14

Yelena is finally making good progress.

She also realises that something is different, Clint isn't where she expected him to be.

Notes:

сестра = sister

ястреб = hawk

Зимний Cолдат = Winter Soldier

Chapter Text

"I'm also guessing that you don't want to stay in Barranquilla tonight." It was not a question.

"And give these idiots another chance at you?" Yelena looked at him flatly.

"Then it is good that I checked us out of our hotel, before we headed to the factory, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Call your boss and get the plane rescheduled."

"I think that's a good idea." Ricardo pulled out his phone.

~~~

Sept 1st 1999

"And where have you been, young lady?" Ricardo tried to present a stern face but Yelena's appearance and expression amused him.

"Oh, just a few errands." She said, dancing in the hotel room door.

"Errands? I wasn't aware that you'd been to Panama City before?"

"I haven't, but I know people that have." She replied.

She had no intention of telling that she'd spent the morning interrogating, then killing, the men that manned the Red Room's safe house, here. She managed to pick through their weapons and find another knife that fit her hands, another Stark gun and a few more magazines for both the Stark guns and her little Colt mustang. But what she really wanted from them, was a waterproof dry-pack, a specially developed backpack for divers that could be attached to a scuba set. They were frequently used by the Red Room to transport infants underwater. The special filters in them made sure that only CO2 was expelled and fresh oxygen was released into the pack, as needed.

All she needed now was the scuba tanks that she'd get Ricardo to pick up for her in Monterrey. Given her small size, a single 100cf tank should last her more than an hour, two tanks could give her close to two and a half hours. More than enough to get her from Playa Bagdad, around the border, in the inlet at the end of South Padre Island and down the canal to the Brownsville Port facility. From there it would be a matter of minutes to get into Brownsville, where she could catch a bus from Brownsville to McAllen, without drawing attention. Getting from McAllen to San Antonio was going to be a little more complicated but nothing she couldn't handle.

"People that you trust?" Ricardo asked.

"Oh, no, definitely not, but they had some of what I need, so… near enough."

"Did you leave them alive?" He sighed.

"No." She replied, cheerfully.

"Then pack your bags and let's get out of here." He let his head fall forward. "I am so glad Cecilia is still ill…"

~~~

September 2nd 1999.

"What on Earth?" Ricardo frowned at Yelena.

"I'm recovering from illness. Be nice to me." She pasted on a pitiful expression.

"I had not expected you to look as much like Cecilia as you do." He blinked.

"Today, I am Cecilia, papa." She said.

"Oh, hell, this is going to end badly, I just know it…" he sighed.

"Don't be so pessimistic, papa." She grinned, tiredly.

"See, told you." Yelena smirked.

"Oh, shut up, you demon child." Ricardo huffed.

"He barely even glanced in my direction." She went on.

"I don't know why he insisted on meeting Cecilia, if he was going to ignore her the whole time." He frowned.

"Maybe it was not so much that he wanted to meet her, as wanted to make sure she was real. Or that she was actually your daughter."

"Huh…" He grunted. "That could be it."

"Anyway, it's over, now."

"It is." He nodded. "We fly to Mexico City in the morning." He paused. "Do you need anything here?"

"No, not here. San Jose was never important to my sister."

"Then how does an early night sound?" Ricardo asked.

"As long as I can get something to eat, I'm starving." She gave him a bright grin. "Being someone else is always tiring."

~~~

September 3rd 1999.

"This is Yelena." Ricard said as he hugged his daughter. "She's been pretending to be you, while you've been ill, darling."

"Is she going to live with us?" The wispy voice came as a surprise to Yelena, who was expecting the girl's voice to be stronger.

"No, petal. She's going to her sister's. She's only staying with me until I get to Monterrey."

Cecilia turned to Yelena. "Where does she live?"

"New York." That was the first place that she was certain that Natalia lived.

"That's a long way to go, by yourself." Cecilia said.

"It is, but she's my sister." Yelena countered.

"Do you miss her?"

"Very much." So much that it hurt, at times.

"What can I do to help you?"

"Your papa is flying to Monterrey on Sunday morning." Yelena waited until Cecilia nodded. "Let me go with him. He'll fly back to you on Monday and I'll meet you in San Antonio on Wednesday."

"And then what? Is it a long way from San Antonio to New York?"

"It is." Yelena nodded. "A very long way. It's going to take me weeks to get there. I can't travel all day, every day. I have to take a bus a little way, then get off and change buses."

"All the way?" Ricardo asked.

Yelena sighed. "I figure that I can travel… maybe twenty or thirty miles at a time, but no more. Otherwise the bus drivers will notice. Changing buses so often will let me remain invisible."

"I don't understand…" Cecilia pouted.

"If a child gets on a bus and travel two hundred miles, the driver is going to remember that child. But if a child gets on a bus and travels twenty miles, waving to someone as the bus leaves, the driver is going to forget them very quickly. Particularly, if the child is wearing different clothes each time."

"Oh, okay…" Cecilia nodded. "You'll need lots of t-shirts and tank tops."

"And a couple of jackets." Yelena agreed. "Maybe a ballcap or two."

"I have a jacket that can be worn inside out, you can take that."

"Oh, no, that's not-" Yelena objected.

"You can post it back to me." Cecilia cut her off. "You won't need it forever, just a week or two."

"How are you going to get across the border?" Ricardo asked.

"I'm not going across the border. I'm going around it." Yelena replied. "In Monterrey, you're going to get me a pair of scuba tanks, and I've already got a special dry-pack to go with them. next you'll take me to Matamoros and Playa Bagdad. I'll wait until evening and swim north." She paused as both Cecilia and Ricardo thought about that. "I'll stay close to the shore and I've got a dive compass. I know it's the worst time of day for sharks, but it's also the worst time of day for the Coast Guard, too. As long as I limit my splashing and stay calm, I should be alright."

"I don't like it." Ricardo sighed. "But I have to agree. Coast Guards near the borders are less likely to notice you if you're using a scuba tank and are underwater."

"That's why I chose it." Yelena said.

"Why don't you two sort out clothes for Yelena, for her trip?" Ricardo smiled at the two girls. "Just remember that she's not taking much to Monterrey with her, most of her things will come with us."

The gold would have to go with her, but the gems and jewellery would go with Cecilia and Ricardo. The three guns and their spare mags, would go with her, as would the knives and the canary.

