Chapter 17

Morning after

Katja awoke to find herself burrito'd in bedsheets. Blinking a few times to clear her eyes, she squinted at the window, through which dawn was beginning to break, overpowering the dark.

With another glance, she saw that Petrov was in the bedroom with her. He was sitting in a kitchen chair, facing away from her towards the window, rifle in his lap.

Still feeling woozy from the drug, Katja struggled to free herself from the sheets and stumbled towards him.

"Good morning," he told her, standing. "How are you feeling?"

"Umm," she said, brushing her hair back with her hands. Her left wrist ached, and it looked even worse than it felt. "I'm not sure yet." She was mad at him, why was she mad at him? Why couldn't she remember?

"Did you help Adrien give me Valium?" Katja demanded angrily.

Affronted, he said, "Of course not!"

Then, it came to her. "You carried me across the roof when I told you not to. And you told me to shut up! You know, just because you found out that I wear Hello Kitty underwear, that doesn't mean I'm not still in charge of you," she told him dizzily, shaking her head to try and clear it.

"Okay. Ma'am, why don't you try to take it easy for a second," he said, taking a step towards her.

Her legs suddenly felt funny, and she staggered, barely managing to catch herself. Petrov caught her arm reflexively. Then, he muttered, "Goddammit, how high of a dose did he give you? Come on, you need to sleep it off a little longer. Let me get you back to bed. Please?"

"Fine," Katja agreed, mostly because she didn't know if she could make it by herself. "Hey, why are you here, anyway?" she asked. "Were you in here the whole night?"

Looping an arm around her waist to help her walk, Petrov said, "Since your attack. In case… he came back."

"You must be really tired," she said regretfully. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I was stupid. If I hadn't fallen asleep, this wouldn't have happened. I almost got you all killed. And then you had to save my pathetic self like I was Alexei, or something." It was so humiliating. Not to mention unprofessional, and dangerous. She had to do better.

Petrov turned her around and sat her down on the bed. "It might have ended up even worse if you had been awake. Pierce said there's no sport for them in sleeping victims. Nobody got killed. It's all okay."

"Still. It was too risky, going up to that roof. You shouldn't have followed me."

He crouched, so he was at eye level with her, and smiled. "You're my Captain. It's kind of in the job description."

Katja's body was feeling heavy now, too heavy to argue with him, and she fell back against the mattress and closed her eyes. " 'K. Hey, Maksim?"

"Yes?"

"Did you touch my hair yesterday?"

"I… I put your braid in your jacket before the battle, if that's what you mean. I didn't want it to get caught on something if you needed to run," he rushed, over-explaining.

"No, no, I mean last night? I… dreamed that you did." Even drugged, Katja knew it was an awkward thing to admit. She just couldn't remember why, or even at what point in the night it had happened. But it had felt so real, despite being completely imaginary. They'd been somewhere together, maybe at a bar; and he'd smiled at her, leaned close, and dragged his fingers through her hair. Before anything more could happen, dream-Adrien had swaggered in and bumped into their table, causing it to shake. Not that she'd tell Petrov all those details. She wasn't supposed to be dreaming about him at all.

"Then no, I didn't," said Petrov simply, standing again. "I might not get to church as often as I should, and I sometimes lie, and curse a lot more than my mother would like; but I'm not going to touch a woman when she's drugged."

"No, I know you wouldn't," she agreed before sleep took her.

When she woke up again, the sun was much brighter in the window, and Zaitsev had replaced Petrov's position in the chair.

Katja checked her watch and was horrified to discover it was early afternoon.

"Hi, Captain," said Zaitsev. "Welcome back to the world."

Taking inventory of her senses, she was surprised to realize most of her soreness was gone, even from her feet. Her wrist still hurt a little, but it was manageable. And she could now move easily under her own power.

"Hi. How is everything? Where's Petrov?" Katja asked.

"He's fine, just taking a little nap. The rest of us just had lunch. You want some of it, or tea?"

Already tired of being babied, Katja threw off the sheets and left the bed. "Yeah, I am hungry. I'll go out and get something."

Adrien was in the kitchen, doing dishes. His music was once again blasting; this time the recorded male singer's voice was deep and arhythmic.

