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It was at this point Boris realized that he should have taken the day off and just stayed in his room.
Back pressed flat against the wall, breathing heavily, and wracked with the familiar pain the full moon brought him, the spy tried his hardest to keep his whimpers and panting to a bare minimum. Normally at this point, it would be hard for him to focus on much else, but the adrenaline brought on by the situation he was in was keeping his mind relatively sharp. Around the corner of the wall he was trying so desperately to blend into, he could hear the footsteps of Fearless Leader and Natasha, combing through the hallways to try and find him.
“Do you have any idea where he went?” Boris could hear his boss asking.
“I don’t know, sir. He practically climbed over me to get out of the room!” Natasha replied. The Pottsylvanian’s face reddened at his partner in crime’s comment, recalling how he basically had to run through her to get out of the room they’d been in. Fearless Leader had called them in for a briefing, as he’d arranged an impromptu mission for Boris and Natasha in the morning. Boris had intended to simply go through with whatever mission his boss had planned for them the following day - he’d managed to go on missions with Natasha even with the almost hangover-like effects the full moon left him with, that wasn’t a problem for him. The problem was the massive skylight in the ceiling of the room Fearless Leader had called them into. The whole day he’d been feeling familiar pangs of discomfort, knowing that today was the day, and he’d managed to stay stowed away in his room for the majority of it, but he couldn’t ignore his leader’s demand for his presence. The Pottsylvanian had hoped that the briefing would be fast enough that he could hurry back to his room without any noticeable changes taking place, but that hadn’t been the case. He couldn’t stay in the light of the moon that long without his transformation becoming obvious, and when he’d felt the hot, prickling sensation of fur beginning to sprout on his neck and back, he knew could no longer stay. The larger, more painful changes were imminent at that point. But what excuse could he have possibly offered that wouldn’t give him away…? In the moment, he thought his only choice was to run.
Boris’ thoughts were interrupted by a loud and painful crack emanating from his mouth. He let out a strangled yelp, slapping his hand over his mouth to try and muffle the sound. He quickly pulled his pale hand away from his lips, noticing a smear of red across his palm. Running his tongue over his now sharp teeth, he realized his fangs had come in.
“What was that?!”
“Over this way, that was him!” Panic immediately washed over the small spy as he heard the pair begin to run in his direction. Frantically, he searched the space around him for a way to escape. He was in a hallway with doors lining both sides, stretching down to another corner. Perfect. Crouching onto all fours (at this point, he would be able to move faster that way), Boris sprinted down the hallway, dashing into the room at the furthest end and shutting the door as quickly and as quietly as possible. As soon as the door was shut, Boris just about doubled over in pain, grabbing at his face with a low whine as black fur spread onto his jaw, his cheeks, his lips. Each new hair was accompanied with a hot, pricking sensation, making the man’s eyes water to the point where everything around him became a blur. Biting at his lip to keep from making noise, he wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, trying to clear his vision enough to see where he’d run into. He breathed a shaky sigh of relief when his vision was clear enough to look around. Boris had been unreasonably lucky in that moment; he’d run into a dark supply closet rather than an occupied meeting room or another agent’s quarters. Thank god.
Boris’ sense of relief and relative safety was shattered when he heard a door swing open. Overtaken with fear, he immediately curled up around himself, trying to hide his burning face from the intruder. He sat there, almost frozen for a few terrifying moments before he realized that he was still sitting alone in the dark supply closet. No one had opened the door.
“He’s not in this one, Fearless Leader.” Boris’ lengthening ears twitched as he heard Natasha’s voice ring out from the other end of the hallway.
“Well, look in the next one! He’s in one of these!” Came his leader’s harsh reply. The man could feel his heart pound in his chest, his body going cold as a renewed sense of terror and adrenaline washed over him. What was he going to do? Boris scrambled to the back of the supply closet, as if getting away from the door he was behind would somehow delay Fearless Leader and Natasha’s search for him. There was no way he could sneak out of the closet and continue down the hallway, someone would definitely see him. There was no visible way out of the small room he was in. He was, for lack of a better word, trapped.
Boris was once again pulled from his own thoughts by the sound of his clothes starting to tear.
