Attendance Timeeeee
Jayce POV
We all are seated around a table, me to Nat's left and Yelena in front of me, Melina to her left all whilst Alexei grunts from the bathroom.
"What the hell is he doing in there?" I whisper and Natasha just shakes her head.
My eyes move to Melina, studying the woman closely, trying to understand why I am so thrown off by her.
"Let's drink," she says while pouring shots of vodka. Her eyes meet mine briefly, a quick glance of recognition crossing her gaze before she looks down after handing me a shot.
Before I can think any deeper, a door slaps open and loud boots clack against the floor until we see Alexei emerge in a red suit and helmet, a dumb little smile on his face.
"Still fits," He proudly states and Melina catcalls at him with a whistle.
My face contorts into a look of disgust at the two's interaction and Yelena sighs, "Oh my God."
Alexei cackles and Melina grins, "I never washed it once."
"Dear God, that's disgusting," I mumble and Yelena just rolls her eyes while Natasha glares daggers at Alexei walking over and sitting.
Melina pours him a drink while the man starts singing a tune, "Rise, you workers of salvation."
My eyes widen at that song and instantly flashes of memories cross in my mind.
"Rise, you workers of salvation, for the tyrants fear your might. Don't cling so hard to your possessions, for you have nothing, if you have no rights. Let racist ignorance be ended, for respect makes the empires fall, freedom is merely privilege extended..."
I stare up in the lab as they take another vial of blood from me, handing it off to a woman with sleek black hair while she hums whatever song this is.
She is standing at a desk, back facing me while observing a glass case with a spider inside.
Another HYDRA agent approaches the woman, whispering something in her ear and she hums, "Get her ready."
Frowning, I look around as people start to crowd me, hooking me up to a bunch of machines and I shake my head, "No. What the hell are you doing to me?"
"No need to worry, Spider. This will only hurt a lot." The woman's voice rings out as the song only crescendos and she turns, a sickening smile on her face, a metal rod in hand.
"You have not been obedient in your training. Disobedience breeds punishment."
"Please. No more. Just leave me alone," I grumble but shocks go through my body, causing me to jolt and scream out in pain. My eyes stare at the machines hooked up to me, all prepared to send electric shocks throughout every single nerve of mine.
The woman approaches and raises the metal rod, then presses it into my chest. Once she hits a button, an even more powerful shock shoots through me.
My hand shatters the shot glass as my eyes remain on Melina, mind reeling at everything I just unpacked.
Everyone looks at me, Natasha places a hand on my arm, "Are you okay?"
Melina's eyes rest on me, I can see that she knows I remember now but she doesn't seem hostile. She seems regretful. Almost apologetic.
She was the one who tortured me. She helped HYDRA. But why? The Red Room isn't HYDRA.
"Jayce," Natasha speaks again and I look towards her, noticing the worry etched into her face as she tries to read me. She calculates my expression, then glances over at Melina and frowns even more.
"S-sorry. Just...spaced," I breathe out and close my eyes, shaking my head as I try to figure out what to do. This woman was Natasha's stand in mother for 3 years. Yelena is sensitive to the topic, clearly. They are all finally back together again.
I can't just ruin that, can I?
Even so, Natasha has already been on guard with the situation. She knows better than anyone to not trust people, no matter the past relationships you've once forged with them.
"What did you do to her," Natasha hisses and Alexei waves her off, "Natasha, always so serious."
The redhead slams her hands down on the table, making everyone stare in concern as she now leans towards Melina, "What did you do to her."
I look up slowly, staring at Melina who just licks her lips and clears her throat.
"I once knew The Spider, yes. I was there when she was first taken and trained. I helped...condition her into obedience."
My hands curl into fists, the shattered glass under my skin, some blood trickling in my palms from the original action but I just stare at her, trying to block out the painful memories, attempting to erase it but I can't.
Now that I remember, it's all coming back. The torture, the experiments, taking my blood and DNA, using it for whatever they did.
Natasha looks back at me now, green eyes wide with worry and sympathy. Even Yelena looks at me sadly, but their expressions grow angry quickly.
Before anything can happen I grab Nat's arm and pull her into her seat, "It's fine. It's in the past. We've all done things in our past that we may regret."
I swallow thickly, knowing that that would at least get Natasha to calm down. Melina hurt me, she worked for HYDRA, but she wasn't there long. The first few months, then I never saw her again.
Now that I remember, I remember her being one of the people to sneak me extra food, to give me water when they attempted to dry me out.
She was doing what they made her do.
I know all about that.
"But Jay–" "I'm fine. I'm alive, aren't I?" My voice is a bit hoarse but I try to seem as okay as possible. Natasha has enough to deal with. Having to deal with my past trauma and anxiety should not be added to that list.
