The Memories of Night | 18+

𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲

≫ ──── ««•◦ ✪ ◦•»» ──── ≪

Astrid had the fastest record of rescuing a hostage in S.H.I.E.L.Ds history, and it left her fellow trainees speechless. It left me speechless too.

I glanced over to Natasha who had gone completely and utterly silent, her pace white as the snow covering the mountains in Iceland. "Nat?" She blinked, one slow blink, and I took her arm, pulling her out of her chair and towards the drop ramp, giving us a semblance of privacy. On the screen, we could hear the commands being barked at Astrid in German and French, but my concern wasn't on the agent, mine was on my friend, who looked like she'd seen a ghost. "What's going on?"

"She's a widow."

I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms across my chest, "What?"

Natasha let out a shuttering breath, her eyes dilating before finally landing on me again, "She's a widow, her training, it's the same I had when I was in the Red Room, she-" Natasha let out another strained breath, "What is her history? Do not lie to me, I know you've been reading it, I thought I took down Dreykov, I thought I ended the program."

"Relax," Natasha slumped against the wall of the jet, trying to focus on me. "She was raised in the FBI headquarters, not entirely the Red Room, but something really close to it," Natasha's eyes were wild when she focused on me or tried to. "By nine she was a fully trained assassin, if she didn't volunteer I would've never sent her on this mission, but I couldn't say no."

"Is the program still active?"

I shrugged because I wasn't sure, "It's safe to assume yes, but I'm not sure, I haven't asked about the program, not after the memory I saw in the simulation with her. I would just say a safe guess would be that the program is still running and the facility is moved every so many years so it's off radars of people."

Natasha looked at me, her eyes wide but vacant, it was like she had gone somewhere else, and was starting to store the information away so she could handle it. "If you're going to do anything with the program, take her," I whispered, seeing Nat's eyes shoot up to mine, "She'd love to see that place burned to the ground, especially since her father had a hand in it, so if you're going to try and destroy it, take her with you."

We looked over to the screen when a scream came through, and I felt my heart stop when I realized it was Astrid's scream. A knife had been embedded in her stomach from where Astrid looked down, the camera shakey when she looked at the knife. My stomach rolled, I forgot what it was like to care for someone when they're job is dangerous. And then I froze because I care for her. And I sent her on a death mission. I wasn't doubtful of Astrid's skill, because she had proven how trained she was when she got on the boat and secured the hostage. But, I was supposed to protect her, she had never been protected, and I had seven men sitting here gaping at her as she outshone them, I should have sent one with her. The men surrounding Astrid said something in Russian, and I turned to Nat who was already watching me. "They said that she's their bargaining chip, to harm her until we come."

I went to command everyone to go extract her, when Astrid's voice came through speaking perfect Russian according to Natasha's face, "Боюсь, я недостаточно важен, чтобы быть разменной монетой."

Natasha laughed when she saw the fear on the guard's faces after Astrid spoke to them in their native language. "Agent King just told them that she's not important enough to be a bargaining chip, but she also just exposed to them that everything they say she'll be able to understand and now they're nervous."