➸ 2016
📍THE AVENGERS COMPOUND
Upstate New York
╰─────────╯
365 DAYS, FIFTY-two weeks, and one day.
That's how long it's been since Sokovia.
There's not much to say except for the fact that Galina is a complete and utter benchwarmer.
Though most smaller missions are being handled by SHIELD agents, there's still a handful in which some of the Avengers go on.
All Avengers except for her ( and Tony since he was taking a break, Thor and Elora whom were offworld dealing with god knows what, and of course Bruce who has been missing since Sokovia ) — much to Galina's dismay, her fourteen year old sister just went on her first mission with Wanda and Pietro!
That's a whole other issue though, let's just say her and Cap had a huge disagreement over Petra taking up on-field work last month.
"She's fourteen, Steve!" Galina exclaimed angrily as the rest of the residing Avengers watched awkwardly from their seats in the conference room. "Over my dead body am I gonna allow her to go on a mission!"
"I think it'll be good for her to work on the field, Galina." he argued back. "It's not like she's gonna be fighting anyone — the base is abandoned, they just need to get data."
"And what if it isn't?" she retorted. "No way in hell am I letting her on fieldwork. She was doing just fine off the field!"
"She was miserable!"
"How would you know? She's my sister, not yours."
A table ended up being flipped...and you can already guess who flipped the table. The name rhymes with Marina.
Right after that incident, she was forced back into therapy by no other than Steve — Natasha even backed him up, and she couldn't help to not only be mad at them, but mad at the world.
And much to her luck, it was the same exact lady that she had last time as her therapist — good ol Dr. Linda.
She stood bare-foot in the compound's kitchen, spreading avocado onto her toast.
She un lips the safety hatch on a small container that contained a tomato and cilantro mix that she had diced earlier in the week, using a spoon to scoop out the contents and spread it on top of the avocado.
"I can't believe you actually like that green shit."
Galina glanced over her shoulder to find her little sister hovering right next to her, her nose pointed down in the direction of the meal.
"One, it's tasty and good for you — and two, watch your mouth." she lightly scolded with an elbow being nudged into her side.
Petra scoffs at her, turning around to go scavenging through the refrigerator. "As if you didn't have the mouth of a sailor at the ripe age of ten."
"Yeah, and as you're older sister, i'm breaking the habit." she says in a mildly playful tone, continuing to assemble her breakfast.
The only person that Galina truly spoke to everyday, on a twenty-four/seven basis other than Wanda whom she's grown very fond of, was Petra which only strengthened their bond.
It was as if no time passed at all, really even though a lot of time did.
Their relationship was so much stronger than what it was as younger kids.
"Good-morning."
Galina visibly grimaced at the sound of that annoying, irritating accented voice followed by heavy footsteps.
"Good-morning, Piet." Petra greeted as he parked himself beside her, the two scanning the refrigerator. "What should we make today?"
"Certainly not the toast of poison that your sister makes."
Galina turned around with her plate in hand, a sarcastic smile on her face. "Eat shit."
Pietro chuckled at her. "Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of bed."
"Why are you so annoying?" she exasperatedly said before taking a small bite of her toast. "If you weren't Wanda's brother, you would be through a window by now."
"I personally think you find me so annoying because you're in denial of my charm." he retorted with that lopsided grin of his, leaning against the closed side of the double fridge with his arms crossed. "The realization that you're obsessed with me is gonna sting, princezna." [ "...princess.." ]
Petra found herself snorting at the exchange, shutting the door to the fridge with her hip as she held various ingredients against her chest and went on with her business.
The rivalry between Pietro Maximoff and Galina Kuznetsov is certainly what keeps the compound alive.
It was clear from the minute Galina met the speedster, she felt nothing but distaste — whether it was his cocksure demeanor or the annoying relentless flirting, she held a special place in her bitter heart for him...and not in a good way.
Though Pietro was the main one who'd annoy the hell out of her, Galina would torment him just as much — creative insults, purposely eating his takeout (he ate her's first, for the record), or being extra rough with him in the sparring ring, it was a constant battle.
Though, yes, he could be the sweetest person ever at times when he'd check in on her after her therapy sessions or pick up McDonald's from the compound's state of the art dining hall, she still disliked him.
"You know what? I don't have time for this." she flippantly said, grabbing her water bottle with her free hand and walking passed him with a fixed scowl. "I'm gonna be the bigger person and walk away."
"You do that, miláčik!" he called out to her, earning another hard glare. ["...darling!"]
Just then, Wanda was strolling in as she was leaving — she gave her bicep a gentle squeeze as she passed her and a small smile of greeting.
Galina smiled back before continuing her escape back up the steps.
The minute that the Sokovian's eyes rolled off of her, they fixated on her brother with a sharp frown.
