"We have a job to do"

And to think, it was just a shitty slogan to me
_________________________________________

𝙱𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅.
𝚁𝚎𝚗𝚘
1981

As the elevator descended, you were in deep thought

'How would I even make contact with them, I have no idea where they are, Adler's probably not even in this country, and if I just showed up he would try to kill me, again'

The elevator stopped snapping you out of thought. You where only on the 3rd floor.

'Oh no. '

A woman and a little boy where on the other side of the doors. They looked a little stunned at the sight of you clutching your dried bloody stomach and breathing heavily.

"I'm sure you can find another elevator, and let's maybe keep this encounter, between us." You looked her in the eyes then at her kid "For everyones.....safety" She quickly nodded eyes wide as you clicked the close door button.

You felt bad threatening people, but this is your life now, it's kill or be killed

The elevator has finally reached the ground floor and you thank any higher power it didn't go directly into the lobby.

You stepped out a little limp, looking around. You were in a hallway but at one end was the lobby, there where too many people too not cause a scene plus the two officers at the vending machine didn't help. At the other end there was a door, sun light coming through the window leading you to believe it heads outside.

'Jackpot'

You head twords the door.

"Hey stop! " You turn to see one of the officers looking directly at you, looking down at the blood.

You turned back and hastily ran at the door. She was now running after you too. The door had a lock, needing a key card.

'Good thing I jacked Howards'

You swiped as quickly as possible and opened it, turning around to shut and lock it again.

'In the nick of time'

"Hey someone open this door! " She yelled  behind her

The both of you made eye contact, but you're the only one smiling.

Seeing as someone was coming, presumably to open the door, behind her, you took your exit.

Climbing poorly through some bushes you made your way to the side walk. There seems to be quite a bit of traffic, and it's very sunny, and hot. This was all super overwhelming for you. Made you miss crying on Adler's shoulder about the struggles your daily life faced. You thought he liked you, and you really liked him. That made this situation a 100 times worse.

"Let's go this way" Turning your head a bit, you see a peculiarly happy Russel Adler pointing down the sidewalk

"Oh hell no! " You put a firm grip on your stomach preparing to run the other way, but it just so happens the police officers where running at you.

"Fuck!" On quick thinking you run into the street hoping to not get hit by a car.

Leaving many folks angry in traffic you make it to the other side of the street untouched. Still running you look behind to see some distance between you and the officers, but turning back there was Adler about 10 feet in front of you

"Are you running from me, or them? "
Ignoring his words you push past some people and run inside some sort of convenience store. You crouched down behind a shelf and looked out the window to see two cops walk past the store completely.

'Thank god'

You look to see the employees distracted with customers, taking this as your chance to tierdly walk to the pharmaceutical section and swipe some painkillers, water, and bandages.

"You might want to take a second to calm down, you seem pretty winded. " You turn once more to see Adler yet still unready to confront him, you make a break for it out the back door that led to an Alley.

"Hey there princess" Looking up and seeing him sitting on a fire escape made you realize something

'How did he even get up there'

"You aren't real,  are you?" You looked at him with furrowed brows

"Is anyone real? "

"Oh nice, I'm hallucinating people now.........shit"

Looking down at the stolen items in your hands you decide to put them to use

After patching yourself up you took a small break from all the running and things that made your head spin, then headed into the city

...

This place was, interesting. The lights, the people, the half naked women standing on side walks and, nobody seemed to care about the blood on your clothes once it got dark.

You were eventually sitting in a casino to drunk to feel anything, talking to, well yourself.

"Sooo, fake Russ, any particular reason you won't leave me alone. " You raised an eyebrow at your delusion.

"Don't blame me, I'm not the one day dreaming about a former lover"  Adler winked

"You are not my former lover! You are nothing too me!" You wanted to smack him but, this is crazy....he wasn't even real.

"Nothing...who are you trying to make believe that, me? Or you? . " As you glare at him his head then turns to look at an approaching man

"Looks like you have company anyway." You couldn't reply due to the man coming your way and your trying to not look any more crazy than you already do.

"Haven't seen you around here before. "
The guy had a rough voice, but not mean. He was wearing a suit and his hair was slicked back

'Classy, he looks like a wise guy'

" I'm sure there's a lot of people you haven't seen here, and if not, I think you come here too often. "  The strange man chuckled at your comment

"I work here sweetheart, so yeah I'm here all the time." He held his hand out for you to shake "I'm Cole Franco, how do you do"

You took his hand "bell"

"Bell? Interesting" He looked down to your still bloody shirt and smiled "I get the feeling we, are going to be really good friends."

"How so? "  He was quite handsome, not as handsome as some.

"You look like you can handle yourself dear, .... You uh, lookin for work? "

'Thats pretty straight forward'

"Depends on what its about." You crossed your arms, out of the corner of your eye you could see the fake Adler shaking his head.

"Follow me? " He raised an eyebrow and started walking twords the back of the casino

You decide to follow, whats the worst that could happen, you've survived death, you can survive anything.

