#| task

[levimercer]

CONTENT WARNINGS: graphic depictions of violence, blood, guns, torture

The click of metal on metal and the shuffle of feet echoed through the room and combined with the din of general conversation and the buzzing of the score boxes to build up to a proper racket.

Levi took a sip from his water bottle as his gaze tracked the fencers up and down the strip. It was only a practice tournament, but Levi was currently undefeated in the pools and he had no plans on going down any time soon.

He watched until the bout was over—Tom absolutely crushed Peter with a final score of 15 to 4—until glancing around the room again. Levi’s attention caught on Coach; he was talking to a man who looked like he had no business in a fencing club and before Levi had much time to observe the newcomer, Coach was pointing toward him and the stranger started walking over.

Levi scrambled to his feet, mask tucked under one arm and epée lying abandoned on the ground. The man was dressed to the nines in the slickest suit Levi’d ever seen. Though he had several inches on the man, Levi couldn’t help but feel small in the stranger’s presence.

The man extended his hand for Levi to shake. “Levi Mercer.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. “We have some things to discuss.”

—————

The buzzing fluorescents cast the room and its occupants in a sickly glow. The room was sterile—white walls, white tiled floor, a shiny silver table, and a drain in the center of the floor than Levi didn't want to think about too hard. He shifted uncomfortably and risked a glance at the people around him. There were three, two men and one woman, and they were all wearing the same things Levi was given: a white t-shirt and khaki pants. All looked as out of place as Levi felt. He was halfway through convincing himself to talk to one of them when the door swung open and the man from the fencing club walked in, a briefcase in hand. He set the briefcase on the table and clicked it open and inside were—

Guns?

Five of them. Handguns. Black and metal and as impersonal as they come.

Levi grew up with a police officer for a father so he'd seen guns before, but he'd never actually held one and seeing these up close made Levi balk.

Without speaking a word, the man took one of the guns and with deft motions took it apart, setting the pieces purposefully on the table. After a heartbeat, he reversed the whole process until he was left holding the handgun all in one piece.

"No one is leaving this room until they can take their gun apart and put it back together in under two minutes," the man said flatly.

Two minutes? Levi was hardly able to follow the blur of the man's hands, and now he was supposed to do it for himself?

"Well?" the man spoke again, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "Better get started. This is the easiest thing we're going to do today."

—————

Levi was dripping with sweat and gasping for air. A sharp pain in his side told him that at least one rib was broken. He hardly managed to block the next swing before stumbling back.

In a moment of sheer spite, he spat some of the blood in his mouth into Michael's face.

Bad move.

It turned out, Michael had been holding back. He sure as hell wasn't now. In a flurry of blows Levi couldn't even begin to follow, Michael had Levi pinned to the wall with his hands an iron vice around Levi's neck. Levi kicked and scratched at Michael's hands, but his grip only got tighter. Just when he was on the edge of passing out, the pressure was gone and Levi slumped to the ground, barely conscious.

A hand on his chin forced him to open his eyes and swimming in front of him wasn't Michael but Command.

Command scoffed and pulled back.

"Again."

—————

After a particularly grueling day of combat training, they all found themselves piling into a taxi and warming up a booth at their favorite local bar.

Patrick had gone off to fetch another round of drinks and Alice had just made a crude joke that had Jordan in stitches. Levi laughed along with them, draining the last of his beer.

The next generation of England's greatest spies all piled into one booth in the trashiest of dive bars.

Levi wouldn't have had it any other way.

—————

It was so simple.

A mission. A target. Information to be extracted ... by any means necessary.

Still, with the man gagged and bound and wriggling at his feet on a stretch of crinkling blue tarp, Levi couldn't bring himself to make the first move.

"C'mon, kid. Don't have all day," Michael grunted. When Levi continued to hesitate, Michael rolled his eyes and snatched another knife from the bag for himself. He knelt next to the struggling man with a terrifying smile. The man's eyes looked ready to bulge out of his head.

"Now, Mr. Anderson," Michael started, dragging the blade down the target's chest. "I hear you've been naughty." The knife came to a halt on Anderson's stomach. "What's a bloke like you doing with millions of pounds in offshore bank accounts?"

Anderson tried to speak through the gag and Michael dug the knife in harder, drawing blood through the shirt. "What was that?" he asked sweetly, tugging the gag from Anderson's mouth.

He started babbling, the words tumbling out while tears streamed down his face. "I don't know what you're talking about I have a family I don't do anything like—"

"That's enough from you, Philip," Michael said and shoved the gag back into the man's mouth. He sobbed pitifully into the fabric. Michael's tone was no longer teasing and his eyes glinted dangerously. "Now my friend here," Michael drawled, glancing up at Levi and narrowing his eyes. "Is going to ... encourage you to let us know who your contacts are."

