Scarlet Warrior

five

Nothing but bright blue sky before me my thoughts began to wander to my past. The soft clouds beneath the Quinjet pushed me into serenity.

"Always need me to save the day don't you?" I grit through my teeth focusing my gaze forwards, refusing to look into her eyes. "I knew I could always count on you Anastasia," her voice is soft, it almost caresses my bruised skin. My grip on the Quinjet seat tightens. "Yeah, not enough to keep contact it seems like. Where did you think I was all this time?" Silence surrounds us as she ponders her next words over carefully. "I thought that you got out and were living a normal life." I roll my eyes at her pathetic excuse. "And you just never made contact again? It took you being left behind to die to call me?" Finally summing up the courage I turn to observe her sculpted face.

Her eyes bore into my soul, nothing but hurt behind her tired irises. "Honestly, I thought you didn't wanna see me." Her lips pull up into a weak smile, her orbs flickering up and down as she sucks me in, making sure to remember every inch of me. "Bullshit. You didn't want your messed-up girlfriend beside you whilst you saved the world with the heroes. Yet they left you out to die!" She doesn't flinch at my raised voice only reaching across in an attempt to hold my hand. I pull it away before she could touch me. "You weren't really my girlfriend." My chest tightens at her harsh words and I remind myself to not show her my weakness. "And the Avengers were not your family! I was!" I glare at her and see a flicker of remorse outlined on her face. "All this time you spent posing with them I was out there fighting the consequences of your actions. Since when do you even fight like that? They didn't train us to pose while fighting?" Turning my head to look out the window I catch her reflection in it. Her face is full of confusion as she goes over my words. "I'm not a poser," she mumbles and after waiting for my reply, which never came, she pushes on.

"All that time that I spent posing, I was trying to actually do something good to make up for all the pain and suffering that we caused. Trying to be more than just a trained killer." I huff in disbelief at her statement. She was delusional.

"Well, then you were fooling yourself because pain and suffering is every day and we are both still a trained killer. Except I'm not the one that's on the cover of a magazine. I'm not the killer that little girls call their hero." She leaves it at that and I don't push on anymore.

"Are you okay?" A thick Scottish accent pulls me out of my daydream forcing me to concentrate back on the mission. "Careful, someone might think you are acting nice," I ignore his gaze as I check the control panel if everything is running smoothly. "Who was he?" my eyes roll at the prying nature he portrayed oh so obviously. "He is none of your business," glancing back I notice Sprite cuddled up against Sersi, both of them lulled into a deep slumber. Just thinking about all the pain he caused her by using her love in order to move on from Aurora makes my heart clench in recognition.

"How did he get a Quinjet of this size on such short notice? Who does he work for?" his deep voice was starting to aggravate me. Ever since I was young I hated being interrogated and having people pry into my personal stuff. 

"He works for the organization you may know as none of your fucking business Ikaris," I growl finally looking into his sea deep eyes that bore into my soul. The tension in our gaze was heavy but neither of us was backing down. It was not in our nature. "Drop it, soldier," I knew my demand was going to pull a nerve but I growled it nonetheless.

Before I could blink his rough hand, crafted out of immortal flesh was wrapped around my pale skin. His fingers dug into my throat as he pulled me closer to his towering presence making me glare into his eyes. "Anastasia," he growls lowly, his anger-laced voice almost inaudible for others. But not me. I could feel his breath on my face, could sense the anger radiating out of him as he leaned down closer to my sitting body. "When I ask you something you answer. Do you understand?" My lips pull up into a subtle smirk. "Or what? You gonna punish me soldat?" His grip tightens around my neck and I revel in the pain. "I would love to see you try." He only glares at me but his grip does not falter. "Tebe eto nravitsya?" (Do you like this?) The words slip out in my mother tongue on instinct and I enjoy the fact he has no idea what I am saying.

"Da." My eyes widen as he pulls back walking away and disappearing into one of the cabins, leaving me to ponder over the fact that he very much understood my words. Blyat.

