OK I WATCHED THE GRAY MAN AND NOW I CAN ACTUALLY PROPERLY WRITE THE AU.
Right after the events of the Gray Man, Six and Claire are laying low at a safehouse somewhere (where? Idk, ask six). The CIA folks haven't been hunting them down as furiously because six no longer has the drive and they dont want to lose more agents. They stay in relative peace and safety for almost a year, when the Hail Mary launches. Claire watches it on the TV, she comments on the similarities between Six and Grace, and Six says nothing. Claire tries to get him to talk to her about it, but he wont say anything on the topic.
A few weeks later, Six is approached in the street by an agent, who offers Six a job: Apprehend Stratt. Six initially refuses, but the agent pulls out the receipts, and shows him video proof of Stratt forcing Grace to go. The chasing, the drugging, him crying for help.
(In this world, Grace calls out to carl at first, but he cant help but cry out for his brothers too as he fades out. The moment Six hears his brother whisper a hoarse "court" between sobs, he knows he cant refuse the mission.)
They offer him a retirement, a world where he isn't running from them, where he and Claire can have some kind of peace. In exchange for his compliance, of course.
Six returns home to Claire, and then calls Agent Miranda for a favor. Dani shows up quickly and agrees to watch over Claire while Six hunts stratt down. Claire again asks for answers but is yet again denied them. But shes smart, shes figured out it has something to do with Six's astronaut doppelganger, she just doesn't know how.
Six finds Stratt a few days later in a Russian safehouse (i like to think the russians stayed loyal to her). It's incredibly secure, but Six has broken into more secure places. It's almost easy to break into it, at least for him.
(It's late when he enters into the suite Stratt is staying in. She is leaning out an open window, smoking, in quiet contemplation. She turns at the sound of footsteps and in the darkness she sees a ghost. She doesn't panic, simply stares in shock, unsure if she's dreaming or if the stress has finally driven her insane. She reaches out. In one quick motion, Six grabs her and sticks a tranquilizer in her arm. She gasps and struggles, her instincts making her thrash like an animal. Six holds her still and she cant move, her head getting light. For a moment, she thinks that this is what Grace must have felt. Then her mind goes quiet.)
Stratt wakes up bound in the backseat of a car. She looks to her captor through the rear view mirror and sees eerily familiar eyes. (They're not the same eyes, this man's eyes are dark, despite their bright blue color, and there is no flicker of light, of joy and curiosity. There's nothing there at all)
She asks him who he is. He doesn't reply. She asks him why he looks like Dr. Grace, his hands grip the steering wheel harder. Stratt connects some dots, he's clearly Grace's family but she didnt see any relations when she looked up his records.
She asks many questions, he answers very few of them. She learns that he is arresting her, that he is working for the CIA, and that he was promised something in return for her. As they drive, Stratt also realizes that he doesn't know much of what she has done, and is doing, in the service of saving humanity. So she tries to appeal to him. She's not afraid of prison, shes always known that was the end, but she cannot allow herself to be caught yet (the world still needs its Whipping Boy.) She explains her work, what shes been doing, that she is the one making the hard decisions, that no one else would make.
"Like sending my brother to die?"
And just like that she understands. She doesn't hesitate, but she says it softly,
"I had to."
He looks at her, just ever so slightly confused, and she explains it to him. Why it had to be Grace, why she had to force him. All the while a war rages in Six, as his anger and grief scream at him to kill her, another part of him understands. He wants so badly to hurt her, for what she did, but he only hurts bad guys, and hes not sure she's a bad guy. (If shes a bad guy, then Six is far, far worse.)
They get to the rendezvous with Suzanne and a few other agents. He hands stratt over, but Suzanne smiles at six and orders the other agents to apprehend him. Of course, thats not what happens. He fights back, and he wins, killing all the Agents and wounding Suzanne who flees the scene. Stratt watches the bloodbath with only mild horror, more grossed out by it than offended at the force used.
Six kicks himself for believing them, for hoping. Stratt asks what they promised him. He tells her the truth. She thinks for a moment, and tells him she cannot promise him what they did, but she can give him something close. She reaches out. He takes her hand and shakes.
Edit: part two here
