B U D A P E S T
hungray
June | 2016
After hiding in the vent for an hour or two, the three women went to find anything to mend Yelena's wound.
Alex was reminded of why Natasha was such a threat. But hearing Natasha say killing Dreykov's daughter was collateral damage, struck a nerve.
That collateral damage was ugly, but so was stealing the lives, with a third of those lives being innocent children, under Dreykov's control. Lives that had only just begun. All because of his of philosophy that plagued humanity.
That collateral damage that rewarded Alex with a ledger dripping and drenched in scarlet satisfaction. A victory she used to be proud of.
Now, it disgusted Alex.
"This is Alexanrda Balandin by the way." Yelena broke the awkard silence as they approached a gas station. "She and I were in the Red Room together."
"Natasha Romanoff." The Red head said with a smirk.
Alex glanced up with a nod, ignoring the initiation of the hand shake Natasha, who retracted the offer.
There were a few reasons for the lack of a response.
A, Alex was still annoyed by the topic of Dreykov's daughter. The way Natasha treated it as just another kill count really bugged her.
B, already not liking the goody-goody Avenger aura. There made not have been words exchanged, but just in her presence alone was enough for Alex to feeling alienated next to one of earth's mightiest heroes.
C, Alex was still grasping onto her new reality. Her emotions holding her words bound as if he was still watching, even though she knew she was free.
"She was on an assignment the same time I was to track down Oksana." Yelena added as they approached the small convention store. "How did that go by the way? Did you get the guy?"
Curiosity pushed her eyebrow up as Alex realized the conversation was now focused on her.
"Why don't you two get what you need and I'll stand watch." Alex suggested as she folded her arms with a nod. "Just to make sure we weren't followed."
A sigh escaped Yelena's mouth and returned nod back. "Sounds good."
Natasha tilted her head, suspicious of Alex's behavior. "You sure you'll be okay? You can come inside with us."
Yelena cleared her throat at Natasha and shook her head. The redhead didn't wait for a response as the two walked inside. Continuing to catch up on each other.
Alex leaned against the doorframe outside of the store. Watching the small community in motion. Kids outside playing games and riding bicycles. One little boy no more than 3 or 4 years old, gripping onto his mother's finger. A smile stretched on Alex's face, but not from happiness.
From an aching reminder. That she couldn't have such a picture perfect life. Instead, years of being raised and turned into a weapon.
But now, she was capable of making her own descions. To run free, not having to worry if she failed or not.
Regardless, she still didn't like Marc Spector. She may not have the same adrenaline to stab him with a knife, but she did want take him down with her anger.
It was his fault she failed the first time, putting her on the risk of being eliminated by the command of Dreykov.
Then, he did help her out of it the second time. Keep her from taking her own life.
To an extent, Marc saved her.
Not intentionally as he only needed her alive. Alex was convinced he didn't have any other reason.
Why are you focusing on Marc Spector Alex!?
She wasn't going to think about him.
Her thoughts shifted to the coffee shop in Florence. Remembering the calming scent coffee and the warmth from the fireplace. Something she never imagined, could now be in her possession if she wanted.
She could choose to read that story about the maiden with long hair, locked in a tower. She could also make preferences, what clothes she would wear, maybe go to that fancy restaurant in London and fill her stomach with food she had never tasted before. Watch movies or go dancing. That includes, the choice to not kill Marc Spector.
Controlling her life in her power now.
"Why do you always do that thing?" Yelena's comment pulled Alex out of her thoughts and sparked intrest as she popped her head inside the doorway, leaning on the frame with a smirk.
Natasha rolled her eyes as she placed ibuprofen and other medical supplies over the counter.
"The thing you do when you're fighting." Yelena repeated.
Natasha tilted her head at her younger sister to elaborate.
Without hesitation, Yelena crouched down. "This thing that you do!" She replied with a grunt.
Putting her hand on the floor, resting in a lunge, as Yelena proceeded to move her head up and down. "And you whip your hair when your fighting."
A snort almost escaped Alex's mouth, something she didn't know she was capable of creating. Bitting her lip to keep herself from laughing at Yelena's accurate depiction. Now adding a extended arm in the demonstration with the hair flipping.
