BAD BITCH
❝these were the women who knitted pain into glory❞

14. Mission Begins

January 2017

❝SUBTLE! I said we were going to be SUBTLE!❞
Svetlana shrieks, growling at the man who was on the floor in front of her, but Steve just groans in pain. She looks around them in a mixture of nervousness and aggravation only to see that all eyes were on them and that they were quickly being enclosed by Hydra officers. The one thing she'd stated when the pair had been in the quinjet was that the mission was going to be in and out, nice and quick, but somehow Captain America had fucked up and ended up flinging himself out of an elevator to Svetlana's feet.
❝Yeah, well, too late.❞
He breathes out, winded from falling onto concrete from the sixth floor, and Svetlana just cuffs the back of his head in annoyance before getting into a fighting stance.
Steve looks up to see that they were surrounded, Hydra operatives are around them in a circle, and that there were around fifty men they were going to have to fight through. As Steve regains his posture and stands up, all of the people surrounding them flick out their batons and prepare themselves for a fight.
Svetlana was really beginning to wish she'd just let Bucky Barnes die.

❝Must you bring that fucking dinner plate with you?❞
Svetlana grumbles, an hour previous from the safety of the quinjet, but Steve just scoffs slightly before going back to reading the book in front of him. The man wasn't about to leave his shield behind, he didn't care what Svetlana had said, and he most definitely wasn't going to go on a mission with it. Steve's shield made him feel protected. Even when he had been small, just a kid from Brooklyn, he had sought out protection whether it be from the lid of a trash can or from Bucky. So, no, he wasn't going to leave without his shield.
Svetlana had managed to get her and Steve on a quinjet merely an hour after their group meeting. She would have gone alone, knowing that all she had to do was steal a few more documents from the men in power in order to locate Barnes, but Steve had insisted and she could hardly refuse him when he gave her a look that resembled a puppy. She hated how she was getting soft but she supposed it was a good sign - a sign she was getting over her life with Hydra's training engrained in her brain.
She'd been very clear to Rogers that the mission was going to be low-key. No one was getting hurt, no one would attack them as long as they didn't arouse suspicion, and it was frankly impossible for it to go wrong. Everything was right so all they had to do was walk in, take the documents, and then walk out. Simple.
❝You can't take that and not get recognised, Rogers!❞
Svetlana fumes out, already becoming sick of working with other people, and was beginning to really wish that she'd just refused the man and left by herself. Yet, it was too late. They were nearly landing after their two hour flight and she could hardly leave the man behind as she was almost certain that he'd follow no matter what she said.
❝I'll go the back route.❞
He states back, meeting her eyes, and seems to not be willing to back down. Svetlana laughs. It startles both of them. Svetlana wasn't used to laughing. In fact, she wasn't sure she'd properly laughed in a long while - if ever. Yet, the man's response had caught her by surprise and his boldness had simply made her let out a bark of laughter in disbelief.

Steve feels slightly guilty when he watches Svetlana roll her eyes and massage her temples, knowing that he was the cause for her on coming migraine, but he was sure that he'd need it at some point. Things very rarely went to plan and he needed to know that, if they were attacked, he could deflect anything thrown at him.
❝It means I can protect us both.❞
He boldly states and he surprised to see Svetlana look up with significantly softer eyes. She exhaled loudly for a moment before shaking her head. Steve knew she could take care of herself. He was pretty terrified of her, practically feeling her power roll off of her in confident waves, but he was also aware that even the most scary people falter and he needed to know that he could save her.
❝I'm pretty capable of protecting myself, Steve.❞
Svetlana mumbles tiredly, rubbing her eyes quickly, before shaking herself awake. She hadn't slept in damn near eighty hours and was really beginning to feel the exhaustion flood her senses. She was used to being tired. Her time spent with Hydra only conditioned her to sleep in very specific circumstances and meant that she was suffering from pure exhaustion most of the time but she'd become so used to getting rest every night that it had affected her system a lot more than usual.
❝Not with you as tired as you are. You look damn near close to passing out. How much sleep have you been getting? It's not healthy to miss sleep, especially when you're fighting-❞
❝I don't need your fucking medical evaluations, Rogers.❞
Svetlana barks back. She watches as Steve flinches back slightly, looking as though she'd slapped his cheek really hard, and can't help but feel the guilt creep back. She was tired which only meant that her already short patience was shortening by the second but, after daring to look at Steve again, she can't stand to see the man look so sadly down at his book.

