I hold Nat and Yelena's hands as we walk. We get to Melina's gate and see her holding a weapon. Oh boy, here we go. I think to myself.
Then we keep walking, and we see her, and she lowers her weapon. She looks at Alexi, then Yelena, then Nat, and then she sees me and looks shocked.
Alexi says, "Honey, we're home." Melina leads us inside and says, "Welcome to my humble abode." Then she walks to her pantry, and a secret passage opens behind the food. It's a weapon storage room. "What are you doing?" asks Nat. "Putting my weapon away," says Melina. I haven't let go of Yelena's hand since we finished walking.
We walk into Melina's kitchen and sit down at the table. Melina and Yelena sit next to each other, facing the window, Nat sits across from Melina, and I sit next to Nat across from Yelena.
Alexi disappeared into the bathroom. Melina has a lot of food on the table. Nat, Yelena, and Melina are talking. I am sitting in my chair, looking around the house.
Then I look at Yelena, and we hear someone clear their throat. We turn around and see Alexi in his Red Guardian suit. "It still fits," says Alexi. Melina whistles. "Oh my God," says Yelena turning away and facing me. Melina is clapping. "I never washed it once. Come and drink," says Melina. I am perfectly fine with my water. Alexi sits down at the head of the table in between Melina and Nat.
Alexi starts singing what I am assuming is his theme song. He finishes and says, "Family. Back together again." "Seeing as our family was just a calculated rule that only lasted three years, I don't think that we can use this term anymore. Can we?" says Melina. "Agreed," says Nat. Oh no, family drama. "So here's what's gonna happen..." starts Nat.
"Okay. Reunion then, huh, and uh. I want to say something right off the bat. You haven't aged a day. Huh, you're just as beautiful, and as supposed to, they stitched our marriage," says Alexi.
While Alexi says that to Melina, Nat, Yelena, and I exchange disgusted looks. As he tells his last sentence, Nat and Yelena drink their alcohol shots, and I take a sip of my water. "You got fat. But still good," says Melina. I let my mind wander for a moment.
"Natasha, don't slouch," says Melina. "I'm not slouching," says Nat. "Yes, you are," says Melina. "I don't slouch," says Nat. In my opinion, Nat has perfect posture. "You're going to get a back hunch," says Melina demonstrating.
I have stopped focusing on family drama. I am now lost in my thoughts about what we're going to do after the reunion, and once all of this is over, what are Yelena and I going to do, and where are we going to go? I'm also daydreamng about a few things I would rather be doing than listening to my family fight.
I am snapped back into reality when Melina says, "Come in!" A pig walks into the room through the front door, and Nat says, "Did that pig just open the door?" "Yes. It did. Good boy, Alexi. Good boy." I look at the floor next to her, and I see a pig.
That must be the Alexi she was talking about. The human Alexi has a look that says, "You have got to be kidding me," on his face.
"You named a pig after me?" asks Alexi in a tone that sounds like Eyeore from Winnie the Pooh. "You don't see the resemblance?" asks Melina. It takes everything in me not to laugh.
"See, he sits just like a dog. Amazing. Now watch," says Melina. Alexi mutters, "Seems weird to me." Melina says, "Stop breathing."
She clicks a button on her iPad. The pig stops breathing. I don't like this at all. I can't focus on anything but the poor pig who has been forced to stop breathing. I can barely hear what Melina says.
I am a huge animal lover, so this breaks me into a million pieces to see. Tears start rolling down my cheeks, watching the poor pig.
Nat notices my reaction, and she holds my hand and squeezes it.
"We infiltrated the north institute in Ohio. It was a front for SHIELD scientists. Actually, it was HYDRA scientists at that time. In conjunction with the Winter Soldier Project, they had directed 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," says Melina.
Melina pauses, and the pig falls over. "What are you doing?" asks Nat. I say, "Let it breathe!" "Oh, I am explaining that the science is now so exact the subject can be instructed to stop breathing and has no choice but to obey," says Melina.
