Revenge

The fight

It's been three days of radio silence between Kate and I. Three torturous days of on and off tears, shitty meals, and barely any sleep. My safe house has less than the bare minimum, because I rarely came to visit. The kitchen is empty, the living room void of decor, and the closet is occupied by three shirts and two pairs of pants. It's not an ideal place to stay.

However, I didn't dare go back to Kate's. Not quite yet. I'm still furious at myself for the words that carelessly tumbled out of my mouth. I feel sick at the way I hurt her, when I know she would never hurt me. I don't deserve her, I know this, but I know without her I will never be okay again.

I'll have to go back soon. Fanny's running low on what little food of hers I packed, and I'm sick of the awful feeling that's taken up residence in my chest. I just want to hold my Kate again. I wish with everything in me that my parents had never shown up, that we'd played cards and eaten skittles just like we planned. Unfortunately, my life has never gone according to plan, and unknown to me, it never will.

As I sit on an uncomfortable folding chair wallowing in my sadness, my phone rings for the first time in days. I walk across the room to where it lay on the cot in the corner, and pick it up, recognizing Clint's caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Yelena, where the hell have you been?" he sounds out of breath on the other end of the line

"I've been in my safe house."

"Why haven't you answered Kate's calls?"

"Did you not hear about our fight? I just thought she'd want some space."

"Lena, Kate's in trouble. You've got to call her back right now. I just landed in one of Fury's jets, I'll be there as soon as I can."

My blood runs cold as I pick up on the poorly hidden desperation in his voice. I have never heard Clint sound scared, but I can tell he is. That if anything terrifies me.

"Clint, I don't understand. What-" He hangs up before I can finish.

My thumbs quickly scramble to Kate's contact, and I unsilence her notifications. Instantly, my phone is flooded with missed calls and messages, the most recent one being: Yelena, help, I'm scared.

Can't pretend that I was perfect leaving you in fear

Instead of reading through the remainder of the messages, I opt to call her.

She picks up on the second ring "Yelena" She sounds even more out of breath than Clint did, and I can hear the distant sound of her feet hitting pavement.

"Kate, baby what's happening?"

"Lena, I don't know. I came home and Lucky was in the bathroom, and they had guns, and-" She let out a little sob "What if they killed Lucky?"

"Hey, take a deep breath. Who attacked you?"

Like Kate, I'm already out the door running. Years of training caused me to act fast, grabbing two pistols, my widow bites, and half a dozen knives, before stashing them on my body with quick precision.