Atrax was, in every sense of the word, home. The snow was falling thick on Volgograd, and his boots made a satisfying noise as they crunched their way through it. Shouts echoed all around as people called out to one another. And the movement. So much movement. Of course, his boots crunched and cracked bones as well as snow. The shouts were those of the pitiful remnant of a platoon of HYDRA agents screaming as they tried to regroup and launch a counter-assault. The movement was combat. Home.
atrax what is your status we've lost all visual contact with the north entrance of the compound report now
"Niko," came a hiss over his comm that snapped him out of his red room. Reverie. Red room reverie. No, that was wrong. Shaking his head to shake the words out, he kept one. Reverie. Reverie. He was snapped out of his reverie.
"I'm here," he said, inserting a fresh clip into his pistol.
"Good," Hawkeye replied, and an arrow flew past him, three inches to the right of his head. A brief gargle followed, and he watched as a HYDRA soldier fell to his knees and then to the ground.
"Now let's go check on the north entrance before Fury blows a gasket." Hawkeye (because until the mission and the mission debriefing were complete, that's who she was, who she had to be) broke in to a run, giving him a brief but significant glance as she passed him.
Atrax (because that's who he would be until the mission and mission debriefing were complete, so why did Hawkeye use the name only she called him she knew better and dammit he knew why it was because she knew where his head had gone) followed.
***
Access to the north entrance was a little trickier than Hawkeye had originally imagined. In her head it had just been a hop over a fence. Not so much. High and thick concrete walls separated the two of them from their goal. She scanned the area, mouth twisting. A plan came quickly. She slung her bow across her back.
"Cover for me," she said, flexing her fingers. She didn't wait for a response as she jumped up and took hold of the building's parapet, swinging herself up on to the first level of the building's layer-cake roof. Her bow -- the completion of her arm -- was off her back and in hand with a breath inhaled and an arrow was nocked and drawn with its exhale. Swinging about smoothly, she scanned the area with those eyes that had earned her her name. Shifting into an upwards arc to see the top of the concrete cake, she spotted a sniper set in place.
You will make this shot because you have to, she told herself, her line of sight narrowing. The mantra was familiar the way a scar or a tattoo was familiar. There. Just always there. With every arrow the words flashed through her head with the same rapidfire speed she shot with. Her fingers let go. The arrow flew true. The body fell without a sound. This entire process took less than a second.
You have made the shot because you had to, came the second part of the mantra as she finished the arc. As with every arrow.
"Clear," she called. For a change, the mantra continued itself. Or at least the continuation of it came, in the voice of the woman who had taught her: Jaqueline Duquesne, the Swordswoman of Carson Carnivals.
If you do not make the shot you are nothing. Just another girl with a bow. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she waited as it finished. You will make the shot because you have no choice.
Ever since she'd joined SHIELD, this became nothing but truth. She would kill and she would kill and she would not miss. Otherwise she was just...
Atrax had swung himself up on the parapet and was right there with her.
"You still with me, Hawkeye?"
"Yeah," she said, lowering her bow. "I am."
He nodded, suspicious. Of course he would be. And of course he'd know. This was Nikolai, after all.
"So we move along here, get to the north entrance, and see what's keeping Iron Maiden," he said, and she nodded as they made their way there.
***
The mission is clockwork.
SHIELD is in, out, the small amount of redeveloped super soldier serum retrieved, and the majority of HYDRA bodies lining the way have either bullets or arrows in them.
Extraction comes right on time.
Nicole Fury is pleased with the outcome.
Debriefing with Hill goes smoothly.
All is well, all is well, and all manner of things are well.
Hawkeye and Atrax are Colleen and Nikolai once more.
***
There was a knock on Colleen's door.
"Come in," she called, massaging the knuckles of her drawing hand more out of habit than necessity. She was long past the point of her hand bothering her. The memory-ghost of pained hands after practice under Jacqueline remained though, and so she rubbed at her hand, working her tendons to get them to loosen. Niko's face betrayed him for just a moment, but it was enough.
Looking down at what she was wearing, her jaw tightened. She didn't say anything. She just removed the red tee-shirt she'd been sporting, and kicked it under the bed. She adjusted her maroon sports bra.
"I just came to check in and see if there was anything you need," he said. Colleen's deep swallow was cue enough to make him replay what he'd just said in his head. Need. No. Not that word.
"How are you doing?" he tried by way of correction. A crooked, but forced grin, was her offering in response.
"I could use someone to hang out here with me for a bit. You mind?"
"No," he replied, his own grin a little better fitting. "Not at all."