Given the look she gives me, I can sense the worry radiating off of her but I just smile and place a comforting, reassuring hand on her thigh, rubbing it in small circles, "I am okay, Natalia."
Alexei sighs, "Ah. Family. Back together again, mmm?"
I glance at the annoying man and Melina looks down, then at Yelena, "Seeing as our family construct was just a calculated ruse that only lasted three years, I don't think that we can use this term anymore, can we?"
Nat clears her throat, "Agreed. So here's what's gonna happen–" "Okay. A 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 supple as the day they staged our marriage."
He brushes his hair back with his sweaty hands and smirks at Melina while the three of us sit with disturbed expressions.
God I wanna throw up. And punch him.
Both would be nice right about now.
"You got fat. But still good," Melina smirks, winking at him and leaning in closer. The sexual tension rising makes me want to hurl even more so I look at Yelena who has already started chugging vodka and reach out.
She looks at me and nods, handing the bottle over so I can take a swig, then Natasha does the same.
"I just got out of prison, I uh..." He side glances us, as if Nat and Yelena are still little girls and he's trying to be subtle as he whispers, "I have a lot of energy."
Natasha takes the bottle away from her lips and winces, "Please don't do that."
Without giving my mind permission, it starts to paint a picture of these two fucking and it makes me outwardly and audibly gag, making Yelena snort while Natasha just sighs.
"So...Here's what's gonna happen–" "Natasha, don't slouch."
I look over at them and Nat frowns almost defensively, "I'm not slouching."
"Yes, yes you are–" "I don't slouch!"
"You are going to get a back hunch," Melina scolds and Alexei reaches over, grabbing one of Natasha's shoulders and trying to prop her up more.
It annoyingly reminds me of when my mother told me to have good posture when I was little. She would always tell me that people who slouch turn into hunchbacks and it scared me into always having my shoulders back so much so that it would give me back cramps.
"Listen to your mother," He demands and she scoffs, "Oh my God this is–" "Up, up!"
"Alright enough! All of you," Natasha raises her arms stressfully, her eyebrows crinkled in irritation and eyes flaming with anger and impatience.
I pout and Yelena frowns, "I didn't say anything, that's not fair."
Snorting, I lift my shot glass and we clink, then take the shots together while Natasha sends daggers at us and groans, rubbing at her forehead the way she does when she's attempting to piece together the puzzles in her mind.
"Here's what's gonna happen!" "I don't want any food," Yelena sighs as Melina puts food on her plate and her "mother" starts to lecture her.
"Eat a little something, Yelena. For God's sake–" "You're gonna tell us the location of the Red Room," Natasha deadpans, her patience cut sharply with a blade.
I sit, completely unsettled by the chaos of this makeshift family and just stare at Melina, seeing the differences of when her and I first met.
Of when she instructed people to torture me, but then came and helped me later on.
"Jayce," A soft Russian accent awakes me from my post-beat nap.
My eyes open slightly and I groan in my chair. I've been in isolation for what feels like years. My naked body is covered in blood and sweat, cuts all over.
Melina comes into focus and I shake my head weakly, "Please. Just stop."
"Dorogoy, I need you to stay quiet. Here," she places something cool to my lips. My vision focuses and I see that she's placed a cup of water to my mouth, helping me tilt my head back so I can drink it.
It's cold, ice water.
And it's never tasted so good before.
I blink a bit and stare up at her, "Why are you helping me?"
She glances at the closed door and shakes her head, "I am sorry for hurting you. Following orders. If I do not, they will report to my boss and hurt my girls."
She has children?
My eyebrows furrow and I lick my lips, trying to get any excess water in my system. Melina takes out two pills and smiles smally, "It will help with the pain."
She places the pills on my tongue and I swallow, smiling gently until she sighs, cupping my cheek, "I will return tomorrow. Stay strong, Spider."
I close my eyes and shake my head a bit, realizing now that she only did what she had to do so that Natasha and Yelena would stay alive.
And that I am okay with. I don't care how badly I was hurt. I am away from Hydra. They can't control me anymore.
I check back into reality when a door opens and a pig walks through, making me frown in surprise and Natasha crinkle up in confusion, "Did that pig just open the door?"
"Yes, it did. Good boy, Alexei. Good boy," Melina praises the animal and I can't help but laugh at the name, making human Alexei glare at me, then look to Melina.
"You named a pig after me?"
She shrugs nonchalantly, and pouts, "You don't see the resemblance? See, he sits just like dog. Amazing. Now, watch. Stop breathing." She taps on a tablet and all of a sudden, the pig stops breathing and starts choking with inability to suck in oxygen.
My heart starts racing in my chest. What the hell is she doing?
