Memorabilia

Benji and Yelena were on their way to Norway. Yelena had originally wanted to just ask Mason to deliver the vials to Natasha for safekeeping, no matter how much she wanted to see Natasha, but Benji had put a stop to that. If the vials were so damn important then they were not just sending them like a second-class package. Benji also still had his mind set on meeting the Iron Maiden and Yelena didn’t seem to know where she was either. So that left Natasha or the Red Guardian. Quite an easy choice really, without even having to account for one of them being in a Russian jail. Benji had already broken one convict out of one, not that again for someone like Shostakov.

The Red Guardian, or Alexei Shostakov, was quite the character. He was quite smart, he wouldn’t have succeeded in the undercover mission in the states when Natasha and Yelena were children if he wasn’t, but he had definitely let himself go if what he had heard was right. Thank god Ethan didn’t suddenly become a moron for being in prison in Russia for a while. Then again, Shostakov had the Iron Maiden with him in the states, so maybe Benji shouldn’t give him too much credit.

Natasha had settled in the forest near a small town in the fjords. Beautiful scenery, truly. The human touch could only be seen in the roads and houses that lined up the sides of the mountains the closer they got to their destination. He could’ve stayed here himself given the chance. Or maybe Iceland, he’d seen pictures of the beaches with black sand. Hm… maybe not. The mountains reminded him a bit too much of Kashmere and the cold weather brought up memories of Russia. So somewhere warm.

Dubai was a bit too dusty and not to mention flat. Maybe Italy would be a better option. Venice was reputedly sinking so maybe he should go when he can still see most of it. And Italy wasn’t lacking in mountains up north. He’d traveled a lot with the I.M.F., but they didn’t exactly go sightseeing and cities like Venice didn’t host a lot of world-ending catastrophes.

They were on a small boat that ferried some locals back to their hometown. Not many tourists and he and Yelena stood out from the crowd of locals a little bit. To be honest, Benji despised being on boats for long periods of time. He preferred sleeping in the car to the constant rocking. Not even a chance for a nap. For goodness sake, how can there be waves this size in a fjord!

The cold air bit Benji’s ears as he stood on the boat’s top deck. They were getting closer and closer to the town. He already had his backpack with him, having ditched the gym bag in L.A. and stuffed what he could into the smaller pack. No need to carry around extra.

Benji tilted his head a little and saw out of the corner of his eye that Yelena was also taking in the scenery. She seemed miffed, probably about both the weather and having to see Natasha. But then again, he didn’t exactly know her or her relationship with her once-fake-undercover-sister.

Curious, wasn’t it. From what he could decipher, she did see Natasha as some type of family member. Even if it wasn’t actually real, she was young enough for it to be real to her in her mind, no matter what the mission was. It had been a relatively long mission, three years actually, so maybe she had pushed the hell she would inevitably go back to into the back of her mind. As for Natasha? He’d heard that Natasha had actually pulled a gun on other agents after they had come back and defended herself and Yelena so maybe it was real to Natasha too. It would be interesting to see their interactions. He was a bit of a sucker for drama. Will and Luther generated it by being in the same room and Jane always had something to slip him from the happenings at H.Q…

Fucking damnit he couldn’t already miss them this much. Wasn’t it ironic, him chastising Yelena and Natasha in his mind for caring when he himself was almost crying over not getting to see his faux family for a few days. It hurt, it truly did. He didn’t want to be here, he wanted to be home. Getting up this morning was hard, a dark cloud had settled over his mind. He had accepted that he wouldn’t get to go home again, but that didn’t help at all. Acceptance was bullshit, he just wanted some hope of getting to be with his family again. It was so unfair. Just when they had settled into a proper team, just when he and Ethan were getting somewhere after years of dancing around each other!