Michael got back up and fixed Levi with a chilling stare. Levi clenched his jaw and dropped his gaze. With a deep breath, Levi fell to his knees beside the man, his hands white-knuckled around the hilt of his knife.

"Remember, Mr. Anderson. All you have to do is give us their names and this will all be over." Michael nodded at Levi. Levi squeezed his eyes shut before rucking up Anderson's shirt, taking the blade and slicing it deeply through the muscles of Anderson's stomach.

The sobs turned into screams and as blood began to pour over Levi's hands, each cut came easier than the last.

Anderson broke faster than Levi'd expected and once he was done speaking, Michael wordlessly handed Levi a gun.

Levi looked at the gun like he'd never seen one before in his life.

"But you said—" even as Levi said it, he felt the naivete creeping in.

"I know what I said. End it."

"But—"

Michael snapped. He slammed the gun into Levi's hand, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and shoved him forward. "Do it, Agent," he snarled.

With blood still smeared across Levi's shirt, his pants, and his hands, he looked Anderson in the eye and pulled the trigger.

—————

Levi, Jordan, Patrick, and Alice all stood at attention, backs straight and chins up.

Command stalked in front of them, his hands clasped behind his back, watching them with narrowed eyes. Michael leaned against the wall behind Command with his arms crossed over his chest, looking more bored than anything else.

"Patroclus."

Shit.

"Michael told me what happened on your last assignment," Command went on conversationally. He paused, his dark eyes drilling into Levi's before walking away to stalk down the line again. "Did you find the assignment too ... challenging?"

"No, sir, I—"

"Too violent?"

"No, sir—"

"Then why—" Command snapped, turning on his heel to glare once again at Levi and make his way back over. Out of the corner of his eye, Levi could see Jordan's jaw clench. "—did you hesitate to pull the trigger?"

"Sir, I thought the conditions were—"

Command barked out a laugh. "Conditions? I thought I taught you better than that, boy." Out of nowhere, there was a gun in Command's hand and he fired off two shots. There was a searing pain in Levi's side and thigh. He gasped and stumbled backward, but Command was there and he fisted a hand in Levi's shirt before he could fall.

Beside him, Patrick, Jordan, and Alice still stood at perfect attention, but Levi could see the way Patrick's hands were trembling.

"Conditions mean nothing." Command's voice was quiet in his ear. "There are no conditions here. You do the job cleanly or you don't do it at all. There are no loose ends. You have to know when to pull the trigger." 

He sighed and leaned back as if it pained him. He brought a hand to the side of Levi's face and the gentle touch was in sharp contrast to the pain radiating from Levi's leg, his side. "Son, there is nothing I want to see more than for you to succeed, but if you pull something like this again the consequences will be more severe than a couple of flesh wounds."

Levi's jaw clenched and he nodded once. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

Command whisked away and stalked down the line once again like nothing had happened. "I'm glad we see eye to eye. You're dismissed. Oh, and you should probably get someone to look at those wounds, Agent Patroclus."

—————

Levi couldn't remember the last time he wasn't in pain. He'd been in the Heracles Project for ... what, two years? Three? It had all blended together into a blur of fighting and training and blood. So much blood.

Which brought him to now, bouncing on the balls of his feet in front of Michael, waiting for the older agent to make the first move. He did, but Levi could see it coming and he ducked out of the way, landing a blow of his own before blocking one of Michael's.

The fight dragged on and the look on Michael's face went from cocky to shocked. See, Levi had spent a lot of time in the past few years doing hand-to-hand with a whole spread of people and he'd learned that everyone, everyone, had a tell.

And he'd found Michael's.

Before long, he had Michael pinned to the ground and he put up a valiant struggle before he slumped and tapped out. Levi got back to his feet and offered Michael a hand.

He took it and nodded once at Levi. "Nice fight, kid," he muttered before walking away.

Command was a few paces away and leaning against a stack of mats. He smiled and walked over, settling a steady hand on Levi's shoulder.

"Good job, son."

Levi's heart soared. Three words that flooded him with more joy than Christmas morning.

Levi smiled back and there was a glint of something sharp in his eyes.

Agent Patroclus was just getting started.

[levimercer]

Character relationships, June 1963

The Sleeper Agent - Lena

At first blush, Levi had been hesitant of Lena but it didn’t take him long at all to warm up to her. He appreciates how seamlessly she can fit into whatever environment she chooses. She’s one of the ones he’s gotten to know the most so far and he likes to think of her as a friend. They got ‘married’ in Budapest and though he didn’t regret it, it did bring up some melancholy feelings about how spies could never have real relationships. Though emotions were brought up that Levi hadn’t been expecting to feel, there’s nothing for him at least that’s preventing them from becoming closer friends.

