Chapters: 8/?
Fandom: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Adam Jensen/Original Female Character(s), Adam Jensen/Original Character(s)
Characters: Adam Jensen, Zofie Orel (OC), Alejandra 'Alex' Vega
Additional Tags: Post Mankind Divided, Crossover, what if, game typical violence, Canon-Typical Violence, repressed ptsd, Mentions of traumatic injury, Assassin in the DX universe
Chapter 8: The Curtain Parts
Summary:Zofie shares her knowledge of her organisation with Adam in the hopes of gaining his trust and allyship.
Uncharted / Deus Ex Crossover (Chloe Frazer & Nadine Ross)
Summary: 2030. After a series of events Nadine returns to a conflict-ridden South Africa as she decides to go back to her former way of living. But the life she once knew is gone, now only a fragmented memory in her head.
Spoilers for Uncharted 4, The Lost Legacy & Deus Ex Human Revolution/Mankind Divided.
Rating: Mature (non-graphic violence), mostly Gen (hinted Chloe Frazer/Nadine Ross)
on Ao3
(picture source)
Chapter 1
... Although the rise of the African economy had promised a new age for South Africa, the surge of augmented immigrants has recently created tensions in the state. As the Augmented Rights Coalition spreads its wings into the country, a number of protests take place all across Cape Town. This is Eliza Cassan, reporting to y--
“Augmented Rights Coalition? Did I hear that right?” the Air Force pilot broke in with his particular accent and intonation, while manoeuvring the VTOL through the empty night sky.
“You did.” Nadine confirmed, sitting in the back all by herself, looking up from her phone’s screen. As the news cut to the commercials, she swiped her fingers over the translucent glass surface, locking and stashing it in the pouch attached to her belt. “Why?”
“Ah” Chikane groaned weakly. “Bad memories. I will spare you. Don’t like them clanks enough to talk about them anyway.”
The rustle of stiff military clothing was heard as the woman rose and stepped into the cockpit, with close to no distance to the pilot’s seat, her forearm casually leaning against it.
“As long as you got out of it what you wanted.” She snorted, charismatically so, in an effortless attempt to drop the topic.
“We will talk about that when I get there.” Chikane countered in a light fashion. His eyes were lifted off the screen that transmitted the scenery in front of them, then after a short moment of hesitation he turned his head finally. “Never seen you around much, Ross. New recruit?”
“Maybe I am just good at hiding? Would speak for my military training. Actions speak louder than words, right?”
“Didn’t mean to imply anything.”
“Not exactly new, no.” she gave in, eyes off the screen and looking straight at him. “So you know my name. What else do you know?”
Chikane felt visibly uneasy as the conversation had turned around and he was metaphorically pinned to the wall, after the weakest hit he had initiated.
“Nadine Ross, former owner of a private military company. South-African born and raised, disappeared somewhere inbetween for God knows how long. Came back just last year.” he admitted, then added calmly, after checking her pressuring gaze, “Nothing else.”
Nadine grinned genuinely amused as she leaned back from him.
“You read my file.”
“I sure as hell ain’t the only one. Blind trust will have you with your back against the wall in no time.”
“Huh, well” She gave him the chance to tell her more but when he did not take it she walked back to her seat and pulled out her phone again. On her screen she flicked away the news and checked the military information on their target location.
“What brings you back here anyway, Chikane?” she suddenly broke out in a tone so accusing that the pilot’s eyes wandered off the VTOL flight map. He turned his head to her eventually, even though just for a second.
“Here’ ?” His accent was so distinctive that it came out almost unnatural.
“Ja” the woman in the back panted. “Been off working for Interpol yourself, no?”
It became quiet as Chikane took the time to grasp the words spoken. Then he chuckled a little, before he finally laughed out.
“We are playing a cat and mouse game, aren’t we?” he asked, looking over amusedly and Nadine finally returned the gaze with a chuckle.
“Eyes on the route, pilot.” she reprimanded him, back to her firm tone, a concealed grin almost giving her away. The man cleared his throat.
“Once Air Force, always Air Force. Left in 2022, back this yea’. All I ever did was flying. No need to doubt my skills.”
“Not doubting your skills.” Nadine countered with just enough vile, her eyes focused to the screen in her hands. She scoffed at the SAAF supporting the national army, but in the recent years the political unrest had reached its peak after the Australian Civil War only just ceasing in 2027 and the violent protests and bombings in Europe, so she left it uncommented.
“We’re here.”
Chikane’s voice cut in after minutes spent in silence. Nadine got up again, her hand running absent-mindedly past the gun stored safely in her belt’s holster.
“So your buddies are tackling the crowd? They got your back?” Chikane asked, turning his head and looking up at her once more.
“Oh, cute.” She chuckled. “You’re worried I might call in for help later?”
“I was making--”
“Save it.” Nadine scolded and in reaction, Chikane sighed in defeat.
“Wouldn’t want to waste a pretty face, is all.”
“Oh!” the woman called out at once, suddenly amused again. “You’re not flirting with me on duty, are you?”
“Wouldn’t ever’.” he replied. By now the woman wondered if she could figure out which area he was from just by the accent, but she could not. “Only off duty, Miss. But wouldn’t want an overly jealous boyfriend to come knocking on my door, so maybe we keep that between us.”
