Time Heals All Wounds

Chapter 10

Natasha was done. So, when the mother- daughter duo came back inside she was about to leave. " Where are you going?" Irina asked. " To do this myself." Natasha said angrily, and Melina shook her head. " Don't, you won't survive". " I wish that I could believe that you cared, but you're not even the first mother that's abandoned me." Natasha said, and Irina looked at Natasha weirdly, realizing she didn't know. " Natasha, that isn't true. Your mother never abandoned you. I saw it in Dreykov's office, your file. Your mother was killed because she was relentless in her search for you." Irina said softly, and Natasha's jaw dropped. " A bargain was struck, your family paid off. But Irina's right Natasha, your mother never stopped. She didn't give you up, Natasha, you were selected by a program." Melina said, and Natasha was floored. " I was taken"? Irina nodded sadly, "Guess we're not so different after all." Irina said to her sister, hugging her mother. " I thought about her every day of my life whether or not I admitted it." Natasha stated, tears coming down her face. " I've always found it best to not look into the past." Melina said, and her daughter sent her a wry look, taking the book from inside her jacket. " Then why, Melina, did you save this?" Irina asked, giving the photo album she had found to Natasha. Natasha looked at the album, and then back to Melina. She opened it, and memories came flooding back to Natasha. She told them about how they shot certain photos on the same day, and how she knew the Christmas presents were empty but she still wanted to open them. Some pictures had a baby Irina in them, being held by one family member. She noticed one of the whole family together in Christmas pajamas. Natasha was holding a baby Irina, while her parents looked at her longingly and Yelena made a weird silly face. They looked—happy. " Can I keep this picture?" Irina asked, and her mother nodded. Natasha asked why Melina was doing this, and Melina explained how she was never given a choice until now. The Red Room was all she knew. " But you're not a mouse, Melina." Irina said,taking her hand. " Yeah, you may have been born in a cage but that's not your fault." Natasha continued. " FYI I'm still really pissed off with you." Irina said, staring dagger into Natasha's soul. Natasha nodded. " Shhh girls." Melina said, before looking at Natasha. " How did you keep your heart? And how did you make sure she would have one too?" Melina said, she meaning Irina. " Pain only makes us stronger. You taught us that, and I reminded Irina every day she needed it. What you taught us kept us alive." Natasha replied tearfully, and Melina was shocked. Then Irina switched gears for the fight of her life when her mother said that she had already alerted the Red Room, and they would be there soon. Yelena didn't know what was about to happen, nor did Irina, but they would. And as the trio prepared themselves, Melina took her daughter aside, and gave her a hug. " Promise me you will stay safe. Those abilities are gifts, only for you. No one else can take them from you. You do whatever you have to, to survive this okay? Trust what is about to happen, and even if you hate me for it, I love you, my little warrior." Melina whispered, and Irina nodded. Then she felt a pain in her arm, and saw a needle sticking out of it. The last thing she saw was Natasha and her mother standing above her.

Meanwhile...

" You have done nothing but tell us how bored you were. Your own daughter included, your own flesh and blood. We were the chores, the job that you didn't want. And now your daughter hates you because of it. She's already made up with Melina, but you, she will never forgive. You were everything to me, but you don't even care! You only care about your stupid glory days as the Crimson Dynamo." Yelena said to him, and he corrected her under her breath, making her groan in annoyance. Yelena yelled at him to get out, and he almost did, before remembering the song they used to sing. " Miss American Pie", and they started singing it, Yelena smiling a bit. The moment was ruined by a blinding light in the room, and suddenly Alexei was on the floor, a bunch of sleeper darts in his body. Yelena ran out, and was confronted by Melina who pointed a gun at. She saw Natasha and Irina unconscious on the floor, and swore filthily. " I'm sorry." Melina said, before she tased Yelena, and she too was unconscious.

When Irina woke up she was in a lab, tied down, and someone was drawing on her head. She was brought back to when she got the serum in the first place, and internally started panicking because she realized where she was. She looked over to her left where Yelena was, in the same position. " This is a much less cool way to die." she said, almost sounding bored, but Irina knew better, yet she couldn't help but laugh. Suddenly she heard a sound coming from Yelena's ear. Very faint, but with the serum her hearing was much better than normal people. And Melina knew that because Irina heard, " Yelena, Irina, it's me. It's Mama". Irina was floored, slightly hurt that her mother and sister didn't tell her the plan despite being right with them, yet curious as to what was about to occur. " Yelena, you have a two inch blade concealed in your belt line. Irina, I gave you a serum; don't waste it." she heard, and Irina smiled, but Yelena yelled, " What?", and if Irina could smack her head she would have, but instead just muttered "dumbass". The lab techs turned to Yelena, who covered by saying, " Wh-what are you going to do to me?" and Irina rolled her eyes, trying to hold her laughter. The lab techs bought it though, and moved away. As soon as Yelena moved, Irina moved as well. She mustered as much strength as she could, and broke free of her restraint, kicking the lab tech on the right, and telekinetically moving the table to her left, knocking two more down. Yelena threw her blade into the last one, and Irina took the needle that had been stabbed into her, out. " Nice cover back there. 'What are you going to do to me?' Dumbass." Irina muttered, and Yelena slapped her upside the head. " You couldn't have told us sooner? Our brains were about to be cut out." Irina asked annoyedly. " Don't throw a fit- there wasn't time." Melina said, and the two girls simultaneously rolled their eyes. " Where did he take the vials?" Yelena asked as the two were walking, grabbing tissues, and rubbing the marker off their heads. " Probably down to cold storage. Dreykov still has the widows under his control, so you have to expose them to this antidote." Melina said to them. " So easy, why do we always get stuck with annoying things?" Irina said to Yelena with Melina on comms. They looked at each other, then the vent, then back at each other, and grimaced, before climbing.

" Yelena, what do you know about the taskmaster?" Irina sked as they crawled through the vents. " Only that it's Dreykov's special project, and that it is designed to mimic anyone it's ever seen. Why?" Yelena asked. " Do you know who is under that mask? Because I do. I've seen her, and when this is over, we try to get her out, alive." Irina stated. " Why? Irina, who is it?" Yelena asked, stopping. " Yelena, it's his daughter. It's Dreykov's daughter, and when Natasha finds out she's going to be devastated. She's going to think it's all her fault. " Irina stated, and Yelena's eyes went wide. " what"? " She would try to mimic me, but never could because of the serum. But I would see her face time and time again, and I knew. Her father used her after that explosion, and made her what she is now. His own daughter." Irina said, and Yelena just couldn't believe it. " How do you know Natasha will find out?" Yelena asked. " I have a feeling Dreykov showed her, or is showing her, right now, to manipulate her." Irina said. " We'll get her out, Riri, both of them, that's a promise." Yelena said, and they began crawling again.