"I put a spell on you, because you're mine.

Stop the things that you do, hahaha!

I ain't lyin', yeahhhhhhhhh –"

When Adrien noticed Katja, he smiled his widest smile and turned off the music. "Hello, Kitty."

"Bite me," she said immediately.

"Your gentleman caller beat me to the love nips, sadly," he retorted.

She ignored him and opened the refrigerator, looking for leftovers. "Because of you, I slept half the day away. Time we could have used for planning."

He scrubbed harder at the pan he was washing. "Do you think maybe all this overextending yourself is the reason you fell asleep last night? We can still plan."

Finding a container of venison and… something they had found from a can, probably, Katja headed for the microwave. She didn't immediately answer him. The comment cut deep, even though he clearly hadn't meant it to. "Yeah, I get it. I screwed up, you had to come rescue me and put your life in danger. I didn't ask you to do it."

That made him look at her over his shoulder. "Did you think I wasn't going to?" He sounded genuinely surprised.

"How would I know? All you've done since we've met is try and deceive me." She punched some numbers on the microwave.

"Well, I see someone has woken up on the wrong side of the Valium."

"Pierce, don't even start with me. I knew the west is immoral, but I thought it was wrong to drug someone against their will," Katja said.

"Wow. Last name basis. It just got real," Adrien answered. She didn't reply.

"I'm sorry. Truly. But you really needed the rest. I still can't believe your wrist wasn't broken, or your tendons severed," Adrien said more soberly.

Katja had thought about that, too (at least when she wasn't as high as a kite). The hunter could've easily caused her more permanent damage; but she hadn't even gotten frostbite. Her best guess was he didn't want her screaming in pain, and bringing attention to his presence.

"You wouldn't be able to stay mad at me, anyway. I got you a present," Adrien grinned. "You might need it after your… encounter… last night."

"I don't want your presents," Katja said immediately. Of course, as usual, he ignored her and put a very old box on the counter. Pregnancy tests. He must have found it in one of the apartments during a supply search. Little did he know how useless they'd be, given her history.

"I hate you," said, taking her food out of the microwave. Adrien and his inappropriate gag gifts.

"In fairness, it could also be used for possible serpent offspring," Adrien protested.

"Then you take it. I can't even begin to tell you how flawed your thinking is on that," Katja said as she sat down. He came to her side and placed something next to her lunch. It was a candy bar. 'Hershey's Cookies 'N' Cream'.

"Joking aside, I am really sorry about last night. I'm the one who screwed up. Royally," Adrien said.

"Where did you get this?" Katja asked, fingering the tantalizing bar. "And how is any of this your fault?"

"I stole it from Hornet's pack in case of pregnancy cravings," Adrien joked.

It stung. She knew he didn't really mean anything by it, but still. He had no idea that…

Her look made him get serious. "Sorry, it's just really hard to resist. Anyway, it's my fault because I knew it was there, and I ignored it."

"How so?" Katja asked, taking a bite. Oh, Americans knew how to do candy. That was for sure.

"I got up and took a leak. Then, I woke up that little crap stain in the hallway. But I got the feeling of being watched, and I ignored it. So, this is sorta my fault. I should've listened to my instincts."

"We all make bad calls. It's just part of being human. Petrov reminded me that nobody died, and he's right. So, I believe this is a case of no harm, no foul," Katja said

"Fair enough," Adrien agreed while taking a seat. "But then you have to forgive yourself, too."

So, he was settling in next to her. Maybe it was time for some questions.

"How did you know that would work?" Katja suddenly asked.

"How did I know what would work?" Adrien shot back.

"Setting your weapons down and crouching. How did you know that would work?" Katja pressed.

"I didn't," Adrien partially lied. He legitimately didn't know if it would work. He only knew that it worked once before.

"I don't believe you. You've been pushing that the hunter's only here to kill us. Then you go and pull a stunt like that. Like you knew what would happen," Katja pushed.

"I–" he began. "We used to worship them, in ancient times. I thought maybe a bowing stance might deescalate the situation," Adrien fibbed, and not even very well. However, that seemed to interest Katja, even though she clearly didn't believe him.

