yelena
JULY 14TH, 2028
For the first time in a while, she thinks maybe six months if she’s counting correctly, Yelena’s back in the United States.
It’s not a decision she was totally for, especially since James offered to go instead, but Valentina requested her. And sadly, Yelena has to answer to Valentina for the time being.
So that’s how she finds herself in New York City a couple of days after their rather successful mission with the drive tucked into a secure pocket of her pants and her carryon only full with enough to get her through two nights in America. She’s going to leave as soon as physically possible.
She has a couple of hours until she’s supposed to meet with Valentina when her prosthetic starts giving her issues by rubbing in all of the wrong ways. It doesn’t help either that her phantom limb pain is acting up and that there’s nothing she can really do about it without making herself look insane in public. She’s at least lucky in that her outfit covers the fact that she’s wearing one at all - she’s not a huge fan of the stares she gets when it isn’t covered.
Yelena holes herself up in a stall of a public bathroom, taking off the prosthetic completely and massaging her stump. It’s a bizarre feeling knowing that Kate’s thanklessly done this before and it makes her miss Kate in a guilty way. That feeling isn’t helped at all by the fact that she knows Kate is probably close by, but she hasn’t checked.
It takes maybe twenty minutes before she decides that she’s being dramatic and that she needs to just suck it up. She puts her prosthetic back on and cleans herself up, making sure that she looks like she’s got this whole professionalism thing down despite the fact that Valentina is extremely punchable.
She’s walking down some street that she doesn’t remember the name of when her phone buzzes with a call from Sonya.
“Hey, what’s up?” Yelena asks, pressing the phone to her ear as she continues walking, “You’re not in America, are you?”
“Well,” Sonya replies, “Canada, yes, United States, no.”
“Ah,” Yelena hums, “What are you calling about?”
“Melina said you’ve gone to the States,” Sonya responds, “Something about your Thunderbolts? I just wanted to check in. I still think that it’s ridiculous that you’re working for the US government.”
Yelena scowls. She doesn’t want a lecture about her job choices.
“She gave me this same lecture before I left,” Yelena grumbles, crossing a street and coming to a gross realization that she’s only a couple of blocks down from Kate’s apartment. Or, more aptly, her apartment that she left with Kate.
“Does she give Alexei the lecture, too?” Sonya asks as Yelena keeps walking, eyes out for somewhere to get something to eat.
“Probably,” Yelena mutters, turning a corner on reflex and finding that she’s on the same street as her favorite deli. “Don’t worry about me, Sonya. I’ll be fine. Always am.”
“I would believe you, but you went and had cancer on me,” Sonya says bitterly and Yelena winces. She should’ve been in touch with Sonya during that whole thing, but she wasn’t. It’s like a stab to the gut reminding her that she’s not a great friend.
“I’m sorry,” Yelena says quietly, “Next time I get cancer, you’ll be the first person I tell.”
“Oh come on, don’t even joke like that,” Sonya retorts, “I’m not actually that mad about it. I’m sure you were a total bitch the entire time.”
Yelena rolls her eyes, “Why do I talk to you?”
“You love me,” Sonya responds, “I have to go, though. Duty calls and whatever. Call me soon.”
“Yeah, I will,” Yelena stops in front of the deli, “Break me out of jail if I need it?”
“Always.”
With that, the call ends and Yelena enters the deli. There’s not a very long line, and when she gets up there she orders a turkey club sandwich and then finds a corner table to stake out in after paying.
An hour later, Yelena’s fed and walking around the block again, finding herself in front of the old apartment building more times than she’d like to admit. It’s a weird moment as she slots the key that she never gave back to Kate into the front door and walks up to the second floor.
She unlocks the front door and her heart nearly drops through her ass when she realizes that Lucky’s here.
Kate’s not. She knows that Kate’s not here. So who the hell is here?
He’s excited to see her, tail wagging and face scrunched up in that way that shows his front teeth but not in a threatening way.
Yelena’s quick to snuggle him despite the horrible feeling in her stomach that someone else is in this apartment. Jesus, does Kate have a new partner? Yelena knows that they’re not together anymore, but -
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Turns out, she does’t have to wonder for long.
Yelena looks up and at the new person in the room, who she immediately recognizes as Cassie Lang. Ant-Man’s daughter. Troublemaker. And currently looking like she just woke up with an oversized t-shirt on and pink and blue PJ pants.
“This is my apartment,” Yelena answers coolly, scratching Lucky’s neck, “I’m not staying, anyway.”
“Good,” Cassie crosses her arms, “Why are you here?”
“I could tell you,” Yelena stands up, “but then I’d have to kill you.”
Cassie eyes her suspiciously, “You know I have some kind of a status, right? Killing me would start a search, and I doubt there are very many blonde amputees with your skills walking around.”
Yelena narrows her eyes at Cassie. Does this girl think that Yelena’s stupid?
