Dark Arrow

Chapter Fifty Three

I took Yelena to my main safe house ten blocks away from the one she'd followed me to. The interior wasn't too dissimilar to the one she'd found me in. The smell of damp and mould filled my senses but I didn't care. I was only there to get supplies and then I was heading out. 

"So this is where you've been hiding." She stated taking everything in. 

"Did you expect a five star hotel?" 

She pulled a bottle of vodka from the cupboard in the small kitchen. "No but I'm wondering...what bullet does that?" She gestured with the bottle over my shoulder. 

My heart ached looking at the holes in the wall. A mission from a long time ago, a lifetime if I was being honest. One  that had given me a best friend but a stark reminder of the brother I was currently trying to find a way to live without. 

"Not bullets. Arrows." I tell her as she pours us both a drink. 

"You or Clint?" 

Just hearing his name was painful. I'd tried for so long to numb myself to it, to push the pain so deep inside that I couldn't feel it. One mention of his name and I was right back where I was a year ago. Back in that compound with my world falling apart around me, the grief threatening to swallow me whole. 

I pushed it down as much as I could, begging the blood lust to wait just a bit longer. The only coping mechanism that worked. I could cry and shout and scream all I liked, but taking out the bad guy and doing something to stave off the anger, it was the only way I could function. 

"Me," I admitted. "Going after your sister."

Her eyebrows rose slightly. "You went after Natasha?" 

I took a shot from the vodka bottle before heading into the bedroom to get changed.

"More than once." I called out, hearing her move towards me. 

I pulled my top off, my back exposed to Yelena. 

"Why didn't you tel..." She trailed off. 

I knew why she'd suddenly become quiet, I could feel her eyes on the scars on my back. I didn't hide them, there was no point. I was hardly proud of them but people were going to find out about them eventually. I had no doubts about that. 

"Rain, what happened to you?" 

I shrugged pulling a clean top on. "I told you. I tried other things."

She finally tore her gaze away from me, not quite before I saw the pity in her eyes. I'd expected it but it didn't mean I wanted it. I made my choices and the consequences of them were something I've had to deal with. 

Yelena cleared her throat. "So what's your plan now?" 

I pulled on a clean pair of jeans and slipped into my combat boots, lacing them up I looked up at her. 

"Same as always. Get a new target and keep moving." 

Mainly because I didn't trust her not to tell either Nat or Steve where I was. I knew she'd made a deal to stop me running from her, she'd promised not to tell Steve. That didn't stop her telling anyone else, it's what I would've done. 

"New target?" She queried following me into the living room. 

"Being on the run isn't cheap."

"And where do you go for these targets?" 

I admired her attempt to subtly pull information from me, but she wasn't the first Widow I'd encountered and I knew their ways. 

"I know a guy."