After Valetina and the guards said their goodbye, the women were ushered through a heavily sealed door, and suddenly they were alone with their tour guide, Yelena.
She wore her hair in a messy ponytail and had several tattoos on her arms, which looked pretty buff.
"Okay, so, I'm assuming you all got searched?" She said, addressing the entire group. When they all meekly nodded, her face softened. "I'm sorry about that. They will get easier with time. Trust me."
She eyed the group properly for the first time and her eyes lingered on Kate, who was still softly crying. Recognition dawned on her face. "Kate Bishop?"
Kate froze, quickly wiping her tears. She looked at their tour guide with blurry eyes but recognised her instantly now that she had a proper look. Yelena Belova.
"You-What?" She blurted out in surprise. She had not seen the blonde woman since their fight last christmas. It had been several months.
Yelena crossed her arms, frowning. "What did you do to end up here, huh?" She instantly felt a little bitter, because it was mainly Kate and Clint's fault that she was arrested and put here. But she did have a soft spot for the girl, she'd had one since they met. So she instead pushed the anger away for another time. Kate was terrified right now and she could not use another person making her feel miserable.
"Uh, some of the tracksuit mafia guys died and they held me and Clint responsible. Clint! Oh my god, he was looking for you everywhere. We should call him!" Kate started talking excitedly before realising where they were. "Oh wait…"
Yelena barked a sarcastic laugh. "I'm sure Clint Barton wants to speak to me." She rolled her eyes. "Figures he let you turn up for his crimes. I assume he got away with it?" The rest of the group listened in on their conversation with interest and Yelena quickly cleared her throat when she noticed. "Nevermind. Let's get on with it then." She gave Kate warning eyes, as to say "We'll talk about this later." and started the tour.
The prison was designed in an octagonal shape, with several hallways filled with cellblocks. It also had a recreational room, a hospital wing and two bathrooms. In the middle of the prison was the big yard, which the prisoners had seen before from the entrance. It was surrounded by big windows and had emptied out by now.
Yelena led them down the first hallway, showing them some of the cell blocks. Each room was filled with bedframes made of solid stone, both on the floor level and bunk height. The mattresses on them looked thin and uncomfortable. There was a metal toilet in a corner and a small desk. Most of the rooms were also littered with more mattresses on the floor, filled with sleeping, talking, or reading inmates. The majority of them didn't pay attention to the newbies, but some looked up with interest.
"Is it normal that people sleep on the floor?" Monica asked. She had seen prisons like this before, and normally it was a maximum two people to a cell for safety purposes.
"No, it is not. We are overcrowded, which means you get to share your room with five other lovely ladies." Yelena replied sarcastically. "You girls will sleep on the floor, because you're new. Lowest on the totem pole."
The new prisoners all looked at her with disbelief. Titania looked equal parts confused and upset. "They can't really expect I'm supposed to share a cell with criminals like you! I have standards!"
Yelena shrugged, ignoring her. "I suggest staying out of trouble and you'll move up the ladder quicker."
Jessica looked all around her new home with morbid fascination. So this is where she'd be spending the rest of her life. It was honestly worse than she had imagined, but she had also lived in some awful places, so it wasn't that bad. She would probably survive.
The tour continued until they came across another cell. They all stopped dead in their tracks because the soft sound of moaning could be heard from inside. Yelena held up her hand, motioning them to stay silent.
Monica couldn't help her curiosity and peeked into the room. On one of the bunks, two women were tangled together. One of them had flaming red hair and she was roughly but skillfully pushing her fingers into the other woman's sex. Her mouth was connected to the blonde's were both completely nude and making sounds of pleasure.
"Oh my god!" Kate exclaimed, who had also leaned around the doorframe to look.
Yelena had joined them, leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed and a soft smirk on her lips. "Oy, Jean! You're traumatising the fresh meat!"
The red haired woman, whose name was apparently Jean, stuck up her middle finger and continued pleasuring the other prisoner.
Yelena rolled her eyes and swore. "Pizda." She motioned for the others to follow her, continuing the tour.
When they were out of earshot, she shot Kate a grin, who was still looking rather uncomfortable.
"Got to watch out for that one." She patted Kate's shoulder. "Actually, she's not that bad. There's way worse women out there. But she will try to make a move on you for sure."
"Does that happen a lot? You know…lesbians?" Kate replied. She had not expected such a public display of indecency.
