Demons and Saints

He wanted to argue Alyssa’s words but her tone was such that she wasn’t going to waiver an inch on anything when it came to this woman. As Evan nodded a feeling of wrongness came over him. A strong feeling that Natalya didn’t really deserve to die. Though he agreed that not everyone was above redemption, some people should be allowed a chance. The problem was that to be given this chance she’d have to be let go and that wasn’t going to happen. Not with so many SHIELD agents dead at her hands. She didn’t have to kill those 2 in the lab. He knew that just like he knew water was wet. But she did kill them and he knew presently she had no remorse about that.

And so he found himself moving lightly down the hall to her guarded room. The door was a strong, metal alloy that would likely give the hulk a few moments of trouble to get through and 2 SHIELD guards snapped to attention at his approach. Evan reached out his hand to the one that held her shackle controller.

“I’ll take that if you please,” He said and the guard’s eyebrows rose as he plucked it from his belt and handed it to him. “The a/v is to be turned off while I’m inside,” he said in a dark tone as if he intended to do something harsh to the room’s occupant. Well, she had killed 2 of their own and these men knew that which was why they didn’t even hesitate to accommodate him.

Large, round metal bars extracted from the wall and the door clicked open. Evan moved inside and then the door shifted to close, the metal bars slid back into the wall and the door was sealed once more. Evan clicked the button on the controller to release her bonds and then tossed the small device onto the table in front of her. He wasn’t afraid of her right then, fear was something Evan didn’t feel...ever but he was wary of her. He knew first hand how fast and strong she was but hurting or killing him now would only have the room fill with gas to knock her out. Well...both of them really and Evan didn’t wish to be knocked out right then. He moved and slid back the chair across from her.

The only thing in this room was 2 acrylic chairs and a table. Her bonds were also non-metal, a throwback from when Magneto had been a serious threat. They were often used still though until a comprehensive DNA test was done. Obviously hers had not been completed yet. Evan sat then sifted idly and put his feet up on the table as if he was as relaxed as possible. The glass behind him became black as he settled a shadow upon it so that no one would be looking in on them.

“So, your name is Natalya...or is it Alina or Svetlana or Nadya? So many names, well, my name is Evan and I am reasonably certain you’ve never heard of me,” He said as he put his arms behind his head and leaned back in the chair in a relaxed pose and looked up at the ceiling. “I’ve read your dossier, a good read of I was someone who liked tragedies. Seems to me that the SSB took some of the best years of your life from you and as payment they make you hurt and kill people,” He said and shifted forward to tap the table with his palm. And shook his head. His mouth was in a near grimace at that, a clear sign that he believed what he said.

Natalya heard the large, thick metal door unlock and her dark eyes glanced over ever so slightly as Evan walked in. Her eyes seemed to be watching nothing and yet everything at the same time. When she heard the clicking release of her wrist shackles she looked at him with a look of slight surprise. Clearly he didn't see her as any sort of threat, though she noticed he did remain wary. There was nothing in the room that could be used as a weapon, but Natalya just by herself was a weapon. However, she was smart enough to know that killing this man would be utterly pointless. He sat with his feet on the acrylic table and his hands behind his head in a very relaxed position. She continued to sit erect and barely moved as he sat before her. Her long, dark hair was still pulled up into a ponytail, although it had loosened during her capture and several pieces framed her face. Even slightly unkempt she was extremely beautiful and also utterly mysterious, but with a dangerous edge.

"You will get nothing from me...Evan...so don't waste your time."

Evan managed a smile at her few words, a real smile that surprised him. “I’m not so naive Nattie, not even for such a beautiful woman as you are...may I call you Nattie? That I believe a few minutes in my presence,” he refrained from using the term ‘custody’ to not further set her off from him. “Would even begin to change a lifetime of harsh programming at the hands of the SSB.” He smirked and nodded. “Well, I’ve been known to have a strong effect on some women,” he said in a chuckle as his face formed a smile and sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest and looked at her.