Benji knew being bitter was useless. When he had joined up with I.M.F he had tried not to get attached and he had mostly succeeded in that until Mr. “I-know-I’m-on-Interpol’s-most-wanted-list-but-can-you-trace-a-phonecall-for-me-real-quick-thanks” strolled into his life and dragged him for the ride of his life. Quite cliché really, a brooding dude trying not to get attached but gets attached. Well, Ethan wasn’t exactly made from sunshine and rainbows, that was more his own territory, but still. Okay, thinking about Ethan was not helping his sour mood.

Benji focused his eyes on the approaching town. They were getting close enough that more people had gotten onto the deck of the ship. Yelena moved closer to him and held the strap of her messenger bag closer to her chest.
“Do you think she will be hap’y to see us?” Yelena asked. Benji mused that she did in fact want to be here, even if she had moaned about wanting Mason be the one to get the vials to Natasha. He guessed it was hard for Yelena to get a move on and to leave the U.S. She seemed too afraid of what she might encounter getting to Natasha.

“Yeaaah…no. Definitely no, at least not me. You though? I’d say a different story.”
Yelena and him had managed to conjure some type of civility after they had gotten over the “circumstances” that had brought them together, so to speak. Saying that Natasha might be happy to see her looked to have changed Yelena’s mood a little bit. She smiled awkwardly and then focused on him.

“I don’t really remember you in Red Room. I was too litel. But you know Natasha. So is it because you remind her of that. Or vhy?”
Dammit she could be observant when she wanted to be.
“I’m a reminder, yes. But I also worked as a handler for some time. Not as brutal as others, but I for sure didn’t make it easy for recruits. I guess I tried to justify it by assuring myself that had I been soft the girls wouldn’t survive out in the field. But yeah, Natasha has every reason to not be happy to see me on her doorstep.”

Benji looked down on his hands whiteknuckling the railing. Yelena remained silent. He had tried justifying it and at the time he himself was in so much pain and agony that taking it out on others felt good, even if it did make it harder to fall asleep at night. But now? He’s been trying to make it up in his own way, even if he couldn’t help the countless girls and women in nameless graves or wandering around the world incapable of living a normal, happy life.

Suddenly he heard a loud sound, the ship’s horn, calling out. It was probably greeting the locals. Looking up Benji could see that they were only around 600 feet from the dock. It was around midday and he could see some locals bustling near the dock. The weather had not gotten any better and the sky was still grey and clouded.

“You know vhere Natasha lives exactly, da?”
“Yes, I’ve got the address marked down. It’s about 30 kilometers or almost 19 miles away from town.”
“So a car then.”
“Yeah, there is a rental place there, near one of the docks. I checked already.”
Civil, but not exactly riveting conversation.

_______________
The dock was pretty empty. A hotel, a restaurant, a store and a couple of other houses were around, most of them painted with hues of cream white and grey. Benji immediately started walking up to the store that was around a hundred feet away, closer to the road that cornered the little dock area. The smell coming from the cafè on the other side of the little “square” was inviting, but he didn’t want Natasha having even a whiff that they were here lest she pack her bags and run before they could get to her.

That thought didn’t exactly make the decision easier. He did steal a glance at the little grouping of tables. There were none seated outside, but plenty of people inside. The cafè itself was linked in with the museum that the old wooden house marketed itself as.

He had eaten, but dammit all to hell if he didn’t want some coffee to clear his nerves. Even tea was fine! He had developed a more refined taste for it in England, but coffee had been his go-to while in America.

Yelena was trailing behind him, while still glancing back and forward and around to the mountains surrounding them in wonder.

