Part one

Lasray was born on January 21, 1964.

Her parents were KGB agents, and she was not the first child in the family. Lasray's parents worked under General Nikolai Krasnov, who, in turn, was in charge of the Nova-6 case, tracking down all those guilty and involved. In 21nd of November 1964, Alisa, along with Viktor, (Lasray's parents), were sent to Bulgaria to locate a safe house where Dragovich's agents were hiding. Alisa's skills were crucial for this operation, so with a heavy heart, Nikolai recalled his sister from her maternity leave. Lasray stayed with a nanny in the KGB compound where Nikolai worked. Kravchenko was tasked with eliminating the people who were trying to find everyone involved with Nova-6: he made a cunning move and staged an American attack on this KGB base, resulting in the death of Lasray's nanny and leaving the girl alone. But there is a nuance: the Americans were indeed there, albeit with different objectives. The CIA was working with Krasnov to eliminate Dragovich. Woods, Mason, and Bowman found themselves in the thick of the firefight and began helping the Russian general and his agents (more on that in another story…).

While clearing the area of Dragovich's agents, Woods entered a room where he saw a couple of dead soldiers and a nurse, and among them - a little girl. He assumed the girl's parents were among the dead and, after much thought, decided to take her with him. Thus, she ended up with the CIA. However, Woods didn't want to take responsibility for her because he believed he was bad with children and, in principle, didn't want to choose her fate: he feared making the wrong choice that would later lead to severe consequences. Therefore, this choice fell on the shoulders of the most responsible man in the team - Hudson.

Still unmarried, Hudson decided to adopt the girl because something inside him wouldn't allow him to send her to an orphanage. Perhaps his recent breakup had prompted him to take this responsible step. As if a non-existent paternal instinct had awakened, he felt a connection with this child. Perhaps even then, the CIA higher-ups took an interest in the Russian girl, which would later play a significant role in her life.

When Woods found out that the girl would stay at the headquarters, with the team, with them, a switch flipped in his mind. Maybe it was simple curiosity, or perhaps something more - after all, he had saved her; he was also a part of her being here now. It was he who gave her the name Lasray, telling Hudson that all the names he had in mind were too boring and didn't suit this "Russian spitfire."

From then on, the little girl with the new name Lasray lived with Hudson and spent almost all her time at the CIA. While she was very young, Hudson took her to a kindergarten located on the CIA headquarters grounds.

Despite being Russian, a complete stranger to Americans, to Jason, she was more than his own child. He decided to invest all his heart and soul into the girl. Even within the confines of the CIA, together with his colleagues (Weaver, Woods, sometimes Adler and Mason), he managed to give her a short, but still happy, childhood. At first, no one besides Hudson interacted with her because she was little and spent most of her time outside the headquarters walls. But as she grew older and started appearing there, she completely captured Woods's attention.

For a long time, he felt something akin to responsibility for her, but for a long time, he also tried to suppress that feeling. He was in a relationship on the verge of collapse; he needed to somehow keep close the only person who hadn't given up on him in the last two and a half years. But, alas, he couldn't manage it. Even back then, Frank had certain problems related to post-traumatic stress, which, combined with his temperament, hindered the building of healthy relationships. Civilian women found it hard to understand why he couldn't "just not get angry," why he couldn't "just not scream at night," and it often scared them off. The most understanding girl couldn't handle it mentally - the burden of caring for a combat veteran proved too heavy for her. Frank hadn't forgotten about Lasray; it was just that now, with another relationship definitively over, he could calmly meet the child whose life he had saved. When he finally met the little girl, a special bond seemed to form between them instantly, very much like that of a father and daughter, but different. He began spending a great deal of time with her, even more than Hudson did. Jason himself trusted the Marine - he didn't understand him deeply yet, but he grasped the workings of his psyche, his attitude towards children and civilians. The fact that Frank was slightly afraid of doing something wrong when interacting with Lasray spoke volumes. It spoke of deep care and responsibility, as well as of insecurity. Because of the latter, Woods sometimes involved Mason in their hangouts and trips to amusement parks with Lasray. Mason himself saw her as a little sister, as he had two of his own.