Steve didn't particularly like it when Svetlana shouted. It made him feel like he was back with his father in the 1920s, constantly tip toeing around conversation, and didn't bring back pleasant memories. He knew the woman didn't mean to snap. The regret in her eyes after she'd shouted was enough for him to know that she was suffering from tiredness a lot more than she'd let on but it still stung slightly. He'd started to think that they were getting somewhere, she'd even laughed, and couldn't help but hope she could find a friend in him. When she shouted, it was just disappointing.
He supposed he saw the good in most people.

❝I'm sorry.❞
Svetlana mumbles. Apologising definitely wasn't something she was used to and was also something that she'd never imagine herself ever doing. Hydra had taught her, drilled into her head, that apologising was admitting weakness and flaw which was simply unacceptable. Whenever she'd gone wrong with a mission, she could never apologise to her superiors, they simply tortured her and sent her out on another one.
Steve acknowledges her.
❝It's okay. I shouldn't have pried, anyway.❞
He responds with an almost sheepish smile. His eyes still held a glimmer of hurt but it was quickly masked so Svetlana chose not to worry too much about it.
❝No, you're right. I don't get enough sleep. I probably should do but, whenever I close my eyes, my brain just doesn't stop moving at full speed.❞
She explains, feeling slightly nervous at opening up, and bites the inside of her cheek. Svetlana wasn't used to telling people about what was malfunctioning inside her body. She was so used to believing that she was simply a robot coded to be evil that she found it incredibly hard to even admit defeat to herself, let alone anyone else. It had been the first time since she'd been close to Natasha where she'd opened up to someone. Svetlana wasn't particularly sure why it was Steve she chose to tell. It was mostly just a situational mouth vomit but she also identified that she felt a lot safer around Steve than she did around most. The man just gave calming vibes - much alike T'Challa had.

Svetlana knew she had to talk to all the people she had been ignoring eventually. Peggy, Phil, Natasha, T'Challa, were all the people who she had simply pushed from her life and she was really beginning to feel the guilt of it all. Talking to Steve only increased her guilt, knowing that he thought Peggy Carter to be deceased, but she also felt a wave of motivation. All she had to do was find Barnes and then she could go back to trying to find the serum. If she found the serum, Steve would have all the time in the world to talk to Peggy.

❝Try tea.❞
Steve states before cringing slightly at his own words. He begins to regret his own suggestion until he hears Svetlana snort to herself in humour.
❝Tea?❞
❝Yeah, um, Clint gave me this tea that is meant to help you fall asleep because I had this irrational fear of oversleeping a century again. I didn't try it until I got really desperate and it worked. It's the only thing that seems to help me sleep at night most days. I can make you a cup of it during debrief if you'd like?❞
Svetlana looked at him, silenced completely by his kindness, and Steve worries for a moment that he'd overstepped her boundaries and made her angry again but is met by a warm smile. He thought Svetlana should smile more. She was actually a good soul to be around when she let people into her life. He'd never say that, however. He didn't have a death wish.
❝Yeah, I'd really enjoy that. Thanks, Steve❞
She says before they land.

Svetlana was really beginning to wish she'd just let Bucky Barnes die.
Where Steve had gone so horribly wrong, she didn't not know. Shed taken the document with ease, slipping it into her bra for safe keeping (the only place that assured for something to stay in place during fights), and had just been about to walk out the doors. That was until a lump of two hundred pounds fell right in front of her feet with a groan. She could only guess that a Hydra operative had seen him and had forced him into a corner. She only wished that he had just stayed inside the quinjet.
They were surrounded by fifty Hydra officers. Each officer was armed with a metal baton which, if connect to the right place at a good speed, would easily break bone. All it would take is a few hits from one of the metal batons and Svetlana would be down. She knew she could withstand broken bones but if her ribs crushed her lungs or if her body reacted badly, it wouldn't matter.
She couldn't hold off the inevitable for any longer: the fight broke out.

