered them, making hand gestures. The man stepped to thr side as two men brought the asset to the chopper. "Yes sir. Thank you." It looked like.. a nuke? What the fuck?
"Don't thank me, thank Bell."
Adler grabbed the nuke and had the men help him prop it up onto the chopper as he pulled it further towards him.
"She's the one who just snagged us a fuckin' phonebook full of Soviet intel." I stared at the nuke as Adler strapped it in, then looked at the intel in regards to Adler's comment. "Let's go. Now." He commanded the pilots.
"Godspeed commander." Ripcords base commander exclaimed to Adler before we lifted off.

"A fucking nuke? Are you kidding me Adler?" Sims looked at the nuke, making eye contact with Adler shortly after. Adler moved from his spot after he finished strapping it in. Sims looked away in annoyance. "It's a failsafe. That's all you need to know." He moved back to his spot and looked at me.
"We that desperate already?" Sims questioned him.
"Not yet."
I examined Ripcord as we left. The other choppers right beside us, but before I could even analyze the beautiful nature scenery in front of me, the chopper in front of me exploded into pieces instead.
"RPGS! BRACE!" Our pilot yelled. My hand flew over my head involuntarily out of defense as the choppers body hit into ours and scratched off of our blades. Another man who was on with us suddenly jolted to the side "Grab my hand! I've gotcha!" Sims screamed to the man as he offered his hand. I grabbed onto his arm but unfortunately our grip wasn't strong enough. We all had our seatbelts on. So we also couldn't reach too far without restricting ourselves. The poor man was flung from the bird.

"We lost power!" Our pilot screamed over a blaring alarm. Red lights flashed as we descended in circles. We were flung down as our helicopters engine exploded and we had a bumpy and scary ride down.
My vision was once again white and blurred.
"Somehow Perseus knew.."
My head was absolutely killing me. I opened my eyes to see the chopper on fire, with debree all around us. Electrical wires spitting out sparks, stuff deattatched everywhere. The nuke and Adler stayed in place, including me. "Sims, Bell. You okay?" Adler asked, hanging upside down in his seat. Sims sat up from his spot and groped his head, groaning. "I'm okay."
I looked at Adler, unsure of how to get out of this situation. "I think, I'm okay, mostly unha-" I was abruptly cut off by the sound of gunshots shooting at the metal of our helicopter. "Fuck!" Adler whipped out his pistol after attempting to dodge the bullets and shot back at the Vietnamese soldiers and Soviet soldiers who were shooting at us. "Bell! Let loose with that goddamn turret before we're overrun!" Adler pointed at the turret next to me.

I immediately turned to my side and grabbed a hold of it, shooting at all of the soldiers that I saw. I let go of the turret when I was done. "Shit! We need air support!" Sims sat up. How do I get out of here? I can't just sit here and die, or let my teammates die. I need to do something. Anything. It was then I remembered the knife I had in my pocket. Bingo. I pulled it out and sliced my seatbelt, landing upside down on the floor. Adler had managed to get himself unmangled with Sims' help. "Bell! Call it in!" I stood up and grabbed the smoke he handed me. Sims and Adler struggled for a little bit to get the nuke untied carefully and safely get it out of the helicopter while I hopped off of the chopper myself, throwing the smoke. "Grab a weapon! Keep them the fuck off of us!" Adler wanted protection as to not fuck this up himself either. I nodded and picked up an M60 from the floor, spraying at all enimies in my view distance. Adler came into my view as I shot at the Vietnamese and Soviets. Sims and Adler pulled the nuke behind a set of rocks carefully as I continued to spray.

They stationed the nuke and took cover, occassionally shooting at the enimies with me. "Where's that air support?!" Adler asked us out of anger and impatientness. The sudden sound of nukes being dropped nearby filled the sky. "Fuck! Did they miss us?" Sims hid behind the rocks.
"RPG!"
Adler and I shot at the men with RPG's as we waited for air support.
It took a good 20 more seconds.
"Wait."
"Here it comes." Adler continued.
An RPG shot got too close for comfort, I blacked out for a second until I heard Adler call my name.
"Bell!"
"Still with us?"
Sims looked over at me and I got up off of the floor. Looking over at the enemies getting nukes dropped on them in awe. Sims covered his head and I put my hand in front of my face again. My heard turned to Adler as he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me closer to him and further down so that the rocks blocked me from getting hit. Adler looked over the rocks, checking out the damage. And making sure everyone was dead. "You think we can call this a success, Sims?" Adler said as he sat back down behind the rocks.
Sims scoffed loudly at Adler and threw his hand up in the air gesturing at the nuke.
"Least the nuke didn't go off." He shook his head in disappointment.
"More importantly.. We got intel on Perseus." Adler moved his finger to point at me and planted it back on his knee. Sims took a look at Adler, then stared at the nuke.

My vision went black instead of white this time.
Adlers voice resinated in my brain.
"I told you we had a job to do. It ain't done yet, not by a long way." I opened my eyes just to be back in my bed with Mason and Woods at my side. Park stood in the doorway with Adler behind her, barely even looking at me. Just smoking a cigarette. "What happened..?" I winced in pain, trying to sit up. But letting the bed take me out of dizziness. "My head is killing me..." Woods and Mason shot each other a concerned look. "We don't know, Bell." Mason shrugged his shoulders awkwardly and looked at me. "Yeah, you just stumbled back onto Adler's table and passed out. We tried everything to get you back up but you wouldn't budge." Woods looked at me sympathetically. "I-.. I don't really remember what happened all too well, but I do remember having flashbacks.. No, maybe.. Memories of vietnam with Adler and Sims." I looked at Mason and Woods.

