When I wake up, Kate is asleep next to me. I nudge her awake, and she groans. "Ugh, I didn't want to fall asleep!" I grin at her sleepy eyes. "How do you feel?" she asks, and my whole brain says 'gay'.
"Uh-" I stammer, and she shoots up.
"Oh fuck, are you okay?"
"Yeah," I chuckle. "I just didn't know what to say." I lean up on my elbows.
"Oh, so you're feeling something embarrassing?" Kate teases me. She looks at her phone and gasps. "Melina's here."
"Already?"
"Yes. She brought Alexi. We gotta go." Kate's visibly flustered. Ooh.
"Have you met them before?" I ask, and she shakes her head. "What if they don't like me?" Her brow furrows, and she fidgets by the door as I get up.
"How could they not like you?" I give her a bewildered look.
"I don't know, maybe they'll think I'm too much of a hero or something. They'll think I'm boring! They're badass spies!" I make my way to the door and put a hand on the handle.
"As a fellow badass spy, I can tell you you're not boring." I tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "A little too optimistic at times, but never boring." I step out of the room, and she follows.
"Is my hair a mess?" She asks, "Like more than what you just fixed?"
"You mean does it look like you just slept in my bed?" I wiggle my brows suggestively.
"Y/n! Seriously!" She smacks my arm. "I cannot meet Yelena's parents looking like a mess."
"Well, you don't look like a mess," Yelena's voice comes from the other room.
"Wow, thank you, Lena." Kate rolls her eyes as we enter the room, and Yelena smiles.
"Fall asleep on guard duty?" She looks at her sincerely.
"For like a minute! It's boring guarding a sleeping woman!" Kate defends herself.
"Alright, come on, I sent Melina to a lab." Yelena starts to walk away, and I swing a leg to trip her, pouncing on her and bringing my new cast up to hit her head. Luckily, she's wearing Widow's Bites, and she shocks me. Kate handcuffs me as I flop onto the floor.
"Seems things are escalating," Kate remarks as she lifts me up onto my feet.
"You found out, so there's no need to be careful anymore," Yelena pants, getting up. I feel a tear run down my face as I struggle against the restraints. God, I wish I could hold her. They drag me to Melina, who upon seeing that I can't do anything but attempt murder while Yelena's in the room, sends her out. Kate goes with her.
"Can't we just hit her with the regular gas?" Alexi asks from the corner. He's sulking at how useless he is in this situation.
"Considering the people who did this to her knew about the subjugation that the Red Room used, and that we have the antidote, It is safe to say it will not work." Melina crosses over to me, and when she tries to draw my blood, I involuntarily swing at her with my cuffed hands, sending the syringe skittering across the floor. "Look at that, Alexi, you will be useful," she exclaims, and instructs him to hold me still for her. His super strength comes in handy as he pins my arms down.
"Thank you both," I say when she's finished.
"I will do what I can," Melina says as she starts working.
"I will keep this one away from our daughter," Alexi offers, and Melina just nods at him. He lets go of me and I smile at him. "You will be under lock and key until Melina fixes you, da?"
"Probably should be," I agree. He grasps my upper arm and leads me to the door. Kate is still in the hallway, but Yelena is nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, uh, Hi, Alexi! Where are you two headed?" She looks at my still cuffed hands and his grip on me.
"Where is the cell?" He asks her, and her jaw drops.
"I didn't uh, she's-"
"There's one on the third floor," I tell him.
"Y/n. I-" Kate starts to protest, but I cut her a glance and she stops. "I'll bring you some stuff down," she nods, and I start walking toward the elevator with Alexi. He chuckles as we get out of earshot.
"She is scared of me, yes?" He asks me, grinning.
"Definitely," I laugh. "She wants you to like her."
"She is smart and capable girl, what is not to like?" He smiles. "She makes Yelena smile."
"That she does," I agree, and keep my eyes on the floor as we descend in the elevator.
"So did you," he amends, and I feel my face flush.
"We were never-"
"I know," he waves me off. "But you two were happy in Ohio." He only visited twice while we were there, but it touches me that he noticed. "I am happy my little girl is not alone." I nod as we start walking down the hallway and I lead him to the cell. It's reinforced enough that Jen couldn't get out as She-Hulk, so I should be safe. He locks me in as Kate and Yelena come down the hall with Quint in tow.
"Y/n, Melina is working on it, but we need to come up with a plan B," Kate tells me when they get closer. "I'm proposing we make a deal with Val if it doesn't work."
"The only deal she'll make will end with Yelena dead," I growl. "Absolutely not."
"Then what do you suggest?" Yelena snaps.
"If Melina can't help me, you have to kill me," I say simply. "Or I'll kill myself trying to kill you." I turn away from them and close my eyes.
"We'll keep you in this cell for the rest of your life before we do that," Kate says, and I shake my head.
"What kind of life would that be?" Quint says it for me. Everyone is silent for a moment, then he speaks up again. "I know I can't control your thoughts, but maybe I can look in there and find something helpful?"
"Fine." I sit on the floor, still facing away from them. I don't know what I should think about, so I just kinda sit there.
"Can you think about something that has to do with Yelena?" Quint asks, and I sigh, I think about her, about spending afternoons in the park in Ohio with Fanny, her making fun of me for not being able to keep up with them on trails. Her singing in the car, getting mad when I play Weird Al.
"Anything happening?" Kate asks, and I immediately think of when the three of us were in New York. Kate and Yelena teasing me in Kate's apartment.
"Quint, are you finding anything?" Yelena asks, and my body freezes. I'm looking for an exit, thinking about how to get her into the room with me.
"Oh shit." Quint taps on the glass, and I turn around. My body is still rigid. "Look at Yelena," he instructs, and I do. Every single part of my body freaks out. Quint gasps. "I've never seen something like that. Her brain is incredibly violent, but her frontal lobe is normal. Like, her cognitive thoughts are normal, but the rest of her brain is set on kill mode."
"Go tell Melina about it," Yelena directs, and he runs for it. "I'll leave so she can stay in control of herself," she says to Kate, and Alexi leaves with her.