❝Hope you don't faint at the sight of blood, Captain.❞
Svetlana huffs out before pouncing. Steve had taken the majority of the men's attention, men always assuming the other male to be more aggressive and dominant, but there was still a collection of officers who were preparing to take her down from behind her.
Quickly jabbing her elbows out, knocking back two of the officers, Svetlana stamps her heel deep into one of the men's feet and feels the bones crush under the pressure. Swinging herself around, Svetlana ducks as a punch is thrown before forcing her thighs to power her forward into the man's jaw - breaking it completely and shattering his set of teeth. At the same time, she powers her knee up and watches as the operative falls to the ground where she smashes his face repeatedly onto the concrete, watching the blood spill. Feeling someone grab her hair, she swings her body forwards then backwards causing the grip to falter before she sends her fist flying at his jugular.
Only getting a second to breath, Svetlana watches as the officers around her hesitate in fear before they pounce. One man attempts to strike her with the steel baton but reacts too slowly as Svetlana gets a grip on it, mid swing, and uses her hold on it to power herself up enough to wrap her legs around the man's throat. With a quick clench, the man's neck is broken but she uses his body, quick to move before it crumples to the ground, in order for her to jump onto her next victim's front and let her fingernails gouge out eyes to get a good grip. She ignores his screams and tears his face in two as she retracts her fingers forcefully without straightening them.
The rest is a blur.
Steve had been too focused on making sure he didn't kill the men with the power of his punches to see the scene of blood to his right.
Svetlana attacks again. She uses the baton that had been dropped and smashes it hard into a man's face, watching as his skull lets out a satisfying squelching sound, before swinging it back and connecting it with a second Hydra assailant. Another goes to swing, too fast for her to grab onto, so Svetlana drops to the floor and slides through the man's legs, letting the blood coat her and reduce friction, before slitting the man's throat from behind using one of her carefully hidden knives.
Then, the last operative gets a good grip on her hair and pulls it back. She's trapped as he goes to retrieve his own knife, him standing in front of her, and she knows she only has one escape route. Sinking her teeth deep into his windpipe, she feels flesh break and blood spills into her mouth. His screams are cut short the moment she rips his oesophagus from his neck and spits it onto the floor.
Blood has spilt all over her face and clothes.
Svetlana takes a few seconds to regain her breath. She'd fought for little under a minute, the whole fight had gone as quick as clockwork, and Steve was still having a few issues with his own group. He'd had far more attack him and, from what Svetlana could tell, he was incredibly conscious to not kill but incapacitate them. It was only until she saw that a knife was being held to his throat when she dove in.

Steve barely registered that Svetlana had come to help him, he merely moved onto the next solider, and didn't at all notice the blood that had coated the woman either.
Svetlana was quick to kill the remaining officers. Each one's face was unrecognisable with bruising and internal bleeding, as well as a lot of external bleeding, and Svetlana hadn't even attempted to resist killing them. She took a few second to stare at her handiwork. She was coated from head to toe in blood, organs, and had collected a particularly pretty pair of eyes as well but felt right at home with the gore.
It felt as though she was proving to herself that she was still a monster - she was still unlovable.
She barely registered that Steve had fought his way through and had finally realised just how violent Svetlana was. His pile of unconscious but alive operatives seemed to be heaven compared to the hell that the woman had induced. Blood was everywhere, all across the floors, and the men were so badly beaten that bones and muscle was visible.
❝So much for subtle.❞
He states drily which is responded with a snigger from Svetlana.

She felt a blanket get draped across her shoulders. She hadn't flinched, feeling Steve's presence move behind her, but the action was questionable.
Looking to Steve in confusion as he goes to sit next to her, ignoring his previous seat on the opposite side of the Quinjet, an he just shrugs his shoulders slightly.
Svetlana had changed clothes upon arriving and had scrubbed the blood from her face and hands. She always felt dirty afterwards, no matter how much she scrubbed at her skin, and she always seemed to see the faint red of blood on her as though it had stained her skin.

❝You looked sad.❞
Steve finally offers as an explanation but Svetlana just clenches her jaw and looks the other way.
❝Surprised you're not disgusted.❞
❝Eh, we all have our own ways of surviving.❞