Chapter 28
It takes two more days until Shuri sits Yelena on the same table as the past week and grins.
Shuri bounces on her feet with excitement as she doesn’t set BARF onto Yelena’s head. “I think… the triggers are gone.”
Yelena stares at her. That couldn’t be true. Just like that?
“I’m going to say your trigger words,” Shuri tells her with a grin. “And if everything goes well and you’ll still be here.”
Yelena inhales deeply. “Okay. I’m ready.” She is ready to get the whole thing over with.
Shuri clasped her hands together. “Broken. Ballet. Six.”
Yelena tenses up in anticipation.
“Handcuff. Star. Three. Small.” Shuri keeps listing and Yelena has the fleeting thought that she’s not feeling fuzzy. “Firefly. Fourteen. Venus.”
Yelena’s still in the present.
“Widow?” Shuri prompts.
“Ready to--” Yelena stops herself, looking down at her hands. “What?” She flexes her fingers, watching in amazement as they respond to her. “I--” She looks up at Shuri.
Shuri lets out a whoop, throwing her arms up. “Yes! I did it!”
Yelena’s heart is beating dangerously fast in her chest. Those were her trigger words and she’s still here. She’s still in control of her body.
“Yelena?” Okoye prompts from her place near Yelena’s shoulder.
Yelena watches her fingers flex once again, reaching up to touch her face as if to reassure herself that this was her body.
“Yelena, would you like your sister?” Okoye questioned and all Yelena can do it nod.
Okoye steps away to let Natasha into the room. Yelena slides off the table and collides with her sister with a laugh that turns to a sob.
“They did it!” Yelena cries, burying her face into Natasha’s shoulder. “My trigger words! Gone!”
“Are you serious?” Natasha wraps her arms around her tightly, spinning her around. “My god, Yelena. That’s amazing!”
Yelena clings to her sister, still in disbelief before turning to Shuri. “Say them again!”
Shuri, eager to indulge in Yelena, repeats the trigger words and asks a prompt. Yelena once again wiggles her fingers and grins up at Natasha.
Natasha cups Yelena’s face in her hands and smiles warmly. “I’m very happy for you, Yelena.”
Yelena can’t help but squirm in excitement. It’s like her nerves are buzzing and her body is mimicking the excitement she feels.
Yelena didn’t have to go through more BARF sessions. Shuri had broken the main barrier laying between Yelena and her memories.
Yelena was free.
The king throws them a dinner to celebrate. Yelena had only ever seen T’Challa in passing and hadn’t spoken more than a few words thanking him about letting them stay.
The dinner was a quiet affair. Just the royal family and the Dora Milaje.
“Thank you… I don’t think I even know the words that I can use to describe my appreciation for what you have done,” Yelena tells them. “You’ve given me a sense of control back that I haven’t had since I was ten.”
T’Challa inclines his head. “I am happy that we were able to help you, Yelena.”
Yelena looks up at T’Challa. “Would you be opposed to sharing the modifications made with BARF?”
The polite smile on T’Challa’s face falls some. “You cannot be asking me to fix everyone that needs it.”
“No, no,” Yelena quickly reassures him. “But there are others that need help and since you helped me then I think that BARF can help them too, especially with the modifications that Shuri has made.”
T’Challa glances at his sister. “You are the one that has been working on BARF.”
Shuri looks over at Yelena. “How many people are we talking here?”
“A lot of other Widows like me. Also under chemical subjugation and with triggers implanted into their heads,” Yelena thinks of Toni. “At least a few dozen off the top of my head.”
“You can’t just go all willy nilly into their heads,” Shuri continues, looking like she was considering the offer.
Yelena laughs. “I’m not smart enough to operate BARF. I know a few people who are. They’d do it.”
“You’re welcome to decline,” Natasha pipes up. “You don’t have to agree to just give your technology away.”
While Yelena wants to help the others too, she nods. “You don’t. I’m sorry, I got excited.”
“Are there any as young as or younger than you?” Shuri asked curiously.
Yelena shakes her head. “No. I think I’m the youngest.” She remembers Toni’s words. How Yelena was the youngest and Toni assumed she’d be the angriest.
Natasha glances at her in surprise, remembering the other girls Yelena’s age she had seen before she defected to SHIELD.
Yelena was the last of her age group. There were no younger Widows. Yelena was the youngest and their most skilled student. The best child assassin ever.
“I will send the blueprints to the upgrades I made to Doctor Stark,” Shuri says and Yelena can’t help but grin.
“Thank you,” She murmurs. Things were starting to look up. Yelena’s triggers were free from her head and now she was getting access to the technology that could help other Widows in similar positions to her.
Yelena remembers her conversation with Okoye under the tree of Bast. How Yelena confessed to wanting to help people. To make up for the red in her ledger and the sins she had committed.
Later that night, Yelena curls up with Natasha with a small hum. “Do you think we can visit the farm? Please?”
Natasha lets out a long sigh, running her fingers over Yelena’s hair. “I don’t want you to get hurt again.”
“The triggers are gone,” Yelena reminds her but Natasha shakes her head.
“I’m not talking about just that. I’m talking emotionally. Melina and Alexei are not the same people that posed as our parents ten years ago,” Natasha reminds her gently.
Yelena wrinkles her nose. “I know that.” She does. Even if her body wants nothing more than her mama and her daddy. “You’ll be there too. And I know that you won’t let me out of your sight if you think I’m in danger.”
“You bet your ass I won’t,” Natasha pulls her closer to kiss her cheek. “I worry about you, little one.”
“I know, momma,” Yelena sinks into Natasha. “But I want to do this. Can we at least try? Please?”
Natasha was quiet for a few moments and Yelena was almost sure that she’d turn the idea down. But then she sighs and groans. “You’re lucky I love you. Fine, we can go.”
Yelena grins and leans up to plant a kiss to her sister’s cheek. “Thank you! You’re the best.”
“I know,” Natasha replies with a soft laugh, pressing a kiss to Yelena’s forehead in retaliation. “I’ll call Melina and give her a heads up that we’re visiting.”