"We worshiped them? For real?" she asked, letting his lie go for the moment.

"Yes. It's probably why we are so technologically far along," Adrien answered, relieved she was interested in that, and not more interrogation of his tactical submission.

"Anything I've seen of theirs?" Katja asked.

"Pyramids," Adrien answered simplistically.

"Oh. So, we aren't always their enemies," she ventured.

Crap and a half. The friendship bracelets were about to be made. Sizes Extra Small and XXXXXXL.

"It was several thousands of years ago, Kat. That's not really anything to go by. A lot has changed," Adrien argued.

"C'mon Adrien, haven't you heard the old saying the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Katja questioned.

Yes, he had heard that, and it was not words to live by.

"That cuts both ways Katja," Adrien scolded. "The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, and you're wrong."

"Doesn't that apply to us, too?"

Adrien sputtered. Why did she have to point out every little inconsistency in his narrative? It was incredibly inconvenient. "That's completely different circumstances, Katja!"

"Fine. What about the FOB evac site? Or trying to communicate with me?" Katja argued back.

"The evac site just bunched all the serpents together. He didn't save anyone knowingly. And we don't know he was trying to communicate with you," Adrien stated.

There was a brief silence while Katja took some bites, then the equally uncomfortable question came.

"Why didn't you take the shot?" she asked.

"Excuse me?" he asked her to clarify.

"On the roof. There's no way you didn't have a shot with all those angles covered. Petrov and Zaitsev have good aim, you know that. I'm guessing you're pretty decent yourself. So why didn't you guys take the shot?"

"He was using you as a shield, it was dark; what did you want me to do?" Adrien said.

"Please. I'm a quarter of his size, and you could see well enough. Why didn't you fire?" Katja demanded.

"I didn't want to risk hitting you. Or, not dropping him quick enough, and he slits your throat. Is that so hard to believe?" Adrien asked. She was really giving him a lot of crap this morning.

She tilted her head. "Yeah, I suppose not. Can't get dirt on your boss from my father if you bring him my corpse. Guess you still need me alive for a while.

Underneath her sarcasm, he sensed a deep sadness. The old man really must've done a number on her psyche in her childhood.

"Hey, listen." Moving his chair to a different angle and sliding it closer to hers, he faced her. She immediately tensed up, so he quickly followed with, "I know I made a lot of crass jokes about what happened last night. But are you okay, really? It had to have been horrifying. In more ways than one. Not to mention the battle you had just been through."

She snorted, obviously believing his concern to be insincere. Ok, this warranted the truth. Clearly, their relationship was not in a good place, and they'd need each other if they were going to survive.

"Look, Katja, I'm going to level with you. I don't know what to do here, honestly. I can't lead your men. I'm not even supposed to be here. You've been the planner and the rally point through all this," Adrien admitted. "I need you. And so do your men."

"Don't demean me. You can lead men just fine. I've done nothing but gotten my men killed," Katja said, stirring her venison.

"You've gotten less men killed than I have. And I only had one hunter to deal with. You have serpents, hunters, and other humans. Not only that; can you imagine if Hornet, Scarecrow, and Viper had stayed? That would've been on me, for trusting my boss," Adrien encouraged.

She looked away from him.

"You are important to us. You are holding this all together. So, this is my idea. You finish eating, then we get everyone together and we crowdsource a plan," Adrien proposed. "Okay?"

Katja chewed at her lip, and Adrien was briefly afraid she was going to argue with him some more. But then, something seemed to resolve in her. She looked at him, and said, "All right. Let me take a shower, and then I'll wake up Petrov, and we'll all figure something out."

"Thank you," said Adrien, relieved.

"And, Adrien? As for your question? Yes, I am okay after last night. I think. Thank you for asking."

"Good. Hugs?" he asked, spreading his arms, hoping to make her laugh.

But she took him by utter surprise when she complied. "Oh, god. Fine," she groused, putting her arms around him – so tentatively, he wondered how long it had been since she'd had any significant physical human contact. Probably, he reflected, about as long as it had been for him.

Suddenly, a hand reached out to the table beside them and snatched Katja's half-eaten candy bar.

