Chapter Four:

"Get your bag and let's go." Bucky told his daughter.

No matter how hard Alya tried, her father just couldn't be convinced that he shouldn't go to school with her that morning. She was lucky that he convinced her mother that he had it all covered, but she still had problems.

Once Wanda found out, she wanted to tag-along, too. She wanted to see the person that was responsible for making her sister unhappy with her own two eyes.

And Yelena was even worse.

Alya had never seen her so angry. Her eyes narrowed and her face grew red. She rattled off question after question, wanting the exact details of how this all happened. She wanted to know who did it, what they looked like, what adult she needed to speak to, and where the school was.

She did not want Yelena to get involved.

It was bad enough that Bucky couldn't be swayed.

"I can go by myself." She told everyone. "I always do."

"Not today." Bucky picked her schoolbag up for her and slung it over his own shoulder. "Let's go."

"No!" Alya shook her head.

"I wasn't asking." He unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder in one fluid motion, not giving her a chance to try to escape. "Are you coming, Yelena?"

"I am right behind you." The blonde picked up another piece of toast for the go before she stood up. "I want to see this 'Serena'."

"Say goodbye to your mother and your sister." Bucky walked her over to the two.

"Help me, Mama..." Alya reached for the redhead, but her request was denied. She only received a kiss on the cheek.

Not what she was looking for at all.

"We're all going to help you, sweet girl." She spoke calmly even though that was far from how she felt. That was exactly why she wasn't going. If she went over there and saw the kid that did this, she might lose her temper. Bucky could handle this. She needed to stay far away. "What happened to you yesterday is not okay and we're going to make sure it doesn't happen again."


"Which way is the office?" Yelena asked as she, Bucky, and Alya entered the school building.

Alya pointed to the door that was down the hall and tried to ignore all the looks she was getting from the students who were at their lockers. She kept her eyes in front of her and led her father and her aunt straight to the office, hoping that this wouldn't get any messier than it already was.

"Oh, Sergeant Barnes." Principal Murray tried to hide how surprised he was to see him. "I was just about to make a phone call. We seem to have a problem."

"We do." Bucky motioned for Alya to sit down in one of the two chair in front of Murray's desk.

"It's been brought to my attention, that there was a bit of a fight." The man gave Alya a look before turning his attention back to Bucky. "This is the second time your daughter has been involved in a fight like this at school. I was lenient the first time, only doling out a short suspension, but the point doesn't seem to be sticking. Fighting is just not tolerated here."

Bucky didn't say anything. He had a certain 'look' that said more than words ever could. It was a withering stare, one that made the person on the receiving end shudder.

His hand reached inside of his pocket and slammed it down on top of Murray's desk, making him jump.

"W-What is this?" He stammered to ask.

"My daughter's hair." Bucky's nostrils flared once again. "What's your definition of a fight? Because the one I'm familiar with does not include several people holding one person down so that the aggressor can chop a couple inches of hair off. But please, by all means, correct me if I'm wrong."

"I had no idea…"

"Which brings me to my next questions, out of every adult in this building, there wasn't a single one available to stop this nonsense from happening?"

"My niece is sent to school to learn, not to be manhandled." Yelena spoke for the first time since they entered the office. "How do you intend to rectify the situation?"

"Serena will be called in to discuss the matter and when a decision is made, you will be the first to know."

"If my phone doesn't ring within the next day, you will be getting another visit from me and I'll handle this myself. I suggest you take a look at those security cameras you have there and find every single kid that was involved in this." Bucky glared.

He wasn't messing around and he wasn't pulling any punches. If this issue wasn't settled by the deadline he just set, there would be an even bigger problem.

"With all due respect, I cannot allow you to 'handle' other people's children."

"If you do your job, I won't have to resort to that now, will I?" He raised a brow. "My child was assaulted yesterday and you seem to be a lot more worried about the kids that did this. I'm not impressed." He rested his hand on Alya's shoulder and squeezed to let her know that they were leaving. "C'mon, Scamp. I'll walk you to your first class."

"Can't we get some ice cream?" Alya huffed, allowing him to lead her out of the office and into the hallway, leaving the principal to tremble all by himself without witnesses.

"After school is over, we can get ice cream, but you're not skipping school."

"Okay….fine." She sighed. "But don't forget."

"If I do, you'll remind me."

"If you don't mind." Yelena politely interrupted them. "I'd like to pick Alya up from school today. I want to spend some time with her."

"Okay, sure." Bucky shrugged. "That's fine."

"Yay!" Alya hopped up and down.

Yelena just smiled at her enthusiasm.

Poor little thing didn't have a clue as to what she had planned.


"Tetushka!" Alya ran over to where she was waiting outside the entrance of the building. The blonde's arms were crossed, but her stance didn't really deter her excitement.

"How was school?" Yelena took her bag from her as soon as she was close enough. And she was surprised to find out how heavy it was. "What do you have in here? Bricks?"

"They're just textbooks." Alya shrugged.

"This can't be good for your back."

"It doesn't bother me." Her brows furrowed when she realized Yelena wasn't really paying attention to a word she was saying. "What are you looking for?"

"I'll know when I find it." Yelena responded. "Ah! Jackpot."

She smiled humorlessly when Serena made her way out of the building. The eighth grader kept her head down and moved quickly, but Yelena still managed to step right in front of her, cutting her off.

"Um, excuse me."

"Serena Collins." Now, that made the girl look up. "Date of birth; November 12, 2003. Mother, Ciara Collins. Father, Liam Collins. No siblings, you're an only child, which explains why you're so spoiled rotten. GPA, 3.7. You're smart, but you're not very bright."

