Frank Woods x Reader

One

"You're fucking kidding?", you laughed and wiggled the picture of a young, grey haired man with a moustache in front of your eyes. "He's back?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, the man in front of you tilted his head and lit a cigarette. He took a deep breath, which caused his broad chest that was hidden underneath a white shirt and some grey overall to tighten. His tongue licked his big lips before he pushed the shades he was wearing up his nose with two fingers.

"We don't have specific information about Perseus yet.", Adler said in his calm, rough voice and glanced at you from the brim of his sunglasses. "But there are unpleasant developments. Could turn the Cold War into a World War."

You huffed, crossed your arms and had to smirk sarcastically.

"Again?"

"Anything can happen at this point."

"I assume you're putting a team together?", you took a sip from the pitch black, low quality instant coffee and pulled a face not a second later.

The dishwater tasted more bitter than memories that you had about certain people from your past.

Taking another deep breath from his cigarette, Adler nodded. The quick movement made the mass of sideways styled, thick brown hair on his head jump.

Russell Adler, a CIA clandestine special agent in the flesh, was well known for his love to hunt Russian communists. Especially those that tried to win against the West in Vietnam. Perseus was one of Adlers many demons.

You had always liked to joke that he was his favourite demon because every time that Russian reappeared after vanishing from the face of earth, Adler dropped everything to try and eliminate him.

"Your mind is still as sharp as ever.", he said and put out the halfway smoked cigarette. "I want you in. You know all the others I've selected and I've heard that you're good in keeping the team together. I need someone who has a good eye for people. It's essential that we need to know when one of us switches sides."

The last bit of his sentence made you frown.

"Switching sides?", curious, you tilted your head and took another sip of coffee.

For a moment, Adler fell silent. Behind those dark shades, his eyes moved. He was thinking about something.

"We have a... let's say a special guest.", he said carefully.

You shook your head.

"Elaborate on that."

"I can't give away too much information. The rest of the team doesn't know too much either."

"Ah. A brainwashed zombie."

He huffed. The hint of a smirk appeared on his lips, making the scars that covered the left side of his face pull together.

"Mind as sharp as a knife. That's one thing I've always appreciated about working with you."

"I'll take that as a compliment from the great CIA clandestine special officer Russell Adler.", you sighed. "But let's be clear with each other for a moment, alright?"

"You hesitate."

"I do. Fuck, I do. Don't get me wrong, I love the thrill of this and killing a big fish like Perseus makes my brain tingle. But it sounds like you need a nanny."

"I need a guarding eye on our special teammate. Someone I can trust."

"I'm a fucking manipulator, Rus. My job is to go undercover and convince people to do things they don't want to do. I handle political meetings, cabinet debates. The USA tell me what opinions we need outside the county and I go and make others believe that it was their idea to like and support us. This...", you tapped onto the folder that Adler had given you at the beginning of your little coffee break. "This is... field shit. I don't run around and shoot people. I get into their heads."

Understanding, he nodded and leaned back to rest more comfortably.

"I am very much aware of your field of work.", he glanced over his shoulder, a habit to ensure that no one who wasn't supposed to listen was close. "But the team has many different rolls. I work with Park. She's no field solider by no means."

You frowned in surprise.

"MI6?"

"Yes. She handles the information."

"Fine...", you did a gesture. "She's of use to find out where Perseus is. Or his men. Solid reason to put her in the team. But me? Who am I going to manipulate? Our own soldiers?"

He let out an amused huff.

"No. Our special guest, code name Bell. He's Perseus right hand man. I need information from him. If anybody knows where Perseus is, it's him."

"So, you're telling me I should make friends with this Bell."

"Yes. And maybe make sure that he doesn't slip through our hands. He's quite stubborn. Only halft the brainwash worked on him."

Rolling your eyes, you sighed, let yourself fall back and rubbed your forehead.

"Work, work, work.", you groaned sarcastically. "Fine. I'll keep an eye on him, so you don't look suspicious."

"Pleasure to work with you again, kid."

He excused himself with a nod of his head and wanted to get up to leave.

But you held him back with a gesture.

Expectantly, he looked at you.

"The team.", you said and emptied your cup. "Is it a good one?"

His eyebrows rose, a sign that he was playfully offended by that question.

Since he always wore his shades, it was hard for you to tell what emotions Adler felt. But after a few times of working by his side, you had noticed that he talked with his eyebrows a lot instead.

Ever since you had found that loophole in his clean, emotionless exterior, it was easier to read what he was feeling or what he tried to hide.

"I picked the members myself.", he said with a confident tone in his voice. "You'll get along."

You nodded, smirking. There were only a hand full of people in the CIA who were qualified for missions that Adler led.

At the top of your head you could think of about a dozen potential agents, from which all were good friends or at least decent colleagues.

Except for one.

But you didn't want to think about him.