The Broken Ballerina | Wanda Maximoff [slow updates]

chapter nineteen

Yelena and Anya were already sat down and eating when he came in. He seemed off and even Anya could see that. Melina tried to check on him but he didn't reply. 

"How was everybody's day?" He asked. 

"Mommy taught us about lamp bugs," Yelena told. 

Alexei chuckled, "Lamp bugs."

"And I fell and hurt my knee, but it doesn't hurt anymore," Anya told as Alexei hummed. 

Yelena began talking about the fireflies. 

Alexei came back to the table with Melina, sitting down. 

"Girls... you remember when I told you that one day we would have that big adventure? Today's the day," he revealed. 

"Yay," Yelena and Anya cheered in unison. 

"All right, let's go," Alexei ordered. 

Anya and Yelena were quick to get up. They followed Alexei, helping to pick up the bullets he dropped. 

"We don't have our shoes," Yelena told. 

"That's okay. You don't need your shoes," he told. 

"But I'm still hungry," Anya complained. 

"Yeah? Guess what? I got Fruit Roll-Ups in the car."

Anya nodded, running to the car, yelling about the Fruit Roll-Ups.

"Where are we going?" Yelena spoke up. 

Melina kept her eyes forward, "Home."

"Mommy, you're silly. We just left home."

They had been driving for a while before Yelena requested that her and Anya's song be put on. American Pie by Don McLean began to play over the speakers, the pair began singing along (Anya very badly considering she was 4). She danced along in the back before they had to get onto a plane. Anya helped move things out the way to let them take off. She sat next to Yelena in the back, the pair holding hands as they waited for Alexei to join. He guided the plane out as cars started driving towards them. Then he began shooting. 

Anya felt Yelena's hand tighten on hers as they watched Alexei jump onto the pain. They screamed out when one of the bullets hit Melina, Nat taking over flying the plane. Yelena and Anya watched on as Alexei fought people off, still holding onto the wing of the plane. 

They screamed again as bullets kept hitting the plane. They ducked down as they heard the bangs, Yelena and Anya's hands turning white as they held onto each other. 

They had taken off, relief flooding over them as they saw Alexei was still on the wing of the plane, unharmed. 

CUBA

They landed in an unfamiliar place, running after Alexei who was carrying Melina. They laid her on a stretcher. Anya grabbed her hand. 

"Get up, Mommy. Pain only makes you stronger, remember?" She whimpered, resting her head on her stomach. Melina held her. 

"Never let them take your heart," Melina told. 

They pushed the children out of the way, loading Melina onto a truck. 

"Mommy?" Anya called quietly, as well as Yelena.

Anya backed away from the men, beginning to run towards Alexei, "Daddy?" She screamed. "Daddy. Daddy."

"Anya," Natasha yelled running towards Anya, who was being held back by one of the soldiers. Yelena was by her side. "Get away from her! Don't touch her!" She kicked his hand away, grabbing a gun, pushing the two youngest behind her. Both clung to her as she screamed at them, threatening them. 

"Honey," Alexei began, walking towards them. "You're gonna need to hand me that gun."

Nat looked at him, "I don't wanna go back there. I wanna stay in Ohio. You can't take them. You can't. They're only four and six."

"You were even younger. It's okay." Nat handed him the gun. He knelt down. "Come here." He beckoned them over. "You're gonna be all right." He kissed Anya and Yelena's heads. "Do you know why it's gonna be all right? 'Cause my girls are the toughest girls in the world. You're gonna take care of each other, okay? And everything, everything's gonna be fine."

Before they knew it, something was injected into them and they fell unconscious. They were placed on a plane, on mattresses. 

They woke up in a container. When it finally opened, they were met with nothing but guns. They screamed. They were lead out. Natasha, Yelena and Anya tried staying together but it failed as they tried to separate them. They grabbed onto Anya, who began screaming, hitting them as they took her. 

"Take it," Natasha yelled, handing her part of a strip of pictures of the three. She gave one of the other parts to Yelena. 

THE RED ROOM

Anya spent most of her life in the red room, being trained to kill. She remembers the ballet and the shooting and she remembers when Natasha left. Well, she didn't know that Natasha had left, but she figured out when women came back different, more controlled, that someone must have escaped. When she was the next, her insides were screaming at her. 

She was completely brainwashed. She was just another Black Widow. The best one, at least, or one of the favourites as some would have called her. 

She wished she could have thought that Natasha was out there, trying her best to free her, but she was blissfully ignorant. She thought Dreykov was dead and thus so was the Red Room. But, Yelena and Anya were living proof that it was still there and thriving. 

It wasn't until three years later that Anya was met with a Widow who had escaped the Red Room and freed her too. Anya had killed her. She killed her just before she was freed and she watched her die when she was finally free from the control. 

It took another year for Natasha to find her. But she never listened. She never believed her when she told her that the Red Room still existed and Yelena was still a Widow. She told her it must have been Hydra when it was revealed that Hydra was a part of SHIELD. 

It was Hydra that injected her with God knows what. It was Hydra that turned her into the freak she was. 

So, she went along with it, after all Natasha was more stubborn than her and was a bad listener at points. 

It came with some pluses though, she was quickly made a part of the Avengers when they realised she had powers. After all, it was better to have her on their side. Although it took them a while to trust her.