"Angel.", Adler gave your leg a gentle push. "I got something for you."

He pulled out a new fisherman hat, covered in green cargo print.

Curious, you sat up straight on the tank barrel and glanced down on him with one hand raised to shield your eyes from the sun.

"Looks big.", you noted.

"It's hard to find something the right size these days. Try it."

Shrugging, you grabbed the hat and switched it out.

It was, indeed, very big. Too big.

As you let go of the brim it slid into your face and covered half of it. Only your nose prevented the hat from sliding off entirely.

"Looks bad.", Adler noted and climbed up to sit next to you. "Let me fix that."

A few tugs and twists of his nimble fingers later and the hat fit like a glove.

"Oh boy, you should be a tailor, shades.", you joked.

"Not in a million years.", he gave you a push. "What would you be, once this is over?"

You shrugged and leaned against him, arms crossed.

"Normal sales person?"

"Probably not. You have too much of an attitude."

"Well at least I know how to handle people. Not like a certain somebody.", you poked his chest in a teasing manner.

He chuckled and wrapped an arm around your neck to let his knuckles of the other hand rub over the top of your skull.

"Say that again!", he laughed.

"Fucking hell, shades, that hurts!", you cried out but couldn't hold in a laughter yourself.

A clicking sound suddenly filled the air. A flash of light appeared.

Irritated, you and Adler looked up.

Sims was standing a few steps away. In his hands he was holding a camera, while a smug grin was on his face.

"I'll keep that for the memories.", he said.

Adler rolled his eyes.

"No you won't.", he said and lit a cigarette.

Sims shrugged.

"You don't want anything to remember angel by, doc?"

Adler blew the smoke into the sky.

"I do. But you won't keep that picture."

"Do you want it?", you asked in a sarcastic manner.

"Yes."

Sims raised an eyebrow.

"You sure, doc? Since when are you a man for pictures?"

"Never gave a fuck about them.", he responded and offered you the halfway smoked cigarette. "But since one of us might not return, I want to keep angel in good memory."

Smirking, you shook your head and took a deep drag from the cigarette.

"Sounds like we've got new business.", you noted. "Soviet activities?"

He nodded. The bright light of the sun got caught in the dark glasses of his shades.

"It's you and me this time.", Adler said and locked eyes with you.

You frowned.

"Why's that?"

"Because you need to prove to me you're worth it. I told you I want you in."

"Agent on time.", you remembered.

"Right. But you turned out to be better than I expected. I want the CIA to hire you."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Then we should end the conversation here.", he tried to fix his glasses, but pushed them too high and pulled them back down again.

You helped him out and pushed them up with two fingers.

"I was joking.", you said and looked up to the burning sun. "What are the conditions?"

"Not important.", he said.

You threw the last bit of the cigarette away.

"Everything comes with a hook, Adler. Tell me."

"If you insist. You'll be a small fish, not important at all."

"Then why am I supposed to say yes?"

"Because I know you'll work your way up. I want to keep working with you. Hard to find good people. And one day, we might work together. Who knows. But you need to prove you're willing to do it. And that I didn't talk too highly about you."

A huff escaped you.

"So I'm supposed to run into my safe death to prove a point.", you said and gifted him a smirk. "Fine. I'm in. Tell me when and where."

"Tomorrow. Don't tell a single soul."

"Got it."

"Good angel."

In the middle of the night, Adler threw you out of bed.

"Angel.", he whispered, close to your face. "It's crank time."

Grumbling, you forced yourself up and threw all the clothes on before following him into the night.

"Where are we going?", you asked and looked around.

Nobody was to be seen, just a fee guards who had to do night duty.

He didn't answer. Instead, Adler guided you down to the helicopter field, past all the metal birds and down some stairs that led dangerously close to the unsafe edge of the camp.

Down there, hidden on a small plateau, waited a helicopter that was a lot better equipped than the ones the unit was allowed to use.

A group of people was already waiting inside. They were dressed in black, geared up as if they were about to fight god himself.

Adler offered you a riffle.

"That's the team.", he said and jumped into the helicopter. "No questions, no chatter. We fly to the location, do our job and leave, got it?"

Grabbing the gun tighter, you nodded and sat next to him.

As the bird rose into the air, a strange feeling chased through your body.

Somehow, this felt like a bad omen. Not just because the other people around seemed highly suspicious.

Your gut feeling also told you that something was off.

Immediately, your eyes jumped to Adler.

He glanced at you from the corner of his eyes.

Bright blue hit worried (E/C).

"Adler...", you whispered.

He gently shook his head to tell you to play along.

"Once this is over, call me Russell.", he said out of the blue. "I have a feeling us two will have a long history of successful cooperations in the future."

Swallowing hard, you nodded and leaned back, pretending nothing was wrong.

But despite that feeling and his ability to notice your concerns, it still didn't feel right.

The others in this helicopter weren't friends.

And somehow, you doubted they were even part of the CIA.