Checked Out
An Avengers/MCU pre-Civil War OC fic
Chapter 11: Straight whiskey
When Snow walked into the Mountain View Bar and Grill, Thor yelled, "Another!"
The entire restaurant shouted and cheered. The place was really full. Thor had been sitting at the head of one of the big tables. Snow couldn't see him anymore. Everybody had stood up when they shouted and cheered. Russell and Willard hadn't been sitting at the table.
Snow carefully walked into the crowd. A big guy immediately bumped her and stumbled back into his friends. He shouted, "Whoah, sorry girl! You okay?" Snow gave him a thumbs up.
People were starting to sit back down. At least the ones who had seats did. There were a lot of people just milling around. They pretty much all had a glass. Some were empty, some had some beer left. Waiters and waitresses were going around with pitchers to top everyone off. Snow spotted the bartender with the topknot.
"Here, honey!" There was a waitress next to Snow. She pushed a glass into Snow's hand and filled it from her pitcher. Snow started to thank her, but she'd already moved on.
Nobody was paying. Snow didn't see any of the staff marking down tabs or anything. Snow pushed into the crowd. She was careful, she didn't actually push anyone. She just tapped them on the shoulder and waited for them to move. The crowd thinned as she got further from the bar. She got out of the thickest part and looked around. The table she wanted was up against the back wall, near the corner.
Russell had been watching her walk up. Willard looked up when she sat down. He smiled like he had on the mountain.
Snow said, "So. Captain Matt Russell. And Willard." She took a big slurp of her beer. Her stomach didn't squirm as much as she thought it would.
Willard said, "You can call me Jason, baby." He had a hand on his beer. He and Russell both had an empty shot glass next to them.
Snow pointed at Russell's shot glass and said, "You should get us some more of those."
Russell looked at her. As usual, he looked like he was on the verge of smiling. After a bit, he actually did smile a little. He raised his shot glass into the air and waggled it. He must have gotten the waitress's attention, because he held up three fingers and set the glass down. He said, "Gonna be a bit. Every time things start to settle, our boy buys the whole restaurant and bar another round." He flicked his eyes over Snow's shoulder. Snow turned around. Russell was looking at Thor.
Snow asked, "What's he paying with?"
Willard said, "Big ol' gold coins, baby. I like gold. It's got a nice, high value to volume ratio. Makes it easy to transport a lotta money in a little space." He nodded like he'd said something wise.
Russell said, "Now I believe I've overheard the fine folks of this town referring to yourself as 'Snow'. That right?" Snow nodded. "You got a last name, Snow?"
"That is my last name." Snow took another gulp of beer. Her stomach seemed mostly okay with it. "I don't like my first name." Willard laughed. Russell gave him a look. Willard raised his hands in a 'calm down' motion.
"Well, what brings you by our table, Snow? Not that we mind the company." Russell stayed deadpan. Willard sniggered.
Snow said, "I'm just, like, wondering what your deal is, man."
"Men such as ourselves are usually engaged in any number of deals at any given time, miss." Russell was just on this side of smiling.
"Well," Snow said, "First you're all just about to kill Sheriff Mills and take turns raping me. Now you're all friendly and helpful." The table went quiet.
Russell turned his beer glass a few degrees, then back. Willard said, "Well ma'am, I'm sure I don't know what you're referring to."
Snow looked at Willard and said, "Don't fuckin' lie to me, man." She held his eyes. He dropped his smile and looked angry.
Russell said, "Operational parameters change."
"Yeah?" Snow said. She thought back to how the soldiers she'd hung out with in New York had talked. "Your CO suddenly remember that rape and pillage is something you're only supposed to do in the desert?"
"Ha, that's right, Snow." Russell rotated his empty beer glass a few degrees again. "Our CO updated the mission."
"How's that work, exactly?" Snow asked. She leaned forward. "In the private sector, do you still have that weird commissioned and non-commissioned thing? Officers and enlisted?"
Russell's beer stopped rotating. Willard looked at him. After a moment, Russell said, "Similar, yeah."
Willard said, "Fuck do you care? We got our remit, all signed and legal. Fuck with the DLU, we'll drill your ass and then invoice you for the bullet." Russell made a tiny cutting motion with his hand. Willard sat back. A few seconds later, the waitress appeared. She set down three shot glasses and three glasses of beer. She picked up the empties and melted back into the crowd. Snow wondered if Russell had set up a tab, or if Thor's gold coins was covering this, too.
