Is this where the party is?
Who: Hanna, Natasha, Clarice and Neena What: Preparing for a mission When: 4/14 Where: Neena's place Status: complete RAting: PG-13
“Look, this is exactly why I didn’t tell you. Because you’d get angry about it and try to talk me out of it, or try to include yourself in it, or something equally irritating!” Neena shouted, while flailing her arms in the air. It was Monday morning, and she’d waited until then to tell Clarice her plan.
Clarice of course, was understandably upset about it, but Neena was standing her ground. If Clarice had come along - if she did come along - Neena wasn’t sure she could keep her head in the game. In fact, she was certain of it. She locked eyes with Clarice, “If they end up taking you, if you come along somehow, they will hurt you. They’ll hurt you,and I’ll have to know they hurt you, and I can’t. Clarice, I can’t. You compromise me emotionally.”
“Of course I’d get angry about this! You could get yourself killed! Or worse! Damn it who knows what they’ll do to you? Or what kind of information they could get out of you. God only knows what they’ve got on their side, or who.” She dropped her arms to her sides, and stared at Neena. Her voice was almost forlorn. She couldn’t fight that. “I’m a fighter too. Let me fight.”
"You can fight when you come to get me. I'm going to need you then. I'm counting on you, in fact. And that's a huge deal, Clarice. I'm throwing myself into the pits of hell and no matter what it is they do to me, I'll know that you're coming for me. And..." Neena folded her arms and looked off to the side, "... That's a big deal. Counting on someone else to pull my ass out of the fire. Letting you see me, no matter what state I'm in."
“All right.” Clarice knew when to stop pushing, when Neena was going to get too emotional. They weren’t laying in bed. This wasn’t the time for words. But then it was never time for words. Clarice would have to settle for looks, and for the emotions in Neena’s eyes. “I won’t break your trust, Neena.”
Maybe it shouldn't have been the time for words, but Neena suddenly realised that this might be the last time she had to say them. And if she was going to say them, she wanted it to be before Natasha and Hanna were in the room.
So she let the walls down for a few seconds, and pulled Clarice into her arms, "I love you. So don't... fuss. Trust me to come back. I'll trust you to save me. Okay?"
"I love you too." And Clarice's voice didn't wobble though she said the words like she was afraid of the same thing Neena was. She pressed her cheek against Neena's and held her tight. "Trust your instincts, Neena." Now that didn't need to be said but she felt better saying it.
Neena squeezed Clarice against her for another few heartbeats, before pointing at the two safes in the closet, "Okay. Back to ninja business. Those need to be blinked out to the safehouse in Canada. And then we need to signal Tasha that it's time to join us, and..."
She looked around, then shouted, "HEY KID, Get in here!"
Hanna definitely needed to be around. They needed to be seen all together in the same room. That, and Neena wanted to make sure the kid knew the plan.
Clarice nodded, blinking away the safe, then looking around. She sent away Neena’s tv, too. “Anything else of value? They’re going to trash the place.” It would never be the same again and it kind of made her feel sad. She’d gotten a little attached. She looked up as Hanna came into the room. The blonde girl had a super serious look on her face.
"Get the Playstation, too, and Hanna's pack. I've got a suitcase on the bed with my clothes in it. There's nothing else in here I care about, I packed it all up in the safes." Neena ran a hand up into her hair and let out a deep breath. Sometimes she daydreamed about cutting it short like her dream self sometimes wore it. Right now it felt heavy and hot against her neck, and she quickly braided it back and out of her way.
Then she turned her attention to Hanna, "You're pretty smart, so you probably already know that your mom is about to get herself into some trouble."
“Got it.” Clarice blinked those things away, then headed to the kitchen to get them some water.
“You are goings to be baits, and try to infiltrate them. They will torture you and hurt you.” Hanna looked angry as she spoke, and put her hand on Neena’s arm. “Don’t do this!”
"They will torture me and hurt me, yes. I don't care. What I care about is you. Your safety. There are a million cells out there and none of them have the same mission. If I don't do this, it could take us years to find the ones that are after you." Neena put a hand on Hanna's shoulder, and pulled the girl against her, "You don't have years. You deserve to be free now."
“I just found you, I don’t want to lose you.” She hugged her own arms. “And this is my fault, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” She swallowed, then hugged Neena, burying her face in the woman’s chest.
"You aren't going to lose me," Neena replied, softly. The crying was something she still didn't know how to deal with, but right then didn't seem the moment to tell Hanna to toughen up. This was a big deal, her plan was. Especially for the girl. She patted Hanna's back a bit, "They won't kill me. And whatever else they do I can survive. Don't you worry about me. I need you to look after Clarice for me."
“I will protects her,” Hanna promised. She took a step back and wiped at her eyes. “I don’t like this. You’re working with the bitch that shots that man! I saw it!”
"She shot me four times, too. Remember when I told you I took bullets for you? That was her. But the enemy of your enemy is your friend, and I trust her rage at least. Cerberus is definitely against her. So that means we'll work with her for now." Neena was seriously hoping that the dreams would change Natasha's mind about which side she was on sooner rather than later.
Maybe working together against the bad guys would help, but she wasn't holding her breath or anything, "And that man's just fine. He heals up really quickly."
Hanna didn’t look like she liked that idea, but she knew she’d have to accept it, at least for now. “Kill her if she tries anything.”
“I am not going to try anything,” Natasha said, as she slipped in through the window. “Is this where the party is?”
"Yeah, it's party central right here." Neena joked. She nodded at Natasha, then motioned towards the door, "We should all hang out in the kitchen. I got cake and ice cream. I figured we might as well make this the best day ever, at least for the next few minutes or so."
“Okay,” Hanna said, still eyeing Natasha as though she just didn’t trust her. That was fair, Nat thought. She was right not to trust her, at least in the past.
Right now, though, they all had the same mission.
There really was cake and ice cream in the kitchen. It was like they were celebrating someone's birthday. Neena even picked one out that had 'Happy Birthday' written right on it.
She of course had no idea when Hanna's was - it was probably in the file, but there seemed to be data missing from that file and Neena had barely looked at it. But it was still fun to pretend, as long as they weren't celebrating hers.
"I got one of those containers of ice cream that has chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. That way everyone wins!"
Hanna was staring at the cake like she wanted to cry. She hadn’t had a birthday cake in...a very long time. Erik hadn’t really had the time the past few years, and then she had run away.
Clarice reached for the ice cream. Might as well get a strawberry kiss out of Neena while she could.
“We probably have five minutes,” Natasha pointed out.
Clarice handed her a fork. “Have some chocolate.”
“If the lady insists.”
"Nothing for us to do over the next five minutes anyway. Might as well relax. It's not like the plan's so hard to remember that we need to go over it again." Neena shrugged a shoulder as she spoke, and cut perfectly even slices of cake out for everyone. She handed Hanna a plate, and winked at her, before scooping herself some vanilla ice cream and claiming a fork from Clarice.
And five minutes later, when soldiers burst in, Natasha and Neena were sitting at the table alone. Natasha gestured with a fork. “Have some cake. It’s delicious.”