the fine line between us ¹ ∣ ʙ.ʙ

6. rebranding

           WHILE THE SOUNDS OF CHILDREN PLAYING AND KICKING A SOCCER BALL, it was now nighttime. The dusk was peaceful, and they were at Feco Beer now, while Yelena poured something on her arm and let out a gunt. Y/n was watching the children playing and laughing. It seemed like they were having the time of their lives. 

She was more comfortable with her arm wrapped around her shoulder, while her hand was also wrapped and featured a small white patch on her cheek.

She was very glad she had that growing up, but instead, she had to take care of herself from the time she was only two years old. Yelena whined loudly, causing Y/n to turn away from the children and look at her sister. There was a scratch on Yelena's arm and blood was dripping from it. 

"You're doing it wrong, here," She said standing up and sitting next to Yelena.

It was Natasha who joined them, sitting across from them while putting beers on the table for them. "That gas, the counteragent, it was synthesized in secret by an older widow from Melina's generation," Yelena explained, while the two looked at her. With her good arm, she tightened the bandage around her arm. Causing Yelena to let out a loud grunt "I was on the mission to retrieve it, and she exposed me and I killed the widow that freed me."

While turning away from Yelena, Y/n glanced over at her and opened the beer. "The same...I did not understand what I was doing," Y/n replied. "Then I went back into another fight...Now I'm here, fighting again-" Y/n muttered.

"Did you have a choice?" Natasha asked, looking at Yelena and Y/n.

Y/n sighed and shook her head. "I was doing the right thing," she simply explained.

"What you experienced was psychological conditioning" Yelena explained lifting her head and looking at Natasha. "I'm talking about chemically altering brain functions. They're two completely different things. You're fully conscious, but you don't know which part is you. I'm still not sure."

Y/n looked at Yelena before sighing a little, "Is that all there is left?" Natasha asked, looking over at the capsules.

"Mmm-hmm. That is the only thing that will stop Dreykov and his network of widows."

Y/n turned away from them and explained, "I have been wanting to do it since I got out," she explained, "I went to therapy as my boss suggested, but that didn't help...Dreykov screwed me up way too badly...He takes more and more every day...he doesn't fully leave," she explained, cleaning Yelena's scratch. 

"Children without anyone to protect them. Just like us when we were kids. Maybe one in 20 survivors survives, becomes a widow. The rest get slaughtered. He sees us as just things. Weapons without faces that he can discard. Because there is always more. And no one is even looking for him. Thanks to you and Alexei, I was the only one who managed to survive...and the time" Y/n explained. "I was finishing my mission, with the Winter Soldier-...A woman saved him from me, once I was so close...I'm thankful she did-"

While Yelena nodded and Y/N rewrapped her sister's arm following the procedure for cleaning blood from her arm, Yelena put the wrap back on. "Alexei?" Natasha said in a questioning tone.

Yelena let out a small dry laugh. "Dad." She said putting quotations on the word. 

It is noticeable that Natasha is drinking beer while Y/n wipes her hands from the blood before also drinking beer. The taste of the beverage flows down her throat. After everyone outside finished messing with the man's car, his children jumped into his arms as he finished the job. 

"Did you ever look for your parents? Your real ones?" Yelena asked, looking over at Y/n and Natasha. 

Natasha glanced at Y/n and stated, "Well, my mother left me in the street like trash. What about you?". Y/n shook her head in disbelief.