Iris

Chapter 2

When Bruce awoke, he was on the ground and it was still night. Was he still in Russia?

He stood up and looked around, but he could barely see his surroundings. He cursed in Spanish and mentally kicked himself for getting too curious. He checked his pockets and everything was still there, so he knew he wasn't robbed.

He took out his phone, but his battery somehow died. Bruce sighed and ran his hand though his hair, trying not to panic.

"Okay, just... find a phone," he told himself. "There's got to be a place with a phone somewhere."

He walked forward, hoping he would find someone or something to guide him out of the woods. He must have been walking for a few minutes when he heard a noise coming from another direction. He turned his head and drew his gun out of its holster. He hated using it, but he didn't have any backup.

"Who's there," he asked in Russian, keeping the gun at his side. "I don't want to hurt you and I know you're there, so just come out."

When he rounded the corner in the direction of the person or animal, Bruce came face-to-face with a woman who had her own gun at the ready. Her eyes were murderous and her stance even more so. However, he noticed something off about the way she held her weapon. He concluded that her arm was either sprained or broken.

Bruce put his gun away and raised his hands in surrender as he calmly said, "I won't hurt you. But I can tell that something is wrong with your arm. I'm a doctor and I can fix it. But if I do, then do you think you can help me find a place with phone? I'm lost and I need to call my boss because my cell phone isn't working."

The woman blinked and shifted a bit, as if trying to get a read on him. When she lowered her weapon after a few seconds, she nodded.

When Bruce stepped closer to her, he was stuck by her beauty. She had red hair and green eyes. She was wearing a black catsuit with batons strapped to her back and some form of weapon on both of her wrists.

To Bruce, the woman looked like an angel in human form. He forced himself to look away and tend to the arm he knew was bothering her. When he pressed slightly, she hissed, and he carefully brushed over her shoulder. He could tell it was dislocated.

"Okay, I'm going to have to reset your shoulder. It might hurt," he told her. The woman nodded in response, but she was stiff, as if she didn't trust him.

"One –" He didn't finish counting as he set her shoulder back into place.

Bruce took several steps back, not knowing how she would react to that. She clearly didn't like being in his presence and fixing her shoulder like that might have made it worse.

She turned to face him and put her gun in its holster. "Thanks," she told him in English and a perfect American accent.

He furrowed his brow, now wondering who she was. She was clearly from Russia, but she could pass as American.

"How many languages do you speak," he asked.

Bruce was slightly fascinated by the woman, but he knew she had to work for someone by the way she armed herself and was dressed. Maybe a secret agency?

"I'm multilingual," she replied in a tone that left no room for more questions. She was coming off as distant, yet she seemed slightly more at ease than before he fixed her shoulder.

"So, what happened to your shoulder?"

"Do you want to get to a phone or chit chat?"

"Phone," he mumbled just loud enough for her to hear.

She brushed past him as she led the way to a building that was at least a ten-minute walk filled with deafening, yet comfortable, silence. He was an introvert, so he didn't mind not talking to people, in fact he preferred it.

"There's a phone in that building," she said when it was in eyesight.

"Thanks," he said, then nodded at her. She nodded back, but before he left her alone, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Natalie," she answered, but he could tell she was lying.

He smirked and tried to break the ice by saying "You're a really bad liar."

"And you're nosy," she clapped back.

He raised his hands in surrender and backed away from her, towards the building.

"I won't ask any more questions," he said with a small smile.

Bruce could tell she was fighting back her own smile, but she quickly composed herself and put on an icy exterior as she said, "Don't tell anyone you saw me."

His dropped his hands and amused smirk as he told her, "I won't tell anyone. I promise."

She furrowed her brow at him and walked back into the woods. Once she was out of sight, Bruce turned around and went toward the building. When he was inside, Bruce switched to Russian as he said, "Excuse me, I need to use the phone."

"Phone is for customers."

Bruce grabbed the nearest bag of chips and pulled out his credit card, then placed them on the counter.

"ID," the employee asked.

Bruce didn't ask questions as he pulled out his driver's license and put it on the counter. The man picked it up and furrowed at the card, then looked between Bruce and the object.

Bruce began to get confused as he kindly asked, "I'm sorry, is there something wrong?"

"Your ID is old," he said as he slid the card back to Bruce.

"What?"

"That card expired in 2005."

"Yeah, this year," he said in a confused tone. He still had four months until he needed to get a new one.

The man in front of him blinked and said, "Sir, it's 2018."

Note: Bruce met Nat! Yay!