August 26th, 2009. Near Odessa, Iran
Beth was cursing both the heat and Clint Barton as she sat in the passenger seat next to Natasha. She wasn't even supposed to be there, but the man she considered one of her best friends had gone and contracted the flu from his son, rendering him unable to do the mission. A phlegm-riddled call from Clint later and Beth was on her way to SHIELD HQ, grumbling under her breath about her inability to get sick. After the now-legendary Budapest incident, Beth was the only other agent willing to work with Natasha, and at that moment, she hated herself for it. In the seat behind them, the engineer they were escorting also seemed to be struggling with the scorching temperature, his hands reaching up to dab away the sweat collecting on his brow. Beth was getting ever closer to the moment of saying screw the mission so they could get the hell out of the country and Natasha's hands gripping tighter on the wheel with each degree the temperature soared told her the other woman was feeling the same. When their eyes met, reflecting each other's discomfort, they flashed matching grins.
"Just two more days" Beth muttered.
Natasha snorted.
"You know, the more you think about it, the more you'll feel the heat." The Russian commented dryly, lips still quirked in the sultry way Beth both hated and envied.
Beth rolled her eyes and sat back further in her chair, blowing out a frustrated breath. All it did was send more warmth her way and she immediately regretted the action.
"Have I ever said that I really hot countries?"
Whatever reply Natasha was about to say was lost to the explosion. Beth was thrown forward, colliding heavily with the windshield. She let out a groan as she felt the glass crack beneath her and managed to push herself off the dash just as the glass shattered, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. She dropped into her seat, twisting round to make sure their cargo was okay. His wild eyes stared back at her from where he was curled up in the corner. She let out a sigh of relief to see that he was dazed, but otherwise unharmed before looking back over at Nat. Her partner was cursing, a gash on her head bleeding into her eyes and blocking her view. Beth looked out, opening her mouth to yell a warning when another explosion wracked the vehicle. The car gave a loud groan and Beth cried out as they plummeted over the cliff face she'd tried to warn Natasha about. The car landed on its roof, ejecting Beth from her chair once more before it impacted with a bone-shattering force. A number of bones in Beth's leg snapped as she was brutally slammed to the floor, black spots blinding her as she bit back a scream. The pain lasted only that brief second, before she was distracted by the man they were protecting crying out. Her head twisted round with effort in time to watch Natasha pulling him from the car, the assassin's right arm hanging limply down her side. Gritting her teeth, Beth out all her weight on her good leg and pulled herself free from the wreckage. As she shakily wobbled to her one good leg, she heard Natasha curse.
"What the Hell?" Natasha growled.
Beth followed the red head's gaze and almost fainted. It was him, the one that killed two of her closest friends before leaving Beth shivering at the side of the road that same freezing December night. Her breath hitched and she found herself frozen in place as he moved closer to Natasha, his steps slow and deliberate. As he drew to striking distance, Beth stepped forward, only to hit the floor with a pained yelp as she unintentionally stepped onto her shattered leg.
"Beth!" Natasha called out.
"I'm fine!" she called back as she tried to push through the pain and stand up again.
Natasha bit back another curse as she glimpsed the metal arm of the man about to reach her. She'd heard the rumours about him; the assassin with the metal arm, the Winter Soldier, but until now, she'd believed him to be a ghost. Clearly, ghost stories were sometimes true. Unable to fight due to her own injuries and holding up the scientist, Natasha could only raise her gun and place their ward behind her. The soldier simply walked up to her and without even pausing, wrenched the gun from her arm and placed it against her stomach.
"No!" Beth cried out as the bullet shot straight through the Russian woman's flesh.
Both she and the engineer fell to the floor. Beth couldn't tell if they were dead or not but from her previous run-in with the soldier, she didn't hold out much hope. The soldier turned to her, a pair of goggles covering his eyes, rendering her unable to get a read on him. Not that it mattered; she could pretty much predict his eyes would read death if she did see them. She scrambled away as he stood straighter, angling his body in her direction. Briefly, she wandered if he remembered her from their last meeting. Despite the distance between them, Beth heard him mutter something before crying out, clutching his head. At first, Beth thought he'd been shot or attacked by Natasha, but a glance down told her the other agent was still very much down. Confusion increasing when she heard her name leave his lips, she reached into her belt for a smoke grenade, using his collapse to her own advantage. She was fully aware that he probably would kill her this time, not striking her as the type to let a witness walk away twice. She flung it as close to him as she could, acrid black smoke bursting from the shell a microsecond later.
Relying on the serum running through her veins, she bit down on her lip to distract herself from the excruciating agony from her leg as she began running towards a small outcrop of rocks in the near distance. She managed to hide seconds before the smoke cleared, but she knew it wouldn't take the soldier long to figure out where she hid; after all, it was the only place within any close proximity she could have possibly reached.