It was primarily thanks to Weaver that Lasray managed to learn to speak Russian. The thing is, until about the age of one, she lived in the USSR, where she heard Russian and began to understand it, so immediately switching to another language was difficult for her. It turned out that from childhood, she learned two languages in parallel because, despite their dislike for communists, Hudson and Weaver shared a common desire to preserve a piece of the life the girl could have had if she hadn't ended up in the USA. Grigori, when he babysat her, told her about Russia, its culture, and even played Soviet cartoons for her. Whatever Soviet politics were like, Weaver loved what was hidden behind the repressions, what had once been his Homeland; books, cartoons, films, and especially film adaptations of fairy tales helped Lasray better understand Russian speech, culture, and what Russia was still worth loving for. At the same time, Weaver tried to shield Lasray from hasty conclusions about what their Homeland had become now. The current politics only repelled Grigori, and the CIA itself in the Cold War was fighting more against the very idea of communism and universal social equality, which completely contradicted the capitalism established in the States and the West as a whole. Weaver also read Solzhenitsyn's works and supported his point of view, which also influenced what he told Lasray. He longed for home but stood against the authorities. These sessions with the "Russian uncle" would later, in their own way, affect Lasray's opinion of the USA, the CIA, and the Cold War in general.

Adler was almost entirely preoccupied with Perseus during this time, so Hudson rarely turned to him, "for old times' sake." In Lasray's eyes, he was that kind of uncle you see once a year, and he seems really cool to you.

Hudson was simply there all the time, like a loving father. Due to the desire of Weaver and Hudson to preserve the girl's native culture within her, Lasray knew she was Russian, that there was no one here related to her by blood. But from childhood, she never gave it much thought; she loved her family, even if it consisted of people with an alien culture and views. No one ever managed to instill an "American" worldview in her because her environment changed almost every year; the calculation was that it would all come naturally. However, it was the Soviet ideals of life that remained in the girl's heart.

From 1968, the situation in Vietnam began to noticeably escalate. Woods and Hudson were often and for long periods absent from the base, causing Lasray to stay with Mason, who was temporarily stationed there. The girl began to miss her father and uncle, constantly begging Alex to take her to Vietnam next time. The request was utterly reckless, so Mason refused. Because of this, Lasray spent a long time devising a plan to sneak after her friend and get to where she wanted. And she succeeded. Before Mason's departure to Vietnam, she was running around the helicopter pad, "seeing him off," and then, when no one was looking, she jumped into the helicopter and hid behind some boxes. It was a semi-empty cargo helicopter headed to a military airport. There, Mason transferred to a plane bound for Vietnam. The little girl had little time to make a dash; she needed to remain unnoticed. She was scared, finding herself in a highly unconventional situation, but she wanted so badly to see her loved ones that she found a way. By chance, she was lucky - she climbed into one of the boxes being loaded onto that very plane flying to Vietnam. If not for this coincidence - no one knows where she might have ended up. Similarly, inside that box, she ended up on the right helicopter during a transfer in Vietnam, after which she finally reached the base. Everyone was shocked by this news. While Hudson was reprimanding Mason on the spot, Woods took Lasray around the camp and told her about the war, the soldiers, and similar things at the girl's request. In the end, everyone got an earful: Mason, for not keeping an eye on Lasray; Weaver, for not picking up the girl from the helipad on time; and Hudson from the higher-ups, as her guardian. But this incident sparked the interest of the CIA top brass. The girl, at such a young age, was willing to do anything for her loved ones; she was very brave and loyal. This became one of the main reasons for the CIA's subsequent decisions regarding Lasray.

Later, in 1968, Woods was captured. Lasray was 4 years old at the time. At first, she didn't really understand where he had gone, but later, having learned to read, she read from documents in Hudson's office that Woods was missing in action and possibly dead. These four years were quite difficult for her father because the girl's desire to learn completely vanished; she was often sad, cried - in short, it hit her quite hard, considering how attached she had become to Frank.

Now, regarding her education. Since even historically Americans acknowledged the strength of Soviet education, the CIA decided that Lasray would undergo an accelerated Soviet 10-year school program, starting at age 4. Hudson could only assume this was done because they already saw a future agent in the girl. She was becoming accustomed to the conditions of intelligence work from childhood, growing up among agents, considering them family. He wasn't given an exact reason; it was just complete nonsense, but he was given an order - to organize her education and training.

