It was some time close to three am when Winter Soldier heard the door creak open and found himself instantly awake. He was always very good at telling the time by internal clock.
The creaking door continued to widen as he shifted - seemingly in his sleep and reached under his pillow for the combat knife he'd stashed in there earlier.
'...Soldier?'
God, it was just Mantis. He really needed to put a bell on that kid. If he'd been having a relapse, there'd be blood all over one of Natalia's walls by now and she'd be trying to separate his head from his shoulders. His hand retreated from the blade.
He rolled over and grunted tiredly. It had been a long few days and Natalia had grudgingly allowed them to stay. Which would be nicer if Mantis would stop it with the nightmares. It had been happening on and off for about a year and was fast becoming more than a nuisance - Then again, his own mental health wasn't anything to brag about. Occasionally, he was right there with her, reliving horrible memories in his sleep.
'What is it, Mantis?' He grunted tiredly.
'The perimeter is insecure.' She whispered.
Perimeter- was that her way of saying there was a monster under her bed? Winter Soldier wanted nothing more than to tell her to go back to bed - but a rib shot from Natalia indicated otherwise.
With a groan, he sat up and mumbled something scathing in Russian as he pulled the knife from under the pillow and staggered out into the hallway. Mantis pointed down into the darkness of the apartment. Definitely not something under her bed, then.
'Why do you believe the perimeter has been breached?' He sighed tiredly as they looked down the pitch black corridor.
'I heard noises.' She defended.
'And you couldn't do reconnaissance for yourself because...?' He demanded.
She fell into silence but in the moonlight he could see her looking up at him with those big hazel eyes. She was scared. Actually scared. He forgot that she wasn't even ten yet; barely older than five - she was allowed to be a child sometimes. Soldier sighed and tightened his grip on the knife. 'Alright. We'll check perimeter. But after, you go back to bed and you stay there.'
Mantis seemed to relax and nodded her understanding - glad to have someone there with her.
Now that he'd committed himself to a sweep, he grumbled. His bare toes were freezing. They'd do a fast sweep of the apartment and he'd tell her to get her ass back to bed - he wondered if Natalia would be still awake when he got back. That would be a nice thought.
They made a simple sweep of Mantis' room and the hallway before veering into the Living room/dining room combination. No sign of anything amiss. He was about to tell her to get back to bed but decided that they might as well finish the sweep before he lost his temper. The last place they needed to investigate was the kitchen. Soldier stepped through the door quietly just in time to find someone rooting through the kitchen drawers. He'd had barely registered that before he reached out and gently lifted a frying pan from Natalia's overhead pan rack.
GLOING.
Simple, elegant, a hell of a lot of noise. There was something so very satisfying about using kitchenware in a fight - it was easier than participating in a knife-fight in a kitchen the size of a walk in wardrobe.
'Mantis, get the duct tape.' He growled.
The would be burglar was tied to a dining room chair on the roof. They woke him up with a bucket of freezing water. In the cold night air, he shivered violently and stared at the grown man in nothing but sweat pants and the little girl in My Little Pony pyjamas gently cleaning her nails with a combat knife.
'Who do you work for?' Soldier growled.
'W-work for?' He spluttered and shivered violently in the cold, trying to ignore the serious hardware on Winter Soldier's arm - or the nonchalant way Praying Mantis was playing with the knife.
'HYDRA?' He demanded and used a foot to ease the chair over the edge. It wobbled as the poor man freaked out. 'The Russians?'
'I don't know no fucking Russians!' The man howled. 'I - I just - I rob houses man.'
The chair was tilted back even further to the sodden intruder's terror. 'Please!' He begged. 'I'm telling the truth!'
There was a pause as Winter Soldier considered the possibility that this man was not a soviet spy or HYDRA agent tracking them. He was simply stealing to support a drug habit. Well, he knew an excellent one step program. 'Do you know what they do to burglars in Russia?' He asked after a considerable pause.
The man shook his head and shivered again. The cold water and freezing wind clearly wearing down the very little willpower and resolve he had.
Winter Soldier gave the chair the gentlest of pushes and watched as it clattered over the roof. He and Mantis listened to the terrified screams all the way up until they heard a distinct bang.
'Well,' The little girl murmured. 'Remind me never to get caught stealing anything in Russia.'
Winter Soldier smirked.
They met Natalia in the corridor in her dressing gown. She seemed particularly unhappy. 'Where were you two?'
Mantis looked to Winter Soldier to field the wrath of Mom. He shrugged. 'Perimeter check. Bonding.'
She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. 'Okay.'
'Can we go back to bed now?' He grunted.
'Sure.' Natalia said with a bright, brittle smile. 'I've just got one question - where's my dining room chair?'
A/N: That is one unlucky burglar. And also one awkward explanation about how Natasha's dining room chair became firewood. She was more upset that he tipped the chair over the roof than the fact that someone was tied to it.
Guest: Preying Mantis does in fact have a name. She wasn't made with a "real" name in mind - more a codename but she was given one after Bucky's simply superb rescue. It's Florence. Florence Barnes-Romanova. I just haven't had a chance to use that just yet. HYDRA didn't name her - Natasha and Bucky were too busy arguing - Steve named her because one of his favourite paintings is on Florence, Italy. Neither parent particularly liked it - but Mantis did and refused to entertain any other idea. Honestly - they should feel themselves lucky. Tony would have called her something like Killzword or Sarah Connor. (I'm sorry Terminator fans, truly.)