Red, White, and Blue Chapter 6
#6 of Red, White, and Blue
Well alright, alright, alright! Chapter 6! And it's about damn time too. Good news is that with the termination of athletic seasons and most of my clubs for this year, plus with the end of the school year rapidly approaching, I'll be able to put these up A LOT quicker now. Anyway, as always, I love any sort of comments you guys have, so definitely post those, and without further ado, here's RWB.
Chapter 6: Bullet With a Name
The house was on fire. Tongues of flame extended from the walls as the audible creaking of the wooden structure and crackling of the fire increased in volume. Dust and ash fell from the ceiling and lingered in the air, making it nearly impossible to see or breathe through the smog. Observing what he could, he couldn't distinguish where he was, or why he was here. Still, he could hear pained cries from somewhere nearby, and he knew he wasn't alone. He crawled his way to the corner and found a collapsed shape. It looked to be some sort of canine, and its leg appeared to be broken. He tried to ask the downed dog what had happened, but it was like he wasn't even listening. He just kept calling for help.
He dragged the victim out of his corner and helped him up, letting him rest most of his weight on him. They moved along and approached a staircase, and they descended down it, avoiding certain steps that had already broken and fallen through. On the lower floor, a more grisly sight awaited them. Several bodies were strewn about the place, charred by the rampant flames. Others were also on the ground, still alive and trying to escape. Horror overwhelmed him. He couldn't save them all. Steeling himself against the victims' screams, he helped the dog still leaning against him a little further until they came to a corner that looked to be unmarred by fire. There was someone there, but it wasn't a mature fur like the others. It was a little fox kit, huddled by itself and hiding from everything else.
The kit called his name. How did it know it? He hadn't seen it before. He stepped forward, and felt his foot step in some sort of liquid. The kit looked up pitifully as he extended his free paw, then grinned widely, showing terrifyingly sharpened teeth. It slid an object out of its paw and held it up for him to see. To his horror, the kit lit the lighter and sent it skittering to his feet. Looking to his left, he saw several broken bottles of vodka on the ground and looked to the floor as the fire began to consume him from the bottom up as the voice kept calling, "Alex, Alex, Alex..."
"Alex, for the love of god, wake up already," an unmistakably Australian female voice ordered. Alexei Pavlov opened his eyes to find the face of an attractive tan dingo quite close to his own, and his head shot backwards in surprise. The dingo jumped as well before Alexei spoke slowly, "Elise. Don't do that again. Please." Elise McAlester tossed her long, wavy blond hair and smoothed out her ruffled clothes, "Fine, if you insist. Are you feeling okay?" Sitting up in his chair, the husky replied, "Yeah. I'm fine."
He stared at the door of the director of H.U.R.T.'s office in front of him and shifted his weight around in the seat. He was going to be personally debriefed by Mansfield and Shadowstep soon, but in the meantime he waited in Elise's office, and apparently it had been so exciting that he fell asleep. "You're fine," Elise repeated, crossing her arms, "Bull_shit_ you're fine. You were whining and whimpering in your sleep again." It would be easy to see why Elise could be agitated. She had stayed up all night with the troubled husky, been the only one able to comfort him at all in the whole damn building, never left his room the previous night, and kept him company while he waited, and for all that effort, she didn't have much to show for it.
With Alex failing to respond, she sat in an adjacent chair and rested her head on his shoulder, asking him what was wrong. Alex again neglected to provide an answer, so Elise turned her head upward to see his face for any signs of expression, and she noticed he was staring absent-mindedly at her far more than ample bust. Given the amount she showed this off, with any other male she wouldn't have cared. She almost expected it. But Alex had always been different; he never failed to make eye contact, and that was one of the reasons she liked him so much. He made her feel like someone cared about her as something more than just eye candy.
"Hey. Pavlov. If you're gonna look at me get your eyes up here," Elise half-commanded with a smile, "or am I going to have to get my winter coat?" Her smile faded and her ears drooped as Alexei looked away. He had been so sweet and vulnerable the previous night, and now he was the polar opposite, completely withdrawn and aloof. "You're really not good right now, are you Alex?" she asked basically rhetorically, "Is it still about the operation?" Alex closed his eyes and clenched one of his paws into a fist. The dingo picked this up, "So it is. Please just let it go. Alex, I know you're still in there somewhere. You're not really like this. I think we all- me and your teammates, that is- just want you back, so please just let it go..."
Alexei opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, the door to Mansfield's office opened as well, and the Rottweiler director beckoned him inside. As he stood up, Elise did the same, volunteering to go with him. Alex told her no, however, mentioning that she didn't need to be there right now. The hurt secretary felt used and left in the dust as Alexei went inside the office without another word.
Taking a seat across the desk from Mansfield, Alexei watched as Shadowstep closed the door and sat off to the side of the room. "Pavlov, you wanted to ask us something?" Mansfield opened the conversation. "Yes," Alex replied unenthusiastically, "Something Kossenko said. Something about you people lying to my father, not giving a shit whether he died or lived. Is this true? Because if it is, I'm fucking done with this." The Rottweiler sighed, "Kossenko is a crook. He sent those people in to kill you. Do you really trust him?" Signs of anger began to show on Alex's face, "You're not answering the question." Mansfield began to talk again, but Bronco motioned for him to stop, and he started, "Alex, you're in a position where we have to be straight with you. Yes. We did lie. As all of us have to from time to time. We exaggerated the truth and withheld information from him, but we never manipulated him in a way that prevented him from knowing what our mission was. He was never in any danger with us; he could have left whenever he wanted to, and we did care greatly when we learned he had been killed."
Alexei shifted his eyes from the cat to the Rottweiler and back again, "How do I know you're not just lying to me, too? Maybe you're trying to keep me on your side, just like Kossenko was trying to get me to join his." Bronco once again responded before Mansfield could entirely open his mouth, "We have no proof of unstated intentions. You have to understand that it's impossible to put thoughts on record. But consider the following: Alex, don't you believe your father was a smart man?" Alexei nodded. "Then don't you think he would have figured out if we were playing him? To a certain degree, we figured he knew more about us than we knew about him. Remember he was supplying information to us." This statement struck home, and Alexei's eyes dropped as Bronco continued, "Alex. Even if you left, where would you go? Do you honestly think you'd be better off with Kossenko? He promised power. I can almost guarantee that there would be more catches than you could count to get to it. Besides everything else, I think you should be able to trust us. We're all your family now, from me to Mansfield to Zimmerman and Carlisle and even Svrbada and Elise, though you seemed to be treating the latter like garbage a few minutes ago."
Alexei rested his elbows on the desk and put his head in his paws. Bronco was right. He really didn't have any other option, and he knew he had always felt like he was with a good group of people. The idea that H.U.R.T. could be less than perfect had just taken him by surprise so much that he overreacted, and now realized he had shut out a valuable friend almost as soon as the remnants from their last fight had dissipated. He had to stay loyal to those who really cared, and that brought him to the second reason why he was here. "Alright," he began, picking his head up at last, "I get it. I'll stay here for now. But as long as I'm with you guys right now, I think I might share a theory with you."
"A theory about what?" Mansfield questioned. "Why they knew where we were going," Alexei expanded. "Oh?" Mansfield said, looking at him quizzically. Bronco interjected, "Does this have anything to do with that one girl you met with?" "Indeed it does," admitted Alex, "When I told you about the meeting, the first thing you mentioned was that it sounded sketchy. Turns out, it totally was. My theory is that Natalya sold us out. Why did she do this? Kossenko commented about our relationship last night, so one possibility could be that she set me up so she could have me to herself, but that's highly improbable. What I think is more likely is that she's simply just working for Kossenko now and her most recent task was to eliminate me as a threat, either by convincing me to switch sides or killing me outright."
"Sound theories, Pavlov," Mansfield observed, "So what do you plan to do about this mess?" "Well," the husky began, his normal personality returning to him, "This all started with a meeting, I think that should be the next step too. I'm going to make sure I get any and every piece of intelligence from Natalya that's possible. After that, we'll see where we can go." "Alex," Bronco said, highlighting his unconvinced attitude, "If she duped you last time, how are you certain you can extract any real info now?" "Because I'll be going into this differently," Alexei answered, "Last time I treated her like a friend, and this time I know she's an enemy. I will get what I need to." Bronco and Mansfield looked at each other and smiled, as the Rottweiler declared, "We know what you're capable of. You go do what you do. If you have no other points or questions to make, you are dismissed." Pavlov grinned with his superiors and nodded as he got up and left for the door while the cat and Rottweiler remained seated to discuss matters for a few more minutes.
Outside Mansfield's office, Elise McAlester sat at her desk, head down on her arms. She wondered why all of her relationships sucked, even the nonexistent ones apparently. It had started when she was still in Australia and she had been unable to even get a boyfriend at all. Apparently even looks weren't enough to get by, as all the males thought she was too short-tempered. The year before she left though, she finally managed to grab a male that she felt knew her and actually cared. Unfortunately, that fizzled out when he left her suddenly for someone else. And for that bitch Kira no less. That female just loved ruining her life, and she went and stole her boyfriend just because she could. Kira was also three years older than Elise and the male, and that was one of the foremost reasons why she had been very unsure about going after younger males. She didn't want to be anything like Kira.
When she got to the US, things seemed to be looking up. Males seemed to be much more attracted to her, and she developed a quite idealized image of what romance here was going to be like. Then she started to figure out that almost every one at H.U.R.T. seemed to just want to use her then cast her away. It got so bad to the point that she cut herself off from seeing other members of the organization. She wasn't going to whore herself out like that. She didn't want to be anything like Kira.
Since then, she hadn't found anyone outside the organization, and had been waiting for someone special to show up, and when someone finally did, everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. So she sat there, hoping that something would improve as the door to Mansfield's office opened and a muscular husky stepped out. Elise glanced over at him subtly, pretending not to notice him. Instead of avoiding her like she expected, he said her name and placed a paw on her back. She didn't respond, but Alex continued on with his apology anyway, telling her that he was sorry for the way he acted before and confessed that he should have been "less of a terrible person". She stood up out of her seat and turned to face him, remarking diplomatically that she accepted his apology. Now that everything was back to semi-normal again, Alexei grabbed Elise and pulled her into a colossal bear hug, holding her tightly and sliding his paws up and down her back. After a stunned second or two, she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on the front of his shoulder, commenting, "This makes up for everything."
