Chapter Text
It is 0300 in the morning, and Emilia Adler couldn't give two shits about being in her pajamas with her curly hair in a messy bun. The guards knew her well enough and stepped aside, not bothering to ask for her ID once they saw the expression of pure anger and annoyance on her face. When the beloved CIA agent is mad, it means no one is safe from her wrath.
She turned down a corner and scowled when she saw the man who woke her up at the Devil's fucking hour already waiting patiently outside her office door.
"Agent Black." She grits out, growing angrier when the man smiles cheekily at her.
"Ah, Mrs. Adler, sorry to awaken you at such an early hour–"
"It's way too fucking early to deal with your games, Emerson. The fuck did you and my boys get into now?" She seethes out, unlocking her office and shoving the man into the dark room. She flips on the light switch and slams the door shut behind her, watching as Black makes himself comfortable in a chair across from her desk.
"You've always been feisty. I like it. Anyways, on to business; your husband is an idiot." Yep, so it was Russell. Emilia slams her briefcase on her desk and sits down in her chair, meeting eyes with the gleaming man.
"Tell me something I don't know." She grumbles, opening her briefcase because she might as well start working on those files. Black notices this and places his hand on top of hers, halting her movements. She looks up at him and frowns, seeing how serious he now looked. "What is it?"
"I think I should show you." What the fuck did her husband do?
"In 1981, the CIA started a new experiment. It's called 'The Cradle'. William Calderon was a young, fresh faced agent back then. He heard of the experiment, how they were looking for volunteers, and upon seeing no one has yet sacrificed their lives for this project, he volunteered to be a subject. They conducted the experiment on Caldreon, only for it to fuck up and he goes...on a killing spree basically. It's because the brainwashing induces such intense fear. He destroys the facility where the program was taking place and they get him under control, brainwash him a little more, and is introduced to Jane Harrow. She becomes his handler for a bit, until he's put into Frank's Rogue Black Ops team. I know you and Russ don't care for secrecy so I'm sure you heard of their tales. Anyways, Harrow is a bad guy, er, woman, and shit goes down and Caldreon, or Case as he's known by now, kills her."
Black pauses, glancing at the young woman peering through the observation window.
"Why does this concern me, Black?" She whispers, hands clenched into fists at her sides. Black looks back at the window and sighs, handing the file he's been holding over to the other agent.
"He's been through what you, Alex, and Russell have been through. He's been used and abused. He wants to change, for the better. He wants to control the brainwashing. I want you to be his handler, take him under your wing and show him how to control it. Show him he's still human, even if it doesn't feel like it at times. It's the one thing I wish I had really focused on for Alex, and now that's he gone...I don't want that for another person." Black looks at Emilia again, who's facing him with an unreadable expression. She stares at the file in his hand before looking up at him, and her heart ached at the raw emotion shining through his features. Alex's death is still a sore topic among them, and she could see that Black saw Case as a do over, someone he could actually help and not shove aside.
"Okay." And she felt the need, the urge, to help this man out as well. Because she is tired of this brainwashing bullshit that agencies thought they can get away with. "Okay, I'll help him. Can I go in?"
"Yeah, he's been writing the last 24 hours. I've tried to ask what he's writing about, but he barely acknowledges me. I don't know how talkative he's gonna be." Black unlocks the door and takes a step to go in first, but Emilia stops him.
"I think it'll be better if I just went in." She says quietly, and Black looks uncertain.
"He can change any second, Em. You know that. I don't want you getting hurt. Russell would kill me." He tries to joke, but deep down he's scared to let the young agent go inside alone. But Emilia gives him a reassuring smile and pat on the arm before walking in, shutting the door behind her.
"Case?" She makes her presence known, walking along the side of the room so if he were to turn his head, he'll have a full view of her. "My name is Emilia."
"I know." A soft, almost broken voice whispers. "Adler talks a lot about you."
Emilia smiles, walking closer until she's standing beside the man, peering at the papers under his arms. "I hope all good things."
Case nods his head, going quiet again and Emilia takes a seat in the empty chair by his. "What are you writing, Case?"
The man looks at her, reading into her soul, before sliding the papers over. Emilia hides her surprise, gently grasping the papers and skimming through the words. Her smile turns into a frown that grows as she reads everything.
"No one knows. I can't talk about it. But I trust you. If Adler and Woods trust you, I trust you." Case murmurs, and Emilia looks at him. He's exposing himself to her, he's willing to be vulnerable.
"Have you ever had Russian cuisine?"
Russell sighs as puts out his cigarette, staring at the two story house he missed so much. He knows Emilia would have many questions to ask, especially with the subtle things he's dropped about what they were working with. He gets out of his car and locks it, walking up the steps and standing there on the porch for a moment, staring at the door. Something felt off. Perhaps he was still recovering over the events of the last few weeks.
He unlocks the door and walks in, frowning when he hears his wife laughing from the dining room. He quietly shuts the door and walks towards the noise he adores, eyes widening when he sees Emilia and a very familiar man sitting at the table, talking over some berry blini. Emilia notices him and suddenly her cheerful expression becomes unreadable, and the man also goes quiet, turning around to face him.
"Case." Russell doesn't bother hiding the surprise out of his voice, looking at his wife questionably. Emilia nods, walking over to him and placing a hand on his chest.
"Give us a moment, please, Case." She says softly, and Case nods, turning back to the pancakes. Emilia drags Russell into the kitchen, busying her hands with putting the pans in the sink. Russell crosses his arms over his chest, leaning against the island counter.
"What is he doing here, Mila?" He asks.
"Black asked me for help. You have a lot of explaining to do, Russell. Did you know?" She turns to glare up at him, and Russell winces.
"Yes, I know. I made sure they didn't do anything to him. I just didn't think Black would get you involved."
Emilia scoffed, "Woke me up at 2:30 in the morning. Went to the office dressed like this," she gestured to her pajamas and hair and Russell chuckled lightly, walking over to plant a kiss on her head.
"Still so sexy. God, I missed you." He wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her body against his. She wraps her arms around his shoulders, leaning up to kiss him softly.
"I missed you too, Russ. Now excuse me, we have a guest." She pulls away, but Russell keeps his hands on her hips.
"So what are you helping with?"
"I'm his handler." Emilia says, and Russell is dumbstruck the second time that night. Emilia pecks his cheek before walking back into the dining room, resuming her conversation with Case. He stands there for a few minutes before looking into the dining room and observing how Case seemed to speak freely with Emilia.
With a smile, he walks upstairs to their bedroom. Case is in good hands now. They were finally doing something right for once.