Am I The Only One Who Thinks About How Impersonal Bell’s Death Was?

We know from Sims that everyone in the safehouse gets their paychecks through Adler. But does this include Bell? After all, Bell isn't really a team member, he just thinks he is. Was Bell collecting a real paycheck or were Park and Adler paying him in Monopoly money?

Did Park and Adler go up to their supervisors and be like "Yeah we need a bunch of money so we can pay a fake wage to our brainwashed Soviet operative so he doesn't suspect anything wrong" and the CIA just had to accept this? In the CIA's archives somewhere is there a budget allocation for the cost of paying Bell a pretend Salary? Did they collect all the money back after killing Bell?

If they gave Bell real money how freely was Bell able to spend it or did Adler say something like "I'm going to hold your paycheck for you Bell" and Bell just had to accept it because Adler is his friend and his boss and would never do him wrong? Was Bell paid the same amount as everyone else or was he given a pittance? Did Bell ever suspect anything was off? There are so many questions left unanswered here

tv tropes + attack on titan ↳ character tropes: armin

Merry Christmas, dear people! I hope you all will spend this celebration with your family and friends in peace 🤍

Heshsus

I sincerely apologise 😢 (bonus points if Bell wasn't even Russian, just a individual of another nation who happened to be under Soviet rule and basically having to live with Soviet communist ideology and oppressed society, even though inside he knew that life could be better than government could offer, but he couldn't do anything about it, especially when he had a somewhat functioning family at home)

I know that bell was pretty much destined to an early death but that won't stop me from talking about them like a wife who just lost her husband in the war

hesh: he was my brother.

#I think it is completely safe to say that they MIGHT be fucking #but holy sh*t, what an analysis #I love your brain, OP

Frank Woods and Russell Adler

Long ass post of me talking about the relationship between these two

So I didn't really pay much heed to their relationship until now; it just felt like two characters that were given a few connections here and there to fit Adler into the Black Ops universe.

But the more I looked into them, I find a lot more going on between them—enough for me to believe that aside from Mason, Adler might be the closest person Woods has in his life.

So how did it start?

We learn that Woods knew Adler since Vietnam (presumably during MACV-SOG operations, which both Woods and Adler headed). Their relationship isn't exactly highlighted in Cold War, but there's a lot of subtle yet notable interactions between the two:

This little bit brings me so much joy

[Credit to @flyingraijinn]

In the first cinematic, where Russell gets questioned by the officials if his plan was necessary and he responds that they don't have to listen to him—guess who's the first to jump to his defense?

Though this one's subtle, I find it important. Adler keeps Bell within his or Park's sights almost at all times, but the one op where they can't, who does he trust to go with Bell?

Though I doubt Woods knew about Bell, I feel Adler trusted him enough to handle them should they go berserk.

Right after, when the jig is up about the greenlight nukes and Hudson spins the blame on Adler for not apprehending Perseus before, Woods doesn't even need to be told to square up and beat this bitch up a second time

❌️ Woods was stopped by Adler ✅️ Woods let Adler stop him

The last bit, even though it's not canon, I wanted to call attention to

[Skip to 2:46]

It's them! They fucking lied to us! That true, Bell?

Though Adler was already suspicious, its Frank's words that prompted him to finally question them. Maybe I'm reading into it too much, but it seems like it was Woods that made Adler pause and question if, just maybe, he'd failed.

You wanna load up the body? Fuck if I care. Leave it for Perseus to find.

Even after the main game, when Adler is captured, of course he's the first to go look for him

And the one to find him

Even in the field when Adler's on an op, he's in the background keeping an eye on him

And goes back to Hudson to report on him when he goes dark

Now, onto BO6, where their relationship is pulled into focus:

First, we have the starting piece that sets BO6 in motion

Woods doesn't take shit talk pt.2

Yes indeed that is Frank Woods defending a wanted fugitive that is, as far as they're concerned, responsible for his state, even as pos Livingstone is actively grilling them.

Then this <3

If I'm not wrong, this is the first time we see Adler genuinely not be an asshole

And then the second time

The fact that he'd let Woods despise him just to keep him safe is 🥹

And a third time, when he rushes to his aid despite the burning house around him

Now, how is this possible? Why are they so close? In fact, you'd think Woods would hate Adler the same way he hates Hudson—the authority, the methodical nature, the secrecy—you'd think it was a no brainer. And so did I, for a long time.

So it surprised me when I heard Woods speak so highly of Adler, not even having the slightest of doubts against him:

[Skip to 1:40]

Adler? Turn against his brothers for cash? Are you kidding me? Those threads he loves, they ain't cheap now. Listen, I know he can be a goddamn psychopath, I get it. But he's on our side. He's just got his own way of doin' things.