"With the arm and the hair!"
"It's a fighting pose." Yelena cackled as she looked over her shoulder for approval. "She's a total poser, don't you think Alexandra?"
Natasha scoffed, looking back and forth between the two Widows.
"I'm not a poser."
Alex let out a sigh as she stepped inside, putting her hands in her pockets.
"Well, I haven't seen you fight much, but you kind of look like a poser to me. You know probably part of that luxury ofo being an Avenger I bet." She said with ice in her throat and sarcastic stare.
Oblivious to the silent cat fight, Yelena stood up and exchanged a fist bump with Alex.
"Great, a carbon copy of my sister." Natasha mumbled under her breath.
"Not even the slightest, Natasha Romanoff." Alex retorted from the comparison to the more expressive Widow, crossing her arms with a shrug. "I'm just enjoying the show."
Yelena grinned at Alex, exchanging a quick laugh, continuing to make fun of the Avenger.
"Oh, come on they are great poses. But it does make it look like everyone is looking at you-"
"Yeah, well all that time I spent posing? I was actually trying to do something good." Natasha said as she handed the cashier her payment. "To make up for the pain and suffering, the three of us and other Widows, have caused."
Natasha glanced back. "Try to be more than just a trained killer."
More than a trained killer?
Alex wanted to deny that label, however the truth stung her, worse than a prick from any needle.
Yelena cleared her throat as she faced the shelf. "Then you are fooling yourself. Because pain and suffering is everyday. And all three of us, are all still trained killers." Bitterness spread on her face as she stared harshly at her sister.
"Except, Alex and I, aren't the ones on the covers of magazines. Or the killers little girls call their hero."
Without another word, Yelena left the store as Natasha received the receipt from the man behind the counter before leaving as well.
Alex realized, the man possibly heard everything they said. She glared at him as she stepped towards the counter.
"I'll give you some of her extra dollars, if you forget everything you just heard, okay?" She said holding up the money that she swiped from Natasha's pocket.
The man nodded, holding a small ounce of fear in his eyes, coated in doing his best to be brave.
Alex slammed the money on the wooden surface, swiping a packet of bubble gum from the display on the counter.
"Keep the change." She said bluntly with a nod before she left the store.
-☽-
Night took over as the sun went down and only half full moon rising. Giving some of it's natural light, with light bulbs hanging around the gas station to illuminate their surroundings.
Natasha had left to get some drinks, while Alex and Yelena found a table outside the store. The man behind the counter was now working on some car in the garage while the kids Alex saw before, were still outside. Now kicking a ball just outside. Laughing, enjoying themselves, not knowing how precious their lives are.
Alex had changed out of her Black Widow uniform in exchange for some clothes she stole from a local thrift store with an outdoor sale.
Her new and first outfit by choice; a black tank top, a dark maroon leather jacket and some ripped up navy blue jeans that could be mistaken for black at first glance.
Yelena hissed as the cool evening breeze brushed against her wound while she took off the dirty rag.
Alex chuckled as Yelena made a face in reaction to the pain.
"What are you laughing at Alexandra?" Yelena said with a pout.
Keeping a smile on her face, "You seem to be having troubling with that, Belova." Alex said as she got up to sit next to Yelena who rolled her eyes.
"Well, they never really taught us how to treat our own wounds did they?"
Alex nodded after grabbing a clean rag and rubbing alcohol from the first aid kit. "That's fair."
Familiarity came over Alex as she poured the liquid onto the fabric and began to dab. She was in Yelena's spot days before and her culprit fixing her cut from one of his strange darts.
Yelena puffed her cheeks like a fish as she braced the sting.
"You're fine." Alex scoffed. "You always had to be the dramatic one between the two of us huh?"
Yelena glared at her. "Since when was I dramatic?"
"Well, you always gave me the cold shoulder to me in the Red Room." Alex said as she began to wrap her arm with a snicker. "Not to mention your impression of your sister."
