Chapter Text
AN: Apologies for any odd spellings and mangling of some words - English is my first language, but I'm American, not British, so knowledge of some idiosyncrasies over the pond eludes me.
"We apologize for the inconvenience," said the armored soldier, "but due to recent activity by the DedSec terrorist organization, we will be closing off this street to perform a security check. Thank you for your compliance."
The gathered school children all groaned in annoyance, for their fieldtrip had been cut short, but reluctantly followed their teacher in heading back toward their school bus.
Others, however, were not so willing to take things quietly.
"Oh fuck you, ya wanker! We've done nothing wrong!"
The curse came from a man in a construction worker's uniform, who started ambling toward the soldier, a glare painted onto his face. "None of us have anything to do with those hackers!"
"Be that as it may," replied the soldier, "we still need to perform a security sweep."
"Yeah, well, where's you proof?"
The teacher had started trying to get her students away from the arguement, but one boy - a blonde no older than fifteen - stalled in retreating, instead choosing to, apparently, try and film the confrontation on his phone.
"Sir, this is for your own safety. Please do not make an incident."
"Then take your bloody hired guns and-"
Whatever else he wanted to say was cut off when another soldier walked up and punched him in the face. "Shut up!"
As the man collapsed in pain, a few students screamed in shock, with their teacher hastily trying to calm them all. Her attention swiftly turned to the boy who had been lagging behind. "Alex, hurry up! This is no time to film things!"
"Coming," was the boy's answer as he finally fell back in line. Yet while he rejoined his classmates, his attention never wavered from the man who had dared to speak up against the soldiers.
XxXxX
"So," asked a man in a pub, "what do you have on this man?"
"Name's Peter Horvat," replied a computerized voice. "Immigrated here from Croatia a few years ago, found work on a construction crew. Things took a turn for the worse when Albion took over - his crew's been harassed by the mercs for the last few months, especially since many of them are immigrants."
"Leave it to Albion to be pricks. So, what's happening to him now?"
"Cub wasn't able to keep filming what happened, but I've cut into the nearby security camera feeds - our man's being taken into custody by Albion right now. Already enroute to the slammer."
"Well, we can't have that happening. You have a route for them?"
"Already mapped out."
"Great. So, he can we send in - besides Witchcraft and Skipper? Witchcraft is stuck at school right now, and Skipper's still stuck at the docks."
"Well, excluding them, we still have plenty of options - Duchess has a shipping truck that will be crossing paths with them. Scaleback is nearby, but he's on the clock right now. For this mission, though, I think we'd best go with Insider, Firebrand, and Sawbone."
"I hope your suggestions pan out, Bagley."
"When have I failed you?"
XxXxX
"Did you have to rough him up that much?" asked the Albion Sargeant.
Her coworker rolled her eyes. "He was going to hit you if I didn't do something. Consider yourself lucky."
The sargeant gave her comrade a disapproving look. "We're supposed to keep the peace. I don't see how roughing people up helps with that."
"Until DedSec is dealt with, everyone in this city is at risk. So shut up and get with the program, Keyes."
Glaring at her coworker, Keyes let out a sigh, before realizing that their transport had come to a stop. "Why are we stopping?"
Their driver, a man named Chester, groaned. "Some delivery truck's blocking our path."
Glancing through the windshield, Keyes saw that there was indeed a delivery truck - one that belonged to a "Fulton Corporation" - stuck on the road ahead of them. Turning her attention to the edge of the windshield, she noticed that a group of people were standing on the street in front of the truck, waving signs and yelling. "Who are those people?" She asked.
"Let me check - wait," said Chester. "Just got a notice on my phone…shite."
"What now?" Asked the third member of the team, annoyance in her voice.
"Looks like there's a protest up ahead," was Chester's response. "Bunch of sorry sods who don't appreciate what we're doing for them."
The third Albion operative groaned. "Get me my shotgun and some beanbags."
Keyes stared at her coworker, a look of shock on her face. "Are you insane?! We can't just shoot protestors, even with less-than-lethal rounds."
"Parliament said we could. Besides, they're blocking a major road. I think this exceeds the limits of peaceful protesting."
Chester cleared his throat. "Enough arguing. Keyes, Ava, get out and disperse the protest. Do not escalate the situation. Use weapons only if the crowd reacts first. ctOS says that none of them are armed, but keep your eyes open. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir!" Said the duo.
"Good. Now get moving."
As the duo exited the vehicle, Chester took a deep breath. Then he glanced at the man currently in the back of the truck. 'He hasn't done anything wrong, but we still need to bring him in. Fuck."
A mechanical whirring noise turned Chester's attention from the back of the transport to the passengers seat. There, perched in a perfect position to strike, was a six legged robot that vaguely resembled a spider.
'….Guess it's up to you two now.'
Insider hoped that Firebrand and Sawbones could pull this off.
XxXxX
Meredith leveled her eyes at the Albion duo as the approached the crowd, weapons visible but yet to be drawn. Did they really think this made them look less threatening? It didn't fool Meredith for a moment, nor did it fool the crowd. Instead, they closed ranks and started glaring at the new arrivals. Someone on a megaphone was already yelling at the Albion operatives, trying to intimidate them into backing off.
