Chapter Text
KABOOM!
“Hawkeye!"
Shit…
Kate swallowed down a scream and threw herself against the back of a nearby semi-truck. Embers showered down on either side of the vehicle, some landing in Kate's black hair. She quickly snuffed it out and grimaced at the singed material of her vest. Gunshots sounded all around her and Kate bit her fist to muffle her pained groans. Her glove tasted like gunpowder.
Just a bit away from her she could see a few scattered chunks of… pink human bits… that had landed after she had shot that obnoxiously yellow propane tank.
She tugged down her mask and breathed in the night's frigid air. The way the cold wind scraped down her windpipe didn't do much to calm her panic, nor did it lower the sheer excitement she felt. Adrenaline was making her hands shake so hard that she had to clench them into white-knuckled fists.
A freezing raindrop fell heavily onto the tip of her nose and Kate shook her head out. She snapped her mask back up and sprinted across the dock. Bullets pelted the crate she ran along and Kate had to duck before they caught up with her.
Her earpiece was crackling, damaged from the explosion that had happened.
Well, okay. Yeah Kate was the reason the explosion had happened. But she couldn't just let their guy get away! He was a trafficker and if he'd gotten onto that damn boat—
“Hawkeye!” Kate yelped and fell off of the crate she had been trying to climb. She landed on her back with an oof and rolled under the rusted metal sheet to take cover. Bullets dented the sheet in the exact outline of her body. Shakily, she lightly touched her ear piece that was miraculously, maybe unfortunately, still sort of working.
“Yeah?” Kate hummed as she rolled into her stomach and pulled out her pistol. She fired a couple shots at the men scrambling around, making sure she didn't accidentally shoot another filled tank or anyone on her team, which totally hadn't happened before.
“You fucking blew up the boat!” Kate could practically hear the leader of her squad's veins burst through the speaker. Even for an alpha, the man was overly aggressive. Kate sighed and reloaded her pistol while the man continued to roar in her ear. “We're exposed now–”
“We're not exposed,” Kate muttered, shooting at the feet of the nasty group. “As long as we can take care of–”
“Report back.” Kate gulped at the man's tone. “Immediately!”
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Covered in bruises and cuts, Kate Bishop stood before her handler. Her hands still shook from the excitement that had raced through her body at the dock, so she held them tightly behind her back. She had to bite her lip as well, just to prevent the unfortunate grin wanting to pull at her mouth. Now was not the time.
There had been a moment she could have let her Kate Bishop Jitters out earlier. When she and the non-seriously wounded fraction of her team had gotten back to the office, she had taken a moment to take a small stroll in the courtyard. She had only just wanted a second alone, a way to get her nerves out before her impatient handler called. Kate had barely started running after a taunting squirrel before her handler had screamed her name out the window.
Okay, maybe the squirrel was more of a chipmunk but Kate refused to admit something so small could be her biggest rival at the office. The damned rodent had stolen Kate's haphazardly put together lunch on more occasions than Kate could even count. Even before Kate had come up to the office, the chipmunk had stolen her protein bar she had gotten from the vending machine while her squad leader had screamed at her for ruining their mission. Maybe it was a little sad that the evil chipmunk was the only thing at the office that helped Kate get her energy out, not to mention it being her rival. Actually, the rodent was one of the only people here she actually respected.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine paid Kate's energy overflowing still body no attention as the alpha paced back and forth on the opposite side of her black walnut desk. Heated words were endlessly flowing from her painted lips but Kate hadn't been able to focus on a single thing she had been saying. Well, it was closer to shouting at this point but Kate was so used to it by now that it was more akin to regular conversation. ‘How was your morning?’ was the same as ‘I have never seen such disobedience, much less from an omega, in my entire life!’ Well, pretty much the same.
Valentina suddenly halted in place and her sharp eyes locked onto Kate's. Kate felt herself startle and she forced all thirty trillion cells in her body to focus on what her handler was about to say.
Valentina was silent for a moment. Her glare was severe but even the anger couldn't hide the dark bags beneath it. Unexpectedly, Kate was taken back to when she was lectured in kindergarten by her teacher. She was always in trouble for being ‘too much.’ Kate turned her gaze away.
