It was supposed to be a simple bank heist job.
"You'll be in and out." Yondu had said during the briefing. Sure. 'Rob a bank', he said. 'It'll be easy', he said.
'Well, fuck that.' Yelena thought grimly as she tightened her grip on her blaster and peered around the corner. Yondu wasn't the one dealing with the unprecedented security levels and malfunctioning tech.
"I didn't sign up for this shit." She grumbled, as she moved forward cautiously, keeping an eye out for potential guards.
"Stay focused, Lena." Peter's voice came over the comms. "Don't get distracted."
Yelena scoffed and moved towards the vault door. She holstered her weapon and reached inside her vest pocket for a blast charge. Sticking it on the door, she pressed the button and moved back hastily as it began to beep rapidly. A moment later, the beeping stopped, and a massive thud echoed through the hallway as the door was blown off its hinges.
"What the fuck was that?" Peter demanded.
Coughing, Yelena waved her hand to clear some of the smoke and stepped inside the vault.
"Don't worry about it. I'm in the vault."
"Did you seriously just use the blast charges?"
Yelena rolled her eyes and started searching the room.
"I said don't worry about it."
"This was supposed to be a stealth job!"
"I hate to break it to you, Peter, but this stopped being a stealth job when they decided to increase the patrols. Also, need I remind you the password decoder is broken?"
Looking around the room, she spotted a small black case in the back of the vault.
"That doesn't mean you blow up the fucking door!" Peter shouted.
Yelena pulled out the earpiece, wincing at the loud volume, before putting it back in with a sigh.
"Боже мой. You're always so dramatic."
"Me?" Peter asked incredulously, his voice rising an octave. "I'm the dramatic one?"
"Okay, enough." Natasha's voice interjected. "Play nicely, you two. Lena, what's your status?"
Yelena picked up the black case and stuffed it in her rucksack.
"I got the package, heading out to the extraction point."
Drawing her blaster, she stepped back out of the vault and headed back down the hallway.
"Copy that. We'll meet you there in ten." Natasha replied.
Yelena moved slowly through the hallways, ducking into one of the alcoves as a group of armed guards headed towards the vault.
"Well, they definitely know we were here." She quipped, moving back down the hallway.
"No shit. I wonder why." Peter said dryly.
Yelena rolled her eyes and headed for the door at the end of the hallway. Holstering her blaster, she pushed open the door and stepped out into the station's hangar bay. Moving slowly and casually so as not to draw unnecessary attention to herself, she walked to the edge of the hangar platform. If anyone looked over, they would just see a young mechanic going to repair one of the docked ships.
She counted the rows as she walked past the docked ships, looking for the small circle she had spray painted earlier on the hangar floor. Swinging her arms, she tried to act casually bored, as if she walked through this hangar every day.
Twenty, twenty-five, thirty…
The door to the main entrance flew open with a sudden bang, as several dozen armed guards entered the hangar bay.
"Shit." Yelena muttered, continuing her forced casual walk.
"You there!" One of the guards shouted, raising his blaster in her direction. "Identify yourself!"
Abandoning her pretense, Yelena broke into a run, sprinting across the hangar bay as fast as she could.
"Uh, guys, we have a problem!" She shouted, weaving in between the docked ships as the guards opened fire.
"We're almost at the extraction point." Natasha said, her voice tense. "Hang on!"
"I'll do my best!"
Sliding under a transport ship, Yelena narrowly ducked out of the way as a blaster bolt hit the side of the ship. She scrambled to her feet and continued running, ignoring the burning in her legs as she focused on the hangar's edge. Just fifteen more rows, ten, five, two…
"Fuck!"
Yelena stumbled and fell to the ground as a blaster bolt hit her in the shoulder, the sharp pain spreading through her shoulder. Gritting her teeth, she hauled herself off the ground and sprinted to the edge of the platform. Blood ran down her arm as she stopped at the edge of the platform.
She looked around desperately, but she saw only the planet's surface several miles below her.
"Guys? I could really use an extraction right now!" She snapped, turning around to face her pursuers. They were closing in on her, their weapons pointed at her face.
"Stop right there!" The leader cried, moving closer. "You are under arrest!"
Yelena took a step back, getting even closer to the platform's edge. Her shoulder throbbed, and spots clouded her vision as she struggled to stay upright.
"C'mon guys, let's talk about this." Yelena held up her hands placatingly.
"I'm sure we can make some kind of deal, huh?"
"Put down your weapon!" The guard barked.
Yelena just kept her hands up and smiled. Below her, she heard the familiar soft rumble of a ship's engines. She turned and jumped off the platform, landing on the top of the Milano with a crash.
The hatch opened with a hiss, and Yelena slid inside the ship, collapsing on the ground as the ship sped away from the station.
Natasha jumped out of the copilot's seat and rushed to her side as Peter steered the ship away from the station.
"Lena! Всё в порядке?"
Yelena groaned and blinked heavily as the room spun around her. Natasha helped her sit up, letting Yelena lean heavily on her as she struggled to remain upright.
"Yeah, fine. Great plan, guys. I love the part where I almost bled to death."
"We'll get you to medical as soon as we're back on the Eclector." Natasha said worriedly, helping Yelena out of her Ravager jacket to examine the wound.
She grabbed the first aid kit supplies from the ship's cupboard and cut Yelena's sleeve out of the way before disinfecting the wound and wrapping it with gauze.
"I'm fine." Yelena slurred. Why was everything spinning?
"I just have a headache."
The last thing she saw was Natasha's concerned face hovering over her as the world went black.
…
Yelena woke to a persistent beeping sound. She opened her eyes and groaned, blinking as a harsh white light filled her vision. She was lying in the medical bay, hooked up to several beeping machines. Natasha was asleep in the chair next to her bed, slumped forward in what had to be an incredibly uncomfortable position. Peter was lying on the floor next to her, his leg twitching occasionally in his sleep.
Yelena tried to sit up but fell back onto her pillow again as the room began to spin, the machine suddenly beeping faster. Natasha woke with a start, blinking in confusion as she straightened in her chair. Seeing that Yelena was awake, she suddenly leapt out of the chair and moved closer to the bed, taking one of Yelena's hands in hers.
"Lena! You're awake!"
"Yeah." Yelena smiled wryly, squeezing her sister's hand. "What happened?"
Natasha hugged her tightly, making sure to avoid Yelena's injured shoulder.
"You got shot, idiot! You passed out on the Milano!"
"Oh. Right." Yelena said. "And the package?"
"Safely delivered to Yondu." Natasha said as she took a seat on the chair, still holding Yelena's hand tightly.
Peter stirred on the floor as she moved her chair closer to Yelena's bed. Yawning, he sat up and immediately shot to his feet.
"Lena!"
He moved to stand next to Natasha, rubbing his bloodshot eyes wearily.
"Please never do that again!"
"What, get shot?" Yelena scoffed. "No problem, I'll get right on that."
Peter rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. You took a stupid risk."
"I got the package, didn't I?" Yelena tried to shrug but winced as pain shot through her injured shoulder at the sudden movement.
"That package isn't worth your life, Lenochka." Natasha said quietly as Peter nodded.
"Just - be more careful next time?" He asked.
Yelena reached out and took his hand with her free one, pulling him closer to her and Natasha.
"I'll do my best." She said, smiling wanly.
"Good." Peter sat down on the bed and kissed her forehead softly.
"Мы любим тебя, Lena." Natasha murmured.
"Я знаю." Yelena gave them both a small smile. "I love you guys too."
"Right back at you." Peter said, squeezing her hand tightly.