They stood silently enjoying each other's embrace until Alex broke the silence, "Elise, what are we?" The dingo hesitated and eventually responded, "Bipedal canines? Members of a top secret governmental organization?" "Um... okay," said Alex, "I meant more like, are we still gonna be friends and nothing more, nothing less." The question caught Elise off guard. Here was her chance; if she wanted him, she had to make a move right now. Honestly, she could have had him then and avoided a whole lot of trouble in the future, but she decided to take a gamble, "Maybe... Maybe we should just stay friends. I mean, it'd be kind of an awkward relationship, and I don't know how long it would last." Note that she said this in a tone that advocated the opposite, but also remember that Alex was terrible at picking up subtlety, especially when stressed. What Elise had expected/wanted to hear was, "Oh Elise, I don't care about what other people think anymore. I'll try everything to make this work, how could I not for the most beautiful female in the world? Also Bermuda. Let's go there. Y'know, for a romantic getaway. I promise not to wear a shirt the whole time, and maybe bring a speedo. Maybe." Needless to say, Elise had a fairly idealistic outlook on romance, and possibly let some of her own wishes and hopes slip into Alex's imaginary dialogue.
Instead of this happy ending, however, what Elise got was, "Oh, um, okay. I guess that makes sense... Just friends it is then." Shit, Elise thought, now what the fuck am I supposed to do? By simply observing her oblivious crush's reactions, she could piece together elements of disappointment and dejection, and she became intensely frustrated at herself. In a last ditch attempt to repair the disconnect, she opened her mouth to say, "Alex, I actually wanted to be with you, I don't know why I said what I did," but she only got as far as "Um... Uh... Alex? I, uh... actually-" before a black cat stepped out of the doorway leading to her boss's office, the head honcho himself at the feline's heels.
Bronco started to tell Alex that it was time to leave, then noticed the entwined pair before he stopped and asked, "Oh. Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Elise began to signal that yes, indeed he was interrupting something, but the cat saw Alex's response first, which said something to the contrary. The husky squeezed the dingo one last time before breaking away, figuring this was apparently as intimate as he was going to get with her. As he walked away, she grabbed his wrist making one final request, "Promise you'll come see me whenever you're around?" She held up one paw with the furthermost finger extended. Alex extended his and coiled it around the Australian's, agreeing wholeheartedly before departing.
Once the husky and cat left the office, Elise sat down at her desk and put her head in her paws once again. Her Rottweiler superior placed a paw on her shoulder, asking, "Got away from you again?" She shifted her head up and down between her paws as her muffled voice wondered, "Why does love hate me?" Mansfield, divorced three times, more than honestly affirmed, "Elise, I am the last person you should ask that to. But I must say, the universe really does want you to die alone." "Oh, thanks Dave," the dingo said semi-resentfully. Ever since she first came to H.U.R.T., Mansfield had acted as a sort of adoptive father figure for her, starting not only because he was her boss, but because he had been one of the very few males who wasn't just interested in getting in her pants. Elise trusted him and didn't mind talking to him, but sometimes she just needed company that wasn't much older than she was. More specifically, she needed someone close to her age and in H.U.R.T.; she had plenty of friends from college, but she couldn't talk to them about anything in particular about her job. If she had a bad day, she couldn't talk about it to any of them. She had to just explain it as a "rough day at work" and move on.
Then a light at the end of the tunnel seemed to appear after three years of internal torment and isolation in the form of a six-foot tall Siberian Husky. He made her smile, he made her laugh, he made her feel comfortable, and he made her feel... loved. But since Alex's arrival Elise had been stuck on an emotional rollercoaster, and she despised the target of her affection for playing with her feelings. And she still wanted him because he was miles beyond anyone else she ever had. She wished she could ask someone for advice, but Mansfield was even more romantically-challenged than she was, and though she had come to terms with their age gap, she was afraid that even her three most trusted friends would not be so accepting. The one lingering question that kept plaguing Elise's mind though was, when she got closer and closer to Alex, why did she always push him away just as quickly?
Elise snapped back to reality when Mansfield reminded her, "Remember Elise, you're getting paid at this organization for a reason, too. If you need some time off, you can take paid leave, but if you're gonna stay here I strongly suggest you get some of your work done. Maybe it will help take your mind off of Pavlov." "Oh shut the fuck up, Mansfield," Elise groaned, starting to type on her computer again. David Mansfield walked back into his office grinning. If anyone else had given him that level of insubordination and outright sass, they would have been fired on the spot. Or killed. It all kinda depended on the special forces veteran's mood.
*****
Why is it that whenever I get close to Elise, I just push her away? Unaware of his thoughts mirroring those of Director Mansfield's personal secretary, Alexei Pavlov pondered his non-relationship with the striking dingo on the subway ride into the city for his before school meeting with Natalya. He had been sufficiently frustrated the previous night after he once again hadn't been able to make things work out with her. It wasn't the fact that he wasn't able to get a female; it was just how amazing that female had seemed. She was one of the most attractive canines he had ever seen, and on top of this, her personality appeared to match his perfectly. She was someone Alex didn't have to prove anything to. His friends didn't know her, her friends didn't know him, it was a situation where they could just have each other. Everyone else could go fuck themselves for all he cared.
He envisioned holding her, her dazzling brown eyes gazing into his as their snouts inched closer together. He ran a paw through the lusciously soft fur of her cheek, whispering loving words of endearment. She took his head in her paws and drew it toward hers until their lips came together in a warm, sensual embrace. Despite the bliss of the imaginary moment, Alexei willed himself out of the fantasy because that was exactly what it was. A fantasy. He had blown every chance, and now was indefinitely relegated to the dreaded friend zone, only hoping that eventually she'd let him try again. He wasn't very against waiting, either. Since his girlfriend left him and the cause of this event very nearly had him shot in the face, he didn't have much else going for him romantically.
And this brought Alex to his matter at hand. Just thinking about Natalya's treason boiled the blood in his veins. For all of the vixen's incessant comments about love, that had been a hell of a way to show it. Alex was pissed because she lied. He was pissed because his friend was now disabled. Most of all, he was pissed because he had been cheated by someone he had at one point considered mating for life. By this point, Alex had had it with Natalya, and she was going to either tell him everything, or never tell anything to anyone ever again.
*****
Natalya Romanova sat in the Central Washington High School courtyard, checking her hair and makeup in a small portable mirror. When Alexei texted her yesterday demanding another meeting, she didn't know what exactly to make of it. She assumed that everything had gone well and he was going to "debrief" her on what happened. Maybe this would be the morning they got back together for real. It's not like she had to worry about Stephanie anymore. She did sort of feel bad for the feline; she was probably the reason why she and Alexei split up, and she was going to try to patch up her and Stephanie's relationship. Later though. Right now though she was more interested in speeding things up with Alexei. She had lied awake the previous night considering what would happen if she mated him right after high school. No one else really mattered anyway.
Back in the courtyard, Natalya stowed her mirror after smoothing out her fur and fixing her hair one last time. Late fall weather in Washington called for more clothing than what could be passed off for as "sexy", so she was depending on her facial appearance to look as attractive as possible for the heroic husky. Her heart had been racing for the past few minutes, and it practically stopped when he came into view at the other end of the courtyard. She instantly stood up and walked briskly over to him, confused by the apparently angry way he stomped in her direction. He threw down his backpack, and said, nearly yelling, "What the fuck were you thinking?" The fox's eyes widened as she stepped back a couple of steps, stammering out the word "what". In a voice similar to Christian Bale's from The Dark Knight, Alex pressed on unimpeded, "You betrayed me, you stupid bitch."
Natalya felt like her heart had just been unceremoniously chucked into a wood chipper. Alex had never called her something like that. Ever. She stuttered, "W-what do you mean?" "You sold us out!" accused Alex, "you gave us shitty information, and I almost died!" Natalya hadn't seen Alex with this level of anger either, and she started to get scared. Convinced he was forgetting who she was to him, she tried, "Why would I betray you? I lov-" But Pavlov cut her off mid-sentence, "Cut it out! Don't tell me you love me, not after what you've done. Why did you do it?" Natalya's big fluffy red tail tucked between her legs, and she wanted to just curl up into a ball. He wasn't even giving her a chance to talk now. She wanted to run away, but she wouldn't let herself do that. She wouldn't undo everything she had done and put them back at square one.
Regardless of her emotions, Natalya was still confused as to how exactly she betrayed Alexei. He had said something about information, so she tried, "Fine then, if you're going to be like that we can do it your way. You said I gave you bad information? I told you exactly what I found!" "What you found, or what Kossenko told you to give me?" Alexei questioned doubtfully. "I just told you, I found it myself," Natalya retorted. Alexei was not calming down, "Natalya, come on! One of my comrades... one of my friends... is now in a wheelchair. Hopefully he'll be able to walk again. And you know what? Me and three other guys could have been right there with him, and the only reason we got fucked over this bad is because you sold us out!"
Natalya stared at Alexei speechlessly until he was forced to continue the conversation. He spoke his next phrases differently, however. They seemed less violently angry and more just... pleading. Alexei said, "Natalya, I don't understand. Just explain why you did this, that's all I want right now. Why can't you tell me?" Natalya's eyes were widened in shock and her mouth was gaping, and a chord struck in Alexei's being as he answered his own question, "Because you didn't betray me."
Alex slumped down in one of the benches and put his head in his paws. He was cognizant of the possibility that Natalya might have become a tremendous liar in two years, but he strongly doubted it. He had seen expressions like that before. She had no idea what he was talking about. Regardless, the vixen sat next to him, wrapping her arms around him still without a word. "What the hell's wrong with me?" the husky cursed himself, "Am I really that easy to manipulate? I went exactly where that bastard was leading me, and I almost tore myself away from you because of it. I'm so sorry." Natalya snuggled up against him, trying to relax the stressed canine, and asked what had happened.
