Chapter 19

Yns pov:
Its been days. The avengers have to know im gone by now. Thanks to the cold of the water, the only time ive slept is when i passed out. They keep asking similar questions, trying to figure out where they stand and how they can take down the avengers. Idiots. They’ll never succeed. That harrowing dark voice comes over the intercom again. “Arent you getting tired yn?”

“Tired? Are you kidding? Did you not do your homework on me? I’ve taken more than just drowning.” He hums in agreement.

“Indeed you have.” I sit on my knees and take myself back to whats kept me going so far. I think about yelena spinning me around and dancing to that song. Maybe tomorrow. Im hoping they are working on finding out where i am. They’ll come get me, i know they will. They give that vibe. One that makes me trust them completely.

“I wonder what yelena will do when they realise you’re gone.” My eyes open and my smile fades. “What? You didnt think they would have noticed already did you? We watched and waited for the perfect time to take you. For the moment that they wouldnt look for you for at least a few days because you ‘need your time’.” This is my fault. I got scared off, if i had just said yes everything would’ve been fine.

“Why me? You couldve taken any of them at any point, so why wait for the right moment to take me?”

“Because you are special to us.” The buzzer sounds, the room turning red and water soaking my shoes. I bang my fists on the wall and shout.

“Why?! What is so important about me?!” The water rises above my head. My arms flail, trying desperately to get to the top. My mouth flies open, no longer able to hold my breath and water floods my lungs. This time the water doesnt drain. Even when the edges of my vision darken and my head no longer hurts. Even as my body slowly sinks to the bottom of the box. My eyes close and i think im dead.

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Yelenas pov:
Im pacing outside her door. She wont even answer the phone to me. I got worried when the prison called peter saying they hadnt heard her answer yet. Ive knocked 5 times already and she wont answer. “Yn come on, i know what i said was stupid and had really shitty timing, but please speak to me!” Silence. Not even the sound of movement. Nat pushes me out of the way when she kicks the door in. “What are you doing?! She’ll have to pay for that!” She takes out her gun and moves in whispering.

“I havent heard anything, not even movement. What if somethings wrong?” She raises her gun and moves in, checking each room. She comes out of the last bedroom and shakes her head. “Its clear.” If shes not here, where is she? I take a look around and see a half empty bottle of alcohol on the counter. “Does that mean shes been back?”

I shake my head, a lump forming in my throat. I dont have a good feeling about this. “I smelled alcohol on her breath the last time she was at the tower.”

Nat lets out a heavy sigh and i turn around seeing a phone in her hand. “Yn didnt have her phone when she showed up at the compound and she still doesnt have it. She hasnt been back here. So where is she?”

I swallow hard and feel tears at the back of my eyes. My voice wobbles and i feel extremely vulnerable. “She doesnt have anywhere else to go. This is bad. This is really bad. No contact, not come home, no where to go. I think something bads happened.” My voice breaks on the last word and natasha wraps her arms around me.

“Me too. Lets go back and see what we can find.” I pull away from her, not letting my tears fall. She phoned tony to get him to call a meeting. I feel like my mind got left at the apartment. Like im just a hollow corpse walking around.

We walk into the meeting room, i just sit down and look at the table. Steves voice breaks the silence first. “What happened?” I dont have it in me to answer so nat does. Her voice is smaller than ive ever heard it.

“Shes been missing since she left the compound. She hasnt been back to her apartment and her friend alex hasnt heard off of her. She has no where else to go.” Peter doesnt bat an eyelid. He must have really hated her for doing nothing. Hes such a temperamental self centered prick. Tony pulls up soemthing on the screen.

“When you guys phoned i immediately started tracking her steps from the compound through cameras. This is what i found.” I tear my eyes away from the table and see the video footage on ths screen. She just walked and walked. It pans through different cameras and then it stops at a particular one. I see it in her neck. I see the panic on her face when she sees what it is. It pains me to watch how she stumbled and fell. I shouldve been there. I couldve stopped it.

I speak for the first time, my voice hoarse. “Who did it?” The video continues and a van pulls into view. Tony pauses the video and there it is, clear as day. The vans branded, they wanted us to know it was them. Lazarus.

“This is why they went easy on us? So they could distract us while they went for something else?” Theres rage in steves words, unfiltered, raw. Ive never seen him like this before.

“Uh Mr Stark, sir.” Peter. His voice is quiet, unsure. His face is conflicted. “Didnt you say these guys were known for torture and murder?” Tension falls on the room, thick and heavy. Everyone glances between each other, not speaking.

“What do we do?” Steves voice is commanding, he crosses his arms and steps forward, a new focus evident in his eyes.

“Im going to look through their files, i need you guys out in the field, searching their known bases. They dont know what we know about them, lets use it to our advantage.”