“No one sent me, I asked to come in here and no one is recording what you say and I’ve taken away their eyes...its just you and me here, now. I know you won’t admit that you don’t wish to die but I will admit something to you. I don’t think you deserve that...not yet,” he said honestly. “By either SHIELD nor the SSB. But I’m pretty sure that’s what's in store for you, regardless of my feelings on the matter,” Evan said plainly.

“I’m going to ask you a question Nattie and you can either answer or not but if you don’t intend on being truthful about it, don’t answer. Have you ever thought about doing something other than what you’re told? Do you ever dream of another life Nattie? Of a little girl who was allowed to play and have friends and a choice to be whatever she wanted to be? I know alot about dreams...dreams and nightmares. What do you dream Nattie Sokolova?” He said as he sat up and looked into her eyes. His eyes were so dark, as if shadows themselves and they seemed to want to pierce into her. Calling to her to answer his question.

Natalya eyed Evan as he asked to call her "Nattie", but said nothing at that moment. She just let him speak. She believed him when he told her that no one was recording what they were saying or watching them. But what she didn't understand was why he was wasting time talking to her. She had failed that mission...her first failure...and she knew her last. Tatiana had warned her her entire life about failure in the SSB. It was not tolerated in the slightest and if they thought she was in a position to possibly give away SSB secrets she would be killed. She knew this. She was angry at herself for her failure. She had not anticipated encountering a mutant and she should have anticipated anything. That had been her undoing. But she refused to beg or barter for her life. That is not the way she had been taught. She had been taught that when the time came for death to face it like SSB agents faced everything else.

However, Evan's question caught Natalya off guard. She looked at him as a single memory came into her mind. When she was 7 Tatiana had taken her to the Russian ballet as part of a mission. Natalya had fallen in love with dance that night and had for the first, and last time, in her life she had begged her to allow her to learn dance. As a result she had been beaten until the desire left her and she had never spoken about it or thought about it again. For a brief moment Evan would see a small crack form in Natalya's outer shell. There was a look of heartbreaking sadness in her eyes, but as quickly as it had come it left and suddenly she moved. She moved like a viper and before Evan realized what she was doing she had leaned across the table and grabbed his shirt. She pulled him towards her and kissed him more deeply and passionately than any other woman he had ever been with before. Then, she released him and looked at him with a look of satisfaction in her eyes.

"I had a feeling the first moment I saw you that you were a good kisser...my suspicions were correct."

She then got up and began to walk behind him. She leaned down and kissed his neck before whispering into his ear. "Oh...and don't call me Nattie."

He had no weapons, technology or devices on him. All he had was his clothes so he wasn’t all that concerned when she grabbed at him. Surprised for certain when she began to kiss him certainly but not concerned. Maybe a little wary still but not afraid. His wariness stopped abruptly and indeed he did kiss her back. His lips were as soft as they looked and he used them on hers and they quickly began to move in time with hers. He tasted like licorice and tea and wore an Armani cologne that she knew well. He wasn’t terribly strong but he was nicely built with just enough of a musculature to be as quick as she knew he was for someone without her specific gifts anyway. When she came around behind him he wondered if she was going to just have at him right then and there. He both hoped she would and wouldn’t try to at the same time.

“I’ll take that under advisement, shall I assume you have had dreams then?” He said in a groan as his body reacted to her kisses on his neck and his eyes closed briefly out of pleasure. He didn’t stop her and he tilted his head back to look up at her. “I’ve had the same dream often of late...one that speaks of the world as we know it ending and our race enslaved by a tall figure bathed in shadow,” he said in a whisper. He knew his time with her was going to end soon and he remembered why she was the way she was. It was impossible to stop his heart form going out to her. To stifle the compassion that filled him. Those emotions melded with what she was doing and the wrongness of her fate only embedded itself deeper into his soul.