In 1972, Woods was found alive and brought to the CIA. When Lasray found out about it, she didn't believe it at first. But later, when she was allowed to visit Woods in the hospital - her happiness knew no bounds. For a very long time, she didn't leave his bedside; first, they hugged for a long time, Lasray unable to hold back tears of joy. Then their pleasant meeting turned into an equally long dialogue where Frank asked about what had happened in the girl's life while he was gone. He did everything just so she wouldn't focus on his condition, as it could traumatize her to some degree. But alas, it all ended in failure because it was impossible not to notice how his body had turned from strong and muscular into skin and bones with a bunch of barely healing wounds. And yes, undoubtedly, this left a mark on Lasray's young mind.

That same year, 1972, after some time in the hospital, Woods decided to go home, considering his condition normal enough to live and rehabilitate on his own. Of course, Lasray wanted to go with him because she had missed him so much, and Frank was already rushing to leave again. But, as a child, she didn't quite understand that the idea of going with Woods to his place in Philadelphia wasn't a particularly good one. The situation wasn't as favorable as the Marine thought. He was exhausted, could barely walk, and could hardly take care of himself, but she wanted to be close to him because all the years of his absence had been literally half of her life. Hudson understood this perfectly too. But despite the absurdity of the situation - it was the best way out of it. Starting from 1970, U.S. success in Vietnam began to decline. The operation against Laos and Cambodia had failed; two major air offensives, which caused significant damage to North Vietnam's infrastructure, sparked a storm of protest in the U.S. in 1972 - something had to be done. The authorities and CIA top brass loaded everyone involved in Vietnam operations with work, and Hudson had no choice but to send Lasray with the half-dead Woods to Philadelphia. It was a Jason’s chance to calmly sort out all work matters and, well, fix his personal life, which he sorely lacked.

Lasray and Woods found themselves alone, literally trapped, because the Marine could hardly walk without assistance, perform basic self-care, and his charge was too young to manage all the household chores on her own - having grown up in the CIA, she had no idea how to live in the civilian world. Plus, her study schedule was packed; she had to study on top of taking care of her uncle.

Because Woods couldn't really take care of himself, he had to teach Lasray how to cook, clean, and do laundry, but, of course, only verbally, and watching how she handled everything so his precious helper wouldn't do something stupid and get hurt. Frank was ashamed to ask for help from a child; she was only 8. Periodically, Hudson would come to Philadelphia. He had two goals: to check on Lasray, her well-being, academic progress, explain things if needed; and to talk with Woods - to conduct a psychotherapy session to alleviate his PTSD and the rest of the psychological bouquet he brought back from Vietnam. Naturally - Woods argued, unwilling to receive help from Hudson, but the bald CIA man had a good lever of pressure - the little girl temporarily living with him. Hudson knew and asserted that if Woods refused treatment, it would be worse not only for him but also for her, as his poor condition primarily affected the people around him, his loved ones.

Essentially, during this time, Lasray became a new meaning in life for Woods - a child who, despite everything, found joy in everything around her and urged him to do the same. Over the three years while Woods recovered from captivity, while they were close to each other, a deep bond began to form between them: Frank needed her as a light in dark days, a source of goodness and love he couldn't get from anyone else. She became his source of joy, the one for whom he was willing to live and return to duty again and again. Every drawing of hers, every silly thing she said, any help she offered - made him feel better, if only a little. For Lasray herself, Woods only strengthened the image of an uncle who cared for her despite his condition, who sincerely wished for her well-being, who loved her… even despite the long separation they had endured.

In her free time, Lasray walked outside; she met some boys who ran around playing war games, joined their group, and found friends there whom she often played with while living in Philadelphia.

After three years, they returned to the CIA, and the agency's usual routine resumed. Lasray studied, began physical training with Woods, and nothing particularly special happened for the next few years.