6 hours later. We’ve searched 4 of the 12  known bases. Theres nothing on her. No information. No sign of her. None of the soldiers have even heard of her. We’re on the fifth base and im taking down some guards with nat when steves voices crackles in over comms. “Nothing. Ive checked their database.” Dammit! I take down the last guy and throw my fist into his face over and over again. I hear a crunch but keep hitting. There blood on my hand and i dont know if its mine, his or both. I think nats shouting at me, screaming for me to stop, but its not until she rugby tackles me off him, do i finally come to my senses. “Yel what the fuck!” I look at my fist, the knuckles are torn open but the crunch wasnt from me. I look at him, he lays there lifeless. I go over and check his pulse. Its faint but its there. I let out a relieved sigh and fall back onto the floor. “Yel. What. The. Fuck.”

“Im sorry.” I whisper it defeated. His face is so swollen i cant tell what he looked like before. Its definitely his nose that broke.

“You have to keep it together. If you go off on every guy, we’ll never find her.” I run my hands through my hair and stand up, breathing heavy. Thats when wandas voice is heard through comms.

“I have a higher up. Ive been going into their heads to find out if they know anything. He should.”

Steve responds before anyone else has chance. “Okay take the guy with you, we’re going to retreat, we have what we need.”

Nats voice is worried and quiet. “Wanda, you’re going to burn out if you keep doing that, stop it.”

“Im fine.” Thats gonna put some tension on their relationship. I guess i hadnt realised how much yn actually meant to some of these guys.

We head back to the jet and the guy wanda found is knocked out on the floor. Nice work from her. Its been weirdly quiet since yn left. Its not just because we’re sad. She filled the silence. Made things lighter. Her absence is being felt by everyone.

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Yns pov:
My whole body aches. I feel metal around my wrists and ankles, they’ve chained me up. I dont know why, im not a threat, i dont have magic powers and i couldnt defend myself against my dad nevermind these guys. I raise my head weakly and my eyes flutter, struggling to stay open. My vision is blurry but theres other people in the room. A few guards and a woman. She wears different clothes, but i cant make out her face just yet. Some sounds fade in and out and i realise someones talking to me. “Do you hear me?”

I whisper weakly, still feeling groggy. “Yeah.” My head is pounding, but then i guess thats what happens when you drown.

“Good, listen up.” My eyes fall shut and i feel electricity buzz through me as i cry out in pain. Bastards. They tazed me. “Not very good for an avenger.”

I breathe heavily from the pain. “Im not an avenger.”

Her voice is curious, but also annoyed. “But you’re friends with them?”

“So?” My vision is beginning to clear and theres something familiar about her i cant place. I thought i recognised her voice. But her face, that i know is something ive seen before.

She laughs and gestures to a guard who tazes me again. I scream through gritted teeth and pull relentlessly at the chains. The guard backs off and my head lolls forward. “I was already disappointed in you, but now you’re just a straight up idiot.”

My vision fogs again but she still seems familiar. “Do i know you?” My voice is weak, deflated.

Then she says a sentence that changes everything. “Im your mother.” How the hell did she survive? “Its funny. We call ourselves lazarus because we always come back from the dead, but the look on your face is priceless.” I spent my whole life grieving the mother she couldve been. Yeah she didnt believe me about the abuse, but she couldve come around. Now? Now i just have pure hatred for her.

“Where have you been?” My words are clipped, my tone angry. She lets out a low whistle.

“You know, i’ve heard about your anger issues from your father, but to see it in person? The anger in your eyes? God its exhilirating!” Is this some suck game to her? My breathing quickens but not from fear. Anger burns through my veins. I could kill her and not have a single weapon on me. “I bet youre thinking about your revenge right now, right? Thats good, that anger might just keep you alive.” A fist is thrown into my face and my head snaps to the side. I spit blood on her shoes and smile at her.

“You’re gonna have to try harder than that. David did worse.” Her face drops slightly and her jaw tightens. She pushes the guards away and hits me again and again in the face. When my head lolls, she smooths out her clothes and wipes my blood off of her hand onto my tshirt. Yelenas tshirt. I borrowed her clothes and now they are ruining them. “Do you mind? These arent my clothes. Now im going to have to return them all bloodied.” Blood drips from my eyebrow ove the scar on my cheekbone and thats when i see it. The camera. She did that as a performance.

“Say hi to your friends, they’ve been looking for you. We thought we’d show them the consequences of their actions.” Laughter bubbles up my throat and she scowls at me. “Something funny?”

“Yeah.” I breathe heavily and blood drips from my mouth to my lap. “This little show is just going to make them more angry. And then they’ll come after you and i swear to god if they dont, then i will kill you.”

She smiles and a guard pours freezing water over me before tazing me again. The buzz frazzles my skin and i scream so loud it echoes in my ears. When they pull it away, my body jerks from the electricity, but my smile returns. They cut the video and she tuts at me. “You may see this as a show as strength, but they’ll see it exactly as it is. A weak girl crying out for help from her friends, laughing as a coping mechanism.”

“I hope you’re just getting warm, because its going to take a lot more to get information out of me.” She smiles and takes out a firey poker stick. My stomach drops and my whole body tenses. She shoves it into my shoulder and i can hear my skin sizzling. I scream so much my voice cuts off and tears fall down my face.