Russell said, "So, what are we drink—" Snow picked up her shot glass and downed the whole thing in one gulp. It was straight whiskey. She wiped her mouth. Russell said, "Well."
Snow had kind of expected to cough the whiskey right back up. She'd tried hard liquor her first few weeks at Tandon. She'd quickly moved on to sipping fruity cocktails with lower alcohol content. Straight shots had made her throat scratchy. This whiskey went right down, though.
Russell said, "I guess—" Snow reached out and took his shot. She downed it. Then she grabbed Willard's shot and downed that, too. Willard and Russell stared at her. Their faces were both neutral masks.
"Sorry," Snow said. "I was thirsty. Been a long day." She picked her beer up and swallowed a few gulps. Her stomach felt warm. For once, it didn't feel like it wanted her to throw up.
"There's days like that," Russell said.
"You have long days? I gotta say I kinda doubt that," Snow said. "You don't seem like the type to have long days. You seem like the type that makes sure all your days are nice and short."
"I seen longer days than you can even think of, little girl." Willard was leaned back. He sounded relaxed. Snow could see in his eyes, he was still angry. Angry that he hadn't gotten to have his fun, maybe. Or angry that she wasn't acting scared. But these questions didn't bother him.
"Yeah?" Snow asked. She looked at Russell. "How many times have you been shot?"
"A time or two," Russell said. He grinned a little and looked at Willard. "Never did find my toe, did we?"
Willard laughed. "Gonna go back to Chardara someday and find it. I expect it'll have grown up into a full-blown toe tree by now. Harvest toes by the handful right off the branches." He and Russell laughed together.
"I only got shot one time," Snow said. Russell and Willard quieted down. "I mean I got shot like four times, actually. But it was all just one, like, shooting."
Willard's eyes flicked up and down at her. He said, "Seems like you came through alright."
"I lived," Snow said. "Can't have any kids, though. I mean I never wanted any kids. But it messed me up for a while, finding out I couldn't."
"Buddy of mine got his balls shot off, up on Sawtalo Sar," Russell said. "Had to start taking supplements so he wouldn't grow tits. Got the rest of himself shot off a few years later, trying to be a hero in Marjah."
"You know what really messed me up?" Snow turned her palms up. "The anger, man. I was angry all the time. All through rehab, I was just a bitch to everybody. I was a bitch to the nurses, my girlfriend, everybody. I had so much anger, it just came out in everything I did. I ate angrily, y'know? I crapped angrily." She picked up her beer. "And one day I, like, stood back and looked at myself. I looked at how I was treating people. And I just really didn't like it." She took a drink.
Willard said, "You got a point to this tale of woe?" He looked bored. Russell was looking at her like he'd heard every word she'd said. There wasn't any smile in his eyes. His eyes were dead and flat.
Russell leaned forward and said, "Fuck you, you sanctimonious little cunt." He didn't yell or anything. He said it in a normal speaking voice. But he enunciated every syllable.
Snow leaned forward, too. She said, "Fuck me, huh?"
"You pissant civvies," Russell said. "You lose some friends, some family, you think you know sacrifice. Your government puts some buildings back together, you think you know strength." He snorted. "You think you know what a hero is, because you saw some blond prettyboy throw a fucking lightning bolt. You want a fucking hero?" He reached out and slapped Willard on the chest, hard. "This man's down in Waziristan. Little village called Kalosha. You don't know where Kalosha is, you don't know where Waziristan is, you don't give a fuck. But this man, he gives a fuck. He volunteered to attach to a Pakistani op. A little international cooperation. They're out there tracking these ex-Soviet hajis, the IMU. IMU is starting to set up a force down there. Pakistan wants to keep tabs, so do we."
Russell too a long pull from his glass. Willard was looking into his beer. Russell said, "Turns out those Paki boys were holed up right across the street from a school. IMU doesn't like schools. All of the sudden, there's fifteen or twenty hajis running towards this school. Willard's Paki buddies, they just fucking melt. Out the back, into the Toyota, off they run. But Willard, here, he's not with 'em. He's set up in a window with a view on the school. And he starts popping hajis. Stops that charge dead. Kills half of 'em, the other half go for cover instead of going for the school."
Snow looked at Willard. He had a little smile. It was a different smile than the ones he'd given her so far. Russell said, "He pins those fuckers down while the kids and teachers crawl out the windows in the back. Makes sure the hajis can't get any sightlines on the back of the school. Takes three hours for all the kids and teachers to get out, get on a bus, and roll out. Takes three days for us to get a ride out there to pick him up. Ended up with one or two holes in every limb, plus two in his chest and one in his neck. And he's laying there in the Blackhawk, blood everywhere, we're all thinking he's going home in a bag, and he says to me, 'Are the kids okay?'"
