Bell pulled her car into the parking lot, the lot being full of just purely a million specks of dust. She silently prepared herself, just sitting there quietly in the driver's seat. It was profusely ironic, her stepping right back into a lifestyle that she promised herself she'd never go back into again.

She just wanted to forget everything about her past. It was taxing to even think of the kind of work that she was put through, travelling from country to country and even continent to continent. Bell also even wanted to completely forget about what Adler had willingly did, despite the connection they withheld and how hard it would be to forget.

The hardest part about this would be having to reconnect with her "boss," or the leader of the team, after everything they had went through. She felt secretly that she could never forgive him, but that softness for Adler still lies in her heart so quietly. The way he ran his fingers through her hair whenever she'd been stressed out from a mission. Or even when he would do the most simplest things, such as giving her face small kisses or holding her hand or squeezing her thigh. It made her feel safe and sound, and she kept thinking and thinking and thinking of all of these things that used to be and weren't anymore and she just couldn't stop thinking, it all kept going so quick, like several hundreds of miles an hour...

Bell finally snapped out of it. Her surroundings were slowly blurring back into vision and everything soon switched back to full focus. She must've gotten stuck in her head, because 20 minutes have now passed.

She also remembered how strict Adler was about being perfectly on time.

"Shit." Bell spat out as she exited the car, and grabbed her bags, heading straight for the safe house. Her shoes pattered quickly down against the ground, trying to get inside as fast as she could.

Opening the door nervously, she stepped inside and started rambling. "I'm genuinely so sorry. I got lost and I couldn't find my way here an-"

A British accent quickly interrupted Bell's, almost as if it was for pure consolation. "Welcome back, Bell. It's good to see you here on the team again." She stood up from her working space, then walked over to pat Bell's shoulder, giving her a warm smile.

Park. God, what a lovely sight to see.

Helen Park was one of Bell's favorites on the team. (other than no need to clarify) She always helped Bell with several different issues, like money, the missions they were assigned, relationship issues— this in which Bell never emphasized who she were having the problems with, even though Park could obviously tell— and practically advised Bell through absolutely everything she had problems with. Sort of like a mother.

Bell let out a deep sigh. "Appreciate it, thank you." Looking around, she couldn't find Russell anywhere. Raising an eyebrow, she turned to Park. "Where's Adler?"

Park put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "The man is so prompt about being on time and getting to places identically when needed, when yet he can't even show up to the party himself." The woman let out a deep sigh and turned to Bell. "Don't worry, Bell. He should be here soon. For now, unpack your things and settle in. There's a room for you to ease up in upstairs."

Bell nodded and walked up to the room, trudging her bags along her side. The room was very much old. It smelled like musty old carpet, becoming increasingly intense as she entered the room. The paint on the wall was cracking and the floor looked like it could be torn to pieces if anyone tried. She could see flying specks of dust in the rays of sunlight. The imagery was sort of nostalgic, bittersweet in a way she couldn't place her finger on. Bell really just stood there and carefully placed her bag on the floor, and let her mind wander a bit. She wondered what this room was specifically used for, and it got her excited to think about what may have happened in there. Secret meetings, maybe even a family resided in here during World War II. Maybe even just a normal family lived here— a mother, a father, several children to take care of. Bell wondered deeply how they were taken care of in such a used-to-be-magnificent-home, and also imagined how beautiful the place probably was before it was transformed into an absolute shit-hole. The ideas really just kept spinning in her head like a threading machine, repeatedly like they did in the car.

"Hey, kid."

Bell jumped a little bit and sighed deeply to see that the voice from the figure was Adler. Of course he just had to startle her. "Jesus, Adler. You need to start knocking."

She folded her arms, then snickered when Adler knocked on the door.

"Better?" He said sarcastically.

Bell looked at him and then down at her bags, unzipping them and taking out the contents, beginning to unpack for her new home. If she needed to get settled in, she needed to do it without zoning out.

"Likin' the place? I know it's nothing like home but.. It's the best of the worst." Adler spoke while lighting up a cigarette.

