Kai Romanoff

99

   Alexei sat down and looked at all of them.
               "Family, back together again." Alexei said contently.
               "Nope, just meet you guys." Kai shook her head.
              "You are Russian, raised in the Red Room and Natasha's little widow. You are family." Alexei smiled and pointed at her.
             "No-Alexei I don't think we can use this term anymore." Melina said.
             "Agreed. So here's what's gonna happen-" Nat started.

              "Fine a reunion then. I want to say something right off the bat. You haven't aged a day huh? You're just as beautiful and as supple as the day they staged our marriage." Alexei told Melina.
   Yelena and Kai made eye contact and lifted their drinks up before downing them.
               "You got fat. But still good." Melina told him.
              "I just got out of prison and I uh have a lot of energy." He told her with a smirk.

  Kai exhaled and poured herself and Yelena more.
            "Please don't do that. So here's what's going to happen-" Nat started again.
             "Natasha don't slouch." Melina told her.
             "I'm not slouching." Nat said.
             "Yes, yes you are." Melina nodded.
             "I don't slouch." Nat defended.
             "You're going to get a hunch." Melina told her.
            "Listen to your mother, up, up." Alexei said.

   Yelena and Kai took another shot.
             "All right enough all of you." Nat told them.
            "We didn't even say anything." Yelena whined.
             "Yeah that's not fair." Kai said.
            "I don't want any food." Yelena told Melina.
           "Eat a little something Yelena for Gods sake. You too маленькая птица, you look starved. Natasha do you need feed her?" Melina asked.

Translation: little bird

             "What of course I do." Nat said.
            "She's all bone-she's too skinny!" Melina said.
            "And this is how my eating disorder starts." Kai took another shot.
            "Back to the reason we are here. You're gonna tell us the location of the Red Room." Nat told her.
           "You know it's like when you said that they could stay up late to catch Santa Claus." Melina looked at Alexei.
           "What that was fun. Look down the chimney girls, look out, where is he? You wait for him and then when the cookies are gone then you see he's there. No, no, what? I want them to follow their dreams." Alexei defended.

          "No good." Melina shook her head.
          "Reach for the stars girls!" Alexei shouted.
          "Finding Dreykov isn't a fantasy it's unfinished business." Nat said.
           "It's literally the only way I'll be able to sleep peacefully at night." Kai added.
           "You can't defeat a man who commands the very will of others. You never saw the culmination of what we started in America. Nor did you." Melina stood up and walked away.
            "Natasha always focus, focus, get what you want." Alexei shook his head.

Nat and Kai exchanged a look of annoyance. Melina brought an iPad back to the table and tapped on it.
             "Come in." Melina said into it.
Then the door opened and a pig walked in.
             "Did that pig just open the door?" Nat asked.
"Yes it did. Good boy, Alexei." Melina praised.
"You named a pig after me?" Alexei deadpanned.
"You don't see the resemblance? See he sits just like dog. Amazing. Now, watch." Melina grabbed her iPad.
"Seems a little weird to me." Alexei looked at the girls.

"Stop breathing." Melina said.
The pig immediately started grunting and gasping for air. Kai felt her blood run cold.
"We infiltrated the North Institute in Ohio. It was a front for S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists. Actually it was Hydra scientist at that time in conjunction with the Winter Soldier program they had dissected and deconstructed the human brain to create the first and only cellular blueprint of the basal ganglia. 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." Melina took a shot.

Glances were shared as the pig fell to its side.
"What are you doing?" Nat asked.
"Oh, I'm explaining that the science is now so exact, the subject can be instructive to stop breathing and has no choice to obey." Melina told her.
Kai felt like she was gonna throw up and Yelena's eyes started to tear up.
"Okay, you made your point. That's enough." Nat grabbed Kai's hand from under the table.
"Okay, well Alexei could have survived 11 more seconds without oxygen. But okay. Good boy. Now you go back, back home where it's safe. You go, you back home where it's safe. Good boy. Alexei." Melina saved the pig and it waddled out.

Yelena and Kai couldn't help but look up at one another.
"The world functions on a higher level when it is controlled. Draykov has chemically subjugated agents planted around the globe." Melina told them.
Yelena gave Kai a pained look, and Kai had to turn to stare at the wall, still feeling like she was going to throw up.
"Do you know who they tested on?" Yelena asked, already knowing the answer.
"Hmm no, that's not my department." Melina shook her head.
"Ah come on don't lie to them." Alexei said.
"I'm not lying." Melina looked confused.

"You're Draykov's architect huh?" Alexei said.
"What we're you then? If I was his architect, you were his partner. You were his business partner!" Melina defended.
"No no I was patsy! He sell me ideology!" Alexei shouted.
"Oh don't start with your politics." Melina rolled her eyes.
"Shut up! You're an idiot. And you are a coward. You're a coward. And our family was never real, so there's nothing to hold on to. We're moving on." Nat told them.

"Never family huh? In my heart, I am simple man. And I think for a couple deep undercover Russian agents, I think we did pretty great as parents huh?" Alexei said.
"Yes, we had our orders and we played our roles to perfection." Melina nodded.
"Who cares? That wasn't real." Nat shrugged.
"What?" Yelena asked.
"That wasn't real, who cares?" Nat asked.
"Don't say that, please don't say that. It was real. It was real to me. You are my mother. You were my real mother. The closest thing I ever had to one. The best part of my life was fake. And none of you told me. And those agents you chemically subjugated around the globe? That was me. Mmm, and you two? You got out, Dreykov made sure no one could escape. Are you going to say anything?" Yelena poured her heart out.

"You're not the only one who had their entire brain get tangled around and messed with. Excuse me, I need to go throw up now." Kai stood up and walked away from the table.
She slammed the bathroom door behind her and lend over the toilet. Her brain itched and she could remember the feeling of Dreykov's scientist poking her brain. She threw up thinking about that poor pig. That's all she was to them, an animal just to be experimented on and manipulated. Kai wrapped her mouth and flushed the toilet. She lend back on the door and she stared at the white wall in front of her.

A knock at the door made Kai move away from the door. Nat carefully opened the door and looks down at her. She bent down to her level.
"Hey, you okay?" Nat asked worriedly.
"Just peachy." Kai said.
"Everything is going to be okay. We've got a plan, you and I are going to end this. But I need you to trust me okay?" Nat cupped her face.
"I always trust you." Kai nodded.
Nat pressed their foreheads together before kissing the top of her head.