Dancing in Her Webs | Yelena Belova [1]

Chapter 20

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Irina's head throbbed as she lifted it, body aching from the positioning and landing, but otherwise, un-injured. She looked around the wrecked aircraft; lights on the controls in the cockpit blinked on-and-off, the metal chair Melina should be occupying cocked sideways, pointing more in the direction Alexei should be in —but neither one's in the jet.

  Concerned, Irina began to shift, unbuckling as she continued to look around —she couldn't see much. As she limped across the jet, a sharp pain erupted in her bad knee that made her hiss the first couple times she applied weight to it. Holding her side, Irina ducked under the caved-in metal roofing of the aircraft and picked up the shock baton that slid out her belt loop upon crashing, then slipped it back into its temporary spot.

  "Hey." She turned around, squinting as she did so, and looked out the broken cockpit window from Alexei's shield toss. "You okay?"

  Irina nodded once as she moved to Alexei, "Yeah." Approaching him, he outstretched his hand. Relieved to see Melina, Irina straightened her posture as she released her and Alexei's joined hands, then glanced between the Red Guardian and stiff looking seasoned-Widow —but she eyed Melina more. "Are you both okay?"

  Melina had one hand on the side of the wrecked jet for stability, her entire body rigid and unmoving, like she's uncomfortable. Alexei moved to Melina's unoccupied side, wrapping an arm gently around her while the other's in front of them, holding one of Melina's hands. "Injured," Melina replied. "My left leg is broken."

  Irina's eyes widened, "What?"

  Melina waved the younger woman's worries away, "Yes, Yes. Don't worry about me. We need to find the girls."

  Irina completely agreed —she wasn't going to argue. She surveyed the field that parts of the Red Room scattered, the chucks that continued to fall creaking. Some of the Red Room's in flames while most of it is in thick dark grey smoke.

  "I think I saw something over there," Alexei nodded in front of them, to the main area that's  covered in smoke and small flakes of ash that came down like flurrying snow.

  Irina walked ahead, exhausted and burning gaze —from the heavy layer of smoke— scanning for any sign of Natasha and Yelena as she called for them. In minutes, as she came upon a small body of water, something white that blew softly in the wind draped across a chunk of the Red Room —that's not on fire or in much smoke— caught her eye.

  She came closer, squinting to try and better see. Two blurry somethings —one in white, one in black.

  "Lane? Nat?" Irina couldn't tell if the 'somethings' moved or not. And then they did, and she knew. Irina had more pep in her gimpy step as she continued holding her side that begged to be relieved.

The closer they approached, the clearer Irina could see them. She found Natasha first, wrapping an arm around her neck as she squeezed her mentor —her mother-figure. Irina met Yelena's gaze over Nat's shoulder, and her grip loosened.

Natasha felt it and stepped aside, releasing Irene. "What? No hug for me?" Irene smiled at Lane's sarcasm, and wrapped an arm around her too. She buried her face in the Widow's neck, breathing in Yelena's sweaty scent.

"There's always a hug for you, Lane," Irene replied, and Yelena squeezed her a little tighter before she's jumping back, crying out in surprise.