Synopsis: After getting into an odd job for a government agency, you find yourself growing closer to your first mission.
Tag list (I brought this up like three months ago, so if you don't want to be tagged, lmk): @111haru111, @somethin-sparklyy, @snowyathena, @angeliquekiss
Pairing: Adrian Chase x Fem!Reader
Additional Tags: Stalking, Reader works for ARGUS, violence, near-death experiences, uhhh idk other tags atp
A/N: OK GUYS HOLY SHIT I AM SO SORRY FOR LIKE THE THREE MONTH BREAK!! Explanation of the insanity in post-fic notes! I know I posted about this like three months ago, hopefully there is still an audience and the ppl who are tagged actually wanted to be tagged, lowk sorry if not
If anyone is willing to be a beta reader, that would literally be amazing I will also beta your fics bc I need more Adrian Chase in my life 🙏
I can't wait to write freak for freak guys, ughhh I missed it, I just had a lot of thoughts about this lmao. This beginning is a little rusty tbh
Before you started this business, you had finally snapped. After months of shitty tips and terrible customers, you had enough. It wasn't anything in particular, either; you were just done with the treatment.
Unfortunately, finding work was surprisingly not easy for someone with your resume. With a good education in biomedical sciences and forensics, you thought somewhere or other would find your knowledge useful, but the job search was filled with dead ends.
A couple of days turned into two weeks, and you grew desperate to find some type of income. You tried local stores, chains, and even places way out of the way for you. No one would take you.
You found yourself spiraling. With few friends and far between, you became engrossed in your own research to pass the time while between jobs. Just small ones: your average tests on field mice, injections of semi-harmless substances. Most of the work was carried over from your thesis work, equipment admittedly stolen from your labs. You never actually got caught stealing, so why worry about it years later? You started spilling over your documents and papers, frantically throwing anything at the wall, trying to find anything that could help you land an award or something to get a job in a field you were actually passionate about.
That's until you get an unusual email from some government agency.
"ARGUS…" you trailed off, mumbling as you read through the email.
You had your resume online, but you gave up on trying to directly apply a week ago and decided to take a short break to get things in order. The email seemed sketchy. Like, yeah, absolutely, a highly regarded government agency emailed you directly about doing some investigating in Evergreen, a completely harmless area. Seems totally legit.
'Ignored,' you thought, deleting the notification.
A follow-up email appeared in your inbox three days later. Same sender, same information, same everything. Waiting until you got home from the bar you sulked at, you opened the email on your computer. You spend hours on the computer researching what the hell ARGUS actually did. You've probably heard the name once or twice in passing, but bullshit political agencies that didn't actually do anything never really interested you. You much preferred studying crime scene data.
When you finally emailed back asking for more information, you were sent files in the mail a day later, full of it. Information on people, places, groups, and crimes. Crazy shit, you had no idea what to do with it.
Finally, with more explanation from the still anonymous email, you were able to decipher what they actually wanted you to do. Investigate. Completely what you wanted to do, not work at some crappy diner with bullshit customers. This was something that actually excited and interested you. Plus, you worked alone, on your own time, as long as you actually did what they asked. For now: watch people. Not exactly what you wanted, but easy enough for the first bit.
Your first POI: Adrian Chase. Why he was a POI, you weren't told. You were only there to gather information on the subject.
Serial Killer glasses, clothes that looked like his mom picked them out—wait, still living with his mom? Made sense. And potentially a murderer. Potentially, you had to keep telling yourself. Something about him—his smirk on his pictures, the glasses, the curly hair—made you feel some things. But no, this can't happen with your first assignment.
Just a few weeks of watching, hanging out in his place of work, and following him home. That's all you needed to do as of now. Pretty easy job if you say so yourself. He seemed to be in his own world at times. Smiling, rambling to anyone who would listen—which didn't seem like most people. You started to feel bad for the guy. No one who would listen? He seemed pretty passionate about what he was talking about, judging by what you could hear from a distance.
