Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I had been following them for a while, since their hideout outside Paris got attacked. Oh, of course I have had eyes on them for a while longer than that, multiple years in fact, ever since I had found out the truth of my lineage. Sébastien Le Livre, my three times great grandfather. How, you ask? Well we'll get to that later, right now I've got a group of mercenaries to save.

I sped through the streets of London, bypassing all of the local authority I saw on the way. I needed to get to Merrick headquarters fast. Copley was in the passenger seat, holding onto the grab handle like his life depended on it. And honestly, it probably did knowing how close I was to killing him when I figured out what he did.

As the car drifted around the last corner, I saw the group pull one of their members, the new one, out of a pile of metal that used to be a car. Glancing up, I could see multiple broken out windows where the penthouse would be. Huh, guess the new girl jumped. Faster than the elevator I suppose.

I slammed the breaks, stopping my speeding SUV right besides the group. “Get in!” I yelled out Copley’s window.

As expected, I was met with 5 guns in my face, or, well, Copley's face. Seeing him gave the group pause, so I continued. “If y’all wanna evade the cops. Get. In.”

Hearing the distant but growing sirens, the group glanced at each other, and quickly jumped into my car. As the last door closed, I threw the engine into drive and took off down the street. Weaving through the narrow streets of London was no issue for me, almost as if I could see 10 seconds ahead, could predict the flow of traffic. I was, after all, one of the best getaway drivers the CIA had ever had.

As we hit the motorway out of the city, I slowed down to match the speed of traffic, didn’t want to call attention to us any longer. I glanced up in the rear view mirror and saw the taller woman with the icy eyes staring straight into my soul. From what I had learned, she was the oldest of the group, the one they called Andy, and she was gorgeous. I raised an eyebrow as my heart sputtered, not wanting her to see any weaknesses. I could see a small smirk from her as she turned to Copley.

“So, Mr. Copley, mid telling us where we’re going? Have another buyer, in case Merrick failed?” The one they call Joe snarked from the backseat.

I chuckled as James gulped from the passenger seat. “No, no, never again. I already told Nile, but I was wrong. I had thought you all could save the world, but I went about it the complete wrong way. Merrick was a lunatic, a murderous, greedy psychopath.”

“I can vouch for him.” Nile said from the back. “He helped me find you guys. But, where are we going? And who's your southern driver over there?”

I chuckled softly and leaned over Copley, reaching into the glove compartment to pull out my earbuds. The tinnitus in my ears started to ring too loudly. James glanced over at me in concern, but I just waved him off, gesturing for him to answer Nile’s question. Low music filled my head as I listened to the others talk.

“We’re going to a safe house in Brighton. It’s about a three hour drive. I’ve used it a few times while in the CIA but it is not owned by them. This beside me is Ryder, Cassie Ryder. She's the best driver the CIA has, or, well, had. She left the company a few years back, just before I did. She said it was for personal reasons, but I think it’s deeper than that.” Copley explained to the group.

The tall brunette male in the back spoke up, I believe they called him Nicky. “Should we be speaking of her as if she is not here? It seems a bit rude, even if she cannot hear us.”

I smiled back at him quickly before turning my eyes back to the road. “I can hear you, don’t yah worry ‘bout that. He’s right though, I am the best damn driver you’ll ever meet. And yes, I did leave the company for reasons.”

“What reasons?” Andy asked, staring into my eyes again in the mirror.

“Just, reasons.” I said, not wanting to tell my secrets just yet. James didn’t even know.

Andy’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, but she made no other comment. Copley made note that the crew should rest for the next few hours, and the car turned silent. Luckily I had my music going in my ears, so I didn’t have to suffer through the high pitched ringing. I could tell there were more questions in the air, but the group did seem exhausted, so they took the offer to rest while I drove us to the safe house.

—-------------

I pulled my SUV into the long driveway of our farmhouse hideout. The house was modest, just a cozy two story cottage, but it was surrounded by acres of farmland and tree cover. Perfect for the privacy we require in our lives. I glanced over to my left to see James asleep with his head against the door, breath fogging up the window. I chuckled lightly and glanced in the back. Everyone appeared to be asleep, though I knew the group’s leader was just feigning. No matter.

I took the quiet moment to study the face of Sébastien, aka Booker. The man looked almost exactly like my father. It makes sense, since we are descendants, but the resemblance was almost uncanny. The only obvious difference I could see was that Sébastien had lighter brown hair, and my father had dark black hair. I wonder if they had the same eyes, I had my father’s eyes.

I glanced away from Sébastien to see Andy had opened her eyes, and she was studying me. Our eyes locked, and we held a staring contest. I could tell she was trying to figure me out, while I was trying to not let anything show through. I couldn't help but feel the blush creep up my neck as the stare off continued. She was a gorgeous woman, that was for sure. Our gaze was broken by James yawning and stretching besides me. I laughed quietly and pulled my left earbud out.

“James, we’re here. Imma grab our bags, you get everyone inside.” With that, I opened my door and stepped out into the crisp English air.

As I rounded the SUV to open the trunk, Andy pulled me aside, holding a gun to my side. “What do you want with us? And don’t lie, I’ve been through enough today to put up with bullshit.”

I sighed, looking into her eyes. “Listen, I’ll explain everything to y’all inside ok? Better to say it once than multiple times.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I won’t let you hurt my family.”

