punishments
Yelena had known that they would figure out she was missing just a few hours after she left when she didn’t show up for dinner. Skye couldn’t keep a constant cover for her without making herself seem guilty and Yelena wasn’t going to let her get blamed for her actions.
Coulson seemed somewhat proud of her although whenever he tried to ask Yelena about sneaking onto the plane and the guards she took down, Natasha would glare at him, silencing Yelena with a gentle squeeze to the back of her neck.
Yelena knew she was angry. Not at her, well not entirely, but she was mad at Coulson. So Yelena stays quiet, taking comfort in the fact that Bobbi had sat on the other side of her, and sitting squished between Natasha and Bobbi made her feel safe and protected.
Bobbi had one hand on her knee, tapping morse code onto the fabric of her cargo pants. Yelena half pays attention, her mind still drifting off to the information she had learned.
The information wasn’t too important. It was probably on the flash drive anyway. Nobody needed to know about her connection to Melina Vostokoff.
It feels like it takes longer to fly back than it did to fly out. Yelena can’t seem to focus but Bobbi tapping out songs onto her knee helps keep her grounded.
When they do eventually land, Yelena exits behind Natasha. Maria was waiting for them, a cold look on her face as she regards them. Finally, her eyes land on Yelena.
Yelena doesn’t think she’s ever had that look directed at her before. The stare makes her feel like shrinking in on herself, her stomach twisting with guilt.
And then Maria starts in on a lecture, her tone unfamiliar to Yelena. Yelena has a hard time paying attention to what Maria was saying, her focus on Maria’s face. In front of her was hard-ass Hill and she was pissed.
“Are you listening to me, rookie?” Maria demands, her hand reaching out. Yelena can’t help the violent flinch away from the incoming hand, bracing herself for a blow.
Natasha immediately grasped the back of her neck, pulling her against her side as she steps between Yelena and Maria. “Enough.” She says.
Maria glances between them before letting out a long sigh. “Debriefing. Directors office. Two hours. Go clean up.” She glances at Yelena once more before turning toward Coulson with her glare renewed. Natasha guides Yelena away as Maria starts in on Coulson for not calling in Yelena’s appearance on his plane.
Yelena needed to go see Skye and check in on her to see if she had been caught. But Natasha wasn’t willing to let go of Yelena, her grip on the back of her neck firm and keeping Yelena from darting off.
They head to the showers where Natasha has Yelena strip down to check her over for injuries. There was only bruising on Yelena’s ankle from the guard grabbing her and scrapes on her elbows from shimmying through the vents.
When Yelena has showered and dressed, she lets Natasha run a comb through her hair to untangle it. Yelena focuses on the feeling, trying not to focus on the image of Melina Vostokoff from the file.
Natasha keeps touching her jaw to adjust her head but Yelena thinks she’s actually making sure that Yelena isn’t getting trapped inside her head. Finally, Natasha finishes pulling her hair back in a braid and wraps her arms around Yelena from behind.
“You did well.” Natasha murmurs into her ear, pressing her nose against Yelena’s jaw. “You shouldn’t have come… but you did well.”
Yelena opens her mouth, ready to tell Natasha about Melina but pauses. What if she knew?
Yelena was only six the last time she saw her mama. The last memory she has was Natasha pressing down onto Melina’s stomach to staunch the bleeding before they’re pulled from the plane by the guards. Yelena doesn’t want to leave her but her mama had reassured her, running her hand over her head with nothing but love before Natasha pulls Yelena against her side so that the guards could move her away.
Yelena closed her mouth, instead turning to curl into her big sister. “I love you.” She needs the reassurance at the moment that despite her actions, she was still loved in return.
“I adore you, forever and always,” Natasha doesn't hesitate to offer the reassurance, her finger tracing the letters of what she meant to say onto Yelena’s back. “My sweet little Lenochka.”
They move to their bunk until it was time to report to the Director for debriefing.
Yelena had spent enough time around him with Goose that she wasn’t scared of him. At least she wasn’t scared of him in normal everyday contexts. She blatantly disobeyed the rules and went out when she wasn’t supposed to.
General Dreykov would have thrived on her bad behavior, looking for a good excuse to punish her. Yelena can only hope that her contributions to the mission would abate any anger and keep him from physically punishing her.
Yelena takes carefully measured breaths as they approach the director's office. Fury was sitting behind the desk, Maria standing next to him. Coulson was there as well.
Fury leans back in his chair as the sisters enter. His gaze zeroes in on Yelena and he nods to the two seats in front of his desk. “Sit.”
Yelena takes a seat in the chair, Natasha sitting beside her.
“Rookie agent Yelena Belova,” He starts, raising an eyebrow. “Would you like to account for your whereabouts the past two days?”
Now Yelena has to decide whether he actually wants an answer or if he wants silence and submission. Their stares when she stays quiet let her know that they actually do want an answer.
“I was with Agent Coulson’s team.” Yelena replies quietly, keeping her eyes in her lap and her head bowed so they wouldn’t think she was challenging them.
“And who cleared you to go on the mission?” Fury then inquired.
“Nobody, sir,” Yelena said quietly before swallowing hard. “I decided to go on my own.”