Adrien let go of Katja and looked up to see Alexei gnawing on the chocolate like a demented chipmunk. Looking them over, the scientist said something. Adrien just knew it was mocking.

"What did he say?" Adrien demanded.

Alexei looked over to Katja and shook his head desperately.

She ignored the plea. "He said, 'Wow, Jekaterina, have some self-respect. You could do better. Like that alien from last night, for example'," Katja translated, rubbing at her left wrist with exasperation. It must have flared up when she moved her arm away from Adrien.

Wishing he had a taser to melt the little freak, Adrien said, "Well Alexei, the only way you'd ever get laid is if you crawled up a chicken's ass and waited."

Katja coughed, trying to cover her laugh. "Okay, on that note, I'm taking a shower. You boys play nice."

Adrien watched her leave, then collected her dishes and brought them to the sink as Alexei scurried off with the remnants of the candy bar in his hand.

Little turd. That had been the last of his candy, and it was being wasted on Alexei.

Maybe he could find something else in this building.

After her shower, where she'd finally, finally gotten some hot water, Katja went to wake up Petrov.

"Come on, soldier," she told him, shaking his shoulder. "We're about to have a meeting."

He grumbled into the mattress, lifting the pillow and pushing her away with it.

"Huh. You are not a morning person, are you?"

Finally coherent, Petrov lifted his head and looked at her sleepily. "Sorry. As a kid, I had to wake up at five every morning for chores. I hated every moment of it."

"Look, I know you were up all night because of me. You can rest some more once our meeting is over, I promise. But I do need you there," she told him. "Otherwise, most of the planning will be from Alexei and Adrien, and I know you don't want that."

"I suppose not," he said, sitting up.

Katja heard footsteps outside the doorway, and suddenly Adrien was standing in the frame, looking grim.

"Umm, Katja? I went to the lobby to check out a vending machine, and I found… Well, there's something down there you should see."

Katja led her men down the stairwell, all of them on guard but the scientist. Alexei's boots thumped loudly on the steps as he trailed them.

"Do I have to come? Is this something terrifying or gory?" he asked, but quieted when his countrymen all glared at him.

"Is he complaining again?" asked Adrien. "My god, how do you switch him off?"

"Katja, if I say something, are you going to repeat it to him?" asked Alexei.

Concentrating on the stairwell landing, which appeared to be clear, Katja answered absentmindedly, "Most likely, yes."

"Then my wit will have to remain unheard," said Alexei.

When they entered the lobby, Katja immediately saw what had disturbed Adrien.

Four serpent corpses were hanging upside-down by their legs from the ceiling, their blood having burned holes into the floor below them hours ago. From Adrien's story in Afghanistan, Katja knew this was no doubt the work of the hunter. "Do you think he's trying to tell us something?" Adrien asked aloud.

"Four of them, four of us men," Petrov said, jaw tightening. "It's pretty clear to me."

"You mean three men and little infant Alexei. But, why not the Captain?" asked Zaitsev.

Nobody spoke, until Alexei said cheerfully, "Maybe she's the deer."

Everyone's head but Adrien's turned to look at the tattered remains of the corpse, strung up and now stripped to the bone, a few loose flaps of skin and fur dangling from the skeleton. Clearly, the hunter had been to work on it. It was definitely in worse shape than the serpents.

"Gee, thanks, Alexei," Katja said sarcastically. "That's so comforting."

Adrien grunted. "Did he just compare you to that deer?"

"What do you think?" she replied.

"I can't believe he ate the rest of our food," Alexei said, pouting. "Now I'm going to starve. Jekaterina, can you shoot something else?"

Zatisev rolled his eyes. "I nominate she starts with you. And you didn't even like the venison. Besides, we have plenty more in the freezer."

Staring at the dead aliens, Katja grew more and more unnerved. The Valium had fully worn off, and the events of last night were now truly setting in.

This extraterrestrial creature, that hunted things for fun like a religious requirement, had been in her room while she was asleep. God only knew what it wanted from her.

The truth was, it didn't matter what it wanted. Once it got it, they'd all be killed. Adrien was right. You couldn't stick your head in a lion's mouth and expect to negotiate with it.

