Close Encounters of the Fictional Kind
Chapter 32: Safe House
"This is great!" Elise exclaimed as she plopped down on a log that they had drug closer to the fire. "Camping in the Hoia Baciu Forest!"
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Marie asked as she sat down beside her friend. "I mean the locals think this place is haunted."
"Nah! We're good! All superstition!" Elise took a long sip out of the can of beer she'd grabbed from the cooler. "Besides, ghosts can't hurt us. They're incorporeal."
Marie gave her friend a raised eyebrow. "I could list several instances that you would be wrong." She took a sip of her own beer.
"Just enjoy the camping trip!" Elise exclaimed throwing her arms up, sloshing beer out of the bottle a bit.
Two hours later…
"What the hell was that?!" Marie looked around the dark woods surrounding them.
"What was wha'?" Elise slurred.
A high pitch giggle echoed through the clearing. "Jesus fuck! We need to get the hell out of here!" Marie shouted.
Elise wobbled a bit as she stood up. It was several cans of beer later and Elise was already fairly well inebriated while Marie was only about half-way there. "Do you see that?" Marie asked pointing off in the distance.
"See wha'?" Elise squinted comically.
"The glowing eyes looking out of the bush! For god's sake, Elise! This isn't funny!"
Elise was giggling now as she plopped back down on the log. "It's just some fox that's looking aroun'."
"No it's not! This place is haunted!" Marie exclaimed as a faint scream sounded from what deeper in the woods. "Christ!"
Thirty minutes later…
"RUN!" Marie shouted as they stumbled through the forest underbrush.
Elise was having a hard time keeping up, but both girls were suitably certain that the forest they'd chosen to go camping in was haunted by evil spirits. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the screams, childish giggles, glowing eyes, and finally what had made them run was the scratches along Elise's arm. They'd appeared suddenly and without mercy as they dug in enough to cause blood to well up.
"Look! What's that?!" Elise shouted.
Up ahead was a sweeping light as though someone was walking with a flashlight. "It's people!" Marie responded. "HEY! WE NEED HELP!"
9 hours later…
Elise slowly woke to a subtle pounding in her head and a slight churning in her stomach. There was also a slight burning along her left forearm. "Crap," she muttered closing her eyes again against the dark room. She couldn't quite remember what had happened last night… or at least not after beer number five.
"It tastes like something died in my mouth," Marie moaned from the bottom bunk.
"Marie?" Elise called out quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Where are we?"
"Safe house."
"You remember everything?"
"Yeah, for the most part, until we got in the van at least."
"Great, wanna fill me in?"
There was a shuffling and suddenly Marie's head popped up over the edge of the railing for the top bunk. "You look like shit."
Elise groaned. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."
There was more shuffling and soft padding across a wooden floor with bare feet before the light turned on making Elise grumble and throw a pillow in Marie's general direction. Ten seconds later, Marie and climbed up to sit a the foot of the top bunk. Reluctantly, Elise moved up the bed into a sitting position with the heels of her palms pressing into her closed eyes. "Are you going throw up?" Marie asked leaning back a little.
"No, just feel like crap." Elise looked up at her friend sitting across from her. "How are you not hung-over?" she asked accusingly.
Marie shrugged. "I've got awesome genes."
"Ugh!" Elise buried her face in the pillow sitting on her lap for a moment before sitting up. "Can I get some ibuprofen?"
"Two?" a black gloved hand appeared over the rail with two small white pills in the palm. A second gloved hand appeared with a small cup of water. The two girls looked over surprised. They hadn't heard anyone enter, but before them was a red-headed Natasha Romanov with a dirt streaked face and curls in a riot. "What?" she snapped as they stared at her.
"What happened to you?" Marie asked as Elise accepted the offerings.
"Saving your asses… that's what," she raised a single eyebrow and smirked. The ginger woman turned and walked out of the small bedroom. The two girls watched her as she left, shedding her leather jacket as she walked.
A second later, Marie was hopping down from the top bunk and rushing after her. Elise was a bit slower, but followed as well. "Wait, what do you mean?" Marie called after the spy.
Natasha didn't even glance back as she threw her jacket over the back of an arm chair. "Exactly what it sounds like," she replied as she led the way into a kitchen/dining room.
Elise made her way in at that moment, staring at the window. "This isn't Amsterdam," she commented.
"It's St. Petersburg," Natasha answered the unasked question as she put a pot on to boil for tea.
"How the hell did we get to St. Petersburg?" Elise asked. "We were in Romania last night!"
Natasha gave her a look that said, 'obviously'. "I happened to be around when you two managed to get into a bit of trouble. Being the nice person I am, I figured I'd help out."
"I don't remember any trouble?" Marie commented.
"Well you wouldn't… with how much you'd been drinking."
"I wasn't that drunk," Marie retorted.
Elise just shrugged and sat down at the small table in the kitchen to fix a cup of tea. "I was," she mumbled into her cup.
"What the hell was going on in that forest?" Marie asked while starting to make a cup of tea for herself.
Natasha was just sipping her own tea when the front door opened, allowing a man with dirty blond hair and dark clothes to enter from the cold. "It's done," he said as he locked the door again.
"Good, we won't have to worry about these two then," Natasha nodded at the two girls.
"What's done?" Marie asked.
Clint ignored her and commenced with taking off his boots. "Should probably let Fury know about this. He may want to keep an eye on the situation."
"I suppose," Natasha answered.
"What's done?" Marie asked again, becoming irritated.
However the two spies ignored her as Clint typed away on his phone. Less than a minute later, he looked up at Natasha. "He wants to rendezvous."
Natasha turned toward the two girls sitting at the kitchen table. "Can we trust you to stay put for a few hours?"
Elise nodded, "I ain't going no where until this hangover is gone." She lifted her mug of tea in mock salute before pressing it to her lips for another sip.
Natasha turned her icy stare to Marie. "Fine! We'll stay here," Marie grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Good, because you really don't want me to hunt you down later." With that, Natasha and Clint left, locking the door behind them.
The girls spent the morning exploring the small house, but there was very little in it and nothing to suggest who lived there. It truly was just a safe house. The only hint of a personal touch was a vase of irises on the table. True to their word, Natasha and Clint returned after only a few hours, by which time the girls had sobered and were growing hungry. They took public transit to a small coffee shop where the girls had a small breakfast of black bread and sausage with black tea. They then loaded back up on to the metro that took them to the airport where Natasha and Clint saw them off on their flight to Scotland.
Author's Notes: Woo hoo! Another update! In this one we visited the Hoia Baciu forest in Romania, supposedly one of the most haunted places in the world! We also hit up Saint Petersburg, Russia with Nat and Clint! WOOT More Avengers! And you'll probably see more of them because we love writing Avengers... Anyway, we've got a plan for our next location, and we gave you a clue! Perhaps you can figure out where we're going next?