Chapter 35 ━━ Artie Villa

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Enjoying his morning black coffee, Hedeon leans into his chair, watching the blond agent preparing breakfast. "Good news. I slept like a baby after our little therapy session last night. Better news, I've got our plan ready." 

Noah pushes one bowl of cereal to the shirtless supersoldier, joining him on the table. "Alright. I don't bite. What's the plan, incredible shrinking asswipe?" 

Hedeon opens his mouth to explain the plan when they hear footsteps coming into the kitchen. 

Soon, a familiar archer walks in and salutes with a grin on her face. "Agent Kate Bishop at your service. I'm your friendly tech guy." 

After breakfast, Kate finds herself in Hedeon's bedroom where Hedeon begins to carefully sharpening his retractable sword. 

"So, you don't have anything to say?" Kate asks nervously, finding the supersoldier's silence unusual. 

"I'm still trying to process, okay?" He replies, and places his retractable sword aside to face the young archer. "You have to understand that this is Redroom we're after and it's a lot worse than Kingpin. It's like a suicide mission." 

"Barney, I know that you're mad at me..." She trails off. 

"Mad is not the emotion I'm feeling right now." Hedeon states. 

"Rage?" 

"Getting warmer." 

"I see." Kate mumbles with a frown, tracing the edge of her laptop. "Look, I understand what I'm getting into. I just want to at least help from afar." 

Hedeon sighs at the pouting archer. "Fine." 

Kate's head snaps towards the supersoldier with utter shock. "Fine? That's it?" 

"Yes. With one condition." Hedeon confirms, raising a finger to point out his condition and the young archer quickly nods her head, wanting him to continue. "I don't care how bad the situation is going to turn on me, I want you to run as fast as you can at the very first Red flag. Got it?" 

"Okay." Kate agrees and does a victory fist and tries to hold down her excitement when the supersoldier isn't looking. 

Noah walks in with long strides. "Put on a shirt, Hedeon. There's a lady present." 

"I've already seen him shirtless. Multiple times. All the time." Kate rambles, the excitement of her joining the mission getting the best of her but soon notices her words and sheepishly smiles. "Sorry, that came out very wrong." 

"So, what kinda security surveillance are we looking at?" Noah says, observing the blue prints of Artie Villa placed all over the table. 

"Well, the guy's an arms dealer, so, you know, every square inch of this place is gonna be locked. The eyes and ears are in a secure room in the west hall." Hedeon points at the west hall and continues. "Eighty seven motion sensitive 8K cameras with an overlapping field of vision, so there are no natural blind spots. They're always watching, always listening. Kinda like Alexa but with guns." 

"The door to Ian's office is a military grade, biometric portal made out of a foot and a half of solid titanium. So you can't drill it and you can't make it go boom." Hedeon adds, moving his hands to demonstrate an explosion. "The only way to go through it is with facial and voice recognition. And there's only one face and one voice that opens it." 

"How are we gonna get Ian's voice and face?" Noah questions. 

Hedeon smirks. "Well, first off, a positive mental attitude helps. But so does some pretty kickass high technology." 

"I got it covered." Kate adds, continuing to work on her laptop. 

"But wait. There's more where things get a little tricky. There's a passcode that changes every six minutes. Which only can gain to his phone. If someone breaks in, he'll know. So we gotta steal his phone." Hedeon states, trying to remember if he lost any important points which he finds none in the end. "So here's how we go action in the plan. We invite ourselves to the party and blend in until we steal the phone, find our way into Ian's office with Kate's help, snoop around the information we want and get out." 

Noah smiles with appreciation. "Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you not being the dumbest partner on earth?" 

"You're not sparkly enough. I'm gonna get you a matching vest to go with those pants." Hedeon teases, nudging the blond agent with his knee. 

"Yelena's gonna be there." Noah blurts and the playfulness of the supersoldier's face disappears. "I didn't exactly find the message. Yelena found it and I stole it from her." 