In 1978, at age 14, Lasray completed her studies under the Soviet program and for some time focused solely on physical training. At some point, the CIA took her; she disappeared from sight for several days. Few knew at the time what had happened. And only when her personal file landed on Hudson's desk were the terrible details revealed. The CIA had conducted an experiment somewhat resembling Dragovich's actions in Vorkuta when he implanted a numeric code in Mason's head, which dictated certain actions. Digging deeper, Jason understood the exact reason the CIA had allowed a child so close to the agency because, before her appearance at the headquarters, the constant presence of children, especially young ones, was not permitted. After that incident in 1968, the top brass planned to turn her into a weapon and use her for their own purposes. This experiment was one of the only harsh steps toward achieving that goal. The emotions Hudson felt at that moment, upon finding out what had happened to his daughter, are hardly worth describing. Of course, it was difficult for a father to endure such a blow from the people he worked for. But he could do nothing: the documents were "Top Secret," they couldn't even be stored in the closed section of the archive in Langley; a separate place was designated for them; all this meant Jason could only constantly worry about his child, be there for her, and look askance at the higher-ups because he could no longer pull his daughter out of here - the CIA had a firm grip on her throat and weren't planning to let go.

After some time, when she had recovered psychologically and physically from the intrusion into her mind… Nothing worked. It was all in vain. However long the organizers of the experiment waited - she didn't respond to the commands. Some suggested that her Russian origin and partially Russian upbringing had generated a willpower in her that, combined with an awareness of what was happening, could build a psychological barrier that prevented the plan from working, similar to the case with Reznov and Mason. Despite having his hands tied, Hudson still managed to resolve the situation - using his diplomatic skills, he convinced the bosses that tormenting a child wasn't worth it. She would continue her training and, in the future, would work for the agency, but would have a guarantee of immunity from experiments. In light of the failure, everything was agreed upon.

Further, still in 1978, a program of initial and professional military training for Lasray was developed. The girl's age was unsuitable for army service, but it was quite suitable for training; the CIA settled all questions on that matter. She was sent to the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps for training and further military discipline. Thus, she prepared for her future work and gained experience so her recruitment would be justified. At first, it was very hard for her to adapt - she was torn from her family, her loved ones, left alone among strangers. She had a mentor who could, if necessary, defend her, stand up for her, but it still wasn't the same. The girl was deliberately "thrown" into such a situation. If she couldn't psychologically let go of the "apron strings," then, finding herself alone on the battlefield, she would hardly be able to act sanely. For a little over a year, the training was basic: the girl adapted to the army rhythm of life, got used to independence. Her childhood was on the verge of ending when she started caring for the half-dead Woods, but with her entry into the army ranks, it definitively ended. This is where her problems with self-perception, her age, and responsibility would begin.

It's also worth mentioning "Charybdis," which Lasray knew nothing about. During all the time she was in the army, her father visited her only a couple of times. This was also connected to this secret operation. Mason, Weaver, and Hudson were deemed a threat to national security due to Alex's visions and the involvement of the others. In 1978, Jason and Grigori fled to South Africa. It's unknown how, but this conflict was resolved and remained classified. Accordingly, no one, except these three and important State Department, officials knew what had happened, including Lasray.

The second year in the army was marked by a gradual transition to professional military training. Lasray learned the basic skills of an intelligence officer, techniques, and tricks that distinguish intelligence operatives from any other soldiers. After long training, she went on a couple of reconnaissance missions under her mentor's guidance, gaining experience in the field. She distinguished herself with agility, dexterity, and resourcefulness, which played to her advantage - unconventional ideas came one after another, setting her apart from other soldiers. Yes, not always in a good way; sometimes very interesting ideas were foolish and reckless. Lasray had a long way to go before learning to sort them out herself and choose the best ones. During one sortie, Lasray and her mentor walked into a trap and had to fight back. The sudden combat had a certain impact on her psyche, continuing the series of her psychological problems.

