meet me at our spot | n.r x oc | ✓

10 - did that pig just open the door?

[stefaniya's pov]

While Melina and Alexei starts blabbering on about something, Yelena plays with her food, pushing it across her plate with her fork. I place my hand on top of hers, making her stop.

"Yelena, please eat something."

She looks at me, sighs, then takes a small bite. I give her an encouraging smile, making her go in for another bite.

Natasha meets my eyes for a second, and I see a ghost of a smile on her lips. She turns her attention back to Melina, who is tapping on a tablet.

"Come in,"
Melina says.

The front door opens and a pig-- yes, a pig, the one that lives on a farm and oinks-- walks in and sits next to Melina.

"Did that pig just open the door?"
Natasha raises an eyebrow.

"Yes, it did. Good boy, Alexei,"
Melina gives Alexei-- the pig-- a carrot.
"Good boy."

I stuff my mouth with some food before I could start laughing.

"You named a pig after me?"
Human Alexei asks lowly.

"You don't see the resemblance?"

I hope I don't choke on my food.

"See, he sits like dog. Amazing. Now, watch."
Melina swipes her tablet.
"Stop breathing."

Pig Alexei grunts, then goes quiet.

"We infiltrated the North Institute in Ohio. It was a front for S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists. Actually, it was HYDRA scientists at that time. In conjunction with the Winter Soldier project, they had dissected and deconstructed the human brain to create the first and only cellular blueprint of the basal ganglia."

Yelena, and I lock eyes, understanding exactly what Melina was talking about. I want to say something, to interrupt, but I'm already intruding on their family meal, so it's not my place. I've never felt more awkward in my life.

"Was the hub for cognition. Voluntary motor movement, procedural learning. We didn't steal weaponry or technology. We stole the key to unlocking free will."

I see that Yelena is about to start crying, so I take her hand between my own palms. She tenses her jaw and downs another shot. My own painful memories of being mind-controlled comes back, but I push it aside to focus on Yelena. It was clearly affecting her more than me, hearing that her own mother took part in stripping Widows of their basic human fundamental rights.

Pig Alexei snorts one last time, then collapses to the floor.

"What are you doing?"
Natasha says worriedly.

"Oh, I am explaining that the science is now so exact, the subject can be instructed to stop breathing and have no choice but to obey."

"Okay, you made your point. That's enough."

"Yes, alright. Well, don't worry, Alexei could've survived eleven more seconds without oxygen."
Melina taps her tablet and Pig Alexei hops right back up.
"Good boy. Now, you go back, back home where it's safe. You go. You go back home, back home where it's safe."