Benji opened the door to a store named “Okse - sport oppbevare” and stepped inside. The store was small, with hiking and hunting goods stacked up on shells. Some other goods were farther into the store, like football shoes and basketballs. He looked back and saw Yelena continue walking past the door, up towards the road.
“God dag! Hvordan kan jeg hjelpe deg?”, a younger looking lad called out as he stopped out from behind some shelves. The store seemed to be L-shaped, with the grocery store next to it taking up some of this store’s space.
“Hello. Uh… Do you happen to speak English?”
“Ja, I mean, yes, yes I do speak English,” the worker said smiling broadly, “what can I help you with?”
“I believe I called in ahead to rent a car?”
“Ah yes, mister Duncan?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Okay, let’s move to the counter.” The young man was smiling a lot, probably unused to speaking English at work and thinking he sounded rude so he was trying to make up for it by appearing as friendly as possible. After Benji had paid for the rental for two nights, the store clerk dug out an Audi keyfob.
“The car is to the left of the store, black, license plate “EK 67981”,” the young man said, writing the identification down.
“Okay, thank you.” Benji accepted the receipt and keyfob and turned to leave. The worker called out his thanks and goodbyes.

Benji stepped outside and saw Yelena coming out from the grocery store next to the rental place with some sandwiches and water bottles with her.
“Did you get a car? Or couple of bicycles?”
Benji rolled his eyes, but accepted the sandwich offered to him.
“A car, a black one. Looking around it's that one over there.”
Benji gestures to the side of the building while opening up the food wrapper. The side was lined up with two cars. One black one, one red one.
“An Audi? How much you pay for it?”
Benji rolled his eyes again, but smiled with mirth. At least Yelena seemed to be in a better mood.

They moved to stand next to the car and ate their food in silence. After that they climbed in and took off down the road.

_______________

They had arrived at their destination…at what looked to be something akin to a mobile home with a bluish grey SUV parked outside of it. Benji parked their own rental, turned the engine off and stepped out, Yelena doing the same. He walked up to the front door and knocked three times.

He heard someone clambering inside the space, clearly not expecting any guests. Finally the footsteps raced up to the door that was quickly ripped open.
“Mason, what are you doing back here so…!”
Natasha, whose voice at first had sounded hopeful had turned quickly into confused and her face paled as she took in the man standing right in front of her. Then, she drew her gun. Understandable, really.

“What the hell are you doing here Dunaevsky?!“
“I heard from a certain source that you were camping out here. Now, I’m not here to pick a fight, definitively not. As is not Yelena, but…” Benji trailed off seeing that Natasha’s eyes wided even more when she finally noticed Yelena, who was standing just behind him.

Natasha stood stunned for a moment, then had an incredulous look on her face that finally transformed into a mischievous grin that truly only an older sibling good have.
“Hello!” Yelena greeted her, extending the “o” like a child and giving a little wave of her hand while still managing to sound monotone.
“I…nice vest”, Natasha teased while lowering the gun when she saw her faux-sister greeting her, “but what are…why are you here?”

Yelena’s presence seemed to have calmed her down enough. Yelena herself looked offronted at her comment about the vest. Benji hadn’t even really focused on it. It looked fine enough.
“That’s something we’d like to discuss inside, if that’s alright with you?”
Natasha’s face was lined with hard edges again when she refocused her attention on Benji. While she certainly didn’t want him to be let in, dangling the conversation she could have with her sister in front of her like a carrot on a stick seemed to be enough for her to make up her mind.
“I…alright.”
Natasha stepped aside and lowered her gun fully. Benji smiled to both her and a bit to himself. It would be entertaining to see these two interact. At least the drama could get his mind away from the future.

_______________

The investigation wasn’t going any better in Ethan’s opinion. They had yet to find out anything about the dead Widow and Benji’s computer hadn’t contained any useful information. Maybe that was a relief to Ethan, for there not to be anything incriminating on there, but it didn’t help Ethan’s worry. He could see that the team wanted answers, just like he did. Why would Benji run? If it was about the body, the I.M.F. could handle it. Benji knew they could. Benji was ruled not to be responsible for the death. Yeah, he should have called an ambulance, but he wasn’t responsible.

Other crimes? Well, why would there be a freshly dead Widow in his apartment if it was unrelated. No matter how many more scenarios Ethan went through in his head, he was always left at the same conclusion; Benji had a personal or professional connection to the Widow who had come to die at his apartment.