“Do you know how difficult it was to get you here? In this building, this very floor?” There was a brief huff before Kate heard the sound of Valentina collapsing back into her plush leather chair. Her fingers massaged the crease between her brows.“Do you, Katherine?”
“... Yes,” she mumbled. Her hands weren't shaking anymore but she still held them tight together. It helped settle her rushing blood. Her thumb slowly swiped over the back of her skin, over and over again. She pressed hard on her scent gland to keep her smell calm and her eyes strung from the bruise.
Valentina sighed heavily and Kate's vision unfocused. A warm feeling washed over her and her nerves calmed. She wondered what she would have for dinner tonight. Likely, it would be frozen pizza again. “I know,” the alpha said quietly. Even though it was muffled by her thoughts, Kate could hear the disappointment dripping in her tone. There was a squeak of leather as Valentina sat up and cleared her throat. “Yet you act like everyday is your first on this planet. You've caused more incidents than your entire department combined and have fouled more missions than I have fingers. You're past second chances, Katherine. You're past your twentieth chance. You have to know I can't keep making excuses for you.”
Kate's eyes had moved from the floor while her handler ranted and now rested on the desk in front of her. The desk looked so expensive. It was made from a dark wood that was cleanly polished with beautiful engravings that resembled flowers. Kate's work desk was made out of grey plastic. Well, Kate was pretty sure it was plastic. It could very well be styrofoam. She's pretty sure her chair was too.
There was a half eaten sandwich next to some paperwork and a small framed photo she couldn't see. Kate's stomach almost growled. She was so hungry. That damned chipmunk would pay for stealing her protein bar. Kate could see mustard leaking onto the wrapper the sandwich was sitting in. It drew Kate's eyes to a cutely drawn heart and the letter ‘M.’ Valentina must have been in the middle of her lunch her wife had made when Kate had been sent here.
“Katherine.” Kate snapped out of her thoughts and finally met her handler’s eyes. She didn't question if Kate was listening or where her head had gone. Valentina was a lot of things, but she knew Kate. She probably knew Kate better than anyone else alive did, which said a lot more about Kate's vacant social life than it did about their relationship. How sad. “What's the difference between you and everyone else in this department?”
Well, there was the obvious. However, Kate was nothing if not a smartass, especially to Valentina. “I'm the only hot one here?” Before Valentina could turn any redder, Kate held her hands up. “Sorry, sorry. I have you in my corner. That's what makes me different.” No one else had a handler as competent as Kate's was. They probably wouldn't need it, considering Kate was the only one on her team that seemed to find a new way to screw up a mission each and every week. She may have screwed this one up too, but Kate would do better next week.
“You're an omega, Katherine.” Oh. Kate actually hadn't been thinking of that. “Do not tell me you didn't think of that?”
“Of course I did,” Kate's face flushed defensively, “I was just joking.” Valentina looked like she was about to pass out from Kate's bullshit. The older woman took a deep, calming breath. Distantly, it reminded Kate of her mother.
“Everyone else in this department is either a beta or an alpha. You may be in your own world more than half of the time, but I know you've noticed.” Kate saw shame flicker in the alpha's brown eyes. “I've heard of how you've been treated because of it.”
Kate licked her dry lips and shrugged. Yeah, she had been treated differently by her coworkers. Well, differently was an understatement really. But Kate didn't like to think about those assholes outside of when she had to. Which, she didn't then either. That was probably why her team missions always ended up screwed and with more than a few agents injured.
“They're looking for an excuse to get rid of you and you've given them plenty.” Valentina paused for a moment, looking hesitant for the second time Kate had ever seen. It was unnerving. Quietly, her handler spoke. “This really was your last chance.” Her heart dropped.
Kate opened her mouth to say something, anything, to beg Valentina to fight for her just one more time, but she couldn't. Her mouth hung open uselessly.
Valentina turned in her chair to look out the window behind her. She nursed her glass of something probably inappropriate for the workplace in her hand for a moment before sighing. She didn't turn to face Kate as she spoke again. “Fury wants to see you.”
