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Relentless Chapter 21

"This is a bad idea," James muttered as they followed the doctor up multiple flights of stairs. He should have killed the doctor, and they should have fled the city.

"What other choice do we have? We need a place to stay, and he has a place for us," Anna whispered back. James had said it himself, they couldn't survive in the shadows. They needed to blend in. What better way to blend in then to become part of the community?

"I don't trust him not to talk," James grumbled. He wasn't going to voice his solution to their problem aloud. Anna wouldn't approve of killing an innocent. She had yet to learn that even an innocent would turn them over to Hydra to save their own skin.

"He's a doctor working with government funding for his tiny clinic, hiring a foreign surgeon without a license under the radar. If he talks, he goes down with us," Anna insisted. The man was taking a risk with them, he wouldn't tell authorities for fear of losing what little government funding he was receiving.

"And if Hydra gets to him?" Hydra had ways of getting people to tell them what they wanted. By either offering funding or protection, or by threatening death.

"Then we disappear again," Anna reassured him as they came to a stop in front of an old apartment door on the fifteenth floor.

It wasn't much. A one room apartment with a kitchenette on the right side and a mattress in the left corner serving as the bed. There was a tiny restroom on the side of the room and a two seater couch split the room in half.

"It's small, but it's all yours for as long as you work in the clinic," the doctor announced.

Turning to face James, Anya gave him a pleading look. As much as his instincts were telling him to get them out of Bucharest, maybe even out of Romania, he couldn't ignore the hope in her eyes. This could be their chance to start over. Anna could continue to work as a doctor, and they could live a semblance of a normal life.

"We'll take it," James answered, causing Anna to smile. She knew how hard it was for him to agree to it. She knew how much he wanted to run again.

"Excellent!" The doctor exclaimed. "I will get the supplies you mentioned and you will start tomorrow," he added to Anna before leaving them in the apartment that was now theirs.

"Thank you," Anna murmured, moving closer to James and resting her hand against his cheek. Placing his hand over hers, James turned his face to press a kiss against her palm, his eyes fluttering shut.

"I would do anything for you," James admitted against Anya's hand, his eyes still closed.

…

"Are you sure this is going to work, sir?" Gustin asked as the small unit disembarked the plane.

"Konrad reported Rumlow moving southeast from Munich. Stark and the asset are somewhere in Eastern Europe. I know the asset. He'll want revenge. He won't pass up this opportunity," Rollins responded.

Once the tail they had on Rumlow had reported his most recent destination, Rollins knew it was time to make his move. The Avengers had just finished battling the AI Tony had created. They were weak. Now was the time to strike against them, and it seemed Rumlow had inadvertently given them the perfect opportunity to take care of the asset and Anna as well as deal a crushing blow to the Avengers.

"How are they supposed to make the connection between Hydra and AAST?" Gustin pressed. After Romanoff leaked Hydra and SHIELD files to the world, Hydra had to be even more careful when it came to businesses they were a part of. It wasn't as if they could slap a Hydra sign on the news article to draw in the asset and the girl.

"You just worry about reeling in Ms. Potts and let me deal with the asset and Stark," Rumlow insisted as he slid into the car that was waiting for them. Rumlow had no doubts about getting the asset and Anna to come out and play. The company's logo had been all over Stark's lab at Hydra. If she remembered anything about her time there, it would be AAST.

…

The first few days Anya worked in the clinic James would stay all day in the small waiting area. He didn't want to leave her alone with the doctor or the patients. The first time he left her alone in the clinic was more out of force than choice. They'd run out of money after a week and he needed to pick up some more jobs. The doctor let them have the apartment, but they still needed food.

"Keep a scalpel on hand at all times," James insisted, kissing Anya on the side of her forehead as she washed the few dishes they had before forcing himself to leave the apartment. He'd already gone over the plan should anything happen. They had a meeting place and had gone over several exit strategies.

