Chapter 15
Yelena’s unsettled by how long Khonshu had been quiet for. He hadn’t shown back up after leaving her in the gas station bathroom and when a few days pass, Yelena starts to worry.
Khonshu liked to keep her distracted by work or scope out safer places that Yelena could stay. It wasn’t safe to stay in one place for too long.
Yelena still doesn’t know why she’s in New York. Khonshu obviously brought her here for a reason but Yelena doesn’t know what that is. She thought about leaving but even when she calls for Khonshu in the safety of a motel room, he doesn’t show himself.
It’s unsettling… it feels like she’s alone all over again. It makes her feel like she was crazy this whole time and that Khonshu was never real.
She even cuts her finger open on purpose just to summon the suit and watch it heal. Seeing the skin slowly knit back together reminds her that it’s real. Things are real. She died five years ago and hasn’t been alone since then.
Until now.
Afraid of being vulnerable, especially while Khonshu is gone, Yelena refuses to sleep. She stays awake on coffee, energy drinks, and stimulants. Khonshu must have been making her drink coffee as well when he had control because her body doesn’t take long to adjust.
Yelena has no jobs. She has nothing to focus on, no people to hunt down, no target to kill. She can only sharpen her knives and clean her guns so many times before they’re in pristine condition and she can’t do anything else.
She starts to wonder if Khonshu would show up if she gets herself killed. Would he protect her body like he swore he would?
Yelena ends up walking around the streets at night because she doesn’t want to fall asleep. She ends up at a pharmacy in the middle of the night, looking through their magazines for pictures of Natasha. She hears the sliding doors open and the small bell go off as someone enters the pharmacy but she’s too invested reading about the latest adventures with the Avengers.
Someone steps up next to her, pulling the daily newspaper off of the shelf and opening it up. Yelena’s eyes flicker to peer at them, taking in the sight of a woman dressed in sweatpants and a graphic tee shirt of some obscure band. The woman’s hair is slightly frizzy, sticking up out of her bun in a few places. She doesn’t appear to have any weapons on hand so Yelena goes back to her reading.
The woman suddenly lets out a loud sigh and Yelena peers back up at her. The woman glances at her and then gestures at something on the newspaper. “Can you believe this?” She asked Yelena. Yelena’s gaze flickers to the newspaper only to see a picture of herself being held against the page by the woman’s thumb. The picture was grainy, taken off of a security camera in what appears to be an airport. Yelena’s pretty sure that it’s Khonshu in the body at the time, not her. Yelena glances up at the woman, her guard up.
It’s not the first time an assassin has gone after her for her deeds and it’s probably not the last. “Perhaps.” She replies evenly, closing the magazine and setting it back onto the shelf. The woman gives her a smile that has too many teeth as she looks at Yelena.
“How about we step outside?” The woman suggests, her gaze flickering to look at the innocent teenager bored out of his mind as he works the cash register late at night. “We wouldn’t need any unnecessary… purchases.”
Yelena gestures toward the sliding doors. “After you.” She says and the woman lets out a laugh, resting her hand over her heart. “Well, aren’t you a sweetie.”
The woman exits the sliding glass doors and Yelena’s fingers find purchase on a knife she has in her pocket. The woman is waiting for her just outside the pharmacy and she throws an arm around Yelena’s shoulders as if they were old friends. Yelena is ready to react, to kill the woman but the woman’s hands are empty and she has no weapons on her that Yelena can see. The woman tugs Yelena forward to start walking so Yelena does, getting away from the tired people shuffling in and out of the pharmacy for quick snacks or medicine.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” The woman states with a smile, patting Yelena’s chest. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Oh?” Yelena comments, swatting at the woman’s hand.
“They say you never age,” The woman replies, leading Yelena around to the back of the pharmacy where the dumpsters sit. “Still just the baby that died at fifteen.”
The mention of her death has Yelena’s hackles raised. She ensures that her face shows nothing. “Is that so?” She questioned.
“They also say you never die,” The woman continues, the friendly grip she had around Yelena’s shoulders turning into her fisting Yelena’s shirt to gain leverage. “How silly is that?”