Sometimes you found yourself engrossed in his conversations from afar. The way his smile lit up when someone would give him an ounce of their attention. He was kind of cute the way he would just ramble on and on about whatever he could.
You found yourself getting closer, not extremely, but enough to actually take in what he was saying. You told yourself it was for the job. To gather more information. That's definitely what it was.
He wasn't a murderer—not really, anyway. He just had a strong sense of justice. Surprisingly, he was quite organized in his "detective work"—as he would describe it—despite his messiness at his job at Fennel Fields. On your third day of watching him, you followed him to an abandoned warehouse. Wearily, you stayed outside waiting to see what he was doing. Did ARGUS suspect him to be a part of some drug scheme? No, from his file, he seemed to have a very strict moral code.
That's when you heard some bloodcurdling screams from inside the building. You saw him, Vigilante, practically skipping out of the building a few minutes later, carrying a large duffel bag and heading to his car. Then he just went home.
Using your deduction skills, you could tell he didn't really trust many authority figures with work like this. You respected it as you watched him remove his mask in his car, blood running down his face from his nose. It shouldn't be as hot as it is. You curse yourself as you follow him home, trying not to think about the thoughts trying to overflow your brain.
Adrian could talk for hours about any topic he could to anybody who would listen. Some of his coworkers pitied him. Only slightly, however. The beginning of the shifts would start with a few half-listeners, but near the halfway mark, everyone would have an excuse, even if business was nonexistent.
"Adrian, get off the phone!" A waitress would yell from the door.
"One second!" He yelled back, desperately trying to call his friend Chris.
"There's like fifteen tables waiting for you!" Adrian rolled his eyes and gave up on contacting, opting for a haphazard text as he walked inside.
"I doubt it's actually fifteen." He tried to joke.
"Whatever, dude." She slammed the door behind them in frustration.
He knew he had spewed a few incorrect statements, but that didn't mean some of his facts weren't true.
"Did you see the news? That guy Vigilante just busted some drug trafficking B.S. last night."
"Yeah, he seems pretty scary." His coworker rolled his eyes.
"I mean, he is doing some pretty badass shit, though. Right?" Adrian inserted himself.
"I mean, I guess." He shrugged and walked away.
"He is absolutely badass!" Adrian would insist anytime Vigilante was mentioned. Usually, he kept a low profile, but he felt there were more eyes on him than usual.
"Adrian, do your job, man." His boss would yell at him, gesturing at the messy tables.
"Jeeze, I'm going." He scrambled from his idle position, seemingly staring into space. He was actually staring at you.
He noticed you had been coming in every so often out of nowhere. Usually typing away on your laptop, you had been coming at odd hours, usually during all of his shifts.
Adrian started noticing you. It was subtly noticeable, but blatantly obvious as a few weeks went by, and coming to Fennel Fields every other day.
"Hey, do you actually like the food here?" He walks up to you.
"Oh shit—" you jump out of your seat, knocking down a glass of water after being startled out of your focus. Adrian quickly catches the glass before it spills over your laptop.
"Whoa, sorry!" He scrambles to clean up the small amount of drink on the table.
"I-it's fine." Shit, this wasn't supposed to happen. You were supposed to lie low.
"There, all fixed." He smiles.
"Yeah, yeah, uhm, what?" You look up at him expectantly.
"Oh, uh, I see you in here like, a lot, so I was just wondering if you liked the food, actually, or you're here for some weird reason." He raises his brow suspiciously.
"I'm just here to use the space for… work." Shit, nice cover, dumbass, totally convincing.
"Oh, cool." He stands there awkwardly. You just look up at him, taking in the full profile in front of you.
"Yep." You reply, analyzing his features: his green eyes shifting away from eye contact, the way he pushes up his glasses with the inner side of his hand, the small shuffle of his feet, trying to figure out what to do.
"SO! You, like, come here often because it's close to your house too?"
"Yeah." You lie. Why did he need to know that?