Park looked at Adler, whispered something and walked away. Adler stomped on his cigarette and finally looked at me. Even for just one second. "Why did I not remember my own memories until now?" I questioned them. They both went silent, Mason scratching the back of his neck with a confused look on his face and Woods just shrugging to me. This isn't helping me get anywhere. "Well, thanks guys. For taking care of me." Mason stood up from his spot and smiled. "No problem. You comin' Woods?" Woods looked at Mason then back at you. "If you need anything we're here." I smiled back to Mason and grabbed Woods' hand. "Thank you." This time, smiling at Woods instead of Mason. They both left the room. With just me and Adler sitting in my bedroom. Silence filled the void as he sat on a chair next to my bed.
"Are you in here just to keep ignoring me?" I turned my back to him.
"You did good and you're okay. That was probably just you regaining some memories that you lost for whatever reason." I turned back to him.
"....Do you have any Advil?"
He smirked and pulled some Advil out of his pants pocket, handing me two and giving me the glass of water that sat on my nightstand. I propped myself up and swallowed the Advil. He stood up and put the Advil back in his pocket, stepping away from the chair.

"Adler." He stopped walking away from his chair and turned around.
"Yes?"
"Wait, please. I don't know how to say this, but.. I-.." I played with my fingers, looking at them. I felt like a teenage girl again. All flustered and choked up.
"Say it, Bell."
"Do you mind sitting in here with me while I take a nap so that I don't wake up alone..? That wasn't ideal and I didn't enjoy that.." He walked to my door, closing and locking it.
"Sure." He moved the chairs away from bed and folded them up in the corner. His shoes laid next to my bed where the chairs were as he sat next to me under the blanket. I turned my back to face him and realized the big red tomato face I had. I failed horribly in an attempt at pulling the blanket over my face in hopes of hiding it.
After he snickered at me, I let go of the blanket, staying in my place.

"Why are you here with me?" I stared at my wall.
"What do you mean?"
"Well... Aren't you and Park a thing?"
"Me and Park? Are you serious, Bell? I'd believe you more if you told me that you and Mason are a thing." His sunglasses and zippo made a noise as they hit my nightstand. I turned to face him as he laid next to me, snaking his arms around my waist and pulling me closer.
"We- It's complicated.. I don't know. I'm not sure if I like him or not. I don't want to break his heart." I turned to face Adler only to realize we were cuddling.
We slowly and quietly inched closer.
"I don't think you'll break his heart, you two just met."
"You act like I could break yours." I scoffed.
"Oh, but you could." He protested.
Our faces got closer until we had our lips pressed against one anothers. This wasn't out of lust.
It wasn't forced. It was just..
Him.
It was Adler. That is what mattered right now. Right here, and right now.
It felt like nothing else could hurt me while he was holding me in his arms. Our kiss was super loving and passionate. It felt like fireworks went off. Something I didn't feel with Mason. Maybe..
Adler.. is the one..?
But what if Adler doesn't like me back?
Plus, he's right. Mason and I just met. There's a low chance Adler likes me back. Especially when we're having a conversation like this.

We pulled apart and looked at each other. "You are so much different than Mason. So much more. You're my one, even If I'm not yours. And I know your life was hard and especially in love specifically after your ex-wife but I believe in love, or at least a crush at first sight and I-.." I stopped to take a breath as I had blurted all of that out in front of him. My face red as ever. "That kiss was fireworks, almost electric. I know I was embarassed to say I'm a virgin and I'm saving it for that special one but I am and even though you might not want it, I do. I want that. With you, Adler. I feel like I've known you since I came out of the womb, we've been on multiple missions before, and this is real to me." I closed my eyes, putting my hands over my face. He didn't respond, leaving me embarassed but.. still calm and comfortable. So comfortable, that I was able to fall asleep right in his arms.

-- A/N
my fingers hurt. this took a good 2 hours or so to write. its about 7,775 words long, just the story part itself. who knew writing part of a game and tweaking it a bit would be so difficult.
(sorry for all exclamation points, it's because in the actual game they use a lot and it's cause theyre yelling over insanely loud noises so I'm trying to recreate the atmosphere, you know? not all voicelines are exact, nor are all parts exact, like adler standing up and complimenting you before you get on the chopper, but I tried my best and I added some extra voice lines.)
hope you guys enjoyed this long ass chapter!! I owe it to you guys anyways for waiting so long. I plan on making a second book, by the way. instead of being the kind of person who makes bell live after getting shot by adler and starting off the book that way, or ending it with her death or them getting married, kids, dying together, etc etc. I won't tell you what happens or where I'm going with this but you'll find out soon. briefings in this fanfiction aren't going to follow the specific dates. as you've already seen, I'm taking my time with the briefings and it could go into whatever month I want the next one to be in. I started at fracture jaw because this book is in bell's pov, or is about 99% in bell's pov. I don't deem it very necessary to rewrite the first mission with mason and adler in the bar because this is mostly in bell's pov. and it has been that way so far. and I don't wanna add bell to that mission and make it confusing. it's not like that mission didn't happen and/or was forgotten about. it just isn't being implanted as a chapter into this book. so, anyways. look out for the next chapter soon, love y'all!! thank you so much for being active and keeping me super motivated!! ♡
(and don't worry! mason and bell are supposed to have a relationship build up before she gets anywhere with adler.)