Instantly I look to Yelena who seems even more mortified than the rest of us. Haunted, maybe. Fucking hell, this is what she went through.
" 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. 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."
Natasha and Yelena are both stiff in their seats, terrified and triggered by their past in the Red Room. Their torture, their mind control. Yelena's was most similar to the pig, having being controlled chemically. She was the one that was experimented on as such.
The pig falls to the ground and Natasha widens her eyes, "What are you doing?" She hisses at Melina who chuckles, "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."
"Alright, Vostakoff, you made your goddamn point. Now that's enough," I slap my fist on the table and Alexei stands up protectively while Melina waves him off.
"Yes, all right. Well, don't worry, Alexei could've survived 11 more seconds without oxygen. Good boy. Now, you go back, back home where it's safe. You go. You go back home, back home where it's safe. Good boy, Alexei."
Melina turns back to us once the pig is gone and nods as if she's educating us but in reality, it's inhumane, and terrible.
"The world functions on a higher level when it is controlled. Dreykov has chemically subjugated agents planted around the globe."
I watch on with worry as Yelena turns her now pained face towards the woman she once called "mom."
"And do you know who they test it on?"
Melina pours another shot and thinks, "Mmm...No. That's not my department."
"Ah, come on, come on. Don't lie to them, hmm?" Alexei chuckles and she scoffs, "I'm not lying."
Her and Alexei start going back and forth on assumptions and their roles while Yelena grows increasingly hurt and traumatized. Natasha looks to her and I see tears welling up, only making my heart clench even more in my chest.
"Natasha, she can't handle anymore of this," I whisper and she closes her eyes, nodding gravely, then turns back to Melina and Alexei.
"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."
Well, not exactly what I meant. And it definitely twisted a knife a bit further into Yelena's heart.
"Natasha–" I go to warn but Alexei hums in disagreement, "Never family, huh? In my heart, I am simple man. And I think that for a couple deep undercover Russian agents I think we did pretty great as parents, huh? Yes, we had our orders, and we played our roles to perfection."
"Who cares? That wasn't real."
"What?" Yelena states heartbrokenly. I can see the pain in the younger girl's eyes. She was hoping at least her big sister would help but she's only making it worse.
I shake my head and reach for Nat's hand but she yanks it away in anger with the situation, with all of this being thrown at once. With everything.
"That wasn't real. Who cares?"
"Don't say that!"
Natasha snaps her head over to Yelena and almost instantly, regret flashes across her features as she sits back and wipes at her nose, looking down.
"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." Yelena's voice comes out broken the longer she speaks and with every word, more of my heart breaks.
I can't imagine what she is going through.
When I hear her talking like this, I just picture if it were me and Peter. If I said something like that I'd take it back in a second. He'd be heartbroken.
"And none of you told me," She continues and blows out as she tries to reel in her painful emotions, tries to gain control but I can tell it's getting harder by the second.
"And those agents, you chemically subjugated around the globe? That was me."
Her gaze meets Melina's surprised and taken-aback expression. I want to say something, or at least take Yelena away from this, save her from the ache she is feeling, but I can't move.
I just listen.
And watch.
"Mmm. And you, you got out. Dreykov made sure no one could escape. Are you gonna say anything?" She stares at Natasha now and I watch on as my girlfriend looks solemnly, guiltily at the younger blonde before dropping her gaze and closing her eyes.
Yelena nods as if she was expecting nothing to come from Natasha and shrugs, "No?"
Melina reaches over but Yelena shakes her head and shrugs her off, "Don't touch me."
The woman stands up, grabbing the vodka bottle and starts to walk away. I look around and Natasha looks up, "Yelena–" "No." Her younger sister spits and takes a swig before entering a room, shutting the door behind her.
I scoff and shake my head, "Wow. Real good work everyone. Let's see, we have a deadbeat super soldier who only lives in the past thinking he's some hot shit, the woman who worked for the place that tortured me and also is the reason her own child, by blood or not, was mind controlled into murdering people, and a woman who constantly has to push that girl down by refusing to accept the sibling relationship you once had was ever even real. Nice, real fucking nice."
Using my hands to push my chair back, I stand up and take my leave, ignoring Natasha calling after me. I walk into the room and see Yelena sitting on the floor with her bottle of vodka sitting beside her.
"I thought I made it clear that I wanted to be alone, q-tip."
"Yeah well, misery loves company," I sigh and slide down beside her.
She stares down and slides the bottle towards me, making me chuckle lightly and nod, "Thanks."
I take a swig of the clear liquid and breathe out once I swallow, enjoying the moment of quiet I have finally gotten in the past few days.
I know I was harsh in there but Natasha keeps pushing Yelena away. When Nat and I talked that day by the water.
