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yelena is used to being watched.
not only was she constantly monitored in all the worst and invasive ways throughout her childhood, she had grown, or been molded, into a person whose profession demanded constant vigilance and wariness.
she’s used to being watched.
and she’s used to watching.
a gesture there, a raised eyebrow there, feet pointing in the wrong direction, tense shoulders; all the signs are there if you know to look for it, and yelena sees it all.
so she watches and she sees.
there’s a woman by the bar.
a woman, who’s eyes have been flickering towards yelena ever so often. not often enough to be suspicious, but often enough to not be random.
yelena would’ve brushed it off as sheer curiosity, an attraction perhaps, if it wasn’t for the fact that the woman’s gaze seemed to fall to the man at the end of the bar too, the very same man who yelena had been sent to retrieve.
«nat, are we compromised?» the question is silent, a rapid whisper easily drowned in the sound of music.
«no,» natasha answers instantly, voice a static in her comms. «..are you?»
«assessing. blonde hair, high cheekbones, expressive eyes. sound familiar?»
«sounds a bit like y—»
the rest of natasha’s sentence goes unheard because all thoughts of coincidence evaporate from yelena’s mind instantly when the woman’s eyes meet hers, one delicate eyebrow lifting.
the woman taps the side of her ear mockingly, before sending her a smile very much reminiscent of a cheshire cat. her eyes hold yelena’s for a second before they move over to the man.
too slow , they seem to say.
before yelena can even blink the woman is up on her feet, swaying towards the man, seemingly drunk and unsteady on her feet, the complete opposite of what she’d seen in her eyes just a mere moment ago - she’d been playful, but focused and entirely sober.
this woman, whoever she was, was an excellent actress. and a major problem.
«fuck.»
cursing under her breath, yelena swiftly gets to her feet, all but running towards her targets by the bar.
«unknown party involved,» she hisses into her ear, and she hears natasha bark orders in the background.
her mission was easy - get into the club, play the part of the lonely girl hoping to meet someone new, be approached by their target; an accountant who happened to spent his past time managing the ins and out of a human trafficking ring, who also happened to lure his own potential targets from places like these.
it’s not aliens or invasions or an avenger-level threat, so to speak, but it was a good mission to get her initiated into the team and gain trust among the avengers and the court of public opinion.
she would’ve taken it no matter what too, not only for selfish reasons.
unsurprisingly, both her and natasha shared the resentment for the trash of men who kidnapped and enslaved women.
they had to bring him in alive, get the access codes to their database, and thus bring in the entire operation.
easily enough, if it wasn’t for this other woman who stalked towards their target, death in her steps.
the darker part of yelena’s brain truly didn’t mind if the woman killed him, she would’ve even done so herself if she had no one to answer to, he deserved as much after all. but it wasn’t the avengers way, it wasn’t natasha’s way, not anymore, and killing one man for selfish desires when they could save so many others wasn’t hers anymore either.
she intercepts the woman just as she’s about to reach the man, knocking into her, making it look like she tripped.
all eyes go to them for a second, and the other woman’s arm, who had gone up to her hair - a weapon in her hairpin perhaps? - comes down slowly. empty.
yelena can’t tell what the man is doing, he’s behind her now, but she still feels his presence, hairs rising on her neck. he must be checking her out, she ventures, and it takes every fiber in her being to not whip around and smack the grin right off his ugly face.
but she can’t, not when this woman is right in front of her.
the silent tension ends when the woman laughs, and then everyone seems to ignore them again, concluding that they’re both fine.
it’s high and shrill and very convincing. yelena can tell it’s fake.
«great way to check someone up, darling,» she starts. «falling for them, literally. does it work often?»
her voice is smooth, teasing, lines flowing in a perfect british accent. received pronunciation, impossible to place.
before yelena can respond, the woman looks past her, eyelashes blinking unabashedly at the man behind her.
