Disclaimer: Everything you recognise here either came from the MCU films or the original Marvel comics, but I hope you enjoy the results anyway

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The Legacies' Triad

Currently taking a break in a small Italian village after tracking and freeing the latest Widow from Dreykov's programming, Yelena was allowing herself to consider her next move. Obviously tracking the Widows was her priority, but at the same time she only knew so much about Dreykov's old network and how much of that had survived his death. With that in mind, she had found that a good way to keep herself busy and stay off whatever metaphorical radar might remain from Dreykov's system was to deal with some smaller problems between Widows unless she had reason to believe a particular Widow was about to do something big.

A part of her would have liked to go back to New York, but she knew that was just asking for trouble that she couldn't afford right now. She was satisfied that nobody knew she'd been in the city apart from the people she'd directly interacted with (and maybe Natasha, if she kept a very close eye on the safehouse), but there was no sense in drawing more attention to her presence if it wasn't necessary. She had been keeping an eye out for other potential activities she could deal with in the local area, but while she appreciated Peter's interest in conventional vigilante activities, she didn't want to risk interrupting official police activities and drawing more attention to her presence. She just needed something suitably large to keep herself occupied so the other Widows would 'relax' a little, but not so big that she would draw unwanted attention…

When Yelena first heard her private phone beep, she wasn't sure what to make of it. She had taken care to only share this number with people she absolutely trusted, so whoever was calling wouldn't be anyone she didn't want to hear from, but she couldn't place who had been assigned that particular ring-tone. Satisfied that she would have a few moments to listen before anyone trying to trace the call could confirm her location, Yelena took out her phone and accepted the call.

"Yelena Belova?" said a voice that she immediately recognised.

"Susan?" Yelena said, surprised at the sound of Peter's A.I. on the other end of the call. "How did you do this?"

"Getting synced up to the telecommunications network is hardly a challenge, and I already had access to your phone from your visits to the safehouse," Susan explained with an amused tone, before her voice became more serious. "But right now you should be aware; Peter is receiving medical attention."

"Medical attention?" Yelena repeated, unprepared for the spike of concern she felt at that news. "What happened?"

"He was stabbed by one of the Vulture's former associates, Mac Gargan, via Gargan's new scorpion-themed armour."

Yelena could only blink in surprise at that statement, and then wonder why she didn't feel more surprised. She supposed that after hearing about her sister working alongside a literal god, hearing that her new friend with spider-powers had fought a man dressed like a scorpion was a comparatively lesser surprise.

"How is he?" she asked, choosing to believe that Susan would have already reported if Peter was dead.

"The wound was not deep, but the tail included a series of unidentified toxins," Susan explained. "Kate has made arrangements to get Peter discreet medical attention; you can call them if you want to check in."

Yelena was surprised at how quickly her fingers moved over her phone screen to end this call and bring up Kate's number. She had taken care to log Peter and Kate's personal details on her own phone just in case, satisfied that the device was secure enough that nobody else could access it without her approval, but the idea of just calling them wasn't something she had allowed herself to seriously consider…

"Who?" Kate's voice said at the other end of the line.

"It is me," Yelena said.

"Yelena?" Kate said in surprise. "How did- OK, stupid question; better one is why you're calling now?"

"Susan informed me that Peter was in need of medical attention after a fight with a man dressed as a giant scorpion," Yelena responded. "I wanted to confirm that all was well."

"Susan's still in touch with you?" Kate asked, before she sounded like she was laughing at herself. "Again, stupid question; you're one of her users, of course she keeps in touch with you…"

"I assume you and Peter still use her yourself?"

"She… helps out," Kate said with an awkward tone to her voice, as though she was concerned about how Yelena would react. Personally Yelena wasn't that concerned about the issue, as an experienced agent did their best work with all available resources, but this wasn't the time to have that particular discussion.

"How did you and Peter end up facing Mac Gargan?" she said, deciding to focus on the important issue.

"Long story short, one of Peter's friends from school was being blackmailed into helping out Gargan's escape because her brother ran up gambling debts, and when we tried to stop the gang the brother was signing up with… well, it didn't work out well."

"Gargan escaped?"

"Gargan and a couple of mob guys- or is it just criminal guys?" Kate observed, a tone to her voice that suggested she was shrugging in uncertainty before she continued. "Anyway, Gargan dug up this suit that it looks like his old boss made for him before we got everyone else arrested, and he got away after fighting Peter while I was dealing with the regular gang members. Peter says he's OK, and he's getting checked out right now, but I'm going to be making sure he won't be doing anything… spidery until he's back to normal."