“Fury…?” Kate whispered. Her hands started trembling again. Kate had only met with the FBI director once before. It was back when she had first started and the beta had scared her shitless. Who the fuck wears an honest-to-gods eyepatch and a trench coat?
“Yes,” Valentina said simply. She took a sip from her glass before finally turning to face Kate. There was this sad tilt to her lips, her eyes softer. “He's going to offer you a mission. It's the only chance he will give you.” Kate's body straightened. “I… Think carefully before you accept.”
“What?” In what world would Kate turn down her last chance to stay in the FBI? It had been her dream since she was just a kid, even if her reasoning for it had changed.
“You're young, Katherine,” Valentina said quietly. Uncharacteristically, her fingers fiddled with her lunch's wrapper. Her thumb stroked over the heart drawn on it. “Only twenty-five. There's a life outside of this, one you might like a lot more.”
“I doubt it,” Kate mumbled. She didn't think there would ever be another career in her life that would give her anywhere near the same rush that this one did. She couldn't lose it. And her mom… “I'll accept whatever he asks.”
Valentina almost looked sad. “Good luck, Katherine. Try not to be a kiss-ass. Furry hates those.”
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Kate sat at a very large round table. Like, it was larger than her typical office room big.
“Agent Hawkeye.” Kate gulped, not used to being called her code-name outside of missions. Around the office, she was just called Bishop. Sometimes Kathy by some of her creepier coworkers, but Kate put a hard stop to that a while back. She blinked out of her thoughts and shook her head.
“Yes?”
Fury looked like he was repressing an eye roll. It was hard for Kate to tell though, because well, he only had the one… Said eye narrowed when he saw Kate staring. He straightened his long trench coat and it was obvious he had knots in his shoulders. Kate wondered if he had just gotten off the plane from Washington. Would he have taken the upper class seats, or just reserved the whole plane? Well, Fury probably flew a jet here, Kate knew they had plenty of those at the main FBI headquarters. “Agent Hawkeye, do I have to question your eligibility for this? Your handler insisted that you were capable.”
Kate's cheeks heated and she hurriedly nodded, gesturing for Fury to go on. “Yes, yes! I'm fully capable and am all ears.” After all, Kate was willing to risk so much for this job. Hell, she'd probably be willing to take a bullet to the chest for this job. It's what she loved. It was all she had.
There were a couple giggles from the alphas sitting around the table, some nudging each other and whispering. Kate repressed the harsh feeling of embarrassment that made her want to hide beneath the table. Her coworkers would most definitely laugh harder if she did that. The week they found out her fear of insects was one of the worst weeks of her life. Each made bets to see who could scare her the hardest with fake, or sometimes real, bugs.
Fury shot the other agents a glare before clearing his throat. “Good. What I'm bringing to you,” he took a moment to make eye contact with each agent around the table, “all of you, is serious.” Something flickered across his eye and he turned, his back facing the room of agents as he stared out the window. Their office was on the twentieth floor. It was awful when the elevator was broken and Kate had boxes of paperwork to carry but… on days like this one, where the sky was lined with pink clouds and the sun was setting, it was beautiful. The most beautiful view Kate had in her life.
Fury cleared his throat once more and Kate sat on the edge of her seat, her shoulders tense. She kept winding and unwinding her ankles to help release her bottled up energy. It sort of helped. Fury’s hands clasped behind him in an iron-like grip. “Everyone in this room has been hand-selected based on their skill, discretion, and mental fortitude. Basically, you all have no presence outside this office.” He chuckled but none of the agents found it very funny. “We are looking at a major operation against The Tracksuit Mafia. Everyone in this room has heard of them, yes?”
The men around Kate nodded and she found herself doing the same. She had recently been involved in a few cases revolving around them, though none ended well, which may or may not have been Kate’s fault. Regardless, everyone in the city knew of The Tracksuit Mafia. What used to be a small group long before Kate was born had turned into a much larger problem. They disrupted businesses, banks, and had on many occasions caused trouble for New York's law enforcement. Kate's face heated. They were also infamous for their front, Club Widow.