Natalya was quite pleased with his reaction and a little sad that she wouldn’t be able to do more with him. There was something about him...something she couldn’t put her finger on. It was a strange, alien feeling to her that for a moment made her feel weak. She quickly pushed it away to get control of her emotions again...although she did run her fingers through his hair as she stepped away from him. His words about that dream though caused her to pause and look at him. How had he known about that dream? She hadn’t told a soul about it and yet here he was speaking of every detail she had dreamt. She stopped and crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him as her eyes narrowed.

“How did you know about that?”

Evan had to crane his neck to keep sight of her behind him and her sudden turn to face him gave him all the information he needed about that particular dream. Several mutants had the same dream and it was only a wild gamble that she might have too. One that paid off for him.

“You’re not the only one to have such dreams Natalya. Myself and others have had it as well. Some believe it is something yet to come,” he said then stood and turned around to sit upon the edge of the table with his arms at his sides. He held the edge of the table with his hands as he looked at her. “But some, including myself believe it be something that isn’t set in stone. Only one possible future that can be changed,” he offered in a soft voice. God she was beautiful! Every inch of her as perfect of a specimen of the female form as he had ever seen. He looked over at the door a moment then back toward her again, he knew his time was short and he might as well lay everything down on the table. He didn’t know why he should, especially for her but somehow he felt he needed too.

“Now, our time grows short so I will tell you something I’ve not told anyone else. The Dark Matter has something to do with our undoing,” He said in little more than a whisper. “I can feel it, it knows something is seeking it. I don’t know what yet but I know it is directly related to it,” he added. It was then that a security alarm went off. In the ceiling a red light began to spin and an alarm blared through the intercom speakers. Evan stood abruptly and on guard though nothing was apparent right then to be on guard about though Natalya was looking at him. Had the SSB come for her already?

Natalya was silent as she looked at Evan. As he spoke about others having the same dream she blinked and realized that he was speaking the truth and the truth frightened her. She wasn’t frightened of anything and that alone frightened her even more. It was then that Evan revealed to her the truth about the Dark Matter filament. Natalya’s dark eyes met Evans and she knew then that their lives had now become entangled. However, before she could say anything alarms suddenly began to sound. She knew in that moment that the SSB had found her. Her eyes remained on Evan’s as she reached a decision.

“I...I need your help.”

Even with the alarm blaring Evan tilted his head back slightly and quirked an eyebrow at her words. He was about to say something akin to ‘I’m not a fool’ when the large door clicked and then began to open. He figured that the guards wanted to secure Natalya but then something black and roundish was tossed into the room just as sounds of gunfire erupted from outside the door.

Natalya looked at Evan and Evan looked at her and they both knew what it was. Pulse grenades were developed by SHIELD but many different organizations used them. The grenades when detonated emit a massive sonic shockwave. A lethal one that turned people’s brains into mush in which there was no medical fix. Without thinking. He had no time to think Evan called the shadows from inside the room to him. And then he ran for Natalya and as the grenade went off he grunted as their bodies connected in a violent clash that sent them hurdling into her own shadow that was behind her.

Evan had harden his shadows and deafened them but he took a good deal of the blast from behind. Natalya being who she was was far more resilient than Evan was but when her eyes finally opened pain wracked her entire body.

Where ever they ended up it was obviously a closed in space and not in the holding cell. Evan was on top of her, his head just below her chin. She felt him breath but he was obviously unconscious. She felt moisture on her lip and the metallic, coppery taste was a clear sign that her nose was bleeding. That and everything sounded...muffled in her ears. Even her own breathing. Those grenades could usually kill everyone in a room that size. How Evan managed to get them both out alive was a complete mystery to her.