Hedeon stares at the blond agent with a look of disbelief. "You're fucked." 

"This is going to be good." Kate says, printing the invitation card to the party before handing a device. "All you two have to do is connect this to the server so I can slide into the system without any harm. Once I'm in, I'll take care of the security cameras and the doors." 

"You picked Chayan Korolev and Alexander Korolev out of every other guest in the list?!
This is not going to work." Noah complains, dramatically waving the invitation card in the air. 

"Who?" Hedeon peaks at the invitation before the blond agent goes through his stuff and slams a photo in front of the supersoldier who curiously eyes the photo. "It won't be that hard. Look at them. Two lovely brothers looking cute and stuff." 

"Except they're not brothers." Noah points out grimly and Hedeon turns to the archer with a raised eyebrow for an explanation. 

Kate scratches the back of her neck with a nervous smile. "They're a couple and happily married to each other which means you two have to act affectionately so no one will suspect a thing. They're literally attached to hips and they're very Russian." 

"It's all good. I'll do all the talking then." Hedeon shrugs causally. "But I want more details about the Korolevs." 

Kate sighs in relief and turns to the blond agent. "I'll find you a translator. So you can blend in." 

Noah nods and points at the grim looking red headed male in the photo. "Chayan Korolev is a mafia king. He covers all the illegal drugs around the world and is very dangerous. Let me tell you, he's good at what he's doing. His only weakness is his partner, Alexander." 

"What about him?" Hedeon asks, eyeing the raven headed male with a wide smile. 

"Alexander Korolev is completely harmless. He's the ball of sunshine of their relationship. Knows nothing about the horrors around him or he's ignoring all the obvious red flags." Noah explains. 

"Interesting." Hedeon replies before they all draw their attention back to the plan. 

In the afternoon, Hedeon finds himself in a car with the blond agent and the archer where the latter is driving. 

"I look ridiculous." Noah complains, looking from a compact mirror at his now red hair which is dyed temporarily to help him disguise as Chayan Korolev. He huffs at his own appearance before putting on his mask to cover his identity. 

"Check, check. Roger Dodger. What's your 20, free bird?" Hedeon says into his ear piece, enjoying every single bit of the blond agent's misery. 

Noah glares at the supersoldier just as Kate pulls the car through the grand gates of Artie Villa. "You don't have to do that. I'm sitting right next to you." 

Hedeon blinks with a goofy grin. "You're remarkable." 

"Thank you for recognize." Noah grumbles as the car stops. "Let's get going. Shall we?" 

Kate turns to the so-called couple and beams. "Ready?"  

"What could possibly go wrong?" The blond agent questions. 

"Everything." Hedeon replies, adjusting his tie. 

"Don't kill each other. Have fun." Katie adds that before the so-called couple exit the car and step into the red carpet that leads to the grand entrance of Artie Villa, Hedeon links his arm with the blond agent. 

"Get your hands off." Noah grits out. 

"This isn't the time to play hard to get, honey." Hedeon smirks, knowing the blond agent cannot do much but tolerate his shenanigans at the moment. 

Irritated, Noah scoffs and hands over the invitation to the old lady, who is in charge of checking the guest list. 

The lady adjusts her glasses before looking between the couple and the invitation suspiciously. "I thought the Korolevs were more affectionate." 

"Ну, в частном порядке он весь в руках. Не так ли, милый?" (Well in private he's all hands. Isn't that right, honey?) Hedeon exclaims with a thick Russian accent and a wide smile before clinging into Noah's arm like a leech. 

The lady eyes the couple, still looking suspicious as ever. 

"Почему такое сварливое лицо? Мы проделали весь этот путь ради этого? (Why the grumpy face? We've come all the way for this?) Hedeon pouts at the grim looking so called husband with innocent eyes, acting his role. He finally turns to the lady and sighs. "Don't mind him. He hold grudges." 

