incapacitate
Yelena is asked to appear in front of the Director the next day.
Nobody bothers to tell Natalia not to go too. Despite not having been invited, Natalia has a grip on Yelena’s shoulder as they head to the Director’s office.
Fury is there sitting behind his desk, Maria standing at his right side with a tablet in her grip as she taps away.
“Belova. Romanov. Please sit,” Fury gestures to the two chairs set up in front of his desk. Natalia takes a seat and Yelena scoots the chair closer to her sister before sitting. “I’d like to speak with Rookie Agent Belova about yesterday’s events.”
Yelena looks up at him. “What about it?” She asked.
“Walk me through what happened as soon as Agent Morse left the gym.” Fury orders and Yelena glances at Maria before looking at Natalia and then settling her gaze on a spot on the wall as she recounts what had happened.
“What made you decide to kill instead of incapacitate?” Fury interrupts when Yelena finishes describing killing the first one by snapping his neck.
Yelena paused, briefly glancing at him. She knew that you weren’t supposed to make eye contact with head superiors but she can’t help but look him in the eye for a few moments. “Was I not supposed to?”
“You could have rendered him unconscious. You didn’t. You instead aimed to take him down for good. Why?” Maria clarifies for her.
“It’s not against the rules,” Yelena said. “I’m not allowed to hurt or kill my colleagues. They weren’t my colleagues so I killed them.”
Maria taps at her tablet when Yelena answered.
“Okay. What happened after that?” Fury prompted and Yelena continued and spoke next about the group of three.
“You could have lifted their weapons. A gun. A knife. Some of them were carrying tasers. Why didn’t you?” Fury interrupts once again.
Yelena frowns. “It’s against the rules. I’m not supposed to have weapons.”
“You thought that we would deny you the use of weapons while under attack?” Fury raised an eyebrow.
Yelena, unsure if he was asking a serious question or not, nods. “Yes.”
Maria’s fingers paused from tapping and she looks up at Yelena.
“Continue,” Fury said and Yelena nods her head. She spoke of meeting up with some agents she didn’t recognize but knew that they were of higher rank because she usually only interacted with recruits and instructors.
“One of them asked me if I had a weapon and I said no so they pulled out a knife and gave it to me and told me to be safe. Their knife was kinda dull so I slipped and cut an artery and I got blood all over me,” Yelena explained to them.
“And then what?” Fury urged and Yelena explains that once the enemies were dead that she returned the knife and met up with Hunter who was looking for Bobbi.
“You killed eight people with your bare hands.” Fury says and Yelena nods her head.
“I would have gotten more if I had a weapon,” Yelena promised. “But they were armed and were wearing tactical suits.”
Fury stares at the two for a few moments before nodding his head. “We’ll be touching down for repairs and you two will be moved on base until the helicarrier is ready to go once again. You will not be permitted free range and you will not reveal any information that is not critical.” Fury’s eye lands on Yelena. “Such as your age.”
Yelena nods her head. “Yes, sir.” She said quickly, Natalia echoing her after a moment.
“Hawkeye will guide you to and from where you two need to be. You will not be permitted to wander alone.” Fury continues.
“We’re still your prisoners.” Natalia interrupts when Fury lists the conditions. “We keep our head down and sit around and look pretty. Understood.”
Fury narrowed his eye but then gives a curt nod. “Very well. You two are dismissed.”
The two quickly vacate his office and Yelena looks up at Natalia. “Did I do okay?”
“Yeah,” Natalia bumps her shoulder against Yelena’s. “You did fine. Don’t worry.”
Yelena’s quiet for a moment before looking up at Natalia. “He’s not like Dreykov.”
Natalia nearly stumbles, stiffening and Yelena immediately wishes that she didn’t speak.
“Oh?” Natalia questioned, her tone slightly strangled. “How so?”
“He wasn’t mad at me for not killing more people. He didn’t compare me to you or tell me that I wasn’t good enough. He let you hug me in front of him yesterday and didn’t even get mad,” Yelena lists. “But I’ve only met him three times so maybe we can wait… the General was nice too at first.”
Natalia paused in the hallway and Yelena stops walking, turning to look up at her in confusion. “Natalia?”