The first thing that Natalya felt was the intense pain coursing through her body. Every part of her hurt, and her head and ears throbbed. Her mind was cloudy at first, but then she slowly began to remember what had happened. They had been in her holding cell and then the alarm had gone off. A moment later there was gun fire followed by a pulse grenade being thrown into the room. She remembered shadows and then Evan crashing into her and then darkness. Her eyes were blurry and she felt Evan's weight on top of her. There was the feeling on something liquid with a metallic taste on her lips and she knew it was blood. At first she feared Evan might be dead, but then she felt him breath. She managed to roll him carefully off of her and she groaned in pain as she turned over and managed to pull herself up. It was then that she realized they were no longer in the SHIELD facility. They appeared to be in someone's closet. It was a man's judging by the clothes and somehow she had a strange feeling that they were Evan's. She shook him slightly to awaken him.

"Evan..."

There was o lot a little bit of light coming from the bedroom but when she moved the light in the closet flicked on above them. Blood seeped from Evan’s nose but also from his ears as well but only a few drops from each. His breathing seemed fine but consciousness didn’t come to him right away.

Selflessly and perhaps foolishly, Evan had risked his life for hers. There wasn’t an exchange or expectation or promise of payment. He just acted and In doing so kept them both alive.

Evans flat was definitely a man’s flat. He liked dark, edgy colors and simple but modern furniture. The room outside the closet opened up into half exposed spaces save for the bathroom which had its own door not far from the large bed. The living room, the kitchen, a small workout space and a small area for watching tv were all visible from where she was, if only just. It was certainly clean and tidy and on the right was a wall of glass and on the other side of the glass was the top of what she knew was some kind of Sports car.

As she continued to touch Evan’s face she felt him stir finally. After a moment he opened his eyes slightly and looked up at her. “Ok, let’s not do that again any time soon!” He groaned and then coughed and took in more air into his lungs.

Natalya still felt rather dizzy, but she managed to look at the space outside of the closet. They were clearly in an apartment. It was small but clean and tidy. Everything was wide open and there weren't any clearly defined spaces. Natalya looked back down at Evan and found herself growing strangely worried about him. It was an odd, foreign feeling to her and she gently touched his face. Finally, he stirred and his eyes open slightly. When he jokingly said that they should not do that again she looked at him.

"What the hell was that? What did you do and how did we get here?"

Evan felt at his lip and looked at the blood on his fingers. He rolled over onto his hands and knees as the world lurched around him. He felt like heaving up everything that he had eaten for the last week but his stomach just seemed to stay in that perpetual state of feeling ill.

“I can create depth into any shadow I can detect nearby and create a hole into it and out of it into another one nearby. I can also create a hole like this to open up onto a place I know well, like my closet,” he explained as he shook his head as if to clear it.

“I...I couldn’t think of anything else to do to save us,” he added as he came to a sitting position. He wiped his nose again but the bleeding seemed to have stopped. “Are you alright?” He asked as he rubbed his side.

Natalya was quite fascinated by Evan's explanation as to what had happened. She didn't fully understand it yet, but wanted to learn more. She had not encountered many mutants, though one might argue that with the Super Soldier Serum in her blood that she was one herself.

"Yes...I'm alright," she responded after a moment. She still felt somewhat dizzy, but she would live...thanks to Evan. She just looked at him a long moment before speaking again. "Why did you save me?"

Evan shook his head once more as if to shake away the last remnants of the blast that made his head feel like it had just been hit with a hammer. His vision was still blurry but it was coming back to him quickly. To her question he honestly wasn’t completely sure why he had saved her. It had nothing to do with chivalry, that misguided notion that all women needed to be saved. It had no real place in a modern world but honestly part of him felt that one way or another, for one reason or another Natalya did need to be saved. From herself. He doubted that would make a suitable answer for her though and he saw her stance. Yes he saved her but he also remembered who she was. A hardened assassin that could be on him in an instant. He doubted he could do enough to stop her in the time it would take her to stroke him down. Especially after their first meeting. Now she knew part of his ability and that put the advantage in her court now.

