Work Text:
"You look like Clara Bow in this light
Remarkable
All your life, did you know
You'd be picked like a rose"
Yelena is struggling to understand why Natasha is gone. She is confused about where she went and why her mother and father are saying they are moving without getting her back. Her mother looks at her, “You do not have a sister. You are an only child, do you understand?” The child shakes her head, “What about Natasha?” Her dad yells, “Damn it, Yelena. Forget about her, she's gone. She isn’t coming back.” She starts to cry, “Why did she have to leave?” Her mom hugs her, “I know it’s hard to understand, Милая, but it's for the best. Now fix your tears, we need to go.”
Yelena nods and helps her parents pack up their life. She sees her father throw a bunch of paper in the roaring fireplace. When they finally get into the car her mother says, “Yelena, watch for anyone following us. We don’t have anyone else to do so you need to learn to keep an eye out for tails at all times.” Yelena doesn’t understand what a tail is, but she keeps an eye out for any cars coming up behind them. For twelve hours of driving all throughout the night, she watches.
“I'm not trying to exaggerate
But I think I might die if it happened
Die if it happened to me
No one in my small town thought
I'd see the lights of Manhattan”
When they finally get to what her father calls their new home she tries to get out but he stops her, “Your mother is going to take you to do some training, you will come back later. I’m going to unload the car and get the house ready.” She goes to protest due to her sleepiness but she holds her tongue. She watches for another hour as her mother drives them deep into a forest. When they finally make it to a clearing they both get out. Her mother gives her a pistol and teaches her how to shoot. She explains her new role in the family: The last defense. She was meant to play the innocent child but if there is a threat she has to take them out.
Yelena asked why their family would be under threat but was told she could find out when she was older. As she grows, moving every couple of months she becomes skilled with knives and guns. By the time she is thirteen, the man she has called father her whole life tells her the truth.
He says, “I am not your father. Melina is not your mother. You were put here with me as a mission. The mission is complete. You have succeeded at your part and you are getting reassigned.” Having learned not to show any emotions, Yelena simply nods.
“This town is fake but
You're the real thing
Breath of fresh air through smoke rings
Take the glory, give everything
Promise to be dazzling”
When the men from the red room come to get her she goes quietly. She knows fighting is futile and Melina trained her well enough that she will be able to get through the training with no issues. As she goes through the training she gets more proficient with deadly weapons and eventually becomes a very valuable asset to the Red Room.
A few years later.
“You look like Stevie Nicks
In '75, the hair and lips
Crowd goes wild at her fingertips
Half moonshine, a full eclipse”
Yelena is locked in a cell and the Taskmaster is guarding the door. She’s picking at her nails waiting to be released. She doesn't even know why she is locked up. Eventually, Melina comes in, “Hello Yelena.” Yelena only nods so she continues, “What do you know?” Yelena sighs, “I don’t even know why I am locked in the cell. Why am I being questioned?” Melina motions, asking if she can sit next to Yelena. She nods. As Melina sits she starts, “Natasha has,” Yelena cuts her off, “Is she alright?” She scoffs, “Yes, I’m sure she is fine. She has left our organization. She has been recruited to S.H.I.E.L.D. and abandoned us.
Yelena shakes her head, “Natasha wouldn’t do that.” Melina looks down, “We don’t think it was planned, we think it was a spur-of-the-moment decision when she was facing an honorable death. However, due to your relationship, we had to ask if you knew anything. If there were a group of traitors in our ranks we would need to eliminate them.” Yelena nods in agreement, “Do what you need to do.” Melina chuckles, “We just did, you are free to go. You are getting first grabs at all of her assignments, so make quick work of them.”
As the cell is unlocked, Yelena thinks about what this means. Natasha has left Yelena to fill her shoes once again. She needs to be the best Widow to replace Natasha. So she trains harder, and her annual kill count rises thirty percent after Natasha is gone. Her mission reports are positive too, she is in and out without a trace. She becomes a shadow of death. She is rewarded many times by her handlers. She gets a better room, new gadgets, and more freedom. She knows she is only gaining this because they fear losing her, but she accepts it anyway.