Yelena laughed. "Lesbians?" She mocked Kate's tone. "I'll give you one week, Kate Bishop. Yes, there are many lesbians. We're in a women's prison, filled with criminals and aliens. What did you expect?"
The archer looked around, scared, as if a lesbian could pop up out of a dark corner at any moment. "Oh."
Yelena didn't know why, but she felt bad for the girl. Normally, she was able to distance herself pretty well from the new prisoners and what happened to them in their first weeks. The idea of this happening to Kate however, appalled her for some reason. Because of their brief confrontation last christmas, she had come to care for her. "You should stay close to me." She blurted out, before she knew it. Dammit.
Kate's big eyes focused on Yelena's face. "Why?"
"The new prisoners are very popular targets." Yelena said, looking meaningfully into Kate's eyes.
"Targets? What do you mean?" Kate asked, anxiety rising to her chest. She wasn't sure if she could trust Yelena.
"They'll try to have sex with you, okay?" The blonde replied, her voice rising. "And you won't have a choice."
Kate stopped walking, making the others bump into her. "You can't be serious." She whispered.
"Very serious." Yelena said. When the other prisoners looked at both of them again and what they were discussing with interest, she shook her head, to snap herself out of it. She didn't want the others thinking she was giving Kate some kind of special treatment. "Whatever, I don't care. Do whatever you want." She mumbled and dug her hands in her pockets, continuing to show them around. She didn't make eye contact with Kate again for a while.
After touring all the cell blocks, they had arrived at one of the bathrooms. It was filled with sinks and small mirrors, which were heavily secured to the wall so no one could use it to hurt people. There was a row of stalls, each filled with a toilet. The smell was very unpleasant and the plumbing was far from sanitary.
"Ew." Titania simply said in her valley girl sort of way, turning her nose up.
Yelena raised her eyebrows. "If you think this is gross, you're not ready for the showers. They're disgusting."
A toilet flushed suddenly, making the women jump. A red haired woman exited the stall, stopping in her tracks as she saw Yelena standing around with the newbies.
"Hey! Giving them a tour?" She said in a sultry voice and she smiled at Yelena, who apparently was familiar to her. Her hair was braided tightly but she had a kind face and was really beautiful, which made her seem out of place in this prison. She washed her hands in the sink, which probably made them more dirty instead of clean, and crossed her arms, taking in the new people. When there was a prolonged moment of silence, she cleared her throat. "Well, better get on with it." She winked at Yelena and left the room.
They all stared after the beautiful woman, speechless. "Is she your girlfriend?" Kate blurted out, forgetting her boundaries.
"That's my sister." Yelena replied, chuckling. "Natasha Romanoff."
Monica and Kate gasped in unison as it clicked for them. Something about seeing her here in prison wearing an orange jumpsuit just was so far from the norm that it was hard to recognize her.
"The Avenger?" Monica said breathlessly.
Yelena rolled her eyes. "That's the one."
Kate could not help but feel excited. She had been a fan of the Avengers since she had been saved by Hawkeye as a child. But her excitement quickly faltered when she realised where they were. "They're putting heroes in here too?" She wondered, confused. As far as she knew, Natasha had saved the world multiple times before disappearing off the radar completely. She had always suspected the Black Widow had just been in hiding. Definitely not in prison. Yelena had come after Kate and Clint to find out where Natasha had gone, which had started this whole fight with Yelena. Neither Clint nor her knew were Yelena's sister had been. Clint had actually been looking for Natasha himself, desperately. It was strange that nothing was known about Natasha's arrest or incarceration in the public eye.
"Why would they put a hero here? You would assume saving humanity would grant you a get out of jail free card." Kate blurted out, her brow furrowing. She then realised all she herself did was save people, yet she was here as well.
"Heroes don't exist." Yelena replied coldly. "At least, not in the government's eyes." There was obvious resentment towards the government, but Kate also felt like it was directed at her a little bit. She swallowed heavily and nodded.
Monica scoffed at this new information. "Sokovia Accords, right?" She said pedantically. "I often encountered people with abilities in my field of work and the government always marked them as a risk, hero or not.."
When no one responded, she quickly shut up. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to mention that she had previously worked for the government that probably landed a lot of people right where they were, including their tour guide.
"That's smart to say in a prison full of people you helped place here." Jessica immediately remarked.