Her army service ended by July 1980. During this time, she only saw Hudson, and even then, just a couple of times. Upon returning to Washington, she was emancipated due to "enlistment," after which Lasray was considered an adult and permitted to work for the CIA. The girl herself didn't pay due attention to this due to the joy of reuniting with her loved ones, as a result of which she completely forgot about it and didn't realize she was already an adult. Because of this, no one except Hudson and Woods remembered it. That same year, she was recruited and began her path as a young agent. But before recruitment, Lasray set one condition - she would not participate in missions or operations against the USSR. The moral principles instilled by Soviet literature prevented her from going against her homeland. Surprisingly, the CIA top brass didn't object. Such a bold statement only strengthened their opinion of her as someone who could fearlessly defend her interests and see things through. She was still young, just learning; she had time to reflect on her positions. Besides, apart from the USSR and the Cold War, the U.S. had other focal points requiring her skills.

Of course, no one immediately threw her into combat. For now, she was her father's errand girl and underwent another intensive training before going into action. After all, neither Woods nor Hudson were in favor of her being in the epicenter of events at 16. Woods was appointed her mentor, and she his protégé. He helped her climb the career ladder.

TW/CW!! Unconventional relationships and hints of physical intimacy. If you are sensitive to such topics, please scroll to the end of the italicized text!! All non-constructive criticism will be ignored.

The two long years of separation couldn't help but affect the feelings of Lasray and Woods. They hadn't seen each other for a very long time, making their reunion quite tender and emotional on both sides. All this time, Woods couldn't find peace from loneliness. He missed his charge as a person; his psychological state had worsened, though not critically. He tried to find someone. Not a replacement, but rather an acquaintance that could support his condition at a certain level until the return of his irreplaceable ray of light. But almost immediately, this initiative was cut short by himself due to a feeling of wretchedness. He lived in solitude until the day he could hug again perhaps the only person in the world who was so dear to him. Of course, Lasray decided to live with Woods after returning from the army - by that time, Hudson's personal life was in full swing, with a wife (and children maybe), and the girl reacted too painfully to that; she couldn't have lived in that chaos. And the Marine was only too happy - he wouldn't have let her go to Jason anyway. They needed each other on a psychological level; she was his support, and he hers. Moreover, it had become his habit to sleep next to her. This dated back to 1972 when Lasray calmed him at night after nightmares caused by PTSD. Those two years without her were quite hard on him.

The girl had matured physically and mentally over the two years; adolescence and hormones were raging within her. Lasray and Frank gradually began to grow closer; Lasray had picked up adult jokes in the army, and strange thoughts characteristic of all teenagers in puberty began to appear in her head. But this frightened her. She turned to her father as both a psychologist and a parent. He told her how, what, and why things happen. He managed to explain to her that it was normal to feel such things, that she just needed to learn to accept it and not get into bad situations because of such whims. But it didn't end with Hudson alone. The closeness, sleeping in the same bed with an adult man, a long-standing habit, the desire to care for him, also began to evoke strange and frightening thoughts for the young girl. One evening, Lasray simply couldn't take it anymore and told her mentor everything.

Woods himself hadn't paid attention to his feelings for his charge for a long time. They weren't obvious, although after the reunion, they began to burn brighter and brighter. And only after Lasray shared such intimate things with him did the Marine also begin to think about the thoughts visiting him. He talked to her about her feelings, helped her come to her senses. For some time, everything went on as usual. They were there for each other. But towards the end of January 1981, when Lasray had already turned 17, she lost it. This wasn't related to a primal desire, even if physical contact occurred. The girl began to experience severe derealization, and she needed to feel someone close. As close as possible. And she wouldn't trust anyone else in this regard as she would trust Frank. And for him, it was a rather difficult decision - to get close to her. Their main problem was the significant age difference. He had watched her grow up; he had actively participated in her upbringing. Thinking it over a bit, about his feelings, his loneliness, Lasray's blind trust in him, he finally decided. He decided on something he thought he would always regret. But then he felt himself better. The nature of their intimacy was tender and passionate, based not on animalistic desire but on the need to have someone close. To others, it's dirty; to others, it's vile, but no one knows the story behind it. After the intimate incident, a period of their closer relationship began.

Hudson had expected that something like this might happen, but it still didn't ease his sense of worry for his daughter. She constantly came to him to talk about herself and her life. He could observe how her state changed after returning from the army, starting work, and, among other things, starting a close relationship with Woods. Despite Jason's worries, the condition of both his daughter and the Marine improved.