The soldier straightened from his couch, angry and confused from the images in his mind. They were of the woman he'd just laid eyes on, only she seemed to be wearing makeup, her hair up in tight curls framing her face. he didn't understand; she was just a woman who he had a vague recollection of from a previous mission. He remembered; he let her go that time. why, he couldn't say. This time, however, she couldn't be permitted to live. Say a story once, it is easily dismissible. Twice, and people start to stand up straight and listen. He could not allow himself be compromised. The soldier raised his head and pulled his glasses off to see the area more clearly. She was injured, unable to travel far, so she had to be close enough to easily find. He zoned in on the section of rocks nearby, knowing immediately that she was among them. All he had to do was flush her from her spot. Officially, she wasn't a target, but he knew his handlers would be pleased to find he'd eliminated a potential threat to them and maybe, they would let him have a day or two longer from the cryofreeze before putting him back. Maybe, just for once, he would be allowed to eat a meal and have a hot shower. He didn't even remember when he'd last eaten a decent meal, or even if he ever had, but he wanted one now. That was what fuelled him as he descended on the outcrop of rust red stone.
Beth held her breath, rifle in hand as she heard him come closer. His steps were light, too light to determine his exact distance, so she had to settle for watching out for his shadow. It fell into her sight before she expected it to, causing her muscles to tense so tightly, she feared they would snap. It took conscious effort to loosen her joints enough to ready her rifle, scooping up a handful of sand to rub along the barrel and prevent the sunlight glaring off the metal. The shadow grew larger and as his body entered her peripheries, she stopped breathing all together, praying her pounding heart wouldn't give her away.
She could have cried when a piercing whistle sounded across the vast desert, the soldier's head twisting in the direction of it. she heard him let out a growl when it sounded a second time. his shadow vanished from sight, but she wasn't naïve enough to check that he was leaving. Instead, she readied herself to turn and manoeuvre her body the other direction, only to freeze, her heart in her mouth when she was greeted by his masked face. at such close proximity to him, almost every instinct screamed for her to attack him or run. All apart from the one miniscule instinct that was weeping and crying out for her to embrace him. Shaken by that feeling, she found herself simply staring at him dumbfounded, her finger never straying from the trigger in case he attacked and wishing that he would remove the mask. A yearning she hadn't felt in years rose to the surface in a violent crash that threatened to knock her over as he continued staring at her, making her fight to keep her hands from reaching up to unveil his face. Something deep inside was telling her this man was important, and not an enemy, but she just couldn't believe it; he had just shot one of her only friends, after all.
A few silent seconds passed when another whistle sounded, this time longer and more piercing than the last. It made Beth drop down to cover her ears as she fought not to add her own scream to the noise. When she raised her head once more, the soldier was no longer as close to her.
"Я думаю, что твой хозяин зовет вас *I think your master is calling you*" she said to him, recalling the same sound the last time they'd met.
His face was covered but the stiffness in his body on the heels of her words told her he hadn't expected her to speak to him in Russian. Yes, Buddy, you aren't the only one with the surprises, she thought to herself, glad she'd spent two years learning the language from Natasha. She also had an inkling he was glaring at her, judging by the face his hand had moved to hover over one of the knives strapped to his belt. Almost immediately after, he changed his mind and began to walk away, pausing only to look back at her one last time.
"в следующий раз, мышка, я убью тебя *Next time, little mouse, I will kill you*"
The threat sent a shiver of fear up her spine, accompanied by anger at the insult of being called a mouse by him for the second time. She contemplated shooting him as he walked away from her, only, the thought of Natasha lying in the sand stopped her. Instead, she waited until she heard the sounds of a vehicle pulling away and only after she was sure the coast was clear did she emerge from her hiding place. It took a while to reach Natasha and the engineer they were transporting and immediately she could see the male was dead, the shot ripping through Natasha's stomach into his femoral artery. He'd probably bled to death within seconds of hitting the ground. She turned her focus to her friend, feeling for a heartbeat. It took a while, but she eventually found a heartbeat, fluttering as gently as a butterfly's wings and terrifying Beth. She couldn't lose another friend and used her skills to stem the bleeding. When the extraction team arrived, it was to find an unconscious Beth slumped over Nat, her body protecting the wound from the sand as her hand continued applying pressure, the bleeding completely stopped, saving the agents life.
Three days later, Natasha woke up cursing up a storm. A chuckle from beside her made her snap her attention to the woman sitting with her casted leg propped up on the end of the bed. She glared at the grin on the blonde's face, resulting in the grin growing broader.
"What happened to you?" Nat asked, pointing at the leg.
"Multiple fractures. I think the doc said ten or eleven, I can't remember. Give it a week or so and I'll be up and running. They said you should be fully healed in about four weeks, though I would recommend you rethink any stomach-baring clothing choices. That scar's gnarly."
Despite the teasing tone, Natasha didn't fail to notice the relief shining in the blue eyes that saw too much, but she ignored it, flipping her finger up at the other female.
"Glad to see you too sunshine" Beth joked.
Natasha rolled her eyes before sending her a tiny, genuine smile of affection. Beth returned it with a nod and the pair fell into a comfortable silence, waiting for the inevitable ass chewing they were about to face from Fury when he found out the agents were both finally awake.