Some time and lots of exposition later, Natalya clung to Alexei, jaw gaping as she struggled to absorb what he was telling her. She contemplated trying to comfort him, but she decided she probably wouldn't be able to really help. She was amazed that the beleaguered husky could even function. She managed to choke out that she wouldn't ever put him in a position like that, and Alex's eyes lit up in revelation. "How exactly did you come across the papers about my father's killing?" Alex asked. Natalya explained that they were in a folder on top of her father's desk, and Alexei responded, "So you did set me up. You just did it on accident."
Recognizing the fox's confused expression, Alexei elaborated that the files had most likely been planted there for her to find. "They knew you would be snooping around," he said, "and they figured if that was inevitable, they could potentially both flex their muscle and maybe even get rid of my team by putting that stuff there." Realization struck Natalya and it made her feel utterly mortified. Alex told her not to blame herself for the mistake and that almost anyone would have done the same thing. Nevertheless, the vixen suggested a method of making up for the error, "You know... Papa has some sort of meeting to be at on Saturday. You could come to my place and take a look around for yourself. You'd know where to find things much better than I would."
The husky accepted her offer and at last returned her embrace as she verbally pondered what would become of their relationship now. Alexei thought of Elise; he found it sufficiently difficult not to. But she had just rejected him, hadn't she? As much as he would love to spend all his time with the magnificent dingo, he thought that maybe it would be more possible for something to work out between him and Natalya. Also, learning from previous experiences, Alex reminded himself that Natalya did NOT need to know Elise even existed; life would just be easier this way. So Alex, decisive as ever, took the red-tinted fox's head in his paws and rhetorically questioned, "Did you even need to ask that?"
They formed one big writhing mass as their mouths fused together and they held each other tightly. For the first time in years, they kissed openly and passionately, cherishing every millisecond of their time. That is, until they were interrupted by an adult voice calling, "EW! GROSS! PDA!" The couple almost instantly broke apart to see the Irish setter history teacher and/or running coach making exaggerated faces of disgust at them. The normally velvet colored fox emanated scarlet now, and the husky glowed red as well , turning away from his girlfriend (?) to unsuccessfully escape the embarrassment. "It would seem we have been caught by Coach O'Riordan," Alexei broke the awkward silence after the older canine was out of earshot.
Natalya sighed, "We can deal with him later. The most we have to fear is Tony leading an 'O'Riordan run' and finding out and spreading it around school. While laughing, probably." (An O'Riordan run is a wonderful event where members of Alexei's friend group go hang out in the teacher's classroom after school and before practice. It sounds dumb and ridiculous, but it can also be quite entertaining.) Although the intended effect of the statement was to reassure Alexei, it startled him instead, "Is that a good thing? Do we want that?" The husky slipped his arm around Natalya as she muttered, "Aren't we together again? Why would we care who knows?"
Alexei responded in a low tone, "Because, maybe I don't really want the world to see me. With all we're going through I don't really think they'd understand. And when now it seems everything in our lives is meant to be broken, all I want is for you to know who I am." "Alex," Natalya whispered, "That was so beautif- waitagoddamnminute." The fox's eyes narrowed as she stared down her love, "I can't believe you just did that. Has everything romantic you've ever said to me been plagiarized?" Alex stammered out a question asking what she was talking about through a blank expression, and she flamed, "You've trampled on the sanctity of "Iris"! Wow, just wow." Speedily recovering, Pavlov explained that he didn't mean to rip off the song, and the mistake was caused by overstress in the past few days.
He sheepishly asked for forgiveness, and after a moment of consideration with a devious look on her face, Natalya agreed on one condition. She quite enjoyed observing the worried expression on her boyfriend's face while he awaited his penance before saying, "You know, I think there's something you still haven't said to me in the past couple of weeks," she paused while Alexei cast a defeated glance in her direction before continuing, "Yup. That. Let's hear it." Alex opened his mouth, with no sound to accompany it, then sighed deeply before mumbling, "I love you." The fox raised an eyebrow, "Oh, is that all?" The husky covered his face with his free paw before muttering barely coherently, "I love you... Knyaginya snugglepumpkin." Natalya beamed and giggled at this, playfully thanking him then proceeding to reestablish mouth-to-mouth contact.
Just as Alex was starting to enjoy himself again, however, a shy, high-pitched voice called out, "Hey guys! Oh... You were in the middle of something." Internally cursing his interruptions, he amiably greeted Jen Megami and reasonably asked if Dex was with her. The cute and mysterious arctic fox chuckled and answered, "No, not currently. But he'll be turning the corner right... about... now." Amazingly, just as she said the last word, surely enough, the coyote appeared. The Russian-American couple's jaws dropped like cinderblocks in a river as they stared in disbelief at Jen's apparent prescience. Natalya tried to ask how she did it, but she was cut off when the white, fluffy vixen put a finger to her lips and two arms attached to Dex Dos Santos extended around her waist from behind.
As the coyote carried on with his maybe a little excessive PDA considering he knew people were watching, Natalya shuddered as she felt Jen's enigmatic bright green eyes seemingly peer into her soul. The red vixen spoke slowly, "Does she..." Alex finished for her, "Yep." Natalya again, "So it's not just-" And once again a quick answer from Alexei, "Nope. It's everyone." "That's... um... strange," Natalya concluded as she separated from the husky and prepared to enter normal before school social interactions. The minutes flew by from then on, and they went on to their first classes with only Jen and a history teacher aware of the newly reformed relationship.
*****
Saturday morning collided with Alexei like an NFL linebacker on PCP. He did not want to get out of bed. He had to deal with the past week, which was much more tumultuous than he would have liked, and he had his second H.U.R.T. operation in as many weeks ahead of him. Granted, it was supposed to be noncombat oriented, but the last one was supposed to be easy too, and look what happened there. It also didn't help that this mission revolved around the same female as the last one either. When Alex suggested the plan, he could have sworn Shadowstep was about to smack him, and for understandable reason. On Monday afternoon, effectively everyone involved with Strike Team 13 had associated Natalya Romanova with screwing up their entire op, and they were obviously confused and disapproving when they found that their team leader was not only trusting her again so soon, but becoming romantically involved with her. Elise took the last part especially hard, but since she blamed herself for losing Alex, she didn't openly demonstrate her dissatisfaction. Rumor had it, though, that she had been so frustrated at the world that she punched a hole through her computer. This was yet unconfirmed, but people did notice Elise McAlester had a shiny new personal laptop (and very briefly, a bandage on her right paw).
Elise hadn't been the only one to react poorly to the news of Alex and Natalya's renewed relationship, though. In fact it was generally received with quite negative reviews. Quotes such as, "Back to this again, are we?", "Oh look! The Tsar and Tsarina are back together! Hide your goats and chickens! Um... No offense, Billy.", "I saw it coming. But nevertheless, I feel this to be unnecessary.", "What's that bitch have that I don't?", and "I think you guys are... um... Natalya, your tail is so fluffy." (Amazingly, you can almost sense who said some of these are *cough* Leah *cough*.)
As for Alex's own feelings on the situation, you can get a clue from his thoughts during the week. Every day it seemed like his mind kept wandering off, and he couldn't stop daydreaming. You'll probably say this is normal for someone in Alexei's scenario, and you'd be completely right. Only problem was, he wasn't thinking about his girlfriend. He was thinking about his boss's feisty secretary. Not that any of his friends were even remotely aware of this, not even Kurt. They simply assumed that he spent his class time drooling over Natalya, and honestly Pavlov was pretty much okay with this.
Back in the present, the husky was forced awake by the pounding on his door from his feline guardian telling him to get his ass out of bed. Alex grumpily proceeded with preparing to go to H.U.R.T. headquarters before his combination mission/date of the day. "Look son," Bronco told him, "Ain't my fault you decided to do your snoopin' on a Saturday afternoon. Good luck explaining all this to Elise too. If you want to tape your conversation with her, I'd gladly purchase that farce off you." Pavlov didn't need to say any words; his menacing glare said anything and everything he could have wanted to. In fact, it said something along the lines of, "If you say one more word about my dysfunctional pseudo-relationship with a dingo whose company I enjoy very much, I will personally disembowel you and strangle you with your own entrails."
The time until their arrival at headquarters passed quickly, and Alex nervously knocked on the doorframe of Elise's office before going inside. The secretary looked up, gave a faint smile, and then her eyes drooped down again. Alex picked up one of the chairs from the front of the room and moved it to her desk, right across from where she was sitting, and slumped down in his own chair, casually greeting her. She responded kind of unenthusiastically, and Alex chose to ignore this, instead asking if she got a new computer. When she confirmed the inquiry, Pavlov asked what happened to the old one. "It broke," the dingo said quickly. The husky started to ask how it "broke", but Elise interjected, "It just broke. Let's leave it at that. So, I went to your game last night with Kris and Manny." Painfully aware of the dingo's subject avoidance, Alex just went along with the conversation and replied, "Ugh. Sorry you had to see that. I'm really glad there's only two more weeks left of this season. Kinda feel bad for the Seniors though." "Yeah, it did seem last night was a bit of a heartbreaker for you guys," Elise commented, subconsciously emphasizing the implicating word.
Yeah. Alex felt the sting from that one. Now he felt confused though. Hadn't she said she wasn't interested before? Maybe she was just caught off-guard again. He decided to try and ease the situation at the present moment by experimenting with, "Elise, I just wanted to say that you won't be replaced. I want to keep you as a friend, and nobody else is gonna get in the way of that." "Wait," Elise stopped him with a puzzled expression, "So I just stay where I am with you, indefinitely?" Upon Alex's confirmation of this, she thought, great. I've just been pushed so deep into the friend zone that if I go any farther I'm worried about finding Narnia. Alex was romantically oblivious sometimes, but he could definitely sense the all-too-familiar sense of screwing up around Elise permeating the room, and he suddenly felt an inexplicable tsunami of courage (and total disregard) wash over him. He took Elise's paws off her new computer and held them in his, beginning to throw out, "Elise... What I really meant was-", but he was abruptly cut off by the opening of an office door and the stepping out of the organization's Rottweiler director.
Mansfield instructed Pavlov to go down to the briefing room to 1) obviously brief his team about the mission and 2) meet Sam Gilchrist's replacement, supposedly a transfer from the CIA. The director told Alex that due to the nature of the origin and execution of this operation, Alex would be in charge of explaining the situation to his team, as opposed to him or Shadowstep. He proceeded to tell Elise that he would meet her in the operations room as soon as Pavlov and Co. left on their sortie, then retreated back into his office.