The old lady nods, motioning the guards to open the double doors to the couple. "Mr. Chayan Korolev and Mr. Alexander Korolev. Pleased to have you both. Welcome to the Artie Villa." 

Once the two agents enter the party, Hedeon gladly gulps down a flute of champagne and grins. 

Noah rolls his eyes. "You havin' some fun?" 

"You know, simple pleasures." Hedeon says, the two of them blending into the crowd of guests. "I'm not used to doing these stupid things, and I was very comfortable with working without a partner." 

"We work together because of this mission. It's like marriage of convenience." 

"I want a divorce and I'm keeping the kids. Let's just do this." 

Noticing a familiar blonde, Noah speaks. "We got a party crasher. No biggie. We knew she'd be here." 

Hedeon's eyes travel through the crowd to stop at the former Crimson Widow. "I need to talk to her." 

"We're here for the information, not her." Noah reminds. 

"Speak for yourself. I'm going in." Hedeon tells and moves towards Yelena before his coworker gets his chance to stop him. 

"What're you doing? Get your ass here." Noah angrily whispers into his ear piece. "That's not part of the plans." 

"Plans change." Hedeon replies, not giving a damn about what his coworker has to say. 

"I bet his ass, we're going to get bullets in our hearts at the end of the mission because of that asshole." Noah mutters with utter disbelief and decides to take the first step of the plan into his hands, sneaking out to connect Kate to the main server. 

Meanwhile, Hedeon reaches the former Widow who is wearing a floor length crimson colored dress with a slit through the skirt where the leg protruded and matching makeup, staring at a sculpture as if she is lost deep in her thoughts. The way the fabric clings to her every curve, every dip in her flawless skin drives him crazy. The curly waves of her blonde hair are flowing down recklessly, almost covering the view of her visible skin of her perfect back. "Beautiful. The sculpture, I mean." 

Yelena smirks lightly, recognising his voice in no time before she turns to face him with a fake confused look. "I'm sorry, do we know each other? It's impossible for me to tell who you are with that mask on." 

Hedeon takes off his mask to reveal his face and raises an eyebrow. "How about now?" 

Yelena gasps theatrically, covering her mouth with her hands. "Agent Klimova. So it was all you along? Such a clever disguise." 

Hedeon smirks with amusement and puts his mask back. He offers his hand and gestures his head to the dancing floor. "Dance with me? You can step on my toes." 

"How can I say no to this face?" Yelena says before accepting his hand and letting her former lover lead her to the dance floor. 

His firm hand wraps around her waist, perfectly matching her curves, as the other takes her hand. 

She puts the other on his shoulder and they start waltzing around the ballroom, their bodies gracefully moving towards the music in perfect harmony. 

"Remember how we tried to dance together when we were younger?" Hedeon whispers into her ear. 

"Stop." Yelena whispers back, looking around to see if anyone heard, a ghost smile playing on her lips. 

Hedeon smiles and grabs her waist and picks her up with ease while performing a half circle, his gaze not diverting from hers, before putting down and continuing the dance. "What do you want, Yelena?" 

"Well, down to business then. At the risk of stating the obvious, I'm here to join your small vigilante team to bring down the Red King." She replies, smiling sweetly through her words. 

"Well, too bad for you. We're not recruiting." 

"Too bad. I didn't ask for permission." 

"How did you even get here?" 

"I was tracking your phone." 

"How did you-?" Hedeon looks dumbstruck at her confession before realisation hits him in the head, very hard this time. "That was you at the nightclub. Am I right, Zoya?" 

Yelena scoffs. "All it took was a blonde to twirl a strand of her hair, flashing a sweet smile and you were all a blushing mess and distracted." 

"Go home, Lena. Enjoy your life. Natasha was my blood sister. Ivan Romanoff was Dreykov's alias. This is my unfinished business. I've got this." Hedeon states, tightening his grip on her waist. 

Shock is evident in Yelena's eyes which she quickly conceals. "She was my sister as well, Hedeon. Maybe not by blood. But she will always be my sister. And I will not stop until I bring down Red King for her."

