Chapter 20
Yelena is on auto-pilot for the rest of the fight. Spider-Man gets her to safety, the white lenses of his eyes widening slightly as he looks down at the blood coating his suit that had rubbed off of her onto him.
“Is this yours?” He had squeaked but Yelena shakes her head and the white lenses grow even wider. “Okay. What’s the situation?”
Yelena explains what was going on. What had happened, what she did, who was where, and injuries.
It was like a mission report. Her tone is bland as she covers up the waver in her tone as she talks about Natasha.
Spider-Man carries her back up to the roof and helps her take down the soldiers. It goes easier with the powered superhero. The soldiers retreat now that they had the Black Widow in their grasp.
Yelena is ready to collapse an hour later. Everybody meets up in the living room. Wanda sees her first and lets out a strangled gasp when her eyes land on Yelena.
“Jesus Christ,” Tony’s eyes grow wide, his hand on his head as he nurses the bump on his head.
“Natasha is gone,” Yelena tells them. Her vest was beyond saving. It was coated in blood. “They took her.”
She swallows hard, her hands shaking as she wipes her red hands onto her bloodied jeans.
Tony takes a step toward her but Yelena takes a step back, on the verge of a breakdown as her body crashes from the adrenaline fading.
“We’ll get her back,” Tony immediately reassures her and Yelena squeezed her eyes shut.
“They took her.” She repeats quietly. “She’s gone.”
Her chest is tight. There’s blood on her skin and she’s killed nearly fifty people today. It’s like the day's event just suddenly hits her at once.
Her knees fail her. Spider-Man lunges forward and grabs the back of her vest to stop her from faceplanting on the ground.
“She’s gone!” Yelena can’t stop the overwhelming emotion in her tone. “She’s gone!”
She feels very out of control of herself. She can’t breathe, her fingers scrambling for something to grip onto.
Wanda kneels in front of her. “We’re going to get her back, Yelena.”
Yelena tilts her head back and lets out a keening wail, unable to stop herself. Spider-Man lets her go and she falls forward into Wanda’s arms.
Wanda is not her sister. Wanda and she barely touched other than brushing shoulders or that hug earlier in the day.
But Yelena really needs somebody to stop her from breaking in that moment.
Wanda pulls her close. Yelena is limp against her as she cries. Her forehead falls against Wanda’s shoulder as she sobs.
The others leave and give them privacy. Wanda doesn’t shush her or make meaningless promises.
“My heart hurts,” Yelena whimpers because this was a new and unfamiliar feeling for her.
“I know,” And Wanda does know. She’s lost her brother. She understands more than Yelena knows.
Yelena lay in Wanda’s arms for far longer than she would like to admit. She doesn’t even realize how much time passes until the sky darkens and the stars peer through the curtains.
She feels uncomfortably stiff. Her body aches and the blood on her clothes had caked and dried to a rigid and scratchy feeling.
“I need to shower…” Her voice is scratchy. Her mouth still has a lingering metallic taste from her nose.
“Are you ready to shower?” Wanda asked her, her voice much softer than it had been before.
“I don’t know,” Yelena squeezes her eyes shut because if Natasha was here then she would already be showered and cuddling in bed. Natasha was the only person that Yelena was comfortable being naked in front of. She trusted her sister not to hurt her.
“What can I do for you?” Wanda then questioned and Yelena’s breath hitched.
There was one person that Yelena trusted more than anyone else bar her sister. “My phone. I need my phone.”
She belatedly realizes that she still has the phone from one of the Hydra agents.
It wasn’t fair to call MJ and ask this of her. MJ had enough shit on her plate being Yelena’s friend.
But Yelena didn’t know who else she could call. She didn’t trust anybody else anywhere close to how she trusted Natasha. She trusted Tony in a way but she was not letting him into the bathroom with her. She trusted Peter but it was the same as Tony.
MJ arrives at the tower twenty minutes after the phone call. She froze in the doorway when she sees Yelena. Steve, Tony, James, and Sam had worked on moving the bodies out of the way to dispose of later.
“Jeez, Belova. If you wanted to hang out then you could have just called, you didn’t have to go through all this trouble,” MJ comments after a few moments, moving toward where she and Wanda were on the ground.
“I’m sorry…” Yelena whispers and MJ’s eyes soften.
“I know. Come on,” MJ reaches for her and Yelena falls against her as she pulls away from Wanda.
MJ helps her to her feet but needs help supporting her. Wanda moves to her other side and the two of them get Yelena down to her bathroom.
Wanda leaves as MJ starts the shower.
“You don’t have to do this. I’m sorry I’m asking this from you--” Yelena mumbles to MJ.
“Eh, what are best friends if we don’t help each other wash blood off ourselves at least once?” MJ said but there’s concern on her face when she glances at Yelena. “It’s okay, Yelena. You need me. I’m here.”
Yelena swallows hard as she watches MJ reach her hand under the spray of the shower to check the temperature. “Think you can get undressed yourself?” MJ asked her.
Yelena squeezed her eyes shut. “No.” She admits quietly.
MJ moves toward her. “I’m going to help you.” She tells Yelena but doesn’t move. It takes Yelena a moment to realize that MJ is asking permission. She nods slowly and MJ’s fingers start to undo the straps on her vest.
Yelena focuses on her breathing as MJ unzips her vest. The vest is dropped into the sink, MJ’s hands stained red.
“Arms up,” MJ tells her and Yelena winces at the feeling of the graze on her arm. MJ peels the shirt from her and lets out a wince at the sight of the mottled bruising on Yelena’s body.