~~~

September 5th 1999.

"Here's the scuba tanks, Yelena." Ricardo carefully placed them in the back of the hire car and got back in the driver's seat. "Did you have to bring the canary?"

"Yes, I did." Yelena used a finger to stroke the bird's feathers, noting how calmly it was taking the journey and hoped that it would continue to remain calm for the rest of the trip.

"Playa Bagdad." Ricardo said.

"Turn north and find a park somewhere close to the lagoons." Yelena directed. "I'll slip out and hide in the dunes until sunset. You stop for a meal, some gas, be visible, before heading back to Monterrey."

"Tell me when to stop, I have a camera, I can make it look like I'm taking photographs." Ricardo turned the hired car to the north and followed the dirty track.

"Up there." She pointed. "Near the corner. Look at the way the sand drops down, I can stop there for an hour or two." She had a sand-coloured blanket that would render her almost invisible to the naked eye.

Ricardo nodded and pulled the car to a stop, he got out of the driver's door and stood with a camera lifted to his face. "Go." He said.

"See you in 48hrs." She slipped the scuba tanks out of the car and used the little set of trolley wheels to carry them and her small pack, down the bank.

Ricardo said nothing, but within a minute or two, he got back in the car and began to drive, stopping a few more times to take photos, before he was out of sight.

"This is going to hurt." Yelena sighed. "I hate ocean swimming."

~~~

September 6th 1999.

It was still dark when she slipped the tanks from her aching shoulders and let them fall to the canal floor. She eased herself up the slipway, thankful that it wasn't either high or low tide and that there was no-one looking to put a boat into the water. From her pack she pulled a towel and a change of clothes, quickly drying herself and tossing the swimsuit back into the water. The towel was used to wipe the pack dry, before she opened the pack's air vents, then the towel joined the swimsuit in the water. Sandshoes went onto her feet and she was ready to move.

She was thirsty and hungry, but she was in the US and that was the important thing. Five minutes of jogging found her on the edge of a housing estate and she was able to locate a faucet that was out of sight. Another fifteen minutes and she was carefully tucking her pack into some shrubbery, making sure that the canary was still alive and secure in its tiny cage.

Into the shopping mall and she made a beeline for the food court. Three breakfast wraps and two bottles of water later and she felt ready to face the next task. A family store, netted her a pair of bland indistinct backpacks, that could be folded up tightly and stored, one inside the other when travelling. The next stop was a pet store where she bought a pretty metal birdcage, that could be hung from a hook and some birdseed. A stop at the food court for more sandwiches and bottles of water and she left the mall.

When she got back to the shrubs where she'd left her bag, she carefully transferred the canary to the larger cage and added a small amount of seed and water to the feeders. Next, she transferred most of her weapons and the other contents of the dry-pack to one of the bland backpacks and added the bag of food and bottles of water. The Colt and two knives were carefully secreted about her body and she bounced on her feet a couple of times to much sure that everything was comfortable.

She was ready to travel. She was rather grateful that she'd dyed her hair back to its natural colour, she was less likely to be viewed suspiciously if she looked like a typical American girl-next-door blonde.

The first bus driver laughed when he saw her standing at the bus-stop with a large birdcage and brightly singing canary. She travelled to Olmito before getting off and changing buses. The next stop was San Benito, followed Raymondville, Kingsville, Calallen, Mathis, Campbellton, Pleasanton and Sandy Oaks, changing at each town. Her final destination for the day, Harlandale, an outer suburb of San Antonio.

It took her an hour to find but eventually, she found the address that Ricardo had given her and let herself into the house's basement. Here, she camped out, until the next day when she heard Ricardo's distinctive voice fill the house. She crept up the stairs and after making sure that they were alone, she joined them in the kitchen, quite surprised at how pleased she was to see them and how moved she was at Cecilia's joy at her safe arrival.

Ricardo didn't know whether to be pleased or not, when Yelena told Cecilia that the canary was a welcome to America gift for her.

That evening and for the next day, the two girls planned Yelena's trip to New York. They spent hours pouring over state maps, marking out twenty-to-thirty-mile distances and what towns fell into those limits. All up they estimated that Yelena would make less than hundred mile a day and take almost twenty days to get to New York. Twenty days that she would have to be on her guard at all times. Twenty days, where the only time she could rest would be on the buses or if she was exceptionally fortunate and scored herself a hidey-hole somewhere.

Yelena couldn't really remember having a girlfriend but this is what she imaged it would be like. Chatting, laughing, planning pranks and comparing clothes. She decided that she wanted keep in contact with the girl and her father. Not something she expected to want.