Oh, yea that makes sense, with everything they just went through. I should have figured. I smiled lightly at her, trying to ease her fears. “Listen, I ain’t gonna do anything that is gonna hurt y’all. I ain’t like James in there, I actually think things through. But you’re going to have to trust me.”

Her jaw clenched as she searched my eyes. It was a tense few moments before she nodded and removed the gun from my side. She tensely walked to the front door with the group as I went to grab the bags from the back. I understood where she was coming from, but one of hers was one of mine, and I wasn’t about to do anything to put them in danger.

I hitched the two duffle bags over my shoulders and took a deep breath. Things were going to come to light, and I didn’t know what to expect going forward. I had followed them for so long, seeing them face to face like this was nerve wracking. With one last huff, I straightened my spine and walked into the house, steeling myself for the long conversation to come.

Chapter Text

I walked into the small house and shrugged the bags off my shoulders, having them land on the floor with a thud. I could hear the others talking in the living room, small talk, tense. I could tell that the group of mercenaries was still on edge, ready to pounce if this was a trap. Quietly, I stepped into the room, and as expected, all the talking stopped.

“Oh look, it’s the woman of the hour!” Joe snarked from the couch. “Thank you for gracing us with your presence!”

“Joe.” Nicky softly chided from the kitchen.

Joe huffed and stood up, crossing his arms. “No. No ‘Joe’-ing me Nicolò. I have been kidnapped enough this week, I don’t need anymore of it! Tell us what is going on al'ahmaqu! (Asshole).”

I sighed, glancing at the group. Nile, Joe, and Copley were all in the living room. Nicky and Booker were looking in from the kitchen. Andy, well I couldn’t see Andy but I knew she was around. “Right, well it’s a bit of a long story, but I’ve been following y’all for a while now.”

Booker snorted from behind a glass. I can only assume he got into my liquor cabinet. “Yes we got that. Copley here had been too, which led to all of this.”

I could see Joe glare at my relative out of the corner of my eye, but I just turned to glare at James. “Yes, and I almost killed him for it, but he's useful. And actually, he only pieced the puzzle together ‘cause of me. So I s‘pose I should be apologizin' as well, though I didn’t have anything to do with Merrick.”

Andy silently walked into the room and regarded me with her icy gaze. “And how did he get the pieces from you? How did you know?”

I smiled softly at her, trying to convey that there was no harm here. “‘Bout seven years ago, I was brand new to the company. I didn’t know tit for tat, so James here took me under his wing, a small 21 year old fresh out of college. Few months in, we ran out of things to talk about, so he started tellin' me all of his stories, the wins and the losses. There was one that stood out though, made me think…”

I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of whiskey. Not my favorite, but it would do. “A year prior to me joining James, a group of mercenaries were hired by proxy to do a CIA rescue op. Surabaya. Interestin' story really. The team, a group of four, took down an entire complex in all of an hour, no civilian casualties. Then the team disappeared, CIA couldn’t find them, James couldn't find them, they were just gone.”

I leaned against the kitchen counter next to Booker, swirling my drink before downing it. “That really grabbed my attention. The story ate at me for weeks. After a while, I caved. See I got my degree in programmin’, but I grew up hacking. So I got into the company's database, took a while, but I cracked it. As you can imagine, almost everything about that op was redacted. Dates, names, places, all redacted in thick black ink, but there was an image. One, grainy image of the four mercenaries. And imagine my complete shock, when one of them looked extremely familiar.”

The group shared glances with each other, frowning at the fact that the CIA has an image of them, and also confused as to what I was insinuating. But, I continued on with my story, not giving up my answer so easily. “So I dug deeper, dark web and all that. I found a lot of things, some answers but mostly more questions. That’s when I looped James here in. Told him about what I had found and my hunches. He didn’t believe me at first, said I was getting too obsessed with make-believe stories. So not long after that, ‘bout three years ago now, I quit the CIA. They had me on desk duty anyways, wasn’t doing what I was trained for.”

“They had you on desk duty because you had gotten shot and almost died.” James piped up, frowning at me. I couldn’t tell if it was because he cared for me or if it was because he was annoyed. Maybe both?

“Eh, semantics.” I shrugged, noticing Nicky frown as well, though his did appear worried. Interesting. “Anyway, I quit, and I came here, to this little home away from home. It was easy to hide, James had no idea I stayed in the country, and I have all of my electronics here, so I could track you all from afar. Granted, you all hide yourselves very well, I will say that. It took a lot of diggin’, a lot of favor callin’ to find out what I did. And what I found was very interestin', and that led me to finding out more about myself and my lineage.”

Nile raised her hand, as if she was in school again, making me smile softly. “What do you mean we led you to your lineage?”

My smile turned into somewhat of a grimace, glancing over at Copley. I felt bad because I had left the man in the dark about all of this, the man who had turned into my surrogate father for a large chunk of my life. “Well…well it would be easier for me to show you than for me to explain.”

With that being said, I pulled out my wallet, and grabbed a wrinkled, well loved photo from inside. I took a deep breath and dropped it onto the coffee table for the whole group to see. The room let out a collective gasp, all shooting their eyes from the picture to Booker. His eyes, however, stayed trained on the image, emotions coursing through them. And then, as all eyes turned back to me, I let out my secret. “That there was my father.”