retaliation
As soon as all of the recruits are awake, Fury makes them stand in a line in medical.
Yelena’s uneasy just being in the place, wanting nothing more than to turn and run but she can’t.
Fury glances over the recruits standing stiffly before pointing at Yelena. “Who is she?”
Confused silence echoes from the group as they glance at Yelena.
“Black Widow’s kid?” One finally volunteers.
“What do you know about her?” Fury continues and Yelena glances at the row of recruits.
“She’s ‘dangerous’,” One comments, gesturing. “She has the monitoring anklet and tracker wristband.”
Then it was quiet.
Fury raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “That’s it?” He questions and the group before him shuffles. “What is her name?”
They glance at each other before one finally mumbles. “I dunno, sir.”
“You don’t even know her name but you thought it was appropriate to corner her in the bathroom?” Fury demands and the recruits straighten at his sharp tone.
“She’s with the widow!” One finally spits, their voice nasally from the gauze shoved up their nostrils to stem bleeding. “They’ve killed so many of our own!”
“So you found it prudent to take what you thought was justice into your own hands?” Fury questioned and they went silent. “Who died around here and made you judge, jury, and executioner?”
“She has to pay for what she’s done!” They snap and Fury narrows his eye at them.
“You’re done. I expect you to pack your things and be off base by tomorrow morning at eight sharp or else you’ll be trespassing,” Fury comments.
Their mouth hangs open. “What? You can’t just--”
“I just did!” Fury raises his voice and the recruit goes silent. “SHIELD does not tolerate these petty grudges against innocent civilians!”
“She knocked six of us out, how innocent can she be?” They demand.
“You were going to shove her face into a bowl of toilet water, how are you innocent?” Fury snaps back before looking at the others. “Enough is enough. I will tolerate this no longer. I expect each of you to go over SHIELD’s handbook and guidelines until you can repeat five pages from our workplace harassment section verbally to me. Is that understood?”
They stare at him with wide eyes, giving small nods.
“I also expect you to scrub that bathroom top to bottom. You want to play with toilets? Fine, you can clean them,” Fury adds and Yelena watches the whole thing.
She’s expecting Fury to hit them. To scream and snap and hurt them.
“If I catch you breaking another rule then I will personally see to it that the only job you will ever end up working will be as a dishwasher in a fast-food chain!” Fury hissed out. “Am I clear!?”
“Yes, sir!” The recruits chorus and Fury let out a satisfied hum. He turns toward Yelena. “Rookie agent Belova, with me.” He then starts walking and Yelena glances at the recruits before following after him.
Yelena doesn’t ask where they’re going but Fury takes her to the gym. The main large one where regular agents trained.
“Barton. Romanov. Hill.” He barks out and three figures by a treadmill pause to look over at him when their name is called. “With me.”
Yelena sees Natalia step off the treadmill and their eyes meet for a few moments. There’s a slight tilt of Natalia’s head asking if she’s okay but Yelena knows immediately that her eyes narrow at the sight of the bruise forming on her face.
Yelena tilts her head down shamefully as they follow after Fury.
“You’ve probably heard by now that six recruits were knocked out in the bathroom by a single culprit,” Fury tells them and Yelena shrinks in on herself when their eyes flicker to look at her.
Natalia finally steps forward. “What’s her punishment?”
“It’s already been served,” Fury replies and then stops at the end of the hallway. “Hill. Barton. I want you two to explain to Belova when the right time to fight back is.”
“Yes, sir,” The two chorus, and then Fury turns on his heel and leaves the four of them standing in the hall.
Natalia immediately turns toward Yelena, grabbing her face to inspect the bruise forming on her cheek. “What happened?” She demanded.
“They were trying to dunk my head in a toilet,” Yelena murmurs, leaning against the hand cupping her face. “I thought I might have a flashback to when they held my head underwater so I fought back. I didn't want to kill them by accident.”
“Do us non-Russian’s get an explanation?” Clint spoke up before glancing at Yelena. “You okay, beanie baby?”
“Fine,” Yelena replies in English.
“How were you punished?” Maria spoke up and Yelena glanced at her before looking back at Natalia.
Her hesitation made Natalia’s eyes narrow.
“He… uh,” Yelena’s still not quite sure what her punishment even was.
“Yelena?” Maria prompts and Yelena shrugs. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“He made me kneel,” Yelena finally tells them and quickly continues when their eyes snap to look at her. “He then told me that SHIELD isn’t a dictatorship, I’m not a whipping boy, and that I should kneel for no one. Not even him.”
Natalia’s face is the mask of pure calmness but Yelena knows that there’s a myriad of emotions flickering through her head.