“I’m willing to relieve your conscience.” Nadine spoke, having softened so much that her hand touched his shoulder lightly. “I’m not taken. Strong and free like a bird.”
“Well then, you’re good to go.”
Dropped off on the roof of a high-rise building, Nadine found her way to the closest emergency stairs. Once in the streets, the odour of burned metal hit her. Cape town had changed. The constant buzzing of the city, the humming of the air conditioners, the indistinct chatter. The stalls, the little shops selling electronic parts, biocells, and, somewhere in the back, cold steel for all manners of self-defence. But her jacket hid her own gun well, no matter how much she wanted to take it off due to the heat generated by all the electronic devices running around the clock, attached back-to-back to the walls of in a haste constructed apartment towers on every single level. 2030 greeted her as a new world in which she did not dare to walk without the company of a concealed weapon.
It had been six years since she had last been home. Six long years, and everything had changed. So much that she wondered if she could still call that home.
“Oh, that is a pretty stone, you didn’t lie!” Meenu’s eyes sparkled as she leaned over the stall to witness the black stone’s beauty in the evening sun. Nadine had almost not recognized the girl who had grown into a young woman, tall and dressed in vivid colours of purple and pink.
“Wait, I will trade you” Swiftly the girl turned around and took something out of a drawer, a little white sea shell, but turned pale and looked at it in disappointment just as she faced Nadine again.
“No way... a piece broke off.”
“No need to trade me. It’s just a stone. Keep it.” Nadine chuckled.
“But no, you gotta have something from India’s ocean, too.” Meenu complained, now looking at both items in her hands, the sparkling stone from the Australian beach, and the shell from the Indian beach, that had a part of it missing.
“It’s just a stone! Keep it.” Nadine repeated. “I didn’t even mean it as a present, I just wanted to show you that one.”
Meenu looked at the woman in disappointment, then finally sighed, laying both items on the counter, and her hands to her cheeks, leaning forward to prop herself up against the surface. The way she watched her gave Nadine a strange feeling of something long past that grazed over her skin like a cold wind.
“Where is Miss Chloe?” she asked.
Nadine turned her face away, absent-mindedly looking past the store’s items.
“In Australia.” she answered quietly.
“Why is she not with you? You said you would visit me again together sometime.” Meenu was quirky as always, but also calm and accepting. And when Nadine turned around and faced the evening sun, she did not ask any further questions.
“Is your father still gone?” the older woman asked after being granted a few seconds of silence. It was evident that the girl was by now left to run the shop alone.
“Yes.” Meenu replied quietly. “He came back but then, you know, this year all these protests started.”
“At least he is not with the rebels this time.” Nadine commented but soon was greeted by the girl’s weak smile that was carefully hiding her sadness.
“I’m sorry.” she whispered.
Whenever the memory came back, her thoughts wandered off to a different place. It was not the girl’s reaction, but more so her own decision to visit her and her following return to South Africa, the country that she hardly recognized.
A civilian rushing past her awoke Nadine from her thoughts. Ahead of her she saw the target crowd, protesters, as described in the dossier along with the scarcely formulated mission task. Peaceful protest. Do not engage unless absolutely necessary.
With a tap to her ear piece she activated the communications device.
“Got my eyes on the crowd.” she spoke discreetly.
“Wonderful.” Chikane replied right away. “Found your team? We’ve got time for some tea now.”
“I got the sniper.” Nadine walked ahead, stood on her toes trying to spot the members of her team among the masses of people holding provoking signs. “Negative on the rest on the team.”
“You’ll find them.”
A crackling noise indicated that Chikane ended the transmission. Nadine laughed quietly to herself. Of course he would. Which military trained South African ever needed more than a sniper to cover them?
In her leisurely patrolling around the area, she was reminded of the patrolling duty of former days, when she had just started working at her father’s company. Those were the days. Brain off, sharp sight on. Aim at anything that moves, anything out of the ordinary. She would have never expected to be back to those days. Yet it felt different, like being stuck in a past that was not the past anymore.
Another civilian came running past but bumped into her and Nadine panted quietly, tumbling for a second as she got pushed, almost gently, to the side of the road. She could hardly tell what these people were all so in a rush for, but wondered if that meant the peaceful part of the protest was soon coming to an end. No one gave her any intel on what was going on in the back of all those organizations, so she was expecting anything. Maybe it was for the best not to know. Brain off, sharp sight on.
Between the chatter and the sounds of electric gadgets a distinct ticking noise became audible to Nadine and she wondered where it came from. It was definitely coming from the ground. As she looked down, she saw the concrete, torn from years of neglect, due to the government not considering it important enough to spend money on fixing the roads. But the sound was not coming from below the ground, it was closer to the level of the ground. Suddenly she realized something stuck to her dark pants, barely visible as it matched the military wear in its dark colour. Just as she was about to examine the little round thing, an explosion could be heard in the back of the crowd, and she looked up, seeing clouds of smoke rising in the distance. In a split second the ticking increased to closer intervals, then stopped at once. Off went an EMP pulse, throwing her down on her knees as she lost the control over her lower body, and before she could realize what was happening she collapsed when her brain shut off in a short-circuit.