“God barely started and you’re already crying?” She pulls it away and my face grows sickly pale. “What do they know about us?” I can smell the burnt flesh, its driving me crazy. I dont say anything, but i dont laugh either.

“Hold her up.” The guards loosen my shackles and hold me by my arms. Im too weak to resist. She takes a knife and heats it in the fire. She presses it against my abdomen through my shirt and i tense my jaw so hard i think im going to break my teeth. She slices 10 times before they drop me to the floor. “Still no answer for me?”

They taze me and my body jerks for 5 minutes after. Its too much electricity. I shake my head and they leave, only one guard remains.

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Yelenas pov:
We’re sat in the meeting room, discussing how to talk to this guy when theres an alert on the screen and fridays voice is the only sound in the room. “Alert. A new video from an unknown source, attempting to trace now.” Tony opens the video and shes there. Shes slowly waking up and shes soaked to the bone. A conversation plays out between her and some woman when they taze her. I look away, closing my eyes and wait for the buzz of electrucity to end. Thats when i hear it. Her mother? I look to peter who looks like he’s seen a ghost. The conversation continues and her mom attacks her. Its violent, blood spatters everywhere and its hard to watch. She eventually backs off and yns face is plastered in blood. Shes in a bad way. She wipes yns blood on her clothes but she smiles still and jokes about returning my clothes. Thats good, it means whatever they’ve been doing isnt horrendous so far. Then i hear something that makes my blood run cold. This is our fault. We went to the bases and now they are punishing her for it. They taze her again and her body jerks, clearly too tired to hide the pain. I hope that death threat she offered is real. Because this woman will definitely not be walking away from this alive. The video cuts off. “Holy shit.” A very tony response but yeah holy shit is right.

“Shes going to get herself killed if she keeps talking like that.” Steve has a point, shes making them angry, more desperate. Whatever they want, she shouldve just given to them, shes not an avenger. She shouldnt be in this position, shes not trained for this.

“Well i guess her mother is a higher up.” Tonys tone is too light for what the words mean. Her mothers alive and not only left them woth their abusive father, but is now worse than him. I dont say anything, i just stand up, my chair scratching loudly against the floor. No one questions it but nat follows me. They know where im going and they know how im going to get answers. Nats just there to make sure i dont go too far. I slam the door open and slam my fist square into his face.

“Is this little show supposed to convince me that you’ll torture me? Because we’re trained in that at lazarus.” He laughs and looks me in the eyes. “And whatever torture they’ve concocted for her, will be so much worse than the drivel you’ve cooked up.” I lose it. I hit him so much nat has to pull me off. Hes still conscious though. He coughs and sputters blood. “They’ll unmake her. Tear her apart and then end her.” I take out my gun and press it flush to his forehead. He shuts up and nat slowly takes the gun from my hand.

“Youve gotten out some anger, now leave it alone. Theres no need to kill him, no matter how pointless his life is.” I hate when she speaks rationally. I feel like im going crazy, i have to sit here and do nothing. I cant even look for her at the bases now because they’ll just hurt her more. Its all going to be digital and im not that great with technology.

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Yns pov:
The door clicks open and they come in. A guard twists my arm behind my back and it feels like its going to pop. I grunt in pain and another guards plunges a syringe in my arm. “Wait- NO! DONT PLEASE!” They empty the syringe into my arm and they throw me back to the floor. I dont see them walk out. Instead i see yelena. Stood across the room. She seems disappointed, like i shouldve given more of a fight. She walks over and cups my cheek and i shoot her. In the middle of the forehead. I see her cold dead body drop to the floor, the colour instantly draining from her face. I scramble away from her until my back hits the wall. Then i blink and shes alive again. She walks over and i stand and stab her. I let out a deep whimper and retract the knife, dropping it. I fall to my knees and blink and shes alive again, stood in front of me.

“Detka, calm down, its okay.”

“No its not, i cant stop it.”

She cups my cheek and kisses me. She pulls away and leans her forehead on mine. “I know, but its okay.” I see her face pale and my eyes flicker down to her stomach where a knife is plunged into her and my hand grips the handle.

“No, no, no, no. I can fix this.” I start putting pressure on the wound but shes already gone. Then i blink and she disappears. She hugs me from behind and i hold onto her arms. I can feel her warmth. It all feels so real. Thats when i take a gun and shoot her through me. I hear her drop to the floor but i refuse to look at her. Even in my deluded mind she loves me. I sit hugging my knees. Maybe if i dont move, then i cant kill her. I cry into my knees and i feel a hand on my shoulder. I know its her, i cant tell by the way her hand trails the scar on my neck. I rub my hands down my face and walk away from her.

“Detka, dont run from me. I know what you have to do, but its okay.”

“No its not lena! I wont do it!” She shakes her head and her fingers interlock with mine.

“Yes you will. You cant stop it. You can only wait it out.” I pull her into a hug and tears fall down my cheeks when i stab her in the back. The small whimper that escapes her mouth breaks my heart.  I hold her body as it falls to the floor. My hands cup her face and my tears fall on her cold body. A sob escapes me and i cover my mouth with my hands. I squeeze my eyes shut. No light can get through, its just darkness.