Heart of Spades

Grenade-Jumping

*Trigger Warning -- Mentions Bombs*

For most of the plane ride to New York, Sofi pretended to be asleep.

It was her first non-solo mission in a while and she could feel the steady gaze of her partner, Rumlow, on her, wary and never-straying. She rolled her eyes. After about an hour of his unwavering supervision, it had gotten annoying.

"Crossbones?" Sofi sat up, un-reclining her seat and nodding towards her partner.

He quickly hid his surprise at the fact that Sofi hadn't actually been asleep. Rumlow avoided her eyes, instead busying himself by flipping through his mission papers, identical to the ones Sofi had received, "You know what to do, Nova?"

Sofi smirked at him, "You do realize that by calling me Nova, you're just calling me 'new' right? Like, God, add a noun to follow that adjective," -- she paused dramatically, pretending to be deep in thought -- "Or, wait, did you not learn grammar?"

Rumlow glared at her, "Answer the question, Nova Diem."

"What question?"

"About the mission."

"What mission?"

Rumlow jumped up abruptly, pulling out a gun and pointing the cold barrel against her forehead, "I'm not in the mood for your games."

There was a long pause, the silence filled by Rumlow's heavy breathing and the loud sound of the plane engine. Sofi stood perfectly still, fear crossing into her eyes.

Rumlow looked satisfactorily at her, enjoying the feeling of being the one in power.

Sofi met his gaze, her brown eyes wide and pleading, her small figure wracked and it took Rumlow a second to realize she was laughing. He glanced at her uneasily and curiously.

"Alright, alright." Sofi tried to contain her laughter, "I'm the distraction. You're the thief. I make sure no one except for you gets into the weapons room. You steal the weapons and the blueprints. If anyone interferes, we go BANG BANG!"

As she said the last two words, she flipped up off the chair, whacking the gun out of grasp and wrapping her arm around his neck, using her knees to pin him down. Rumlow's eyes widened and he squirmed underneath her grasp, his face turning red from the low circulation.

"Let's make it clear, Crossbones," Sofi growled at her partner.

She got closer to him until their faces were inches apart. Mockingly, she put the gun against his head, causing him to flinch slightly, "You don't get to threaten me."

Rumlow's face was purple now and he was losing energy, his kicks growing feeble and pathetic.

"Clear?"

He nodded quickly, desperately.

Sofi smiled at him, keeping him there for a few more minutes before she let go and stalked off, watching Rumlow sit up and grasp his own neck, struggling to catch his breath.

"And next time," The girl called over her shoulder, pulling the trigger and hearing an empty click, "Load your gun."

***

In New York, it was sweltering in the summer.

Beads of sweat clung to Sofi's forehead and she attempted to fan herself with her hand in vain, causing more warm air to blow her way. She groaned internally, wishing desperately that the store she now inhabited had air conditioning, or a fan at the bare minimum.

Sofi sighed tiredly as she browsed through a rack of clothes, sneaking a glance up at the window and catching sight of the large building with the 'A' printed atop it.