~~~

September 15th 1999.

Yelena made her way onto the third bus of the day and settled down behind a blonde woman, hoping that other travellers would assume that they were travelling together. It was her sixth day of travel and each evening she was dropping an envelope into a postal box, addressed to Cecilia. Inside each envelope was a couple of pages about the people she'd seen and the towns she'd been through.

Day one had ended in Schulenburg, day two had been Huston, day three had been Beaumont, four had been the outskirts of Lafayette, yesterday she had stopped at Hammond. Tonight she would camp in a tree in Biloxi, Mississippi.

~~~

September 25th 1999.

Richmond, Virginia.

Day fifteen.

Today she went to a school and used their gym's showers to get clean. She had clean clothes, as most nights she spent in laundrettes or somewhere nearby. But cleaning herself was much more of a challenge than she'd expected. Going to a school, after hours, while students were milling around on various sports fields, was the answer. And that gave her the idea to try a library and that was where she was right now.

Using a library computer to try and find the ястреб. She had expected it to take her hours to find Clint Barton but there he was, bold as day. Head of Security for Iron Technologies. It made Yelena frown, this was not part of the dossier that De Fontaine had given her.

She read the profile that the company gave and her frown grew into shock. That was Natalia. Only… she was calling herself Natashalie. Yelena studied the profile of the Barton family closely, but it wasn't until she was flicking through the company's image gallery that something jumped out at her.

"That's Howard Stark." She whispered. "But how…?" It was well known that Howard Stark's death had allowed the Russians to gain a limited supply of his version of the super-soldier serum.

But here was Howard Stark attending a gala with his wife and…

"Holy… fuck me…" She whispered. "Зимний Cолдат." She clicked on the link that would lead her to a short video of Natalia and the Bartons.

The video showed Natalia sitting on a patio with Barton, his wife and two other children. It finished with Natalia whistling their call.

Yelena sat very quietly for a few minutes before deciding that she had nothing lose, by trying. She clicked back to the Iron Technologies website and hunted until she found a telephone number. She wrote it, and the main factory address, down on a scrap of paper and exited out of the search engine, deleting her history as she went. Outside, she checked that she had a decent supply of coins and went looking for a payphone.

The line buzzed and when it connected, a woman spoke. "Iron Technologies, good afternoon, how may I help you?"

"Can I speak to Mr Barton, please?" Yelena made no attempt to alter her voice.

"One moment and I'll see if he's available. May I have a name please?"

Yelena took a deep breath, if things were going to go wrong, this is where they would happen.

"Yelena." She said.

"Just a moment." The woman said and music started to play. "Transferring you, now, Miss Yelena." The woman said when she returned.

"Hello?" The man's voice was much as she remembered it. "Yelena?"

"ястреб." She said.

"Where did you shoot me?" He demanded.

"Which time?" She laughed.

"Both."

"The first time, was in the foot. The second in the shoulder and the last was in the butt."

"Where are you?" The relief and eagerness in Barton's voice threw her for a moment. "Yelena? Where are you?"

"Richmond. The library in Laburnum Park." She answered.

There was a pause for a few seconds, then, "… on Westwood Avenue? Near the Seminary?"

"Yes…?" She replied.

"Stay there, we're sending a plane for you." Barton said. "It'll take about two hours. One and half for the flight and another half to get from the airport to you. Nat will be part of the pick-up crew." He didn't insult her by asking if she'd be alright with the wait, which earned him points of respect.

"I'll be here." She said and hung up the receiver.

Two hours came and went and she was just about ready to write Barton on her shit-list, when the most beautiful sound came. The whistle started low and climbed high, before sliding back into the lower pitches again. Quickly after the whistle came a redheaded whirlwind.

The older girl leapt at her and the two crashed to the ground.

"We're both upside down." Yelena whispered.

"It was real to me, too…" Natashalie replied. "Cестра…"

"Let's get out of this park, yes?" Yelena said. "Take me home, сестра."