A warm, happy feeling settled in Anna's heart at how domestic and normal James' goodbye had felt. True, his parting words were anything but normal, and was a soft reminder that they weren't completely safe in Romania. But still, those tiny moments of normal felt like paradise to her. Drying her hands, she turned to look around their tiny apartment. It was still rather bare, but it was theirs.

Glancing towards the far corner, Anna crossed the room when she noticed the twisted blanket on their mattress. James had rarely slept during the past week, but when he did he always tossed in his sleep and muttered Russian phrases Anna had never heard him utter before. The first time Anna had tried to sooth James out of his night terror, he caught her wrist in a painful hold until he realized where he was. After a couple nights he grew accustomed to Anna moving his head into her lap and running her fingers through his hair. Her touch always seemed to calm him.

The two of them fell into a tentative routine of working, shopping for food, and consoling each other when their dreams turned to nightmares. The journal they had taken from the abandoned office in France started being filled with blurry memories. It was a tentative normal existence that Anna was getting accustomed to and that wasn't broken until halfway through the second week. When news of Sokovia hit Bucharest, Anna wanted to contact Tony.

"They're my family, James," Anna pleaded, tears prickling her eyes. Steve, Nat, Bruce, Clint, and Thor were as much her siblings as Tony. She needed to know her family was safe, and wanted them to know she was safe in turn. Hearing one of her patients discussing the events of Sokovia had her freezing up and the reminder of the family she left behind had a wave of homesickness hitting her hard.

"I know," he murmured pulling her closer and pressing a soft kiss to the jagged scar along her forehead from their plunge over the bridge so many weeks ago. He hated seeing Anya cry, but Hydra had come so close to killing them both and he couldn't forget that. "If I bring you proof that they are all safe, would that be enough?"

As much as Anna wished she could reach out to her brother, she knew James was right. Hydra wanted them both dead. They'd barely managed to escape Rollins' and the country alive. She'd been so enthralled with their increasingly normal life the past few weeks, she'd let her imagination get the best of her and convince her the world was safe for them to come out of hiding. When she silently nodded her head in agreement she felt James' muscles relax beneath her fingers.

It didn't take long for him to find his proof. James brought back a paper that showed all the Avengers had made it out alive, pictures and all. It had the tight ball of anxiety in Anna's heart loosening some. Flipping through the rest of the paper that Anna could only half understand, she stopped on the first page of the business section.

Reaching for her journal that lay beside the mattress on the floor, Anna flipped through the pages frantically until she came to a doodle she'd drawn several days ago. At the time she drew it she had no idea what it meant. She'd woken up from another confusing, Hydra filled night terror with that design in her head. She hadn't realized what it meant until she saw the paper. Turning the journal upside down it matched perfectly with the logo for the company on page six of the paper, a Bulgarian company called AAST: Advanced Application of Science and Technology.

"Can you translate this article for me?" Anna asked, holding the paper out to James as she folded herself beside him on the couch. He took it looking a bit taken aback.

"It's just an announcement of the company's advancement in biologics and how they are starting trials on genetic enhancement. Why?" James asked after scanning the article.

"Because I recognize the logo," Anna responded, tapping the top left side of the picture. "I saw it on boxes of samples I was studying while at Hydra," Anna added, placing her journal beside the paper.

…

"This is insanity," Anna muttered as she watched James zipping up the backpack. That time it was filled with chemicals that Anna knew exploded when combined. He was suiting up for another mission, but this one was his own choice. When she watched him packing the bag, vengeance burned in his eyes. There would be no talking him down. He'd waited seventy years for revenge on Hydra. Anna inadvertently handed him the first opportunity to do damage to the organization that stole his mind and his life.

"Keep your head down and stay in the building while I'm gone," James instructed once he'd gotten everything he needed together. Leaving Anya had a weight settling in the pit of his stomach. But he couldn't pass up the opportunity of burning down part of Hydra, or at least a company loyal to them. Not when the building was a matter of hours away. He'd be gone a day, two max. If Anya stuck to the apartment and the clinic on the first floor, she'd be fine.