“We have recently changed directions in how we want to handle them. Instead of fixing what they tear down, we’re going to tear them down. From the inside out.” He finally turned and faced the agents. Kate felt a cold chill run down her spine. “We need to map their structure. The building and the people in it. We need to identify the capos and trace the money flow to make this case stick. Once we have what we need, well… We’ll blow the place.”
Fury gestured towards Hill, his subordinate and Kate's boss, New York’s ADIC. The alpha quickly handed him a manila folder. He held it up for the agents to see. “This operation requires someone to go deep undercover. I don’t mean for a single mission or a few days, but for months. At headquarters we believe it may take well over a year to build credibility as a trusted associate. The Tracksuit Mafia isn’t easy to get into for most.” His eye briefly passed over Kate. She saw something there but couldn’t understand what it meant. “The agent that takes this on will not be an FBI agent anymore. You will not have a badge, nor your gun. You won’t be able to see your family for the holidays but like I mentioned, I know that won’t be a problem for this group.” Again, Fury was the only one to laugh. “You will be someone who lives in their world, talks like them, smells like them, and, without fail, embodies what it's like to be one of them.”
“The Tracksuit Mafia, the Vostokoff crime family, is bleeding this city dry. We’ve had eyes on them for twenty years. Twenty years of dead-ends, dead witnesses, and dead agents.” Kate flinched at that.
The folder crumpled in Fury’s grip before his hand relaxed. “We’re done playing in the shadows. It’s time to move into the house. We need an inside man. Specifically, we need an inside agent who can walk, talk, and hack their way into a locked room in the middle of a shoot-out.” Kate blinked at the specific image. It sounded eerily similar to what she had done her first year as an agent. She felt her fellow agents look at her.
Fury huffed and walked toward the table. He pressed the folder down in front of Kate’s boss. “Hill, you have twenty-four hours to produce a plan to infiltrate Vostokoff’s inner circle. I don’t care how you do it, just don't tell me I have to bring in the goddamn navy.” He walked to the door, stopped, and looked back. The room stilled, everyone on the edge of their seats as Hill held his stare. Kate held her breath, not wanting to disturb the tension. “If you fail, Hill, I’ll find someone who won’t. And I’ll start with your pension.” Fury left, all the tension in the room staying even in his absence.
They all watched their boss calm her breathing for a moment. It was a common occurrence for alphas, even more so in this line of work, but Kate had never seen Hill have to do it before. She was always so disciplined. Out of everyone in this building, she had the best grip on her control. The same couldn't be said about her coworkers who could barely control their pheromones when angry. She was one of the only alphas Kate didn’t have to be on guard around.
Finally, Hill opened her eyes. Her words came out calm and even. “You all heard him. For the next year or so, this is what we are going to be focusing on. I’ve spoken with all of your department heads and from now on you’re on my team, the Red Room Task Force. I expect to see you all here tomorrow on the dot to discuss our plan to handle The Tracksuits. Dismissed.” The agents looked at each other for a moment before hurrying to follow Hill’s orders. Kate stood as well, her fingers only just wrapping around her bag when Hill called out to her. “Not you, Bishop.” Ignoring the burning gazes of her peers on the back of her head, Kate sat back down. She stared at her shoes while her now partners filtered out of the meeting room. The sun had fully gone down and the room was only just light enough to see from the overhead bulbs.
When Hill finally spoke, her voice sent spikes through Kate’s chest. "Your negligence on your most recent mission alone has cost us six months of work and has allowed two traffickers to vanish, the third dead with no way to interrogate his scattered body parts. I should be handing you a letter of termination right now."
Kate didn’t lift her eyes from her shoes. She felt disgustingly submissive. Her fists tightened on her slacks. "I know, boss. I just..." Kate couldn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t know why she kept messing up a job that meant so much to her or why she kept putting the other agents in danger. Still, that trafficker got what he deserved, that Kate didn’t regret. She was smart enough not to voice that opinion to the alpha, however.