"When are you gonna stop pestering her?" she questioned with a shake of her head as she ventured into the fridge. "She doesn't like you."
"Oh, please, it's all in good fun." he waved his hand off dismissively. "We're friends in reality."
"Somewhat." Petra coughed out, her back turned towards them as she sliced up some spinach for omelettes.
Pietro found himself frowning a bit at the comment before her sister caught his attention again when she shut the fridge door.
"That's not what I mean." Wanda told him with a carton of milk in her dainty hands. "I mean, she doesn't like you."
His eyes squinted at her words before they widened in realization — soon, he started to full fledge belly laugh. "Are you insinuating...that my teasing is me flirting with her?"
"You call her pet names." the younger Kuznetsov said in a deadpan tone.
"That doesn't mean anything." he defended with a shoulder shrug. "I know her too well now to flirt with her. She's reminds me of a blood-sucking glowering bat."
"So that's why you stare at her every-time we're in meetings." commented Wanda whom was pouring herself some cereal across from him.
"I do not!" he gasps in defense. "Why would I stare at her when she wears the same exact brooding expression 24/7? There's nothing interesting to see."
Both of the girls give one another a grinning look simultaneously before going back to their dishes.
Pietro looked in between them completely perturbed. "Hello?"
—
📌 THERAPY OFFICES
"Other than Mr. Maximoff being a pest, what else has been bothering you?" Dr. Linda questioned, notebook in hand and pen ready to write.
Galina inhaled a long breath, shrugging. "Nothing, really." she lied.
"No panic attacks?"
"None."
"Angry outbursts?"
"Zero."
"Nightmares?"
She hesitated on this question, a bulk of silence filling the room. "No."
Linda gave her a disapproving frown. "Galina, we've been doing this—"
"—long enough where you can tell i'm lying, i'm aware." she finished the sentence in vexation before slumping against the couch with crossed arms. "But i'm not lying. I'm completely fine."
"Today is the anniversary of your best-friend's death and you're telling me that you're completely fine?"
Galina's head fell down so that her chin was resting against her upper sternum, looking like a petulant child from the way she curled into herself.
"You're not allowing yourself to feel the grief, Galina." she lightly chastised. "Every-time I try to bring him up, you shut down."
"Do you think I don't feel it?" she snapped angrily, lips trembling. "Do you think I don't feel it every single night when I reach out for him on his side of the bed only to find he isn't there? Do you think that I don't feel it when I go to text him to ask if he wants to watch fucking sitcoms with me only to realize that he isn't gonna respond? I feel it every fucking day!"
"And when you come to that realization that he is gone, how does that make you feel?"
Her tongue ran across her teeth aggressively. "Angry."
"Why does it make you feel angry?"
"Because he shouldn't have died!" she exclaims like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "People like Aspen don't just die. People like him are supposed to live forever, I was meant to be first."
"Do you blame yourself for his death?"
She fell silent for several moments and decided to divert her gaze to outside the window, rolling her jaw. "Of course I do." she replied before slowly meeting her eye again. "It shouldn't have been him."
"Now this is what i'll ask — who should it have been?"
"Anyone but him."
"So, you?"
Galina let out a sigh and bit on her lower trembling lip. "Anyone but him." she repeated.
—
📌 TRAINING GYM
The minute her session was over, she escaped to the locker room of the training gym.
She threw on a pair of athletic shorts and a baggy tee that she had in her locker before tying on her pointe shoes.
The gym was quiet and dimmed, she didn't turn the aggressive overhead lights on fully — she wanted to relish in the desolation.
She stood in front of the big mirror-lined wall at the West end of the large gymnasium.
Tony had made a specific area dedicated to Natasha and Galina for their dancing — he'd placed shock absorbent wood on the flooring of that area and even built barres against the mirror.
She rolled her foot up from toes, to arch, to ankle all the way up onto and over her box.
Her eyes remained on her high arched feet as she twisted around on the top of the shoe before slowly rolling back down.
"FRIDAY." she called out to the AI.
"Yes, Lina?"
"Can you play Crack Baby by Mitski?"
"Of course, Lina."
And barely a second passed when the first notes began to play over the loud speaker.
When the lyrics started, she found herself beginning to move to the beat.
It wasn't in elegance, and her coordination wasn't as perfect as it once was in the Red Room when she was the primest of ballerinas, but that's the beauty of it.
She's always loved dance, but she loves it even more because it's an outlet where she can fully express herself without words.
Little did she know, someone was watching her from afar.
The redhead stood there in the doorway, watching her move.
There was clear pain on her face and her movements only proved that.
Natasha being someone who still pulls on her pointe shoes once in a blue moon, understands exactly what she's doing.