But maybe, just maybe, it had been a complete accident. Maybe someone the Widow had known lived there before. Maybe Benji just looked like some other associate of the Red Room. Maybe Benji hadn’t been home and the Widow crashed the place thinking it was unoccupied and Benji had come home afterwards.

No evidence of the Red Room being active had been found yet, but that didn’t really rule out Benji being connected to them somehow. Benji had been recruited from England and they were looking into his history more, trying to find holes in anything. Nothing had been found at his apartment or on his computer and for the world it did look like Benji had just been unfortunate enough to be dragged into something bigger. No failed missions, no leaked data or info, not anything negative linked to Benji. The opposite! He had always improved whatever he set his mind to.

Ethan was seated on his couch, the remains of yesterday’s takeout dinner on the table in front of him. The TV was on to provide some background noise. It was early in the morning and Ethan had already been on his morning jog and taken a shower. Now it was just him, going over the files laid around the food container once more, trying to find anything significant.

Then his phone vibrated on the table. Ethan picked it up and looked at the caller ID. Will.
“Hello?”
“We’ve managed to track Benji to Europe. He jumped around the U.S., ended up in L.A., took a woman with him and together they went to France. After that they’ve stayed mostly under the radar, but they appeared to be heading North.”
“He’s in Europe? And someone is with him?”
“Yes, a woman. She has been staying in L.A. under the name Jennifer Bevis, in a rented apartment in the middle of the city. The…I have some bad news, about Benji. The dead Widow? She had been staying with Bevis, under the name Day Lee. If the connection wasn’t there before, it is now. Benji has been working for the I.M.F. longer than the Red Room has been gone, so Benji is being looked at for espionage and treason regardless of whether or not the Red Room is currently active.”

Ethan sat in silence for a while. He had already accepted that scenario, but to have it confirmed dashed any foolish hope that he had.

“Ethan?”
“Is this a personal or professional call?”
“I…personal.”
“Is there any way you could get me to Europe?”
“You have a conflict of interest. You wouldn’t be allowed to take the mission.”
“I didn't ask for a mission. I asked for a way to get to Benji before others can.”
“Ethan, you know we all want to help Benji. But you going would imply the rest of them are going too.”
“Then we go. Benji is a part of this team until I get to see undeniable proof.”
“‘I’? Ethan, you're being blinded by…!”

He hung up before Will could finish speaking. He knew where Will was coming from. But he wanted to hear it from Benji himself.

_______________

Benji sat down at the couch while Yelena perched herself up on a chair behind. Natasha settled on the left of him, in a loveseat with a beer in hand.
“So why are you here?”
“I’m just going to say it outright. The Red Room is still active and Dreykov is alive.”
“What?!”
“Okay, okay I knew that was going to be your response. Let me ellabora…!”
“I killed him! I bombed Budapest to kill him!” Natasha screamed at him. She had gone from pale to fire-engine red in just a second and looked as though she was contemplating on how to eviscerate him.

“I…I killed an innocent child! An innocent child died!”
“I understand that, but Dreykov survived, and we need…”, Benji tried to placate her, but it only seemed to worsen Natasha’s outburst.
“I don’t care what you meant! You come here…,” she seemed to falter a bit, as if she was too rage-filled to even speak properly, “you, come here into my house, my fucking house, and dare to try to trick me!? How dare…!”

“Natasha! Shut up for second!” Yelena yelled suddenly, while slamming her fist down onto the counter. Natasha switched her gaze onto her and looked as though she was going to start anew, but Yelena ignored her and looked at Benji.
“Look, maybe you should step outside for bit, let me talk to her,” Yelena said while giving him a pointed look. Alrighty then.

Benji stood up and moved to the door, opening it and stepping outside. The sun was still shining bright and the smell of pine trees was as heavy as ever in Benji’s nose. He should walk around a bit. This could take a while. He could hear shouting start inside.

“You brought him here! Why?!”
“Look, we needed to get you…!”
“But why him!”
“I didn’t know vhere you lived you долбоёб!”

Yep, he was going to be out here for a while.