Their situation in Odessa was already ten times better than in Dnipropetrovsk. Using some money from one of his bank accounts under that was hidden under a false name, Dawson was able to get them a real place to stay rather than a shoddy motel room. Located on a semi-private beach, their closest neighbors weren't for multiple kilometers. No one would come knocking or wondering what the group was doing there. The house itself was bigger than Q's parent's house, letting each of them have their own space instead of sharing a small hotel room with twin beds.
For the first few weeks, it was all about settling in. Dawson set up their security system for the house, along with some added bonuses littered around the shoreline to let them know if and when anyone was getting a little too close. Having only one working hand, it did take him a bit, but he got it done (and was even more proud of himself than usual). Marina searched for her contact in Odessa - someone who had ties with Hydra back in the day, but had turned his life around since then, or so he claimed. And Q stuck to following the lead Natasha had unintentionally given them about Bucky.
As expected, the lead went cold with the dead engineer. There was no information on where Bucky had disappeared to after. In fact, it turned out no one even knew he was there to begin with. The official report had chalked it up to a motorcycle accident, despite the engineer dying from a fatal gunshot wound, not from the impact of the crash.
Newspapers and online articles were full of skeptics. Few claiming they had seen the scene, mentioning another woman with red hot hair facing off against a man with a metal arm. The scanned and copied report of the autopsy popping up here and there that listed a Soviet slug with no rifling. But every author she tracked down or commenter she emailed claimed they had no further information that would be helpful. Which meant, no Bucky.
A part of her was sort of glad Marina had showed up when she did. If she hadn't, both her and Dawson would be stuck in Odessa with no idea what the next steps would be. Sure they had access to the Hydra database, but even that was old and probably contained more dead ends or heartbreaking information about Bucky or other victims of the program. Nothing that could really help them. All that time and energy and sacrifice would've been wasted. Not to mention that Bucky would probably be getting further and further away from them, solidifying the fact that it had all been for nothing. But with Marina's help, there was at least another option, another chance at finding him. Which was all Q could ask for, really.
When she first decided to go after Bucky, she didn't really know what she was going to do when she found him or even why she was going. In the beginning, she had convinced herself she was doing this - finding him for Steve. The lost brother and friend come home.
The reason she kept it such a secret from him and left so abruptly was because of what happened that day on the causeway. She didn't know what state or how she would find Bucky and she wasn't about to subject Steve to even more pain if it turned out that he wasn't himself again. Selfish, yes, but as the months went on she realized she wasn't doing it for him. She was doing it for herself.
A part of her just wanted to find him and prove that what she read in her grandmother's diary was true: that he was in fact her brother - making him Q's grand-uncle. The moment the two shared on the edge of the riverbank altered her life. Enough to send her on a wild goose hunt chase to find him. Simply enough, she wanted to find Bucky because he was her family. And all she wanted from him was answers. Or stories rather. Stories about the grandmother she thought she knew so well. And obviously, she wasn't going to get them from her dead grandmother, and she rather not go to her asshole of a father. Meaning a previously brainwashed, ex-Hydra assassin was her next best bet to hear them. If he even remembered. But that was a problem for another day. First they needed to find him.
"I found him!" Marina sang out, referring to her contact in Odessa. She walked into the main living area while balancing her laptop on one forearm. Looking up from where she was reading about the dead engineer, Q watched as she moved over to the island in the kitchen. "He's going to an event happening on Sunday afternoon." she shoulder shimmied, clearly proud of herself for finding her contact. She took an apple from the basket, tossing it between her hands as Dawson got her attention.
"What kind of event?" he asked, leaning back in his chair. He raised his injured hand in the air above his head to relieve some of the throbbing pain. It had been a few weeks since the original injury and resetting, but he still obviously had to deal with the after effects. She made a face and shrugged.
"Don't know. All I got was a time and place from an email thread." she glanced over to Q, looking for support, "I mean, that's all we need, right?" she asked, trying to be confident, but Q could tell there was a hint of uncertainty.
"No, yeah, it's fine." she waved her hand in the air, getting up from her chair, "We should probably just come up with different plans of confrontation." she went over to one of the many giant notepads littered around the beach house. Dawson let out a groan as he always did when Q went into planning mode. Mostly because of the amount of overplanning she did (although ironically, didn't do when starting this adventure).
