ditched
May never shows up for training the next day. Yelena shows up on time and waits. When May doesn’t show up, Yelena rocks on her feet and debates on whether to leave to look for her or stay.
She stays. She guides herself through the sets she had been working on and practices perfecting a move that she had seen Bobbi do once.
It’s quiet and lonely. Yelena usually almost always had a partner if not a group to train with.
Yelena forgets to wrap her hands.
It’s a silly little thing to forget. May always usually demanded “hands” and would wrap Yelena’s fingers for her because apparently, Yelena couldn’t wrap her knuckles properly.
Yelena looks down at her split knuckles when she finishes with a sigh. She wouldn’t be able to hide them from Coulson if he asked, yet Yelena wasn’t going to approach medical with a ten foot pole.
Yelena showers and changes after her scheduled training time. She settles on roaming the halls to complete the mental map in her head.
Hunter is the first one to recognize her and he just lets out a low whistle. “Man, I’d hate to be the fella on the other side of your fists.” He tilts his head. “You should get those looked at.”
“It’s fine,” Yelena replies. “Do you know the south side of the helicarrier well?”
Hunter shrugs his shoulders. “I’ll show you if you get your hands looked at.”
Yelena wrinkles her nose. “Eh. No thanks.” She turns to continue on her way when a hand clamps onto her shoulder.
Yelena twists and throws the assailant over her shoulder and pins him to the ground. It takes a moment to realize that it was only Hunter.
“Damn, tiny. Ease up,” Hunter chuckles, tapping his hand on the ground. “I’m tapping out.”
Yelena quickly jolts off of him. “I’m sorry. You startled me.” She’d been on edge since her sister left and the time away was unsettling her.
“I can see that,” Hunter pulls himself up off the ground. “You’ve got one nasty throw there, tiny.”
Yelena sighs, flexing her fingers and feeling the torn skin sting.
“If you’re not gonna go to medical then at least lemme take you to Bob. She’s always patching my ass up after missions that go FUBAR,” He said.
“FUBAR?” Yelena repeats the unfamiliar phrase as she hesitantly follows him down the hall.
“Fucked up beyond all repair. FUBAR.” Hunter explains as he leads her toward the main gym. “Yo Bobs!”
Bobbi, who had been on the mats with another agent, glances at them. “What?”
Bobbi spots Yelena and waves them over. “Hey kid, come help me show this asshole how to do a flying triangle choke.”
Yelena approached them and Bobbi gestures to them. “Go nuts.”
Yelena looked up at the agent who looked like she smelled something sour as her lips pinched and her nostrils flared in anger. Yelena lunges and does it flawlessly. She quickly pulls away and glances up at Bobbi.
“Great job, kid,” Bobbi hums at her, looking down at the agent. “See? It’s not too hard. Complaining won’t get you anywhere.”
Bobbi then looks at Hunter. “What did you need?”
Hunter gestures at Yelena. “Someone didn’t wrap their hands.”
Bobbi looks down at Yelena’s wrist and reaches out to grab her hands. Yelena jolted backward at the sudden movement and Bobbi paused, glancing up at Yelena before reaching out again, this time much slower.
Yelena lets Bobbi grab her wrists and turn her hands over to inspect them. “Damn. May let you do this?”
“I don’t know where May is. She never showed up today,” Yelena said and Bobbi frowns.
“Come on,” Bobbi gestures over her shoulder. Yelena follows after her, Hunter trailing along.
They head to Bobbi’s quarters where she pulls a first aid kit out from under the bed before pointing at the bed. “Sit.”
Yelena sits, watching as Bobbi opens the kit up. While she’s wary about any medical procedures, even just bandaging up a wound, she trusts Bobbi to not jab a needle into her while she’s working.
Bobbi cleans Yelena’s knuckles and applies some ointment to the broken skin before covering it with a bandage. “Your sister still on a mission?”
Yelena nods her head, flexing her fingers. “She’s late. It’s only supposed to be a day.”
“She’ll be fine,” Bobbi soothes, tossing the packaging trash away.
“She’s the Black Widow,” Hunter chimes in with a nod.
Yelena shrugs. “Thanks for patching my knuckles.”
“Of course, kid,” Bobbi said. “We should probably talk to Commander Hill.”
“Why?” Yelena glances up at Bobbi.
“Because May never showed up,” Bobbi tells her. “She can’t just not show up.”
“She can’t?” Yelena is still getting used to the way things work here.
“No. She can’t,” Hunter agrees. “Although if you two go then I might just stay here.”
“You’re not taking a nap in my bed while I’m gone,” Bobbi wrinkles her nose before glancing at Yelena. “Come on.”
Yelena shrugs, following Bobbi down to Maria’s office.
Bobbi knocks three times and waits for Maria to call out for her to enter.
Bobbi opens the door, pausing at the sight of Coulson and May in the office as well. “Oh. You’re already here.”
Yelena pokes her head out from behind Bobbi.
“Was there something you needed, Agent Morse?” Maria questioned when Bobbi stared at them for a few moments too long.
“Yeah. I wanted to ask about where Agent May was,” Bobbi said, folding her arms.
“As you can see…” Maria gestures toward May. “Is there something that I can help with?”
“Now that I’m sure that she’s here,” Bobbi turns toward May. “You completely ditched training your rookie today.”
Maria glances at May in surprise.
“You gave them no notice and didn’t give them the day off. Do you want to tell me why I just got down wrapping your rookie’s hands up?” Bobbi demands and Yelena frowns because Bobbi didn’t need to make a big deal out of it.
Yelena stays quiet though, because she was used to people talking about her as if she wasn't there.
May’s eyes land onto the white bandages wound around Yelena’s fingers and knuckles.