“I’m going to help you out of your pants now,” MJ said aloud and Yelena doesn’t wait to nod this time. MJ pops open the button on her jeans and undoes the zipper. Yelena steadies herself by gripping MJ’s shoulders as the girl takes a few moments to struggle to peel the bloodied jeans from Yelena’s body.
Yelena stands there in her bra and underwear, taking a few moments to steady her breathing. Her side aches fiercely, a reminder of the broken ribs there.
“Look at me, Yelena,” MJ said and Yelena forces herself to look into MJ’s eyes. “I don’t mind doing this for you. You are my friend. This is not sexual. I’m going to help you shower. Okay?”
Yelena swallows hard before nodding because she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to manage the words for how grateful for MJ she is.
MJ undoes the clasps on Yelena’s bra and lets Yelena attempt to remove her underwear herself before Yelena lets out a frustrated whine when her injured ribs stop her.
“Do you think you can stand in the shower?” MJ questioned her quietly after helping her out. “I’d offer a bath but then you’d just sit in a pool of blood.
Yelena wants to say yes. She really does. But that would be a bold-faced lie. Her lack of an answer must have been enough of an answer for MJ.
“Okay. I’m going to strip down to my underwear and I’m gonna help you,” MJ warns, her red-stained hands moving toward her own shirt.
Yelena averts her eyes as MJ wiggles out of her shirt and pants.
“Ready?” MJ asked her. “Or do you need a minute?”
“Ready--” Yelena manages to get the word out, attempting to move on her own before she stumbles. MJ moves to her side.
“Careful,” MJ helps Yelena into the shower first before stepping in after her.
The shower spray burns and the water immediately turns red as their feet. MJ has to tug Yelena against her, able to hold Yelena up as she leans into her hold.
MJ lets the water run over them for a few moments. Her hold is strong and secure and helps keep Yelena in the present.
“I’m sorry--” She manages to get out but MJ shakes her head.
“I don’t want an apology, Yelena. You are my closest and best friend. You saved my life. It’s okay,” MJ reassures her. “Do you think you can wash your front if I help with your back and hair?”
Yelena nods, accepting a soapy washcloth from MJ as she braces one arm against the wall of the shower, pressing her forehead against the tile as she starts to scrub the blood from her body.
MJ has to shampoo her hair three times before the water runs clear. When the water only turns a light pink from her own injuries, they get out. MJ rifles through the dresser for clean clothes.
Getting dressed was much easier than getting undressed. MJ borrows a set of clothes to get out of her soaked undergarments. Soon, Yelena is sitting on the bed as MJ pulls the first aid kit out of the bathroom.
MJ doesn’t know much about first aid. Yelena is able to do most of it. Yelena tapes her broken ribs up and instructs MJ how to wrap up the bullet graze on her arm. She manages to inspect the slice on her foot and deem it non-life-threatening so she shoves off stitches that it might need and instead just bandages it.
MJ disappears into the bathroom to put the kit away and returns with a hairbrush. “Is it okay?”
Yelena nods and MJ settles behind her on the bed to run the brush through her hair and braid it out of her face.
When she’s done, Yelena shifts to lay down on the bed. “Thank you…”
“Of course,” MJ sets the hairbrush to the side and flops onto the bed next to her.
“My sister is gone…” Yelena whispers quietly.
“I know. Wanda told me.” MJ reaches out to take Yelena’s hand. “We’ll get her back.”
“What if we don’t?” Yelena finally voices her fear aloud. “What if they hurt her? What if they make her forget just like they made me forget? What if they kill--” She can’t manage to finish the sentence.
“I’m gonna hug you,” MJ announced but doesn’t wait for Yelena’s consent this time, wrapping her arms around her.
Yelena curls into MJ, gripping onto her friend with everything she has. “I need her.”
“I know,” MJ said softly. “We’ll get her back. We will. I swear it. Even if she’s hurt or forgotten. We’re not leaving her behind.”
Yelena shudders, not realizing how much she needed to hear it. “I hate to ask something else of you.”
“I’m here, Belova. I’m not going anywhere,” MJ grins at her but her eyes are soft. “Shoot.”
“Can you spend the night?” Yelena needed to sleep. She had gotten used to sharing a bed with her sister. She couldn’t sleep without her.
“I was planning on it. You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” MJ gives her a small squeeze of reassurance. “I won’t even slam a pillow on your stomach this time.”
Yelena lets out a choked laugh as she buries her face into MJ’s shoulder.
Tony comes by to check on them. He brings them pizza just like their first sleepover.
Showered, bandaged, and with her stomach full, Yelena falls asleep.
The night is not nice. She wakes up multiple times, jerking up and twisting her ribs with a sharp jolt that often left MJ to jerk awake in turn.
Yelena makes a note to ask Tony to give MJ all the art supplies she could dream of.
Yelena finally gives up sleeping as the sun just starts to rise. She moves toward where she had emptied her vest just the previous day, MJ still fast asleep.
Her fingers pick up the photo strip and she swallows hard as she strokes her thumb over little Natasha’s face. She moves to rifle through the photographs she had taken. The first one she took, the look of genuine surprise on Natasha’s face, had become her favorite.
She then looks down at her notebook. She flips it open after a few moments of debate.
They needed help. They needed someone who knew Hydra well. Yelena could barely talk about Hydra without breaking down. Her sister wasn’t there to keep her together.
James barely remembered his time at Hydra.
There was one person that knew Hydra better than her and James.
She looks down at the phone number in her notebook before punching it into her phone. She pulls it up to her ear and it rings a few moments before it was answered. There was no greeting. Just waiting for her to speak.
“Melina?” Yelena swallows hard, the words stuck in her throat before she forces them out. She can hear a sharp inhale on the other end of the line at the name. “It’s Yelena. I need help.”