A Lost Widow

[kingrico]

"The Red Room wants me dead? You won't be the one to do it!

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CIA Black Site…
Karakol, Kyrgyzstan…

Yelena sat inside her office space turning through pages of information in regard to Akbaraly Gasanov and the Anthra Clan, she had been waiting for a few days now for the arrival of the Red Widow, spending most of her time making connections in the area. Luckily for Yelena today was the arrival day of her partner, she loaded her team up in 2 typical suburban SUVs and headed for the Karakol International Airport where she would be picking her up. Of course on her way there she needed to stop and speak to one of her contacts, her data has led her to believe that there may be a secret facility somewhere between Karakol and Mikhaylovkathay might be of interest to her.

They would pull into a large building in front of a park just a little over a mile away from the airport, exiting the vehicle she would walk inside and greet a young woman by the name of Jamila Baymatova, an ex-soviet spy from the 90s who was her main contact on the ground.”Assalomu Alaykum opa, it's always a pleasure to see you, I just need help on what I believe might be a secret lab. What better person to know than yourself on what goes on in this area.” Yelena would say with a smile.

Jamila looked at her with curiosity when she asked the question, “Bless be to you sister, this facility is the first I've heard of in my district and I can't say that I'm happy about it. I can look into it and do some research on it, do you know where in general it might be located?” she would ask, trying to think of who or what might have the money to own such a facility in the area.

“My biggest guess is it's roughly 27 miles Northwest of here near Lake Issyk Kul, I have to get going but if you do see anything please let me know” Yelena would say smiling before giving Jamila a hug and walking bout out the door, she knew she would more than likely have to do some looking of her own as to not tip off any suspicions in other areas. Getting back into her vehicle she pulled out her phone looking to see if the tracker her men put on Jamila's car was functioning, with the signal strong she gave the go-ahead to head to the airport arriving a little over 15 minutes before the widow's arrival.

Pulling the Cars inside the gate and onto the tarmac she could see the older 737 coming into land, letting the passengers off she would spot her coming down the stairs. "Ahh sister, what a pleasure to finally meet you, my dear Red Widow…" Yelena would say with a smile.

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Not you! Not ever!

[Gummy]

Ava was training as normal. This time on the shooting range hitting the same targets she always hit. After her instructions from various people she had been working hard to loosen her shoulders and not hold the tension into her arms. Her scores had gone up and now she was after Nat's own scores. The only issue was the top scorer wasn't Nat and but she was going to do her best. Changing over to her custom weapon she charged it allowing a little of her power to flow into each bullet before firing. They were still not as good as her normal aim and she knew why, only she didn't want to say it to anyone quite yet. With each shot a light above the target lit. Her trainer had set it up so she could experiment with the quantity of power and shooting. The higher the power the brighter the light but with that came less accuracy which made her angry and put too much power into the next bullet making it ping off a metal strut the other end of the range.

She heard the claxion to stop firing, lowered her gun placing it on the table before removing her headphones. Her instructor didn't look impressed at her but she held her tongue. The instructor was about to reprimand her for letting her anger get the better of her when the door opened and a young boy gave an envelope to her instructor. He read it and scoffed.

"You're lucky. You've been secondered by the CIA. You have been requested. Grab your gear and report to Hellicarrier. They will take you most of the way. Dismissed. Just don't think we haven't finished here!"

Ava responded with a crisp.

"Yes sir."

Within 30 minutes she was in the hellicarrier zooming over the oceans and entering stealth mode. She had asked for further details but there wasn't any. Eventually she transferred to the Boeing 737 and took off from Paris. Easy going, she had slipped into jeans, baggy t-shirt and beany complete with scarf. To anyone else on the plane she was just a moody teenager travelling. It felt odd going near to where her life changed and strange flashbacks were appearing from her Siesta's memories.

Once on the ground, the cabin crew gave her the bag and she descended down the steps. Only to be greeted by a blond woman who she knew from Natasha and files she had seen. Yelena was definitely a person she didn't think she would meet anytime soon. She hefted her bag towards the woman and spoke in fluent Russian.

"Привет, я тебе нужен для чего-то? Поговорим и прогуляемся?"
"Privet, ya tebe nuzhen dlya chego-to? Pogovorim i progulyayemsya?"
"Hello, you need me for something? Shall we talk and walk?"

As was her norm, straight to point. Her face remained calm and relaxed.