She's dancing to feel.
The way her arms would flow like an dignified swan, the long lines of her equally as long legs, the expressions on her face....
It was heartbreakingly beautiful.
Natasha regrets not being there for the younger girl as much as she should've as of late.
Between SHIELD duties and having to put out other people's fires, she hasn't had the time to truly talk to her unless if it was in the conference room.
After another minute, the song slowly fades to an ending coda causing for Galina to come to a slow stop.
She stood there with her hands on her hips as her faint panting filled the now silent room.
Then, she let out an expletive when she glanced down at her foot. "Shit."
Galina immediately plopped down to the ground and at the angle that she sat down at, Natasha saw blood soaking through the left side of the box on her left foot.
On instinct, she grabbed the nearby first aid kit that sat on the wall by the doorway and ventured towards her
The younger girl was mid-untie of her ribbon when her head snapped up with widened eyes at the familiar woman sitting down in front of her with supplies.
Natasha gave her a disapproved frown as she grabbed her foot gently and sat it in her own lap, beginning to fully unravel the ribbon.
"Did you not put any padding in your shoe?" she questioned.
"I never do." Galina replied simply, wincing a bit when she slipped the damaged pointe shoe from off of her.
The skin of her pinky toe was violently ripped off and gushing blood.
"Jesus, Lina." she breathed out in mild disgust before pulling out some gauzes from the kit.
Galina observed her as she tended to the wound, grimacing a couple of times when she'd apply hard pressure. "I thought you hated feet."
"I've seen your feet more times than I would've liked to throughout the years."
They fell into comfortable silence as Natasha continued to clean and dress the injury to the poor already misshapen small toe.
It was weird, almost — both of them having deja-vu to when all of this avenging bullshit started and how she'd be the one to clean up the teenager's wounds.
Now, she isn't a teen anymore and so much has changed and...it was a peculiar thing to think about.
"That mission is tomorrow." she commented, breaking the silence.
Galina scoffs. "Are you here to rub it in my face again?"
She was forced to attend the briefing the other day for said mission.
Steve, Sam, and Natasha have been on the hunt for Rumlow for a while now ever since they figured out he survived the Triskelion's fall six months ago.
According to gathered information, he goes by Crossbones now and is a weapons dealer — there's also rumors that he's carrying a biological weapon.
Natasha paused her tending and looked up at her with a furrow in her brow. "Why would I ever do that?" she said, taking a meaningful pause. "I was gonna ask if you wanted to come with. We're gonna need all hands on deck for this one."
The girl visibly faltered at her words.
She's been dying to go on a mission for months now. She was sick and tired of being treated like a porcelain doll, but part of her couldn't believe that she'd finally be asked to finally join the team again.
Galina rolls her eyes a bit. "I'm not even in shape." she excused. "Does Captain Jackass even approve of me tagging along?"
"It was his idea — we all think that you being back out on the field could be...beneficial." she paused. "And plus, it could bring you some closure with the HYDRA nonsense after catching Rumlow."
"So you bench me again for the past year?" she incredulously spoke.
"That wasn't my idea." she emphasized with an eyeroll, beginning to wrap her toe. "But, easing your way back into the..."superhero life" could help you."
"I'm not a superhero."
"So you say." she patted her foot a couple of times before gently removing it from her lap, rising to her feet. "We're leaving tomorrow for Lagos at eight am sharp." she informed, backing away from her and towards the exit. "I'll know your decision if I see you on the tarmac."
When the large rec door shut closed, Galina found herself slouching against the ground upon her back — staring up at the ceiling.
There's a choice to be made, and it's an easy one.
—
📌 GALINA's ROOM
Galina doesn't know how she got herself into the positon that she's currently in.
Her scalp burned at the paste that she smudged into her hair and there were specks of white surrounding her hairline.
She thought it was an easy choice to be made, but five seconds later she found herself in a mental breakdown and then found a bleach kit underneath her sink.
First and foremost she spotted a pair of sharp scissors and was gonna put it to her arm, but had the brilliant idea to cut a piece of hair from off of her head.
It went from a small strand to a whole curl to a whole chunk of her hair...and when she found that kit, it was game over.
Her and Petra bought the bleach kit a couple of weeks ago in plan to dye the younger sister's hair but...accidents happens.
Galina gulped at her reflection — her curls were plopped up in a clump on the top of her head...and her hair was no longer dark.
No no, it was a Barbie doll blonde from what she could tell.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Galina took a long deep breath before exiting her bathroom and entering her conjoined bedroom.
She walked the small expanse of the room to the door and swung it open.
"He—oh my god."
It was Pietro, whom was standing there with a McDonald's bag in his hands and a smile on his mouth that soon fell into a slacked jaw.