“Agent Morse, if you do not have an issue to bring to me then you need to leave and speak to Agent May in your own time,” Maria interrupts before Bobbi continues.
“Yes. I have an issue,” Bobbi turns toward Maria. “I want May to actually talk to her rookie instead of stating she had an issue with her age and then ignoring her.”
Yelena watches as Maria sighs.
“That’s still not an issue for me,” Maria points out. “One last try, Agent Morse.”
“Fine. I’d like to take over the training of rookie agent Belova until Agent May can get her head on straight,” Bobbi said and Yelena’s head jerked to look up at her.
“You’re not a supervising officer,” Maria tells her although she doesn’t look angry. “You don’t have experience training recruits.”
“We can both agree she’s not a normal recruit. You trusted me to train her as a substitute one day,” Bobbi reminds her. “I’ll show up on time and I’ll be a responsible adult and everything.”
Maria nods her head. “Fine. She’s your rookie for the next week.” Maria glances at Yelena. “If that is acceptable to you.”
“I get a say?” Yelena blurts before nodding.
Bobbi looks down at her. “Of course you do.”
Yelena shrugs slightly. “That’s fine.” And while she didn’t mind Bobbi being her SO for a little while, she just wanted May.
“Right. Is that all?” Maria questioned and Bobbi glances at May before nodding. “Yeah. That’s all.”
“Rookie agent Belova, do you have anything to add on?” Maria questioned when Bobbi turned to exit.
Yelena glances at Maria before looking at Coulson and May. “I don’t understand why my age is a big deal. I’m almost eighteen. I’ve been training since I was six.”
“It’s a matter of morals,” Maria tells Yelena before sighing. “Part of the deal that your sister struck with us was that you and she would not be separated. We can’t send you away to SHIELD academy with other kids your age. But there’s also a law where we only take recruits over the age of twenty-one.”
“Nobody cared about how old I was before,” Yelena tells them. “I killed my first person when I was eight. Nobody cared about my age then.”
“I’m sorry that you had to go through that, Yelena. But not everybody carries the same mindset as the Red Room,” Maria said and Yelena frowns.
“I know that. You guys keep showing me that. I guess that’s all I really have to say,” Yelena turns on her foot and looks up at Bobbi, who had been waiting for Yelena.
“Okay. This is all unnecessary. Rookie agent Belova will you please join us and take a seat,” Maria sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Yelena turns to look back at Maria in surprise before shuffling forward toward the chairs. “Can Bobbi stay?”
“Would it make you feel safer if Bobbi stayed?” Maria counters and Yelena shrugs.
“Does she have to make me feel safe? Am I not allowed--” Yelena cuts herself off with a shake of her head. “Nevermind. No. It’s fine.”
Yelena takes the empty seat between Coulson and May. The door clicks shut as Bobbi leaves and quiet descends over the office like a blanket, thick and suffocating.
Yelena feels like she’s done something wrong. They keep glancing at her like she’s supposed to say something. “Am I in trouble?” She finally asked because this feels like when her superiors would gather to witness punishments.
“No. You’re not in trouble,” Maria replies. “I’m here so that you and Melinda can finally talk.”
Yelena turns her head to look at May.
“I don’t think I can be your supervising officer until you’re eighteen,” May tells Yelena. “I’m firm on this. I’m sorry for the confusion.”
Yelena waits a moment before realizing that was all that May was going to say. “But I want you.”
“I will more than happily train you when you are eighteen. Until then, agent Morse can keep up your training,” May says and Yelena frowns.
“I don’t understand,” Yelena admits quietly. “Nobody’s ever… refused to train me before.”
“Then I’ll be the first,” May said. “You can’t have everything in life go your way. This is my own issue.”
“May--” Coulson speaks up but May silences him with a glare.
“Everybody was clamoring to get a chance to train me. They could do whatever they wanted to me and get away with it because they could say it was training and as long as I made progress then it didn’t matter. I am the greatest child assassin ever and everybody wanted a chance to say they had helped mold me into who I am,” Yelena tells her.
“Exactly,” May said sharply. “I am not like them. I don’t do whatever I want because you’re-- did you say the greatest child assassin ever?”
“I know you’re not like them!” Yelena raised her voice slightly. “You’re not like them because I feel safe with you! I know that you’re not gonna hurt me.”
“This isn’t something that I’m going to budge on, Belova,” May tells her firmly and Yelena lets out a frustrated grunt at the use of her last name.
“Why aren’t I good enough for you!?” Yelena demands and surprise flickers over May’s face. “What do I need to do to make you stay?”
“This isn’t a matter of how good you are,” May said before shaking her head. “You’re understanding this all wrong. I thought--”
“May--” Coulson interrupts again and May glares at him.
“That’s enough!” Maria slams a hand down onto her desk and Yelena recoils so hard that the chair she was sitting in tips over and Yelena is dumped onto the ground. “We need to take a breather. Rookie agent Belova, you are dismissed.”
Yelena climbs to her feet. “Everybody leaves, I just thought you were different!” Yelena said before leaving the office quickly.
Bobbi was waiting just outside of the office and she grabs Yelena before the teenager can storm off. “Woah, hey--” Bobbi wrapped her arms around Yelena. “You’ve got your murder face on.”
“Lemme go!” Yelena can easily get out of the hold but she’s tired and she’s missing her sister and she’s feeling emotions that she doesn’t even know the name of.
“Come here,” Bobbi said, pulling Yelena close. “You need to breathe.”
“I am breathing!” Yelena snaps at her, only just realizing how her chest feels tight. “I know how to breathe!”
“I know. Come on, let’s go to your quarters,” Bobbi said, her voice low and soft. “Hunter can bring more snacks.”
Yelena focuses on dragging air into her lungs as Bobbi guides her through the halls.