“He didn’t touch me,” Yelena adds on for Natalia’s sake. “He said my punishment was just standing in the same room with him?”
Maria lets out a snort of laughter and Yelena glances at her in confusion. “Yeah, that sounds like something he’d say.”
Natalia grabs the back of Yelena’s neck but she can’t help but flinch violently at the touch. Natalia yanks her hand away like she had been burned at the flinch.
“It’s sore…” Yelena murmurs the explanation, looking down at her shoes.
“Who grabbed you back there?” Clint draws himself up, his face turning serious because he knew how much she hated anyone but Natalia (and sometimes Bobbi) grabbing the back of her neck.
Yelena shrugs, reaching up to touch the back of her neck. “Dunno…”
“Come here,” Clint said. “Lemme see.”
Yelena stands stiffly as she lets Clint brush the hair off of the back of her neck and inspect her skin.
“Was it the instructor?” Maria questioned and Yelena glances up at her in confusion. “That did it?”
Yelena doesn’t reply verbally but gives a small nod.
“I feel like we could spend some time in the nest,” Clint announced.
“Nice try, Barton. I’m not going in the vents,” Maria comments with a scoff.
“Bossman said we gotta have a talk with beanie baby,” Clint retorts. “And she feels safe in the nest, don’t you?” He glances at Yelena.
Yelena knows that the word ‘safe’ and reference to her was either going to break Maria’s resolve or not depending on if she agreed. Yelena shrugs slightly, giving a small nod.
The small space was comforting at times. Clint brought blankets up and stashed snacks in there when he had extra.
“See!” Clint points a finger at Yelena smugly. “So you gotta join us.”
“Will the vents even hold the weight of four adults?” Maria raised an eyebrow and Clint grins.
“Eh, more like three. Three and a half if we count the kid,” Clint hums and Maria lets out a fond sigh.
“Okay. Just for the sake of my rookie,” Maria said and Clint gasps.
“Your rookie? Look at you, laying claim down,” Clint gives her a wide grin.
“I’m Deputy Director, all the rookies are my rookies,” Maria rolls her eyes. “Come on. Let’s get this talk over with.”
It’s a little bit of a tight squeeze with four in the largest part of the vent that Clint had made his nest in. Yelena comfortably settles between her sister's legs, leaning her back against Natalia’s front and letting her sister hold her.
“Right. Serious conversation talk,” Maria starts before Clint tosses a pack of sour gummies at her face. “Barton.”
“Hill.” Clint mimics her. “She was just chewed out by the boss man, give her a few moments, it’s been a hard day.”
Maria lets out a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Children. You’re all children.” She comments.
“You love us anyway,” Clint grins before tossing a pack of gummy worms at Yelena. “Catch!”
Yelena snatches the pack out of the air and tears the package open, pulling the first one up and reaching up to pass it to her sister.
They’re halfway through the bag when Maria finally spoke. “Fury wanted us to speak with you about when the right time to fight back is.”
“When do you think is the right time to fight back?” Clint pipes up, tossing a peanut m&m up and catching it in his mouth.
Yelena glances at Clint before looking at Maria. “When I’m told to.”
“And today? Who told you to fight back?” Clint asked and Yelena paused before shrugging.
“My brain,” Yelena busies herself by shoving a few gummy worms in her mouth.
“Are you saying that you’d let yourself get hurt if nobody told you to fight back?” Maria asked and Yelena glances at her before looking away.
“That’s not what I said,” Yelena points out.
“But you’re not denying it,” Clint frowns, his body language shifting to serious. “You’re allowed to stand up for yourself, say no, and fight back if it comes to it.”
“Am I?” Yelena eyes Maria. “My instructor screamed at me and grabbed the back of my neck before dragging me down the hallway when I did.”
Maria’s face hardens. “You are allowed. That was unacceptable.”
“They see my tracker and they know that means I’m dangerous and they treat me differently because of it,” Yelena folds her arms. “You took Natalia’s off for missions and nobody corners her or taunts her or tries to fight her.”
Maria lets out a hum before holding her hand out. “Fair enough. Lemme see.”
Yelena blinks in surprise before leaning forward and extending her wrist. Maria enters a code onto the tracker and the bracelet falls off with a beep.
Yelena moves to pull her wrist back but Maria grabs her hand and stops her. Yelena looks up and their eyes meet.
“I am not the Red Room, Yelena. If you have a problem with someone then you can come to me,” Maria spoke firmly. “Understand me?”
Yelena nods her head. “Yes ma’am.”
Maria lets her hand go and Yelena leans back against Natalia.
Even though the conversation finished, Maria stayed in the vents with the three.