Yelena sniffled a laugh as well. "I guess when all you do is be an assasins, being dramatic makes it easier to keep your mind off of things. " Yelena defended, trying to ignore the pinches of pain tingling up her shoulder. "But now we are out of that compound, is like a breath of fresh air."
Alex hummed, agreeing with that statement, as she continued to dab the cloth on the wound. Cleaning the blood off of the skin before she grabbed a needle. Yelena flinched, turning her head down at the sight of the sharp tool. Alex found it funny. Yelena Belova, as well as the other Widows, were tough female assasins. But without out Dreykov's control, humanity came through and revealed little quirks. Never did she think Yelena could a be squeamish or nervous to see a needle.
"Ooo, where did you get that bad boy, Alexandra?" Yelena asked, her head still looking down, but eyes fixed on the bandage on Alex's arm.
Alex ignored Yelena's curious stare and kept stitching the gash. "It's just a battle scar from the mission that's all." She stated, letting put a single breath, without much detail.
Yelena huffed. "It was that mummy guy right? The one you were supposed to track down? I'm guessing he fought back."
"He did." Alex said with a nod as she gestured to her arm. "And it was hell. Marc Spector was a jerk and very difficult to handle."
"Wait, so did you finish the job?" Yelena asked.
Alex didn't reply as she put another stitch in. Not wanting to mention his name when she didn't have to. Marc Spector was a past experience and she wasn't going to let him effect her present or future.
"I mean, did you follow Dreykov's orders or did you-"
"I don't want to talk about it!" Alex raised her voice a little, letting out her frustration on Yelena.
"Sorry, it's not you." Alex assured. "I didn't mean to snap at you. I just-"
"Don't want to talk about it because it will make you spiral and remind you of who you were." Yelena finished her sentence.
Alex sighed. "Yeah, exactly." She lied partially.
Yelena shrugged. "That's fair. I promise not to bring it up if you don't tell Natasha about it."
"Sounds good."
Moments later, Natasha had returned with three bottles as Alex finished Yelena's wound. Standing up to sit across her again while Natasha came sitting herself next to Alex.
"Here." Natasha broke the awkward tension with a single word, offering the bottle of alcohol.
Alex made a straight line on her face with a tight lip stretching across her cheeks.
"Thanks." She replied under her deep breath before taking a sip. The drink burning her lips as it went down her throat. Part of her was tempted to chug it all down.
Forget the day she found him in the coffee shop. The day Dreykov accused her for failing. The day when she got a second chance. The day Marc Spector kept her hostage. The day following, when he too out her tracker. And now even today, feeling free for the first time in her life and meeting Natasha Romanoff.
Instead, she started drinking, little by little. Taking long, subtle sips that gave enough for her to not be totally wasted.
"That Red gas? A counter agent." Yelena mentioned as she saved the two-worded conversation from dying in unbearable silence. "It was synthesized in secret by an older Widow."
Knowing Yelena had to go after Oksana and eliminate her, yet Alex wanted to hear the rest. Find answer to her question;
How was Yelena able to become a free individual from that gas and why did it free herself as well?
Alex paced herself on the alcohol, not wanting to be completely drunk, as she listened.
"I was on a mission to retrieve it. And she exposed me." Yelena said as Alex played out her experience of the red gas. "But I killed her."
Yelena looked down ar her bottle, her thumb tracing the indents of designs on the glass, avoiding any contact.
"I killed, the Widow who freed me." She repeated solemnly with her words covered in the disease of guilt.
"Did you have a choice?" Natasha asked after a pause in the conversation.
Alex scoffed, shaking her head, earning a glare from the Avenger.
What do you think Natasha? That Dreykov let them choose?
"Listen," Yelena cleared her throat bitterly before Natasha and Alex ripped each other apart, verball and physically. "What you experienced, Natasha, was psychological conditioning. But what we experienced? I'm talking about chemically altering brain functions. They are two completely different things."
Alex gave a side eye to Natasha, before leaning back and putting her boots on the table with the beer bottle, taking a huge swig. Natasha sent a subtle glare as if to tell her to put her feet down, but Alex ignored the message.
A sigh came from Yelena as she put her hands on her shoulders, rubbing them as if to comfort herself. "With those chemicals, you are fully conscious but you don't know which part is you."