[kingrico]

"The Red Room wants me dead? You won't be the one to do it!

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Yelena would raise an eyebrow examining her younger counterpart, “Straight to the point, I like. Well you're here because the incompetence of this government would warrant for some democracy, at least that’s what your cover is as you're now a State Department official.” Opening the car door and entering after Ava Yelena would carry on speaking, “unofficially the CIA is here because we believe someone is trying to create meta humans, mutates, super soldiers, and possibly even more widows.” Reaching in her bag she pulled out the file on Akbaraly Gasanov and handed it to Ava, “This man is Akbaraly Gasanov leader of the Anthra Clan group of radical militiamen in the north of the country near the border of Kazakhstan, he uses the mountains as a base of operations to keep his men safe. I believe he has a facility somewhere near the northern parts of Lake Issyk Kul, our goal is to infiltrate and shut down the place while also collecting as much data as possible.”

Yelena would turn looking out the window as they drove out of Karakol, it reminded her much of home back in Eastern Europe. The beauty of the scenery and vast endlessness was something for the eye, “Tell me Widow where were you born?” Yelena would ask out of curiosity.

“ Interesting, you have a sparkle of Natasha in your behavior. Regardless, we are home, or at least what will be your home until the mission is done. Welcome to the Karkol Black Site, out of sight out of mind.” Exiting the truck she would pull out her ID card scanning it across the pad opening the door to the facility, it was much larger inside then it appeared outside as much of it was below ground. “Here follow me to where you will be resting, we also have a State ID card for you… it's a made-up name of course. Keep that with you at all times, need that to get around this facility.”

She would walk over to the elevator waiting for Ava to board before pressing level 2, exiting a few seconds later they would walk a few feet down the hall to a normal room. “Here you go, and your ID as well Ms.Summer Barrett. Settle in and meet upstairs for a team meeting in 15 minutes." Yelena would say before leaving Ava to be.

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Not you! Not ever!

[Gummy]

Ava listened to what Yelena was to say and paid attention to the area without revealing that was what she was doing. She took the file and looked down at it reading the information she was allowed to see. At least it wasn't linked to other things from her past. It wasn't fun for her to be this close to Russia or Ukraine. She needed to put that in the past. When the question was asked she looked up and thought for a few seconds.

"I believe I was born in Moscow but spent most of my time growing up between Odessa, Ukraine and Istanbul."

She couldn't go into the whole Opus stuff or her link to Ivan Somorodov and the Red Room as that was classified! Heck! She was classified! What information there was out there about her was heavily redacted and only a select few knew more about her. She was getting a feeling that more people were wanting her for her knowledge in what had been done to plenty of girls.

Once stopped she took in all the area then commented about the Natasha.

"I'm not my Sestra."

Listening she headed deeper in and took the card.

"I'll look after it."

She doubted that not having it would stop her. She was notorious for breaking out of SHIELD and that was good. She had only been caught once when they had added a different sensor to the front gates. Reading the panel she was able to judge how big this place was.

"Understood. What am I to call you, Ma'am?"

She put her bag onto the bed and took off her T-shirt revealing SHIELD issue top underneath. Opening her bag she removed her white jacket.

[kingrico]

"The Red Room wants me dead? You won't be the one to do it!

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“Call me Raven Finch” Yelena would softly yell as she entered the elevator, pressing up to go back to the main floor. She took a breath of relief after getting the hard part over, Yelena was trying to start things off on the right foot and not repeat her beginning with Natasha again. She departed the elevator walking to the meeting area where her crew were waiting, some working on their weapons while others looked through paperwork. “Harry, what is the satellite giving us in regards to the movement of the Anthra Clan?” she would ask, walking over to the computer and looking at the map.

“Readings show their last major movement was moving equipment into Kazakhstan, though this morning while you were away 3 semi trucks crossed the border and arrived at a facility 6 miles south of Grigoryevka. I would like to believe it's worth checking out, that might be the facility we were looking for." Harry would reply to Yelena as he would zoom in on a large gray-like facility.

“Good Work, send that to me” she would say as she walked back over to the projector to present what they had. After about 20 minutes Ava would appear and Yelena could get the briefing started, turning the projector on, Yelena would start on her presentation. “Everyone's here let's get this on the road, we have new satellite imagery showing the movements of several suspicious trucks headlining into coastal parts of Grigoryevka. They disappear inside a large facility along the lake around 0900 hours, unfortunately we do not have any leads in Grigoryevka to give us any up close looks of the facility.” Pausing for a moment she would pull out around a dozen folders, passing them around to everyone. The document had information and data on the town and names of every government official in it.

