A Shot in the Dark - Yelena Belova

Шестнадцать (Sixteen)

"You're going to tell us how to get to the Red Room."

This was definitely a demand. 

"Huh. Oh, look at you, huh, all business," Alexei mocked.  

"Trust me, this isn't pleasure."

"Oh, look at little Natasha all indoctrinated in the Western agenda."

"I chose  to go West to become and Avenger. Cause they treated me like family."

"Huh, yeah, family. Well where are they now? Where is that family now?"

Sascha was inclined to agree with this, but kept it to herself. 

"Tell me where the Red Room is."

"I have no idea-" He was cut off by their scoffs.

Nat got up, ripping off her own headset and knocking his off, sitting across from him. "Come on, you and Dreykov were like-"

"General Dreykov, my friend, huh? Gives me glory. Soviet Union's modern super soldier. I could have been more famous than Captain America. Even more than you," he nodded to Sascha.  "No offense. Then he buries me in Ohio on that stupid mission. Three years! So tedious, boring me to tears-" Sascha noticed Yelena flinching at his harsh words.  "-No offense. Then puts me in prison for the rest of my life. Why? Why would he put me in prison? Why? Cause maybe I want to talk about the withering of the state. Or maybe I don't like his hair or something and I say something casually about that. Or maybe I want the Party to feel actually like a party instead of this sourpuss organization. But instead, no. He puts me in prison for the rest of my life. And he just runs off and hides. I'm not even the one who, you know - I'm not even the one who killed his daughter." Here he looked right at Nat. 

"Can we throw him out the window now?" called Yelena. 

"I think we should wait till we get to a higher altitude," Nat said. 

"I want to be the one to throw him," said Sascha. 

"Why not ask Melina where it is? Where he is?" Alexei asked. 

"Wait, Mom Melina?" asked Yelena. 

"We thought she was dead," cried Nat.

Alexei scoffed.  "You cannot kill a fox that swift."

"Eww."

"What? She was the scientist, the strategist. I was the muscle."

"Till I came along," Sascha muttered.

"She worked directly for Dreykov far more than I ever did."

"Wait, are you telling me that Melina is working for the Red Room present day?" Nat pressed.

Alexei nodded in confirmation. "She works remotely outside St. Petersburg."

"Uh, I don't think we have enough fuel for St. Petersburg," Yelena announced. 

"No, we're good, we'll make it," he insisted. 

"Okay."

CRASH!

Yelena was right, and they barely made it to their destination.

"What did I say?" she grumbled as the ladies stormed out of the fallen chopper. 

"Looks like we're on foot the rest of the way," Sascha remarked, staring down the long road ahead. 

"You should have brought the Avengers superjet," Alexei said, stumbling out of the chopper. 

The ladies started walking, stalking away from him.  "I swear, if I hear one more word from him I will kick him in the face," Yelena promised.

"He's the worst," Nat agreed.

"Natasha! Natasha, Natasha, come here I want to ask you something," Alexei was calling from behind them.  "It's important."

Yelena and Sascha kept walking, so they didn't hear what he asked her, but they definitely heard her response. 

"Wait, you haven't seen any of us in years and you're going to ask me about you?"

"What is with this tension? Did I do something wrong?"

"Is that a serious question?" scoffed Yelena. 

"I only ever loved you girls. I did my best to make sure you would succeed to achieve your highest potential and everything worked out."

"Everything worked out?" Nat repeated in disbelief. 

"Yes! For you, yes! We accomplished our mission in Ohio. Yelena, you went on to become the greatest child assassin the world has ever known. No one can match your efficiency, your ruthlessness." Again, Sascha agreed.  "And Natasha, not just a spy, not just toppling regimes, destroying empires from within, but an Avenger. You both have killed so many people. Your ledgers must just be dripping, just gushing red. I couldn't be more proud of you." He pulled them close into an awkward hug. 

"Uh hem." Sascha cleared her throat, staring at them, arms crossed.  "If you're quite done, we have a lot of ground to cover."

Nat pushed away from him and continued walking.

"Yeah, you smell really bad," Yelena told him, also pushing away. 

"And speaking of ledgers, I have the highest kill count. Out of any Black Widow," Sascha told him, told them. 

"So? Makes sense, you've been at it the longest," Nat said, brushing this aside. 

"And add the kill count I had in the army pre-serum."

Natasha scoffed.  "It was always a competition with you."

"Just saying. And it was the bad people I killed, unlike you, just going after whoever your trainers didn't like at the time. Your Red Room and My Red Room are very different."

Natasha whirled around to face her. "Oh cause you're so good."

"Oh and that's real rich coming from you, Agent Romanoff, Avenger, the saint."

"You volunteered, completely willingly."

"We were at war, Natalia. We were desperate. We were fighting Nazis! And shouldn't you know all about that, hmm? Isn't it familiar? Just go and ask your good friend Captain Rogers, since you two are obviously so close-"

PUNCH!

Nat swung swiftly, and hit Sascha right in the jaw. The two Widows quickly became embroiled in a fistfight. 

"Stop it! STOP!" Yelena grabbed Sascha and dragged her away, while Alexei pulled Natasha away.

"You were only ever just a pawn!" Natasha shouted. 

"You don't know everything about me! In fact, in the grand scheme of things, you know nothing!" Sascha shot back.  "You don't know anything about me!"

This was true - while Yelena had heard all about Sascha's long, prolonged life, Natasha knew very little. 

"Where are your precious Avengers now?!"

"I chose them! Better than this shit show here!"

"ENOUGH!" shouted Yelena, silencing them both.  "Both of you, enough." 

They walked on in silence. 

Yelena tried her best to break apart some of the tension. "So, are we there yet?" 

(Work has been great but also very busy lately, but here's another chapter! :)

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))