A Shot in the Dark - Yelena Belova

Семнадцать (Seventeen)

Russian Translations

да - Yes

что? - What?

"So, are we there yet?"

"You don't know anything about me!"

"I chose them! Better than this shit show here!"

It hadn't been just any sisterly fight. It hadn't been just any fight, period. 

Shadows of their burst of anger and fighting still lingered with them, with everyone, as they marched onward. 

"Are we there yet?"

"Not yet! Getting close!"

Now it was getting dark. Overhead, night was descending upon them.

Great. Just great.  

Yelena caught up to Sascha.  "You good?"

"да. I've had worse. Your sister throws a mean punch."

"Our sister. And I know."

Sascha scoffed. "She's no hero. At least I don't pretend to be something I'm not."

Yelena didn't comment on this.  "You're starting to bruise. We'll get you some ice once we get to Melina's." Then she added softly, "To Mama's."

"Yeah, whenever that is. Hey Alexei, how much further?"

"We're getting close!"

"That's what he keeps saying," Sascha grumbled. 

Next Yelena jogged a little to catch up with Nat, who was marching far ahead of the group.  "Sascha's an avenger too, you know," Yelena told her when the sisters were walking side by side.  "Not in your sense, of course," she added when Nat's head whirled around to look at her, she appearing very confused. "But that's what got her started, how she became a Widow in the first place: avenging her family." 

"I know, I know the story."

But Yelena continued.  As Sascha had made very clear, Nat didn't know all of it. In fact, she knew very little.  "She volunteered for the experiments to make her the ultimate weapon against the Nazi invaders and it was worth it - anything to avenge them, her family, her village. She said it didn't matter how much pain the training and experiments put her through cause she was already in so much pain. It didn't matter."

"Would she like you telling me this?"

"Probably not. But now I'm telling you so you know. We all have tragic pasts. We've got to stop comparing who had it worst and work together."

Nat sighed. "I just want to get this over with."

Yelena tried not to feel dejected.

With the two sisters now ahead, Alexei caught up with Sascha. 

"I'm not in the mood to talk." She didn't look at him. 

"Not even with Yelena?"

"Maybe not even with her."

"Well I'm here. If you want to talk." 

A few moments of silence, then, "I met him."

"Who?"

She rolled her eyes. "I met Captain America."

He stopped walking and his jaw dropped. "I knew it! I knew you did! Why you never tell me?"

She shrugged.  "Didn't want to rub it in."

"And? Did he mention me?"

"No. But that was because it was in the '40s so you weren't even born yet. Your story has some holes in it, Red Guardian."

"Of course she wears the red suit." Back to the sisters, Nat was ranting.  "Her hands are always dripping with the blood of her victims. She's drowning in it."

"And her enemies. And I like the red suit - it has lots of pockets."

"I also fought the Winter Soldier," Sascha added, while they were still on the subject.

"Me too!"

"He shot me."

"Me too!"

"Nice guy." She looked around at the darkening landscape.  "I think we should consider stopping and making camp for the night-" They were in the forest, so there was plenty of cover. 

"No, we must keep going! We'll be there soon!"

She sighed.  "You're really sure about this?"

"Yes!"

"You've missed her, haven't you."

"да.  Very much."

This made her smile. 

"We're almost there, I mean it. Trust me, you'll know when we're there-" He began snorting.

"что?"

"Pigs. She has lots of pigs. She trains them," he explained. He snorted again for emphasis.

"Ah, I see." He continued with the snorting, making her laugh. 

"So, now are we there yet?" Yelena called back to them.

Finally - not soon enough - he was saying the words she - well, all of them - had been waiting for:

"We're here."

"Oh, finally!"

Their warm welcome was waiting, their host awaiting them and their arrival: Melina greeted them at the edge of her property with a gun that was as tall as she was. They all noted her finger lingering on the trigger. 

If she was surprised to see them, she didn't show it. 

Alexei was the only one smiling.  "Honey, we're home."

(Thank you so much to a reader who suggested Yelena telling Nat more about Sascha's past - shoutout to you, I loved the idea! :)

And to everyone, thank you so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed! :))