And even when Harrow was interrogated and she told the truth about her parents, Woods vehemently refused to believe her. Even as far as questioning the victim's own memory and calling her parents traitors.

So why does he place this insane amount of trust in Adler?

Well, he gives us—Case—the answer.

I've known Adler since 'Nam. Give it twenty years, he'll grow on you.

Russell fought with him in Vietnam.

No shit, yeah. But remember how tight knit Woods was to his fellow soldiers. He even cried when the young recruit died in the first game.

So of course, fighting alongside Adler in a hellhole would've brought them closer together.

You keep believin' in the ones who got your back, go to battle for you. Adler was one of those.

Of course Adler had Woods' back; it's Vietnam, you're not surviving without having your team's back. It's not a stretch to say they went through life and death moments that they survived solely because of each other.

But another large part of why I believe Woods respects Adler is because he's, surprisingly, a lot more similar to Woods than meets the eye.

Think back to Break on Through. All the memories that Adler has Bell relive. His memories. Who else but him could describe such scenes in detail? He was the one that survived the helicopter crashing into the trees. He was the one that treaded through trenches in the night dodging a field of VC. He was the one that took out practically invisible snipers gunning for him from the trees. He was the one that cleared a village of the convoy and defended American troops under fire. He's the soldier that survived all that.

He's a killer; a monster, make no mistake. A monster that wasn't always assigned behind a desk holding the title of an officer—hidden behind a mask of nonchalance and charm. And Woods knows that monster. Woods respects that monster.

Adler's persona is ultimately an act. He appears uncaring and practical, but his true nature always slips through. He doesn't get along with Hudson, nor with Park's pragmatic nature. He makes split second decisions not on logic, but his instincts—hell, sometimes even his wishes. He gets vicious, loses his cool, and is unrelenting in his goals, refusing to be deemed some washed up old man. That's the true Adler peeking through—forever embedded yet somehow hidden in the lines stretching across his face, only ever showing its ugly head when he's pushed to the limit.

Who else would know it better than Woods, from a place where you survive by being nothing but vicious?

As for Adler, he too tells Case why he holds Woods close when he seems to do so for very few:

He's loyal.

Russell values loyalty: when he leads people into the eye of the storm, he needs loyal men following him without question. It's why he gave Belikov no choice but to get him the keycard, expected Sims and Park to fall in line and help his ass, made sure Bell obeyed him like a dog; it's why he even orders Case around like one (more on that later). He's a natural born leader that needs people with him and all the decisions he makes, questionable as they are.

And when he's taken to playing the villain with such commitment, to still have a friend that believes in him and his choices—a close comrade he's known from his oldest and darkest days on the job? He'll allow him into his heart, if even just a little.

That or theyre fucking idk

it's just... hesh and logan being brought up in religion and hesh relying heavily on it while logan is *very* disconnected from it and hesh praying whenever situations are dire and logan not understanding but tries anyway to be there for hesh and elias gifting the boys rosaries and hesh clinging onto his faith each hour of each day as his family tree crumbles apart and the final straw is when logan gets torn away from him that hesh's faith dwindles until it's nothing but flickering embers because why would a god rip his little brother away from him like that and why must he suffer when he's been good his entire life while logan's faith returns and grows and strengthens because its his only connection to hesh now and hes praying until his knees are raw and hes holding his head in his hands begging god for his big brother again because hes the only man whose ever saved him and it can't end like this

what’s in a name?

alluded to it in my last adlerbell rot post but i have such a complex over adler naming bell and i find it difficult to put into words. so here’s a very lengthy attempt:

most of the symbolism behind bell’s name is obvious and doesn’t need much stating: it’s indicative of adler’s ownership of bell, literally naming them like a pet, his property. obvious also that a bell was used in their conditioning; as well as a reference to the study of classical conditioning itself by pavlov, who similarly used a bell to condition behavioural responses in the test subject: a dog (hence the myriad dog imagery/symbolism in adlerbell fics… it’s like crack to me)

but the obvious aside it always hits me deepest as part of the “it wasn’t personal” narrative. it’s insanely personal- it’s intimate. i think i put adlerbell on a little bit of a pedestal to view everything about them through a vaguely romanticised lens, but to me it really is- in the most horrifically tragic and sickening way- romantic.

