Black Widow: Dark House

62. "White Flag"- Bishop Briggs

Bold Italics- Russian

Italics- any language besides English

**- thoughts/ memories

Alexi stood against the clear cell wall, his face pressed against it, his shoulders slump as defeat weighed on him.

"Natasha" he said, his voice being played into the next cell by speaker.

"I can't save us" Alexi breathed, leaning his forehead on the cell wall, his hands splayed against it.

"I need you to know that I'm sorry. I pledged my life to a cause" Alexi explained, his voice somber as he starred off into the distance.

"You know I thought I was being very brave. Possibly the bravest" he said with an intake of breath, "but... I wasn't being brave. I was coward."

Alexi let out a sob as he sunk to his knees, his face now flush against the cell wall, fogging with his breath as he continued to speak.

"In Cuba, when they came and took you away from me..." he let out another small sob and shook his head, "no cause is worth that. You should only sacrifice yourself..." he put his full weight on this glass, his nose smush against it now, "for something-"

The cell wall suddenly shifted, dragging along Alexi's face with a loud squeak until he fell forward into air.

He looked at where the wall used to be, dumbfounded, testing it with his arm to ensure his brain wasn't just playing trick on him.

He stood and cautiously stepped out into the hallway to see Natasha standing before him.

"How did you do that?" he breathed.

Natasha shrugged, "I designed these cells myself" she said nonchalantly before lifting her hand and pulling at her forehead.

The mask flickered and them pulled away, revealing Melina.

"Whaat?" Alexi gasped, awestruck and if he was honest, a little disappointed.

Melina looked at him and shrugged again.

"What?" Alexi asked once more, this time his disappointment clear.

"I bared my soul to you and it was just you the whole time?" he asked.

Melina let out an exasperated sigh, "yes, I'm afraid so. But wait, shh, I'm on comms with Yelena" she said, bringing her finger to her ear.

Alexi did the same to hear the conversation.

"Yelena, it's me. It's Mama" Melina called sweetly as she spoke to her daughter.

Yelena lay on the table, bored out of her mind. She took in a breath and let the air balloon her cheeks before breathing out.

She actually looked forward to when they removed her brain, at least something would happen then that would be interesting. All the doctors had done so far was sterilize her head, take some blood, swab her mouth, yada yada.

If they are going to kill me I wish they would at least make it interesting she thought to herself.

And then she heard the voice, Melina's voice, in her left ear.

"You have a two-inch blade concealed in your thigh beltline" Melina said.

"What?" she asked, instantly forgetting where she was for a moment.

The doctors looked over at her and Yelena realized her mistake.

She looked over at them and took on a scared expression, "what, what are you going to do to me?" she said, adding a tremble to her words for good measure.