The song finally comes to an end and Hedeon reaches for her hand and kisses it while bowing, the contact of his lips on her skin and the intensity of his look when he straightens up making her shiver. 

Just as Yelena opens her mouth to speak, they hear someone clearing his throat. The two turn to face a short man in fancy clothing, Ian McMasters for certain, standing and eyeing the two. 

Ian politely greets them before talking. "Watching you dance with this man at my party has made me quite jealous." 

Yelena twirls a hair strand, speaking in a sultry voice. "Well, I had to get your attention somehow." 

"May I?" Ian requests, or more like demands permission for the blonde's hand. 

Hedeon nods and walks away, not forgetting to bump into the leader's shoulder on his way as he whispers into him seductively. "Like you said, it's your party." 

"We needed to get his phone, not waste time playing footsie with Yelena." Noah glares at the supersoldier, as the latter grins at the sight of his fuming coworker. 

"Don't worry. I got it." Hedeon apprises, linking arms with the blond agent to keep up their act. 

"You're kidding? Nice pull! How'd you know he would cut in?" Noah asks in disbelief and mostly with appreciation. 

Hedeon shrugs. "Well, he is a 5 '5" alpha male with textbook Napoleon complex. So anytime another male dances with the most desirable woman at his party, well, he has no choice but to step in and assert his dominance." 

"You sneaky little minx." Noah snickers as another song comes to an end and Ian excuses himself from Yelena to move his way to the microphone. 

"Ladies and gentlemen. It is my sincere pleasure to welcome all of you to my humble home." Ian starts his greeting speech and the scattered crowd chuckles. 

"Now's the time. He's speechifying." Noah announces. "Moving to two. Kate?" 

"On it." Kate replies from the ear piece when the two agents swiftly move out of the room and into the corridor that leads to Ian's office. "Just a little further, guys. Shit." 

"What is it?" Hedeon asks into the ear piece. 

"Don't look back, we're under the radar of a noisy aunty." Kate informs and the two agents in action share a look. 

"Noah?" 

"Hmm?" 

"Summon your inner alpha male and assert your dominance." Hedeon blurts. 

Not understanding, Noah scrunches his forehead with a questioning look. "I don't speak crazy person, dumbshit. You have to translate that for me." 

"Act jealous, Coulson. I want you to act furiously jealous." Hedeon states and the next thing he knows is his back smashed into the nearest wall with Noah's lips locking and moving vigorously with his ravenously. The supersoldier kisses back to keep up with the show, his hand migrates to Noah's blond hair and harshly tugs on it, earning a groan from Noah. 

From the side of his eye, Hedeon notices the nosey lady watching the making out session and finally moves off of the 'spirited lovers' with an excited grin on her face. 

"Holy shit. That was the hottest thing I watched in my entire boring single life." A shocked Kate confesses through the earpiece and the two agents part from each other, breathlessly. 

Noah grimaces. "Shut up.' 

"I didn't know you're capable of that, man." Hedeon chuckles, patting on the blond agent's shoulder. 

"Whatever." Noah rolls his eyes and moves forward through the corridor and the supersoldier follows him in no time. 

Once they enter the office with the archer's help, the two agents begin to search every corner for a lead to the Red King. 

"There's nothing." Hedeon says, rummaging through the lockers of Ian's desk when he hears something or someone thumping on the floor. He instantly looks up to notice the former Crimson Widow standing right next to Noah, who is lying unconscious on the floor. 

"Need any help?" Yelena smirks, taking off her heels which gives a fair show of her pale skin through the mid thigh long cut of her dress. 

"God, you're hot." Hedeon mumbles, closing his eyes to calm down, an attempt to remind himself that he is in fact in the middle of work, not the time to give into his desire, his need for her. Once he feels an ounce of control, he flickers his eyes open, to notice she has almost emptied the space between them. He leans ever-so-slightly forward in anticipation, setting his hand onto her cheek and slowly pushes back a feral stray hair. "What game are you playing?" 