“Where did you get the clearance to enter the plane?” Maria pipes up from her spot. “The plane has a badge only clearance.”
Yelena says nothing, focusing down on a loose string on the ankle of her sweatpants.
“Was it Skye?” Maria prompts and Yelena can see Coulson frown.
“Now Maria--” He starts, quick to Skye’s defense.
“I was asking Yelena,” Maria levels a stare at him and Coulson quiets down. Heads turn to focus on Yelena.
“No.” Yelena dares to lie, ensuring that her face and body language betrays nothing. Only Natasha would be able to tell that she was lying and Yelena knew she wouldn’t call Yelena out here in front of them. “It was all me.”
“Do you want to be an agent, Yelena?” Fury’s question takes Yelena by surprise. She glances up at him, their eyes meeting briefly before she averts her gaze.
“Yes sir.” She said quietly.
“If you want to be an agent then I need to be able to trust that you will follow my rules. I refuse to have lives endangered because my agents are unable to follow simple instructions,” Fury tells her firmly and guilt settles in Yelena’s stomach. “What you did by disappearing and breaking not only the rules but learning classified information was unacceptable.”
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Maria raised an eyebrow, folding her arms. There was a brief period of silence as Yelena stares at them.
“No.” Yelena finally replies.
“Not even an apology or promise to not do it again?” Coulson pipes up and Yelena glances at him.
Yelena inhales deeply before shaking her head. “I’m not sorry for what I did.” She confessed quietly. “And I cannot assure you in a promise that I will never do it again.”
“I see…” Fury eyes her before turning his head to Maria. “Bump her clearance level up to Romanoff’s and get her a badge.”
“Sir!” Maria protests. “She’s seventeen.”
“Only for a few weeks longer, am I correct?” He glances at Yelena. “January.”
“As far as I’m aware.” The Red Room had burned her birth certificate so the exact date of her birth was unknown but Natasha told her that they celebrated it in January while they were in Ohio. Yelena had picked a date and put that down when they were filling out forms after first being brought into SHIELD. Of course, she filled hers out in Russian so it was unclear if it had been translated or filed and forgotten.
Natasha would turn twenty-three in a few days first. Then it would be thirty days and Yelena would be eighteen.
“Until you turn eighteen, you will be punished,” Fury tells her, and Yelena tenses up slightly. “What do you think would be a fair punishment?”
Yelena blinks at him in confusion. In the Red Room, if she was asked to pick her punishment then she would suggest they whip her until they were satisfied. She doesn’t think that would go over very well here.
Then again, she hadn’t done anything to this degree before. “Dancing.”
Fury raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Dancing?” He repeats curiously. “How is that a punishment?”
“I don’t stop until you say I can…” Yelena explains quietly with a frown. “I run through ballet sets until you allow me to stop.”
“And if I didn’t allow you to stop?” Fury inquired.
Yelena can see Natasha getting tense beside her. “Then I wouldn’t stop.”
“Even if your feet bleed or you get too exhausted to continue?” He asked and Yelena can see Maria glancing at him with a frown now.
“Yes sir, if that’s what you want.” Yelena replies and Fury lets out a grunt, frowning slightly.
“Alright.” He inclines his head. “Go to the gym and dance. I will come when it is time for you to stop.”
Yelena stands, as does Natasha.
“Not you Romanoff, sit,” He tells her and Yelena feels Natasha’s eyes on her as she leaves.
Yelena heads to the gym and she takes her shoes off before she dances. The bruising on her ankle aches as she goes but Yelena ignores it.
She loses track of time but eventually the door opens and Yelena catches a glance of Fury as she pirouettes. She doesn’t dare stop until he tells her she can.
Finally, he speaks. “You can stop. Come here.”
Yelena stops in place, shifting and moving toward him. He holds out a bottle of cold water toward her, the seal still intact. Yelena was tired and she was hot and thirsty but it feels like a trick. Still, she doesn’t deny the offering and takes it.
“Walk me through what happened from the moment you stepped onto that plane to the moment you stepped off,” Fury tells her.
Yelena does, glossing over the fact she saw what was in the files and the conversation she had with Natasha.
“I expect more from you. You can be better, I know that,” Fury said firmly. “Until you turn eighteen, you will be cleaning the gym mats every other day. You are not allowed to leave the helicarrier barring an emergency. You have a meeting with Timothea tomorrow regarding what has happened the past two days. I expect you to present yourself to Maria once a day just after dinner. Failure to do so will result with the tracker being placed back on you. Do you understand?”
“Yes sir,” Yelena inclines her head.
“Good. Drink that,” He points to the bottle of water in her hand. “Then go to the cafeteria to eat a full meal. You’ll start cleaning the mats tomorrow.”
With that, he turns on his foot and leaves, leaving Yelena standing in the same spot clutching a bottle of cold water.
Yelena looks down at it and then cracks the seal, bringing it to her lips and takes a long sip.
She’ll be busy until she turns eighteen. She needs busy. She needs the distraction from what she saw.
Yelena doesn’t disobey again, pulling her shoes on and walks down to the cafeteria to get something to eat.