𝙎𝘼𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙉 ✮ 𝘯. 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘧𝘧

{𝟏𝟏} - 𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞

Mission site

Washington, D.C., USA

April 2014

THE last time Semna had visited Washington, D.C., she had not seen it at night. As eventful a day as it was, her missionary duties had all taken place within the sun being above the horizon. It had not occurred to her until after she left that she had never seen a city such as Washington at night, with all of its lights at the highest brightness and city life booming with people who were having a night to remember. Now, as she sat on a building's ledge with James, she realized that she would not be able to see it anyways. As she had to remind herself many times on their trip across the ocean, she had bigger things to worry about besides sightseeing. This mission could make or break Hydra's operations for years to come, and it was all resting on their shoulders.

Semna clutched her pistol in one hand, gripping the concrete ledge with the other. She and James stared ahead together at a brick wall, listening on their amplifier in order to find the right time to proceed with the assignment. But until then, they were sitting ducks. Semna ran her eyes up and down the lengths of the wall, following each groove and crack in an effort to distract herself from the looming presence. She tried her best not to listen to the soft sound of James's breathing through his mask, and the clicks his weapon made each time he fiddled with it. She longed to grab his hand, as they had done countless times before on nights like these. He would always give her a squeeze of reassurance, even when she wasn't the one going through with the ugly parts of their mission. Instead she took her hair out of its bun, anxiously beginning to braid it back behind her head. James noticed her moving and slowly turned his head to look at her.

"What?" Semna snapped, much harsher than she intended. She winced internally and continued to braid.

"Nothing," James said, looking ahead.

Semna finished off the braid, letting it hang down her back. She studied him and smirked. "You know, I could do this to your hair too. It is much too long for a man of your repute." For a moment, Semna forgot this was the Soldier. She frowned when he did not react to her tease and gave her a cross side-eye.

Suddenly, the amplifier began to light up. Semna grabbed it out of James's lap and turned the volume up, putting it closer to her ear. The speaker crackled loudly, calming a moment later. Once it cleared, Semna heard retro music sounding through it, mixed with sounds of muffled voices. One of them she easily identified as Nick Fury, but the other was an unknown man she hadn't heard before, and had certainly not been prepared to deal with for this mission.

"What are they saying?" she mumbled. She scrunched her face, trying to interpret their conversation. After a minute, she rolled her eyes and lowered the device. "Ugh, he's just talking about his wife."

James snatched the device harshly from Semna's fingers. "He doesn't have a wife," he explained quickly. He turned the volume all the way up, contorting his expression similar to Semna's. "They're definitely not talking about his wife," he grunted, grabbing the sniper from underneath Semna's legs. He stood up and took aim faster than she could stand up, leaving her stumbling to get out of his way. Semna stepped back, grabbing her pack so they could run as soon as the shots were fired.

James fired three shots through the wall into the apartment. Semna heard the sounds of struggling through the amplifier and knew they had completed the mission. "You got him," she said. James stared at the window, unmoving. "He's hit, Soldat! We have to go!"