ADIC Hill’s gaze hardened. "Don't. I don’t want excuses. I want results. Which brings me to why you’re still here. Why Fury let you be here. You have one card left to play, Bishop. And I mean one." She pushed the folder she held towards Kate. Hesitantly, Kate picked it up.
“The Vostokoff family. The Tracksuit crew in New York are expanding their construction racket. We tried to get a wire in, they burned it. That family is paranoid, violent, and currently untouchable, for good reason.” Kate saw a rare tilt to Hill's lips. “But they need a new associate, someone with a reputation for being a techie from a not so straight-and-narrow background. You understand what I’m saying?"
Kate swallowed. "You want me to go deep?"
Hill shook her head and laid her hands on the table. “Bishop.” Kate straightened up and forced herself to meet Hill’s gaze.
“Ma’am?” Kate ignored the way her voice trembled.
“This is your last chance. Your conduct rating is a disaster, but your tech background is unmatched, and you have a knack for getting into places you really shouldn't be.”
Kate forced a nervous giggle. “Some call it initiative.” ‘Some’ being Kate.
Hill didn’t laugh. “I call it insubordination. But it’s the only thing that might work here. That and your family background.” Kate went quiet at that.
Maria nodded to the folder in front of Kate. She didn’t open it, but she could see the white of the file just barely poking out.
“The plan I’ve put together for this mission is simple enough even for you to follow. All we need is encryption. You’ve done those before, haven’t you?” Kate mutely nodded, even if the question was rhetorical. “We’re looking for the encryption keys to their money laundering server. They are physically located inside the Vostokoff mansion, most likely written down in a locked safe. You are going to get it and get into their server room.”
Kate felt sweat run down the side of her forehead. “Undercover? Like, as a hacker?” She hadn’t ever done an undercover mission before, much less for an operation coming straight from the FBI headquarters. Plus, Kate hadn’t done that much hacking in her life. She had only worked at Bishop securities until… Kate had only worked there for about a year. Her hacking skills now mainly sufficed of what she did on a regular basis for ‘normal’ missions.
“No. Like Director Fury had said, as an associate. A guest. You’re going to seduce Yelena Belova,” Hill said as if it were obvious. Kate balked.
“What!” She blinked hard and when she opened her eyes she met Hill’s unimpressed glare. “Seduce… the mobster’s daughter?” The FBI doesn't even do seduction missions! Kate felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest like a damn bullet. She'd heard about that family.
Melina Vostokoff, the Don of The Tracksuit Mafia, had two daughters. Much wasn’t known about the eldest, Natasha Romanoff, other than the fact that she was Melina’s right hand, the brains. Kate had heard… disturbing stories about her but nothing said she was the one to dirty her hands. Yelena Belova was a whole other story. She was the muscle, taking after her father who headed their security. She was, for a lack of a better term, hedonistic. Well, okay, that was the perfect term. Yelena had been called many things by the many people that had met her at Club Widow, which she frequented more than any other member of the family. Brash, fun, intimidating, cold… She was a skilled assassin who loved the power her family gave her and did whatever the hell she wanted to. What she usually wanted to do was fuck and drink.
Yelena Belova was a stereotypical alpha and Kate Bishop hated alphas.
Hill chuckled and Kate was abruptly brought out of her thoughts. She had never heard her boss chuckle. Kate was pretty sure that was the first time the ADIC had ever laughed, like in her entire life. “You heard Fury. We need an ‘in’ and who better than the volatility of that evil family. Belova has a weakness for brilliant, stubborn women,” Kate had certainly heard of the mobster’s daughter’s many, many trysts, “and she’s currently running security with her father. She's semi-in charge of finding a new associate. You get close to her, you get to the server, we bring down the family. You screw this up, Bishop, you aren't just fired. You’re dead. If they even suspect you, you’re in the back of a trunk, and we won’t find you until the spring thaw. You are going to be surrounded by people who have killed, or ordered killing, to protect their business. You have to think like them, act like them, and you will have to smell like them. Your life as a federal agent is over, if you decide to take this on.” Hill leaned forward. "But, if you do what I say and we take down The Tracksuits? You get your badge back, and you get a medal. You pull a 'Donnie Brasco,' you’re a legend. Like your namesake. You mess this up like you’ve been doing, I will personally see to it that you never work in law enforcement again. Do you understand?"
