Chapter Text
Anyone that thought vodka was odorless was a fool, Nino thought as she held on to what dignity she could muster. The air inside her hood had been fetid with the exhaled ethanol as it had been slipped over her head and she was picked up from behind. Immediately a hand had been clapped across her mouth and nose so her next breath was full of a chemical she could feel beginning to make her lose consciousness. She went limp deliberately and felt the cloth leave her face before she passed completely out. Hopefully she’d faked them out and would wake up sooner than they expected.
Consciousness returned in increments as Nino came to in the back of a vehicle of some sort. The rocking and swaying was hell on her stomach and she swallowed hard, forcing the urge to vomit away. The front of the hood still reeked of whatever chemical had knocked her out and that made things worse. Her head felt like it was going to split open from the headache. Ruthlessly she suppressed the physical annoyances and tried to concentrate on what was going on around her. She was on the floor of a van that reeked of marine paint- she’d smelled that when they crossed the ocean. She filed that fact away and concentrated again. The weave on the hood was loose and she could see the shapes of her captors seated on a bench in front of her intermittently. It was past dark now and the glow of streetlights provided the only light. Counting the driver there were three of them. All male. One of them was an American – either an American who had learned the language (unlikely)
Her hands were bound behind her as she was snatched from the car and frog-marched blind across a concrete surface where the sound of a large mechanical door masked all the noises except the breathing of the men moving her forward toward something she knew would be very unpleasant. Plopped unceremoniously into a chair she was tied to it at the waist and then each leg was secured to the back of the chair, so her feet weren’t touching the ground. That alone told her that they knew who she was or at least who she’d been.
The black hood covering her face had been yanked away and she closed her eyes tightly to avoid being dazzled by the light. Seconds ticked by as she let her eyes adjust to the brightness and listened for clues to where she might be. The absence of any detectable noises told her that the room was sound proof and she knew then that her former life had caught up with her. When the door had opened behind her with a heavy clang designed to strike terror into the occupant of the room. They should have known that trick wouldn’t work on her as she sat quietly with her eyes closed and listened to the instructions she was given that day when Jupiter was seven and she had made the mistake of thinking that her family was safe.
They were amateurs and beneath her contempt. She had some good years left, they told her. She owed the Bratva because she’d killed two soldiers, one of which was a distant cousin of the current Pakhan. She was lucky they weren’t killing her right now for what she’d done. Nino sat there and quietly fed the rage that she’d banked
Because she’d declined that target a single time because it meant killing in front of children- and possibly killing children- her superiors had made an example of Maximillian. Afterward they’d explained that they were only going to frighten them as consequences for her actions- the very pregnant Aleksa and her husband- then things got out of hand when Max had lunged after his telescope.
Nino stalked into their offices after she got the news, they’d told her Max had attacked one of them and the shooting was “accidental”. The shooter was in the room at the time and she knew from his smirk and the tiny wink he gave her from behind her commander that he’d done it for fun. Nino stifled the rage that flashed through her and let her training take her through the motions of saying things like “It couldn’t be helped, then” and “I need two days to help my sister get back home to the village where we grew up. My sister will have friends there.” Walking out of that office without trying to kill all of them was an exercise in self-control. Aleksa and her baby were more important, though and she’d gone straight to the train station after finding the telescope on her bed. She had everything she’d need with her.
They’d known that she’d come for them after that discussion. That’s why one of them tailed her on to the train she took. He was the first to die as her fear-driven rage had burned white hot inside her. She wished she could have made him pay for it for hours. Speed mattered. Aleksa was most important. She disposed of him and kicked his limp and bleeding body off the platform of the train that sped through the night toward Aleksa.
There had been seven of them in that room and she knew them all. Their names. Their faces. Their habits and weaknesses. She was coming for every one of them and their commander who hadn’t been there but she felt certain that he knew and probably directed the entire operation. The shooter would be the last one, though.