The next few days, the group spent planning. It was decided that Marina would be making contact with the man, since the man already knew her and would therefore be more trusting and hopefully forthcoming with information. Dawson would be going with her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid or sell them out or anything like that. And Q would be keeping watch from a building across the street, sniper rifle in hand and ready if necessary. Though everyone was hoping it wouldn't come to that; all they needed was information and that could be gotten through a simple conversation.
That was the theme of the entire plan they had decided on: simple. Easy, a quick one-on-two and then out like they were never there. No one needed to know who Dawson was or what exactly they were trying to do regarding Hydra. Just the basics.
But of course, it couldn't ever be simple anymore.
Dawson and Marina got out of the car they had taken to the house. Both had comm pieces in their ears to connect them to Q since she wasn't presently beside them. While Dawson looked down the street to make sure Q picked the best vantage point to begin with, Marina took in the massive mansion they were heading into. She let out an unimpressed noise, pulling Dawson's attention from where he searched for Q's scope.
"What?" he asked, making her shrug.
"Seen bigger." she simply responded and he rolled his eyes instead of immediately following after her down the marked trail.
Walking past the front of the house, the cobblestone walkway was decorated with paper lanterns, strung in between tall, skinny, wooden columns. The bushes and smaller trees had lights woven between the branches that would surely light up once the sun set. Even before they walked into the backyard, the soft sounds of a harp and violin drifted their way. The music mingled with the chattering of whatever group was meeting at the mansion.
As soon as they stepped into the backyard, the entire atmosphere shifted. The music changed, the chattering stopped and everyone turned around in their chairs to look directly at Marina and Dawson. Everyone was in nice suits or fancy dresses, making Dawson and Marina feel extremely underdressed. Both of them froze in their places - Marina's eyes darting around to place her contact, while Dawson awkwardly fidgeted with his collar. Sharing a quick look with Dawson, she glanced over her shoulder to follow everyone's line of vision.
"Oh shit." she muttered out, grabbing Dawson's arm and making him turn. Standing behind them was her contact, arm in arm with a young woman in a big white dress. A bride.
"It's a fucking wedding." Q's voice breathed out in Dawson's comm.
"Yeah, no shit." he muttered back, annoyed that none of them had been able to figure that out. "A big, fat, Ukrainian wedding."
Quickly, Marina pulled Dawson off to the side, finding two empty seats in the last row. With the aisle re-opened, the bride and her father started down to the altar at the end. When he passed them, the death glare Marina received made Dawson think they weren't as friendly as he assumed. But there was nothing they could do right then and there.
All things considered, the ceremony itself was beautiful. Even though it wasn't being held in a church like most traditional weddings, there were still the same elements present. Marina did her best to quietly explain to both Dawson and Q what the couple was doing and why. Like how before the couple took their vows, both needed to step on the rushnyk, which was a traditional embroidered cloth. According to tradition, the person who stepped on the cloth first would be wearing the pants in the family, and have the final say throughout the marriage. A warm awh noise mingled with quiet laughs through the crowd when the groom let the bride step on the rushnyk first.
The rest of the ceremony was similar to American weddings. Vows were exchanged, rings were slipped onto fingers, blessings were given. But before the couple was announced as husband and wife, their hands were wrapped together in ribbon during a tradition called handfasting. A literal representation of tying the knot.
After the ceremony, the wedding party and guests made their way across the massive backyard spread to where the reception was being held. Not wanting to lose their mark, Dawson and Marina followed along. Giant, almost circus-like, tents were set up at the with more of the paper lanterns and string lights. Inside the tents were tables covered with long, cream cloths and in the center were long vines of green leaves decorated with soft, pastel colored flowers. Servers were walking around, filling everyone's flutes with champagne. Food was set up on one side of the tent, along with a massive wedding cake that Marina explained was the korovai: a large round braided bread baked from wheat flour often decorated with various symbols and figurines that was given to the bride and groom as a blessing.
"There he is." Marina pulled his attention away from the massive cake to follow where she was pointing across the tent. The man that had dead-eyed them during the ceremony was now chatting with someone else, holding a flute of champagne and gesturing with his other hand as he continued the conversation.
