Chapter 9
Tony Stark designed BARF to help with post-traumatic stress disorder and other traumas. He sent the blueprints off to Wakanda where he knew that Barnes had been hiding and he knew that they used it to help him with his triggers and mind.
He gets a text from Nat the morning after she and her sister leave for the Barton farm. Yelena had woken up with ten hours of memory completely gone and had requested to see if the Wakandan’s could fix it.
Tony had a way to contact princess Shuri, resident head scientist and the person that adjusted BARF to use on Barnes.
He calls her at a respectable time in Wakanda. A hologram pops up and a girl’s face appears. “Princess Shuri.” Tony greets her. “I hope that I’m not interrupting anything.”
Shuri grins at him. “I wouldn’t have answered if you were.” But the look Shuri gives him tells him that she totally would have answered if she was busy but only because she could. “What can I do for you, Dr. Stark?”
“I was wondering if you were interested in helping someone that is nearly in the same position that Barnes was before you played with his head,” Tony replies a little sheepishly. “Removing triggers and such.”
Shuri raised an eyebrow. “We cannot help everyone, Dr. Stark. Unfortunately, not every broken white boy can come and recover in Wakanda.”
Tony shakes his head. “That’s just it. It’s not a broken white boy.” Tony sighs and briefly considers begging. “I really need you to consider this.”
Shuri stares at him for a few moments and catalogs the way he holds himself. Whatever she sees must be enough before she nods. “Give me a moment to grab my brother and we will talk further.”
Tony relaxes slightly because the answer wasn’t a denial. He waits until King T’Challa appears on the screen along with a few of the royal guards, the Dora Milaje.
“Dr. Stark. What a surprise,” T’Challa greets him somewhat suspiciously. “What can I do for you?”
“I have another person that was close to what Barnes went through. I need help removing the triggers and helping with massive memory loss,” Tony explains to him. “I’m asking this as a personal favor to me. This person is important to me.”
“We cannot help every man that suffers--” T’Challa starts but Tony interrupts him.
“It’s not a man. It’s a kid,” Tony knows that he was on thin ice for interrupting the king judging by the way the Dora Milaje glare at him. But T’Challa is waiting for Tony to continue so he does. “It’s a sixteen-year-old girl who was hand-picked at the age of three to train to be the best child assassin ever. She was in a subsection of Hydra called the Red Room.”
At the mention of her age, Shuri perks up. “A sixteen-year-old girl?” Shuri looks up at T’Challa. “She’s nearly my age, brother.”
“What exactly is it that you are looking for?” T’Challa finally asked and Tony glances at the text that Nat had sent him that morning.
“Mainly just helping with memory loss. She has blank spaces in her memory and important conversations are gone. She still has triggers embedded in her min and was under nearly the same mind control that Barnes had but this one was one that she couldn’t slip in and out of like he could. More tightly controlled.”
“Will she be a danger to myself or others?” T’Challa inquired and Tony wasn’t going to lie to him.
“I’m not going to lie and tell you no. She gets panic attacks and dissociative episodes and sometimes just wakes up and forgets where or who she is. Merely touching her in the wrong place will set her off.”
T’Challa is quiet in thought and Shuri is looking up at him with wide eyes.
“C’mon, brother. I could make another friend my age,” She nudges T’Challa with her shoulder. “It’s a teenage girl. Imagine if it was me.”
“You’re two years older than her, Shuri,” T’Challa replies but lets out a small sigh before straightening and looking at the screen. “I do not promise that we are going to be able to help her.” T’Challa starts, ignoring his sister doing a little victory dance beside him. “But we will welcome her for a consult to see if we are able to provide any relief.”
“Uh, one more thing--” Tony tacks on before anything is settled. “She needs her sister there with her.”
T’Challa merely raised an eyebrow. “The way you phrase it makes it seem as though I would have a problem with that.”
“Her sister is Black Widow. I know that she’s not exactly popular right now but she actually adopted the kid and they can’t be separated--” Tony starts to ramble slightly as he finally gets everything out there.
“I understand,” T’Challa smoothly interrupts. “I will send someone to collect the pair at the end of the week at your tower if that is permissible?”
Tony nods his head. “Thank you. Thank you, I owe you one.” He tells him.
