"The way he looks at her. Like she's the most important thing in the world to him." "I think she is."
Experiment X - that's was she was known as. A dangerous weapon that belonged to a lab in the Soviet Union. An assassin. A spy.
A seventeen year old...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
— VANQUISH —
IRINA SUCKED IN a harsh gasp as her eyes flickered back to normal and her body fell from where it was floating. Steve was the first one to collapse onto the floor at her side. He pulled her into his embrace as she hyperventilated and gripped onto Steve as if it was the last time she was ever going to touch him.
"Jesus Christ, Irina, are you okay?" Max questioned, placing a hand on Irina's leg comfortingly. Irina nodded but still struggled to catch her breath.
"I thought I lost you, Irina. I thought I lost you." Steve repeated over and over again under his breath as he held Irina's trembling body in his arms.
"I-I'm still here. I'm... I'm s-still here." Irina panted, tears still streaming down her face. The back of her head was against Steve's chest and she'd never been so relieved to hear his heartbeat in her life.
"Oh God." Steve let out a long sigh of relief, not letting go of Irina to wipe the tear that had fallen down his face. He just let it fall before placing his head atop of Irina's.
"Y-you and me." Irina whispered through her heavy panting. She looked up at Steve and let out a choked sob. "I-it's you and me." She sniffled.
"Always." Steve gave her a relieved smile and pulled her closer to his chest, stroking his hand up and down her arm.
***
After what happened to Irina, Steve was not about to let her be unsupervised at any point in the near future, so he came to the conclusion that everyone could crash at their house tonight. There wasn't much room, but it would do. They were all just glad that Robin and Nancy had figured out the music theory when they did, otherwise things would have gone a very different way. A much more devastating way.
"Are you sure you don't need anything else?" Steve asked Irina as they sat alone in their bedroom, gathering their stuff to take into the living room. Everyone else was making their make-shift beds in their. Steve had been constantly asking Irina if she needed anything since they got home. Food. A drink. A blanket. The music.
"Just a hug." She mumbled with a sad smile.
"I can do that." Steve said, standing up and opening his arms. Irina stood up too and let him enclose her into his chest. She wrapped his arms around her waist and felt Steve sway them gently. He pressed his lips on top of her head and stayed like that for a moment. "I can't believe I almost lost you." He whispered.
"I'm here, Steve. I got out." Irina whispered back to him. "I got out because of you."
"What do you mean?" Steve asked pulling away from the hug and instead moving his hands to each side of her face, gently brushing his thumb up and down her cheek.
"When the music started, I saw you. I saw the times you told me everything was going to be okay. I saw you make me laugh and smile. I saw us talking about our future. I saw you tell me you love me. That was all I needed. I had to get back to you, Steve." Irina explained. Steve leant down and pressed a passionate kiss onto her lips. This kiss was different to how they usually felt. It was so full of despair yet so full of relief, satisfaction and pure adoration at the same time.
"I love you so goddamn much, and I swear on my life nothing like that is ever going to happen to you again. Ever." Steve said.
"I love you, too, Steve. I love you so much." Irina smiled up at him before kissing his lips again.
***
The next morning, Nancy woke up from her place on the sofa with a sharp gasp. She looked around the living room to see the group still asleep and Steve on the floor, but his arms were empty. Irina wasn't there. It was Dustin's turn to be on watch last and she looked around to see him dozed off under his blanket.
"Dustin!" She hissed and Dustin woke up with a jolt. "Where's Irina?!"
"She's right..." Dustin went to point but also saw Steve's empty arms. "Shit." He cursed. The two of them scrambled from their places, which awoke everyone else.
"Where the hell is Irina?" Steve's eyes widened as he awoke and he quickly leapt to his feet before sprinting into the kitchen, letting out a relieved breath when he saw Irina sat at the kitchen table sipping some orange juice while drawing something. Nancy and Dustin soon joined Steve in the kitchen, also letting out a sigh when they saw Irina at the table.
"Jesus, babe. Don't scare me like that." Steve said, standing behind Irina and rubbing her shoulders slightly.
"Sorry. I was just thirsty." Irina apologised, lifting one of her hands to place it on top of Steve's.
"Is this what you saw yesterday?" Nancy asked, looking at Irina's drawings.
"Yeah. I'm not very good at explaining, so I thought drawing it would be easier." Irina replied.
"I think it'd better if you explained." Dustin said, picking up one of Irina's drawings.
"Hey!" Irina smacked his hand away.
"Is that a stained glass rose? On the door?" Nancy asked, pointing to one of the drawings.
"Yeah. See, Dustin. They're not that bad." Irina smirked.
"It helps that I've seen it before." Nancy mumbled and began moving all the drawings around. She folded a couple pieces into rectangles and triangles and the other three watched her as if she was crazy. She was a crazy genius. She drew windows on a couple of them in black pen before placing the door down last.
"It's a house?" Steve observed.
"'Not any house. It's Victor Creel's house." Nancy said, getting up from her seat and pacing into the living room to wake the others. They needed to check out this Victor Creel's house.