Heading toward him, Marina picked up two flutes of champagne. She handed one to Dawson, who reached for it with his broken hand before remembering to switch hands. He took a sip as they stepped up to the man, Marina starting the conversation.
"Oleksander," she greeted him warmly, "Vitayu." she congratulated him. Raising her flute to him, she ignored the steely look he was giving her. When he didn't immediately tap his glass against hers, she tipped hers against his instead, creating the light sound, "It was a beautiful ceremony." she continued in Ukrainian.
"How dare you come here on a day like today." he didn't acknowledge her statement, getting straight to the point, "Don't you have any class?" he all about spat out. Dawson raised his eyebrows, understanding what direction the conversation suddenly took. Q let out a low whistle in his comm,
"I don't think he likes that you guys are there…" she trailed off and Dawson had to force himself not to respond with a cheeky comment. No need to give away that there was someone else listening in. Instead, he pulled himself up a bit straighter, narrowing his eyes at the man and trying to look intimidating even with the broken hand.
"Oh, Oleksander, I would've known if I had gotten an invitation." Marina pouted, giving him the same look she had given Dawson when she first showed up, "Would've brought a gift and everything." Oleksander looked unamused by her comment.
"What do you want?" he got straight to the point, clearly not wanting to be seen talking to either of them for a long period of time. Cause that would mean questions he didn't want to answer.
"Just wanted to chat, catch up." she shrugged as if it were no big deal, "You are one of my favorites, Oleksander." she reached out to fix his tie and Dawson tried not to roll his eyes at how she was acting. And clearly, Oleksander wasn't convinced either; he moved away from her touch, almost glaring at her as he repeated himself,
"I paid you." he added, glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention to them, "Our business is finished." At that, Marina had the audacity to let out a light laugh, not caring about the obvious tension that was between the two of them.
"This isn't about money!" she shook her head, a smile on her face, "No, no this is about information." Again, another step closer, "On Hydra." she leaned in to whisper the word in his ear, the English word accented from the sudden switch from Ukrainian.
At the mention of Hydra, the man's entire demeanor changed. If he was pissed to see them before, he was even more angry at the mention of Hydra. His grip on his champagne flute tightened so much so that Dawson was sure he was going to break it. He swallowed hard, features shifting
"Enough." he seethed out, "I am not playing whatever little game you want me to. Especially on a day like today." he pointed at Marina with his free hand, "Leave. Before a scene is made." he finished the conversation with that, turning and walking away from the two of them. Rolling his shoulders back, he went over to another group of people, throwing his arms wide as he let out a booming laugh. Like he hadn't just had a very tense conversation with Marina about Hydra.
"That went well." Dawson muttered under his breath as he lifted his champagne flute to his lips. Marina cursed at him in Ukrainian just loud enough for him to hear before stalking away to the bar.
"So what now?" Q asked in his ear. He turned away from where Marina was, pulling out his phone as if he were checking his texts.
"Just wait it out, I guess. Wait till he's alone and then corner him." he responded, idly scrolling through his phone.
"Alright." he heard her sigh and some sounds of movement, giving way to the fact that she was changing positions to some other vantage point.
Unmounting her rifle, Q picked up her weaponry so she could move to another spot on the roof. For the entire ceremony, she had watched from her spot, switching between her scope and her binoculars. But, now that everyone had moved inside the tents for the reception, her view was limited thanks to the giant, opaque cloths. She wanted to have a better position, one where she could keep an eye on both the man Marina had interacted with as well as Marina and Dawson. The conversation didn't go as planned, which meant adjustments needed to be made. She needed to be ready for them, rifle and all.
Setting herself back up on a different part of the roof, she took a glance through her scope. The butt of the gun was pressed up against her shoulder: one hand gently guiding the gun back and forth so she could sweep the general area, the other steadying the end of the gun and resting by the trigger.