"I don't like this," Anna whispered as she stepped up to him, one hand on his chest, the other on his cheek. She should be going with him, but he'd presented a vehemently logical argument against it. Christian, the doctor who'd given her the job and the apartment, had already gotten word around that he could take emergency cases. If Anna wasn't at the clinic or readily available when a patient who needed sutures or surgery came in, and he died, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. If she wanted to keep the life they were starting to build in Romania, she needed to stay.

"Promise you'll come back safe?" Anna added, her hand trembling against James' cheek at the thought of something going wrong. She wouldn't be there to stitch him up if something did.

Instead of making promises he might not be able to keep, James wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer until his lips met hers. She stood on the tips of her toes to meet him halfway, her lips pressing hard against his and giving away her desperation.

"I love you," James sighed against Anya's lips. Shouldering the bag he left without a backward glance. One last look at Anya's face would make leaving that much harder.

Choking back her fear, Anna made her way down the stairwell after James left. If anything would distract her from her worries, it was work. A steady flow of patients kept her busy the first day, but alone in their apartment at night the fear crept back in. Anna woke from her own screaming, but for the first time in weeks it wasn't from her memories of Hydra. It was the visions of James being slaughtered by Hydra while he fought for vengeance. For the first time, James wasn't there to calm her down and ease her back to sleep.

…

James arrived in Bulgaria just as night was falling. He used the cover of darkness to stake out his new target. The building was dark, but security guards would pass by windows on different floors sporadically. After watching for a half hour, James had their routine down. They'd start on the top floor, doing two sweeps before moving down to the next floor. Each floor took them about five minutes each. If he entered while they were on the top floor, it gave him plenty of time to sneak into the basement without being seen. He could wait there until the morning, when the building would be full, then set up the rudimentary explosives he had brought with him. The only uncertainty was how he would get out.

The only entrance to the basement of the facility was inside the building. Slipping out unnoticed during the day would be harder than slipping in during the night. The newspaper had showcased several photos of AAST in the article. One being the front entrance. A security desk sat right off the entrance, manned by two men. James would have no trouble taking them down, but if more came while he fought there was a chance he wouldn't make it out.

As soon as James saw the shadows pass the top windows again, he made his move. Keeping to the shadows until he reached the door, he used his left hand to force it open. He followed the signs to the elevators, knowing the stairwell would be near them. James was almost there when another guard stepped out from the corner, shining a flashlight in James' eyes and holding a Taser. Cursing in Russian under his breath at the guard's stupidity, James launched himself at the guard before he could even shoot the Taser. In one swift movement, James had his left arm around the man's neck and used his right to twist the guard's head until he felt the bones snap and break.

After stashing the guards Taser and flashlight in his pockets, James hoisted the dead weight of the guard over his shoulder and started towards the basement again. It wouldn't do for any of the other guards to stumble across his dead body and be alerted to James' presence in the building. It wasn't until he made it to the basement that he realized he had the perfect means of escaping the building without being too obvious about it. After removing the chemicals from the back pack, James' stripped down and folded his clothes into the bag. It took a little more effort to remove the guard's uniform, but he managed. The uniform was a little snug in the shoulders, and the hem of the pants just reached the top of his boots, but it would do. Now all he had to do was wait.

…

"Ms. Potts, thank you for accepting our invitation," Dr. Greenwich greeted the stern looking blonde as she entered the board room.

"You were quite persistent. I figured I'd give you a chance after your hundredth call," Pepper retorted. She was admittedly a little curious of what the company had to pitch to STARK industries, but she was mostly annoyed that they couldn't meet in New York. She'd had to catch a red eye to Bulgaria.

"Would you care for any refreshments before we start?" When Pepper declined, wanting to cut to the chase, Dr. Greenwich started in on a long winded presentation of everything they were researching at AAST. It was definitely impressive, if not morally grey. Halfway through the presentation, Pepper knew STARK industries would be declining once the presentation was over. As it was, they never made it to the end of the presentation.

