"Is it done yet?"
"Almost there, Tonio, 98% complete now."
"Screw the last 2%, I'm cracking open the wine."
Ivan rolled his eyes before continuing to monitor the screen, ignoring the sounds of Antonio shuffling around to pour the wine. Although Mathilda was already on her way back to their base with all the hard copies, Ivan still wanted to make sure the program completed the remote access database wipes. He had been burned once before on a piece of their master plan, and didn't want to see that happen again.
"I'm just pulling into the garage," Mathilda paged on their private radio channel, "Can you boys come help me with these boxes please?"
Ivan turned to tell the other boys to get moving, but Toris was already at the microphone and pressing down the button to reply.
"I'm on my way down, Mattie."
As Toris left the microphone and headed to the building entrance, Antonio approached Ivan's side with a glass of wine in each hand. Ivan took the glass from Antonio's right hand, allowing the Spaniard to then start playing with the second computer screen.
"You need to relax, Ivan," Antonio encouraged as he started up some lively Spanish music, "This is a simple operation, not your complicated supercomputer."
"I know that, but I still worry," Ivan said, spotting the computer's status bar shift to 99%, "I never want to fail her again."
"I know you don't, but we all know better now through the experience," Antonio assured, "Do we need to reset their house alarm again tonight?"
"I've already done it remotely," Ivan confirmed, "Arthur tried to deactivate her passwords for accessing the mansion again, so I reactivated them and had it used remotely a while ago."
"I wonder if he's noticed we've been doing this as an alibi on her desertion charges yet," Antonio contemplated, "Still, this would have been a great night for Mathilda to break in personally."
"Why do you say that?" Ivan asked curiously.
"She could've snuck into the house and drawn a mustache on Arthur's face while he slept," Antonio elaborated, "With a thick bold black permanent marker, though, not that red one."
"Okay, that would have been funny," Ivan chuckled, "Imagine him waking up and finding a huge curly mustache on his face that he can't wash off."
"Seriously, that would have been the cherry on top," Antonio agreed, "Although I wouldn't do the curly stache for Arthur. I'd give him the two little bars, like Hitler had."
"Who are we comparing to Hitler now?" a feminine voice interrupted, and Ivan turned to see Mathilda and Toris at the end of the hallway to the stairs, each of them holding a box in their hands.
"Your still-lawfully-wed husband, gatina," Antonio explained, "I was telling Ivan that you should've snuck into your house tonight, and drawn a Hitler mustache on Arthur's face with a thick black permanent marker."
"As fantastic as that sounds, the Hitler stache might go over Arthur's head," Mathilda considered, allowing Toris to take her box and put it aside, "A nice big curly one would be much more dramatic."
"That's what I recommended," Ivan added in before the group paused to notice the music change over to a very familiar tune.
"Oh my god, really, Tonio?" Mathilda groaned, "Enrique Iglesias made it into your Spanish music playlist?"
"Come on, gatina, this is our song," Antonio justified, before putting down his glass and beginning to sing along, "Would you cry if you saw me crying, and would you save my soul tonight?"
As he sang along, Antonio took Mathilda's hand and spun her in a circle, before pulling her in close and slowly dancing with her. As Ivan watched them dance, he remembered how Antonio has been so willing to risk everything to protect her, even after she chose to be with Ivan over him. The song reached the chorus, and Antonio started peppering kisses on Mathilda's cheek, prompting Ivan to take that as his queue to step in. He gently approached the dancing couple as they spun, took Mathilda's wrist and removed it from Antonio's hand. Ivan saw Antonio freeze in his place as Mathilda spun out of his arms and into Ivan's embrace, before the Russian leaned in and claimed her lips.
"Oh come on, really?" Antonio objected as Ivan and Mathilda completed their kiss.
"You know the rules, Tonio," Ivan warned, ignoring Toris's snickering in the background, "You might be her knight in shining armour, but I'm Prince Charming."