The smell of nicotine and smoke wafted off of him. It made her feel nostalgic, but also sort of heavy-hearted. She couldn't describe it, but she instead just casually shot back a thin-lipped grin up at him.

"You know, it's somewhere. Could be very much worse but it's not." Bell continued unpacking and folded her clothes inside of the dusty drawer, Adler just leaning in the doorway. She stopped for a moment then looked over at him, her hands rested on her bag. Silently, Bell admired the way he just stood there so casually, watching her doing her own thing from afar. Maybe Adler did care about her if he was so intrigued on the way she unpacked her items. Then she spoke. 

"Hey Adler?"

Adler stopped and turned back around, as he was just about to leave, raising an eyebrow at Bell.

"It's good to be back on the team." She said with a gentleness to her voice.

Adler stood there with his normal stoic expression then nodded to her. "Catch ya around, Bell." He walked away, leaving her with that sentence to hang in the air with no response other than a simple nod. Bell didn't know whether to feel confused or delighted that he had even thought to acknowledge her efforts to be kind. It was genuinely extremely hard considering what he had done with zero hesitation.

After about half an hour, Bell finally finished unpacking. She decided to go downstairs and meet both Park and Adler in the small yellow backroom with just a small light hanging from above.  Different colored files were sprawled all across the table, Intel such as locations, several different people and agents, devices, coordinates, whatever you could think of during an investigation. The cigarette's fumes intensified and Bell knew exactly where it was coming from.

"Oh, lovely! Come over and join us, Bell. We were just discussing some things for upcoming missions." Adler stayed completely silent, his expression staying neutral while he glanced up at Bell and flicked the ashes from his cigarette into the dark gray ash tray. 

They quickly broke the shared gaze and instead looked at the table piled with several different pieces of evidence. Bell felt a little anxious, setting herself down in a seat nearby and folding her arms. "So.. What is all of this?"

Park smiled a little bit and folded her hands, preparing herself to explain every single detail to Bell.

"Essentially, Woods and Mason have collected some very interesting Intel from a particular base located in West Berlin. The two found very specific photographs and files of, what it seems to be, servant agents for Perseus that are still roaming the streets. They also acquired several database files containing information and insight on a project deemed as 'Project Sapphire.'"

Bell raised an eyebrow. "Project Sapphire?"

Park gently nodded towards her, then turning her head towards Adler, initiating for him to speak.

"These agents seem to be spread all across Berlin. We're thinking of dividing the team into  factions to capture these targets and interrogate them into giving us the information we need." He took another drag then spoke again while blowing out the smoke. "And then you know what the drill is after."

Bell stayed quiet, this new information just forcing her to remember all of the stress she put her body through during lethal missions. It was excruciatingly petrifying to think about going back to this lifestyle. Letting out a deep and shaky sigh, she nodded. 

Adler noticed the unusual silence from Bell. He stared over at her with a sympathetic yet blank stare. The combination of the two helped his intimidating expression remain. 

"Now, Project Sapphire is a whole other ordeal. We have no clue at all what it may be, whether it be another nuclear plan of action or any other kind of scheme that he's orchestrating. It could be anything at this point, Bell, and that's why we're relying on you to help." Park leaned back in her chair as she explained. Looking towards Bell, she tilted her head. "Are you willing to help us out?"

Bell let out a deep sigh and let a chuckle escape her. "There's no other choice that I have. I've got to do this or I don't think my lifespan will increase for much longer." You could tell that sentence made Adler jolt in discomfort a little bit, the thought of someone he "cared" for very much making him feel not at ease. Even though he did try to kill her a few years ago, his opinion of someone he experimented on so willingly yet inhumanely had changed so diversely and quickly over the time-span of a year. That's the whole reason why he invited her back, but disguising it as needing another person on the team who was intelligent. When in all truth, Adler appreciated the girl very much. 

