Winter's Widow

Chapter 18: Escape

"Get your ass up, we need to go." Natasha's stern voice startled me out of a restless sleep, sprawled on the couch. I was so surprised at the noise and sudden movement that I rolled right off the edge, landing on the floor with a loud oof. I glanced up to see Natasha glaring at me in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? What are you doing?" I climbed to my feet sheepishly.

"What's going on?" I not-so-subtly wiped some drool from the corner of my mouth.

"We've been compromised." Those words made my blood run cold and got me moving in a hurry.

"How did they find us?" I called over my shoulder as I rushed into the other room to retrieve the hard drives and the laptop that we had been working on for the last month.

"I don't think that really matters right now, Winter." I sighed and shoved as many clothes as I could reach into my duffel bag, swinging it over my shoulder with a last glance around the room. I followed Natasha out the door, hugging the wall as we made our way through the apartment building's narrow hallways. I glanced down, seeing that she had her gun in her hand, at the ready. I fumbled in the side pocket of my bag for my own. Natasha glanced back at the noise, scowling at me. "You should always have your gun on you, Agent." I looked up at her, my eyebrows questioning her.

"I was napping, Natasha. We had been up for 48 hours straight." I could feel the scoff in her voice as she gestured me forward and we approached the corner from opposite sides of the hallway.

"Cover me." I spun around immediately at the order, seeing Natasha moving down the staircase beside her.

"Natasha!" I hissed at her. I looked down towards the lower floors, seeing a group of seemingly armed men who were ascending the staircase. There were too many of them, and she was about to run right into them. She paused at just the right moment as I clenched my fist, exploding the light fixtures lining the stairway. "Go!" I shouted, grabbing her by the arm and leading her down the hallway on the floor below, pushing through to the other emergency exit. Right before we reached the front door, she spun me around, leveling her gun above my shoulder and firing a single shot. I turned slightly to find one of the goons slumping to the ground directly behind me, a gun clattering to the cement floor beside him.

"Always watching your back, Winter." She pulled back and smiled at me. "Thank you, Sparky." I grinned as she led me away from the building, keeping out of sight. She tricked me into jolt-hotwiring a car a few blocks away, sliding behind the wheel with a smirk. "Maybe when we get back to the compound, Wanda will have realized what she's missing," she slid the car into gear as I reclined the passenger seat, settling in for no-doubt a long drive.

"We're not going to talk about my lack of a love life, Natasha." She chuckled and snapped her gum.

"Well, someone's got to." I huffed and sat up enough to crank up the radio. Surprisingly, that worked. Natasha stopped teasing me, but the smirk never left her face. I lay back into the seat, listening to the music and letting the road lull me back to sleep.

...

I was on my feet before Yelena could finish speaking. I didn't hesitate, moving my way back through the apartment and grabbing the bags that were still sprawled on the floor in the hallway where we'd left them. Yelena followed me out, pausing at a doorway I had ignored and returning with a few more weapons. She tossed me a handgun and put her gun up as I approached the front door. I hesitated, my hand on the knob, looking back at her. She nodded, and I pulled it open. There was nothing there on the other side, so we made our way down the hallway, climbing several floors instead of descending. Yelena guided us through the hallways and to a corridor that I never would have noticed. We exited the building at the same time, running towards the highest-trafficked street around instinctually. As Yelena covered, I slid behind the wheel of a car, jolting its engine to life, gesturing for her to get in. She climbed into the passenger seat, craning her neck to look behind us. "Go," she ordered, tapping me on the shoulder. I cranked the wheel to the side, flooring the gas and pulling out at the earliest break in traffic. We were miles away from the city by the time she relaxed in the seat beside me. She texted Mason, who responded almost immediately, asking about the apartment before confirming our destination. She was asleep by the time we arrived at a train station far enough away to be safe. She startled awake as I opened her car door, and I helped her to her feet. We boarded, found an empty compartment and settled in for the journey. "How long was I asleep anyway?" I gestured towards the train, pulling into the station.

"Long enough." She grinned, grabbing her duffle bag and walking off towards the train just expecting me to follow her. I did. Of course I did.

After pulling up to the trailer in the middle of nowhere, Yelena glanced around and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think they would find us here," she muttered. "I don't think anyone could." I chuckled softly. Natasha enjoyed her isolation, and Mason had outdone himself with this one. She spoke to me fondly about the trailer, although she hadn't stayed there for very long. Mason assured Yelena, apparently, that the generator had been replaced. Yelena opened the door cautiously, clearing the trailer before gesturing me to enter. We didn't have to say a word. Yelena opened the fridge on her way past, grabbing the typical Vodka bottle and bringing it with her as she headed through the trailer. I followed after her. By the time I reached the bedroom, she was half laying, half sitting on the bed, drinking directly from the bottle.

"Who was that, Yelena?" Hard to believe this was the first real opportunity I had to inquire about our abrupt departure from Budapest. She glanced over at me lazily before lying back on the bed, throwing her arm over her eyes.

"We haven't found them all, yet." I frowned, sitting down beside her.

"We who? Found who?" She lifted her arm enough to glare at me a little bit before lowering her head back down onto the pillow.

"Natasha didn't tell you about the other widows?" I frowned, remembering back to the multiple conversations we'd had after she returned from Russia and broke me out of the Raft.

"Yeah, she told me that the gas saved her from being beaten to death." Yelena nodded.

"That's true. I have really good aim, by the way." I smirked. Natasha had told me that too, but I wasn't about to give Yelena the satisfaction. "But no, the other widows. The ones that weren't there that day when the red room fell." I turned towards her.

"But Dreykov's gone. How are they being controlled?" Yelena shrugged.

"That's the thing. They're not. But they're not...not controlled either." She finally sat up and rolled her eyes at my confusion.

"Widows that have not been exposed to the antidote are still largely following the last orders they were given." I thought about what she said for a moment, but the next sentence stopped me in my tracks. "And some of their last orders were coming after me and Natasha." I took a deep breath. I understood now.

"But how did you know they were there?" Yelena shrugged and stared at her hands.

"Natasha downloaded the files. We know who they are, and at least where they were last. I knew her." I nodded slowly.

"It seems like we're both a little popular." Yelena smirked at me and patted the bed beside her. I lay down, not even bothering to get under the covers. Given the excitement, the journey and the slight level of frustration that existed continually between us, both of us were asleep within minutes.

A/N: Are we ready for what's about to happen between these two crazy kids?