Outsider

Twenty

God, if I could end the story here I would.  This part... I don't know anymore.  As we crawled through the grimy, cramped vents of Hydra one last time, all I could think about was my mother.  Is this how she and Papa ran away together?  Climbing through the vents like us, running through fields and forests like madmen?  How did they cross the ocean to America?  In a way, Oliver and I's escape reminded me of Papa and Mama, Noah and Valentina.  

Sweat beaded inside me, the weight of my trench coat pulling me down.  Deep inside its pocket, I carried only three things:  My knife, my boarding pass, and the slip of paper from the red book.  That was my luggage, all I had but all I needed.

Carefully, we pulled ourselves out of the vent into an empty hallway.  As expected, most of the guards were away from their original posts to attend Alexander Pierce's briefing- lucky for us.  But, I saw something that stopped me.

"The elevator's straight ahead," Oliver whispered, pulling my arm.

I was staring at the memorial of Black Widows.  Their names printed out neatly underneath their sullen picture frames.  At the very end, in the corner, I read Elissa Fleur.  It dawned on me- I was a Black Widow.  In a way, I felt honoured; it felt good.  With a lump in my throat, I said defiantly, "I'll survive."  There was no way in hell that Hydra was going to kill me.

Oliver gripped my hand.  "You're better than any Black Widow,"  

In the darkness I smiled.

Our serenity did not last long; a siren blared and we heard the quick, thudding footsteps drawing nearer and nearer.  Hydra knew we were gone.  We bolted towards the elevator, but two soldiers emerged, blocking our path.  "We have them," one reported.  He stepped towards me, wielding a knife threateningly.  "You, bitch, need to be taught a lesson."  The soldier thrust his weapon towards my abdomen.

A knife met skin.  The skin wasn't mine.  

Collapsing to the floor, the soldier clutched his stomach in pain.  I stared at my knife, covered in thick, red blood.  Oliver suddenly began to drag me away.  When my feet started moving on their own, gunshots were already firing.  Yet, my mind was elsewhere.  That soldier was weak, unlike the Winter Soldier, could I have killed-?  

"We need to find another way out of here," Oliver panted beside me.  "Or at least a safe place to stay for now!"

In an instant, I thought of the tubes!  Hydra would never suspect it, because in their eyes I had never been there before.  I took the lead and said, "Come with me."  Hoping that I would remember the path, we scrambled through the vents, hearing sirens blare and gunshots echo down below.  Fortunately, that part of the plan went well.  The room was empty and eerily quiet.  Oliver asked, "What is this place?"

"I don't know," I admitted.  "I found that paper here, in this book."  I lifted the red book.  While Oliver looked at the book curiously, I tried to think of a way out of that place.  There was a path heading to the right, but it was dark and cold.  I was worried that it would be a dead end, some path that Hydra had cut ties to many years ago.  What choice did we have, though?  It was only a matter of time before Hydra finds us here.  I explained to Oliver, "Our best option is to go through this path, it looks like it's unused anyway.  

Oblivious, my friend flipped through the book's pages and said, "It's all in Russian, my mother taught me the language.  But, this page- it's just random words."

"Huh?"

"Like Longing, Homecoming... These words have no connection."  Oliver frowned in confusion.  Eventually, he shrugged and placed the book down, not before adding, "Why didn't you show me this place?"