"Awesome. I, uh, should go." He awkwardly skitters off, giving you no time to acknowledge the sheer discomfort of the conversation. You both were hiding something. Obviously, you were, and you knew he was Vigilante, but was he… investigating you just now? God, he has to work on his tactics; that was terrible.
After a few more hours of watching, once again, you came up with nothing out of the ordinary, just a guy who didn't really have a social life inside his place of work. The only off thing you noticed was how much he was staring at you as you started to pack up. He glances back and forth from you to his watch. You leave in a hurry, clutching your bag in hand. He didn't see anything, right?
You make quick work of getting to your car and driving away.
Your phone starts ringing halfway through the drive. It's an unknown number.
"You look at your stuff in the open while watching him?"
"It's a good thing you use your computer outside of the house, we'd have a prob-"
"I work with ARGUS." The man on the other end explains. This was the first truly provable human contact from your job ever.
"I need you to be more discreet. We can't have you exposing the mission."
"Ok, forgive me for not knowing 'proper protocol or whatever the fuck."
"We hired you because of your advanced research in your field. Don't make us regret this."
"I- ok." You had to stop being so snappy.
"We need you to be more thorough."
"Well, forgive me. I'm not exactly sure what I'm investigating."
"You are investigating his day-to-day, just as we instructed."
"I know, but what's that got to do wi-"
Then you see him. Vigilante.
"Now, do not hang up-" You hang up and watch as Vigilante runs back into an alley. What is he doing? You haphazardly park your car and follow his path. As you approach, you hear some muffled grunts and sounds of boots hitting the ground, struggling to get their footing, it sounds like. You carefully creep closer, holding your breath as you hear a gun click. When you round the corner, you don't really know what to expect. Vigilante is in the middle of a kick to the head of some guy, struggling out of a chokehold from another, when he notices you.
"Shit!" He yells, head shooting up towards you. He loses his footing as one guy slams him down to the ground. You watch, horrified at what to do. You can't lose him now! What if you get fired? Or worse, assassinated. You didn't know what the fuck ARGUS did! You are frozen, though, paralyzed with indecision and fear.
"Get out of here!" He groans, holding his side as he tries to get up. When one man approaches him, he swiftly grabs his calf and slams him down next to him. His hands slip down to grasp his knife, hurriedly finding his neck and stabbing him frantically. The guy standing wastes no time, grabbing Vigilante's arms and restraining him.
You really should do something. Hesitantly, you step forward.
"Do not come closer!" The man yelled. You meekly stepped back. Vigilante kicks the man's shins, and he doubles over in pain, giving him enough time to grab his knife and stab him now. After three good stabs to the shoulder, the man gives up, sinking to the ground. Vigilante is breathing heavily for a good minute before turning to you. You watch as he grips his side, blood pooling around his hip as he hits the floor.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." You scramble to the floor where he lies, sputtering and murmuring. Your mind blanks as a plan hits your brain. Quickly, you run towards the end of the alley and around the corner towards your car, moving it so it covers the opening to the alleyway. You struggle picking Vigilante up, but manage to shove him into your back seat.
You don't know what compelled you to do this. Were you responsible for keeping him alive? It didn't necessarily say it in the brief job description you were given, but you figured your job would be more stable if your first POI was kept alive by the end of the mission.
Blood-stained hands turn the wheel around sharp corners on the way to your apartment. Your eyes keep darting to the back seat, watching for any sign of movement from the body.
"What is happening?" You ask yourself as you drag his body to your door. Shoving him against the wall, you struggle with the lock. Finally, you're able to get him in and dump him onto your couch.
First things first, you remove your scientific equipment from the subject and into your room. You gather your things in piles, probably not the best move, but you needed to get this done. After practically baby-proofing the space, you drag one of your kitchen chairs over to the living room and grab some zip ties.
Adrian's body wasn't as heavy with the armor, but it was still a struggle to get him over to the chair, especially with all the blood dripping and having to grip his bare torso. He was left in his underwear due to the armor stripping, but it made your job easier—well, one of your jobs. You try not to stare at his frame for too long. You grab your first aid kit and stitch him up just enough that he won't bleed out, then you restrain him to the chair.
