black widow movie | dear violette romanoff,

chapter nineteen | the academy

"This is a much less cool way to die," someone whispers, waking me from the dark.

It takes a moment for my senses to kick in and my vision to unblur, but when it does, my mind is instantly cleared.

Monitors are beeping, and there is a leather strap wrapped around my lower waist, restraining me to the hospital bed. The walls around me are glass, and there is a screen in the top right corner of the room, showing me our location. At the very top of the screen, 'The Red Room.' Shit.

There is someone in the bed beside me, restless against her newfound confinement: Yelena. There is a doctor facing the other way, fiddling with tools.

"Welcome to the party," she tells me. She doesn't know.

I bend forward and hold my finger up to my mouth, telling her to be quiet, and that it would be sorted out soon enough.

"Hey! Sit back down, you," a doctor from behind shouts at me.

I lie down, not daring to make another move which might result in my head being sliced open.

Yelena sighs beside me.

I feel a thick, black marker against my forehead. This was nightmarish.

"Они не говорят по-русски," ("They don't speak Russian.") she informs me.

I try not to move until the marker is removed from my face. "Ты уверен?" ("You're sure?")

"У тебя есть для меня последние грустные слова, сестренка?" ("Do you have any last sad words for me, little sister?") she asks.

"Боюсь, они не будут моими последними," ("I'm afraid they won't be my last.") I tell her, and she looks at me with intensity.

"Yelena, Violette," Melina's voice comes through our comms, "it's me. It's Mama. You both have a four inch blade concealed in your beltline."

I remember.

"What?" Yelena says aloud.

"Молчи!" ("Shut up!") I shout at her, watching the doctors turn around. I give them a smile.

"...what are you going to do to me?" Yelena saves herself.

I scoff, and feel the blade against my thigh, using my fingers to dig it out from my pocket.

"Outside right hip," Melina says.

Yelena has her hand on the blade, and looks at me for confirmation.

I nod, slicing the four leather straps across my torso open, releasing me. The doctor at my aid forces me back down onto the bed, but I scream up a storm, and stab him in the back of the neck, letting him fall against my knees.

"Always begging," I exhale, standing up to let the man fall flat on the floor.

Yelena rolls out from her position on the tiles, groaning and showing me the needle jabbed into her upper shoulder.

"Yikes." I take it out quickly, and she howls, throwing it against the floor.

She walks over to the doctor's tray and retrieves her vest.

"Are you sure you don't want to leave that here?" I joke, walking by her.

"Ha-ha," she spits. "Now, who's going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Don't worry," I explain, walking out into the hallway. "There's a plan."

"Couldn't have told me sooner?"

"I suggested it," I remark.

"Don't throw a fit," Melina scolds. "There wasn't time."

"Natasha should be well into playing with Dreykov now," I tell Yelena, redirecting everyone's attention. "We need to find the vials. Is Alexei there?" I ask.

"Yes. We're out from the cells," Melina reports. "I'm about to start the landing protocol."

"Do you know where Yelena could locate the vials?" I ask.

"The best I can give you is a guess," Melina says.

"I need to know where he took them," Yelena repeats, on edge. She hands me a wipe for my forehead, and I start rubbing at the marker as I walk.

"Probably down to cold storage," Melina says. "Dreykov still has the widows under his control, so you have to expose them to this antidote."

Yelena faces three different corridors. "Yeah. Sure. Easy."

"Have you heard from Nat?" I ask Melina, letting Yelena split from me to retrieve the vials.

"Nothing."

"I should find her."

"We've gone over this," she restates. "It's not possible without face recognition. I need you to set your focus on finding the widows."

"To do what? Dance with them?"

"Whatever is necessary until they interact with the counteragent."

"Okay. I'm on it," I mumble.