"Why, you want to play with me?" She asks with an amusement smile. The look in his face is some commingling of panic and desire. It is a heady feeling, having power over someone and she is drowning in it. 

"I don't know. How can I play if I don't know the rules?" Just as Hedeon is about to pull away from her, she pulls her bottom lip in her mouth, nibbling on the flesh with her teeth. His eyes are drawn to her lips for a moment, trying to think back to the last time he kissed her. 

"No rules, Hedeon." Yelena whispers, her fingers tugging on the hem of his clothes, making him pause in his steps and rendering him frozen. "Don't you remember? No rules." 

"Yelena Belova. Always the master of understatement, that one." Hedeon smirks and lazily throws a jab at her. But she blocks the blow and scissors him around the head, pinning him to the ground, throwing a leg over both of his, straddling him with her hands wrapped around his neck. "Are we fighting or flirting?" 

"My hands are literally wrapped around your neck." Yelena points out the oblivious, unintentionally adding more pressure on her grip. 

"That doesn't answer the question." Hedeon moans, making her lose her grip on his neck with a worried expression on her face. Just when she tries to take her hand away, he places it back on his throat. "No. No. Do that again." 

Still sitting on his thighs, Yelena gives the supersoldier a murderous glare. Her face is inches from his. "Really?" 

Hedeon looks up at her beneath thick eyelashes, a slow smile makes its way onto his face and turns into a full-on grin. "I admit that I have a domination kink when it comes to you. I am at fault. Happy?" 

Yelena moves forward on her seat, wriggling a bit and repositioning herself just enough for him to feel himself becoming aroused by her weight on top of him. "Very." 

Hedeon wraps his arm around her waist. His fingers stroke the soft skin of back as she closes her eyes with a smile creeping on her lip. "I love you, my pretty little vixen." 

"What the fuck is happening here?" Noah groans, holding his head whilst gaining the attention of the couple. 

"You ruined the perfect moment, Noah." Kate complains through the ear piece. "I think they were about to kiss. I mean I can't see without any CCTVs in the room but it was like listening to a Podcast." 

"Are you eating while working?" Noah sighs as he watches Yelena stepping off of the supersoldier, who doesn't move a muscle as he lays on the floor with a clear look of disappointment at the interruption. 

"Yes, I'm good with multitasking." Kate replies, crunching on the snacks rather loudly this time. "Oh, guys, Ian and some of his minions are on their way." 

The detail causes the trio to exchange a look. 

"Play bait." Hedeon announces and rolls his eyes at the blond agent's hesitation. "Come on. Don't be a baby, Coulson." 

"Will you stop with your crappy jokes? It's giving me a headache." Noah grumbles. 

Hedeon scoffs, still on the floor. "And you think your voice is damn beautiful for us to hear? I like mine better." 

"Can you both shut up and act defeated by me?" Yelena grabs the supersoldier's retractable sword and draws it out of its sheath. "This thing is cool." 

Placing a foot on the supersoldier's chest, Yelena points the sword at the cranky blond agent, who kneels down in front of her with an utter look of defeat on his face just when they hear footsteps nearing. 

"What do we have here?" Ian walks in with his soldiers dominating the room, leaving no room for any of the intruders to escape. 

"Two thieves and a heroine." Yelena smirks, letting Ian's men force the two agents on their feet. 

"I'm not trying to be a tattletale. We didn't steal anything, okay? I mean, we tried. But she got us." Hedeon reasons. 

Noah nods in agreement. "He's telling you the truth." 

"Is that so?" Ian smiles with satisfaction and turns to the lady in red. "Would you like to make a confession, my lady?" 

"It's pleasure doing business with you." Yelena smirks as Ian kisses her knuckles. "I told you they'd come." 

"Oh, ho, ho, ho... What the f..." Noah panics in horror, just before the two agents are knocked unconscious by Ian's men.