adrenaline
Yelena had only been training with Bobbi for four days when the helicarrier lurches and the power flickers off.
The two tumble to the ground at the sudden loss of light.
There’s sunlight peering through the curtains but the lights are off and the helicarrier is flying at an angle. There’s another lurch and Yelena can see jets and helicopters outside the window.
Bobbi snatches her batons up and moves toward the door. “Stay here and lock the door after me!” Bobbi instructs firmly. “I’ll be right back.”
“I can help!” Yelena scrambles to her feet but Bobbi is already gone.
Yelena locks the door with a huff because Bobbi was still her superior. She takes a seat and waits.
It’s not long until there are gunshots and the door is busted from its hinges. Yelena pressed up against the wall to assess the soldier that enters the room.
He’s not wearing a SHIELD uniform and he’s aggressive toward her so Yelena safely figures that she can take him down.
But he squirms too much and doesn’t stay down so Yelena snaps his neck with ease. She’s not allowed to have weapons so she uses her bare hands.
Yelena pulls the earpiece from the man’s ear and pushes it into her own. Rapid Russian is barked through the earpiece.
Yelena wrinkles her nose, patting the body over as she listens in on the instructions.
They were moving toward the engine.
Yelena stands and moves toward the doorway.
Bobbi said to stay there but the place was compromised. Surely Bobbi wouldn’t want her to stay someplace that was unsafe.
Yelena moves down the hallway. She comes across a SHIELD agent propped up against the wall, clutching a knife wound to their thigh.
Yelena stops to tell them where to apply pressure to stop the bleeding before continuing. She would just be a sitting duck if she waited with them.
Yelena kills four more on her way to the engine.
Three of them are in a group and ambush her immediately. One hesitates, clearly unsure because of her age but one barks something at him in German and the morals are gone.
Yelena kills the first one, using his body as a shield as she lifts a baton from his body and wields it like Bobbi did, smashing the kneecaps of the second. The third manages to get a slice on her shoulder before Yelena kills him.
She comes across groups of SHIELD agents bustling about.
One of them grabs her shoulders. “What squad are you?”
“I’m a rookie,” Yelena replies.
They nod. “Okay. Where’s the rest of your class? You should be on lockdown.”
“It was a solo session with Agent Morse,” Yelena replies and a knife is pushed into her hands.
Yelena slits one of the enemy's throats but he squirms too much and she hits an artery, spraying her with blood. “Fuck…” She drops the body, wiping at the blood that splattered on her face.
The power flickers back on, the helicarrier stabilized slightly and Yelena is left with a group of SHIELD agents that she doesn’t know who are counting their wounded and dead.
The chatter in her earpiece turns for calls of retreat or suicide.
Yelena pulls the earpiece out.
She doesn’t know that on the other side of the ship a wounded Bobbi and Natalia stumble into the training room and freeze at the dead body and lack of a teenager.
There are four more that Yelena takes down with a group of agents much higher levels than her. She doesn’t recognize their faces but knows they’re of higher ranks.
“Are you hurt?” A hand falls onto her shoulder and Yelena jerks away from it. She’s breathing heavily and standing amidst the bodies of their enemies sprawled on the floor.
“Fine,” Yelena said sharply. “Don’t touch me.”
“Tiny!” Hunter appears, a gnash in his eyebrow, looking her over. “Have you seen Bob?”
Yelena shakes her head and Hunter looks her over. He’s holding his ribs and reached up to wipe away a trickle of blood threatening to roll into his eyes.
“Come on. I’m trying to find her,” Hunter said and Yelena breaks away from the group of SHIELD agents.
Yelena follows Hunter through the halls and past dead bodies and the injured.
On the other side of the ship, Bobbi and Natalia meet up with Maria and Fury. Nobody knew where Yelena was.
The vents near Yelena and Hunter are kicked open and Clint drops next to them. “Beanie baby!” He wraps his arms around her, not caring that he was covered in dust from the vents and she was coated in blood.
Yelena’s still running on adrenaline so she shoves him off of her. Clint thankfully doesn’t try to grab her again.
“Where’s your sister?” Clint questioned, glancing around and Yelena shrugs.
Clint looked worried. “Well, we need to find her before she goes AWOL.”
Yelena glances at him before nodding. “Where do we start?”
