Amelia was about seven months into the job and it just kept getting more and more complicated. The original job had been done, but the truth behind the people she was looking into just kept getting deeper and darker. Before she really even knew it, she was neck deep and drowning in a business she really did not want to have anything to do with.

She was thinking about that as she dangled from the ceiling, her arms stretched high above her head and aching, her toes just barely brushing the ground. She was letting her head hang, her eyes closed so she could take in the silence and remember. She thought about her father, her life back home, and how different everything would look through the lens of everything she had seen. She thought about Barney and Gunner and Caesar and Toll and Lee. Lee. Even after months of not seeing him, her heart still leapt a little at the thought of his name. She hated it. She didn't want him to have any kind of power over her, yet somehow he did. He had seemed a bit upset when she told him she was gonna take the job. She wondered why he suddenly cared so much- it wasn't long before that that he was going on about how inexperienced she was.

The door behind her opened and slammed into the wall with a shaking thud. She pulled her eyes open, her lashes sticking together from a bit of dried blood and sweat. The man that had come in placed his hand on the small of her back and rounded her body, looking her up and down, tired and helpless.

"You are quite beautiful for a traitor," he said, accent dripping from his lips. He studied her body and she flinched against him, her muscles screaming and aching in protest. "But beautiful girl or not, you know well what we do to traitors."

She let her eyes find his and tightened her jaw. She pressed her lips together. "I'm not a traitor," she said. "You didn't need to hurt them."

"You got in the way of business," he said with a shrug as he took a step back. "That is traitor enough for me."

"I didn't pull the trigger," she said, her throat dry and hoarse. "I wouldn't have."

"Not on the girls, no," he said. "But on the men? Probably."

He wasn't wrong. She forced her distaste for him and his mission down her throat and sighed. Her cover hadn't really been blown, but he was angry. All she needed to do was get out alive and feed all the information she had to the CIA, since they were the ones who had loaned her out from Barney for this operation. It was too risky to be an official government job, but important enough that the gang had to be broken up. At first they thought it was just drug smuggling, and the biggest fear was the effect it could have on the economy. But it wasn't just drugs they were smuggling.

"I don't want to hurt anybody. Let me go," she said.

He laughed, resting back on the wall across from her and crossing his arms. "Let you go so what? You can tell somebody all about us? Clearly, you do not like what we are doing here. It does not serve you anymore. We let you go, we lose our money."

"So what then?" She asked, "are you gonna kill me?"

"No, no, Dorogaya. Nothing like that," he said, walking closer to her so he could run his fingers across her cheek. "I think you will make me a lot of money somewhere."

She looked up to the ceiling so she didn't have to see his eyes. They were crystal clear and bright blue with a scar that ran perpendicular to his left eyebrow. He could've been almost handsome in another life, but all the foulness that rested inside of him leaked to the outside and he was rotten.

"I'd rather die," she said.

He chuckled, running his hands down her stomach before he took another step back. "You cost me a few paychecks last night. I can not just let that slide."

She glanced up at her wrists and then back to him, standing just within reach. She felt a surge of strength go through her then, and before she even realized what she was doing, she pulled her legs up and wrapped them around his head, pulling him in towards herself and squeezing her thighs as hard as she could while he struggled. He scratched and pounded at her legs and she bit down on her lips, her eyes squeezed shut against his muffled screams. He tugged at the ropes she was suspended by and she felt them tighten around her wrists. She tightened her fists around them and held herself up to try and keep the blood flowing, keeping her thighs as tight as she could against his neck.

After a few minutes of straining, he eventually started to fall limp. She kept her legs wrapped around his neck, wanting to be sure he was down before she let him go. The weight of his body was pulling at the ropes, cutting off the circulation to her hands. She cried out, spit flying from her lips as she struggled. She let him drop to the floor with a thud and tugged herself up, arms trembling and fueled only by adrenaline.

She hung there, looking down at him on the floor while she sucked in quick, panicked breaths. She struggled against her bindings and yanked herself down to try and get the ropes to snap. Eventually they did and she fell suddenly, slamming down onto his body. She rolled over and scrambled to her feet and undid the rest of the rope that remained around her wrists, now black and blue and swollen and sore. She reached into his waistband and pulled out his gun, checking the clip. Fully loaded.

This was her chance to get away. She scoured the room for any documents that could be useful in bringing down the group of smugglers. When she found some she folded them up and tucked them into her pockets. The women from the night before had been dragged out, but dried up blood stains still remained. It made her want to vomit. She took a moment and pressed a hand to her stomach, sick and exhausted. She took a breath.