His stream of confidence derailed by the abrupt interruption, Alex unceremoniously dropped Elise's paws and failed to make eye contact. "I guess I have to go," he mumbled, rising from his seat. "Oh no you don't," the dingo responded, getting up as well, "I understand you have to meet your team, but you're not getting off that easily. I'll go with you." Alexei signaled his comprehension, and the two walked side by side toward the elevator. "So," Elise broke the silence, "what were you going to say to me?" Alex wanted to just admit the truth, but he had re-convinced himself that she wasn't interested, and that an advance would be met with nothing other than scorn, so he gave her a simple "nothing" and refused to discuss it further.
They stood tensely, awkwardly, and silently waiting for the elevator. Concluding that Alex would never make the first move unless his life depended on it, she slinked next to him and, staying to his side, wrapped her arms around his torso and lean against him. "Look," she said, "I get it. It's not happening. You don't need to justify anything or make excuses. If you really feel this way about this girl, then that's the way it's meant to be. You're gonna be with her soon, and I'm perfectly fine with this. All I ask is that you hold me in the meantime." Alex wanted to do something more, but his practical side won over, and he simply draped an arm over her shoulders, too internally torn to say a word.
With his free paw Alex gently brushed a lock of hair away from Elise's face and asked, "So, have you met the new guy?" She adjusted her position on his body, "I have." They walked into the elevator still attached, and Alex asked what she thought of him. As the doors closed, she looked up at him and smiled, "Oh, he's a character."
*****
A few minutes earlier...
"... and that's how I single-handedly took down an entire base of Somali rebels." "Manny," Blake Tannehill spoke dryly, "are you being serious right now?" Maynard Carlisle responded with a grin, "Hell yeah! That shit's legit!" Blake looked at the cheetah with no clear sign of emotion, "Man, you are more full of shit than a septic tank." Manny stood up in -mock- indignation, "I ain't full o' shit, motherfucker! Hey Kris, tell 'em." The Canadian Doberman opened his mouth to support his long-time friend, and then closed it shaking his head. He shrugged his shoulders and finally spoke, "Yeah, no. I've personally seen you do some crazy junk, but the tale you just relayed was just ridiculous. I mean, they wouldn't even put that in a Call of Duty script. Or Rambo. Or-" "Thank you, Kris," Carlisle whined agitatedly, "'Ey, Slovakia, you believe me right?"
"No," was the only word that came out of Pavel Svrbada's mouth. "Oh!", Blake exclaimed, "That's unanimous! Sit DOWN, boy!" Manny grumpily mumbled something inaudibly as he did as the confrontational raccoon said, and Kris asked the smallish Slovakian wolf, "Pavel, you got anything else to say? You've been kinda quiet this whole time." "I don't really have much to contribute," Pavel explained, his voice thick with an Eastern European accent, "Besides, I enjoy watching you all argue. I think it is funny." "Oh so you're that guy," Blake commented, rolling his eyes and earning a pen thrown at him from Zimmerman, which hit him on the side of the head. "Was that really necessary?" the raccoon asked, prompting Kris to counter, "Was what you said?" "Touché," Blake shrugged his shoulders and dropped the fight.
"So," Svrbada wondered openly, "Does anyone know why we're here?" Blake said in a monotone voice, "Mom and Dad got drunk one night, hijinks ensued, nine months later, result. Oh, why we're here here? No clue." The other three stared at Blake for a while with confused and partially disturbed expressions before Manny broke the ice, "Okay Tannehill, thanks for sharing. To answer your question without TMI, Pavel, I think Alex has something for us to do today. Some sort of info gathering. Plus, we get to meet the noob for the first time today."
Just as these words left the cheetah's mouth, the four heard a ruckus coming down the hall, culminating in the appearance of a young looking brown fox flanked by two other H.U.R.T. operatives. One of them pushed the fox into the briefing room, said "He's your problem now," and rapidly left the scene, accompanied by his comrade. The fox stared at the members of Strike Team 13 sans-Alex like a deer in headlights before exclaiming in a thick Brooklyn accent, "Holy shit! What the hell is wrong with this place?!" "Whoa, slow down," Zimmerman said, "First off, who are you?"
"My name's Travis Langley," the fox claimed, "and I'm supposed to join some sort of group called Strike Team 13." "Well then, Travis, you're in the right place," Kris confirmed, extending a paw, "Kristoff Zimmerman. Spots is Manny Carlisle, Stripey McTrashcan is Blake Tannehill, and the token European is Pavel Svrbada. Welcome to the team." Wary of the potential threats posed by his new companions, Travis declared he was glad to meet them, but remembering the short blurb he was given before he was transferred, he asked if there wasn't one more member. Kris said that there indeed was, and that he would arrive shortly.
Langley had an unusually slender build for someone entering a special forces unit, and his jet black hair looked too unkempt for anyone in the military whatsoever. Distinct color patterns adorned his fur, with the brown turning black at about his elbows, extending all the way to his paws, along with a white snout and, from what could be seen extending out of the top of his shirt, chest and belly as well. He also appeared to be young, suspiciously young, almost Alex young. Kris wondered grimly to himself if the fate of the world rested too much on the backs of pups.
There was, however, one physical aspect that stood out more than anything else on Travis, and that was the very new-looking set of cuts on the side of his snout. "Alright," Blake spoke up, "If no one else is going to take on the elephant in the room, I will. Dude, what happened to your face? Did you just come from a warzone or what?" The expression that became visible on Travis represented a weird combination of anger and embarrassment as he recalled, "My face? Part of the reason why this place is so fucked up. The director's crazy bitch of a secretary hit me, and you can see the aftermath of that." "Damn, man," Manny said incredulously, "Elise did that to you? What did you do?"
Travis recounted how, arriving earlier that day in Elise's office on the way to meet Mansfield, he was told to wait there for a short time while the director finished some other work. Unable to hold himself back, he attempted to start a conversation with the sufficiently gorgeous dingo, though he admitted she didn't really seem in the mood. He had his conversation with Mansfield, who told him about what he'd actually be doing with Strike Team 13, and went back outside quicker than he thought he would. When he left the office, undeterred from the cold shoulders he received on his last attempt, Travis felt like trying his paw with Elise again.
Manny stopped him right there, "Hold up, bro, please tell me you did not say anything about her boobs. That's the quickest way to the Death-by-Australian Special." The cheetah mumbled an oath under his breath as the fox stared at him blankly, and Blake called out, "Well don't just stop there! This was getting good." "Um... Okay," Langley picked up again, "So I started trying to put some moves on her. I asked if she was seeing anyone and she said no, and I guess she was kinda irritated when she said that, but anyway I thought she must be wide open then. I couldn't understand why, but that made no difference to me at that point, so I tried to sweet talk her, and then she like, glared at me. Fellas, I'm gonna be honest, I like to think of myself as a pretty romantic guy, so I experimented with complimenting her physical beauty. And since you tell me not to do so now, yes, I did make a sort-of-kind-of offpaw remark about her tits. How was I not supposed to? Anyway, by the time I realize I've struck a nerve, her paw's movin' so fast I can hardly see it, then my head's damn near turned around backwards and I'm gettin' my own frickin' blood on the damn carpet. And that's how I met this 'Elise' bitch."
"Let me give you a piece of advice," Kris chimed in, "Don't touch the dingo. She's unofficially the property of your boss." "My boss?" Travis asked somewhat rhetorically, "You mean Mansfield and Elise... Aw, man, gross..." "No, dipshit. Mansfield's the overseer of the entire organization, but the guy you'll be directly answering to is right there. Yup, right behind you," Tannehill smirked, nodding his head in the direction of the doorway. Suddenly feeling rather nervous, Travis swiveled around to see who the raccoon was talking about only to find a husky that looked even younger than him, with that damn Aussie slut attached to him.
Travis was stunned, "He... is... our squad leader?" The other members chuckled in the background, and Pavel confirmed the query. Elise, clinging to Alex in a conventional hug (something they were arguably unused to), glanced briefly at the brown fox, and whispered something to the husky while silently giggling. Pavlov raised his eyebrows, shifted his eyes over to the new recruit, and looked like he was trying to hold back laughter, before he told Elise something that made her ears droop barely visibly. The couple (so Langley assumed quite naturally) squeezed each other one more time before splitting apart, with Alex entering the briefing room and Elise departing the way she came.
Pavlov greeted the room's occupants, and stopped in front of Langley, "So you're the new guy, huh? Name's Alexei Pavlov. I'm the squad leader of Strike Team 13. Welcome to our happy little dysfunctional family." "I uh, I j-just wanna get somethin' cleared up first," Travis stumbled over his words, "I did not know she was yours." "Calm down, bro," Alex grinned, "No hard feelings. Me and Elise are just friends anyway. Holy Jesus, she really got you good didn't she?" This reaction greatly relieved Travis; he had successfully avoided the scorn of his commander for the first thirty seconds of their meeting. Blake scoffed from the background somewhere, "Just friends? Friends with benefits maybe." Alex reinforced his previous statement and reminded the snarky raccoon that he could be kicked off the beyond-elite team if it was deemed necessary. Tannehill was also reminded that Alex defined "necessary" in this case.
Pavlov proceeded to ask Travis to tell the team where he came from before joining H.U.R.T., and the fox explained, "Well, I was born in New York to a wealthy businessman and an illegal immigrant, and I grew up a normal life 'till I started snoopin' around too much and found out my "business man" dad's actual "business" was federal intelligence. Looking back on it now, it makes a lot more sense that my mother wasn't deported before she could blink since she was married to someone with strong ties to the government. Anyway, I was about 15 or 16 and I was lookin' through my father's junk, eavesdropping on his phone calls, and whatnot, and eventually I confronted him. He was caught off guard when I straight up asked him if he worked for the CIA, and told me since I managed to figure this out without him suspecting anything that he would give me an honest answer. Turns out he was a spook for my entire lifetime and long before it, and from that point on he started working on some of his buddies at the Agency to give me a shot working for them. I never liked school much to begin with, so skippin' college to go be a secret agent was fine and dandy for me.