«would it work on you?»
the man must nod - because of course it would work - because the woman’s eyes light up ever so slightly. she tries to snake past yelena with a laugh, but yelena stops her, not willing to let her get to her target.
but she’s not entirely sure how to proceed either.
making a scene here would be counterproductive - the entire point was to get the guy out of there, under the cover of the club, with as few eyes on them as possible.
her brain is running through different scenarios, trying to figure out what to do without having to fight her way out of this. she’s brought out of her mind when a voice cuts through the air.
«she could come with us too, i don’t mind.»
it’s the first disgusting words out of the man’s mouth, and yelena’s not suprised.
but it solves the problem, and both yelena and the woman seem to realize it at the same time.
despite the woman’s flamboyance, yelena’s sure that they’re in the same boat - both of them weren’t expecting a second party, and neither wants to cause a scene bigger than necessary.
«fine, sir,» the woman whispers sweetly, side eying yelena for a second. yelena plays along, easily falling back into her role.
she swings on her heel, sending the man a dashing smile. she feels the woman come up next to her and yelena lets her pass, feeling more comfortable being in the back and having her in front of her.
even so, she’s on high alert in case the woman decides to make a move. she can’t see any additional weapons, except the headpin, and yelena’s close enough to intercept an attack if it comes from that angle.
the woman’s perfume hits her as she passes, and she looks her up and down, seemingly ignoring the man for a second.
«you’re not exactly my type, but i can work with this,» the woman says, «i like your hair. you should let it down.»
«wouldn’t want it to get in the way,» yelena shoots back, her voice high, trying to keep it flirty to not break the part.
«oh no, we couldn’t want to get in the way now, would we,» the woman says, stepping towards yelena. the perfume is stronger now, invading her nostrils along with her personal space.
«villanelle,» the woman says and winks, letting her words linger in the air for a second, before turning her attention back to the man.
the woman - villanelle? she has heard of no such perfume - is trying to distract her, but yelena knows better than to fall for such things. having been on the opposing side more than once, she knows just about every trick in the book. even if the woman is undeniably intoxicating and very beautiful. it would work on anyone but her or natasha. or maybe natasha, she does have a thing for blondes after all. yelena snickers at the thought.
their target however, seems to be living his best life, having two women seemingly giving him all the attention in the world.
when villanelle starts making her way to the side door, he gets up and follows, positively shaking in his shoes.
villanelle laughs, genuine this time, and yelena’s tempted to do the same. she knows what she’s thinking. it’s just too easy with men like these.
when the door swings shut behind them and the music stops, all the pretense drops.
yelena sheds her drunken persona like a snake skin, reverting right back into the deadly widow that she is.
the woman next to her does the same, or to a lesser degree. her face is scrunched into a funny grimace, and yelena decides then and there that it’s just a part of her personality. despite her appearance, the woman is deadly and yelena knows it.
the man, however, does not seem to notice at all, already fidgeting with the buckle of his belt.
are you fucking serious, yelena thinks.
«are you fucking serious,» villanelle says.
«i—what?» the man finally looks up at them where they stand side by side, blocking the door.
«wait, what is going on?»
he finally seems to catch on that something’s changed.
too late though.
«we’re here to kill you,» villanelle says, moving her hand in a ‘duh’ sort of way. her british is gone, replaced by an all too familiar russian accent. who was this woman?
natasha, i hope you’re hearing this. what do i do?
«i—, what is this about?» his voice is shaking now.
«nothing personal,» the woman shrugs again.
yelena lets the woman speak, all the while plotting possible options in her mind. the woman confirmed herself that she was there to kill the man, but yelena also knows that she can’t let her. they need him alive for the codes.
she also dares to venture into the possibility that the woman is simply there for the hit, not because of the codes. maybe she doesn’t even know who he is.
or maybe she does, and she’s there to prevent him from falling into the wrong hands. silencing him before he can spill any secrets.
who is she working for? more importantly, who was she?
she throws a subtle glance over at the woman, analysing her. she’s focused on the man, her intent clear as her fingers move to her bun again.
in the dim glow something in the hairpin catches the light, and yelena reacts in a split second.
villanelle makes to throw it - what was it, poison? - but yelps when yelena slams into her, catching her off guard. she drops it and it falls to the floor; yelena moves swiftly and kicks it away, and the pair watches it disappear under a supply rack.
