Chapter 10A ━━ Survival
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As Hedeon finds Widows' main training room without a sweat to find, no one is there.
He goes through the weapons to find the shield of Taskmaster. "This looks fun."
Before he walks out, he sees the long glass window. He looks out of it to notice that he's in a helicarrier, which is flying in air, far away from the land. "Holy shit. This will definitely be a cool way to die."
With so much confidence, he walks through the corridors, fighting through the guards in his way with his shield. It doesn't always last more than two seconds because of his enhanced strength. He finally meets up at Dreykov's lair to see all the Widows attacking Natasha, who is fighting her best even though she's outnumbered.
"Hedeon, a little sup here." Natasha requests before she is choked by a Widow as two are holding her.
"Great. I'm in a mood to break something." He cracks his neck to warm up before stomping into the room with enthusiasm to fight. "Super soldier incoming. Brace yourselves, ladies."
He lunges forward with a dramatic battle cry, punching and kicking his way through the Widows to Natasha.
With Hedeon's presence, the Widows give their full attention to him.
Natasha uses the momentum distraction to kick the Widows off her, joining Hedeon. Their backs are facing each other as the Widows surround them.
"You left me to die." He says and throws his shield at a Widow. It directly hits her and bounces back to him which he catches in time.
"I had to stick to the plan." Natasha reasons, watching warily for a battle opportunity.
"I had to go through that load of pain because you had to stick to your shit of a plan."
"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't have a choice. Besides, I knew you'd make it." Natasha states and Hedeon dodges the way of a knife of a Widow in the last second.
He looks at the redhead in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? What if I didn't?"
"It worked."
Hedeon scoffs, punching another Widow. "Fuck you."
"I'm sorry about your sister."
Her words are sincere and Hedeon can't help but give up his every bit of anger towards her. "I already forgave you for that. But you still owe me."
"That, I do. I'll make it up for you." Natasha tells, doing a flip and kicking two Widows in the same moment.
One Widow jumps into Hedeon's back like a spider. "Get off me, whoever you are. I have a girlfriend."
"I saw your show with my little sister." Natasha says.
He grabs the Widow by her neck and prys her off of him, throwing her across the room. "Mmm. How was it?"
"Frankly, it was gross."
"Oh yeah?" He chuckles, but the smile falters the moment he notices a Widow moving towards Natasha with a blade. "Watch out!"
Natasha turns to block the blade but it is late. It pierce through her back, making her groan.
Luckily, Yelena finds them and fashions the vials of Red Dust around a grenade to make a throwable gas bomb, then throws the grenade, setting the Widows free.
Hedeon scrunches his nose at the sight of blood, stepping back as Yelena moves to her sister.
"Hey. Are you okay?" She helps up and examines the knife on her back. "That looks like it hurts."
"Not much." Natasha shakes her head, but groans as she shifts.
"Okay. I take out on three, ready?" Yelena says and removes the blade from the redhead's back without even bothering to count which Natasha winces and glares at her. "I'm sorry."
"Get as far away from here as possible. You get to make your own choices now." Natasha tells the Widows.
"The helicarrier will crash in anytime. Melina lost the control." Yelena announces.
"We gotta get outta here then." Hedeon states, hanging his shield behind his back.
"We need to find Dreykov." Yelena says, leaving without another word.
"I'm right behind you." Natasha yells, running into another direction as the Widows, leaving the super soldier alone.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" He throws his hands in the air dramatically. "This is unfair."
Hedeon jogs back to the training room, roaming through the stuff to find two parachutes. He grabs them and turns to leave when an explosion sends him towards the glass window and he uses his shield to cover himself before he falls onto the platform, landing on his feet. He loses his grip on his shield and it falls off the helicarrier, making him scowl and watch it free fall into the ground. "My bad."
He looks up to notice Yelena climbing on top of the helicopter Dreykov escaping, next to a propeller and starts to put together her baton, intending to stick it in the propeller and break the helicopter, preventing Dreykov's escape in a self-sacrificing move.
"Yelena, no!" Hedeon yells, running towards the helicopter. He knows that even in his super strength, he won't be able to reach her at time. "Don't do it!"
The blonde smiles at him, her eyes taking him in for the last time. "This was fun!"
"No!" He shouts, but she jabs the baton and it explodes knocking Yelena out of the helicopter. "Lena!"
Natasha rushes to him at the same moment and gasps. "No!"
Without a second thought, Hedeon slams one parachute into Natasha before jumping after Yelena, falling through the sky. There's cold air rushing everywhere, and sound. The gravity is against him at the moment. He thrusts his whole body like an arrow, focusing on the blonde, pushing himself through the wind harder to reach her. He grabs her waist, pulling her into his chest as soon as he catches her. The straps click, the parachute sets off and they drift down safely and slowly. "The fuck was that?"
Yelena looks up at him with a weak smile. Her eyes are half open. "I knew you'd catch me."