"Fuck you," Antonio whined, "Mathilda, could you tell him to loosen up a bit?"
"Well, he does have a point," she said, "Although, I do have something a hero could do for me."
"What would that be?" Antonio eagerly asked.
"Go help Toris with the rest of the boxes."
Ivan couldn't help but smile at that, and nearly joined Toris in laughing at Antonio's expense. The poor Spaniard deadpanned, before rolling his eyes in disappointment and heading for the stairs. As the giggling Lithuanian followed, a ping sounded from the computer alerted Ivan of the program's status.
"It looks like we just hit 100%," Ivan informed Mathilda as he clicked the last few links to see the program results, "It was a clean run, all the targeted data has been wiped."
"Fantastic work, darling," Mathilda praised, "And the house alarm?"
"Your code has been reactivated and used," Ivan reported, "Antonio asked about that too, that's what prompted the mustache discussion."
"That would have been quite funny, actually," Mathilda said, "Just imagine how hard it would be for the others to take Arthur seriously, with that big curly mustache drawn on his face."
"I'd wager even that snooty police commissioner would crack a smile at it," Ivan remarked.
"Speaking of Roderich, I think I found a way we can incorporate pissing him off into our master plan," Mathilda announced.
"Oh really," Ivan asked as she took over the computer, "How so?"
"Our plans still revolve around taking them out, that hasn't changed," Mathilda explained as she opened up a program, "However, I may have found a way to destroy them from the inside as well."
Mathilda clicked on a few more links, before the screen filled with a known person's picture and identification.
"That one?" Ivan inquired, "What about him?"
"I might have the opportunity to seduce him," Mathilda elaborated, "Just imagine the shitshow when they find that one of their own has been lured to the dark side."
"And what of his elder?" Ivan reminded, pulling another known person's picture and identification up on the next screen.
"I'll have to keep an eye out for him, but that can be managed," Mathilda clarified, "He'll likely be the most profoundly affected when they realize what I've done."
"Although your idea is a good one, I do have one reservation about it," Ivan argued, "What does this mean for your loyalty to me?"
"Aw, is my polar bear jealous?" Mathilda cooed sweetly, "Rest assured, sweetie, I will do my best to keep his grimy paws off me. Besides, it's only a temporary thing. Once we've unleashed the master plan, you and I can finally marry."
"That day cannot come soon enough, моя богиня," Ivan confided, before giving her a kiss.
"Soon, we'll be free, my love," Mathilda whispered against his lips, "We can travel the world together as husband and wife, before settling in Russia to start a family."
"And this time, there'll be no need for you to drown any children in whiskey," Ivan remarked.
Mathilda gave him a subtle glare before rolling his eyes at him.
"You know, it's probably a good thing our affair didn't start until after that incident," she murmured, giving him another peck to the lips, "If there was even the smallest chance it wasn't Arthur's, I might have kept it."
"I do suppose it turned out better this way," Ivan commented, "If you had kept it, then Arthur would've kept you from me, and prevented me from ever knowing what love is."
"You're too good for me, Ivan," Mathilda sighed, giving him another kiss, "You've been so patient, my love. I could not ask you for anything more than what you've given me."
"You've been worth waiting for, моя богиня," Ivan assured, before taking the lead and kissing Mathilda more intensely. As the embrace deepened, their bodies pushed against each other even more, enhancing the smoldering passion between them. The kiss unfortunately faded away quickly as they heard the voices of their cohorts coming back upstairs.
"Should we continue or stop?" Ivan asked.
"Continue," Mathilda said as she pecked his lips before taking his hands, and Ivan let her gently guide him towards the bedroom.
Author's Notes
According to Google Translate, "моя богиня" is Russian for "my goddess" and is pronounced as "moya boginya". It sounds prettier than the translations for other pet names..
Also, since it was asked in the reviews, "gatina" is Spanish for "kitten", and this is Antonio's special pet name for Mathilda.