"So after I finished high school, I went straight to training to be a spy, and in no time I was out in the field. Unfortunately it turned out I didn't exactly have the same skill set as my father. As you can tell by my recent facial renovations, I don't have an overabundance of tact, and apparently I greatly enjoy making things explode, much more than prowling around and planting bugs on people. I thought that was lame. So eventually the CIA decided to get rid of me, and since they thought I was still too valuable to get rid of 'the old fashioned way' and they couldn't pawn me off to some strictly military outfit because I didn't have military affiliation, they dropped me off at H.U.R.T., and now I'm here."
The rest of the team mulled over this new information and Kris inquired exactly how old Langley was now, and the fox replied that he was 19 years old. "Christ," Zimmerman muttered, "the future really is in the hands of pups." Pavel spoke up regarding their activites, "Hey Alexei, now that we've got introductions over with, could you tell us what exactly we are doing today?"
"Yeah," the husky said, informally sitting on top of a desk in front of the team, "today I'm gonna go hunt for evidence at the house of one of Igor Kossenko's chief lieutenants. Travis, you're up to speed on what's happened with the Kossenko situation so far, right?" "I think so," Langley responded, "Kossenko shows up, turns Western mafia on its side, starts international crime syndicate. Strike Team 13 is formed specifically to stop him, launches first attack on associate Konstantin Kovalev, ambushed, one member WIA. And that's where I came in. Now, you said you're going to go search the place. What exactly are we gonna do?" Pavlov opened up, "Well, Pavel, you're going to analyze the electronic data. Somehow. Um... yeah, you do have a way to do that, right?" The wolf explained that he could establish a remote connection through a USB drive that Alex could plug into the computer, and that he could take care of everything from there.
"Excellent," Alex carried on, "As for the rest of you, you're going to cover me from outside the apartment." "Wait, what," Manny semi-asked, "Why the hell do we have to wait outside while you go and do all the fun stuff?" "Because," the husky smirked, "It's also my girlfriend's house, and while it's okay for ME to go in there while her father's not around, it's not as preferable to have five soldiers in there." "I am so confused," Travis remarked. "Then let me elaborate," Tannehill offered, and before Pavlov could shut him up in some way, continued, "We, a team of elite counter-terror specialists, are going to cover Pavlov on his date. That is all." The fox raised an eyebrow at the raccoon, then turned back toward the husky, "Still confused. Why are you dating the daughter of one of our enemies, especially when you have a smokin' hot dingo that you seem to have practically wrapped around your finger?" "For the first part, I've known her far longer than I've been enemies with her relatives," Alex explained, "As for the second, well, you haven't seen my girlfriend yet, have you?"
The other members of the team kept listening as Pavlov explained where they would be keeping cover from, "Kris, you and Manny will stay in the plain van -which I have dubbed the 'Mundanemobile'- that we will be taking to the site across the road from the apartment and keep watch from there. Keep whatever weapons you feel comfortable with in there with you. Travis, you'll go with Blake and keep overwatch from a rooftop opposite the apartment building. Since you two will need to take your weapons with you, we're giving you concealable equipment. Travis, you'll be taking a Magpul FMG-9 with you since you hopefully won't need to use anything more than short range weaponry. It's basically a Glock, a weapon I love dearly, with polymer attachments that can fold up for hiding, and when deployed, works like a sub-machine gun. It is quite snazzy. Blake, some of the tech geeks here made something special for you."
Alex went to the side of the room and brought over an innocuous-looking suitcase. He opened it up, and inside laid the components of a sniper rifle. "It may not be the best rifle you've ever used, but if all goes according to plan, you won't need to use it anyway," he explained, demonstrating how to assemble the weapon, before taking it apart again and stowing it in the suitcase. "One last thing," Pavlov noted, "Communications for this op will be as follows: Zimmerman, Carlisle, Tannehill, and Langley, you will all be on the same channel, and you will be connected to Svrbada. I'll be on a wire, and Svrbada will be able to listen and talk to me (and Natalya if necessary), but I won't have direct communication will you other four. The chatter would be too much for me to concentrate on my objective. Any questions?"
"Yes, one," Pavel replied, "Wasn't Natalya the female suspected of giving us false information for the Kovalev op? If so why are we still trusting her?" "We have reason to believe she was honestly trying to help us, but she gave us planted information. We're going in today because we actually know what we're doing, and should be able to find more legitimate data than an untrained teenage girl could," answered Alexei. Svrbada sighed, "Alright, you're the boss." "Look," the husky squad leader said flatly, "I know it must seem stupid, but I think there's a chance for something here. Just trust me, okay?" The rest of the team signaled their assent in various ways before departing to get geared up for the impending operation.
*****
Perched on a rooftop opposite the Romanova residence, Travis Langley and Blake Tannehill anxiously watched Alexei, sporting a loose hooded sweatshirt to conceal his twin glocks holstered on his lower back, cross the street. Not that they were worried about their commander's safety; if something happened to him, it would totally be through solely his doing. What they were really waiting for was their first glimpse of Pavlov's alleged goddess of a girlfriend. They had no idea what to expect. Was she short, tall, skinny, chubby, blonde, brunette, canine, feline, equine... real?
At long last, Alex knocked on the ground level apartment door as Travis, Blake, and Manny and Kris at street level all looked on with bated breath. The door creaked open, and after a second or two, swung out to it full extent as its opener suddenly became visible. Travis swore he was seeing things. There was no way this female was Alex's. She was straight out of magazines. This wasn't the girl next door, this was fucking Miss America. Langley's assumptions were quickly proven incorrect, however, when the scarlet fox threw her arms up and around Pavlov's neck and pulled him in for a long passionate embrace. Travis felt his jaw drop through the roof and down at least another two floors. At least. Zimmerman was the first to break the disbelieving silence, "Wow. That's impressive. Svrbada, can you see this from the UAV?" "Um, only her thermal signature. Basically all I can tell is she's hot," Pavel commented over the radio. "Heh, same here," Manny called back. "Uh... No, I meant she... um, her sig-, er, God, nevermind..." stammered out the Slovakian wolf.
"Slovakia, I can hear you blushing through the radio. Take it easy," Carlisle laughed, "Can Elise hear what we're saying?" Svrbada confirmed that she could, and the cheetah continued, "Alright, Elise, here's the deal. You win some, you lose some. Right now, you lost some, and Alex is gettin' some. Hoo-ah!" Kris hijacked the conversation path, "And that's enough of that. Rooftop brigade, any input?" "Eh, she's okay," mentioned Tannehill. "Okay?" Travis exclaimed, "You call that okay? She's in a league of her own. Jesus Christ, how does that guy do it? Hey, hey, wait a minute... They're goin' inside. Pavel, can you still track them inside the building?" "Why yes, yes I can," the wolf replied, assumedly grinning. "Right," Blake jumped in skeptically, "and how does your Predator thermal camera manage that?" "First off," Pavel lectured, "It is not a Predator. This is something far more advanced. As for how, that information is above your pay grade." The raccoon sighed, "Pavel?" "Yes?" "Go to hell." As the door closed, Langley straightened out the conversation, "Okay, okay, jeez... So what are they doin' in there Mr. Eye in the Sky?" "Well, Travis," Svrbada said unenthusiastically, "They're kissing. A lot."
Inside the apartment, Alexei and Natalya were indeed starting to get comfortable. They had stumbled down the entrance hallway as a jumbled, intertwined mess until they struck one of the walls and stayed there. Alex pinned her against the wall as they continued their romantic interlude, and the husky was unexpectedly turned on by the practical, hushed questions that came out of Natalya's mouth while his tongue wasn't in it. "Are you -mmrph- on a wire?" the fox asked practically silently. Alex confirmed this, and seeing as full sentences appeared too difficult, Natalya continued her questioning, "Armed?" and after another confirmation, "Support?" which Alexei once again said yes to. Deciding he wasn't having enough fun, Alex dropped his snout lower and kissed the sides of Natalya's neck as his paws slid down and took hold of her ass. As he started playing with the waistband of her panties that jutted just over her tight jeans, Pavel's killjoy voice crackled in his ear, "Hey Casanova, you've got a job to do, remember?" Pavlov reluctantly separated his paws from the fox's rear and picked his head up again. "Done so soon? Boss call you out?" Natalya inquired, cocking her head ever so slightly to the side. "Yeah, something like that," Alexei mumbled, "So, where's your father's office? We've got some work to do. That does not involve your pants, apparently."
She gestured for him to follow her as she stepped off the wall directly in front of him and placed his paws on her hips. On the way to the end of the hall, they passed a half-opened door to a room with pink wallpaper and Alex subconsciously locked on to it. Inexplicably aware of this, Natalya giggled, "You're not getting anywhere close to there. Not on the first date anyway." Alex tried to stammer out an excuse, but it just wasn't happening, and when Pavel started heartily laughing over the radio, he just slammed his mouth shut. He didn't say another word until they got to the office, at which point he separated from Natalya and immediately got to work on the desktop computer on top of the... desk. He turned on the monitor and the computer itself, and after a few seconds of booting up, opened a panel on the front and stuck the special flash drive Pavel had given him in a USB slot. "Natalya, your dad does have some sort of better computer than this doesn't he?" Alex asked. "Yeah," the vixen, now seated on top of the front of the desk with her legs crossed answered, "He has a laptop now, and he took that to his meeting today. He still likes to keep things old-fashioned though, so he keeps all the important files on the central desktop and in physical files in the cabinets behind you." "That's... extremely convenient," Alexei said.
Alex was brought back to the mission at hand through the sudden and arguably unwelcome appearance of Pavel Svrbada on the screen in front of him. "Hello! So not only can I tap into the hard drive of the computer you're on right now, but I can also run its programs and attachments as well. So yes, I can see your face perfectly clearly through the webcam." Pavlov gave a quizzical look, then moved his eyes to the top of the monitor and found that Vladimir Romanova did indeed have a webcam attached. "Hey, um, Natalya?" Alex asked slowly. Natalya looked back smiling, "Yes, knyaz?" The husky looked up at her, "Why exactly does your father need a webcam on his office computer?" Natalya's eyes opened wider before she closed them and shook her head, "I don't know, internet conferences? Maybe you shouldn't think too hard about that."