"Of course, I would." He deadpans, his temper floating on the surface. He is angry at how easily she jumped to sacrifice herself to save the day.
"You're mad at me."
He scoffs, tightening his grip on her. "Tell me a reason to not be mad at you."
Yelena pouts and places a small kiss on his chest. "How about if I take you on a date and make it up for you?"
Hedeon rolls his eyes in return and grumbles. "I'm the guy here."
"Forget the date then. We can directly skip to the fun part." She says suggestively.
A smug makes it to his face at the mention of the fun part. "You mean the part where we'll be under the sheets doing extracurricular activities?"
"Yeah? We can test your new strength." She whispers to him, tracing his jawline. "How about it?"
"Mmm." He smirks, his blue eyes glistening under the sun. "I like that."
Their happiness is taken down by a gunshot that gathers their attention to notice that Taskmaster just shot on their parachute, tampering it and creating a large pitch on it.
"Fuck." Hedeon curses when their bodies are still hurtling towards Earth in a fast phase and he searches for any forgiving structure. Water body, a swamp or at least branches of a tree. Anything at the point to slow down the descent. But he finds none.
Once they reach the full and final speed, the chances of living after an unimpeded fall of several thousands of feet is low and there's only two options. It's either her or him.
He bites his lips, taking the best decision. And it is her survival.
"Hedeon, I'm not letting you die." Yelena says, reading through his thoughts. "You always get hurt on my behalf. And now-"
"Your safety is all that matters. That's all I need."
"No, I want you to live."
He shakes his head in disapproval. "I've done enough. It's my time."
"There must be another way. I can't cost your life to save mine. I'm not that worthy." Yelena states, not wanting to give up on his life. "What if I-"
"No. You know that I won't survive without you. I won't be able to stop the bloodthirst. This is the best way."
"What about me? How am I going to live without you?"
"You'll move on one day." He says with a small smile as tears fall down her cheeks. "Please. Don't cry. It's okay."
"Please." Yelena sniffs loudly as her forehead touches him. "This is not fair."
He smiles. "Вы знаете, что я люблю в вас?" (Do you know what I love about you?)
"What?"
"You're all the colours in one at full brightness." He says, kissing her forehead with a light kiss. "So... where do you want to go on our Honeymoon?"
"Honeymoon?" She asks, confused.
"Yeah."
The blonde chuckles through her tears. "Мы не женаты." (We're not married)
Hedeon's face turns serious as he gathers his courage together and sighs. "Yelena Belova... You're my best friend in the whole world."
"Oh, my God. Hedeon, stop it. You're making me too much emotional right now." Yelena giggles, not taking her eyes off him. It's her last minute with him and she's not going to waste it. Not even a second.
He laughs heartily and leans into her ear. "I'm trying to get through this, babe. I love you, more than anything. Will you marry me?"
Yelena eagerly nods, more tears strolling down her cheeks. "Yes, Hedeon. I'll marry you. And I love you too."
"Um, I just got engaged. You better kiss your fiancè now." He tells with his trademark smugness.
"О, ты везунчик." (Oh, you lucky guy) Yelena states, clasping her hands on either side of his face.
"Yup." His lips brush hers. Not innocently, like a tease but hot, fiery, passionate and demanding. In this minty moment, his senses are seduced and he can no longer think straight.
As cheesy as it sounds, it's just like the movies. For that single moment time stops. In the corner of his sight, he can see Natasha fighting with Taskmaster through the falling. But he ignores them. At the moment, it's just her and him. There's no death, no suffering, just them.
He imprints this sweet kiss deep down in his memories. Her lips. He lived for them and he'll happily die with the memory of them on his lips. She is the half that makes him whole.
At this point, the terminal velocity takes charge holding them stay at a speed, stopping from accelerating.
He knows that it's near. The ground, after all, is their next destination.
He squeezes shut his eyes, waiting to embrace the pain, holding Yelena tightly into him as possible to avoid any damage might occur.
Crack. That's all he hears when his back lands on the ground. He's in shock, mostly. Could barely move, see, or hear anymore.
He knows how things work. His body is shutting down. He murdered a handful of people by his bare hands throughout his life. He just prays for it to be quick.
He can feel something wet oozing out of his nose and head. Blood. For the first time in his life, he feels the need to gag at the mention of blood. It's a sickening subject to him.
That's when he finally starts feeling actual pain. Not so much from his backbone, which is no doubt broken by this point but feels like a bubblegum. No, what is getting his whole attention is that every time he takes a breath there's a stabbing pain so his whole chest locks up tight, squeezing the air back out. And there's a light sobbing of the girl beside him. He wants nothing more than to hold her and comfort her with his warmth. But he can't move his body. Not even an inch.
He stares at the sky. It's clear and peaceful. He's finally free.
He might have been born to destroy, lived to destroy. But he is dying a hero. He smiles through pain at his own thoughts before letting out his last breaths, mixing his soul into the air.