Carefully he steadied himself and stood. “Because it wasn’t right!” Evan said peevishly. It was so hard to moderate his tone with his head pounding as it was right then. “None of this...none of it is right!” He added as if he were really irritated and the loudness of his own voice made him raise up his hand to touch his forehead. He winced and felt his stomach lurch but he still managed to keep himself from throwing up. “Perhaps you won’t understand that but the SSB doesn’t have the right to make you and then destroy you. No one has that right but you and you alone,” He said plainly. “Perhaps you agree with them? I can understand why but it doesn’t change the wrongness of it. Lots of people do bad things but not everyone realizes that those things are bad. Letting the SSB kill you was no less wrong that letting SHIELD do it,” Evan said and then slumped realizing what a mess he had just made for himself. Alyssa might understand but everyone else likely will not. She knew him and knew how he thought.

Natalya looked at him with her arms crossed over her chest and could see that he was trying to come up with an answer he knew would suit her. She was a suspicious woman naturally, though she had a feeling she could trust Evan, she remained wary. However, what she had not expected was his strong response. It caused her to blink and eye him slightly. She barely knew this man and he barely knew her. They were technically on opposing sides, though now she wasn't sure what to think. The SSB had tried to kill her and she didn't blame them. She had failed her mission and been captured. The SSB guarded their secrets strongly and if they felt an agent was in a position to give away information they would take them out. Not even Natalya was immune to this.

"You do realize that by helping me that you have gone against SHIELD and made yourself an outsider, right? You should have just let me die Evan. I can guarantee that I am not worth getting yourself killed over."

Suddenly, Evan's phone began to ring. He would see it was Alyssa calling him.

“Fuck! I gotta lose this!” he said and then began to deepen a shadow next to him as he pulled out his phone. He hit the call button then let the phone fall. Miles away in his office at headquarters his phone landed on the floor under his desk. He could still hear her voice though.

“I know what you’re going to say Alyssa but I couldn’t just let the SSB...if it WAS the SSB, just kill her!” He said angrily into the shadow. He went onto one knee to get a bit closer to it. It was odd to be speaking to her like this but he didn’t want them to track his phone here. He knew they’d try that very soon if they hadn’t already. If they did they’d think he was in his office talking to Alyssa right now. He turned to look at Natalya, her pose was relaxed and also not at the same time. His face quickly grew solemn as he thought about his situation and what he had just done. He hadn't thought this all through to any good outcome but the fate of the entire world was at stake and if his reputation had to suffer then so be it. But it still bothered him though, he had worked hard to get where he was. Even Alyssa didn’t know about this little trick. For which he was both ashamed and grateful at the moment. That much he knew for certain and somehow he also knew that Natalya was a key to it all. Natalya, himself, and something else. The Dark Matter? He wasn’t entirely sure.

“I take full responsibility for her actions from here on out Alyssa. But I need her...I can’t explain it all now,” he began then decided to be more circumspect over the phone as he was certain others were listening in right then. “I’ll just say it has to do with my dreams,” he said plainly. He had told Alyssa of his dreams and SHIELD knew of others with psychic abilities who also had these dreams though his wasn’t because of anything like that. His dreams were due to his affinity to darkness, shadow and negative energy. They...talked to him sometimes, more so in his dreams than at any other time. Usually his humanity wouldn’t allow him to listen when he was awake though it had happened in the past, if infrequently.

Alyssa was pacing back and forth in her office as she listened to Evan. Her call was being recorded and she felt sick to her stomach at what Evan had just done. How had he gotten Natalya out?! She didn't understand it, but the mere fact that he had made her feel nauseous. Evan had worked very hard to get where he was and now he was throwing it all away and making himself an enemy to SHIELD. And for what? A beautiful face? Though she was tough on Evan because she was his superior, she cared for Evan as well. She had personally trained him and gotten him to where he was and had been proud of him. How could he turn his back on her now?

"Evan, you are not thinking clearly. That woman will kill you. Just bring her back and we will deal with the consequences together. Don't throw your life away...everything you have worked for. Please...don't make us your enemy."

