A Shot in the Dark - Yelena Belova

тринадцать (Thirteen)

"That guy has a nice car."

  Yelena called shotgun, and Nat called driver - which meant Sascha was stuck in the back seat alone.  But this wasn't all bad though, and offered more space to stretch out during the long drive. 

"You know this was the first piece of clothing I ever bought for myself?" Yelena told Nat, gesturing to her dark olive green vest.

"That?"

"Yeah, you don't like it?"

"Is it like an army surplus or-"

"Okay, it has a lot of pockets," Yelena admitted. "But I use them all the time and I made some of my own modifications, but whatever-" She waved it away. Nat chuckled.  "Shut up, the point is I've never had control over my life before and now I do. It's important, it's special. I want to do things."

"I love it," Sascha said. "It's a great vest, Yel." 

"Thank you! "Спасибо Любовь."

"I like your vest," Nat admitted after a pause. 

"Ah, I knew it! I knew you did! It's so cool, right?"

"It's good, yes, I like it."

"And you can put so much stuff in there. You wouldn't even know."

Yelena fell asleep during the drive shortly after - according to Nat, who was being very evasive with details, it was still going to be a long drive yet.

Yay. 

"Sleep well, Любовь." Sascha stroked the golden strands of hair across her sweet girl's forehead.

"Do you still have trouble sleeping?" Nat asked her. 

A pause. "Sometimes."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah, but whatever..."

There was a pause before Nat broke it.  "So, are we going to be able to talk like grown ups, or..." She trailed off, glancing at Sascha in the rearview mirror. 

"I don't know - which one of us made the immature choice and ran away from their problems?"

"Uh, isn't that what you're doing right now?"

"But at least I've accepted it. It's what happened, I cannot change it, I can only move forward from it. No use dwelling on it. That does no good."

"Well now I'm doing something about it."

"Good for you." Sascha looked back at the snoozing Yelena.  "You know, if anything happens to her, I will kill you."

"I know."

"You abandoned her. You abandoned her and I will never forgive you for it. You will never know how much you hurt her. It showed her you didn't care where she did. This family is everything to her. It was a selfish act Natalia."

Nat's jaw clenched.  "I needed out."

"We all did."

Nothing more was said for the remainder of the drive, but a great deal was thought.

-----------------------------------------

Later, Yelena stirred awake.  "Are we there yet?"

"Almost, getting close," Nat updated. 

"Good." Yelena rubbed her eyes groggily before sighing.  "We really don't know where the Red Room is, though, I'm sorry."

"We wish we did," Sascha added.

"I know, it's okay. But I think I know somebody who does."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

Nat didn't answer.  Instead she said, "We're going to need a jet."

------------------------------------------

"I said we needed a jet."

"Yeah, well you know what you didn't give me? Time." A man stepped out of the helicopter that was apparently their ride.  "Or money. I'm not made of jets."

"And you are?" Sascha asked him. 

"Mason, Rick Mason. Natasha's friend."

"This is my contact," Nat explained.

"Ooo, I was wondering who it was."

"Oh, so I'm the 'contact' now?"

"I thought you were supposed to be the best, like a real pro," Yelena teased him. 

"Oh, I beg your pardon, Tsarina. Was the free flat and lifetime supply of weapons not to your liking?"

"Ha."

"Wait, that was you?" Sascha asked him.

"Yeah, yeah that was me."

"Oh, well thanks."

"Yeah, don't mention it. Natasha never does."

"What happened to the pro?" Yelena continued. 

Nat chuckled and turned to Mason who looked mildly offended. "Ah, don't let her wind you up."

"No, I take exception to impugning my professionalism."

"A professional contact?"

"Well, you did set me up with a generator that crapped out after six hours," Nat told him. "So..."

"Oh, you too huh? Tag team?"

"Aww, he's sensitive. I see why you keep him around." Yelena was entertaining herself with blowing on the helicopter's window, fogging it up with her breath and drawing shapes in the cloud before it faded.

"Where's the rest?" Nat asked. 

Mason retrieved a duffel bag containing three stealth suits. "Voila."

"Ooh-" Yelena pulled a candy bar from the bottom of the bag.

"Oh, I stashed that like five years ago," Nat said, but not before Yelena tore into the wrapping and took a bite.  "How is it?"

"It's dry," she said between chewing.  "It's really dry..." She grabbed a suit and stepped up into the helicopter. 

"Thanks, I'll make it up to you," Nat told Mason, also grabbing a suit.

"Uh huh - that's what you say every time." He waved. 

"But I do make it up to you."

"True." He turned to Sascha, the only one without a suit of her own.  "Suit up?"

"No thanks, I always carry my own."

Inside the  chopper, Nat was settling herself into the pilot's seat. "All right, ladies, strap in. One thing's for sure, this is going to be one hell of a reunion."

Sascha scoffed.  "You think?"

Russian Translations

Спасибо - Thank you

Любовь - Love  

(As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)

I was editing previous/older chapters in hoping of aligning my ideas with the movie plot more to hopefully avoid confusion! Let me know what you think! Thanks!)