After Aleksa was safe, it would just be a matter of time until she found them. But her plans changed when she realized just how much Aleksa needed her. Jupiter needed her. Ten years and a political movement that split the Soviet Union later Nino found herself in a life she had never anticipated but had gradually come to enjoy and she was able to put aside her revenge although it remained a banked fire inside her.
It was almost funny how she had been spotted at the tiny ethnic Russian grocery store, buying groceries for the family one afternoon. They’d followed her home and soon they knew all there was to know about her. They’d left a note in the grocery bag she carried home. They’d threatened Aleksa and Jupiter with deportation or worse. That had been a mistake. In odd moments when Alexa was in the shower and Jupiter outside playing or at school, she sharpened knives and thought about revenge.
~0~
The opportunity presented to her was too perfect to resist. After her talk with Stinger she learned that only four of the original seven were still alive. Nino had killed one on the train and the other two had died violent and painful deaths associated with their activities in the Bratva. The shooter, the one that had winked at Nino over the CO’s shoulder was in America, functioning as the local Avtoritet for the Chicago area. Nino decided that he would be the last and he would know she was coming for him in payback for not only Maximilian's death but also his threats to her family over the past years. But for him and his evil, she knew that her life would have been a peaceful one.
She had to credit Stinger for fast action. Forty-eight hours later she was invited to the ship again. Aleksa was being distracted with the physics of the propulsion system by Percadium. Nino knew she’d be a while if science was involved.
Nino now had business to attend to on the surface. She’d discussed her rough plan of action with Stinger who had promised not to discuss it with Jupiter unless asked directly. His only stipulation was that she had to take two Skyjacker guards with her. “Non-negotiable,” he’d said as she drew a breath to argue, “Be glad I’m not sending six.”
“I want Winterborn,” she said irritably, “I don’t care who else you pick except they better speak Russian.”
“Мы все говорим по-русски, ваше высочество**,” he said with a small smile as he tapped the com button behind his ear.
Nino’s eyes narrowed as she considered the possibilities. “Those look handy. Can I get one?”
To his credit, Stinger’s face never betrayed a thing but she saw the sparkle- that flick of gold- in his irises that she saw whenever he experienced a strong emotion. “I don’t see why not although it might delay your business in Russia if we do it now.”
“Later then.” Nino wanted to get this issue out of the way. It had been too long coming.
“We’ll be tightening the guard on the house,” Stinger said offhandedly. “If this man knows someone’s after him, he may think of you and retaliate.”
Nino nodded. “Hopefully there will be so much trouble in Russia, they won’t notice Chicago got quiet for a long time and by then… who knows?”
Twenty-four hours later, the beam deposited her in the back yard of the first target- well inside his security fence. She had a temporary com device in ear and as her feet touched touched then hovered within the top layer of snow, she heard Stingers gruff “Good hunting.” Nobody from the family would miss her. Jupiter was gone and Aleksa had grown used to her spending time in the country with the soldiers. Plus Aleksa had been spending more and more time on the ship in the company of a certain handsome officer. Nino hadn't said a word about it though, content to let things work themselves out but enjoying the sparkle in her sister's eye that new-found youth hadn't put there. The family had bought the whole working out of town with Jupiter for a friend of Katherines who needed help after a severe illness and could afford to pay. Nobody had complained too much. Yet.
Winterborn landed behind her, clad as she was, in heat-retaining winter camouflage garb that hid his folded wings under a surprisingly trim jacket she knew had large slits that would allow the wings out, if needed. The second Skyjacker, Danner, had landed a moment later and turned back from his surveillance of the landscape behind them. It was eerily silent as the heavy snowfall masked most sounds except for the hiss of the crystals in the air and shifting on the ground. The snow glowed around their boots as they skated forward as they left no footprints.
Nino felt the comforting weight of her knife in its sheath on her forearm and smiled beneath the pale balaclava that covered the lower half of her face. It had begun.