After 10 long hours, we finally land on American soil, making goosebumps appear on my scar-covered skin. It has been 347 days since I last stepped foot on this cursed land. Not that I was counting. "Miss Vasiliev?" A woman greets us upon arrival. "Mr. Mason told us to expect you. The vehicle has been retrieved from the compound. He thought you might want it back." My lips curl up into a genuine smile. That bastard always knew how to pull at my heartstrings. "He was right. Thank you for your service," the woman nods handing me the keys to the car and with one last nod walks away.

The Eternals trio trail surprisingly quietly behind me, even Ikaris stayed out of my business.
Finally reaching my beautiful beast my fingers graze the cold familiar metal. My trusted Mustang GT parked in the beat-down abandoned military base was a sight to see. The deep amber paint shimmered in the sunlight pulling me into another flashback.

"Bozhe moi! That was fucking close Anastasia!" Her laugh was contagious and it pulled me in. My foot was heavy on the pedal pushing the car over the edge. The speed made her hold tight onto the passenger seat but she embraced it. The rush suited her I thought as I sneaked a glance at her body so close to mine. Her seat was leaned back allowing her to stretch her body on the leather seat pulling her leg up catching my attention. "Eyes on the road soldat" she joked noticing my wandering gaze but I was ready to risk it all only to observe her hands caress along her curvy body. I ripped my eyes away from her intoxicating figure and maneuvered past the annoyingly slow cars. My tighs pushed together in an attempt to dull the ache but it did little to nothing. "This is just like Budapest all over again. Only this time Stark's technology makes our jobs much easier," she joked reaching over making me gasp in shock. "Was this what you fantasize about while you are with him milashka?" I struggle to hold back the sounds of pleasure threatening to slip past my lips as she caresses between my legs. "Oh God yes," the pleasure gets too intense and a loud moan escapes my throat making my legs shake. "Khoroshaya devushka". (good girl)

"Ajak's house is not far from here. We should make it in 40 min." Sersi pulls me out of my trance and shows me the way on her phone. "Make it 20," I smirk ripping the familiar tag off the car keys. Avengers Compound were the last words I read before my heeled boot crushes the past and we pile into the car, strapping in before speeding off.

"You were not lying when you said we would arrive in 20 minutes, Ana. I think I'm going to throw up," Sprite complains as I hold the door open for her to climb out of the backseat. "Stop complaining," I bump her shoulder and she smiles at me. "This is cozy," I observe our surroundings, admiring the house that supposedly belonged to Ajak. It was secluded, away from the traffic, away from prying eyes. A dream.

Walking up the creaking steps I seem to be the only one that finds the door being wide open a strange sign. "Hello?!" Sersi calls out walking into the cozy home. I follow after them, keeping my distance out of respect. "Ajak!" She tries again but is met with only the sound of the wind howling through the open back door. Something was off. As we tread through the house, our footsteps echoing through the empty house, they seem to pick up on the same signs as I. Except for Ikaris. His emotionless demeanor never falters.

They look around the kitchen area searching for their friend as I inch towards the back door. Noticing something by the barn I try to focus my vision in the dark. The closer I walk I recognize the outline of a female body and it makes me pick up my pace. Even in the dark, I could see the grey skin outlined with black veins and it made me run towards the tragedy. I could hear footsteps running behind me, they heard my hurry. Picked up on the urgency. "Ajak!" Sersi calls out to the woman laying in front of me as she runs to reach us. My skin tingles at the clear sight of the situation I have walked into. The woman was dead. Life sucked out of her 'immortal flesh'.

"No," Sersi gasps as she falls down next to Ajak, hitting the cold ground. Pure terror was pouring out of her irises and it forced me to look away. The sight too much to witness. I hear Sprite's quiet sobs as she too falls down to her knees in pain. I distract myself by looking around, noticing the almost too obvious fight scene. The barn was damaged, signs of struggles imprinted in the dirt. "It was a deviant," Ikaris spoke for the first time. I caught his figure from the corner of my eye, his cold stance. But I decided to walk away, back into the house, and give them some privacy. I had enough time to observe their behavior later.