her office
Maria watched as the two Russian assassin sisters are put through deprogramming.
Yelena went first and by the time she finished, she had a grand meltdown and was exhausted.
Maria had to physically hold Natalia back each session, her hands digging into the skin on the woman’s stomach to keep her in place whenever she makes an aborted move toward her sister.
Natalia’s fingers grip onto Maria’s wrists but she doesn’t shove the touch off. If anything, she winds the touch closer, as if searching for the security that Maria will keep her there and stop her from interfering.
By the time Natalia’s sessions come around, Yelena doesn’t wait in the room.
Natalia took Maria aside before they began and told her to not let Yelena into the room.
Maria agrees but she doesn’t promise because her agents came first. If it got to a point where her agent’s safety was compromised then she’d do whatever it took, including calling her sister in.
She does end up having to call Yelena in. She stops Yelena before she goes in, watching as the teenager curls her fingers into fists as she refrains from smashing her fist against the Commander’s jaw. Maria gives her an order to retreat if it is not safe.
She has to make it an order. Otherwise, the teenager would find some way to work around the rules to do what she wants. If Maria gave her an explicit order then she would be too frightened to disobey.
Maria watches as Yelena falls into a role that she doesn’t quite understand. Yelena gives orders, her spine straight as she paces with a grace that Maria had only seen when the girls were dancing.
Maria tries the same thing next time but there must be something about Yelena that calms her because Natalia spits at her.
Maria’s not blind to the toll that this all takes on Yelena. Yelena is not getting any sleep other than whatever she can manage sitting outside the room with Bobbi.
Then Yelena starts to stand in the room with them after walking having to be called into the room.
Yelena surprises Maria when she slowly leans against her, letting out a small yawn and then dipping her head down.
Yelena falls asleep standing up.
Maria tears her eyes from watching Natalia, looking down at the teenager that had formed a habit of falling asleep on people in the past few days. “Yelena?” Maria questioned quietly, moving to wrap an arm around her to steady her.
Yelena jerks slightly at her name, her eyes falling onto Natalia in worry.
“Natalia’s fine,” Maria said. “But you’re not. You need to go to bed.”
Yelena shakes her head. “I’m fine.” She mumbles but she’s leaning into Maria’s hold and her eyes are slowly sliding shut again.
Maria can either order Yelena back to her bunk to sleep and risk needing her, or she can put up with the teenager falling asleep on her and have her available.
Maria adjusts her grip on the teenager as Yelena’s head dips back down as she falls asleep once again.
Maria knows how much trust she’s being shown. She doesn’t think she deserves it. She’s done nothing for a child assassin to trust her enough to sleep on her.
When Yelena does have to intervene again, she pulls herself together in a matter of moments, looking nothing like the exhausted girl running on empty that was just sleeping on Maria.
During the seventh session, Natalia yanks her wrist free once again and claws at the strap on her forehead, leaving red marks behind on her face.
Yelena steps forward, grabbing Natalia’s wrist, and leans forward until their faces are inches apart. Yelena hissed out something in Russian at her. Maria doesn’t know what she says but Natalia immediately backs down.
Clint shuffles toward Maria, leaning over. He was good at listening and translating languages but not speaking them. “Shit, Hill…”
Maria glances at him briefly. “What is she saying.”
Clint watches for a few moments before he translates whatever he can pick up. “I own your body-- your body is not-- your body is not yours to damage…” Clint frowns. “I think that’s what she’s saying.”
Maria watches the sisters again. Yelena gives Natalia’s wrist a shake before letting it go and poking her finger at Natalia’s forehead.
Yelena did that a lot to settle Natalia back under control. She’d poke her forehead and the belittling movement would stop whatever Natalia was doing. She’d go still and settle back in the chair.
Yelena peers up at Clint and Maria when she steps back, Natalia strapped back into the chair once again. Her frame seems to slump with each step until she looks exactly like the sleep-deprived teenager that was sleeping on people.
Clint drapes an arm around her shoulders and Yelena’s head slumps against him as her eyes slide shut once again.
At this point, Yelena is going to make herself sick going at the rate she’s going. “Go back to your bunk for the day.” Maria says.
Yelena straightens, looking up at Maria. “I’m fine.”
“I didn’t ask,” Maria retorts, folding her arms and looking down at her. “Go back to your bunk and sleep. That’s an order.”
