★彡[ ᴀʜ, ᴍʏ ᴇꜱᴛᴇᴇᴍᴇᴅ ʀɪᴠᴀʟ ]彡★

Both Yelena and Lia groaned for like the hundredth time as they glared at Alexei who was cheerfully story-telling about his time with his father. Oh, how every inch of the nephilim's body itched to punch him in the face but she restrained herself.

"So, here I am fishing with my father. It's very cold day in this little ice shed, cold even for Russia, you know?" He glanced at the two who were leaning back against the bed, a complete done expression on their faces. "Keep the vodka by the fire, my father would say to me-"

Yelena shook her head. "Please stop talking." 

Alexei stared at her. "Please wait."

"Please, no." Lia shook her head. 

"Please wait." He begged.

"Please, I don't want to talk," Yelena continued, averting her gaze from him and silently scooting closer to Lia for comfort. 

"Please. Please," he pleaded. "There is a reason why I'm telling you this, okay? Trust me."

"I am reaching for fish. Oh!" He exclaimed dramatically. "I lose balance. Ah! Splash! My hands go in the river. In this weather, frostbite sets in quick."

"My father, he go toilet on my hands," he then added as both Yelena and Lia glared at him in disgust.

"What in the name of Angels," Lia groaned, contemplating why she was even here in the first place.

He continued despite the two's protests. "Urine is 35 degrees Celsius, staves off the frostbite-" 

"How is this relevant?" Yelena finally snapped.

 "You know, fathers." He shrugged, making Lia's blood boil. 

"No." Yelena glared at him. "No, you have done nothing but tell us how bored you were. I was the chore, the job you didn't want to do."

"To me?" Her voice softened. "To me, you were everything." 

He remained silent, making her scoff. "Exactly. You don't care. The only thing you care about are your stupid glory days as the Crimson Dynamo, and no one wants to hear about it."

It was tense silence for a few moments. Lia gently grabbed Yelena's hand in reassurance, hoping not to be kicked or punched in the face for it, but to her surprise the blonde squeezed her hand in response.

"It's the Red Guardian," Alexei whispered, correcting her.

Both Yelena and Lia snapped towards him, the blonde's hold on the nephilim tightening to stop her from lunging at him and possibly killing him.

"Get out," Yelena snarled before her voice grew angrier. "Get out!"

He slowly stood up from the couch as he began to hum. "I can't remember. If I cried."

"When I read about his widowed bride." He glanced at Yelena who's eyes began to water at the familiar lyrics before continuing to sing. "Something touched me deep inside. The day the music died. And they were singing." 

Yelena let out a chuckle before joining in. "Bye, bye. Miss American Pie."

A small smile formed on Lia's face as she watched the two sing the song together, humming along the familiar lyrics.

"This will be the day that I die." They sang simultaneously, glancing at each other. "This'll be the day ..." 

Before Alexei could finish, bright lights blinded the three's visions as the sounds of helicopters neared outside. They all shot up from their spot, squinting through the light as the helicopters surrounded the small house. 

"Get down," Alexei ordered.

Both Lia and Yelena crouched beside the bed, with the nephilim hovering over the blonde in a protective manner. Alexei put on his helmet, getting ready to fight. The window suddenly shattered as a red dart impaled itself on Alexei's chest.

He scoffed as he pulled the red out of his chest. "They think ..."

Before he could finish, dozens more darts were shot at him, sending him falling backwards and hitting the ground with a thud. Yelena grabbed his hand to get a reaction but he was unresponsive.

Lia grabbed Yelena's hand, pulling her out of the room, her golden eyes scanning around cautiously. Yelena held her gun in her hands, following after Lia warily before stepping in the other room to see Natasha lying motionless on the ground.

The blonde crouched down, checking her pulse before sighing in relief and nodding at Lia. The nephilim nodded back, her eyebrows suddenly furrowing as she hurled around to come face to face with Melina, her fist mere centimetres away from the woman's face.

"Sorry," Lia mumbled, pulling her hand as did Yelena who lowered her gun.

"No, I'm sorry," Melina replied guiltily.

Lia's eyes widened as Melina raised her arms towards them. She pushed Yelena to the side just in time before being struck by the Widow Bites as lightning arched through her body, a painful groan escaping her lips as she collapsed to the ground, the world around her growing dark.

Lia slowly blinked her eyes open, groaning as she regained her vision. She glanced around to see that she was chained against a wall. Her eyes widened as she recounted what had happened, and how Melina had betrayed them.

"She's awake. Begin the experiment on the nephilim."

Lia's attention shot towards the scientist that had spoken, who advanced towards her with a syringe in his hand containing some strange substance that really did not seem friendly. Before she could open her mouth to ask what the hell he was doing, he injected the syringe in her neck. 

Suffocation, that's all Lia felt as whatever he had injected her with coursed through her body. Her sight grew blurry and she gasped for breath, struggling to fill air in her lungs. The lack of oxygen made her feel extremely light-headed and she could barely keep her eyes open.

She thrashed at the chains with all her might but her attempts grew weak every passing second, slowly giving up as she focused solely on staying conscious. An excruciating sound filled her ears as the ringing began to get unbearable.

Lia could feel someone else's influence slowly trying to creep itself into her mind. The nephilim had a terrible feeling about the sound she was hearing and the influence she was feeling. The sudden realisation dawned upon her that she was trying to be controlled.

She tried to take deep breaths, knowing all she could do right now was fight the influence. The sound continued rising in pitch, beginning to inflict even more pain to her and was becoming even more unbearable to her ears. 

Lia tried to focus again but was unable to as the excruciating ringing became almost impossible to fight off. She closed her eyes, feeling every fibre of her body trying to fight off the control which grew weak.

