The Story of Adelaida Barnes | MCU

xii. no, not without you

Addi sat tied down to a chair as 'Melina' flew them to the Red Room. 'Natasha' and Yelena were passed out on the ground behind them. "Request clearance for landing." "Melina?" Alexei asked when he woke up. "We're touching down in one minute." "Then why are still going up?" Alexei asked. The clouds cleared out of the way and revealed a floating building in the sky. "Now you'll know how Dreykov stayed above the radar all these years." A guard put another tranquilizer dart into Alexei's neck. He came closer to Addi but she blasted him back. "Don't even try it." He didn't listen and injected it into her neck. It didn't do anything. He tried again. Addi shook her head. "Things like that don't work on me anymore."

                                                                                                  ***

Addi was put into a cell with Melina while Alexei was put into the one next to them. Alexei started banging on the glass so hard that it woke Melina up. "This is a lot different than I remember." Addi said once she noticed she was awake. "Alexei." Melina called out. "Natasha. I can't save us. I need you to know that I'm sorry. I pledged my life to a cause. You know, I thought I was being very brave. Possibly the bravest. But I wasn't being brave. I was coward." He started crying. "I can easily break us out you know." Addi whispered to Melina. "Shush." Melina shushed her. "In Cuba, when they came and took you away from me, no cause is worth that. You should only sacrifice yourself for something." During Alexei's speech, Melina had opened the door, and then went to open his door.

"How did you do that?" He asked after exiting the cell. "I designed these cells myself." Melina said and then took off her disguise. "What? What? I bared my soul to you and it was just you the whole time?" "Yes, I'm afraid so. But wait, shh, I'm on comms with Yelena. Yelena, it's me. It's mama. You have a two inch blade concealed in your beltline. Outside right hip." Melina said into her earpiece. "Don't throw a fit. There wasn't time." "Okay, girls, I'm having trouble hearing you, but, Natasha, there's something I need you to know. I need you to know that I'm sorry. No more excuses, okay? I gave my life for a cause. I thought I was being brave."

Addi tapped him on the shoulder. "You don't have an earpiece." "What?" "No, she can't hear you. You don't have an earpiece." "Why not?" "Because it wasn't part of the plan." Melina told him. "Oh, yeah? Well, what was the plan?" Melina quickly explained the plan to Alexei. "Probably down to cold storage. Dreykov still has the widows under his control, so you have to expose them to this antidote." Melina responded to Yelena. Alexei started flirting with Melina and Addi stepped away a bit, disgusted. She saw Dreykov's special project come out of the elevator.

"Uh, guys. Sorry, don't mean to interrupt, but we have company." She said. Alexei turned to face them and Addi and Melina quickly slipped away. They went down a ladder to a control room. Melina went inside while Addi took out her gun and kept watch. An alarm started going off from inside. The door slammed shut and Addi tried to open it but couldn't. "Grandma?" She called out. "Adelaida, go find Yelena. Now." Melina ordered and Addi ran off. She rounded a corner and ran into Yelena. "I got the vials." She said. "Let's go find the rest of them." Addi said and they ran off to a training room.

An alarm started blaring. "Fantastic. We're heading to the widows now." Yelena said to Melina through her earpiece. "She's sent us into a crash." Yelena told Addi. They entered the training room but it was empty. "No." "Addi grabbed a grenade off the wall and took the vials from Yelena. She attached them together and they ran off again. They ran to Dreykov's office and saw the widows attacking Addi's mother. Yelena took the vial grenade and threw it in the room after activating it. It exploded into a red dust. They walked into the office after all the widows came to.

"Hey." They both said, going over to Natasha. Yelena helped her up. "Are you okay?" She asked. "That looks like it hurts." Yelena said, gesturing to Natasha's broken nose. "Okay. I take out on three, ready? I'm sorry." She said after she took out the knife in her back. "What do we do now?" A widow asked. "Get as far away from here as possible." Natasha told them. "You get to make your own choices now." An explosion was heard. "We gotta get outta here." "We need to find Dreykov. Are you coming?" "I'm right behind you."