“In the folders I gave you are names of officials who would know about the facility, we will use the cover of a diplomatic visit to the city to show United States cooperation in helping upgrade the standard of living in the area. That should give us some wiggle room while me and Ava go have a closer look at the facility, pack light stay focus” she would say before opening the floor to questions or recommendations.

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Not you! Not ever!

[Gummy]

It didn't take long for Ava to get ready, just a few extra bits of equipment, her jacket and swap her trousers. She looked over the file she had been given as she went up in the lift. There wasn't anything else that she carried and once at the right floor she headed to the meeting. She took the vacant seat and placed the file on the table before taking the next one which was offered to her. She didn't say anything during the meeting but rather took in the other people at the table and looked harder at the image. Once questions were being asked and odd recommendations were told she spoke up.

"Are we going via land or lake?"

That really would adjust what else she needed from her bag. Hopefully it would be land as sensors on her new suit were not entirely waterproof. She looked closer at the image and frowned.

"There is something there on the left of the image. The birds seem to either be vanishing or they are not there. Do they know we are here?"

[kingrico]

"The Red Room wants me dead? You won't be the one to do it!

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Looking over to Ava she would answer her questions, “ First yes we will be going via road, but we will have an emergency craft a few clicks east of the town in case of fast evacuation if things get iffy.” Pausing for a moment to look at the map she would zoom in, “Harry run the footage for the past 2 hours” Yelena would ask as she looked and noticed what Ava had discovered. It would appear that some kind of device was distorting the actual movements of the camera, birds would appear and disappear as if Doctor Strange himself was teleporting them away.

“That's an interesting find, I have my assumptions that someone may be informing them that state diplomats are here. Jamila Baymatova is head of security for this district, she's a former KGB agent with possible ties to the Red Room. I informed her of some misleading information earlier around the time of the glitching, my suspicions might be correct.” Yelena would say before pulling up an image of the young woman, "Add her to our watch list; she may just lead us to what we need" Yelena would inform everyone.

"Let's get a small drone up once we are gone give us air cover, gear up we leave in 10.” Yelena would say ending the meeting, she would walk up to Ava stopping her before she walked off. “Before we get to the town we will split off and travel on foot to a hill east of the facility, once cleared by Air Recon we will sneak into the building using the east vent on the roof” Yelena would inform Ava.

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Not you! Not ever!

[Gummy]

Ava nodded at the instructions and knew there was nothing else she would need apart from the small bag. After she was allowed to go she headed back to her room to collect the skin hugging bag containing a rappel line and jacket. The idea of having another person connected to the Red Room made her worried. The image didn't look familiar but then her memory from being with her mother was very blinkered and mainly tied to ballet classes and the space under her mother's desk.

She headed to the meeting areas with the last of her equipment of two small tubes onto her belt and her snug gloves onto her hands. It felt good to be back in the field and she looked to one side as she approached the vehicle then blushed. Once there she couldn't help the feeling they were being watched and she looked around at the horizon trying to figure out what the feeling was. Removing a small glass she looked at the horizon. A storm was starting to brew in the depth of her stomach as she whispered.

"I know... too close."

[kingrico]

"The Red Room wants me dead? You won't be the one to do it!

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Equipping herself with her necessary gear, she slipped on her white suit. Walking to the vehicle she opened the governmental suburban entering sitting next to Ava, she pulled up her laptop and looked at the drone footage as they departed from the base. Making their way through town they would drive past a governmental building where Jamilia appeared to be standing, nudging Ava to peep her she simply murmured in Russian “дурак… fool” before looking away. The journey was a couple of hours so she decided to take a nap, as she closed her eyes her dreams weren't much of an escape from reality.

Oftentimes it felt as if she was reliving her trauma all over again, she would lightly twitch every time as she jumped in fear of her dream. Thankfully as soon as the dreams started they were arriving, being tap awoke she put her game face on and stretched. Looking at Ava she nodded, “Shall we” Yelena would say as they exited the vehicle before tapping for them to leave.

They would start making their way through the tall wheat fields, the sun now setting the mountains provided a well-needed shade of darkness over the area. “This way I can see the lake due east from here about 2 miles, it's mostly flat tell we get the river just outside the facility. Stay Low” Yelena would say as they continued their hike over to the facility. Looking at her wrist she could see images from the drone, it looked relatively clear with minor movement on the west side of the building.