The chains around her wrists suddenly unclasped and she found herself falling straight to the ground, landing on her knees. Lia's dull golden eyes snapped upward towards the blonde who freed her, propelling herself at her and pinning her against the wall, almost in a choking manner. 

Yelena raised her hands up in a non-threatening manner. "Hey, it's me, Lia. Yelena, remember?"

Lia found herself frowning at the blonde who seemed vaguely familiar yet she couldn't quite put how. Her head snapped to the side when she heard pounds of footsteps nearing them. And in a blink of an eye, she dropped her hold on Yelena and lunged at the widows.

Yelena watched in horror as Lia mercilessly killed all the widows and agents that came her way. The blonde had to quickly snap Lia out of it as soon as possible before she killed everyone. She sprinted after Lia, navigating through the lifeless bodies sprawled across the hallway.

Getting close to her, she propelled herself at Lia, catching the dark-haired female off guard for a second but she balanced herself quickly, throwing Yelena off her back. Yelena groaned as her back collided roughly against the wall.

Lia turned her attention away from Yelena again and was making her way to another hallway, which was kind of insulting to the blonde. While she was glad that Lia wasn't trying to kill her, but at the same time, was she not important enough to be killed? 

"Hey, Herondale!" Yelena called out to gain her attention as she stood up. "Is that all you got?"

Lia turned around and skilfully caught the baton that sailed in her direction. Throwing it aside, she lunged at Yelena, slamming her against the wall once again, a tight hold on her in a choking manner.

Yelena struggled to breathe as her panicked sapphire eyes met unfocused, foreign golden eyes that glared into hers like she was a mere stranger. She hated that Lia couldn't recognise her. She hated that immensely.

"Come on," Yelena wheezed out, losing oxygen in her lungs. "Please remember me."

Lia thankfully slightly loosened her hold on the blonde as hesitation and uncertainty entered her eyes, giving Yelena the chance to twist herself out of Lia's grip, shoving her roughly to the ground and reached for her pocket.

Before the nephilim could lunge at Yelena again, the blonde threw a red vial straight at her head. Red dust filled Lia's vision as she coughed, shaking her head. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, her attention turning towards Yelena who stared at her warily.

"Yelena?" Lia asked shakily, taking a step forward only to be kicked roughly in the shin.

"By the Angel! What was that for?" Lia grumbled, the familiar glint returning to her golden eyes as she glared at Yelena.

The blonde chuckled in relief, launching herself at the nephilim in a hug, surprising Lia, who slowly wrapped her arms around Yelena.

"I thought I almost lost you," Yelena whispered in the embrace before pulling apart.

"So, you made sure it really was me by kicking my shin," Lia deadpanned.

The blonde grinned in response. "Yep, and it worked."

Lia finally got a sense of her surroundings, and emptiness washed over her as she saw all the lifeless bodies that she had killed. "I ..."

"Hey." Yelena grabbed her hand assuringly. "Don't think about it. It wasn't your fault. Come on. We don't have much time. We need to find Natasha."

Yelena pulled Lia along and the two ran through the corridors, their feet pounding against the hard concrete floor as they navigated through the hallways, red lights flickering through the ceiling in warning. They both stopped before a room which revealed to be empty.

Yelena's eyes widened. "No ..."

The floor beneath them suddenly rumbled, throwing the two slightly off balance, leaning towards the railway to regain their footing. Lia's eyes widened, her nose scrunching up as the smell of burnt metal hit her.

Yelena's hand reached up to her comm, listening to whatever Melina had told her before turning to Lia who understood, overhearing their conversation.

Lia nodded at her. "Go, find Natasha. I'll help Alexei against Taskmaster."

Yelena stared at her, as if contemplating something before reluctantly agreeing. "Just don't do anything stupid, Lia."

"I'll try my best," Lia reassured, a teasing smirk growing on her lips before switching to Russian. "I'll see you soon, Belova."

"See you soon, Herondale," Yelena replied in Russian, a fond grin plastered across her face as she sprinted towards the hallway.

Lia watched her disappear before running the other direction, cutting through corners and the soldiers that blocked her path in a blur of black before she caught sight of the familiar navy tactical armour.

She lunged at him, throwing him across the room before staring at him with a defensive stance. "Ah, my esteemed rival. We meet again."

"Thank you." Alexei glanced at her impressively.

"Go help Melina. I've got this," Lia stated, staring at  Taskmaster who slowly stood up to his feet.

The Red Guardian nodded at Lia before running out the room. Taskmaster stared right at Lia, which always creeped her out before charging at her. Lia ducked under his punch, grabbing him by the waist and ramming him through the glass doors.

Taskmaster regained his balance, twisting out of her grip before swiping at Lia's legs, sending her crashing to the ground. He grabbed her by the throat and threw her across the room as she roughly hit the wall, slumping against it with a groan.

Her eyes snapped towards Taskmaster who advanced towards her. A snarl escaped her lips as she ducked through another punch, grabbing his arm with all her might before judo-flipping roughly to the ground.

Before Taskmaster had the chance to recover from the blow, he was sent flying across the room effortlessly courtesy of the nephilim, smacking into another wall not so softly. His attention snapped towards Lia, who smirked dangerously at him.

Lia advanced towards him as he pulled himself to his knees. But before she could take another step forward, the helicarrier shook violently, sending them both tumbling off balance as the smell of smoke filled her lungs.

Lia's eyes widened in realisation, knowing that if she stayed there any longer, she'd be burnt to crisp, something she really didn't want. She glanced at Taskmaster before the semi-stable glass window as the room was engulfed into a raging fire from the explosion.