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Adeline dropped down the submarine followed by Shado, the grip on her gun tight. SHe couldn’t afford to hesitate, to let her guard down for even a second because then she would start crying again and she wouldn’t be able to stop herself. Slade didn’t need his wife right now he need his partner, someone who had his back upon pain of death, and Adeline could do that of she could just focus. Not worry about Ivo’s men tracking them down, just focus on saving her best friend. Shado shined her flashlight around the sub, seeing that this was the main compartment and engine room, there was no place for the supposed miracle drug.
She felt her spine go cold as Slade slipped, dropped , down the ladder, she glanced behind her seeing him being helped up by Oliver. Her eyes grew hot, and her vision blurred as she felt her lip tremble. She took a shuddering breath as Oliver set Slade down. Adeline turned and faced Slade crouching in front of him,”Oliver, I’ll stay with him. Go find the mirakuru. I’ll keep him safe.”
Adeline put a hand on the unburnt side of his face and nuzzled him. Slade was shivering, he hadn’t seriously stopped since the plane, he could mask it if they were moving but sitting in the main compartment of a World War Two era submarine that hadn’t been boarded in over 60 years, the frigid air quickly cut through Slade’s slightly chewed up charred uniform and Adeline’s suit, hers was a little more insulated based on the fact that she wasn’t a soldier in the same vein of Wintergreen and Slade, she was a spy, she was supposed to negotiate the release of Yao Fei and she failed. This was all her fault. She heard Oliver and Shado mutter about Slade not having much time left even if the found the Mirakuru. Adeline heard his breath rattling in his chest. Slade snapped at Oliver as his hand gripped Adeline’s wrist,”I’ll just make myself comfortable.”
Adeline curled her body up to his, careful to avoid his burns. Her body acting as a sort of blanket, trying to at least making him less miserable,”Sorry, Love, guess this wasn’t what you planned.”
Adeline looked up at Slade, her eyes shiny with tears. Slade’s eyes were slightly foggy with pain,”Neither was falling in love with an eighteen year old soldier with authority issues, and yet. Here we are, twenty years, a kid, and countless missions later. Plans rarely survive a first encounter. You know this. What’s never in the plan is you dying. Do you understand me?”
Slade made a noise of discomfort as he was hit with a particularly violent shiver,”That an order?”
Adeline hit his cheek gently, her voice taking on a slightly commanding tone,”If you have to ask then you know the answer.”
Adeline jumped slightly hearing the pounding of boots on the submarine hull, her free hand going to the gun on her thigh, shifting her position so she could have a clear shot at whoever came through that door. Slade twisted so he could stretch out and get more comfortable, his head resting against the wall. Oliver and Shado burst through the door at Adeline’s back, as Sara ran to the door in front of them trying to lock it. Adeline moved up toward the wall that Slade was laying against, giving Oliver and Shado room to crouch by him. She turned to look at Oliver as he showed Slade the mirakuru,”This could either save you or it could kill you.”
Slade looked resigned,”Judging by the looks on your faces, I’m going to die anyway.”
Slade looked up at Adeline and grabbed her hand as she kissed his hand,”Almado, we’re not going to leave you.”
Slade touched her forehead to his, his voice hoarse,”You’ll tell them right, tell them I’m sorry? I’m sorry for all of this, you shouldn’t’ve had to come.”
Adeline kissed his temple, her voice soft yet near breaking,”Where you go, I go. No matter what.”
Slade’s face ran through a myriad of emotions, before he looked at Oliver his eyes bright with tears. Slade’s voice was stilted and forced, as if he didn’t want to say the words himself,”Do it.”
Oliver nodded and plunged the needle into Slade’s thigh. Slade’s body stiffened and his eyes rolled back into his head, as he screamed a gut-wrenching pain filled scream. Adeline, Oliver, and Shado tried to hold Slade down so he wouldn’t end up accidentally hurting himself. Slade twisted as if he tried to get out of their grip, he began bleeding from his eyes as if crying tears of blood. Slade gave one final scream before his head dropped to his chest and his eyes became unfocused and glazed before closing one final time. Shado pulled Oliver away as he started to cry and shake Slade. Adeline grasped Slade’s face with her hands, her shoulders shaking and her eyes blurry,”Slade? Slade? Open your eyes.”
Sara leaned forward to try and take Slade’s pulse, but was pushed away by Adeline as she pulled him to her chest and snarled,”Do not touch him.”
Adeline started to sob, as she rocked herself and Slade back and forth, she couldn’t stop crying. The emotions she tried to compartmentalize as Slade was injured and they were trying to stay one step ahead of Ivo, and this was her best friend. One of the only people that understood how important loyalty was to her, the loyalty to her country that allowed her to lie to her child, her friends, her family. She knew how people saw her, the Ice Queen, who didn’t care for anybody. Who didn’t feel for anything.
Adeline buried her head in his shoulder, muffling her sobs as the submarine door screeched open and Ivo’s men ran into the main compartment of the sub,”Put down your weapons!”
Adeline tried to tighten her grip on Slade as Ivo’s men roughly grabbed her, pulling her away by pulling her up and back by her hair. She bared her teeth at Ivo as she struggled against the captain’s grip. Ivo walked passed her a level of disdain on his face as he checked Slade’s pulse, he glanced back at Adeline,”How disappointing. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Adeline snarled at him,”Don’t pretend to know what I’m feeling. You would actually need a heart for that. You wouldn’t need to manipulate little girls into doing your bidding otherwise.”
Ivo pressed his gun to Adeline’s left shoulder and pulled the trigger, causing her to scream and sag forward slightly,”Don’t pretend you have grasp on who I am.”
Ivo straightened his spine and cracked the butt of the gun across Adeline’s temple, and she fell into unconsciousness as she was dropped unceremoniously on the floor with her shoulder steadily bleeding. Shado, Oliver and Sara were pulled out of the submarine by gunpoint, while their friend was left bleeding on the floor next to the body of her husband.
Oliver watched as Ivo pulled the door shut behind him and spun the locking mechanism into place,”You’ll kill her.”
Ivo snapped at Oliver as he was dragged off the sub,”She was dead anyways.”