like, you’re bell, right? you trust this man, bell. he is your friend. you witnessed some of the worst atrocities of mankind and survived hell with him and he is your friend. he calls your name through the smoke and gunfire, as a bullet zips past your ear you hear it amidst the splitting of shrapnel, the tearing of screams silenced for but a moment. each time he extends his arm to pick you up, he calls you, bell. every time he directs you to a point of interest, he beckons you, bell. when he nudges you out of your cot in camp haskins, it’s your name he laughs, bell. when he praises you, and smiles at you in that wry, almost boyish way, and tells you how good of a job you’ve done, how we couldn’t have done it without you, how they should be thanking you- it’s your name, bookended, every time, a fondness notched into the welding that stamps you both together inseparably. bell. every single association you have to your name is whenever he pulls you close, helps you, praises you, saves you. your name alone a positive association- to the respect and affection he has for you. bell.

and it’s to the point. adler says their name at any given moment he can. he says it so often it’s infuriating. like deadass take a shot every time. it’s practically a trope in any fic featuring the two, that he utters their name every other line of dialogue. it’s the first thing he says to them at the start of the game- walking into the safehouse at west berlin- not a word, but their name. sure, obviously isn’t the first time he’s spoken to bell, knowing what came before- but it’s presumably bell’s first time walking around freely since mk ultra. that coupled with the trigger phrase must make for a very pliant response- when he says their name, it’s the same man, as far as bell knows, who fought with them back to back in vietnam. something thicker even than blood.

and i reckon adler likes it. mk ultra was a joint effort but bell’s past is based on his choosing, his memories. by no means did he have to pick their name, but he did. he chose to name the thing he’s helped create. it’s almost sick that the ‘closeness’ bell feels towards adler is really only partially synthetic- over a span of months adler really was there, every day, talking for hours and conditioning them over and over and over again. of course he’d name them. something something don’t name an animal you don’t want to get attached to. but it’s his animal. it’s his dog. they’re his bell.

and there’s something just so sickening and so adler that he could have named them anything else in the world- maybe something inconspicuous and plain, like john or jane; something sweet, something that reminds him of someone else, a song he likes, a nickname, an insult, or even something downright cruel. but i don’t think anything could be more cruel and tragically appropriate than calling them by the name of the instrument you used to condition them. to call them by the tool you used to enslave their mind. the very thing that reset their entire being to zero. a bell. not just their name- but the sound, ever ringing, in the back of their mind. the thing that echoes in the empty inside them, to remind them why it’s empty in the first place, its sole purpose to keep them chained in their loyalty to adler. bell.

like i said, i do really think adler likes it. for whatever reason. ownership, spite, just a way to rub salt in the wound any chance he gets, a small victory only he gets to revel in, right in their face. but bell is his. bell belongs to him. when he says their name, it’s the one he chose. time and patience came alongside that bell that rang perpetual in that lab. he’s said that name as many times as he rang it. maybe a part of adler’s as attached to that instrument as much as he is the person he named after it. i’m sure adler hears it chiming in the recesses of his own mind more than he’d care to admit. he’d been around to hear it as long as bell has, hadn’t he? maybe part of him has grown conditioned in his attachment to that instrument too.

but there must be a semblance of pride when he says it. really, to be able to beckon your dog by the name you chose for it. i wonder if a swell of maddened joy tugs at his blackened heart whenever he sees bell’s head perk up at the sound of their name, the one he chose, as implicit and unthinking, automatic, as though it truly were their own. since birth.

and like it couldn’t be enough that he took everything from them. and most importantly that he took them away from perseus- that he stole perseus’ most precious comrade right out from under him, and turned them to an unflinching loyal pup for himself. this isn’t about you, this isn’t about me, this is about millions of other fucking people. is it? when you croon and tut their name between every sentence, are you sure you don’t just like the satisfaction of saying it, knowing how deeply it disarms them? knowing how they are wholly yours, to their very core? to the name they introduce themselves as? to the one they flinch and come running whenever you say it?

ugh. it’s just- a name is so integral to one’s identity. it shapes their life. their personhood. and he didn’t just erase theirs, but he gave them a new one and made sure they’d like it. a conditioned response of pleasure whenever he’d say it. isn’t that intimate?

he took everything. every single shred of who they were. that not even their name is their own. that even their name, their name, belongs entirely to him.

this didn’t make sense, i wrote this mostly for myself, congrats if u read this far. i just wanted to have every single thought and feeling i had about it jotted in one place and file it away ajshsjksjsjsjs

Do we ever think about the fact that Price had to leave Soap on that table after he died? He never had a proper burial. All that was left was the journal, ink stains that are supposed to contain a person’s entire LIFE. Price never got to cry next to a casket with his partner inside. He never got to deliver a speech in a chapel. Soap was a catholic, he would want to be buried. What do you think Makarov’s men did with Soap’s body?

I believe Price regrets leaving him there. He should have carried him out. 

War took the life of two boys that day. At some point, they were both just boys.