“Ah! No, no!” He whispered to himself, working to tug off his trenchcoat and then his shirt as his transforming body began to split the seams of his clothing. He couldn’t risk being heard, and he knew from past experience that the sound of his garments tearing would be audible, even to someone a way away from him. Boris’ breath hitched as his feet contorted painfully in his boots, moving to yank those off as well. He hissed out a quiet curse as his now sharp, clawed fingers scratched and sliced through the leather of his shoes, realizing that they’d likely no longer be wearable. He quickly slid them to the side as fur spread down his ankles and over his feet, which by now were practically paws. The spy shuffled out of his pants as well, flinching as a tail began to sprout at the base of his spine, sending a sharp, stinging pain up his back. As quickly as he could with his twisting body, Boris gathered up his garments and rolled them into a messy but tight ball. Ears pressed nervously against his head, he stuffed them behind into an empty bucket and turned it over, attempting to make sure they were hidden by the time Natasha and Fearless Leader got to the supply closet. There was nothing he could try to do now but hide and wait out what little was left of his transformation.
Boris’ eyes scanned the contents of the closet, trying to find the best hiding space he could. Luckily, the space was relatively full. Surely, he could squeeze into some empty niche and no one would be any wiser…
Boris jumped in fright as he heard another door open, only a few away from his own.
“This is ridiculous. Where could he be?!” The werewolf could hear the anger in his boss’ voice. He would have a hell of a lot to answer for in the morning, but he couldn’t focus on that now. He had to act.
Boris hurried to the back of the supply closet, round, dog-like nose twitching at the musty scent of dust and plastic emanating from the various bins and bags that had been shoved against the back wall. He frantically looked the pile over before noticing there an almost cavern-like space behind the precariously balanced items. Perfect. The spy dove headfirst into the narrow space between his current position and the empty space, wriggling behind the various containers before almost falling into the open area behind them. Thanks to his small frame, he was able to worm his way into the cramped space without knocking over the entire pile he was hiding behind.
Boris was about to breathe a quiet sigh of relief when the door to the supply closet swung open, effectively choking the poor werewolf in fear. Silently, he crouched down, his clawed hands gripping the concrete floor as his ears stood to attention, trying to hear everything that was happening beside him.
“This is the last one. He’s got to be in here somewhere.” He could hear Natasha say. Frustration was evident in her voice, but lying below that Boris realized he could hear something akin to concern. The werewolf’s ears drooped in guilt. As irritated as she was with his sudden disappearance, Natasha was worried about her partner. Sure, at times Boris could be almost unfathomably stupid, but he’d never done something as bizarre as running away from her for seemingly no reason.
“He’d better be. We looked in every other room! I heard that door shut.” Fearless Leader, on the other hand, only sounded angry. One of his agents had not only run out in the middle of being briefed, but was now annoyingly refusing to be found. The man ground his teeth in irritation, watching as Natasha peered behind various buckets and stacks of boxes, trying to see if the wayward spy was behind any of them. Neither of them bothered to try to look behind the seemingly impenetrable pile of junk pressed against the back wall, as it didn’t look like it could offer anything close to a hiding place, even for someone as small as Boris. The tyrant let out a sound of utter annoyance, making his way to the back of the closet and pressing one hand against the unstable pile as he brought the other up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Behind the wall of various items, Boris had clasped both of his furry, clawed hands over his mouth, trying his best to breathe as slowly and as silently as possible. His tail was tucked between his legs, his ears were pressed flat against his skull, and his heart pounded so intensely in his ribcage he worried that Fearless Leader just might hear it.
“I swear when I find that useless Badenov…” Fearless Leader grumbled angrily to himself, firmly pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration and earning a worried look from Natasha on Boris’ behalf. Absentmindedly, the man leaned his weight more onto his hand and thus more onto the unsteady pile that Boris had wedged himself behind. In his irritation, Fearless Leader didn’t realize the pile was beginning to shift under his weight until a heavy bag tumbled off the top of it and hit his arm on the way down.
“Ow!” The man shouted as the bag took out his arm. The impact made him lose his balance and just about slam into the now wobbling pile. Behind the wall of bags and bins, Boris bit back a whimper, looking up at the uneven ceiling of his hiding spot just in time to see a bag fall from above and almost peg him on the way down. The werewolf jerked out of the way, landing on all fours as the bag crashed into the ground beside him. Hair on his neck and spine bristling, Boris’ wide eyes stared in panic at the bag. He’d managed to keep completely silent, but just barely. The sheer pressure of the situation already had the werewolf close to screaming.
His eyes snapped up to the wall of the pile as he heard a string of enraged curses, undoubtably yelled by his leader. The man’s already existent anger mixed with the sudden pain of having something land on him seemed to have triggered something. The makeshift wall in front of him jerked towards him suddenly, a result of Fearless Leader landing a solid kick to the mountain of junk.