From her new position, she could see that the party was in full swing. People were mingling, the korovai had been cut into, drinks were flowing. And Marina and Dawson were sitting at a random table. No one seemed to be bothered by them or really take any interest in them at all, not even wondering what they were doing there. All they were doing anyway was talking to each other. She would usually try to listen, but she was more focused on placing their mark. He had seemed agitated when Marina approached him and rightfully so; who would want someone crashing their daughter's wedding? Especially someone who knew all of his dirty little secrets he so obviously kept from his family.
But he didn't seem like the type to do anything rash or have an outburst because of it. While Dawson and Marina just saw the anger and the general annoyance at them confronting him, Q saw that terror lurked just below the surface. Terror that Marina would be the one to make a scene and cause him to have to explain it. Which meant explaining everything. And from what Q could tell, he really didn't want to do that and ruin whatever guise he had been wearing in front of his family and friends.
That didn't mean he would do nothing about them. He might just get someone else to handle it. Which was why, a minute later, when she caught sight of him staring angrily at the table Dawson and Marina were at before hurriedly heading away from the party and into the house, she pressed down on her comm to contact Dawson and Marina.
"He's heading inside the house." she quickly told them, moving her scope over one last time to make sure the other two had heard her. They had; getting up from their seats and both hurrying out of the tent.
With him disappearing inside, she was forced to unmount her gun again to find a new spot that allowed her to see inside the house so she knew exactly where he went. Clicking on the heat sensors on her binoculars, she did a quick scan of the house, grateful that mostly everyone was outside at the party. Following his path, she saw that he was heading toward one of the rooms in the left wing.
She relayed this information to Marina and Dawson and found a new position on the roof. It was diagonal from the window that led into the room he had been heading for. Not a great position, but enough to see from the waist up so she could keep an eye on the confrontation that was about to happen and react if it went poorly.
Relocking her gun against the mount and pressing it up against her shoulder, she lowered her sight through the scope only to find the room completely empty. She waited a moment, thinking he would walk in any second, but the only people to run into the room were Marina and Dawson.
"Oh fuck me." Dawson's voice crackled over her comm. He stepped over to the center of the room, dropping out of sight for a moment only for his voice to fill her ear once again, "He's dead." he sighed dejectedly.
"How the fu-" she started, already trying to piece together what happened in the mere minutes she had lost sight of the man. It didn't make sense. She hadn't heard a gunshot or any screaming whatsoever. Nor was there a sign of anyone following him into the house beside Dawson and Marina.
Getting up from where he had been crouched over the dead guy, Dawson took a quick glance around the room they had ended up in. It was an office of some sort, decked out to the tens cause of course it was. While Marina took his spot crouched next to the dead guy, Dawson went to go investigate. He didn't know what he was looking for but since the guy had been so angry when they brought up Hydra, there had to be something they could use to their advantage. The database hack from the bunker could only get them so far.
Going through his desk, Dawson found that one of the drawers had a fake bottom. He took everything out rather unceremoniously before prying it up with his better hand. Balancing the fake bottom on his casted forearm, he began rifling through what was hidden and found a black external hard drive with Hydra's logo stamped on the front. The red a sharp contrast against the dark black. It may not have been how they thought it would happen, but at least they had gotten something from the now-dead guy.
After putting the desk drawer back together, Dawson quickly led them out of the house. There was no reason for them to stay at the reception and the last thing they needed was to get caught in a room with a dead guy who happened to have ties with Hydra.
The group reconvened at the beach house, all with different ideas on what to do next. Q wanted to figure out who killed the man - or at least rule out that someone had. Not every dead guy meant murder; it could've been a freak heart attack after all. Dawson wanted to decode the black box and see what was on it. Marina was more concerned about her own well-being than anything else; if someone had killed her contact, was she next? Or what about her other clients and contacts finding out that she had been at the scene of the crime? It would ruin her credibility.
Ultimately, it was decided the black box should take precedence. They wouldn't be able to find out anything about the man's death until he was found and taken to the morgue - where hopefully an autopsy would be performed. Also, the decoding the black box was bigger than Marina's so-called-career, who probably had nothing to worry about to begin with.
Adjusting a shell program he had already come up with, Dawson set to work on decoding the black box. But since he still only was able to use one hand, Marina offered to step in. A reminder of why she was still around. With Marina at the keys and Dawson pretty much standing on top of her to make sure she didn't fuck up his code or any of his operating systems, they were able to modify the program so that it would run through all variables automatically.