Natalia grips Yelena’s shoulders. “If the Director ever does anything that reminds you of the General then you tell me immediately, do you understand me?”
Yelena is surprised by the sudden Russian and seriousness of her tone but nods her head.
“Words.” Natalia prompts, the grip on Yelena’s shoulders tightening.
“Yes, I understand,” Yelena said quietly and the grip on her shoulders loosened.
“Good…” Natalia lets her shoulders go and continues to walk down the hallway like nothing happened.
Yelena quickly picks up the pace to fall into step with her.
“My favorite assassins!” Clint springs from a vent only to quickly be pinned to the ground by Natalia. “My bad. Should’ve expected that.” He groans.
“The helicarrier was attacked yesterday and you thought it would be funny to pop out of the vents?” Natalia demands, shoving two fingers against a nerve running by his shoulder.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Clint flails under her. “Okay, okay! Mercy! I won’t do that again!”
“You’re breaking the rules…” Yelena reminds Natalia with a hiss.
Natalia rolls her eyes but lets go of Clint.
“It’s alright, beanie baby,” Clint tells Yelena, wincing as he rolls his shoulder. “That was my bad. I should have known better than to jump out like that at two angry assassins.”
Yelena frowns but nods her head as Clint grins at them.
“What did you want?” Natalia questioned, folding her arms.
“I wanted to ask if you and Yelena wanted to help me help me gather a few people up for a movie night,” Clint said with a smile.
“Movie night?” Yelena echoes curiously.
Clint nods his head. “Rarely anybody I invite turn up but if we use this little munchkin.” He slings an arm around Yelena’s shoulders. “And she pouts at them then they’ll have to come.”
“Who are you asking?” Yelena questioned, not totally opposed to the idea.
“Uh, Coulson, Maria, Bobbi, Hunter, and May?” He lists. “It’s just… after big scares like this then it’s nice to be able to see all of your friends and stuff all together.”
Yelena looks up at Natalia. “Can we go?” She asked quietly, trying to keep the hope out of her voice.
Natalia looks down at Yelena’s face and a small smile forms. “Of course, little sister.”
Clint uses Yelena to guilt-trip them into attending. He plays up the whole “raised to be a weapon and never got a childhood” card. They’d sigh, glance at Clint like they knew exactly what he was doing before looking at Yelena and agreeing.
They agree to meet up that night at Clint’s room on base after the helicarrier had landed.
Yelena gets overwhelmed at the sheer amount of people as they disembark the airship. She pressed against Natalia, resisting the urge to stab people that bump against her.
“Natalia..” Yelena breathes out when someone bumps her shoulder. “Too many people--”
Too many people. So many variables. Almost all of them were armed. What if they hurt her? Hurt Natalia?
Natalia wrapped an arm around Yelena’s shoulder, pulling her close. “Come here. Clint!”
Clint turns from where he had been leading them and falls back to Yelena’s other side, draping an arm over both of their shoulders so that Yelena was snug between them.
“Maria was able to get you a bigger bed in your room,” Clint tells them once they finally break free of the crowd and enter the base. “You’re sharing a room again.”
He paused when he sees someone. “Hand!”
Someone pauses and looks at him with exasperation. “Yes, Barton?”
Clint gestures to the two girls. “Newbies. This is Victoria Hand.” Clint glances at the two Russian assassins.
Hand looks them over with a raised eyebrow. “Wasn’t aware you were recruiting.”
“Oh, this is my emotional support assassin,” Clint said with a grin, gesturing to Natalia. “And this is her emotional support assassin.” He points at Yelena.
Hand gives him a blank look and Clint gives her a sweet smile. “Of course.” She drawls. “If you’re done bothering me, I have work to get back to.”
Hand disappears and Clint turns toward them. “She loves me.” He whispers.
“No, she doesn’t,” Natalia replies and Clint chuckles as he continues to lead them into the base.
“Welcome to your home away from home,” He outstretched his arms in a grand gesture. “SHIELD headquarters.”
Yelena pressed against Natalia as they walk, glancing around at the new and unfamiliar faces.
Home away from home?
Yeah right, Yelena doesn’t have a home.