Meanwhile, Natalya had walked out of the closet. She walked into Evan's kitchen and grabbed a small knife. It was sharp and would do the trick. She laid her left arm down on the counter with the palm facing up. She then began to cut into her own flesh about halfway down her forearm. Blood began to drip onto the counter, but she didn't even flinch. She cut deeper and then widened the opening to get her fingers in. She pulled out a small, round tracker and dropped it onto the counter. She used a kitchen towel to slow the bleeding in her arm as she walked over to a window overlooking the street below. She opened the window and spotted a pickup truck stopped at a light right beneath her. She threw the tracker and it landed in the back of the truck. As the light turned green the truck pulled away with the tracker in the bed of the pickup.

Evan watched what Natalya was doing out of the corner of his eye. When she began to cut herself it made his stomach lurch again and he tried to moderate his voice to the added distractions. “You know whats at stake Alyssa, If I’m wrong then at the very least she’s out of SSB hands for the time-being. If I’m right then there is everything to gain,” he said and then shifted and lifted up his gaze so he could see what natalya was doing. “That grenade would have killed me right along with her. And right now I very much want to continue to stay alive. I still intend to do the right thing Alyssa, but I’m going to do it my way for once,” he said. He could almost hear her groan over the phone. ‘His’ way meant finding a balance between what was ‘sanctioned’ by SHIELD and his own personal moral code. He was far from being some kind of ‘White Knight’ like Captain America was. But he still wanted to do the right thing. And right now that was keeping them both alive and finding out why the SSB wanted the Dark Matter.

“Goodbye Alyssa,” Evan said and then released his powers over the nearby shadow. The shadow near him flexed and then drifted back to its correct shape. He knelt there for a moment wanting desperately to call her back but that would be going backwards now. Something he so very much hated to do.

“There’s a first aid kit in the cupboard by the sink,” Evan said as he stood and moved over to the kitchen. He pulled open the fridge door then reached in and grabbed out 2 cans of beer. He popped them open then slid one to the side. He took a few steps away from the sink and tipped the beer back and drank heavily from the can. He purposefully put his back to her right then. If she was going to kill him he just assume she get it over with sooner than later. He did not hold his power nor would he. He didn’t want to kill Natalya and not wanting to had nothing to do with the heavy attraction he felt toward her. To Evan, fairness and balance meant everything. Her death, should he have allowed it would have upset that balance and now, the fact that he had saved her required, to him anyway that she repay that debt. But how did one repay someone for life?

“We need to talk you and I. Since you haven’t killed me yet, I will assume you still think I can help you in some way,” he said as he looked down at the top of his beer can, his back was still to her. He couldn’t help the heaviness of his heart right then. Had he just thrown his entire life away?

‘A small price Evan, if it means the world,’ he thought. It still brought him a deep feeling of remorse and regret though.

Natalya continued to watch Evan from the corner of her eye as she slowly walked over to the cupboard he had mentioned. She opened it and spotted the first aid kit. She pulled it out and opened it up. She found some gauze and bandage tape. The wound she had made would ordinarily have needed stiches, but she had the Super Soldier Serum in her blood and it caused her to heal much more quickly. In two days time the wound would be completely closed. She pressed the gauze against the cut and used the bandage tape to secure it in place. Through the entire thing she kept Evan in her sights. She didn't consider him a threat, but she was still trying to work everything out in her head. She watched him as he downed his beer, but waited for him to speak. When he finally did she noticed that he kept his back to her. She had no intention of killing him...at least not at this point. He had saved her life...though she still wasn't sure why. Her mind was attempting to process everything and it was proving to be rather difficult. She grabbed a towel and began to clean the blood from the counter. It was then that the thought began to hit her that she was alone for the first time in her life. Her entire life had been the SSB and now that she was an outcast and being hunted by the very people she had worked with and for she didn't know what to do. However, she also wasn't alone. Evan had just saved her life, though she still didn't understand why and probably never would.

"You can turn around and face me," she finally said. "I have no intention of hurting or killing you."