After about 20 minutes they would teach the river plains just outside the facility, luckily most of the area was ice so water levels were extremely low making the crossing like a walk in the park. “We quickly make our way across and repel to the roof, there's no camera coverage on this side of the building.” Yelena would say before darting across the flood plain and leaping swiftly over the ice, pulling out her repel gun, she quickly made her way up to the roof with Ava in close Pursuit.

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Not you! Not ever!

[Gummy]

Ava saw the same twitches she had when she was asleep that flickered over Yelena. The memories of Nat plus her own would be enough to make anyone relive as nightmares. She gently nudge Yelena when it was time to move on foot.

Ava made sure all her equipment were in proper position before she followed her officer. Yes, she was still a cadet but she had more experience in the field than most. She knew the reasons why they kept her that way, it made sense. Yet, to allow her out here. It was enough to make her shiver. She kept low, not needing to be told more than once. Her steps were just as nimble as Yelena's and just as quiet. Any icy patches were easily overcome with her shoes.

Approaching the facility she crouched down she listened to the next piece of instruction. Ava's footing was sure as she crossed the area the traction of her shoes making light work of the ice. It didn't take her long to climb the walls or get her own slim gun out. The feeling she had earlier was worse. She knew she was being watched and something caught her attention as she motioned Yelena to be quiet. Then indicated that someone was walking beneath them. If they were not careful any lose ice could cause the person to look up.

[kingrico]

"The Red Room wants me dead? You won't be the one to do it!

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Yelena nodded, noticing the guard walking past, she carefully walked along the edge towards the rear vent cautiously making sure nothing slipped from the roof. She would leap off the edge onto a solid roof and creep over to the air shaft, “Watch guard while I verify a route in” Yelena would tell Ava as she reached into her pouch pulling out a small fly drone. Pulling up footage and control from her wrist she slipped it down the vent and started plotting a route, in less than 2 minutes she had it planned and started carefully removing the vent hatch.

“Down and to the left I’m right behind you” Yelena would say as she waited for Ava to get in before closing the vent back, making their way down the long shaft she would direct Ava to make a sharp right just ahead before another left. After a couple of minutes, they would make their way to an empty room, “This is our exit” Yelena would say, waiting for Ava to exit out the vent and then following behind her.

Yelena would step in front taking the lead again, she would take off her Wrist device handing it to Ava “Use this to keep watch for any intruders further ahead.” She would carefully open the door before turning right and running to the end of the hallway, she observed her options before noticing a building map. Slowly making a right she would hear two men coming out a door just ahead, signaling to Ava to stop as she would creep into cover behind a pillar. “Wait till they get close, silently take them down no guns.” Yelena would order, waiting for them to walk past.

Taking a deep breath she would grab the one on the left covering his mouth, with a quick movement a sting would go through his body from her Widow Bites. Hopefully, by this point, Ava would have made quick work of her man as well, she would drag him into a cut leaving his unconscious body resting on the door. “Lead us forward” she would signal to Ava.

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Not you! Not ever!

[Gummy]

It was only once the guard left that Ava spoke.

"You could have done this yourself. Why me?"

She moved into the shaft keeping quiet again until they entered the empty room. She took the controller and checked the route. Ava held back when signaled as the guards walked towards them she looked at her gloved hand and tried to use the new technique she had been shown. To be on the safer side she would also back it up with other techniques.

The guard came level and at the same time as Yelena she also covered the guards mouth while doing a choke hold and sending her own power she had into the gloved hand. It took a lot of concentration but the guard jerked as he was electrocuted and the choke hold did the rest. When the guard dropped into her arms she moved him to the other one securing wrists with cable ties. There was only a small mark on the guards cheek at least it worked but it felt wrong.

For a moment a look of sadness crossed her face before it went placid once more and she whispered.

"I hope so."

Blinking and wiping her brow she took the controller once more feeling the storm inside churning. Swallowing hard she took the drone up ahead but paused. According to the map there should be a cross junction, to find out she figured the main room should be down the left but her instinct was drawing her to the right.

"Left is main room but I think we should go right. Both directions are clear."

Reaching into a pouch she pulled out two ear pieces which looked completely clear. She offered one to Yelena and put the second into her own ears.

[kingrico]

"The Red Room wants me dead? You won't be the one to do it!