Of course, their relationship wasn't perfect, especially before it acquired at least some official status. After January 1981, for some time, they would be in a "Schrödinger's" relationship, neither he nor she understanding what to call each other, what they were to each other. And by the end of the year, because of this, Lasray's nerves would begin to fray.

In February 1981, the operation against Perseus began. This was on of Lasray's first experience as a CIA agent. She agreed only because Perseus didn't work for the Soviet government, and millions of human lives were at stake. She was mainly involved in intelligence, in West and East Berlin, when necessary. The data collection on Perseus's accomplices was quite successful. Lasray performed well, despite all her internal fears.

With Park, she didn't get along right away - conflicts arose due to misunderstandings in many aspects. Helen considered her a child who shouldn't be allowed on missions at such an age, especially intelligence work. Lasray, in turn, argued with her quite hot-temperedly and also became very jealous of Woods because of the British agent - they had found common ground. The relationship didn't work out; Lasray's youthful maximalism guided her emotions, and, in the end, she came to hate Park.

With Sims, she didn't communicate much, but with Lazar she became friends in parallel with Woods, since the Marine had befriended the sapper, and Lasray was always hanging around and was part of their conversations.

Also, during this operation, her contacts with Adler became more frequent. Even if she didn't get to know him better as a person, she at least took the first steps. She finally began to communicate with him without shyness and trust him. She generally disapproved of Adler and Park's experiment on Bell but understood why it was necessary. Basically, her opinion of Adler was neutral. Neither good nor bad, all his actions compensated for each other, bringing his karmic balance to zero.

With Bell, Lasray became friends almost immediately, despite him actually being one of Perseus's accomplices, just with a washed brain. In his new memories, he was a Russian CIA agent in Adler's squad, as a result of which they had common topics for discussion. Bell was closer to Lasray's age group, which also contributed to them quickly bonding and finding similar interests. She grew to love him like a brother and spent all two weeks trying to help him become a full-fledged member of the team, which, it seemed, worked out great. She often complained to him about Park. Bell, who had no baseline in his new memories about interacting with Helen, gradually adopted his friend's point of view, as he himself began to notice her "condescending tone" and "empty actions under the guise of something useful." In the end, because of this, in a critical situation in Cuba, Bell decided to save Lazar. Park died.

In the end, after another brainwashing and lobotomy from Adler, Bell remembered Perseus's location and decided to tell the truth, help the Americans prevent a catastrophe. Whatever Perseus's goals were, their ultimate outcome was the destruction of a large population of Europe, which pushed the guy to act.

Lasray's first major combat was on Solovetsky Islands. Hudson, very reluctantly, allowed her on this mission because if not now, then when? Someday she would end up on the battlefield; someday she would be wounded. It was a serious mission; Lasray took a couple of bullets but helped Bell complete the assigned task. A note remained in her personal file on this matter: "...Performed decently, sustained injuries, much to work on. Recklessness doesn't always lead to good outcomes; needs to train patience, calculation, stealth skills."

At the end of the mission, she found Bell missing. He was supposed to return with them to the CIA; no special orders had come from the higher-ups regarding him. Having also lost sight of Adler, she panicked. Something was wrong, and she could feel it. After questioning everyone, she found out where those two had gone. Finding them, she stopped Adler's attempts to eliminate her best friend. He was a friend only to her; for Russell, the guy was a disposable asset that needed to be disposed of. Lasray caused a scene; diplomacy wasn't her strong suit sometimes. But, even so, she managed, with great difficulty, to persuade Adler not to kill Bell. How he agreed remains a mystery to all.

In any case, everything ended relatively well. After the operation ended, recovering from combat stress, Lasray decided to study various social and political points of view. In the context of the Cold War, she was interested in Capitalism and Communism. She read several books by different authors, including Karl Marx's "Das Kapital." Lenin's works wouldn't reach her hands for years, as obtaining such books in the States was impossible. She was drawn to her homeland; an idea had formed in her head that things were good in the USSR, that it was safe there; childhood memories of kind cartoons and Weaver's stories pushed her to study politics, and she adopted the side closer to her - communism, even though she lived in a completely different world, among completely different people. Therefore, she simply kept her views to herself, not even telling her loved ones about them.