Clint looked toward one of the agents nearby. “Any of you have a working earpiece? Let the commander know that the beanie baby’s safe.”
Confused, but obeying nevertheless, one of the agents raised a finger to their ear to relay the message.
“They’re by the southside,” The agent finally replies and Clint sets a hand onto Yelena’s shoulder to guide her forward.
Yelena follows Hunter and Clint as the two move forward toward where the others were.
Natalia sees her first and moves toward her quickly, grabbing Yelena’s face between her hands. “Status report.” She demands.
“Light bruising. A laceration on my left shoulder. Nine dead.” Yelena states, looking up at her sister.
“The blood isn’t yours?” Bobbi questioned and Yelena glances at where she was leaning against Hunter.
“No.” Yelena said, looking back up at Natalia. “Not mine. He wiggled and made me make a mess. I hate it when they squirm.”
Natalia pulls Yelena into her arms and Yelena squirms. “I’m all bloody.” She protests but doesn’t force herself away.
“Don’t care,” Natalia murmurs, and Yelena peers at Maria standing there with the director.
Yelena wants to shove Natalia off of her because they were in the presence of the head of it all.
This was SHIELD’s equivalent of Dreykov and Natalia was hugging her right in front of him.
And he wasn’t stopping them.
“Natalia--” Yelena said but Natalia squeezed her closer and Yelena falls quiet, just letting things play out.
It was safe in her big sister’s hold so Yelena rests her cheek against Natalia’s shoulder.
Natalia cups the back of Yelena’s neck, her thumb gently stroking the nape of her neck. Her other arm wrapped around Yelena’s back, pulling her flush against her.
Yelena slowly sinks into the hold as the adrenaline fades, leaving her tired. Natalia shifts her stance to hold Yelena’s weight.
Yelena doesn’t even listen to the conversation around them until Bobbi moves into her vision.
“Kid? The Director is speaking to you,” Bobbi frowns. “Are you sure you aren’t hurt?”
Yelena blinks a few times as she pulls herself out of her mind and looks up at the Director.
“I’m sorry… I wasn’t listening…” She admits quietly. She’s covered in blood and tired and making a poor impression.
“I asked if you had weapons on you,” Fury repeats himself.
“Hn. No sir,” Yelena murmurs. “I didn’t break the rules. I’m not allowed weapons so I used my hands.”
She watches as Fury raised a single eyebrow.
“I mean, one of your agents did give me a knife and it seemed rude to refuse but I gave it back,” Yelena adds on. “I’m sorry.”
Fury narrowed his eyebrow letting out an indiscernible hum. “You’re forgiven.” He finally spoke. “Go shower, rookie. You two are dismissed.”
Natalia drags Yelena off before anyone else can get a word in. Yelena’s sleepy but lets Natalia peel her bloodied uniform from her and guide her into the shower.
Yelena didn’t realize just how much blood she got on her until Natalia is washing it out of her hair and gently wiping it off of her face.
“I’m okay…” Yelena grips Natalia’s wrist when she feels a slight tremor as Natalia cleans a smear of blood Yelena missed off of her jaw.
“I know. I never doubted you,” Natalia said quietly. Yelena knows that it’s more than that but she’s too tired to argue. She’s wrapped up in a towel as Natalia showers and then the two look over each other for injuries.
They finally collapse into bed and Yelena shifts to secure her wrist with a handcuff.
Natalia stops her, gripping her wrists and pulling her closer instead. “Come here.”
Confused, Yelena shuffles closer. She lets out a tiny gasp when Natalia pulls her on top of her.
“I’ve got you,” Natalia said, cupping the back of Yelena’s neck. “Go to bed.”
Yelena’s too tired to argue and rests her cheek against Natasha’s chest, closing her eyes as she lets out a soft huff.
“I killed people today.” Yelena murmurs. Natalia’s fingers still where she had been stroking Yelena’s hair.
“I know… I’m sorry,” Natalia said after a few moments.
“I want to be able to carry a knife…” Yelena yawns, her eyes sliding shut again. “Would have been quicker.”
“I’ll talk to the commander,” Natalia placates, her fingers moving to stroke Yelena’s hair again. “Go to sleep.”
Yelena relaxes against her sister and falls asleep.