"It's good you came back. That was another choice you made on your own accord, Bell. That's what a true hero is." Adler flicked some of his cigarette into the ashtray. Bell was quiet, glancing over at Adler and just silently cursing him for being the way he was. It was violently frustrating to see him be so weirdly compassionate with her, desiring for him to just stick with a singular personality and quit switching between just to reassure Bell,or to maybe even just reassure himself.

Bell then nodded and got up. "I'm gonna try and go get some rest. It's been a long day." There's a huge difference between being physically exhausted, and emotionally exhausted. There may be a sort of thin line between them, but regardless, the two have vast, obvious differences. Bell, at this point, was mentally and emotionally exhausted. The amount of suspicion that people had on her in this moment, specifically on this team, was undeniably extreme. Regardless of her making the right decision for the team last year, people still had a right to believe that Bell could turn on them at any moment. The thought of anything like that happening constantly kept her on edge, and had to constantly assume that the chance of something dire happening was still at large. She silently had wished that Woods and Hudson didn't have their consistent suspicion on her, for it just added way more stress than she already had. 

Woods, Mason, Park, and (maybe) Hudson were great teammates. They all guided Bell to where she needed to be, and trained her senses and skills to become even stronger than before. 

Woods was a pain in the ass sometimes. Him and Mason sustained a strong friendship throughout the years ever since the Korean War, so their relationship was obviously quite tightly-pact. They always backed each other up on absolutely everything, no matter what the situation was. Well, whenever Woods was in his right mind and actually acting out of common sense and intelligence rather than emotion. Sometimes, Woods just couldn't help himself. Certain situations would just happen, and he felt so passionate about that situation that he just has to speak out. Very quick-witted, intense, zealous. 

Meanwhile, Mason was a very careful, honest soul. Sometimes, he was a little intense, but it was only when necessary. Upon a time, Hudson and Woods got into a pretty heated argument and the two just could not find a common ground. Mason had to forcefully step in and help find that compromise. It was difficult, but with effort and Mason's calm demeanor, tensions between the consistently-bickering two finally settled. Well, temporarily.

Hudson? That's a whole other situation. He was so hard headed and intense that Bell began to dislike him. Only because Hudson disliked her at first, though. Hudson was extremely suspicious of Bell from the very beginning, no matter what kind of great mission feedback they had received from her. There was absolutely nothing that Bell could do to help Hudson begin to like her, no matter what she tried, but she was completely satisfied with that outcome. 

Anyways, Bell rose up from her chair and sighed out as she headed upstairs, Park heading out to just chill out outside or maybe leave for a little bit to find wherever the hell Woods and Mason are. As Bell was heading up the stairs, she felt a sudden yet tight grip on her wrist. Turning back to look down, Adler was silently surveying her. 

"Adler. What are you doing?" Bell spoke quietly, moving down just a step to match his gaze. He sighed out deeply and let go of her wrist, allowing her hand to fall right back down, his eyes slipping shut for quite a few seconds. His lips stayed in a thin line while he thought of what to say.

"I just want you to understand that it's reasonable to be anxious. Believe me when I said I've had my fair share of anxiousness during these missions, Bell. You won't be alone in this." Adler fixed his aviators and looked back down. "That's all. Get to bed." 

Bell stood there for a few moments, standing there in shock. Finally snapping out of her own head, she whispered quietly. "Thank you, Russell." 

Bell headed up to her room, those words that Adler spoke repeating in her head like a broken record. She continued to think about what he said, and how oddly comforting yet menacing it was. Then she began to wonder how much trauma and suffering Adler must've went through for him to say those kind of words.

Believe me when I said I've had my fair share of anxiousness during these missions, Bell. You won't be alone in this.

There was a kind vulnerability in this sentence that kept her up. It was like he finally subtly opened up to her to make her feel more sheltered and taken care of. Then again, Adler did everything he could at this point to try and keep Bell safe, despite their awful past.

Slipping her eyes shut, Bell finally drifted off to sleep, a comfort in mind that maybe her past team-members did give a shit about her and weren't using her this time.