Dangerous (Ethan Hunt x OC) **ongoing**

*chapter one*

Present Day- 2011

It felt so weird stepping foot back into Russia. I hadn't been here in years; I never planned on coming back. But alas, life has other plans and I'm dragged back into the very life I tried to escape.

I never did escape, really. Nightmares haunted the little sleep I got. Scars were awful reminders of my subservience and weakness; I never had the strength to get away. When I finally did, my sister was taken away from me. So no matter what I did, I would always lose. The ones I cared about and loved would pay the price for my actions.

That was why I had been alone for the past seven years. I never formed any attachments; the only relationships I kept were work related, if it was even considered as that. I'd worked a few oddball jobs here and there, traveling the world with a plethora of new identities. Currently, I'm known as Gwen Stacey, a budding writer and photographer from a small town in the middle of nowhere Kansas. Traveling gives me inspiration, or so I would say to anybody who would ask.

One thing I had learned, though, was to never give any more information than necessary. You'd never really be caught in a lie unless someone was looking for it, but you also didn't want to look too suspicious.

I parked my motorcycle and started walking to the Kremlin. I had gotten a call from a contact who said that a nuclear launch device was going to be stolen. He only gave me information about what the case looked like. He was about to tell me who was going to take it, but the line went dead. That call is what brought me back here; I only hoped I wasn't too late.

I took my camera out of its bag, setting up the lens; I could play the part of tourist and spy at the same time. I didn't notice anything unusual at first. I looked as touristy as I could, snapping pictures at different angles. One thing that did catch my eye was a woman holding a red balloon. Not only was she the only person around holding one, she just let it go.

That was more than a bit odd. I saw her use her own camera to follow the balloon up in the sky, where it proceeded to pop right over the Kremlin.

Coincidence? I think not.

I started to think of different plans I could put into action, but it was impossible to choose one because I didn't know who I was dealing with. On top of that, I was only one person. If this woman was working with a team, which she most likely was, I had absolutely no chance of taking them all down should I meet them head on.

That left me with my only option: find the person with the case, and intercept it in the most discreet way possible.

I walked over to the outskirts of the square, leaning against a pillar. I set my camera back in my bag and took out my kit of supplies I had gotten when I returned to Russia. I still had a few safe houses scattered around with kits similar to this one should the need arise.

I took out my pocket knife, concealing it in my sweater. I zipped up my backpack and slung it around my shoulders, walking around the edge of the square. It wasn't an ideal weapon, but it was compact and I was fairly skilled with it.

I didn't see anything for a good ten minutes. The woman who I had witnessed earlier was just walking around or leaning up against pillars. Obviously, she was waiting. However, when she was walking around yet again, she had moved her hand towards her ear. With a dismayed look on her face, she started rushing out of the square.

From what I could determine, her plan obviously didn't work. Seeing as she didn't have the case, I stayed where I was on the off chance someone came out. I looked toward one of the entrances of the Kremlin, where soldiers were already starting to lock down the place. It was then I saw him: a man with graying hair and dressed in a brown suit was carrying a silver briefcase.