Red Thorn

Chapter 32

October 2014

"This is a much less cool way to die." Yelena was awake, muttering quietly to herself.

No....she wouldn't give into her mind, not now, not until the mission was over. Fear turned to anger and anger to rage when she caught a glimpse of Yelena through the vents, unconscious, strapped to a table and lines drawn on her face. They were going to operate, to kill her. She couldn't be weak, no, she needed to save Yelena. To keep anyone from harming her ever again.

Once it was only the scientists left in the room, Red dropped from the vents, silently landing just a few metres away from the bed. She caught the first in a headloch, rendering them unconscious before the other even realised she was there. The second stood over Yelena, needle in hand ready to put her to sleep, Red tapped them on the shoulder, they turned to face her a gasp escaping from beneath their surgical mask. Without wasting a second of time she snatched the needle from their hand and plunged it into their neck, catching them as they fell to the floor.

"What?" Yelena heard the thud but she couldn't see, then a masked face appeared above her. "Oh great, it's you."

Red unsheathed a dagger from her belt, using it to free Yelena from her restraints.

"This means nothing." The masked assassin rolled her eyes when Yelena cocked her head to the side as if listening to something. "I'm already free," she said, raising one hand to her left ear.

Red tried to zone in on the voice of whoever was speaking to her but it was hard, her enhanced hearing on overdrive with all the sounds going on around her. She had learnt to control it over the years, being able to quieten the noise, to not get overwhelmed by everything going on around her, the same way she had with her other senses, but there was so much going on at the base, between the engines to keep it flying, the hum of the lights and wiring of the equipment in the labs, not to mention everything going on outside of those four walls or even what was going on inside her own mind, Red was struggling to zone out and zone in.

"The she devil is here."

"Who?"

"The Red Thorn."

"Why? And how?"

Yelena rolled her eyes. "She's been with us the whole time, she just stayed behind. Look, that is not the point, where did he take the vials?"

"Probably down to cold storage. Dreykov still has the widows under his control, so you have to expose them to this antidote."

Red turned around and walked over to the exposed vent she had emerged from. There, she jumped to reach the ledge, pulling herself inside. Yelena followed not long after. "Were you listening the whole time?"

Her answer came as nothing more than a silent shrug.

"I hate you."

Red threw a look at her over her shoulder, one that said, "Am I supposed to care?"

The two women crawled along the vents, clambering down the shafts a few levels to reach the lowest level of the flying compound that was the Red Room. "Here," Yelena whispered, coming to a halt.

Red nodded, moving the cover of the vent so they could drop down. She went first, landing silently on the tiled floor, one arm out for balance.

"Such a poser," Yelena said from above her, a comment that made Red roll her eyes. Though she couldn't help the smirk that formed on her lips when the blonde fell in almost exactly the same position as she had, only with her leg stretched out to one side. "That was disgusting..." Yelena shook her body loose as she moved next to Red by the wall. "Oh, shut up."