It was clear to her now that the hunter had been playing with them last night. It could just as easily be her men up there, swaying from the ceiling, blood pooling beneath them. To her, this was its communication. 'Next time, you all die'.

She suddenly wanted out of Siberia very much.

"Everyone, back upstairs. Now," she ordered. "We need to figure out how we are getting out of here."

Adrien stared at the corpses. At first, he had scoffed at Alexei's suggestion that Katja was the deer. Now, he wasn't so sure. He overall wasn't sure what this setup was supposed to symbolize.

Yes, the four serpents were the four men. Katja was the deer? And it was stripped clean? What did that mean? That he was going to kill her 'drones', and then take her and strip her of everything he needed or wanted? So lost in thought, he began remembering Afghanistan.

"What sick, twisted individuals would do this?" Sgt. Kowalski asked aloud.

The scene in question was three marines hanging upside down by their feet from a tree branch in the mountainous and forested region of Afghanistan. If that wasn't disturbing enough, they also didn't have any skin.

The three men were his lieutenant, Ryan Danforth. Specialist Michael Stacker. And Staff Sergeant Allen Boykin.

"Who had eyes on them last?" Adrien asked.

"I did. They passed me saying they had to take a piss," Corporal Donnelly said grimly.

The buddy system wasn't even working now. Whoever was out there was getting bold. Adrien needed to know what they were up against.

"Ok, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna set a trap and see just what we're up against. I need items that make a lot of noise, like cans, and all the paracord we have."

"Sir?" Donnelly questioned.

"We're gonna put our backs against a wall with a tripwire that makes noise. A lot of it. When whoever comes, we're gonna know it," Adrien said determinedly.

"And then?" Kowalski asked.

"We shoot 'em. I don't care if it's insurgents or the goddamn Russian Spetsnaz that's been screwing with us. Hoorah?" Adrien tried to rally his men.

"Hoorah sir!" They all shouted in unison.

"Everyone, back upstairs. Now," Katja ordered. "We need to figure out how we are getting out of here."

Adrien snapped back to reality. She was right. He just hoped she had a better idea in mind than trying to escape on foot, because currently, that was the only option that he could possibly foresee.

In the living room, Katja passed around tea to her men, hoping it would help settle everyone.

"Tea?" Adrien complained. "Not coffee?" Based on the tense hunch of his shoulders, Katja suspected he was more anxious than his joking suggested.

"In Russia, we have tea," she told him. "Just drink it."

He took a sip, and conceded, "Not bad. For leaf water."

Sitting on the couch, Katja opened the discussion by saying, "Okay, we obviously need to escape and get back to civilization. Does anyone have any ideas?"

Alexei immediately raised a hand. Cringing, Katja rubbed her forehead before saying, "Go ahead, Alexei."

"You're letting him suggest something?" Adrien asked. "Why?"

After a long sip from his mug, Alexei ventured, "Not to sound like a jerk–"

"Yeah, right," Zaitsev interrupted.

"–but if the hunter wants Katja, why don't we hand her over, and make our escape? It really is the most logical decision," he said simply.

Petrov set his mug down on the coffee table with a bit more force than Katja deemed necessary. "Are you shitting me?"

Alexei shrugged. "Come on, it's not like you were ever going to score with her, anyway. She likes Captain America over there. I saw–"

"Alexei," Katja barked, "shut up." Did he really have nothing better to do than agitate everyone?

"What did he say this time?" Adrien asked disgustedly.

"Nothing!" Katja and her men shouted in unison.

"Sorry I asked," Adrien mumbled.

"I mean, look at him! Even I can see that he's both gorgeous and handsome! And he has one kid already. For all Katja knows, you're impotent, Petrov, from all that horseback riding," Alexei continued. Hadn't this kid said, not even an hour ago, that Katja could do better than Adrien? What was wrong with his brain?

Before things became any more out of hand, Katja tried to get the conversation back on track. "Alexei, if I thought handing myself over would work, I would have done it already, no matter what fate that meant for me," Katja said. "I'm talking about an actual, feasible way out of here. We need transportation."

Zatisev stopped scowling at Alexei long enough to say, in English, "I hate to suggest it, but what about the mercenaries? Maybe we could negotiate something."