Evan did as she asked and turned around. He cleared his throat and held in a belch to be polite as he looked at her. He knew the SSB put trackers in their agents but had never seen one removed quite like that. He had seen her move faster than he had ever seen anyone move save for Spider-Man maybe and wondered if she was just human or something more? Well, eventually that would come out in the wash and he’d not have to ask her that question.

“You owe me Natalya, you owe me big,” He said deciding not to waste time in idle talk. He guessed that that kind of talk might bore her. It certainly bored him at times. Alyssa did that alot. His apartment was still quite dark inside. He had drawn shades and he hadn’t bothered to turn any others on. “If they suspected that I’d be here we’d likely have SHIELD agents all over us already. Alyssa...my commander, knows I’m too smart to hide out in my own place. And right now they are wishing they had video to know how I got you out. Well, I’m ok with that being a mystery,” he said then decided to cut to the chase.

“The SSB want you dead and SHIELD has a massive APB out on you with orders to shoot to kill. Me being near you will likely endanger my life so I will make this plain. In my dream it is you that stops whatever it is from happening but I am there too. I’m not exactly certain in what capacity or how but I know that if we are separated for too long...we will both die. If we stay together...we will live and succeed in...whatever it is we need to do. I don’t normally live my life by a dream but when others have the same dream...I think it should be taken seriously,” he said in plain words he hoped were easy for her to understand. “We need to know who sent the SSB for the Dark Matter, that’s our first goal I think and learning that will lead us to our second,” He said as if he were discussing the weather. What that meant, what he meant was that they were going to have to infiltrate the SSB and find out who set up the theft.

Natalya tossed the bloody towel into the sink and then hopped up to sit on the counter. She crossed her long legs as she looked at Evan. She listened to him without interruption. She wanted to argue with him and tell him that his dream was just that...a dream...but then she remembered her own dreams. How could he have known about them when she had told no one? How could their dreams be almost the same without them actually being visions of the future? The entire thing was crazy to Natalya, but she had come to learn as an SSB agent that reality was far crazier than fiction at times.

"The SSB is heavily fortified with technology rivaling that of SHIELD. Getting inside is going to be dangerous...if not suicidal."

She sighed and looked down. Just 24 hours ago she had been the SSB's top agent and now she was being hunted by them and planning to infiltrate the very place that had once been her home.

"But...if we need to do it then I'll do it."

That made Evan grin slightly. “Oh I can get us in. It will be you knowing where to go to get that information. Or whom we need to interrogate,” He said as he moved over to the sink and turned on the faucet. He opened a drawer under the sink and took out a small washcloth. He got it wet and then began to wash his face and ears.

“They’ll likely know what you look like but me? I doubt they’d know me,” he said wearily. He was tired and he removed another washcloth and wet it for her. He handed to her as he finished washing himself off. He reached up and lifted his shirt off as he stepped away from her toward his bed.

“Well, a few hours of sleep sounds about right right now,” he said and yawned as he tossed his black shirt onto a nearby chair. He paused considering then another grin came over him as he turned his head to look back at her. “Come on, I want to fuck and then sleep,” He said and not in a tone that might be confused with asking. She owed him and he knew if he didn’t get past the strong desire he had for her right then he never would.

Natalya took the wash cloth and wiped away the dirt and dried blood from her face. She needed a real shower but this would do for now. She also needed to figure out some clothes since what she was wearing was all she had, but that could be done later on. She and Evan had a lot to discuss and figure out and so she was somewhat surprised when he took off his shirt and made his way towards his bed. She was about to ask where she was going to sleep when he looked over at her and answered that question. His statement made her eyebrows go up, but he was good looking and she appreciated his boldness.

A few minutes later they were together in his bed. Both of their clothes were strewn about the area around the bed and they were kissing passionately as they vied for control. She felt Evan begin to reach for something and she figured it was a condom. She pulled back and grinned at him slightly.

“You don’t need those with me.”