"My mother sold me to the Red Room to be raised there as an assassin. KGB. I was sent on a mission in Ohio in the US and spent 3 years there, acting like a normal girl in a family. I had a fake mom, fake dad, and a sister."
I raise an eyebrow at the last part, "you didn't say fake for the last one."
Natasha's eyes flicker to mine and I watch as she clears her throat and crawls out of the water, going back to her meditation sheet on the grass.
"Yelena wasn't my real sister. But I cared for her. I never wanted her to be a part of the Red Room. It's not a good place for a young girl to be. I had already cycled once, I knew what went on there. I never wanted her to experience what I had..."
"What was it like? Hydra?"
Frowning, I come out of the distant memory and look to Yelena who is waiting curiously and patiently for me to tell her my story.
Smacking my lips together, I shrug, "Shitty. Food tasted like nasty cafeteria food they just tossed in a microwave. And that was on a good day. Most of the times it was freezing cold slop."
That makes the blonde giggle, wiping away her own tears and looking at me intently, wanting to hear more.
So, I give that to her.
"They trained me every day. When I didn't comply, they'd hit me or beat me with whatever weapon seemed fit. If I breathed the wrong way or blinked the wrong way I went down to isolation and they'd starve me for days. They took my blood and DNA, I guess they were trying to recreate what made me me and uh...it was lonely. Besides my two friends Pietro and Wanda. They became my family in there.
I did everything to protect them, they lost their only family, their parents. They volunteered for experimentation, thought they'd be helping their country of Sokovia but...they were really just being used and turned into weapons. I wanted to protect them from reaching a dark mind place like that so I would step in when needed and take whatever consequences came of it...It was the worst 5 years of my life."
"And you got out."
Smiling at the memory of how got out, that being Natasha beating my ass and capturing me, it warms me up thinking about how thankful I am for that day now. That moment.
"Yeah. I did. Thanks to Natasha."
Yelena raises her eyebrows in a short reaction and sips the vodka, "Glad she came to get someone out."
"You know, she didn't know you were still in the Red Room...and she does care about you."
"She has a funny way of showing it."
I press my tongue to the inside of my cheek, looking around the bedroom we're in, observing the bland but decorative art on the walls, the perfectly made bed with perfectly creased pillows, big windows with the curtains pushed aside.
Then I look at Yelena. In all this perfectly set furniture and room decor, this girl sits here, clearly broken, coming from an imperfect life, but she still fits in with the beauty of the room.
Because nothing is perfect. These sheets, pillows, pictures, shelves, windows. They all seem perfect. But they were put here by an imperfect woman who has a gushing red ledger.
Nothing is perfect.
But we all try our very best to seem it.
And I think Yelena is realizing parts of that now.
And Natasha is the same way.
Both of them try so hard to seem strong and perfect, impenetrable. But we are still human beings with souls and hearts and emotions.
"She told me about you. Around the first few months we knew each other."
The blonde looks at me with these wide and encouraged eyes, like a puppy almost. And it makes my heart swell.
So I continue.
"She told me about the mission in Ohio. Then when she said she had a fake mom and a fake dad. She said she also had a sister. But she didn't say fake for that."
This brings a small smile to her lips but she ducks her head down a bit to hide that little signal of relief and joy.
It makes me chuckle lightly, "She puts on a hard face. You know that. She's hurt and coming back to this, all the things she has had to take in the past few days, it's been hard on her too. She thought you were out living your life, not wanting to see her. We all cope in our own ways. Maybe it's not always the right way, but we are trying. She loves you, Yelena. That much I know.
She told me she always wanted to protect you from the Red Room. She never wanted you to experience what she had. And part of her motive for her mission to kill Dreykov to get out, was to also get you free of him."
Now when she looks back up at me, there are tears in her eyes. She taps on the bottle with her fingers and sniffles, trying to show a smile but it's wobby due to her oncoming emotions.
"Thank you, Jayce Parker. You are a good person. I am glad Natasha has someone like you."
I smile down at her and nod in response, patting her arm before standing up. As I do so, a giant flooding of light comes in through the window and my senses immediately go off.
Yelena goes to stand but I hold my hand out, "Get down."
She obliges and I stare out the window, "Fuckers."
I can already sense something coming at me and once it comes through the glass window, I snap my arm up and catch it. Frowning, I observe it and notice that it's a tranquilizer dart.
"Seriously? That all you got–" About 10 more shoot at me, 5 of them hitting me, making me stumble back in surprise.
My eyes look over to Yelena as an intense drowsiness takes over. She has wide eyes, fear painted across all features but I shake my head, "Run. Get Natasha."
Quickly, she nods and runs out of the room just as I fall and the darkness takes over my vision.
__
A/N: Well Well Well...
What will happen?
What do you want to happen?