She pressed her ear to the door and listened carefully for any guards outside. It sounded pretty quiet, but she couldn't be sure. There wasn't much time to hesitate, so she opened the door and walked through, trying to keep her head down to avoid any suspicion. A few people floated by, but nobody stopped her or went back towards the room she had come from. She hurried to her bedroom, scrambling to get her things together. She pulled out her sat-phone and hit call, pressing it between her cheek and shoulder as she shoved a few important things into her bag.

"Please state your name and-"

"This is Amelia requesting immediate extraction. I'm heading to the extraction point now."

She slammed the phone down onto the bed and threw her pack over her shoulders, grabbing her bow and arrows and hurrying to open the window. It was a decent fall, but going back through the building wasn't an option. They'd discover that body soon and would be coming for her. She braced herself against the window frame and hopped out, rolling as she landed with an awkward flinch. She stood up and ran, glancing back over her shoulder as she headed off into the woods. She was wearing a flowing off-white robe, something she used to blend in with the rest of the women after she had arrived. She pulled out her bow and ducked under a fallen tree, aiming towards the front of the building and looking as guards and other people rushed out, yelling in Russian. There was a truck pulling up the long driveway. She pulled out an arrow and ripped off a piece of her robe, wrapping it around the tip and soaking it in some alcohol she had stuffed into her pack. She aimed at the gas tank, much like she had all that time ago with the Expendables, and let out a deep, unsteady breath. She let it fly, watching in slow motion as it soared over and lodged itself into the truck. After a moment the fire started, and then the explosion, which sent her flying backwards. She steadied herself, turning and racing towards the open extraction point. She ran faster than she ever had before, her arms getting scratched by twigs and branches as she fumbled through the thick brush. She tripped out into the field, squinting up to the sky as a helicopter soared overhead. She heard yelling from the building behind her, and when she glanced back, a man jumped out from behind her and tackled her to the ground, lifting his fist in the air to wind up for a punch. She brought her knee up into his back a few times, shifting his balance just enough to get her fist around his chin and push him away. She fumbled in her waistband under her robe for the gun, bucking her hips to try and get him off. The chopper was loud and nearing the ground.

The man rolled her over a few times, twisting her wrist behind her. The gun fell from her grip and she cursed and lifted her head up to slam her forehead into his. He reached his hands up and covered his nose in pain and she sent her fist across his cheek. He fumbled over for a second and she punched him again, knocking him down off of her and into the hard frozen dirt. She climbed on top of him, the robe tearing, and reached for the gun. She held it in her fist as she whacked him over and over and over again, yelling and spitting over the sound of the chopper.

When she came back to reality, she threw the gun as far away from herself and into the woods as she could. She stood up and stumbled backwards away from the man. She recognized him as one of the top guards. She'd known him- well, as much as a spy could know a target- and she swallowed, chest heaving, and turned with all of her things back to the helicopter, clinging desperately to her bow.

An armored man helped pull her in and tucked her into the seat beside him as the chopper began to take off again. She stared forward, rocking herself slightly, and clung to the smooth wood of the bow. Her fist was covered in blood, her knuckles split. She shuddered.

She'd spent the last seven months in hell. Yeah, she got a whole lot better at the job. She could handle herself better, especially against the big guys, because she didn't have anyone on her side to bail her out if things got messy. But it was hell. When she thought about it all from the sky, the building burning beneath her, she felt her blood run cold. Everything she saw was bathed in deep red, tinted the tone of spilt blood. Her thoughts ran empty. Her hands felt cold and detached, as though they weren't her own. How could her own hands do any of that?

How could she ever stop?

—-

She woke up in the morning to Gunner looking down at her with his arms crossed. She squinted against the light and the cold, suddenly realizing that Lee was snoring next to her and had draped his arm across her body in the night. She jumped and knocked Lee over in the process as Gunner laughed that deep, Frankenstein belly-laugh he had.

"Shit!" She snapped, and Barney woke with a start while Lee winced and wiped at his eyes.

"Something we should know about?" Gunner teased, looking between both Dusty and Lee. She stood, wiping the dirt from her jacket and hair.

"About what, you ass?" She asked, giving him a little shove. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"By doing what?" He laughed, pointing down at Lee. "Waking up to find you and that ugly guy cuddling like two-"

She hit him again and he winced, though he still laughed a little.