It started with a muffled noise from below. Before Pepper could realize what was happening she was thrown back against the conference room wall. The world faded to black after that, with the smell of smoke the last thing she remembered.

…

"This doesn't look like a doctor's clinic," Julia commented doubtfully as they stood before a rundown building that looked more like apartments than a business building. At that point she was more than a little fed up with her brother. Tracking the Stark girl across Europe was long and not what Julia considered fun. All she wanted was to go home.

"The old man gave specific directions," Brock retorted before heading inside. The building didn't look like much, but there was a sign outside the first door on the left that looked official. It was in Romanian, but seeing as the other doors had no sign, Brock figured it had to be the place they were looking for.

They entered into a long room that had several mismatched chairs along the wall. A man in his mid-forties stood behind a small desk, going through some papers. He looked up when he heard the door open, but his welcoming smile faltered as he took in Brock. Not only did he have multiple guns strapped to him that were visible to the man, but he was sure his face played a decent part in the man's reaction.

"Do you speak English?" Brock asked, his expression hard as he stopped before the desk.

"Some," Christian spoke, hesitant of the heavily armed man before him. The burns on his face and body only added to the sense of unease, so he played up his accent when he spoke.

"I heard you have a new doctor. This her?" Brock pressed, removing a photo taken from the surveillance videos of Anna when she had been with Hydra and sliding it across the desk.

Anna hadn't thought anything off it at the sound of the clinic door opening. It was earlier than normal for patients to start arriving, but there had been an increase in patients and Dr. Christian had extended their hours of operation. It wasn't until the muffled voice of a man filtered through the thin clinic walls that Anna realized it wasn't just another patient.

Freezing in the middle of her organizing, Anna's hand gripped the examining table as she sucked in a shaky breath. She recognized the gravelly voice and it sent shivers down her spine. Rumlow had found her. And there was only a thin sheet of dry wall and a door between them. Reaching towards the instrument tray, she gripped a scalpel in her hand, preparing for Christian to give her away. He had no way of knowing Rumlow meant her harm, nor that she wasn't a fugitive on the run. He had no reason not to tell Rumlow about her.

"Two weeks ago…she came in with man…not breathing. I help her, then she help patient that came in. They stay few days then leaves." Anna heard Christian's heavy accent falsely struggle to spit out the broken English. His words shocked her. He was lying for her. Before she could think too hard on why that was, the sound of glass shattering caused her to jump and she prayed Rumlow wouldn't hurt Christian.

"You're saying she's not here anymore?" Rumlow's voice sounded calmer than Anna expected, but it still sent another chill down her spine. God please don't let him find her.

"No, not here for days," Christian responded in the same broken English, his voice shaking slightly on the last word.

There was a nervous glint in the man's eyes that had Brock reaching forward to grip the man's throat.

"If you're lying to me, you die," Brock growled out. The man physically flinched but insisted what he said was the truth. "Check the room," Brock ordered Julia, keeping his hold on the doctor's throat. If the man was lying, he wasn't going to give him the chance to get away. He'd be dead before he could try to offer any explanation.

Anna didn't think her heart could beat any faster when she heard Brock's response to Christian. He wasn't alone, and whoever was with him was about to find her. Scanning the room, even though she knew there was nowhere to hide, Anna gripped the scalpel tighter and readied herself for the inevitable. A scalpel wasn't the best weapon, but at least she had lots of practice with it. It felt more comfortable in her hand than any of the weapons James had trained her with. If only James was there. He'd think of something to do. Now he'd come back to find Christian dead and Anna gone with no clues as to who had taken her or where she was.

The door swung open slowly, revealing a woman only a few inches taller than Anna who was dressed in jeans and a tee with no visible weapons on her person. It wasn't at all what Anna was expecting and she was momentarily stunned at how normal the woman seemed. Unable to force herself to attack the woman who was unarmed and looked just as uncertain as Anna, the two simply stood there staring at one another as the seconds ticked by. Anna couldn't keep her body from trembling in fear as she waited for her presence to be declared. Eventually the woman called out to Rumlow, her eyes never leaving Anna's.