Yelena quickly pulls and flicks open her knife but she’s not quick enough. A gauntlet appears on the woman’s wrist, two sharp ends sticking out as she sinks it just barely into Yelena’s chest. Yelena stabs her arm and the woman withdraws her hand, the gauntlet disappearing as if it was never there at all. Yelena didn't even see it coming.
Yelena can’t summon the suit. She can’t confirm this woman’s guesses. She needs to get to safety, regroup, and think this out.
“Let’s see if you survive this,” The woman tells her, a sweet smile on her face as Yelena’s heart speeds up. “They say the saw-scaled viper venom is enough to kill two people even with their weakest and least potent bite. Enough to kill six with their most powerful. Would you like to guess how much venom I gave you?”
Then the pain kicks in and Yelena lets out a gasp as she raised a hand to her chest. The wound is pouring so much more blood than it should be, splattering at her feet and soaking the pavement under her feet.
“This was fun,” The woman says, not at all appearing bothered about the jagged knife wound Yelena had left on her body. “Let’s do it again sometime.”
Yelena’s legs crumple under her as the woman turns to leave. Yelena doubts that she has an hour to even get medical attention. She summons the suit but even still she can feel that she’s losing blood much too rapidly. She’s nowhere near the safehouse she had set up. She could always hide it out in the pharmacy bathroom, hoping that nothing happens to her body or that Khonshu comes back.
“Khonshu?” Yelena whispers under her mask, her suit steadily soaking red. “Khonshu, I need you.” She tries again. Khonshu was always there, why wasn’t he now?
She starts to try and pull herself up onto shaking legs, gripping the side of the dumpster for support. She peers around, her eyes landing on a street sign.
Yelena had read the map to know where she was going and she knows that there is a street near here. She suddenly realized that she had a safe place to go, or, what she hoped was a safe place.
Yelena pulls her mask off because she can’t be seen wandering around in a full suit, especially here in New York. Her white combat suit isn’t too suspicious, even if the blood is.
Yelena stumbles down the street, feeling very cold and lethargic as she goes. She keeps asking for Khonshu and even tries praying for him. She finds the apartment building easily enough. The wounds have stopped bleeding mostly but the venom is coursing through her veins as she takes the elevator up to the sixth floor.
Yelena counts doors as she goes, swaying as the hallway seems to tilt. She hopes that she has the right address as she reaches up and knocks on the door of apartment 616.
When nobody answers, Yelena knocks again, leaning against the wall as she coughs, the feeling of blood crawling up the back of her throat makes her feel nauseous. Her third time knocking has the door swinging open and a gun pointed in her face.
“Who are you?” The woman holding the gun demands. “And what do you want?”
Yelena swallows hard, her tongue feeling numb as she spoke. “Tawaret--” She gets out and the woman goes on guard immediately, the gun trained onto Yelena’s head. “Please-- I need Tawaret.”
“Who are you?” The woman demands again and Yelena is slumping forward, unable to keep herself upright on her own anymore. She leans against the wall as she tries to speak.
“Avatar.” She gasps out. “Please, Tawaret.” She repeats.
The woman must decide that she’s not much of a threat because she grabs the front of Yelena’s suit and yanks her inside the apartment before Yelena bled out on her doorstep.
Yelena tumbles forward when the woman lets her go, falling to the floor, and decides that it’s too much energy to get up.
“Tawaret--” Yelena croaks out again. The woman shushed her, her head turned to the side to glance at something and Yelena tries to keep her eyes open.
Finally, the woman looks at Yelena sharply. “Yelena Belova?” She questioned and Yelena nodded, her breathing labored. “Avatar of Khonshu?” Yelena nods again, her strength waning. “What is it that you need?”
“Protect my body,” Yelena begs, feeling lost and abandoned that Khonshu wasn’t there.
The woman moves forward, crouching down and Yelena tries not to flinch when the woman tugs open her suit to try and see the wound.
“No--” Yelena grabbed the woman’s wrist weakly. “Leave it. I’ll be okay…”
“You’re not bleeding out on my floor,” The woman states and Yelena has no strength in her left to fight as the woman scoops her up into her arms and carries her toward the couch. “My name is Layla El-Faouly, avatar of Tawaret, and I swear to protect your body.” She states.
With that, Yelena finally lets herself give in to the darkness.