“I'm not trying to exaggerate
But I think I might die if I made it,
Die if I made it
No one in my small town
Thought I'd meet these suits in LA,
They all want to say …”
The other Widows have two reactions to this change: Anger at her rewards and fear of her actions. No one will train with her anymore due to the violence she shows towards even her training opponents. She is only able to train with Taskmaster, and even then due to their schedule, she doesn’t get to train much. She chooses to focus on her non-deadly skills, becoming a different person for every mission. She practices accents, both in their natural language and in others. She learns the most efficient way to change the way her face appears with makeup and prosthetics.
“The crown is stained but you're the real queen
Flesh and blood amongst war machines
You're the new god we're worshipping
Promise to be ... dazzling”
Every day she hangs around the Red Room she is a different person, maybe she is Alicia from Miami Florida who loves her dog more than anything, Anne from France who has a cheating crooked husband, or she is Grania from Ireland who is a woman in poverty who has to do anything she can to feed her children. Every morning she deconstructs herself to become someone new, and even with everyone trying to spot her she still fools at least three people a day. She becomes one of the all-time best Widows.
February 2025
“Beauty is a beast that roars
Down on all fours
Demanding "more"
Only when your girlish glow
Flickers just so
Do they let you know
It's hell on earth to be heavenly
Them's the breaks
They don't come gently”
Yelena has joined a team led by Julia Louis-Drefus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra Du Fontaine. She is fighting beside the U.S. Agent, Winter Soldier, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster, and Thunderbolt Ross. She still has a couple of qualms about this team mainly with Taskmaster and The Winter Soldier. They both tried to kill Natasha, but neither of them had any choice in what they were doing. There is also infighting amongst the team with the U.S. Agent and The Winter Soldier, they seem to have some history, but Yelena isn’t interested in that.
Alexei and her are on an undercover mission right now. Yelena has been found out and is currently tied to a chair being interrogated. The men who put her there are telling her why their leader doesn’t want her looking into them, obviously planning to kill her. As they are asking her who she works for she sees something move in the shadows behind the men. She tries to subtly watch the movement and sees a glint of metal.
Trying to get Alexei to back off while staying in character, Yelena says, “Look, you don’t need to kill me. I won’t say anything about Robert Reynolds and his business dealings. I won’t tell anyone about the serum he took. You don’t need to help,” She pauses hoping Alexei gets the point, “him out by killing someone who people know is looking into him.” The taller man laughs, “Nice try, but we took your wire off of you when we tied you up.”
Yelena hides a smirk at how she must have gotten the worst of the idiots on Reynold’s team. Unfortunately, she also has an idiot on her side. His shield comes flying over and hits the shorter man before bouncing back to the shadows. As the two men look over there Yelena pulls her hands out of the ill-fitting knots tying her down. She grabs her gun and taser from the floor, “Hey, why did you do that? They were giving me everything.” She has her gun pointed at the taller man as he turns around, “We didn’t give you everything.” Yelena raises an eyebrow, “Right, you can think that all you want.”
Alexei walks out of the shadows with his own gun pointed at the shorter man, “How was I supposed to know you got captured on purpose?” Yelena scoffs as she shoots the tall man, “You out of all people on this team could have had some faith in me.” The shorter man starts to beg for his life right before he shoots him, “Right, sorry. You did good though.” She rolls her eyes, “Let’s just get out of here before police respond to reports of gunshots.”
“You look like Taylor Swift
In this light
We're loving it.
You've got edge she never did
The future's bright
... Dazzling”
As they walk out of the building Yelena thinks about the mission Natasha told her about that gave her the inspiration for this one. She quietly murmurs a quick “Thanks, Nat,” and continues walking in the opposite direction of Alexei.
Милая - Sweetie/darling