The man walks through a door. In the other side was well another door, but this one had a pass code

'Interesting'

"I smell some illegal activity" You smiled and raised an eyebrow him

He just smirked an winked back

'Charming'

On the other side of that door was some lady sitting at a desk she looked to be in her mid 50s playing some word game

'Was she like supposed to be a receptionist? '

"Aye Sylvia," He slapped his hand on the desk "has the boss come back yet? "

"In his office. " She didn't bother to look up and just pointed with her pencil

"Thanks" He said walking in pointed direction "follow me miss bell"

That charming smile was back on his face as we walked through a few nice looking rooms

There was a lot of people back here
They where all talking or drinking or smoking
Some where counting money

If you weren't half drunk you'd probably be out of here, but right now it seemed like a good idea

"This seems like a bad idea" Adler was leaning on a wall next to a table that held, money. A shit ton of money

'this seems like a good idea'

'And a plus if it's pissing him off'

You look to your right to see an old tv sitting on the ground unplugged

Suddenly images and videos pop up scaring you a little

The more you looked they just disappeared

'I'll have to get used to that' you frowned at the thought

The two of you had reached an office that was fairly nice looking. In the corner there was another man in a suit smoking a cigarette and looking out the window.

"Glad you could finally make it Franco" His voice was smoky and appealing, he looked over at the two of you, he seemed irritated "what the fuck did I say about bringing strangers in here. Are you fucking crazy, you're gonna get our cover blown! "

He was definitely irritated, not at you though, thankfully...he looks like he could do a lot of damage.

"I understand, but I think you need to keep an open mind, I recall you actually saying we are gonna need some extra hands around if we want to keep this op going, and after what happened last month, I couldn't agree more. "  He looked at you then back to his boss "at least consider"
The mysterious man looked you up and down then back at the guy next to you.

'What happened last month'

"Don't you have some things you need to get done. " He looked back out the window

"Uh yes. Sir." He then quickly left the room leaving you wondering what the fuck just happened

"Name."

"Bell uh-"

"Are you police? "

"No, I-"

"Why are you here? " He finally looked at you with a very unreadable expression

It made you sick how much this man reminded you of Russell

The mystery, the nice dressing, the way he made you nervous to breathe with just one look....... oh let's not forget the stick up his ass

"I'm not sure, I kinda just woke up in this town" You looked down unsure of what you should say

"Ah, because of the wound I presume" He walked closer to you and lifted your chin "how'd you get it?" His voice was almost a whisper

He was attractive and he smelled surprisingly fresh for a smoker, not that the smell bothered you

"Wouldn't you like to know" You look up darkly at him

You wouldn't be this bold if you wern't drunk

"What's your name? " you debated on asking cause he probably wouldn't tell you, but decided to anyway

He took a drag of the cigarette blowing the smoke away from your face, then stuck his hand in his pocket. He pulled out some keys "you want a job, darling? Pick this car up, bring it here,  then we can talk"

He walked over to his desk picking up a piece of paper and handed it to you
"Here this is the address,  now get out of here"

...

After a few more drink you decided to grab a map from the casino gift shop and go to the address, by hitch hicking of course you didn't really have a car

So here you where... Standing in a parking lot, drunk and sleep deprived, stairing at a car.  It wasn't anything fancy just an Acura.

"This is a bad idea. " Adler, stating the obvious, came up behind you

"Thanks for the commentary I didn't ask" You turned and glared at him

"Your welcome" He just shrugged it off

"Ya Think ....you'd get mad if I started hanging out with a mob? " You stared excitedly at the car

"Is that really your motive, to piss me off? "  You ignored him and walked to the car and drove it back to the casino

"Fuck it"

...

It was now morning, as you were back in the boss man's office a smile was on your face

You learned his name was Erick Rivera

And you two had a long future ahead

_________________________________________

1984
𝙰 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢

"We have reason to believe there is a mole" Adler's bored voice echoed in the large warehouse

"A mole? Who? " Sims eyebrows furrowed in confusion

"Not necessarily a mole and not necessarily here, but someone somewhere is talking" Adler spoke again trying to be a little more convincing this time

"And what makes you think that Mr. Adler. " Hudsons usual scowl on his face

"Every time we think we have something on Perseus... He's always one step ahead. " He looked at the newer evidence board

"Well.. " Hudson chuckled a little " The only person I can think of is dead"

'Dick' Adler thought

"Bell" Park whispered depressingly

"Wweeeeelllll" Mason started
"Yeah ...about that one" Woods looked like he was gonna get smacked as soon as Adler snapped his head twords them

"She's alive! " Hudson was the first to say something but he directed it twords Adler

"That's impossible" Adler was slightly shocked, but he had always hoped you'd somehow make it out

"You really think she would do that? " Sims looked down

"There is only one way to find out" A woman with a faint Russian accent finally spoke up

Katya

They all looked at her

She was right.... They had to find out

_________________________________________

2000+ words

Hheelooo thank you so much for reading this far

This chapter seems pretty mediocre so I apologize

Either way THANK YOU 🙏 for the votes and comments on my last one I really appreciate it 🥰

I'm honestly enjoying this so much I can't wait to see what happens it's surprisingly fun writing, very chill 10/11, would recommend

HAVE AN AMAZING DAY OR NIGHT OR WHATEVA UR A PRETTY LEGEND 💯😘

    Farewell ✌
             -Mick