The shadow Hunter

chapter 54

I made it to Russia and the town of Kursk, and the odd feeling of being back set in. I felt like I was my old self again- the widow- and weirdly, the feeling didn't scare me. Feeling jet lagged and tired and in desperate need of a drink, i headed to the local bar in the small town. The place was grimy, dirty and run down and full of lousy drunks. I sat at the bar nursing a bottle of the strongest spirit. I took out a pager from my pocket and sent one message. 'I'm fine. I'm safe i promise. Tell Morgan I love her.' It read. I slipped it back in my pocket and took a swig from the bottle. "Hey sweetheart, what's a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?" A man asked beside me in a thick Russian dialect. He looked early 30s but past his best. "Hiding." I told him. "From who?" He asked. I ran my finger around the rim of my bottle and answered. "Life." He simply laughed with confusion. "Are you from around here?" He asked. "You sound Russian but don't look it." He stated. I shrugged. "I come from Belarus, but I've travelled around." I said, taking a long drink from my bottle. "Belarus? I have a cousin who lives there." He thought out loud before downing the rest of his drink.

 He leant closer to me and muttered into my air. "If your hiding, maybe you could come back with me." He smirked and brushed my shoulder. I pulled away quickly. "I'm not looking for any of that so don't even try it." I told him sharply. "Don't be like that." He muttered with a flirtatious smile. "I think you should leave." I mumbled back. He looked at me and started to speak again, "Come on, you seem lonely i cou-" He stared at me and furrowed his brows. "I know you, i recognize you from somewhere." I saw him make connections in his head. "No you don't, i just have one of those faces." I told him assertively, turning my face away from him.  His mouth went wide with excitement. "Of course, I saw you on the news, your that girl, the ave-" I cut him off, "You need to go." I demanded before he could continue. He laughed and picked up his bottle. "Calm down darling. I'm done now anyway, i'll have better luck at another bar." He strode towards the door and i heard it shut behind him as he left. I finished my drink and was about to get another when i heard the door creak open again. As i glanced over,  i saw her.

Natasha must have warned her i might be coming. Her sharp blonde hair was still slightly curly at the ends and fell to her shoulders. Her face was still round and peachy even after all these years. She spotted me and I'm sure a smile might have crossed her face had it not been preoccupied with worry. Before Peter, before Pietro, there had been Yelena- she had been my comfort. As little girls in the red room we had pressed our foreheads together, whispered words of comfort to each other. Trying to make a escapade of the misery. Like a sister we had protected each other, especially once Nat was gone. But then she was gone too. But now she was back.

She strode towards me and i stood up to face her. "Long time no see." I greeted her, nonchalantly. She looked at me for a while and then quite suddenly snatched me into a bone cracking hug. She pushed me away suddenly again, her face set in a frown. "What the hell are you doing here?" She relented. "I have no place in the world so i'm drifting." I told her with a smirk. She frowned at the use of the words Dreykov and the madams had always said. 'no place in the world.' I couldn't count how many times i had been told that. Just when i was starting to believe it wasn't true, the snap happened. "And i missed you." I admitted. Then a smile did cross Yelena's face and she hugged me again. "Well a reunion was over due." 10 years over due.

I sat back down at the bar and she sat beside me. "Natasha told me you might be coming. I heard what happened." Yelena said, taking a bottle from the bartender. "Everything?" I asked. She nodded with sympathy. "Where did you go when you escaped the red room?" I asked after a silence. I remember how i had resented her, them both, for so long after they left me. But once i escaped, i realized that when you get a chance to leave, you snatch it up with both hands. "I went on the run. For 5 years i managed to keep away from Dreykov and his men but it was pointless in the end because they captured me again, back in 2016, round about the time Dreykov's men came looking for you and Natasha." She told me. How long ago that felt. Well it was- 5 years it had been.  I furrowed my brows as i took another sip of my drink. "Yeah what was that about?" I questioned. "Dreykov's great plan." Yelena declared. "My mother was working for him at the time and had managed to create these chips that controlled widows to do what he wished. He came for me first, and then he went after you two."