Yelena frowned. "Yeah, I suggest you keep that to yourself."
Nebula however, who had been silently following along on this stupid tour, finally perked up at this information. She eyed Monica with interest, trying to remember her face for later. Knowledge was power, after all.
The tour moved to the other bathroom, which was where the showers were located. The entire place was tiled in a dull grey colour, and definitely not clean. The walls were lined with shower heads, which were all removable. It reminded them of high school locker room showers. There were a few more secluded showers too, blocked off with walls. Monica made a mental note to make sure she could secure one of those the first time she came here, since she did not look forward to sharing a shower with a bunch of random naked women.
"Isn't that kinda dangerous?" Jessica commented, nodding towards the long shower hoses and making a choking motion with her hands.
Yelena nodded, crossing her arms. "Ah yes, the showers. The place where most death and sex takes place."
It was unclear whether she was joking or not, but no one felt brave enough to ask. Yelena looked wistfully at the disgusting environment and popped her lips. "Anyways. You'll get your shower supplies and stuff later today."
They moved on, and while they were walking towards the rec room, Yelena bumped her shoulder into Kate's. "Don't use the walled off showers, okay?"
"Why?" Kate asked. She had been planning to do just that.
"Just trust me."
The rec room was a large cold looking environment, but still the most homely looking place within the prison's walls. The room was currently inhabited by a lot of inmates, who were going about their short time of relaxation in relative calm. Most didn't even bother to pay any mind to the newbies, but still there were a few who turned their heads to get a glimpse. It made Monica umcomfortable to be stared at.
As for the furnishings, in the centre of the room was an old looking TV that was currently running an old episode of 'I Love Lucy' which very few actually looked to be paying attention to (most were either reading, sleeping, or just sort of dozing off, staring into space). The television seemed to be the thing most cared for in the entire room; as the seats, tables, and couch around clearly had seen much better days.
There was a part of the room that consisted of a large empty floor with mirrors on the walls, serving as a kind of gym area. It was laced with sports equipment. A single person was sitting on a yoga mat in the middle of that part of the room, her legs crossed and her hands on her knees. She was quite small, almost childlike. Her hair was black and curly, adding to her cute appearance, even though they could only see her from the back.
Monica nodded approvingly at this sight. At least not everything here was so primitive. There were humans here who did humanlike activities.
"This is the rec room. This is where we hang out. Don't ever dare to touch the TV, or Wanda will get angry. We all know sitcoms suck, but that's just how it is, okay?" Yelena spoke up, moving her hands around as to present the room.
The mention of Wanda's name made every new prisoner minus Nebula react. Given that this prison consisted of all kinds of criminals with crimes they couldn't even begin to imagine and who could possibly endanger them, there was a comfort in the fact that most of the new prisoners were unaware, oblivious about their fellow prisoners' pasts.
However, Wanda Maximoff was someone they all heard of. The woman's rampage in New Jersey had been international news, and her multiversal search for her children and the ravage she left behind was also known among the general public, reported on after she was confirmed to have been stopped.
"H-How could they put her here?" Kate said, terrified. "I thought she was dead."
Yelena shrugged. "Can't kill a witch that powerful. But she's really not that bad. Just don't cross her." She hoped they would heed her warning, but it was also kind of fun when someone tried to start a fight with Wanda. It made for interesting entertainment.
The person that had been doing yoga had apparently overheard their conversation, because she turned around and spoke up. "It's best not to cross anyone here and stay out of trouble. You guys should join my yoga class to calm your anger." Her smile was sweet and she seemed genuine.
Titania went wide eyed in recognition. "Jennifer?!" She exclaimed with a mixture of spite and genuine surprise. She predicted her nemesis would be here, but she didn't think they'd run into each other on day one!
Jennifer's mouth opened in a small 'O' when she saw Titania among the new prisoners. She wasn't ready for this. "Oh, shit." She whispered under her breath. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself. "Hi Titania!" She said sweetly.
Titania put her hand on her hip and tried to assert some stupid internal self sense of dominance.
"Hi Shrek." She mocked.
"What brings you here?" Jen replied, as if they were unexpectedly meeting each other in the supermarket.
The rest of the prisoners watched the exchange with confused faces, including Yelena.
"What the fuck do you think? It's prison. I didn't come here by choice." Titania stepped closer, stooped down to Jen's level and placed one finger on her shoulder and lightly pushed her.