The Informant - Hyunjin

Levi sees himself in Hyunjin, a bit. Of who he once was, at the beginning of his tenure at MI6. They clicked very well right off the bat and work together fluidly. Together at the dinner with Vera and Deborah, they made a more than convincing couple despite not having done much prep work and Levi is impressed with how they work as a team. Levi aims to work alongside Hyunjin more in the coming missions.

The Assassin - Klara

Just like Levi, Klara was trained to be a weapon. He feels a sense of camaraderie with Klara that he doesn’t feel with the other members of the team. They’ve both seen (and done) things that most others couldn’t even imagine and it’s nice to have someone around that really gets it. He respects Klara’s skill though is a bit nervous about the fact that she isn’t associated with any sort of agency. Where Levi would work with Hyunjin, Lena, or Harper for more diplomatic missions, Klara would be his choice for any mission remotely physical.

The Fabricator - Sam

Sam is a tough person to get to know. Levi finds him reclusive and distant, but that may be because Levi hasn’t gotten to know him all that well. Sam’s job also makes him a bit nervous; sure, all spies lied, but the idea that a man could create any sort of document at a whim seems especially dangerous. Levi wants to keep an especially close eye on Sam especially since he hasn’t quite got him figured out yet.

The Hacker - Mortimer

Levi has always been drawn to Mortimer. He was interesting and quick-witted and genuine (if blunt), and his brain worked in a way that thrilled Levi. Levi couldn’t tell you exactly when that platonic attraction turned into something more. Currently, Levi is pining for something he knows he can’t have. He’s convinced there’s no way that Mortimer could return his affections and on the remote chance that he does, Levi can’t risk putting Mortimer in danger by becoming romantically attached to him. Though he knows it’s no use, he can’t get Mortimer out of his head (especially vivid is that night when a very drunk Levi had been overly tactile and the usually touch-averse Mortimer had responded in kind).

The Codebreaker - Henry

Henry is utterly non-threatening and Levi knows that’s the most dangerous kind of spy, the kind that could work themselves into whatever situation they wanted to without anyone giving them a second thought. If Henry had the social skills to make it work, Levi might have been more wary of him but as it was he’s not concerned that Henry is any threat to the mission. Henry is certainly an important asset and more than anything else, Levi is concerned with keeping Henry out of harm's way so that he can do his job without worrying.

The Thief - Bobby

Bobby has never been anything but a thorn in his side. Sometimes Levi thinks that Bobby wants to impede the mission. Other times Levi thinks that Bobby is just a prick and wonders how he passed the psych evals and ended up on the team. Whatever the case, Levi knows that in many aspects Bobby is more similar to Levi that different, which only further irritates him. If Bobby and Levi could get along they would be unstoppable. As it is, their frequent spats leave Levi frustrated above all else.

The Weapons Expert - Eden

Eden is chaotic and knows his way around every weapon under the sun, which makes him far more dangerous than almost everyone else on the team. Though his skill with weapons is crucial, especially for agents like Klara and Levi, his impulsive behavior makes Levi nervous. As long as Eden stays relatively under the radar, Levi is okay with just keeping an eye on him, but the moment he does anything suspicious Levi is likely to jump on it because if Eden were a double agent he would be one of the deadliest.

The Driver - Nila

Nila is a thrill-seeker, certainly, but they’re excellent at what they do and Levi can respect a person with that sort of dedication and skill. Levi knows what it’s like to feel that rush, and he’s a bit jealous that Nila can experience it so much more often than he can. He looks forward to getting to know Nila better and getting to hear about their past escapades.

The Manipulator - Harper

Harper is easy to be around. He’s one of the CODA agents with actual social skills and after interacting with the more introverted team members, it’s nice to chat with someone who knows how to make small talk. Beyond that, Harper’s usefulness in a pinch cannot be emphasized enough. Along with Lena, Harper is one of the team members he’d trust for detailed undercover work.

The Historian - Vald

Vald is crucial to the mission and that makes him crucial to Levi. Levi is intensely in tune with Vald’s assignment and his well-being. After spending time as his ‘translator’ at the gala in Paris, Levi has gotten to know Vald as a person a bit better, which has made him feel more comfortable about Vald’s role in the mission. Although the gala hadn’t been the best experience for Levi, he found that hanging around Vald had been pleasant enough.

Do they suspect anyone of being a double agent?

Levi doesn’t necessarily suspect anyone in CODA of being a double agent per se, but he’s worried that someone in the know is leaking information. The murder of Thursday had been too close to home for comfort. The team members he’s currently most wary about are Bobby (because he’s never been anything but an annoyance) and Eden (because he’s a little bit too unpredictable and dangerous for Levi’s comfort).

What do they believe happened to Agent Thursday?

Levi is certain that Agent Thursday’s death was a targeted hit by one of Vronsky’s associates and he’s convinced that if he can figure out just who it was he might be able to track them back to Vronsky.