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Following Ava's lead and with a clear close she decided to address Ava's earlier question, “I could have done it alone, but surely you know in these kinds of situations 2 eyes are better than one. I read your files, and mission reports, these are your kind of operations, I mean you did a pretty decent job with Sersi I heard." Grabbing the earpiece she fit it comfortably inside her ear, “If your gut tells you right, then let's go right" Yelena would reply before heading to her right down the hallway. As they moved forward she noticed a sign on a door just ahead, “Look biological lab, in there” Yelena would signal for them to approach the door with caution.

Taking a peek through the small window she noticed the room was empty, pulling out the ID from the guard she took down scanning it on the ID scan getting them access to the room. As she walked in she could see tons of data and research, different scientific experiments, and what appeared to be red vials of some kind of serum. “Collect as much data as you can from these computers, while I collect samples 2 minutes and we are back out.” Yelena would order as she walked around the room looking at the papers on the desk, SHIELD, CIA, KGB, Red Room, old Soviet documents, and much more she could see from a quick glance through the papers. Yelena would pick up 2 of the vials slipping them into one of her pouches, she would also carefully fold several documents belonging to SHIELD and CIA placing them in a separate pouch.

Just as she felt things were going smoothly the sound of someone entering could be heard, “Ava you hear that” Yelena would ask as the figure stepped out of the shadows looking at her. “Jamilia…” she would say under her breath.

“Hello Sisters… what a pleasant surprise to see you here” Jamilia would say in her true thick Russian accent.

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Not you! Not ever!

[Gummy]

Ava smiled a little at the compliment and nodded. She had had several different offers of jobs and there were always more coming. Luckily for her she already had a job. This was part of it, helping those who needed her skills. Unique as they were. At least it kept her busy.

In the lab Ava soon removed a thumb drive from one of her slender pouches and placed it into the computer. She didn't need to do anything else apart from slip it from the computer in about a minute then they would have full remote access to the computers and all the data on it. Both as a copy on the thumb drive and in the ether. Neat little program that had been developed. Left no trace unless they had someone with genious IQ and the time to trace it.

She had positioned the drone to monitor out of the small window tucking it out of the way and hidden from sight. She had just moved from the location when she heard the 'intruder'. Turning she looked at Jamilia, her hands going to the batons on her hips. The thumb drive needed a few more seconds to work but if needed she could easily set this whole facility back if she was forced to.

Her instinct kicked in. It was always a mistake to leave Ava conscious but knowing this woman was also Red Room trained (at least she pressumed) was two widows against one. She just hoped that she was good enough. In no time at all she had one long and one short baton/fencing foil. She was good with these and the other recruits knew it. Though most of her records were kept within SHIELD itself.

[kingrico]

"The Red Room wants me dead? You won't be the one to do it!

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“So I'll assume your real name isn't Jamilia…” Yelena would say pulling out her knife and getting into position, she looked over to Ava who she noticed looked a bit tense. “I guess there's no point in small talk then", Yelena would go on to say before she leaped over the table throwing her knife directly at her head. Jamilia would Dodge grabbing Yelena's mid-air body and slamming her through the table, briefly knocking the wind she attempted to recatch her breath before grabbing her ankle. Pulling her off her feet trying to buy Ava more time, Yelena would leap up throwing Jamilia across the room near Ava. The woman quickly got up hitting Ava with the widow bite from behind, temporarily knocking her out, grabbing the USB she tried to dart out the room only to be hit by Yelena's own more powerful bite.

“AVA!” Yelena would say checking her pulse and seeing that she was fine, she would grab the USB from Jamilia's hand before slipping it into Ava Pouch. “Command we need Naval extraction” Yelena would radio in getting a reply of ETA 4 minutes to arrival. Yelena couldn't help but feel bad knowing Natasha would never forgive her if Ava was to die, picking up the younger widow's body she carefully made her way down the hall. "Everything is going to be okay" she would whisper in Russian in Ava's ear.

Making her way down a flight of stairs and out the back of the building she noticed the coast was clear, she would jet across the field and onto the shore where the boat was waiting for her. The Splash of cold water on entering would wake Ava up rather quickly, “Oh good your back, how was the sleep” Yelena would joke as the crew took off back into deeper waters heading back to base.

“Don't worry the mission was a success, minus the little hiccup. Who doesn't like a good spar with another widow” Yelena would say looking out over the dark Lake.

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Not you! Not ever!