That comment caused Alex to think. If she was free, Alex could still feel two parts of her brain fighting for dominance. One side thought about finding and killing Marc Spector, but the other side wanted to leave it behind and never take a life again. Find a better life than what was forced in the Red Room.
"I'm still not sure." Yelena shrugged with anxiety in her voice, filled uncertainty.
Alex put her feet down and leaned against the table. "You too?"
Yelena looked at her with uncertainty as she barely nodded.
Alex then stretched her arm across the table and put her hand on top of Yelena's wrist. A silent reassurance and mutual understanding exchanged. Her hand remained as she started to see Yelenas rough exterior melt for Alex to find a innocent little girl.
"So," Natasha cleared her throat, breaking the tender moment. "Is that all that's left? Of the gas?"
Alex didn't realize her hand lingered until Yelena glanced down at the chemical filled tubes in her bag.
"Mhm."
Letting go as she stared at the red antidotes.
"It's the only thing that can stop Dreykov and his network of Widows!" Yelena said, letting out her frustration and years of pain. She took a deep breath to keep herself from raising her voice. "He takes more everyday, little girls who don't have anyone to protect them."
She moved her head back and forth between Alex and her sister. "Like all us when we were small. Maybe one in 20 survives the training, becomes a Widow and the rest he kills."
It clicked in her head, as Alex added to that point. "That's what happened to me in my group. But everyone else in my group disappeared."
Yelena nodded. "Same here."
"So to him we are just things?" Alex said with her question more as a statement. "Just weapons with no face that he thinks he can just throw away. Because there's-"
"-there is always more." Yelena finished her sentence before looking her sister again. "And no one is even looking for him, thanks to you and Alexei."
There is one person I can think of. She thought, as she took a swig, but mentally cursed herself for thinking of that mummified jerk again.
"Alexei?" Natasha rose an eyebrow as she drank her beer.
"Dad." Yelena said as she and Natasha spotted the man working on the car.
Alex looked as well, seeing him greeting his sons with hugs and kisses on the head.
"Did either of you ever look for your parents? You real ones." Yelena asked, returning to face Natasha and Alex.
Putting her bottle down as Alex stared at her lap as she leaned back once again. "I never knew them."
The feeling of being watched, Alex glared back at Natasha, but was surpised to see a softer expression instead before she turned towards Yelena.
"Well, my mom abandoned me in the streets like garbage." She said.
Even though Natasha was seen as a hero more than a vigilante, she still had her childhood stolen. Something Alex had to remind herself with.
Natasha gave a nod. "What about you sis?"
Yelena smiled as she put the top of the bottle on her nose.
"I destroyed my birth certificate so I reinvented it. My parents still live in Ohio. My sister moved out west." She said before pointing the nose at Natasha. "You're a science teacher. Your working part time though. Especially since you had you son. Your husband, he renovates houses, am I getting warm?"
Natasha chuckled as her sister poked fun and teased. "That is not my story."
"What is your story then?" Yelena asked.
"I never have left myself alone enough to think about it." Natasha said, surprising Alex with a humble and real response.
Yelena reached for the green army vest off to the side and put it on. "Did either of you ever wish for kids?"
What would it be like to be in that position? Alex pondered as she watched the store owner leave his garage to play catch with his sons. The sight causing a pull at the corner of her mouth.
"I want a dog." Yelena answered her own question.
Alex now pictured Yelena playing with a dog at the park, not sure how that image would perfectly fit her.
"So then, any plans of where you want to go?" Natasha asked a follow up question.
"I don't know." Yelena said innocently. "
Alex sighed as she brought her elbows up on the table. "I never really have anyplace to go back to so I guess anywhere."
Yelena glanced at her friend, who nodded. "I guess that's my answer too. Unless big hero like yourself has sugguestions."
Natasha scoffed with a grin. "I'll start making a list for you then."
"Maybe we can all find an apartment together." Yelena offered, right before the other two woman frowned.
"Absolutely not." Alex protested as calm as possible while Natasha shook her head.
"Not a chance."