"Okay, you made your point. That's enough. You're freaking Lizzie out," says Nat. "Yeah, well, all right. Don't worry, Alexi could have survived eleven more seconds without oxygen," says Melina. She presses a button on her tablet, and pig Alexi starts breathing again.
Then she talks to pig Alexi and says, "Now you go back home where it's safe. You go, you go, back home where it's safe. Good boy Alexi."
As she says that, the pig walks back outside. I am starting to want to run away from here because of the family drama and animal cruelty.
I know I can't for three reasons. One, Nat and Yelena will chase me. Two, this is my family, so I'm stuck here. Three, where on Earth would I go?
"The world functions on a higher level when it is controlled. Dreykov has chemically subjugated agents planted around the globe," says Melina. "Do you know who they tested on?" asks Yelena. I think I know where she's going with this. "Mmmm. No, that's not my-" starts Melina. Alexi cuts her off, saying, "Ahhh, come on. Come on. Don't lie to them." "I'm not lying," says Melina. "You're Dreykov's architect," says Alexi. "What were you? If I was his architect, you were his partner. You were his business partner!" says Melina.
She and Alexi start raising their voices and getting in a fight, and I squirm in my seat, uncomfortable with the fighting. Raised voices in my world means punishment. And I don't like them even if the punishment isn't for me.
"Shut up! You are an idiot. And you're a coward. You're a coward. And our family was never real so there's nothing to hold on to. We're moving on," says Nat directing her first comment at Alexi and her second one at Melina.
"Never family, huh? In my heart, I am a simple man, and I think that for a couple of deep undercover Russian agents, I think we did pretty great as parents, huh?" says Alexi. "Yes, we had our orders, and we played our roles to perfection," says Melina.
Nat has tears in her eyes, and she says, "Who cares? That wasn't real." "What?" says Yelena and I. "That wasn't real. Who cares?" says Nat. Yelena is tearing up, and so am I. Yelena says, "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."
"Those three years are the only happy memories I have, and you're telling me they're fake? You two are my parents. And Nat and Yelena are my sisters. I was frozen in time for 19 years, and you know what the first thing I thought of when I woke up was? Where is my family? That's it. That's what my first thought in 19 years was about. My fake family. But, tell me this. If it was fake, then why did you even pretend to care about us? Did you ever think for a second about what it would feel like for us when it was over? No. I doubt that you did," I say. Everyone is speechless.
Yelena looks at Nat and says, "And you. You got out of the wreck Dreykov made sure no one could escape. Are you gonna say anything?" Nat looks down. "No," says Yelena.
Melina tries to hold Yelena's hand. "Don't touch me," says Yelena, and she gets up. "Yelena," calls Nat. "No," responds Yelena, and she walks into Melina's room, closing the door behind herself.
"I had no idea," says Melina. "It's okay. I'll go talk to her," says Alexi, and he gets up and goes to talk to Yelena. "No, it's not okay," I mumble soft enough so only I can hear it.
Then Melina and Nat get up, and Nat says, "Lizzie, stay here for a few minutes. I want to talk to Melina alone." "Okay," I say.
They go into another room out of earshot of me. For once, I hope Alexi says something annoyingly funny or does something silly for Yelena's sake.
Nat and Melina have been talking for a little while. I am passing the time by thinking of the Red Room fight ahead and what I'm gonna do if I run into my old group. They are probably more trained than they were when I was with them. But then again, I have enhancements, and they don't.
Then out of nowhere, I see blinding headlights. I look out the window, and I see planes flying in. It's the Red Room. Melina must have betrayed us. I hope she told them so we can get there, but we'll see. I get up, and I look for Nat. I see her and Melina. Melina is wearing a Black Widow suit of her own."Nat, what's going on?" I ask. "I'm sorry, Lizzie," says Nat. Then Melina shoots me with her red taser thing, and I fall to the ground unconscious.