The Story of Adelaida Barnes | MCU

xi. bye bye miss american pie

"So, are we there yet?" Yelena asked as the group walked down the long, dirt road. "You'll know when we're there." Alexei said and started snorting. They walked further and got closer to a small farm. They approached the barbed wire fence and saw an older brunette woman with a gun. "Honey, we're home." Alexei said. The woman, Melina, started walking away from the farm area and towards the house. "Come on, girls." Alexei said and followed her. Melina opened the door and they all trailed in after her. "Welcome to my humble abode. Make yourself at home. Let's have a drink."

Natasha and Addi followed Melina into the kitchen. She opened the pantry and pushed the shelves aside. "Hey, no funny business." Natasha said after a weapons room was revealed. "I am putting away my weapon." "Are there any booby traps around here? Anything we need to know about?" Natasha asked. "I didn't raise my girls to fall in traps." "You didn't raise us at all." Natasha said as she got a glass of water. "Oh, maybe so. But if you got soft, it wasn't on my watch."

The four women sat down at the dining table. They heard grunting coming from the bathroom. "What is he doing?" Addi asked. "Let's drink." Melina said. Alexei soon emerged from the bathroom and cleared his throat. They all turned to look at him. "Still fits." He said. He was wearing basically a red version of Steve's suit. Melina wolf whistled. "Oh, my god." Yelena whispered. Melina started clapping. "Come and drink." She said and poured him a glass of vodka. Alexei started singing. "Rise, you workers of salvation..." He sighed. "Family back together again."

"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?" Melina said. "Agreed. So, here's what's gonna happen..." Natasha started but Alexei interrupted her. "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." Yelena, Natasha, and Addi all took a shot of vodka to distract themselves. "You got fat." Melina said. "But still good."

"I just got out of prison. I, uh, I have a lot of energy." "Oh!" Melina exclaimed. "Please don't do that." Addi said. Natasha gave her a look. "You and Pietro would probably be doing the same thing if he was-" Addi cut her off. "If he was still alive. But he's not. He's dead. So drop it." She said, looking down at his jacket. Natasha looked back at Melina. "So, here's what's gonna happen." "Natalia, don't slouch." Melina said. "I'm not slouching." "Yes, yes, you are." "I don't slouch." "You're going to get a back hunch."

Alexei placed a hand on Natasha's arm. "Listen to your mother." "Oh my god, this..." "Up, up." "Alright, enough. All of you." "I didn't say anything. That's not fair." Yelena said. "Neither did I." Addi chimed in. "Here's what's gonna happen." "I don't want any food." Yelena said. "Eat a little something, Yelena, for god's sake." Melina said. "You're gonna tell us the location of the Red Room." "You know, it's like when you told them that they could stay up late to catch Santa Claus." Melina said to Alexei. "What? That was fun. You know, 'he come down the chimney, girls. Look out. Where is he?' You wait for him, and then when the cookies are gone, then you see he's there. No, no. What? I want them to follow their dreams."

"No good." "Reach for the stars, girls." "Finding Dreykov is not a fantasy. It's unfinished business." "You can't defeat a man who commands the very will of others. You never saw the culmination of what we started in America. Nor did you." Melina said and stood up. "Natalia, always focus, focus. Get what you want." Melina came back in with a tablet. She pressed a few buttons then said "Come in." The door opened and in came a pig. "Did that pig just open the door?" Addi asked. "Yes. It did. Good boy, Alexei. Good boy."

"You named a pig after me?" Alexei asked. "You don't see the resemblance?" Melina asked. "I kind of do." Addi said, smiling at her grandfather. "See, he sits just like dog. Amazing. Now, watch." "It's a little weird to me." "Stop breathing." Melina said and the pig stopped breathing. "We infiltrated the North Institute in Ohio. It was a front for SHIELD 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."