"By staring at me like some creep!" She said, her breath clouding around her like an icy fog. "It's weird, Gunner!"

"And waking up to father Christmas isn't?" He joked, and Lee stood up behind her as he tried to shake the sleep from his head. Barney did the same.

"I didn't say that," she groaned. "This is why I should've slept in my own damn corner."

Gunner mimicked her pout and she frowned, reaching out to push him again. Instead he enveloped her in a big hug and let out another hearty laugh while he spun her around.

"Next time you get cold, come lay with me," he said with a wink as he dropped her back to her feet. She rolled her eyes and stepped back from him before she picked up her beret and pulled it low over her ears.

"What's going on?" Caesar asked, sitting up slowly with a yawn.

"Gunner wanted to play alarm clock," Dusty grumbled, shivering.

"What time is it?" Toll asked, pulling himself to his feet.

"Too early," she said, crossing her arms to keep warm. Lee looked down at her and tried to suppress a laugh while he stretched out. Barney let out a sigh and dusted off his beret.

"You're all a bunch of idiots," he said, checking his watch. "I'll go see if my guy has a car ready for us. Let's get this done today, yeah?"

She was ready to go back to the warmth of her apartment, where she could wake up next to Lee without worrying about having to explain anything to anybody and didn't have to scratch hay out of her hair. She reached for her bow and gave it a stretch, flexing her stiff fingers.

"Must've fallen asleep," Lee said. She rolled her eyes and looked over him.

"Must've," she repeated. He smirked.

"It was cold," he said.

"Oh, freezing," she teased. "And I'm just a space heater in the winter, aren't I?"

He shrugged. She turned and joined the guys as they reassembled their gear. Barney shoved open the barn door and let in more of the biting cold.

"We're on," he said, waving her out. "Let's hit them fast, get our guys, and move out."

She nodded and hurried over to him. His eyes remained on her for a little longer than normal, but she pushed the thought from her mind and climbed into the back of the truck, curling up tight to try and stay warm.

The guys climbed in around her and Lee and Barney took the front with Lee at the wheel. She huddled between Gunner and Caesar, content with the warmth they were giving off. They blew hot air onto their hands, skin bright from the reflection of the pale earth and glittering sun all around them. They didn't say much, probably too cold to focus on anything else. She bounced as the truck went over some uneven terrain and she let her eyes drift shut, tired from the freezing night and awkward awakening.

—-

She dropped from the truck and her boots hit the ground with a crunch, the dirt and ice breaking under her feet. Caesar held up his gun and looked around as he gave her a heavy pat on the back.

"Warming up yet, Dusty?"

"Yeah, it's a sauna out here," she growled, stretching her fingers in a desperate attempt to keep up her circulation.

"Alright ladies," Barney said as he got out of the car, "let's do this real fast. In and out, get the guys, and be home with our heads on our pillows by morning."

"What's the plan boss man?" Dusty asked, squinting in the light.

"We set off an explosion on the northern side and slip in through the south and east, converging on where they should be keeping our guys. Once we get them, we head out through the south and make our way back around to the truck and then to the plane."

"Easy-peasy," Lee hummed, settling into his gear. He looked good in black.

"Who'd you have in mind for that explosion?" Toll asked. "I don't do well with loud noises."

"You shoot a gun-" Caesar tried.

"Dusty'll do it," Barney interrupted, glancing at her. Everybody hesitated and turned to her.

"Alright," she said. "With an arrow, or my charm?"

Lee looked between both her and Barney and bit his tongue.

"An arrow. You break from us and head to the north entrance, take this charge, and make sure it goes off by a truck or something big. We need a distraction. They're gonna keep men on our guys, but once we dwindle the numbers down it'll be fine. When you're done, you meet us at the south side."

"Solo?" Lee asked finally. She rolled her eyes.

"It's not a huge complex," Barney said. "Go around the outside. Don't take any unnecessary risks by cutting through the inside, hear me?"

She shrugged. It wasn't worth arguing. She grabbed the charge and shoved it into her pocket. It was tiny- small enough that she could stick it to the arrow and detonate it remotely. She shivered. She was just ready to go home.

"Let's head out," Barney said, glancing over the group.

When she started walking, Lee pulled up to her side.

"Be careful, alright?" He said, lowering his voice.

"Lee, don't make me say it-" she grumbled, stomping along in the dried out forest.