Galina audibly groaned at his appearance and slammed the door right on his face before walking back towards the bathroom.
Without hesitation, Pietro opened the door back up and followed behind her into the bathroom where she stared at her reflection.
"Go away!" she damn near screeched when she realized she'd been followed, trying to shove him out.
Pietro stopped her attacks with one hand while the other one held the paper bag, looking at her with wide shocked eyes. "What the hell did you do to your hair?"
"What the hell did you do to your face — you look like a fish, close your mouth." she fired back as one of her hands lightly smacked underneath his jaw.
Pietro closed his mouth as she turned back to the mirror and poked at the mop on top of her head. "....Why?" he spoke in a bewildered and even hurt tone as he found his own finger poking in the mess.
"I don't know!" she flailed her arms up in a shrug as she cried out. "Why do you seem so distraught?"
"Because I love your hair." he confessed, a boyish frown on his lips. "It's so long and voluptuous and you just had to fuck it up."
"You love my hair?" she repeated, incredulously looking at him in the reflection.
"What?!" he said in a offensive tone, holding his hands up in surrender. "You have really nice hair."
Galina sighs deeply and deflated against the sink countertop. Her eyes in the mirror then wandered towards the McDonald's bag. "Not even McDonald's can fix this."
"Ronald McDonald didn't sign up for this." he agreed with a slow nod, arms dropping to his sides defeatedly.
His defeatous expression quickly turned up into one of mischief and ideas. "But I did." he remarked before speeding away quickly to drop the paper bag in the bedroom before quickly speeding back with one of her combs and a big smirk.
...
After two long hours of cursing, Pietro trying to drown her, and supplies being thrown violently, it was finally the end result.
They stood in the mirror, the boy behind her as he lightly played with a couple of now blonde curls in her hair.
Turns out, Galina chopped off large chunks of hair which got rid of some length but also cut minuscule pieces of hair at the front of her head and he ended up giving her a lame excuse for curtain bangs...but it surprisingly worked.
"You should quit this whole avenging gig and go to cosmetology school." she jokingly said, absentmindedly messing with her hair.
Pietro placed a hand on his heart with a mockingly sincere expression. "That is the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
Galina turned her body around to face him, giving him a pointed glare before she punched him in the rib and left the bathroom.
The boy held the area with a wince as he followed her into her bedroom.
She threw herself onto the bed which caused for her to bounce and immediately dug into the paper McDonald's bag.
Pietro followed closely, flopping onto the bed beside her as well as the bag separated them.
She pulled out her large fry and chicken nuggets as he pulled out his own meal.
"You know, eating so much American junk food is gonna kill you." he comments with a grin as he watched her chow down on the fries.
"You'd be responsible for my death then." she replied in starkness, her words jumbled up from the food in her mouth. "You're the one who provides me with the food."
"Close your mouth when you speak." he lightly demands with a disgusted frown, his palm coming up to hover over her filled mouth.
Galina rolled her eyes and smacked his hand away as she swallowed the straight cut potato, diving in for more.
He watched her happily eat — the one thing in the world that really makes her happy is McDonalds, it's endearing.
"What had you so shaken?" he found himself questioning, breaking the silence as he popped a nugget of his own into his mouth.
"Why would I tell you?"
"Because we're friends."
"You and this delusion of us being friends — you know, i'm getting concerned." she tried to keep her expression stoically serious but her quirked up lips betrayed her.
"Don't be a smartass." he laughs a bit as he lightly flicked her arm. "Seriously, what happened?"
The small smile that lit up her face fell as she diverted her gaze to the carton of fries cradled in her hand.
"Natasha invited me to come with you guys on the Lagos mission tomorrow."
"What?!" he exclaimed, face lighting up. "Are you serious?"
Galina looked at him with furrowed brows. "You don't think it's a...bad idea?" she hesitantly questioned. "Not as if I care for your opinion or anything but..." she quickly added.
"I think it's a great idea! Do you not think it's a great idea?"
"I don't know what I think anymore." she admitted. "I've been dying to go on a mission for forever now and now that it's happening..."
"You're hesitant." he observed. "Spooked."
"Spooked." she established with a small nod. "I don't know I just...I don't know."
"And all of that led to you butchering your hair?"
"If you say one more stupid thing, I will throw you out the window. Wanda isn't here to protect you."
"Sorry, i'm sorry." he conceded with a sly grin. "But seriously, I really do think you should come with us." his shoulder bounced up in a shrug. "Could be fun."
"If trying to capture a double SHIELD/HYDRA agent who has a biological device that could potentially put the world in an apocalypse is fun to you, you're a lot weirder than I thought."
"You're a сука, you know that right?" [ "...bitch." ]
"Right back at you."