Buzzkill: The Reckoning

Chapter 36

It had all gone too far. The games, the taunting, the threats, the destruction. It had to end. Ruth had to face Kal on her own, someone whose fears and weaknesses she still knew well. It felt as if Ryker were traveling with her, his courage the only thing keeping Ruth going.

The truth was, Ruth knew this would kill her. She was on her own with only the equipment she stored onto the plane as her backup. And to try and take both Kal and her team down, it wasn't much.

But this wasn't about her. Everything she would do from here on out would be to protect Bucky, to assure him the life he deserved. It was more than revenge against Kal, against Hydra; it was the overwhelming assurance that Ruth needed to protect him as much as she could. If she was around, he was at risk. And Kal made it clear that even with herself around, he was at risk. If Kal knew the word to shut him down, what else did she know?

Ruth let out a deep breath, having landed the small jet she took from SHIELD in a back field of a small town in Russia. A calm seemed to pass over her, her mind clearing from clutter, only her mission ahead of her.

"Come and get me," Ruth muttered to herself, knowing Kal was still tracking SHIELD jets even when they were in stealth mode, something SHIELD couldn't even do.

Ruth filled her backpack strategically, loading her collapsable rifle with sniper and other attachments. The weight became substantial quickly, the extra magazines filled to the brim. She ran her hand across the smooth sides of the many knives she placed inside her coat, on her belt, and within her backpack.

This used to be her favorite feeling. The subtle, steady weight like a comfort she always wanted to go back to. She could flip the knife around her hand with ease. She could maneuver the knife through the air like it was an extension of her. Now, she missed the warmth of a fireplace. The sway of a dance.

Ruth stood quickly, shaking the thoughts from her mind while putting the last knife away, slinging the backpack over her shoulders. Her helmet with the new USB hidden within sat attached. She looked out into the forest in the horizon beyond her, the docking door opened, the life she was leaving behind far from view.

The walk into town was smooth. The breeze that blew through the trees echoed the melodies of the birds flying overhead.

Through the small town, few people walked the paved streets. It seemed as if everyone knew where they needed to go, and where they needed to be. Each store Ruth passed by had a purpose, and each car that sat parked on the streets carried someone from a different walk of life. She had been to this town before. It served as a meeting place for different diplomatic occasions of the facility. It was a place that Kal knew well. Ruth hoped Kal would remember.

Up in one of the stray abandoned apartments, Ruth snuck in and settled down in a dusty room with tattered walls and broken windows. The air flowing through the space was cold, the old wood floors creaked beneath her footsteps.

Ruth grabbed one of the foldable, cheap metal chairs sat at a card table in the middle of the room and pulled it over to the window, the sound of the metal dragging across the floor amplified by the silence of the space.

Here she would wait, wait for Kal to appear. To hear the purr of the heavily armed SUV's engines roll down the small streets. It wouldn't be long. Ruth closed her eyes, the barren streets she sat above a peaceful lead into the fray that was to come.

A day passed. She sat at the same window, watching, listening carefully to the noises on the street. And finally, just past the break of dawn, Ruth watched the calvary roll into town.

The SUV's moved slowly, moving down main street with a tentative searching.

Ruth took ahold of her sniper rifle, looking down the scope and into the window of the first vehicle, another one traveling a few feet behind it. Looking to the second vehicle, Ruth could see Kal sitting in the passenger seat.