What other choice did Kate have?
“I understand.”
“Good.” Hill stood, taking her blazer off the back of her chair. She made a point to meet Kate’s anxious gaze. “We start early tomorrow. Don’t make me regret this, Bishop.” With a swish of her blazer, the woman walked out of the office and Kate was left alone.
Kate looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows. The sky was pitch black now. Not a single star was visible but the city was still awake. Even with the lights off in the meeting room, the city that she loved so much illuminated the small space. Kate loved the city lights. Ever since her childhood, they had helped lessen her loneliness. She found comfort in them now just like she had before.
Each light out there represented a single person. A person who had a life of their own and a future they looked forward to. In turn, they represented the family they had, the friends they chose to spend their time with. The lights represented warmth, family, and love.
Kate let her gaze linger on them for a moment longer before she finally opened the manila folder. New York's lights helped her read the text, her eyes lingering on the photo of a blonde woman.
Yelena Belova.
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Yelena smirked and tilted back her cup of thick, red wine. Her gold Rolex clinked with the glass. Two women sat on either side of her, both curvy and short. Blonde hair, stylish and sexy. Yelena paid them and their wandering hands no mind as she reached over the low table in front of her. She set her half empty glass down and her fingers curled around the handle of her delicately engraved colt 1911. The women next to her didn't startle at her movement. One played with Yelena's long braid while the other mouthed at her neck.
Yelena pulled a cloth from her leather pant's pocket and started cleaning her gun. Not that it was needed, the metal was already cleanly polished from earlier this afternoon, after Yelena had gotten back from collecting a debt from a idiotic businessman. Still, it was soothing, running her thumb over the wood on the handle, the cloth dipping between the black engravings. Her eyes lingered on the beautiful garnet that resided right above the handle. It was in the shape of an hourglass, her family's crest.
The woman on her right cupped her over her crotch. Yelena grunted, kissed the garnet on her pistol, before setting it on the table. No one would be stupid enough to touch it. Not in her club, not with Yelena so nearby.
Her hand came down and she grasped the one that was cupping her. The woman pouted her bottom lip out, sad that Yelena hadn't gotten hard. Yelena rolled her eyes and stood, frowning when both blondes stood with her, their aching pheromones coming with them. Her eyes lazily trailed over to the clock on the far wall. A bit hard to see in the dark club but Yelena could tell she still had a while before her sister showed up. She shrugged and wrapped her arms around the curvy women's waists. They giggled in her ears as she led them to her private room in the club. No one paid them any mind.
Might as well have some fun since there was still plenty of time left.
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Yelena groaned as she stood from the club's luscious bed and stretched her sweaty body. The two women she had some fun with were well tuckered out in the messy sheets. She considered kicking them out but knowing she didn't actually sleep in the club's bed, she'd let the omegas rest. They probably needed it after the three hours they had spent doing intensive cardio together.
She pulled on her shirt and pants, lazily popping a cigarette into her mouth and snapping her lighter open as she left the room. The smoke helped get the girls’ pheromones off her. Yelena's eyes scanned the club and a fresh smile pulled the corners of her lips when she saw her sister by the bar. She sauntered over, letting her eyes wander over the various women on the dance floor as she did. She could hear Natasha grumbling to herself, as the older alpha often did, and chuckled when she saddled up beside her.
“What's got your knot in a twist, dear sister?” She giggled when Natasha's head dropped in exasperation above her clear drink. “Vodka?”
Natasha humorlessly chuckled. “Water.” She held the glass up in a mock toast. “You know I can't drink for the next nine months.” Yelena scoffed and poked her sister's shoulder.
“Wanda is pregnant, not you, сестра.” Newly pregnant too. It was only just last week that her sisters had told her the news. It had made sense, Wanda had been getting sick often and had started avoiding Yelena whenever she would make her classic egg sandwich for her. But Yelena was very, very excited.
