Chapter Text
You're Bell (MALE). Not the one that chimes, or rings, but you always do seem to be there at the perfect time. Clockwork.
Anyhow, you and the rest of Adler's unit have been doing numbers to the Soviet Union, more specifically, Perseus' plan. With nuclear bombs implanted under most major European cities, it's important you work diligently to complete your tasks before it's too late.
On your last mission to infiltrate a facility in Cuba (End of the Line), you were forced to choose between one of your two teammates to attach a wench to for extraction after an explosion. In this world, you chose Lazar. This cannot be altered, not now. You can't go back and change your past. The future, however, falls in your ringing hands.
Before you could do anything, you're thrown on an operation table by Adler in order to find your biggest secrets... behind your red door within your mind. After struggling, you finally enter, to reveal Perseus' exact plans. Where he'll be, when he'll detonate the nukes... and how to stop it.
You have the intel. You know how to end this-
...
Wait... how do you have the intel?
Your eyes flicker open. Sims is leaning against the operation table, a judgmental look crossing his face.
"He's coming to," he mutters to Adler.
"Bell, no more fucking around," Adler raises his voice, grabbing onto your shoulders and pinning you to the table. "What did Perseus say? Where is he?"
"...What's happening to me?" You ask.
"You're disoriented, Bell. We'll explain everything later. Right now, we need to help each other."
"Bullshit," you answer fast.
"'Bullshit' is what you're whole life will amount to if you don't come clean," he lifts you slightly and shoves you back onto the table. "Tell us where Perseus is!"
"..."
"What did you do to me?"
"We gave you a second chance when you were shit out of luck..." he lets go of you and backs of, crossing his arms. "Now, we just want some assistance in return."
You're not fully sure what he means, but something is telling you you've been lied to.
"Bell," Lazar's gentle, yet gruff voice cuts in. "Bell, you were one of Perseus agents. His associate, Arash Kadivar, turned on you at the airstrip in Turkey. Left you for dead."
Everything comes back to you. You remember the words of Arash, how he explained the ambushing predicament. Right before he could give the fatal wound to you, he was shot and killed... by your current team. They saved you... kinda.
You remember Adler finding you... and his words. "We got a live one!"
You question it, but, in the end, speak. "I believe you... I'll help you if I can."
Adler goes on to explain how the CIA reinvented you. How they tried to reinvent you through normal processes, but nothing worked. They gave you a new identity, name to go by, everything.
Even that damn phrase Adler always says, "We got a job to do," was to change your way of thinking. It was all to establish trust to this team.
To Adler.
Now, you can't tell which memories are even real or not. Whether you truly fought in Vietnam, or it was just you're imagination. They say it was just to get you to believe them... but even now... you just...
Don't know.
"Bell, I realize you probably hate us right now," Adler's voice cuts through your thoughts. "What we've done to you. I just need you to fully understand the stakes here. What you do right now is not about me. It's not about you. It's about millions of other fucking people. It's about stopping someone who, in the end, has no true allegiance to anyone other than himself."
The speech makes you stop and think for a second... remember what Perseus was really like. You've met him before. Been in the same room. He trusted you, before you became a weapon for the Western world.
"So tell me... where is Perseus?" Adler asks, leaning in close.
A Russian accent rings through your ears. "Once we control the Greenlight arsenal, we will detonate them all from the safety of Solovetsky."
There it is. The answer you'd- no... they've been looking for all along.
Adler asks once more. "Where is he, Bell?"
"From the safety of Solovetsky... Solovetsky..." it rings through your ears. You can tell him right now and it all has a chance of ending.
But, they've done so much to harm you, and for what? Why... why you? You deserve so much better than this.
So, in the end, it's your choice. The future rings in your hands, after all.
CHOICE:
[TRUTH] Solovetsky. It's Solovetsky Monastery.
[LIE] Duga. The radar array near Duga.
If truth, go to "The Final Countdown" (Chapter 3 of 5)
If lie, go to "Ashes To Ashes - On You (Epilogue)" (Chapter 2 of 5)