“You do realize that I’m a Black Widow, right?” she asks, stepping forward so that she’s in Cassie’s space, “I could kill you and no one would ever fucking know what happened to you, much less have an idea of who did it to you.”
Cassie’s breath hitches and Yelena knows that she’s scared. Something in her gut begs her to stop, but the more unhinged part of her is proud. She still has it.
“So why are you here, then?” Cassie asks, hardening her stare, “If you’re not planning on killing me.”
Yelena doesn’t really have an answer to that, but deflects with scratching Lucky’s head, “Just checking in on Lucky.”
“Yeah, okay,” Cassie rolls her eyes and turns, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a leftover iced coffee off of the counter, “Kate’s not in town, if you didn’t know that already.”
“I did know that,” Yelena checks the time on the oven behind Cassie, seeing that she has maybe 45 minutes to get to Valentina, “Why are you here? Normally she brings Lucky if she’s going to the Bartons.”
“I thought you were a super spy, you should know the answer to that already,” Cassie responds, slurping on her coffee, “or are you not the best Black Widow in the world like you claim yourself to be?”
“I never claimed to be the best,” Yelena responds, “Though, I am very good at my job. It just happens to be that you were not relevant to my recon. And I have places to be.”
“Uh huh,” Cassie nods mockingly and Yelena rolls her eyes.
She walks up to Cassie again, lowering her voice, “Tell anyone I was here and I will mail your body to my father myself.”
Cassie gulps. Yelena smirks.
-
JULY 14TH, 2028
When she walks into Valentina’s building, Yelena can feel the eyes on her and finds herself wishing she hadn’t cut her hair off. Buzzing her head has made her more noticeable, which is extremely obnoxious considering how convenient having short hair has been.
Valentina’s New York apartment is on par with Kate’s mother’s penthouse. It’s big, it’s marble, and it’s definitely generational judging by the long line of fathers on the wall.
A butler greets Yelena at the elevator and leads her to Valentina’s office, where she’s reading something on a computer.
“Tina.”
“Who do you think you are?” Valentina asks, not bothering to look up from her computer once.
Yelena smirks to herself and sits down across from the woman, “A woman that you hired to run your super-morons, Tina.”
Valentina bristles and finally looks at Yelena, “Well, were you worth the hire? Did you bring what I asked?”
Yelena pulls the drive from her pocket and toys with it between her fingers, “Did you bring my check?”
Valentina slides a check across the table and it reads fifty thousand. It’s a far cry from what she was paid when she was murdering people on Valentina’s behalf and definitely less than she deserves for putting up with John Walker, but she nods anyway and slides the drive across the table.
Valentina plugs it in to her computer and Yelena wonders offhandedly if she should’ve put a virus on it.
That could’ve been funny.
Instead, she waits patiently for Valentina to load up the drive and takes note of everything in the office. Big floor-to-ceiling windows with stark royal purple curtains, dark wood detailing on every wall, dark wood detailing on the desk, a bright yellow phone that Yelena has to assume is connected to somebody important.
It’s a bit supervillain-esque. Yelena admits that she finds it fitting.
“So you’re not as useless as you seem,” Valentina comments snidely.
Yelena rolls her eyes, “I am never useless.”
“You were when it came to killing Hawkeye.”
Yelena bites the inside of her cheek, “Do you need me for anything else, Valentina?”
“Yes, actually,” Valentina’s eyes leave the computer screen and meet Yelena’s, “It has come to light recently that there is a mole in the team. I need them taken care of as soon as possible, if that’s not a problem?”
It’s not a question. Yelena knows that it’s not a question.
“Who’s the mole?” Yelena asks, stomach turning uncomfortably. She knows this means blood on her hands. Someone is going to die. The evil part of her wishes it could be John Walker, but she brushes the thought off. Someone shouldn’t need to die.
“That’s for you to figure out,” Valentina nods to the check on the table, “The compensation will be sizable, so long as you keep it discreet and get SHIELD off of our backs.”
Yelena bites back a comment about the fact that Natasha definitely knows about their coming together and that Natasha saw them on the boat. Knowing Valentina, she already knows that anyway.
“SHIELD is going to continue to show a special interest in us,” Yelena gives her a look, “You recruited the Black Widow’s sister and father. People know of our history. I don’t see how eliminating someone will get eyes off of us.”
“Last I checked, you’re a Black Widow that can make a murder undetectable,” Valentina smiles cruelly, “Nice seeing you, Yelena.”
Yelena grits her teeth as she stands, “That check better be big.”
“You’ll be well compensated,” Valentina assures her, “Now go. I have other priorities than you.”
Yelena rolls her eyes, “I’ll be expecting a mission soon?”
“You will,” Valentina looks back at her computer and Yelena turns to leave, aggravation ruminating through her bones as she walks out of the office.
Her hand is on the door when Valentina clears her throat, “Also, Yelena… try not to visit little Hawkeye’s home? Looks bad for business.”
Yelena doesn’t bother responding.