Widow of Siberia

Chapter 9

The Winter Guard were quiet. An uneasiness sat underneath their skin as the Red Widow took the lead, crouched at the front of the group. The warehouse out of the city was a smart move on the traitors' part, plenty of places to hide and wait for an ambush. They would have to be careful but Vienna had some time to waste before Anya arrived. 

“We'll need to start at the edges and work inwards,” Vienna said quietly, scanning the windows and doors of the building with her eyes. 

“They are three little girls and Shostakov,” Mikhail sighed, his bear form making his voice growling and rough, “we can take them in five minutes, let's just go.”

“Do you want an arrow in the back?” Vienna asked, frowning slightly as she stood up and extended her naginata, “there are seven of them. The Winter Soldier is following Natasha’s heels like a good little dog, and the two threatened archers are around also.”

“You could always share once in a while,” Ursa Major grumbled, flexing his claws as the Guard readied themselves for the mission, “how much do you really know about this thing, eh Krasnyy?”

“More than you would like me to.” 

Vienna moved quickly. Her blade stuck into the throat of the great bear and she twisted, pushing it through his arteries. 

“The traitor can stay behind.”

“Krasnyy!” Dimitri shouted, tense and ready to strike if he needed to. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Mikhail has been leaking all of our tactics to the enemy,” Vienna told them as they watched the bear bleed out at their feet, “a breach of trust is inefficient to team work, is it not, Dimitri?”

The Crimson Dynamo’s helmet turned away from her. They had orders. Strict orders from His Excellency. 

“We can't just start killing each other when you lose trust,” Laynia snapped, a deep glare in her eyes, “You don't trust any of us.”

“Then stay in line,” Vienna argued, wiping the blood from her weapon, “Do you not want justice for your country?”

“This is not justice,” Laynia said through gritted teeth, pointing sharply towards the warehouse. “This— what you and Anya are doing— this is revenge. This is a selfish want to get back at your better.”

“She is not—” Vienna started angrily, moving to point her blade towards Darkstar. 

“I won't help you with this,” Laynia said, shaking her head as she pushed the weapon out of her face, “let His Excellency throw me back in a prison. I won't do this.”

“Laynia.” Vienna’s eyes held just a little hurt. Out of all of the Guard, Laynia was the one Vienna had slipped up with and got a step closer to. 

With a shake of her head and a look of anger and hurt in her eyes, Laynia’s powers lit up and launched her into the sky, dropping five down to three. 

“We're outnumbered,” Dimitri said gruffly, sorting out his suit ready for a fight to keep himself focused and not thinking too much about their turmoil. 

“We'll be fine,” Nikolai said firmly with a slight waver to his voice, securing his helmet and tightening the strap on his shield. “For the motherland.”

#####

“Just stay back Kate.” Clint’s voice crackled slightly on the com link as Kate Bishop stationed herself in the building across from the warehouse. 

Clint had managed to convince her to be their eyes. It kept her out of the way. She knew that. But, she could still help as an archer. A bow was long range and from her vantage point she should have been able to see the Winter Guard coming, and she did see two of them.