“We are not making any promises that we can help,” T’Challa reminds him.
Tony still nods his head. “I know. I just-- thank you.”
T’Challa leaves the frame and Shuri was the only one left. “So. Tell me more.”
“Her name is Yelena Belova,” Tony starts, watching as Shuri adjusts to sit at her desk to listen. “And she can be a pain in the ass but she will be the best person that you ever me, mark my words.”
Clint digs out a notebook and a pen for Yelena to keep track of her day.
MJ seemed particularly worried about her. She hadn’t forgotten such a large chunk of time like that in a while.
Neither Natasha nor MJ strays far from Yelena, which was fine by her. Yelena liked having her people around. They didn’t do much all day other than lounge around and watch trashy television. Then MJ smacks Yelena in the stomach with a pillow and Yelena laughs and they have a small impromptu fight that leads to MJ chucking whatever she can at Yelena because she knows that she’ll catch it.
Nobody bothers them or yells at them for being too childish. Yelena then breaks out her camera that she had packed and starts up another round of surprise photography. She shows MJ how to wedge into all the best places.
“I’m not as flexible as you--” MJ grunts, trying to curl into the top of the linen closet.
“Breathe out slowly, let yourself relax,” Yelena instructs, easily balling herself up so she could jump out and grab a photo of Laura.
Nathaniel is delighted when Yelena pops out from under his crib to take a photo.
Cooper asks her about the bandage on her neck but Yelena doesn’t like to think about the fact that Natasha hurt her so instead she shows him how to walk on his hands.
Lila shares her little stash of hidden candy with her. Yelena doesn’t even think twice to accept a piece when the tang of candy hits her tongue and she’s hit hard with a sudden memory.
“Ah, there’s my favorite little agent,” There’s a warmth in his voice as Fury kneels down in front of her. “Your daddy will be done with his assignment in a few moments. What’s this?” He reaches out to touch a bruise peeking just out of her shirt.
She shifts away from his touch. “I fell down at recess.” The lie comes easily. Kids were so clumsy. Not her though. She couldn’t afford to be clumsy.
He chuckles. “A very fun day at school then?” He concedes, reaching into the pocket of his suit.
She can’t help but tense up, unsure of what he was going to pull out of his pocket. A gun? A knife?
No. It’s a piece of blue candy wrapped up neatly with cellophane and words printed on it that she can’t read. American candy.
“Now don’t tell your daddy,” He gives her a wink. Well, as much as one can wink with one eye anyway. He holds the piece out and she hesitantly reaches out to take it after a few moments.
“Thank you,” Her voice was quiet as she takes a moment and fumbles with the wrapping that clings to itself. She frees the candy and pops it into her mouth, the thought of it being poison at the front of her mind but she couldn’t deny the gift from her mission objective.
The candy has an undercurrent of sour that fades to a sweet and makes her mouth water. Fury stands before holding out his hand again and she reaches out to take it, letting him lead her down the halls. She’s quiet, trying to map out where they were going in her head. Down a hallway. Two rights and a left.
They reach a training room and she has the privilege to watch the agents train. It’s nothing like her training. There’s no crying or yelling or blood. The trainers don’t have big switches that bruises backs and bottoms for every wrong move.
She watches quietly, the piece of blue candy melting in her mouth as she absentmindedly sucks on it.
“Alyssa,” Her fake father had beamed when he saw her and opened his arms. She knew what was expected of her and let go of Fury’s hand to run across the room into his arms.
His fingers dig into a bruise that she had on her side that he knew was painful as he pressed his lips just below her ear in what others would think was a fond kiss on her head. “Swallow whatever is in your mouth right now.” He hissed before pulling his head away, the cheerful smile never once leaving his face.
She does. She takes a few tries before she swallows that half-finished piece of candy. He holds her close and thanks Fury for looking after her before he takes her back to base.
He’s the one that holds her up by her hair as he shoves two fingers down her little throat and makes her throw up everything in her stomach until the taste is gone from her mouth and there’s nothing left but the bitter taste of bile.
Yelena comes to on Lila’s bedroom floor, MJ sitting next to her and Natasha crouched in front of her, Lila nowhere in sight.
She spits out the half-finished candy and later on adds Blue Raspberry Jolly Ranchers into her notebook list of triggers.