Jeniffer caught herself from falling, but the small aggression infuriated her. She stood up in one smooth movement, and pressed her finger into Titania's shoulder in return. "Don't fucking touch me!"
Titania stumbled back a step. "You bitch!" She turned around to see if people were looking and then feigned a voice of victimhood. "She pushed me! You must have seen that! She pushed me!"
That may have worked on the outside world, but here everyone knew that was a blatant lie. Jessica just looked at her with annoyance. "This tour is long enough as it is. Can we not make this take even longer with this drama?"
Yelena shrugged. "This is the most exciting thing to happen thus far." She got a cigarette from her pocket and lit it, leaning against the wall and watching with interest. She knew exactly what Jen could do, and was just waiting for it to happen.
Jeniffer was getting frustrated. Titania always managed to push all her buttons. Playing the victim, like she did in the outside world. She felt the anger inside her threatening to flow out and her heart was beating quickly. "No, no." She whispered under her breath, trying to calm down but all she could see was green. Her mouth opened in pain as she felt her entire body enlarge, ripping the prison uniform to shreds.
Kate backed away until she ran into the wall next to Yelena, horror on her face. "What the f-"
She-Hulk roared and lumbered forwards, grabbing Titania's arm and spinning her around, throwing her into the wall with tremendous force.
Titania hit the wall with a loud THUD. She slid down to the ground, propped up just slightly. She let out a sort of groaning sound as she tried to get back up but decided not to. She wasn't badly injured, just very disoriented and probably hurting just a little bit.
Aggressively grabbing the yoga mat she had been sitting on, She-Hulk threw it against the mirror and roared. "You!" She pointed at Titania, ready to pounce. "You will listen to me here. I am the boss!" She swung her fist, ready to hit Titania, but punched a huge hole in the wall instead.
Before anyone could respond, a loud, ear splitting alarm sounded. The inmates present in the rec room all groaned, and proceeded to lay down, belly first, on the floor. Yelena hissed and quickly took another drag from her cigarette. "Lay on the floor!" She yelled towards the new prisoners, rounding them up, her heavy accented voice making itself clearly perceivable over the loud alarm. She put her hand on Kate's shoulder and squeezed it before pushing the girl down and following.
"What's happening?" Kate said, panic in her voice.
"They're going to come in and take Jen away. Don't do anything and we'll be fine, okay?" Yelena said, trying to exhale the smoke from her laid down position and having difficulty doing so.
The door opened with a bang and several guards entered. One of the guards was brandishing a special looking gun, which she expertly aimed at Jen's shoulder. A soft sound was heard and a large dart appeared, having penetrated her thick green skin. She immediately crumpled to the floor and the room filled with an eerie silence.
"Wow!" Kate exclaimed excitedly. "They've got trick arrows!"
Yelena huffed out the remaining smoke in a sort of cough- laugh. "You're weird, Kate Bishop."
When Jen had returned to her normal form, she had been taken away by the guards and calm had returned to the room. However, the rec room was closed for repairs and the other inmates were ushered out, complaining loudly. Weirdly, the room had been a mess because of the fight, but the tv and it's dvd player had been untouched.
"That was intense." Jessica commented. "Is she like, okay?" She nodded towards Titania, who was still laying on the floor, a crumpled mess with two guards standing by her making sure she was alive.
The staff rushed Titania to the infirmary to make sure she hadn't broken anything important. Yelena shrugged and the group continued onwards without her.
The next and final stop on the tour were the kitchen and cantina. These were placed outside of the general prison area, and closed off with a door so the staff could also safely eat when they wanted to. Yelena led them through these doors which were open to the prisoners right now, and down a long hallway. When they got closer to the kitchen, soft 40's music was playing over the speakers. The entire environment seemed very clean, unlike the rest of the prison.
"The kitchen." Yelena simply stated, opening the door for them and beckoning them inside.
After they all shuffled inside, they were met with a spectacular sight. A young woman was standing with her back to them, her long, curly dark brown hair running down her shoulders. Her hands were lifted in the air and softly swaying along with the music. Around her, the entire kitchen was alive with movement. Dishes were washing themselves, pots were being stirred and vegetables and meat was being cut by invisible hands holding sharp knives. It was like everything moved in perfect unison.
"Woa." Kate exclaimed, her mouth open in awe and Monica mirrored her expression.