"It's empty. He's telling the truth." Anna's eyes widened in shock at the woman's words. This stranger who was supposedly on Rumlow's side was covering for her. Perhaps she was as much a pawn under him as Anna had been when her memories were modified. Whatever the reason, Anna knew the woman had just saved her mind, if not her life as well. Before the woman closed the door, Anna mouthed the words thank you to her. The woman simply nodded her head before shutting the door.

"Where did they go?!" Rumlow demanded, moving his hand from the man's throat to the collar of his shirt and pulling him closer. He couldn't lose Anna's trail. He couldn't lose Anna. He'd come too far, sacrificed too much, to let her get away.

"I don't know. Headed West out of building. That's all I know. He call her by Russian name, so maybe Russia?" Christian babbled, hoping the man would believe him now and leave. After the burnt man narrowed his eyes and studied him closely, he released Christian's shirt and abruptly turned. The woman who had followed the burnt man in, who had covered for Christian by claiming Anna wasn't in the next room, kept her head down as she passed his desk and followed the menacing man out.

When the clinic's front door slammed shut, Anna felt her body collapse to the floor with relief. The adrenaline that had taken over when she heard Rumlow's voice disappeared once the threat was removed. That's where Christian found her, her legs sprawled out on the exam room floor and her back pressed against the examining table.

"You lied for me," Anna greeted him as he lowered himself in front of her. She still couldn't believe Christian had covered for her. Yes, she helped him with patients, but he barely knew her. Then again, this was the guy that offered her a job and a place to live within minutes of meeting her.

"He looked like bad news," Christian shrugged, his English returning to normal. Despite his forced nonchalance, Anna could tell Rumlow's visit had freaked Christian out as much as it had freaked her out. She could just picture how frantic and desperate Rumlow looked when he was told Anna wasn't there.

"He is. You could call him a stalker of sorts," Anna breathed out, still trying to calm her nerves. She had come so close to being taken again. If one tiny thing had gone differently, if Christian hadn't lied, if the woman had told the truth, if Rumlow had looked for her himself in the exam room, she'd be a prisoner to a mad man whose obsession had grown too deep.

"Well, hopefully that is the last we see of him. He seemed to buy my story." Anna prayed Rumlow bought the story, and wouldn't run into any of her more recent patients that would contradict it. Both would put Christian and herself in a very deadly situation.

"You look shaken, would you like a drink?" Christian asked after taking a seat against the opposite wall. Yes. A drink sounded good right about then.

Reaching into the supply cabinet beside him, Christian pulled out two paper cups and a bottle of whiskey. Setting the glasses on the ground, he poured out a hefty amount before handing Anna a cup. The liquid burned as it went down and warmed Anna's whole body. She still gripped the scalpel tightly in her right hand as she drank. She planned on taking it home with her. After today, she wasn't letting her guard down until James returned. At the reminder of why James had left, Anna took another big swig from her cup. Maybe she'd take the alcohol home as well.

A/N Hello lovelies! Happy almost Halloween. I hope you enjoyed the update! I have some exciting news. I UPLOADED SEVERAL VIDEOS ON MY YOUTUBE THAT I MADE BASED ON REHABILITATE/RELENTLESS! I am soooo excited for you guys to see them I spent a lot of time on them. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SEARCH JANYA ON YOUTUBE AND YOU SHOULD FIND THEM. MY USERNAME IS MY NAME, Rachel S. You can personal message me if you have trouble finding it. If you search the title of the videos along with my username Rachel S. the videos should show up. The titles of the videos are as followed:

The wort day of loving someone

It was hell here too

Maybe I'm terrified of Losing you

You're my home

We're lucky to have each other

I made a Janya playlist so they're all in there on my profile.

Onto Guest review responses!

JoCa: Here's the update you requested. Hope you enjoyed it!

Sophie: I will be continuing the civil war storyline. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with Rumlow yet, but I agree he is an interesting character.