"How do you know all of that?" Serena's jaw dropped.

Who was this woman? Why was she after her? Her accent sounded foreign, where was she from?

"I know a lot about you." Yelena shrugged nonchalantly. "I know that you like to watch videos of cute puppies, your favorite food is French toast, and I also know, that you were one of the little brats that held my niece down to cut her hair yesterday after calling her something I will not repeat."

"I—" Serena had no idea that this woman was Alya's aunt.

She was growing more and more nervous by the second.

"—You what?" She tilted her head. "You were only kidding? I didn't think it was funny. You know, I've met adults like you. They like to take advantage of other people to make themselves feel better. But guess what? There will always be someone who comes along that will put them in their place."

Alya watched as Serena got cut down to size by her aunt's sharp tongue. She never thought she'd see Serena stutter and stammer like this for anyone.

"My niece is very precious to me." Yelena pulled a pair of shears out of her pocket and used the bottom of her coat to wipe off the invisible dust. "I don't like it when she gets hurt. If she bumped into a tree and it so much as grazed her arm, I'd cut it down. You held her down, you cut her hair, and then laughed. How do you think I feel about you?"

Serena's red face went pale in an instant. She had gotten a lot more than she bargained for.

Yesterday had been a mistake.

A big one.

And now she was paying for it.

"You're still a child." Yelena continued, still brandishing the shears. "There's still time for you to change, because once you're an adult…..?" She grinned so scarily that the kid visibly gulped. "You'll get treated like one. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

"Y-Yes." Serena nodded rapidly. "I understand."

"Good. Now, what do you think we should do about this….let's call it a 'problem'."

"I d-don't know."

Serena looked like she was going to faint right then and there, but Alya couldn't find it in herself to feel bad for her.

Not after everything she did.

"Okay, that's fair." Yelena nodded. "I'll give you two options. One, I show you exactly how it feels to have something done against your will and I use these shears to do it. Or, two, since you like to fight so much, we'll make it fair. Choose wisely."

A tear fell from Serena's eye as she trembled in fear. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

"I'm waiting to hear your answer, Serena Collins. One or two?"

"T-Two…..please."

"Alright." Yelena pocketed the shears. "Alya, go ahead."

Alya's eyes widened as she looked at her. She was hoping she didn't mean what she thought she meant.

"What's your hesitation?" Her aunt asked her. "You did not defend yourself yesterday, so you're going to do it now."

"But—"

"—If you walk away, I promise you will not like me for a long time afterwards." She threatened.

And she meant every word.

Alya shivered at the cold look she was receiving from those, normally, warm hazel eyes. She had no choice but to do as she was told. She didn't want Yelena to make good on that threat anytime soon.

"Face each other." The woman instructed, waiting until they did so, ignoring every kid that passed by. None of them dared to stop and watch for fear of becoming Yelena's next victim. "Now, go ahead."

Alya and Serena looked at each other, waiting and watching for when the other would throw the first punch.

Neither of the two moved, but Yelena was patient. There was a reason why she was doing this and even if Alya didn't understand it now, she would someday.

After a few minutes of having a staring contest, Alya got tired of waiting and got angry, because the longer she stared, the more she remembered how she felt the day before.

So, she pulled back her fist and let it fly.

The hit knocked Serena off her feet, sending her tumbling to the ground below her. Alya got her right on the cheek and what she did was sure to leave a bruise.

"You're still a child." Yelena bent down slightly to look at her, reiterating her previous message. She didn't have a bit of sympathy for the way Serena was holding her cheek as tears slipped down her face. "Let yourself learn something from this. When you get to be an adult and you continue to behave this way, you will have me to deal with."

And with that, she took Alya's hand and tugged her away.

Her work here was done.


"How's your pizza?"

After everything was said and done, Yelena took Alya to get a few slices of pizza. Sort of like an aunt/niece date that was long overdue. She had an errand to run while in the city, but it could wait for a couple of hours.

She wanted to have this time with Alya with no distractions.

"It's good." Alya responded, taking a bite out of her slice topped with garlic and broccoli.

Yelena insisted that she get a vegetable topping even though Alya thought it would ruin the flavor.

"Good." The older woman only had roasted tomatoes on her own slice and she was thoroughly enjoying it. "You're angry with me."

It was more of a statement than a question. She was good at reading people and she could see that Alya was less than happy with her.

"Yup."

"Do you know why I made you do that, Alyona?"

"Cause you were mad at Serena."

"Well, yes." Yelena admitted. "But that's only a small part of it."

"What's the big part then?" Alya asked, looking down at their intertwined hands.

Just because she was mad, didn't mean she didn't want to be held.

"You didn't defend yourself yesterday." Yelena began to explain. "I saw the footage and it was…..it made me very upset. And I know that you were upset with it, too. I made you do what you did today, because if someone tries to hurt you, you always fight back. No matter what. This is not the Red Room, Alyona. You do not stand there and take it."

Alya hadn't thought about that before.

Maybe the reason why she let it play out was because the Red Room had conditioned her to allow it. Maybe some part of her was reluctant to fight back because that's the way she had been raised?

And Yelena was able to put it into words.

"You're not being controlled anymore." Her aunt continued. "There is nothing that school can do to hurt you if you fight back. You have to take care of yourself, Baby. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Still mad?"

"….No."

"Can I have a hug?"

Alya nodded and fell into her arms, smiling when she got a squeeze. Yelena cradled the back of her head and swayed a little, basking in the moment.

"Don't go around telling everybody, but I love you, alright?"

"I love you, too."