Meredith kept her gaze on the patina while longer, then pulled out her cellphone. Ostensibly, it appeared she was trying to film the protest, so that if things went ugly, Albion wouldn't be able to claim they were the wounded party here. In truth, though, Meredith had cut into the nearby street cameras, which provided her with a great look at the Albion transport. Inside was a third Albion operative and an innocent man the trip had detained just for complaining about a security check. Sometimes we all had rotten luck, it seemed.
The sound of whirling rotors briefly took Meredith's attention off her phone - a drone had just shown up to back up the Albion goons. Great, another complication. Never an easy day, was it?
Then again, as they said over the pond, the only easy day was yesterday.
Taking a deep breath, Meredith focused her phone on the drone. Several taps later, and the machine was under her control. By no means was she a drone expert, but she knew enough to prime the robot to blow. But now wasn't the time - first, she had to do something else.
Focusing her attention back on the Albion soldiers, Meredith hacked into their communications, then set a timer - she needed to hear this if she wanted to be sure things went right.
The countdown hit zero just as a protestor moved to scream at the shotgun-wielding Albion goon.
Three second after the drone exploded, Meredith tackled a nearby bystander to the ground, a look of false panic on her face. While she and made sure none of the angry cameras had a good look at her, acting like a terrified civilian would do wonders for letting her escape. Over her earpiece, Meredith smiled as the Albion driver tried to ask what had happened, only to shriek as electricity surged through him. Meanwhile, someone wearing a cardboard box on their head walked up to the lorry, yanked open the back door, freed the detainee, then hopped onto a motorcycle, and drove off, the former captive with them.
Well, phase one had been a success, though the injuries to Insider were regrettable. Hopefully, phase two of the rescue would be just as successful.
XxXxX
"That drone is gaining on us!"
Saw ones rolled his eyes. "Not for long."
Without another word, the DedSec operative tapped a button on his phone. Seconds later, a parked car surged forward, hitting the drone and tearing it to pieces."
"…Holy shit."
"You ain't seen nothing yet."
XxXxX
His examination finished, the paramedic sighed. "He'll be fine - the electric shock knocked him out, but he's not showing signs of cardiac arrest. If you want to be sure, though, take him to the hospital. I can help with that, but - "
"It's fine," said Ava. "Thank you for the assistance, Mr.."
"Constantine. Manfred Constantine."
"Right. Please, be on your way."
"What, no security check?"
Ava had a guilty look on her face, one shared by Keyes. "Consider it a favor for checking on Chester."
"…Fair enough. Have a nice day, and keep protecting London for us all."
XxXxX
Half an hour later
"…You're DedSec, aren't you?"
Manfred nodded at Horvat. "That I am."
"…Why'd you help me? I'm not complaining, but acting in broad daylight ain't your thing."
Manfred sighed. "We all have our reasons. Me? I work at Saint Thomas' Hospital. Albion treats us like servants there - tries to pressure us into giving them and theirs preferential treatment, lets drugs meant for patients get out on the street, the works. I've even seen them killed a patient just because he was a protestor."
The paramedic slammed his hands on the nearby counter. "It's fucking barbaric!"
Manfred sighed. "I took an oath to do no harm, but every day I let Albion go unpunished? I'm breaking that oath."
Peter took a moment to process everything he'd heard. "So, is this the part where you ask me to join up with you?"
Manfred shrugged. "Only if you want to - you've seen how brutal Albion can be, and between them, Clan Kelly, SIRS, and everyone else, there's a lot of people who want us dead. So if you don't want to take that risk, mate, I understand."
Then, taking an earpiece out of his pocket, the paramedic slid the device over to the construction worker. "But if you want to make a difference, well, we could use your help."
Having said his piece, Manfred exited the pub and made his way to the parked ambulance. Ten seconds later, the EKG 120 disappeared behind a corner.
Peter watched the ambulance leave, then turned his attention back to the ear piece. For a few minutes, all he did was stare at it. Then, with a sigh, he made his decision.
XxXxX
"You made the right choice, mate. Welcome to DedSec."
XxXxX
AN: Yeah, I started another story. Sue me.
So, quick bit of clarification: I've wanted to do a Watch_Dogs story for some time, but originally I wanted to focus it on Aiden. After much consideration, though, I decided to focus on Watch Dogs: Legion, in part because I have enough stories focusing on characters from NA.
If people are feeling like the description of this story is misleading…I am not familiar with many series set in the UK. I had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for a couple of the characters I'm including here that aren't OCs, which was and is really annoying. Also, I am accepting suggestions for Operatives for DedSec London, though the obvious caveat is that they should actually come from the city. Foreigners who got stuck there following the TOAN bombings are exceptions to this rule - one of the operatives I've already decided on is a foreign exchange student who wasn't allowed to return home following the bombings.
The two settings I have definitively settled on for this crossover (and that I want to reveal) are Alex Rider and Black Butler. Alex was the boy who first noticed Peter getting arrested, while Duchess is part of the modern portion of the Phantomhive Family.
Oh, and timeline-wise, this story is set in 2022, since if it were set in the canon timeline established by the Bloodlines DLC (which puts the story at 2028), there's a lot of plot points I don't want to fill in, and frankly? The story would probably fit better if it was in the U.S., given the shitshow the golden turd is putting us through.
Okay, rant done. Read and Review at your leisure! Apologies for spelling errors, I wrote half this chapter on my phone. This is Flameal15k, signing off!