Snow thought about that. She took a sip of her beer and thought some more. Then she asked, "How many of those kids did you take turns on?"
For a second, Snow thought Russell might pull out his pistol and shoot her. Snow was pretty sure that, for a second, Russell thought he might do that too. Then Willard laughed. Russell looked at him. He laughed, too.
Russell said, "A gun's a real simple thing, Snow." He locked his eyes on hers and said, "You're either on one end of it, or you're on the other. You want to talk to the man who decides which, that man is elsewhere." He finished the beer. Then he raised his hand and held up two fingers. "Now why don't you run along and give thanks to your pretty blond god that for now, we're all on the same side of the trigger."
Snow sat there for a bit. The whiskey hadn't hit her like she thought it would. She felt warm inside for the first time in a long time. She felt like she could see clearly for the first time in a while, too. The way she felt when she looked at herself made her wish the whiskey had hit her harder. She stood up and walked away from the table. She heard Russell say something, and Willard laugh.
She wasn't watching where she was going. She didn't know where she was going. She almost ran over the person coming in the door.
"Hey! Snow!" It was Camila. She was wearing much tighter jeans than she'd had on this afternoon. She had on a multicolor flannel that was unbuttoned pretty low. The shirt underneath it was cut pretty low, too.
Snow said, "Hi, Camila."
"I was wondering how to track you down," Camila said. "I never got your number." Her smile was nice.
"Don't have a phone," Snow said. "Hey, um." Camila was obviously here to get a drink. Snow decided to ask anyway. "You want to go somewhere?"
Camila's smile showed a lot of teeth, but she didn't answer. She looked over Snow's shoulder. She said, "Kinda crowded in there."
"Yeah," Snow said. "It's super loud."
"Where'd you want to go?" Before Snow could say anything, Camila said, "Crap, come on." She grabbed Snow's hand and pulled her outside. Snow looked back and saw a couple waiting to get out the door. The woman was Paige something. The one who had been yelling at Russell, back by the drilling truck.
"So," Camila said. She was still holding Snow's hand. "Where'd you want to go?"
"Wherever," Snow said. "Your place. Your van. We can stay right here on the sidewalk if you want. Or, you know. Fly to Paris." Snow was pretty sure she could make it to Paris.
"We can do Paris on the second date," Camila laughed. "Come on, my van's parked down here. We can figure out where to go from there."
Every parking space in the area was full. The van was parked parallel, three blocks down. When they got to the it, Camila turned around. She was still holding Snow's hand. Snow kissed her.
After a bit, Camila broke it off and said, "We should go somewhere. Or at least get in the van."
"Yeah," Snow said. "Don't want the neighbors trying to stone us."
Camila laughed as she pulled open the sliding door. "It's not that bad around here. First offense, they'd just put us in stocks for a while." Snow giggled as she followed Camila into the van. She slid the door shut. It didn't screech, this time.
They kissed some more. Camila cupped Snow's face while they kissed. Her thumb gently stroked Snow's cheek. Her other hand wandered. Snow's hands did, too. Snow reached down and tugged at the button on Camila's jeans.
Camila giggled and pulled at Snow's wrist. She said, "Slow down there, sailor." Snow could feel Camila smiling against her lips. For a second, Snow resisted. Her fingers were still pulling at the button.
Snow sat straight up and scooted away from Camila. She covered her mouth with her hands.
"Snow?" Camila sat up, too. Her voice sounded worried. Snow's mind kept going back to Camila's hand pulling on her wrist. Pulling, and not being able to move it.
Snow said, "Oh my god."
Camila said, "Snow? What's wrong?"
Snow said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She pulled the van door open and got out. She shut the door before Camila could follow her. As she walked away, she heard Camila open the door and call her name. Snow didn't turn around.
In her mind, Camila's hand pulled on her wrist, harder and harder.
There's my first hanky-panky scene done. Hopefully nobody puts me in stocks! I have a lot of thoughts on this chapter, especially about Russell and Willard, but I think I'd rather let the chapter speak for itself.
I haven't been able to get ahead on my writing, yet. Wanted to last week, but this chapter just wouldn't come out like I wanted it to. I've gotten a few hundred words in on the next chapter, though, so hopefully I'll be able to start building a buffer. Thanks for reading! See you next Monday!