Run; K. Bishop¹ ✓

Twenty-three

➶ ｡˚ ° ➶ ｡˚➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚ ➶ ｡˚
(𝐑𝐔𝐍)
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE---▹

"How sweet, little Iskra, and her little archer friend."

"What the hell do you want?" Iskra asked, "To talk." he replied, Iskra's patience was running thin, "I have nothing to say to you, Mikhail." she said dryly. "I was wondering if you happen to know anyone by the name of August King?" he asked, "Doesn't ring a bell," she replied, "Who is she?" Kate asked, and Iskra shot her a look, trying to tell her to stay out of it.

"Ah, the archer speaks," he said before turning to Iskra, "You may know her by another name," he began, "The shadow, perhaps?" realization flickered in Iskra's eyes, but only very briefly, "Sorry, never heard of her. C'mon, Kate, we've got things to do." Iskra forces herself into a standing position acting as if, she was in no pain at all, and Kate followed right beside her. 

Once they were in a uber, Kate spoke up, "Was that the guy you were fighting the other night?" she asked, "Yeah" Iskra said, "Who is he? What does he have to do with all of this?"Kate asked, "His name is Mikhail, and as far as I know, his only connection to all of this, is me." Iskra replied, "You? How?" Kate asked, but noticing Iskra's shift in mood, she reached over for the redhead's hand, "You don't have to talk about it right now," she said softly, and Iskra nodded.

The pair sat in silence for a while before Iskra broke it, "He said something to me the other day...and it really got to me, I uh... can't stop thinking about it," Iskra whispered, and Kate looked over at her, "He told me that my uh...biological mother gave me to the organization where I was until Mama saved me," Kate squeezed Iskra's hand, "I'm so sorry." Kate said, "That's not even the part I can't stop thinking about, he said that my father, was closer to me than I thought." Iskra paused, "It doesn't matter, it was probably just him trying to distract me, but..." Kate nodded in understanding, "You can't help thinking about it." Iskra nodded, "exactly."

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Clint walked down the street, hood up, calling Laura, "Hey. Perfect timing. I just put Nate down to bed." Laura greeted, "Yeah good, we need to talk." Clint said into the phone, "Oh, no fun conversations ever started that way." 

"Yeah." he said, "Look I...I'm sorry, this problem just keeps getting bigger. This Maya is relentless, She's got her hands on the watch. Looked into our family. " he paused, "Someone has hired a black widow. And I...I don't want to think about where all this goes. " he said, "Clint we've been so careful, really I...I mean the kids and I are so far away." Laura spoke, "It's not far enough. It's never far enough." he replied.