“Oh no…” Boris could only whimper as his shelter began to visibly collapse around him. When a bin fell from above him and hit him square on the back, all of the fear and stress the werewolf had been trying to keep inside of him the whole night finally exploded out of him. Boris whipped around to blindly bite at the bin that had landed on him, snarling and barking like a panicked, rabid animal. A bag from the collapsing pile fell, hitting him and eliciting a sharp cry and more barking. He could hear the yells of confusion and shock his sudden outburst had gotten from Fearless Leader and Natasha, but in his current terrified state he couldn’t make out what they were saying. The werewolf, still on all fours, dashed for the exit as his hiding spot caved in, wedging himself into the small opening before practically spilling out onto the floor, barking and snapping all the while. As soon as Boris had escaped from the now collapsed pile, he scrambled onto all fours, fur bristling, ears flat against his head, frothing from his frenzied barking. His maw was open wide as he panted, displaying his razor sharp fangs with a startling amount of clarity. His eyes were wild with panic, and they only became wider when his gaze shifted from the toppled pile to Natasha and Fearless Leader. He resembled a wild animal more than he did his normal self, and at the moment the two Pottsylvanians could only see the former.
Fearless Leader practically screamed at the sight of the disheveled, foaming creature, immediately darting behind Natasha.
“What the hell is that thing?!!” He yelled, instinctively grasping the spy’s dress as he stared wide eyed at the wolf-like thing in front of them.
“I’ve got it, Fearless Leader!” Was Natasha’s almost instant reply. Always prepared for an unexpected fight, she only had to reach into one of the many hidden pockets on her dress to access one of the many weapons she had hidden on her. What she happened to pull out was a handgun, which she pointed directly at the wolf-like creature. Both Boris and Fearless Leader visibly jumped at the sight of the weapon, the werewolf letting out a sharp yelp at it’s sudden appearance.
“Ah!! Wait, wait!!” Boris barked out in a panic, tail tucking itself in between his legs. “It’s me, Boris!!” In the split second that he had to decide whether to reveal himself or get shot, Boris had immediately chosen the former.
The expression of sheer shock on the faces of the duo was something he’d never seen before. Eyes impossibly wide and mouths agape, Natasha and Fearless Leader stared in dead silence at the creature in front of them. It looked nothing at all like the small Pottsylvanian man, and it certainly hadn’t acted like him, but it sounded exactly like him. Bewildered, Natasha slowly lowered her weapon, briefly closing her mouth before speaking.
“...Boris…?” She asked, her tone one of utter confusion. Boris grimaced for a moment before getting up onto his hind legs, standing more like a human would and fidgeting nervously with his clawed hands. His tail was still tucked between his legs and the fur on his neck and spine was still bristled, but his new posture made him seem at least less like a wild animal.
“... Yes.” He answered quietly, gnawing at his furry lip as he anxiously looked over at his incredulous countrymen. A long, silent space filled the small supply closet as the two looked Boris over in confusion and Boris tried to avoid their gaze, knowing very much what he looked like. The silence seemed to stretch on forever before Fearless Leader finally broke it.
“What the hell…?” He breathed out, making the werewolf squirm uncomfortably. Hesitantly, Natasha tucked her weapon back into her dress, inching towards Boris with a kind of nervousness that he wasn’t used to seeing in her. Fearless Leader stayed behind, silently observing with a safe distance between him and Boris. Finally, Natasha stood in front of the much shorter werewolf, looking down at him with a somewhat suspicious expression. Boris, after a few moments of anxiously avoiding her gaze, finally looked up at her, ears flat against his head. The two partners in crime looked at each other for a few moments, both of them silent until Natasha raised her hand and placed it on Boris’ furry head. The werewolf stiffened, opening his mouth to say something before the spy began to scratch behind his ear, almost as if he were a dog.
“H-hey, what-! What… Oh…” Boris began, his words trailing off as Natasha continued to scratch his head. “That’s pretty nice…” He commented quietly, shutting his eyes as a blissful smile spread across his face. The werewolf tilted his head just a bit, sticking up his pointed ears as he unknowingly began to wag his tail. Natasha’s expression melted into one of amusement, chuckling at the almost goofy expression on the other’s face. She turned back to Fearless Leader, using her free hand to point at the smiling werewolf while mouthing ‘look at this’. Fearless Leader watched the scene in front of him with a genuinely confused expression. He wasn't sure what he expected out this situation, but it certainly wasn’t whatever was happening now. He let out a long slow, sigh, raising his hands to his face as he worked to process the situation.
“... Boris.” He said once he lowered his hands once again. At his name, Boris’ eyes snapped open, ears twitching as his attention was brought back to his boss. Fearless Leader looked him over for a moment before sighing once more, his expression returning to his usual one. “Come on. It looks like we have some new things to discuss…”
End