"Right," Alex agreed, "Pavel, how's the digital trail coming?" "It's a damn gold mine," the wolf replied, "There's more shit on Kossenko on this computer than on the entire H.U.R.T. database." "Fuck yeah," Pavlov cheered, "Moving up in the world. I'm gonna sift through the paper files and see if there's anything useful there." The husky swiveled the office chair he sat in and started laboriously undertaking the most breathtaking job of being a special forces operator ever. As he was working, he heard Pavel's voice once again emanating from the speakers, "Hey... Natalya, is it? This is going to sound awkward, but can I... see you? What I mean to say is, everyone on the team's been talking about you, so I want to see for myself." Alexei looked back at Svrbada and opened his mouth to say something, but shook his head and turned back around. Natalya, on the other paw, consented to the wolf's request, placing herself in front of the camera and introducing herself. "Holy shit," Pavel swore, "And I mean that in the most flattering way possible." As the fox smiled and thanked him for the compliment, Alex sensed a disturbance in the Force. He looked back at the screen, and surely enough, what had just shown only Pavel's face now depicted Elise McAlester's as well.
"Oh good God," Elise uttered in disbelief, "Are you fucking genetically engineered?" "Um, no?" Natalya answered, "Uh, who are you again?" "Elise McAlester, H.U.R.T. secretary and a very good friend of Alex's," the dingo responded, suggestively accenting the adverb. The vixen intensely glared at the screen, "What was that last part?" "Oh, you know," the Australian continued, "I've helped him through some tough times. The ones you weren't there for." "ALEXEI," Natalya half-shouted, "WHO. IS. THIS. BITCH?" Alex sighed deeply. This had suddenly become a nightmare. He did still harbor strong feelings for Elise, but at that particular moment he felt closer to Natalya. Plus, given his current situation, Natalya held the power to simply call her father, and then the entire Russian mafia would be set to kill him in a heartbeat. It was a fairly simple decision.
"Elise is just a friend, nothing more," Alex finally spoke, "Natalya think about it: I've liked you for as long as I can remember, and you're hot as hell. What incentive would I have to cheat on you?" Natalya asked him if he really meant that, and when he said he was completely telling the truth, she smiled at him, yet proceeded to scowl at the computer monitor, "So what's YOUR problem, you Aussie cunt? Stop fucking creeping on my boyfriend!" "I'm not creeping on anyone, you commie whore! Just like he said, I'm not interested in Alex as anything more than an associate, so you can eat his cock for all I care," Elise sneered. "Oh," Natalya glared at her dubiously, "You're not interested? Not at all?" "I wouldn't consider being involved with someone with low enough standards to fuck brainless eye candy like you," the dingo shot back. Now feeling vilified, Natalya was determined to shut her opponent up for good, and to do that she had to strike where it hurt most. "Oh Alexei," she called sweetly, regaining the attention of the husky who had been tuning out the verbal nuclear war occurring behind him, "I'm so sorry I snapped at you earlier. I never should have doubted you." She turned his chair back around, straddled his lap, took his head in her paws, and tenderly kissed him on the lips. She backed off slightly, letting their noses touch, before expressing her love for him, and he reciprocated as he rubbed his paws along her back.
During the course of this event, Elise stared at the couple straight-faced, arms crossed over her chest, and one eye twitching erratically. Eventually she just got fed up with it and effectively rage-quit, walking away from the computer on her end in a fit. Natalya glanced back and saw the marked absence of dingoness on the computer, and sighed in relief, "Thank God she's gone." She snuggled in closer to Alex, tipping the chair backwards. "You know, we still have work to do," Pavlov mentioned cautiously. "I know. But I'm kind of in the mood right now," Natalya countered, massaging his shoulders and kissing his neck. Alexei was about to just give in when Pavel appeared prominently on screen once again, silently signaling that he found something potentially important. Understanding the wolf's call for secrecy, Alex wordlessly motioned for him to go on while Natalya was otherwise occupied. Svrbada opened a file on screen that discussed a case involving Vladimir Romanova and a certain Valeriya Kirilenko, a Ukrainian red fox.
To Alex's absolute horror, the file went on to describe a time about seventeen years prior in Donetsk, Ukraine where Romanova (then Romanov actually. His name was mistakenly registered during immigration to America, as he received the feminine form of his last name which was held by 4-month old Natalya. He decided to keep the error as a sign of his ability to overcome hardship and be "tougher than the average male") had gone in with three other Russian mafia members to send a message to a splinter Ukrainian faction.
They barged into the house of Dmitri Kirilenko, the head of the target group. They moved through the halls, smashing everything breakable in their path, dragging Kirilenko's two children, ages six and twelve, into their parents' bedroom. The family was herded into a corner, and one of the males ordered Dmitri to produce all information he had regarding the splinter cell. When he attempted protest, the hit crew illustrated the severity of the situation by executing his older child right in front of his eyes. His mate Valeriya became hysterical and screamed at him to do whatever they wanted. So, in order to save his family, he retrieved all of his documents at gunpoint, and the mafia members thanked him for this by striking him down and beating him mercilessly, and making him watch while they swiftly shot his younger kit, and brutally raped his mate. Dmitri begged for some semblance of mercy, and Vladimir himself granted him this through slashing his throat with a switchblade he pulled from his jacket. Valeriya was taken captive and locked in a room in Romanov's Moscow apartment, where she was raped several more times before becoming pregnant. Nine months later, the battered fox gave birth to Natalya Romanova in a Russian hospital, shortly before vanishing off the mafia's grid inexplicably. Her whereabouts were still unknown.
Alexei felt like he was going to puke. He knew old school mafia work wasn't as Robin Hood-esque as his father's organization over here, but that was despicable. How could they stoop so low as to killing kits? More pertinent, what would become of the local organization if Romanova was in control? Would he still do something like this? Things were looking bad, and unbeknownst to Alex, they were about to get worse.
"Alexei, are you okay? Is something wrong?" Natalya crooned, nuzzling him and shifting her tail from side to side. "Yeah... Yeah, everything's fine," Alex replied unsteadily. "Bull," Natalya shot back, "What are you looking at?" "Nothing," the husky snapped quickly. Natalya started to turn around, but Alex grabbed her snout and pulled her back maybe more forcefully than necessary. "Alexei, stop it! You're hurting me! What's going on?" Natalya interrogated. "Natalya," Alex said urgently, still holding her snout in his paws, "If you trust that I love you, you will NOT look at that screen, do you understand?" She answered him by pushing a knee into his gut, nowhere close to doing any damage, but just enough to stun him adequately so she could get off of him and look at the computer. Pavlov shouted at Pavel to close the window, but Natalya got to the computer first, and the wolf explained that if control was taken at the physical computer, that overrode his capacity to manipulate it remotely.
Unwilling to physically abuse Natalya to get her away from the monitor, Alex (and for that matter Pavel, as well) could only shamefully look on as her eyes froze on the screen, her knees started to wobble, and she collapsed sobbing onto the floor. Alex knelt down next to her and held her, throwing away the mission in an attempt to console the broken fox. "Alex, I think we have enough dirt here to last us a lifetime," the wolf commented, "I don't think you'll need to search the physical files. There appears to be a digital copy of each one. I can search through everything from here at this point, whenever. You can jack me out now. I'm sorry both of you had to see that, my friends." Alexei acknowledged him and ejected the flash drive from the computer, stowing it in his pocket as he continued to try to comfort Natalya. "How could this happen?" the vixen asked. "I don't know," the husky responded, "I just don't know."
*****
Several minutes later, Travis Langley still sat impatiently atop a building across the street. "You know, this sucks," the brown fox said to no one in particular, "We've been waiting up here forever, and nothing's happened. What's taking Alex so long? I'm missing college football for this." The members of Strike Team 13 that hadn't been involved on the internal operation had been discussing unrelated topics for however long they had been out there since Pavlov had gone inside, and all of them were itching to leave. Finally some news came in from Svrbada, "Hey guys, Natalya's still in a poor state from that disgusting file, but she's improving. You all should be able to leave in about five minutes. Alex is almost done." "Thank God almighty," Langley exclaimed, "We're finally getting out of here! Ah crap, wait a minute... Tannehill, do you see what I see?" "Young adult female, flanked by two males, all appear armed?" the raccoon asked. "Yup," the fox sighed, "We're not out of the woods yet. They're heading for the Romanova residence it looks like. Manny, Kris, you guys seein' this?" "Yeah," Carlisle confirmed, "we see 'em. Sending a picture to Svrbada for identification now."
While waiting for the wolf's input, Travis got a better look at the newcomer through his binoculars. She appeared to be a Malamute of average height, with long, mostly straight black hair and an athletic build. She walked down the sidewalk with an aura of superiority, and looked like she meant business. Oh yeah, she was gorgeous too. "This is fuckin' unbelievable," Langley exclaimed, "Does Alex have a gravitational pull for attractive females or what?" "I'm not so sure you want to be attracting this one," interjected the voice of Pavel Svrbada, "That appears to be Anastasia Kossenko, Igor's daughter." "So the danger here isn't necessarily that this trio could do any damage," Kris suggested, "but she could call in Daddy's help really fast?" "That is not what I said," corrected Pavel, "She's a trained killer. As far as her profession goes, she has a similar record as Alexei's when he was with the mafia. She's no joke."
"So let's just kill her now and save the trouble later," Blake proposed, looking down the sights of his rifle. "No! Anastasia is not to be killed at this time," Pavel called back instantaneously, "This is straight from Mansfield. A major point of this operation is Kossenko not knowing we were here. Killing his daughter would probably tip him off to that, no? We'll get her another day." "Soon, I hope," Langley muttered, "She gives me the creeps, even this far away." The tension greatly increased as Anastasia knocked on the door of the apartment, and waited impatiently for a response as she ordered the two thugs with her to keep watch outside.