Their family all loved each other, they were tight knit of course, but Yelena was looking forward to there being little kids running around. She was going to be an amazing auntie and the pups would have no safer place to grow than here, with their family. The Tracksuits and Widows would protect them and the Vostokoff family would love them. Yelena most of all. She already had plans of spoiling them rotten. She's sure Wanda will get very tired of it, considering Natasha would most certainly do the same. “And isn't she already two months along?”
“As long as my mate's sober, so am I,” Natasha said with a shrug, like that was that. She had been this hopeless long before she had gotten Wanda pregnant. Hell, she had been hopeless before she had even properly courted Wanda. Such a poser for her wife. She will be even worse when the pups arrive. Yelena rolled her eyes and pulled her sister in for a hug.
“Oh, so sentimental for your omega,” she teased.
“Of course I'm sentimental for my wife, Lena. Maybe you should take notes.” Nat swirled her glass of water around and listened to the ice clink inside. It was a habit from back when they would drink themselves silly and flirt with beautiful women. Yelena puffed out smoke from her cigarette, just to annoy her sister, and scooted back.
“You know that is not my thing,” Yelena mumbled, her thick accent making her sister furrow her eyebrows. Marriage, pups… love. Being so in love with someone that you would sink your teeth into their neck and let them do the same so you would be connected for eternity… That wasn't for Yelena.
“Yeah, I know…” Natasha trailed off, her eyes doing that thing Yelena hated where they reminded her of a kicked puppy. They had both enjoyed their fair share of women before Natasha had settled down. Back then, both had been free spirits, two parts of the same coin. Now it was just Yelena.
They sat without saying anything for a while. The club's low music made Yelena's shoulders relax and she breathed easy. She put out her cigarette in the nearby ashtray and looked to her sister. Natasha met her eyes, a small smile on her face. Her sister could sometimes be so dorky, no matter how scary she was to others. “Any luck?” She watched Natasha's shoulders fall.
“Нет.”
“Shit,” Yelena grunted. She pressed her cheek into her palm and considered lighting another cig. It would help take a load off her heavy shoulders. Still, she decided against it. The smoke is bad for the sympathy baby Natasha was apparently carrying.
“Mama says we're out of time.” Now Natasha looked like she needed a smoke. The bags under her eyes suddenly stood out, even in the dark room.
“Shit.” Guilt swirled low in her belly. It was partially Yelena's responsibility to help them find a tech-savvy individual. With Wanda and Natasha's pups on the way, Melina wanted their operations to be less physical, less dangerous. The babies would need a safer home. That extended to security, to Yelena's area. She was beginning to take over her father's role in security and the first step in that was modernizing it. Yelena preferred the old school, knock ‘em dead, way but it was better to focus on preventative measures. Yelena, an alpha with not a single tech-savvy bone in her body, was willing to make that sacrifice for her family. It would just be very painful.
“It's fine,” Tasha lied. “I have something else in mind.” Yelena's ears perked up.
“You do?” Of course Natasha did, she was, after all, the brains between them. Mama's right hand. Yelena was… Well she was the pretty sister. And the muscle. She chuckled internally at the thought, smart enough not to do so in the moment.
“Yeah. Already talked to Mama about it.” Natasha set her glass down and turned to face Yelena. “We'll have a party.”
“A party?” They had parties all the time, what good would one be to help them with recruitment.
“Yep,” Natasha popped the p. “A party where all the big names are invited. Techies from all over.” Yelena laughed.
“Are we sure we want a party-goer? I do not think that type would be very good.” She envisioned the person, comically big glasses sitting on their nose, spilling alcohol all over their keyboard while hacking into a businessman's security system.
Natasha laughed. "That's where you find the best of any kind of people, сестра.” Yelena only shrugged. She wasn't too sure about that.
“Chin up.” Nat slid a glass of something that was thankfully not water towards her. “You'll find someone, okay? We will both keep an eye out.”
Yelena nodded. She still wasn't too sure that they would find anyone that would be of use to their family, but she would try. “Okay, Natasha.”
“Just try not to have too much fun? I know how you get at parties…”
Yelena smirked.
“No promises there.” After all, Yelena had always had a weakness for beautiful women.