Yelena raised her eyebrows. "It was only an idea, relax. You too already look like two bulldogs in a fight ready to chew each other out, when Dreykov is the real enemy."
Alex looked away from the redhead with a shrug and a frown.
She has a point.
Natasha took another sip of her beer before setting it down as she looked at her sister, clearing her throat.
"Don't." Yelena sighed.
Natasha scrunched her face in confusion. "What?"
Yelena snickered. "You're going to give us both some big hero speech, I can feel it."
Natasha shook her head. "Speeches aren't really my thing."
"Oh." Yelena shrugged before glancing at Alex who rolled her eyes at the humility.
Natasha smirked. "It's more like an invitation."
An invitation that Alex possibly dreaded.
Yet at the same time, she desired the taste of sweet revenge on her tongue. Much more savoring than the sample she had when chasing down Marc Spector. This time she knew it could be a full meal to devour if she accepted Natasha's request.
"To go back to the Red Room?" She asked, clarifying just incase. A small ounce of respect for Natasha as she seemed to be just as hungry for that revenge.
"And kill Dreykov? For good?" Yelena added, staring at her bottle again.
Natasha let out a breath. "Yeah."
Yelena looked up at her Sister with a tilt of her head. "Even though the Red Room is hard to find. And dreykov is too slippery to kill?"
"Yeah."
"Sounds like a shit load of work." Alex said with a snark.
"Yep." Natasha shurgged. "Could be fun though. Three Widows teaming up to take him down?"
Yelena nodded. "Yep. Alex?"
Alex leaned forwards in her seat. "Hell yeah."
Natasha grinned at the two before turning her head towards the man in the garage. "Did either of you see where he put the keys?"
"Top drawer. Green cabinet." Both Yelena and Alex said in unison, before sharing a proud smirk with each other as Natasha held up the neck of her bottle.
The three assasins, clicking their drinks, but also vowing to do what it takes to bring the Red Room down.
If only they knew where to start.
"So do we know where even Dreykov is?" Yelena asked after finishing her bottle
Natasha shook her head, taking one last swallow of her own beverage. "No. But Alexei would know."
"Do we know where Alexei is?" Alex asked.
Natasha shook her head.
Yelena chuckled. "Wow. Great plan! Love the part were you forgot we need a location or anything to start! I thought the Avengers made you smart but I guess you got dumber or something."
Alex snickered as Natasha glared at both of them.
"Whatever," She said as she stood up and adjusting her jacket. "I just know he's in a prison somewhere in Russia. We'll figure it out though."
Right when Yelena began to make fun of her older sister again, something vibrated on Alex's wrist.
The screen reading:
Tracker nearby
She frowned, the Red Room gadget was still on her. But why was her tracker on? Pressing the more tab, the screen changed to show a red dot of where the tracker was. It was in a city outside of Budapest.
Her mind continued to think of all the possible reasons it would be alerting her. Did she accidently drop it on a car? An object? Or something?
Or someone?
It must have fallen out of her pocket or maybe stolen on purpose by the man himself.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Alex groaned with a mix of emotions. Not knowing if she should be angry of who it could be or rejoice as they could provide a solution to their problem.
The two sisters stopped their bantering and snapped their heads at Alex. "What happened?"
"Remeber that guy Yelena?" She asked.
Yelena frowned a little more. "The man from the other day?"
"Yeah that one." Alex confused.
Natasha grew more confused, not knowing much of the situation, while Yelena connected the dots.
"He might be here" Alex let out a sigh. "And he might be able to help."
Yelena scoffed. "You sure he's here? Wasn't he from London? How do you know where he is?"
Alex shook her head and held up her wrist, showing the screen on her device.
"He's here in Budapest."
_________________________________________
HEYYYYYY
I've finally updated!! Yay!! 🤗
Kind of a filler/more Black Widow side of things, but don't worry. Marc will popping to say hi very soon. 😏
As I mentioned, I won't write the full Black Widow plot. Just moments that are significant/relevant to Alex's background. (Ex. Probably won't have her involved in all of the family drama, but might have a moment of her contribution to taking down the Red Room.)
Comment and vote!
Thanks for reading!
-marie xoxo