*****
Back inside, Alexei had calmed Natalya down, at least to a manageable state, when Svrbada told him over the radio that Kossenko's daughter was en route to the apartment. Well fuck, thought Pavlov, It just can't ever be easy, can it? The husky asked his recovering girlfriend if she knew Anastasia, and she replied that the Malamute passed through every so often, and that she believed she was as dangerous as Alex was. Despite her warning, she still claimed that she didn't think of Anastasia as a bad person, she was just very tied to her job. According to Natalya, the Malamute was largely denied a social life, allegedly never having many friends or any romantic relationships at all to speak of, so she reasonably had some issues with social skills. Alex almost felt bad for her. They were so similar, but so different at the same time. He guessed that's what happened when you played for the wrong team.
Alex asked Natalya if there was any way she could distract Anastasia, and as she accepted unenthusiastically, they heard a knocking on the front door. Alexei kissed the fox goodbye and stayed out of sight in the office while she answered the door. Peeking out just enough so he could see the action unfolding but remaining unseen himself, he observed Anastasia enter and quickly shut the door behind her, leaving just her and Natalya in the hallway. She asked emotionlessly if there was anyone else in the apartment, and when Natalya reported that they were alone, Anastasia breathed a sigh of relief and considerably relaxed, hugging Natalya and letting her tail sway. Continuing to talk in Russian, which she was naturally stronger in than English, she pulled back from Natalya and mentioned that her makeup was running, and asked if she had been crying. The vixen told her that she had just been watching a sad movie, and offered to talk more about it somewhere more comfortable. As the pair moved on into Natalya's room, Alexei quickly slipped to the front door undetected.
As Alexei silently exited the building, he felt a chill up his spine when he remembered there were supposed to be two more people in the group. Looking to his side from the front stoop, he found the obviously quite intelligent goons that had been trailing Anastasia inspecting a branch on a nearby planter that had been apparently shot off. Alex gave an incredulous look to the rooftop across the street as he advanced to and entered the Mundanemobile. After waiting inside it for a couple of minutes, Langley and Tannehill joined him in the back and Kris drove them out of the area. "Blake, whatever you did back there, I can't believe it worked," Alex complimented. "Yeah, well," the raccoon came back, "You know my only job here is covering your ass, so I try not to screw that up." "What's up with you Russians anyway?" Travis interjected unpleasantly, "It's like you're all dumb brutes or psychopaths." The rest of the team gave him disapproving looks, except for Zimmerman, who was trying to watch the tricky roads of Washington D.C. Therefore, the unfortunate driver in front of him got the opportunity to receive the Doberman's scornful gaze. "Travis, dude," Alexei said shaking his head, "We don't stereotype here. We can't afford to make false assumptions. Besides, the Cold War's over. Everybody wants to be friends with everybody now. Also, I will laugh so hard when you wind up mating a Russian." "Alright, alright, I apologize. But I'm not mating a Russian. Ain't gonna happen, just ain't," Travis said, sufficiently put in his place.
*****
Following a much more lighthearted van ride, Strike Team 13 returned to H.U.R.T. headquarters and received commendations from Mansfield and Shadowstep for the successful mission. After taking in the moment briefly, Alexei braced himself for the hurricane that was about to smack him in the face (perhaps literally) awaiting him at the top of his trek to the H.U.R.T. rooftop. As he walked outside, he was welcomed with a frostbitten stare that froze the blood in his veins. "WHAT the FUCK was THAT?" Elise screamed at him, referencing the disagreement between her and Natalya (and Alexei by extension) earlier. Very cautiously approaching the flustered dingo, Alex told her to slow down and reminded her that she might have provoked the incident. "So I exaggerated, fine," Elise admitted, rolling her eyes, "But it would have been fine if your whiny bitch girlfriend didn't blow it out of proportion." "Hey! Where do you get off thinking you can call my girlfriend a whiny bitch?" Alexei threw back. "Are you kidding? She jumped on top of you just to spite me," Elise complained. "Why does it even matter to you? You said right then that you weren't interested," Pavlov pressed on.
"I'm not. And today just confirmed that. Look, regardless if I had feelings for you or not, what she did was unnecessary," chided Elise. The husky admitted that the vixen might have gone over the top, but that was still no excuse to flip out the way she did. The dingo intently stared at the ground in front of her feet and crossed her arms before sighing and turning around to lean on the railing at the edge of the rooftop. Strangely not experiencing any fear, Alex walked up beside her and rubbed her back without any discussion. Now more cooled off, Elise openly wondered why they were so dysfunctional. She rhetorically asked Alex if this was how they acted with each other as friends, how they could even survive as more. She told him more honestly this time that she did like him a lot, but there was just no way it would ever work out, and that she wanted to end all talk of a relationship there. Alex acknowledged this, and shuffled closer to her, extending an arm around her shoulders, trying to walk the thin line between friendship and adultery.
Elise noticed Alexei's eyes drifting down below her head, and called him out on it. "Wha? Oh, no, I'm not looking at your chest. I've kinda gotten used to that already. I'm just curious about your necklace... You wear it every day," Alex observed. She clutched the heart pendant with her paw as she explained in a low tone, "It was a gift from my grandmother. It doesn't have any real meaning I guess. It's just that she was the only elder person in my family that never expected perfection out of me. She was the first influence that ever really treated me like I mattered, with my overbearing parents and brothers who were, just older brothers I guess. That probably all sounds really stupid, I'm sorry." "No not at all," Alexei refuted, "You have something special. I think that's great. The only real semblance of anything like that I have are my guns." "Your Glocks, I'm assuming, and not these guns," Elise jested, reaching across Alex's chest and squeezing one of his biceps, causing them both to chuckle, relieving some of the built up tension. Instead of pulling her arm back, though, she left it on the far side of Alex's torso and stretched her other arm around his back to meet it, and leaned on him, asking quietly, "Do you love her?" Alex gave her a monosyllabic affirmation, and she proceeded, "Then promise me something: Don't ever let me get between you two." Alex gently kissed the top of her head and accepted the promise, and Elise smiled, but only on the outside. On the inside she felt a grim feeling that this would be the last time he would make her smile like this.
*****
It was the Thursday of the last week of the football season, and Alexei had really had it with the sport for that year. The incessant work he put into it piled on top of his H.U.R.T. and relationship related stresses for the result of a losing season started to understandably grate on him. Good news was, it was almost over. Senior Night (the final home game of the season) was the following day, and he was almost ashamed to have the outgoing class leave on such a sour note.
It had been almost two weeks now since the Romanova op, and his and Natalya's relationship was doing better than ever. Natalya's "no sex on the first date" policy had evidently carried over onto the second and third dates as well, but to put it succinctly, Alexei did not give a shit. He was on cloud nine just being with her every day now. As for he and Elise, they had some good conversations over the past two weeks, and she even gave him her phone number. But they had stayed more within the bounds of the Friend Zone than ever before too, abstaining from almost any physical contact or overemotional dialogue. For the first time in months he felt comfortable about his personal life.
Back in the current time, however, Alex felt reasonably uncomfortable in his pre-game practice attire. In order to rest up and prevent injuries, practices on the days directly prior to games consisted of mostly walkthroughs. Because of this, equipment for these widely thought of as painless and useless practices (hence their nickname: "Fiddledick Thursday") was simply helmets, jerseys, and athletic shorts. After a brief going over of special teams procedures, practice moved on to team walkthroughs, starting with offensive emphasis. This period was a time when Alexei basically stood and watched from the sidelines as the starting offense practiced their plays and the backup defensive players ran a scout defense that represented the style of the week's opponent. Alex used the time to daydream or talk to his friends. Not that those conversations were necessarily particularly intellectual. For example, on this day, during a time when the D.C. area was starting to get a bit chilly, Jay Jefferson and Dex Dos Santos were discussing how they felt like their balls were freezing off. Electing to ignore his buddies, the husky kind of just stared out at nothing through his facemask until he heard a familiar voice say, "Hey, Pavlov, you alright, man?" This came from his position coach and defensive coordinator, a big middle aged badger ex-NFL player and an all-around mentor to his players. He innately knew how to push a team while still keeping himself from becoming an ass, making him a favorite among players.
Alex snapped out of his reverie and told the coach that he was fine, and the badger instructed, "Alright, I trust you. Just make sure your head's in the game tomorrow night, understand?" Pavlov nodded, and stood silently before a big gloved paw attached to a much bigger gray furry arm tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey Alex," Kurt Blackfoot started, "Could I talk to you about something after practice?" "Yeah, bro, anything," Alexei replied to his best friend. "Awesome, thanks. I could use your advice on something," the ginormous wolf hinted. Alex turned to look at him but before he could say anything whistles started blowing, signaling the start of defensive emphasis.
By this point in the season, Alexei's assignments were second nature to him, and he didn't really even need to think about the plays they were running. The rest of practice sailed by fairly quickly, and after running his defense's routine of patriotically named plays (yes, apparently someone decided that the most unequivocally American sport in existence needed to be more American, and did so through giving defensive coverage schemes names such as Patriot, Liberty, Yankee, Glory, and Militia. Not really sure why this guy thought "militia" was the best choice, either.) participated in the team chant and went over to take the aggravating hike back to the school with Kurt.
The husky asked his friend what he wanted to discuss, and he noticed a reddish tint blossom under the stoic wolf's face fur. Kurt admitted quietly, "So I think I'm interested in someone." The husky grinned, "Someone like a female, you mean?" The wolf nodded, and Alexei pressed on, "Go on, who is it?" "I don't want to say yet 'cause I don't know how you'll feel about it. All I want to know is how I should go about doing this," Kurt replied. With a puzzled expression on his face Alexei told Kurt to just relax and be himself when talking to her, because if she was more interested in a façade she wasn't worth seeing. Other than that, the husky explained, Kurt had to put the moves on her through his own doing. According to Alex, you just couldn't come up with that for someone else, especially when you didn't know who it was they were after.
