I don't live in Russia nor have I ever been there so I apologise if any of my information is incorrect. Please read and review!
The quin jet would be taking off soon. Jemma rubbed a particularly sore bruise on her thigh, she had spent the last two weeks sparring with one of the deadliest assassins in the world, and her body was not happy for it.
The notorious Captain America had gotten called away to a mission gone wrong and he still wasn't back. He was apparently flying back in and then hopping straight in the quin jet with Natasha and her to head to Russia.
Jemma had been worried about the super soldier although she would never dare admit it. She had done what she always did and was good at when worried; she threw herself into her work. When she wasn't studying her Russian and doing research on anything she could find on the Winter Soldier she was down in the training room practicing before Miss Romanoff would come down to spar with her.
Skye had also been undergoing many tests and eventually the Black Widow had taken her out to see a demonstration of her powers. Amidst many jokes and pleas to meet Thor, Sky had put in a solid effort.
Natasha had agreed to let her temporarily on the team, and she was to continue training and to only be sent on smaller risk missions. Natasha had been reluctant to hand her over to the all too eager Sam but she supposed that Skye was sassy enough to hold her own against his insistent flirting.
The two weeks had gone by and Simmons had finally come across the possible destination of one of the underground facilities that had been used before the cold war to train assassins for the Soviet Union. They believed that this was where Mr Barnes may have been held at some point and that they might find some clues as to how he survived and why he was working for hydra.
Jemma looked over at the red headed assassin; she was currently checking the plane over and running diagnostics. She hadn't said anything to Miss Romanoff, although she suspected that she already knew, the organisation that may have trained Mr Barnes may have been the start of what later became the black widow project. Jemma could only imagine what they might find and she hoped that whatever it was it didn't bring up to many painful memories for the spy.
Jemma was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the hatch opening, she placed down the bag she was stowing away and looked up at the figure coming on board.
"Well it's about time you showed up, how was Libya?" Steve smiled at the back of Natasha's head as she didn't turn around to greet him.
"Lovely thanks Nat, the scenery was great, they don't much like tourists though." Natasha snorted from her seat. The Captain turned to look at Dr Simmons as she smiled at him before putting away a couple of bags.
"Natasha didn't hurt you too much in training did she? Sorry about not being able to help, the last minute mission was very…unexpected." Dr Simmons looked up from her tablet that she had just gotten out.
"Oh no that is perfectly understandable, I am just glad you and your teammate got back safely. Besides Miss Romanoff is a great teacher," Jemma tried not to instinctively rub one of the bruises under her sleeve.
"Yes Agent Simmons did very well, she has good reflexes and learns quickly and I assure you she is mostly unharmed." Steve nodded at the knowledge before turning to the doctor herself and straightening.
"Good, now where are exactly are we going? Did we get a lead?"
Jemma stood up and walked over to hand the Captain a tablet. "After reading a report about a couple of local mountain climbers that claimed to have heard weird noises while lost near the base of a mountain in the north of Russia I remembered there was a sighting of a 'strange metal door' that later disappeared when it was tried to be found not far from the same area. It was also wasn't too far from where there was that sighting of a man with a metal arm. We looked at some scans of the landscape and found evidence of a hollow structure near the base of Dykh-Tau."
A topographic map flashed up on Steve's screen, Natasha's voice could be heard as she prepared the jet for takeoff. "It's a peak in the Caucasus mountains in Kabardino-Balkaria. The closest village is called Bezingi and it can be reached from Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria."
Jemma nodded her head vigorously, "the range is right on the border to Georgia. We think one of the underground facilities may have been built into the actual mountain...we might be able to find some clue as to what happened to Mr. Barnes." Steve felt hope bubble up in his stomach but it was quickly squashed with a feeling of dread. Who knew what had happened to Bucky but he did know that whatever he had been subjected to couldn't have been good.
"So that is where we are going?"
Natasha answered him. "Yes but we will have to go undercover to the village, we will be posing as eager mountain climbers. The Russian government although on much better terms still doesn't take kindly to foreign agencies coming on their soil. Besides Russia is still full of many who would like the country to still be under Soviet rule, we want to attract as little attention as possible."
Natasha started the engines and waited for the go ahead for takeoff. "We are meeting a contact of mine once we get to Russia; we have already had fake identities made up for us, I suggest you get familiar with them. Hope you kept your acting skills from Hydra Agent Simmons." Jemma picked up the folder that Natasha had pointed to before quickly strapping in for takeoff. Soon the jet was up and in the air and Jemma handed Mr Rogers the pages with his name on it and then started to flick through her own.
"Jenny Simons? Isn't that a little too close to my real name?"
Natasha looked back at the scientist before focussing again on flying. "You will need something close to your real name so you won't forget it and that when people call your name you will be quicker to respond to it. When under cover even a few seconds delay can give away that you're lying. When you were in Hydra you used your real name didn't you?"
Jemma nodded even though Natasha couldn't see her. "So you are not used to pretending to be someone else, you need something as close to your real name as possible to decrease your chances of blowing our cover." Jemma blushed and continued to read, she never had been good at acting, she was surprised she had survived in hydra as long as she had. Natasha put the jet into auto pilot and came and joined the pair as they flicked through their information packs.
Steve looked at his page and then back up at Natasha, "Hold on we're married?"
Jemma looked up startled at the Captain as he pointed with a raised eyebrow at a place on his page.
"Yes, trust me I didn't decide that, but it is a good idea as your face is so well known. People will be less likely to recognise you if you're in a setting they would not imagine you being in. Isn't that right Dr Simmons?"
Jemma looked up with wide eyes at the red head. "Uh y-yeah it has been noticed through psychological studies that if you see someone you know in a setting you would not normally relate them with then you are less likely to recognise them." The young girl heard her voice squeak at the end.
"Exactly and not many people would imagine you as a happy married tourist out to do mountain climbing with his wife. Sorry Cap but for this mission we are Mr and Mrs Riley." Steve watched as Natasha walked away to check on their flight pattern then looked over at Dr Simmons. She had her head down and she seemed to be thoroughly studying her fake identity.
It wouldn't be so bad; he had had to flirt with Natasha before while trying to stay on the down low after Hydra was exposed. This would just be the same, he felt bad for Dr Banner though, wherever he may be. And as he watched the biochemist he couldn't help but hope that she would be okay. Even though Natasha and he would be watching over her, he would have to pretend to be more wrapped up with his attention toward his 'wife.' While he had to treat 'Jenny' like his,…Steve looked down at the information in front of him, 'adoptive sister in-law?' Well he supposed Dr Simmons didn't look like she could be really related to either of them, especially with her English accent.
"So it looks like your Natasha's sister, how scary is that?" Steve tried to crack a joke. Jemma could only look up with a weak smile before looking back down at her information packet. Steve wondered why Dr Simmons had gone so quiet, he supposed she was just nervous as she had expressed her weakness in acting.
"We have a fairly long flight, why don't we try to quiz each other on our respective identities once we have read through them?" Jemma looked up and genuinely smiled at the legendary captain.
"Sure that sounds good." Jemma knew she needed to shake it off, this was a mission and she needed to concentrate. Besides the one thing she was good at doing when she was worried was homework.
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