From there, it was a waiting game. That's how it had been since they started: hurry up and wait. Marina wandered off to a different part of the house with her laptop in hand, no doubt to make sure all of her other clients hadn't connected her to what happened at the wedding. Dawson and Q ended up on the couch with semi-celebratory drinks in hand. Semi-celebratory because while someone ended up dead, it wasn't them. Plus they had gotten the Hydra black box.
"I mean a guy's dead, but at least we got something." she voiced her thoughts with a gesture to where the three screens were running the program. He nodded in agreement, taking a sip of his drink, "And we didn't kill him, so…" she added, trailing off again before coming back, "And there was a beautiful wedding." she raised her eyebrows up and nodded to herself.
"All correct things." he agreed before tapping the rim of his glass against hers. Both were quiet for a moment, thinking about the day they had had, "You ever think about getting married?" he suddenly asked aloud, finger trailing around his glass on the table. Q was silent for a long moment. Long enough for Dawson to look over and make sure she heard him, "Q?" he checked in, hearing her take in a breath.
"I heard you." she responded before going quiet again, but for a much shorter moment, "I...don't know." she answered his original question, "I thought I would at some point...when I was with...you know." she admitted, not being able to say his name because of the way it strained her heart, "But I don't know anymore. Probably not." she let out a resigned sigh before taking a long sip of her drink.
That first part was true; at one point, during the brief time she had spent with Steve so deliriously in love, she really did think that she could marry him one day. She never felt like that before with anyone else. But then she went and ruined it when she left. Now, she was sure she would never find something like what she had with Steve ever again. Not that she deserved to either.
The question made her regret ever leaving in the first place. She had left to chase a haunting. One that could turn right back into a ghost story as easily as it had years before. She had left under the guise of doing it for Steve, when in reality she was doing it for herself. She had made the most selfish choice and it cost her one of the best things that had ever happened to her. And sometimes, she wasn't sure it was worth it anymore.
But she couldn't go back. She wasn't allowed to. She had made her choice and now had to live with the consequences, no matter how shitty they were. And maybe one day, in the distant future, he would understand why she had done what she done. Probably not. Yet, sometimes it was the one of the only things keeping her going. A futile hope.
"What about you?" she asked, taking in a breath and shifting the attention on Dawson. He let out a short laugh.
"God, no." he let his laugh die before taking a sip of his drink, "And it's not like anyone would anyway…" he trailed off, sounding similar to how Q did moments before. Both of them were in the same boat, but he by choice. He didn't have to come along with her - he chose to. And while a part of her felt guilty for ripping him away from whatever future he could've had with Nat, she couldn't blame herself fully. In the end, it was his choice.
"Oh come on, I saw a bridesmaid making eyes at you…" she trailed off teasingly, trying to lighten the depressive mood they were slipping into. After the semi-successful night they had, there was no need for that. He let out a scoff and shook his head.
"You need to get your eyes checked." he shot her down, pushing himself up out of his seat, "Another?" he asked with a shake of his not yet empty glass. Q sighed before nodding, getting from the couch and meeting him at the bar cart.
Drinking was better than drowning in the what if's.
A/N: First off, I just gotta say thank you guys so much for sharing your input on the last chapter! I'm so sorry you feel like these chapters have been slow and boring, but I promise you action will be coming soon! As for Steve and Q and her decision to leave, hopefully this chapter clears that up for you a bit — she's a flawed human who makes mistakes and one day she'll have to deal with the consequences as you'll see! I was already planning a Steve POV chapter so stay tuned for that and there's a mini reunion coming up too! Thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter, it really opened up my eyes to some things that I thought were clear but obviously weren't! Keep it up!
Secondly, I have only ever seen one Ukrainian wedding so I kinda based this off of that so I'm sorry if I got anything wrong. It was a VERY long time ago haha I hope I did alright. Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter - the good, bad and ugly. I really appreciate everyone's thoughts and try my best to redirect if I did something wrong/confusing.
Finally, happy Easter and Passover to all those who celebrate! I hope you had a wonderful day with loved ones. Love you all! Thank you so much for reading/reviewing/all that jazz.