Having gotten what he wanted, Kurt promptly turned the conversation on Alex, asking if he had anything "badass" he was doing this weekend for his organization. The husky sighed, "Yeah, I guess so." He really didn't feel like talking about H.U.R.T. crap right now, but he liked to keep Kurt informed so he let the wolf inquire further into his pseudo-military affairs. Pavlov explained that there was a follow-up to the meeting Vladimir Romanova attended two weeks prior, and that the majority of local crime leaders would be in attendance (Kurt dubbed it "Mafiacon"). Alex went on to say that his team was to crash the party and capture anyone they could, with authority to use lethal force if necessary for those who fought back. "Hold up," Kurt ordered, mulling something over, "Natalya's dad's gonna be there too, right?" The husky nodded. "So he's at risk too, right?" Pavlov nodded again. "Does Natalya know? Is she okay with this?" "Yes," Alex replied, "In fact, she's going to help us slip in the back door. I highly doubt she wants to see her father killed, but in light of that file, I don't think she's very opposed to knocking him down a peg." "I could imagine that," Blackfoot uttered with a shudder, "Even I still feel sick thinking about it. So how are you guys doing otherwise?" "Um, great, actually," Alex declared, "I'd say even better than before the schism. Why do you ask?" "I saw her talking one-on-one with Stephanie right as we were leaving for practice," Kurt confided, "I thought Stephanie vehemently hated Natalya." "Yeah, me too. Stephanie didn't seem to want to talk to either me or her for a good while after we broke up. She appears completely over me now, though, so maybe she's warming up to Natalya? I don't know," suggested Alexei. The conversation effectively terminated as they reached the populated locker room, and they resolved to talk more over the phone if necessary.
*****
It was Saturday evening, and Travis Langley was sitting anxiously in full combat equipment in a black armored truck. This was his first legitimate combat mission with H.U.R.T. The danger level was still supposed to be really low, but he remembered why he was here in the first place. Strike Team 13's first ever mission wasn't supposed to be too perilous either, and look what happened to that poor Corgi sap. He didn't really know what to expect; he had been thrust into ops the day he set foot in headquarters, and honestly hadn't received that much special forces training yet, certainly not as much as his veteran compatriots. He had never felt so jittery before any of his assignments with the CIA, but he attributed that to knowing he wouldn't be jumping straight into the crossfire. He checked his weapons and ammo for the zillionth time before swearing under his breath, closing his eyes, and putting his head back against his seat. He tried to reassure himself that everything would turn out fine, and that they'd return triumphant, and he would be able to relax and have some fun afterwards.
Travis had been adjusting to his new life better than he thought he would, forming a close friendship with Pavel Svrbada within his first week. Moreover, he was also becoming much better friends with his boss Alexei, remembering to not comment on his Russian heritage, lest he make another faux pas, and had even somehow regained some face with the (in his opinion) facemeltingly hot yet clinically insane dingo secretary of the organization's director. Travis and Elise had shared some very interesting and pleasant conversations over the past two weeks, and since it appeared she didn't want any of Pavlov after his romantic interludes with his mindnumbingly hot vulpine girlfriend right in front of her face, he considered maybe even asking her out depending on how things went over the next couple of weeks. Thinking of the Romanova op brought back Travis' anxiety, though. He couldn't help but think about how close of a call it had been once that soulremovingly hot yet pants-shittingly terrifying and seemingly unpleasant Malamute had shown up. Alex had claimed that she appeared like a normal fur inside, but Langley didn't believe that for a goddamn second. She emanated evil. And a little seductive feminine charm. But mostly evil. Travis also hoped in the name of all that was holy that no more uber-attractive girls would come on to the scene; there was no way he would be able to come up with adjectives for all of them.
The brown fox, wearing his black uniform, was jerked back into reality with the sudden stopping of the truck about a block away from the meeting site, a nondescript looking house just across the DC-Maryland border. Pavlov motioned for them to move out of the truck and onto the street, and they started their surreptitious approach to the target. Once the house came into view, the husky leader held up a clenched paw, signaling them to stop, before extending two fingers and flicking his paw to the side, ordering them to move in that direction, which would take them around the building to a back entrance. The team stepped quickly through the bushes, avoiding the few patrolling henchmen around the place, until they came up to a wall with an inconspicuous door with a window on it. Alex commanded his team to set up with their rifles trained on the door in case of an unexpected turn of events, and he walked up to the window, making a predetermined series of taps on it with one of his fingers before pulling back and setting up himself. Fifteen seconds passed before the door slowly creaked open, with a beautiful scarlet vixen peeking out to see five rifle muzzles pointed at her face.
With an unmistakably petrified look on her face, Natalya let the door open completely, raised her paws into the air, and feebly said Alexei's name. After the team double checked their surroundings for any shenanigans, the husky briskly walked over to his significant other, kissing her forehead before asking where the summit was taking place in the establishment. Pavlov called his teammates to follow him inside as Natalya gave him instructions on where to go, and informed him that none of the actual Kossenko family was in attendance. Strike Team 13 plus Natalya Romanova swiftly maneuvered through the halls until they were directly outside the meeting spot, and at that point Alex took Natalya over to what appeared to be a closet of some kind, and told her to wait there while the action was taking place. He lovingly pressed his lips against hers, told her he loved her, and promised to return as soon as he could. She sat down nervously in the closet as her boyfriend shut the door and set out for imminent danger.
As Pavlov made the short walk back to his team, the now quite familiar voice of Pavel Svrbada crackled in his ear with a rushed air, "Alex! A search I had running for the Romanova database just came back, this is important: Do you remember when Igor Kossenko told you that Kovalev carried out your father's killing but wasn't responsible for it? I found out who is. It's Vladimir Romanova. He ordered the hit, Alex. It was his plan." The husky stopped dead in his tracks. He stood there for a few seconds, taking this information in, then looked back at the closet he had just hid his father's murderer's daughter in, and willed himself to continue on. He approached his team and asked if they had just heard what Pavel had announced, and they solemnly nodded their heads. As they stacked up to break down the door (all members carried the C8SFW on this op, as Blake had no need for a long range weapon), Pavlov reminded them that their first purpose was to capture the enemies, but to not hesitate to shoot if provoked. After a couple last minute checks, Alex gave a count to Kris, and once it reached zero, the muscular Doberman soundly kicked down the door, and moved out of the way while Manny through a flashbang grenade into the room. They turned away from the door and made sure their ears were covered when the tactical distraction device went off, and then filed into the room.
As they entered, Alexei shouted in Russian and the others in English for all people in the room to get down on the ground and surrender. Some furs started to obey them, but armed males barged in from another door, and Travis called his teammates attention to this while he instinctively brought his carbine to bear and pumped a burst into the first adversary, instantaneously putting him out of commission. While Zimmerman and Carlisle assisted Langley, Pavlov and Tannehill had begun fighting a few perseverant mafia members that rose up and drew weapons. Alexei drove his rifle butt into the stomach of one opponent, and as he doubled over, slammed it into the dog's snout, breaking his nose and knocking him unconscious as a smattering of blood scattered over the floor. Blake caught a pair trying to focus their weapons from across the meeting hall, and expertly aiming down his sights, the raccoon felled both of them with one shot to the head each, grimacing at the gore caused by the jacketed hollow-point rounds. After these events and the pile of four bodies stacked in the doorway, resistance effectively desisted, but out of the corner of his eye Alexei noticed Vladimir Romanova crawl into a smaller room at the back of the meeting hall. Evidently Kris saw this too and told Alex that they could handle subduing the members and that he should take care of Romanova.
The grizzled wolf attempted to close the door of the back room, but Alexei got to him before he could complete the action. Vladimir shifted backwards until he was sitting with his back against the wall, staring down the ominous barrel of Pavlov's weapon. Pavlov coldly asked him why he did it, and when he did not answer, attempting to feign not knowing what he was talking about, Alex shouted, "ANSWER ME!" Romanova flinched in surprise, before stating, "His time had come. It was time for a regime change." Rage filled Alex, and it took all of his willpower to keep himself from emptying an entire magazine into him. He continued on, "The best thing that ever happened to the reputation and success of the mafiya... and it was time for a regime change?" "Anton was not the best one for us," Vladimir countered, "Igor Kossenko is. He will lead us into a new age of power and prosperity. Something our old leader was seemingly against." Alexei looked at him incredulously, "You're blind, Romanova. He's conditioned you to believe that shit with delusions of grandeur. Once he's got control of everything after all this chaos, do you really think there's going to be room at the top for someone like you? With your current position, he's just using you as his puppet, and then once he doesn't need you any more, you'll be gone. Permanently. Is that what you want, Romanova? Is that what you fucking want?"
The wolf stared off into space, contemplating the husky's words, "You're right. So kill me now, do it quickly." Alex shook his head, so Vladimir went on, "You know, Alexei, I was there when Anton died. I did not shed a single tear. And if you let me go, the next person to get hurt will be my own family. I know no other way to get through to you." Alexei crinkled his nose in abhorrence, "You would harm your own daughter?" "There's no such thing as love, Alexei," Vladimir sneered, "only power. And once you realize this you too will be willing to do anything to attain it. So go ahead. Save Natalya. Destroy me." Pavlov shook his head, lowered his weapon and said before turning around, "No. I'm not going to kill in cold blood. I won't stoop to your level." As Alex called out to his teammates, he saw Blake scream and point in his direction, and time slowed down. Alex did an about face and saw Vladimir producing a pistol from out of nowhere. Alex reflexively gripped his carbine with his left paw, unholstered one of his Glocks with his right, and put two bullets into Vladimir's furry face before the wolf was remotely close to aiming at Pavlov. Staring at his handiwork, Alexei found it difficult to stand steadily. He had been devastated when he had been orphaned just months earlier, and now he had unwillingly done the same to his girlfriend.
He stepped out of the room like a zombie, and mindlessly helped cuff and corral the new prisoners, who would be picked up shortly and taken in for interrogation. Once the situation had dissipated, he mumbled that he had to go get Natalya, and left the meeting hall. He opened the closet door found the vixen sitting against a wall, hugging her legs. She asked what was wrong as Alex emotionlessly laid his gun down and sat beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly as he confessed, "He's dead. Your father's dead. He killed my father, and I killed him." Natalya froze and pleaded for an explanation. Why was he dead? Why did he kill Alex's father? "The why isn't important," Alex mumbled, "I never intended to kill him. He pulled a gun on me, and... and I had to. It all happened so fast. I'm so sorry." They silently held onto each other for an apparent eternity before Natalya squeaked out, "So what happens now? Where do I go? What's going to become of us?" "I don't know. I just don't know," solemnly admitted Alexei, desperately wishing that he knew all of the right things to say, all of the right things to do, and that maybe he'd have a genuinely happy ending for once.