"Wanda?" Yelena said softly, as to not disturb the cooking woman from her work.
Wanda turned around, a soft smile plastered on her face. "Hi!" She greeted them cheerfully, her eyes so big they were almost popping out. She had braided a few strands of her hair, but it was still kind of meek and untidy looking.
The prisoners all took a step back in unison when they realised who the cook was and at the way she looked at them.
"These are the new prisoners, Wanda." Yelena said, matching her cheery tone uncharacteristically. "They can't wait to taste your amazing food."
Wanda beamed at the compliment and slowly eyed all of them. Her stare was not only terrifying, but it seemed as if she was truly analysing each of them, looking into their darkest thoughts and feelings. When her eyes at last met with Monica's, her smile faltered. "Oh."
Monica wished she could disappear through the floor at that moment. She had not seen the witch since their ordeal in Westview, but she had heard what she had done after that. She partly blamed herself for not taking care of the problem and trusting Wanda to change her ways, but now that she came face to face with her here, she realised the Wanda she had met in Westview was long gone and she could not be saved.
"Hey Wanda." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "How are you?"
Wanda's hands had stopped moving along with the music, which started to become jumbled and mixed with static. The pans being washed clattered to the ground. "Okay, let's move." Yelena grabbed Kate's arm and steered her and the other prisoners back, a little away from whatever was happening in front of them. Kate, who looked terrified, could not form words but nodded gratefully. Yelena decided to just enjoy the show, because there was no way she was going to stand in between this newbie and the angry witch.
Wanda took a deep breath, the veins in her neck visible. "I'm great." She said, her voice shaking.
Monica felt a shiver go down her back at the witch's stare. She knew she was angry at the world. She knew she probably resented her and saw her as an easy target to channel her fury into. But she had no idea how to deal with that, since they were both stuck here. Apologizing would not help and she could not start a fight on her first day. She clenched her fists, feeling powerless because of the collar around her neck. She thankfully noticed that Wanda was wearing one too, so she didn't seem to be a full power, at least.
"It's great that they're letting you cook!" She said, trying to keep the conversation flowing and fill the very uncomfortable and heavy silent tension in the air. "It looks like you're doing a good job here."
Wanda clenched her jaw. "Yes, I take care of everyone." Her hands were trembling.
"That's very nice of you. You took care of me and everyone in Westview very well! And your kids-" Monica rambled out of panic, her voice unsure. She stopped herself because she had realised she had said the wrong thing, judging by the other's immediate reaction.
Wanda's eyes blazed red and she took a step forwards. "What did you say?" She said in a dangerous voice. The knives that had been cutting the vegetables started rising in the air, and pointed towards Monica and the other new prisoners. They blinked in the light, ready to strike.
Monica put her hands up, sweat dripping down her forehead. "I-"
Before anyone could react, the kitchen door swung wide open and several people entered the room, unaware of the confrontation that was going on.
A blonde woman was leading the group, and she stopped in her tracks when she saw the knives floating in the air, pointed at Monica.
"What is going on-" She said, her eyes switching between Wanda and Monica. They eventually lingered on the latter, recognition dawning on her face. "Monica?"
Monica tore her stare away from the knives and connected eyes with her childhood hero, Carol Danvers. Auntie Carol. Her mother's girlfriend, who had disappeared without a word, leaving her all alone after her mother's passing during the snap.
"Carol?" She managed to choke out. She was filled with a jumble of anger, sadness, happiness and terror.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing, you crazy bitch?" Carol spit towards Wanda, who physically recoiled at the insult.
Her eyes had filled with angry tears. "She…I…" She stuttered, confused in her own head. The grief was threatening to overtake, and she was starting to get a little disoriented. She focused her eyes on Monica again and striked.
The knives suddenly shot forward, most of them missing their target, but one of them cutting Monica on the cheek. She clapped her hand over the oozing wound, gasping.
"You shouldn't have done that." Carol said smugly but angrily, stepping forwards. She balled her fist and punched Wanda straight in the face. The force was so big that the witch sprawled onto the floor, her long hair shielding her face and spilling everywhere like a waterfall. She didn't seem to be moving.
There was a brief, uncomfortable silence. Then, the room was filled with the sound of clapping. Nebula stepped forwards, applauding. "This is the best prison I've ever been to." She said in her low voice. "Terra is not that bad after all."