It was easy to remember Adler's brainwashing patterns. He always used one specific method, paired with the same numbers and a trigger phrase, simple but efficient.

You had to give him one thing, he was an American, as simple yet extrem as they could be, but he was one smart devil.

Unfortunately for him, you were a bit smarter. You had managed to slip in a small defect in this net of lies and torture. Whenever you used an own trigger word, the brainwash wore off for a few moments and the man, Bell, would turn into his old self again.

At least for a moment.

You would use those small opportunities to destroy the brainwash from within until his brain would be able to fight the influence on its own again.

All you had to do was bring him back to his former self and send him on his way back to Perseus. Worst case scenario, you had to make sure he didn't spread the news where Perseus was and what the Soviet Union was planning.

Now you were sitting in a helicopter with him and Adler, on your way to West Berlin.

Bell seemed a little disoriented, but that was probably because he wasn't awake for longer than a few hours.

Alder seemed to notice the gloomy mood you were in.

"Cheer up, angel.", he gifted you his kind of an amused look. "If not at least one of us smiles, it'll scare the others."

Huffing, you shook your head.

"I beg you, shades.", you pushed his glasses up with two fingers. "Everyone is always scared of you."

The corner of his mouth twitched and the usual thin, cocky smirk of his appeared.

As the helicopter landed, the first thing that Adler did was smoke.

Of course, it was his guilty pleasure, not just because of the war but also because his ex wife had been a terrible influence as well.

Leaning his head back, he blew a white cloud into the sky while walking towards a woman leaning against a gate.

You recognised her.

It was Park.

"Bell, welcome to West Berlin.", Adler glanced over his shoulder. "We've got a job to do."

As she noticed the group approach, Park hit the gate to make someone on the other side open it.

"Park.", Adler greeted her with a nod of his head.

"Adler.", she looked at Bell. "Bell."

She didn't greet you, whatever the reason was. It was probably because you were hiding in Adler's shadow, as always.

The inside of the safe house was bright and sterile, as per usual for the CIA. Only the necessities were standing and laying around, from paper work, to a few tables with chairs and blackboards to pin the information.

As you stopped in the middle of the mostly empty room, a black man approached you.

"Sims!", you gave him a firm handshake. "Long time no see."

Nodding with a smile, he wanted to pat your shoulder.
You dodged the gesture.

"Sorry, but no touching.", you smirked. "Still got some bruises from the last mission."

Understanding, he nodded.

"I'll remember that.", he said and tapped his trucker hat. "Good to see you again, angel. Always good to know we have a professional on board."

You hated it when someone else than Adler called you by that nickname. It gave you the shivers. It was strange, but hearing him say it was different, more familiar.

"I want to remind you that I was only a medic because of the war. Now I'm a killer."

He shrugged.

"Some things are never forgotten.", he said and gestured towards Adler. "The doc's living proof."

You couldn't help but smirk.

"Don't tell him that.", you said.

"I won't. Heard you two are equals for real now."

"Shocking, isn't it?"

"The only thing that is shocking is that he waited so long to request it. Should have been the case after the war had ended. You were good with keeping him down and civil. Do it again, will ya?"

You nodded.

"Doing my best.", with a friendly bump to his shoulder, you said goodbye and retuned to Adler's side.

Without hesitating, he stopped what he was doing, looked up and offered you his halfway smoked cigarette.

You took it, even though you didn't feel like smoking. The first rule you had learned about him was that no matter what he offered, you always had to take it, because he didn't just offer things. He selected a few people and then decided to hand them little tokens of trust.

Sims once had said that Adler never shared his cigarettes and apparently never had even with his ex wife.

You were the only exception.

"Let's get started.", he said in his rough voice and got up so you could have his seat. "There's been a surge in Russian chatter in the last 48 hours. The CIA and the DoD are tapping their inside sources for anything substantial, but so far there's no leads on Perseus."

"MI6 has come up empty handed as well.", Park said.

"We'll have to start somewhere, so we're going back here...", Adler walked up to the blackboard to examine some pics. "Vietnam, 1968. One of our closest encounters with Perseus."

Sims pulled a face.

"Shit...", he cursed. "Some part of me always knew that mission wasn't done with us."

He turned away to leave, still sensitive about the topic. Sims liked to keep things buried in the past. He wasn't traumatised, not as much as some others, but tried to avoid it as much as possible.

Adler turned to another man, dark haired, with a thick beard.

His files had been titled Lazar, short for Eleazar. He was an American Israeli, but judging by the way he carried himself he wasn't as American as the others and more proud of the latter.

Quit a tall guy too, you thought and made a mental note to stay away from 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.", Adler ordered. "Bell, this is where you come in. Head to the board and check for anything that could give us a lead on Perseus."

You raised your chin, cigarette dangling between your lips, unsmoked.

"And I?", you asked.

"We have a date over some paperwork.", Adler grabbed the glowing stick. "If you don't want it, I'll take that back."