«hey!» the woman shouts, trying to wrestle free of yelena’s grip. «lucky for you i have more of those, or you’d be in serious trouble!»
yelena makes no effort to answer, because she suddenly remembers what she was there for and her eyes go wide. speaking of trouble.
where was her target?
she whips around, but he’s already gone and yelena swears.
it seemed he had taken the opportunity to escape, using the scuffle between the two women to his advantage.
«why were you protecting him?» the woman asks, sounding more annoyed than anything, but yelena isn’t listening.
this woman doesn’t seem to have any beef with her directly, she’s just there to kill the target, and obviously yelena can’t let that happen. she should incapacitate her, but there’s no time - the man gets farther away from every second that passes, and yelena refuses to fail her very first mission.
«stay out of the way,» yelena throws over her shoulder, and then she’s running.
she doesn’t expect the woman to give up, so when she hears villanelle’s voice again she’s not surprised.
«you should leave, backup is coming and they will not hesitate to bring you in,» yelena says, turning towards her. she speaks as herself now, her fake persona accent long gone.
the man lays unconscious with his feet and hands tied together behind her, and the minute she had him she had called natasha.
yelena had had no trouble incapacitating the man in a simple, swift move. he truly was a pathetic excuse of a human being, not used to having his targets fight back, or clearly not used to doing any heavy lifting himself.
she doesn’t know why she warns villanelle at all. it really isn’t her problem. and if she lets her go, she might end up being a problem down the line.
she wonders what her story is. she’s not from the red room, she can’t be, there’s no one else, she and natasha made sure .
but she’s from somewhere. not entirely the same, but somewhere painfully similar either way.
russian assassins were not the products of a happy life.
«are you sure you won’t let me kill him?» villanelle pouts.
«why do you want to kill him? who do you work for?»
«so many questions,» villanelle puts her hands up. «usually you pay for dinner first.»
«why?» yelena doesn’t entertain her, cutting straight to the chase. «do you want to kill him?»
the woman looks her up and down again, head tilted, questions in her eyes. all too big and expressive, telling far too much.
or maybe it’s easy for her to read it, because yelena had seen the same eyes before, the same expression mirrored in her own reflection.
it was the face of a woman in too deep, a woman turned blind, a woman who longed to be free.
« do you know who this is?»
villanelle doesn’t answer either question.
it’s answer enough.
«this man has kidnapped hundreds, hurt thousands of people. i will not let you kill him, for yourself or whoever it is you work for.»
villanelle remains silent. thoughtful.
if she’s anything like yelena at all, her pride and ego wouldn’t allow her to accept a simple friendly gesture, or reach for an outstretched hand. so she plays it differently, offering without offering.
«his syndicate operates on the westward dock. i might hang around there in the next few days.»
there’s a sound of a car, distance but coming closer. it must be natasha, on her way to retrieve the asset. villanelle seems to hear it too.
she makes no move towards yelena, and instead takes a reluctant step back.
the conflict is clear in her eyes, the all too familiar conflict of loyalty burning behind them.
«you have resources. you can protect her?» villanelle’s question is low, almost whispered, as in saying them out loud is spilling her greatest secrets.
so that’s what it’s about.
yelena nods. she doesn’t know who this she is, but it seems villanelle is stuck between a rock and a hard place, and that she has someone she cares about in a compromising position in a possible fallout.
«yes,» yelena says it out loud too, not doubting it for a second. between her and natasha, they had a fair share of techniques for disappearing underground. and not to forget stark, who with his skill and resources could make new identities, build false trails, erase or bring people into digital existence.
villanelle seems to hear the sincerity behind her words and she nods back. there’s relief in her eyes, and underneath it all, a small shimmer of hope.
«twelve,» she finally says.
yelena holds on to the word, files it down to remember later. twelve. what was that? who was it? an unknown player? offering without offering.
«and i wasn’t lying earlier, you know. i can work with this,» she adds with a seductive smile.
by the time natasha comes to stand by yelena’s side villanelle is long gone, the last linger of her perfume all but evaporated in the night air.