Throughout the night, you sit opposite of him, waiting for any signs of consciousness.
By 4 AM, he started to stir. You sit up from your slouched position in your chair.
"Wh- where…?" He slurrs, eyes blinking furiously.
"Ok, Vigilante. We're going to go about this nice and easy." You've watched enough cop movies to know how you should go about this.
"Holy shit, is that you?" He squints, trying to make out your face.
"If by 'you', you mean the person at Fennel Fields who keeps showing up, then yes, it's me."
"So… so we're… at your house?"
"Apartment, but yeah." You
"Can I have my glas-" he coughs up some blood at that request.
"Glasses? Where are they?" You ask.
"In my compartment on my right thigh." You grab his glasses and slide them onto his face. His eyes try to adjust once again, and he looks up at you and tries to stand up.
"Because I want to know why ARGUS wants to know more about you."
"Uh… ARGUS? I'm sorry, what the fuck is going on?" He jerks his body so hard in frustration that he falls to the floor, groaning in pain.
"Are you serious right now?"
"Fuck, I don't know. Whatever the fuck government agency wants to know about me, they probably already have it. I fight crime! I'm probably doing them a favor." He grimaces, looking up at you. You could get used to the view.
"ARGUS keeps tabs on meta-humans. I think they suspect you to be one."
"You think? Isn't this like your job or something?"
"They're very… secretive."
"It's something to pay the bills."
"But they won't tell you anything?"
"Nope. I do reports, and they process the information."
"Reports… on what exactly?" He just seemed confused now.
"So you're paid to stalk me basically?"
"Yeah, but that shouldn't be a problem for you. I've seen you stalk millions of people—including your friend Christopher Smith."
"Uh, best friend, thank you. And I'm just looking out for the community," he justifies.
"The community—back to the point, ARGUS is trying to figure out how much of a threat you are. So are you going to explain your meta-human shit, or not?"
"You can't make me do anything."
"But I can drawl this out as long as I please." You smile at him, finally deciding to lift his chair back in standing position, trying not to show the struggle.
"Ugh, I don't know anything, ok? I mean, I'm ok, right?"
"You healed fine if that's what you're asking."
"So like, when I was in high school, I got beat up a lot. I dunno, it wasn't that bad," he reassures as you make a face. "I'm just saying I didn't get as hurt as I should have."
"So like, healing factors?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Is ARGUS going to be mad or something? Is there going to be an executioner?"
"I don't… think so. I have to tell them about this, but I don't think you'd be any threat. Most they'd do is keep tabs on you."
"But you don't really know what they really want."
"It's complicated," you shoot back.
"So am I free to go?" He looks up at you with pleading eyes.
"No." Lie. Absolute lie. But you couldn't let him leave. He just admitted to having crazy abilities. Who knows? They could be useful….
Post-fic notes: Guys wait lowkey with the way I set this up, it could be like a semi-series if ppl want it. Or I'll do a freaky part two and leave it there.
I'm so rusty he's so OOC I actually can't dude.
Ok, the guy talking to reader is prob Langston Fleury. That's my goat right there.
Context bc I love to rant about it because it is so insane:
Ok so basically, I started dating this guy I play D&D with, and he was chill, and then I found out he wasn't chill and like lowkey the second date was insanely similar to the beginning of a horror movie and he was my ride, so like totally not doing anything like that again. The movie was Spree and I don't really watch horror movies in general, but ones about uber drivers killing their passengers and a lot of femicide and date rape stuff when your ride back home is in HIS CAR??? Completely insane. Men suck btw. But also I had like crazy hard tests (evil teachers let me tell you) and competitions (did get third and second) and formal events and I got so overwhelmed my hair actually started thinning and falling out like crazy. But now it's all good and I'm fine and now I can actually do stuff I like lmao. Love you guys <3