Yelena goes stiff. “What if--”
“Natalia didn’t want you in the room. She trusted us to do this without you. Go to your bunk and sleep. Do not exit without having slept more than three hours or unless someone comes to get you. That is an order from your commander, do you understand?” Maria hates having to make it an order. She hates the way Yelena looks up at her like she had been betrayed.
“Come on, beanie baby.” Clint sets a hand onto her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
Yelena reluctantly lets Clint steer her out of the room.
Maria turns her attention back toward Natalia.
Luckily, Natalia seems to stay settled down from Yelena’s actions. When they finish up, Maria steps forward to free her from the restraints.
Before she does, Maria copied what Yelena did each time and set her hand onto Natalia’s jaw to get her attention. Maria’s eyes scan Natalia’s face before their eyes meet. Natalia’s brow furrows slightly in disoriented confusion as Maria searches for whatever Yelena sought out each time.
She can’t find it. Maria frees Natalia from the binds and catches her when Natalia slumps forward. “I’ve got you.”
Natalia glances around the room. “Yelena--”
“She’s sleeping,” Maria interrupts before Natalia works herself up into a panic. “She was dead on her feet and going to pass out.”
Natalia lets out a small noise of confirmation. “Clint?”
“He’s with her,” Maria said. “I’m going to help you to your feet.”
Natalia doesn’t protest, her fingers curling into the shoulders of Maria’s uniform as Maria hauls her up to her feet.
“You can lean on me,” Maria assures her, feeling Natalia shake slightly. “How are you feeling?”
“Really, really fucked in the head,” Natalia murmurs, letting one of Maria’s shoulders go to press a hand against her face. “I feel like I’m still there.” Natalia’s winces when her fingers brush against the red marks on her head. “What--”
“You were hurting yourself,” Maria explains, reaching up to grab Natalia’s hand and gently pulled it away from her head. “Don’t touch.”
Natalia stumbles when she tries taking a few steps and Maria tightens her grip around her to keep her upright.
“I’ve got you,” Maria adjusts her grip. “My office is just around the corner. You can take a seat there and wait to get your bearings.”
Natalia lets out a jerky nod. “Yes…”
The two make their way slowly down the hallway. Natalia leans against the wall more than she leans against Maria but she also doesn’t reject the touch.
There’s a small couch in Maria’s office that she sleeps on when she has too much paperwork to do and is too exhausted to make it back to her bunk.
Maria lowers Natalia down onto the couch. Natalia’s eyes scan the room.
“Window doesn’t open. One entry, one exit. There are guns stashed around my office,” Maria starts to list. “Rookies barring your sister don’t have access to my office. Nobody barges in unless it’s an emergency.”
Natalia is slowly relaxing at Maria’s words, reassured that she could let her guard down for a few moments.
Maria pulls open a drawer in her desk and pulls out a small first aid kit that she kept in there and approached the couch. “Can I patch your face up?”
Natalia eyes the kit before giving a curt nod. Her hands were shaking too much for her to do it herself.
Maria takes a seat next to her on the couch, angling her body toward Natalia as she balanced the kit on her thigh.
Maria sets a hand onto Natalia’s jaw to hold her head still, bringing a wipe up to clean the marks on her face. Natalia is so still that she’s barely breathing, giving shallow breaths between Maria dabbing at her wounds.
There were only a few small places where Natalia’s nails broke through her skin. Maria dabs some antibiotic cream on them and then places a bandage on them.
“There,” Maria tosses the wrappers in the trash and tucks the kit away when she finished.
“Ma’am?” Natalia pipes up and Maria turns to glance at her.
“When it’s just us, you can call me Maria,” She spoke, approaching the couch again.
“Maria…” Natalia echoes slowly before nodding. “Thank you for looking out for my sister.”
“We have a deal,” Maria replies as an excuse because she can’t be seen favoring agents.
Her job deals with a lot of lying and any personal connections only complicate things. Maria has a rule about being very picky with who she chooses to for connections with.
These assassin sisters still aren’t official SHIELD agents yet. They’re not trusted with sensitive information and Yelena still wears a monitor on her ankle that prevents her from accessing computers and phones without permission. They are not to be trusted.
Still, Maria has watched them closely and the picture they paint of the life they lived is enough to sicken anyone to their stomach.
These girls deserve somewhere safe and they deserve people they can trust.
And if that ends up being Maria then she’ll do it.
“Think you’re ready to head back to your bunk?” Maria questioned when she realizes that she and Natalia have been staring at each other for far too long.
“Yeah--” Natalia quickly glances away, quietly accepting the hand that Maria offers her up.
Natalia barely hesitates to lean on Maria this time.