Tapping his finger on his mug, Adrien said, "No way. Sorry to be a downer, but Weyland would be extremely unlikely to help in the best of circumstances – and I'm sure my boss has given them an alert, in case we survived the serpent attack yesterday."

Katja knew he was correct. She wouldn't have trusted Weyland to lend them a hand, anyway, regardless of what he said. "Anyone else?"

Scratching at his stubbly cheek, Petrov said, "We still have the BTR. Maybe there's a way we could steal some diesel from Weyland. At least enough to get away from the Urals? If they sent in helicopters, maybe they sent in some trucks, too."

"I don't like it," said Adrien. "There's too many of them for a 'maybe', and they're too well-armed."

"Well, do you have a suggestion?" demanded Petrov.

"I– no. Not really, I was thinking of stealing one of their helicopters, but presumably, none of us are qualified to fly it." admitted Adrien. The silence confirmed his guess. "I was more hoping Katja had an idea."

The men looked at her, and Katja curled her hands around the hot tea mug, hesitating. Her idea wasn't that great. That was part of the reason she'd asked the others to go first. "There's only one unguarded way out of here that I know of. The train – Alexei's research train – that they left on the rails at the depot. Unfortunately, none of us know how to operate that, either."

Alexei perked up. "I do!"

The Russians looked at him with extreme disbelief. "You do?" asked Petrov.

"I love trains. They're amazing. I took a course on train engineering one summer. You know, for fun. I also play simulators constantly."

"What's he saying?" Adrien asked.

"He says he could operate the train that brought us here," said Katja.

Adrien hooted. "Alexei, operating several thousand tons of metal? I thought we wanted to live."

"I can do it! I can!" whined Alexei, "I remember how! I've played lots of train simulators to keep in practice. It's kept my coordination top notch." His mug suddenly slipped from his hands, falling to the floor and shattering.

Katja moaned inwardly. "Any other ideas?"

Nobody spoke while the wall clock ticked loudly.

"Well, you're the leader here, Katja," she told herself. "Time to make the call."

"The train, then," said Katja, leaving the sofa to pick up the broken pieces of ceramic. Why? She didn't know. "We have no choice."

"You're telling me Alexei is now our safe passage out of here, and we have to protect him?" Adrien complained. "Can I punch him first, just once?"

"No, we need his brain operational," Katja said tiredly. "Everyone, I want you to start getting together your supplies and gear. The train is a lot further away than the FOB. It's too late in the day to start traveling now; I don't want to deal with everything once it gets dark out."

"What about the hunter?" Zaitsev asked nervously. "He knows we're in here."

"We've boarded up the windows and roof access. It's not much, but it's better than trying to see an invisible enemy in the dark. We'll keep a rotation of two guards through the night."

She stood and began to pace, running through her mental checklist of what needed to be done. "Our uniforms should all be laundered. Adrien and Zatisev have all that deer blood on theirs, and the hunter clearly has a taste for it."

"Um, are we having a naked Tuesday, then?" asked Adrien.

"Find clothes in the apartments. I'm sure there's enough to put together a temporary outfit," she told him, ignoring the innuendo. "And… And throw some canned food into your packs. As much as you can carry."

"Can I add something?" Adrien asked.

"What?"

"It's gonna make you mad…"

"Then why bring it up?" she asked impatiently.

"Because it's important. I think from now on, you shouldn't go anywhere alone. Even when you sleep. The deer isn't the only thing the hunter is interested in."

"Adrien…" Katja began warningly. She looked to her men for support.

Petrov and Zaitsev looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, I'm with Pierce on this," said Zaitsev.

"Me, too. Sorry, Captain," Petrov agreed.

She was clearly outnumbered. "Fine, whatever. One guard inside the front door, one in my room. I still say it isn't necessary."

"Maybe someone should guard the train engineer, instead?" Alexei muttered.

"Better yet, let's move the pull out into the biggest room and we all sleep in one room, instead of scattered about," Zaitsev threw in.

"Good. Excellent idea," Katja agreed.

Adrien grimaced. "Let's hope, otherwise the art in the lobby is going to mimic real life…"