"Yeah, yeah. You can handle yourself. What about-"

"The knife I wouldn't have had if you didn't give it to me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. He frowned. "I'll be okay, Lee. It'll be over before you know it."

"Don't blow yourself up," he said eventually, looking around aimlessly at the barren land.

"No promises," she said. He shot her a look and she laughed.

"What are you two lovebirds joking about?" Gunner asked, hovering just between them both. Lee looked up at him and furrowed his brows, unimpressed.

"Your mom," Dusty said. Lee chuckled.

"Ouch," Gunner said. "Be careful out there Dusty. Shoot straight, you hear me?"

She moved away from Lee so Gunner could squeeze between them both. He threw an arm over her shoulder and she sunk into him with a sigh.

"See ya on the flip side, Frankenstein," she said, and he gave her a little shove. "This is where I head out," she said, jogging a few steps forward and turning back to them both. She offered them a little salute, her eyes catching Lee's again. He wore worry on his face like it was designer.

"Amelia," Barney called.

She hurried over to him. "Yeah?"

"Be as subtle as you can, alright?" He said, hardly looking down at her.

"With the explosion?" She laughed.

He gave her a look and she hesitated, studying him. She nodded before she split off from the group and pulled out her GPS as she went out into the cold alone. She didn't mind doing things solo, especially when she knew she had the guys pulling for her somewhere nearby. She was smaller than them, faster than them, and a bow and arrow was a quiet tool. She was good.

She listened to her steps crack the frozen dirt beneath her. It was soothing, like a walk in a quiet, peaceful forest. If she closed her eyes and drew in a crisp breath of that freezing air, she could pretend for a second that she was somewhere much nicer than deep within Russia rescuing some dumb, wealthy assholes that couldn't keep their mouths shut long enough to make it to their flights home on time.

—-

Barney watched her hurry off in her own direction while the rest of the gang went the opposite way. Lee joined him, standing at his side, and watched her get smaller as she hurried to the north side to blow up some trucks so they could sneak in the back.

"I don't know if I like this," he said after a second.

Barney gave him a look and rolled his eyes, turning to catch up with the rest of them. Lee sighed and hurried to keep up with him.

"Listen, I know she's capable. I know she's-"

"Lee, listen," Barney said, lowering his voice, "I know this isn't a new thing with you. You never liked the decisions I made when it came to her. But on this one, right now, I need you to take my word for it."

Lee looked him up and down, suddenly even more unsure. "That doesn't make me feel much better at all," he said.

"Christ," Barney groaned. "I didn't think it would be a big deal until Gunner had her going on about that story last night. The guy she was getting intel on- she was working for the CIA-"

"You loaned her out the fucking cops?" Lee asked, suddenly furious.

"Will you please-" Barney hushed, "it was good for her, and we talked about it, alright? But the guy they originally needed dirt on- he's here. I didn't think it'd be a problem for her, but now I just wanna make this happen as fast as we can. I sent her that way and told her to stay on the outside so she doesn't see him."

Lee was confused. He never really knew much about where she went for that year- only that it wasn't supposed to take a year, and that he blamed himself for her ever taking the job in the first place. It had hurt him when she told that story, but she was strong- probably the strongest person he'd ever known, or at the very least, one of them. He didn't see why her possibly interacting with a guy from that year would be a problem.

"Barney," Lee said, thinking it over, "why does it matter? He probably wouldn't recognize her with all the gear on anyway-"

"Come on, Christmas," Barney groaned, trudging onwards. "Let's go."

Barney rarely ever called Lee by his last name. It left a sour taste in his mouth, but he was a soldier, born and bred to follow orders. So he hurried along and caught up with the rest of the guys, his mind wandering to that year when Dusty wasn't there. He hated to admit it, but it had been an okay year for him. He had even stopped thinking about her at some point, focusing instead on getting paid and having a good time. He thought the drama had finally gone since it was just the guys like it had been before she showed up, but he'd be lying if he said he believed that for a second. It was just an easy explanation for how quiet it was in the hangar without her. How hollow.

Still, he couldn't help the guilt he now felt knowing what she had been dealing with alone. He put on a stiff face and braced the cold, gun at the ready, nothing betraying his thoughts. He didn't like the way this mission was beginning to feel. It started out simple enough, but with Dusty's past looming around the corner, it was suddenly much heavier. Darker. There was more at stake. He tried not to think about it, but like always when it came to keeping her off his mind, he failed.