Through Time and Space

Chapter 34

Ward pulled the cord on his parachute and slowly floated down towards the abandoned warehouse below him.

He landed with a soft 'thud' and stuffed his parachute in an old broken down garbage shoot. He wasn't sure what it was doing there, but he was grateful that he had somewhere to get rid of the chute without revealing his position.

He slowly made his way towards the door to the rest of the building and opened it cautiously, careful not to make a sound.

He crept down the stairs and reached the basement.

"You will pay for what you have done, Natalia," Ward heard a man say in Russian.

"What did I do? Kill a man who was cheating on me? Yeah, sue me, you guys do it all the time," she easily replied in perfect Russian.

"That man was the boss's brother and he's been waiting a long time to get his hands on you."

"Yes, I have," Ward saw a man in his late 40s step out of a dark corner. He was about 6'5" and had muscles in places Ward didn't even know was possible. He had a long scar across the side of his face and a scull and crossbones tattoo on his left bicep.

The man pulled a knife out from his boot and made his way to Natasha.

"Viktor, still alive I see," she greeted sassily.

"Can't say the same for you," he said menacingly in Russian.

He pressed the knife up against her neck but she didn't flinch, "you killed my brother. You will pay for what you've done."

"No, I won't," she said as she head butted him and flipped out of her chair, hitting the ground so that it would break.

She broke the bonds that tied her hands, leaving two rope bracelets on each wrist, and advanced on the guards, jumping up in the air and wrapping her thighs around their necks and twisting her hips as she jumped down, killing them instantly. Viktor advanced towards her while her back was turned and jabbed his knife into her shoulder.

She let out a gasp of pain and turned around and kicked him in the face. He grabbed her leg and twisted, casing her to spin and face plant on the ground. She planted both of her hands on the ground and stood back up, wiping the blood from her mouth. She glared at her ex-brother-in-law and quickly managed to disarm him and force the knife into her own hand. She held it firmly and slashed his arm right across his tattoo.

Ward stood watching from the doorway and grabbed his gun. He aimed and fired two bullets, hitting Viktor in the chest.

She turned to face him, "what the heck, man?" she said, still in Russian.

"Sorry," he replied, in perfect Russian, remembering it from his days back at the academy, "but there are more guards coming and we need to get you out of here."

"My mission over?"

He nodded, "yeah, after you took a break for the wedding, which you didn't have to do by the way but Rose and John appreciated it nonetheless, S.H.I.E.L.D only needed you to infiltrate this one last thing."

She smiled, "well that's good news."

"Yeah, I'm here to get you out, follow me."

She used the knife to cut the rope off of her wrist and ran towards the door, following Ward through a maze of hallways. They ducked inside a small storage closet as a few henchmen ran past them. Ward put a finger to his lips and put an ear against the door.

He listened intently for the sounds of footsteps and when he heard none, they crept back out of the closet and continued through the various corridors littered across the not-so-abandoned warehouse.

They came to an abrupt halt when they saw practically a whole army in the next room.

Grant sighed as he recognized one of the men and he let out a string of very creative curses. "I swear I'm going to retire soon."

Nat chuckled, "if we make it out of here."