"A difficult prospect."

"Yeah, but even he's got to listen when he's still hurting, right?" Kate suggested, even if her tentative tone made it clear that she knew that would be a challenge. "Uh… if you want to check in with him, he should be finished with the doctors in a bit…"

"I can connect Yelena to Peter once he's available," Susan suddenly spoke up. "It's probably best you make sure the Brants are doing well, Kate."

"Brants?"

"Peter's classmate Betty and her brother Bennett," Kate explained. "Bennett got shot while we were trying to get him out, but we think he's going to be OK; it's just… well, a bit trickier to check on that without drawing attention to it all, but I don't exactly want to just run out without making sure…"

"That is fair enough," Yelena noted, privately proud of Kate's concern for collateral damage. "Susan, you will let me know when Peter is available?"

"I'm linked in to your phones and my priority is the safety of my primary users," Susan confirmed. "Once Peter's alone and available to talk, I can establish a secure line for you both easily enough."

"OK, you do that, and I'll keep an eye on the Brants," Kate said.

"You are not with Peter already?"

"He… kinda insisted I take the Brants to one hospital while he got checked out at another," Kate said in a semi-defensive tone. "Susan kept me in the loop to confirm he was getting his wound looked at, and he's basically claiming he was just caught in the crossfire of some other problem, but he thought it'd be better if we didn't draw attention by having Peter and Bennett examined in the same place."

"A sensible precaution," Yelena said. "Let me know if anything changes at your end and I will check in with Peter."

Even as the call ended, Yelena was already considering the best way to ensure that Peter took time to recover from what sounded like a serious injury. Even if he had survived being stabbed by Gargan's tail, anything sharp enough to serve as a weapon would have caused some considerable injury even without the report that it was apparently toxic. Based on what she had seen of Peter's commitment to his role as Spider-Man, if he was going to be given time to recover, he would need something to do to make himself feel useful that wouldn't strain his injury.

Now that Yelena thought about it, there was something she had been thinking about investigating that might benefit from Peter's insight that didn't require him to use his abilities…

Yelena appreciated that she had to give other parties time to attend to Peter's medical treatment, but the longer she had to wait, the more concerned she became about the lack of information Susan had to share on his condition. She refused to allow herself to consider the worst-case scenario until she knew otherwise, but for some reason falling back on her old professional training to restrain her reaction didn't work as well as it had in the past. She knew that she would have had trouble controlling her emotions if she had learned that Natasha was in a similar position, but when she had only known Peter for a few weeks (and hadn't even spent that much time with him)…

"Hello?" Peter's voice said at the other end of the phone line once Susan made the connection.

"Hello, Peter," Yelena smiled in relief, relieved that his voice showed no sign of serious pain.

"Yelena?" Peter's voice showed surprise, but Yelena could tell that it was a positive response. "What are you-?"

"Susan alerted me that you had been injured," Yelena explained. "Kate gave me further details, but I wished to confirm that you were well myself."

"…Thanks," Peter said, a warm tone to his voice that Yelena wasn't used to hearing from anyone outside of her family. "How are you?"

"Keeping busy," Yelena responded with a smile before she reminded herself of her reasons for making this call. "But I am here to talk about you; how are you doing?"

"Well…"

"I should make it clear that I am aware you were stabbed and potentially exposed to dangerous toxins; do not lie to me."

"…Then I'm a bit stiff, and my chest really smarts, but I… the doctors think I'll be OK," Peter responded after giving the question a moment's thought. "Kate suggested that I should stay away from the webs for a bit…"

"Which works well with what I have to ask you," Yelena cut in.

"Huh?"

"Tracking the other Widows is my priority, but I have been pursuing other potential threats as well at this time," Yelena explained, glad that she could give an honest answer to this particular question. "I have recently uncovered internet chatter suggesting that a potential terrorist organisation is gaining momentum in this part of Europe."

"Potential terrorist organisation?" Peter repeated. "That… sounds bad…"

"Quite," Yelena said. "They are relatively small-scale at present, but when many of the Widows I am tracking are taking their own time to take action in Dreykov's absence, I feel it best to deal with other such threats before they can become truly significant."

"Makes… sense, I guess," Peter acknowledged. "So… what can I do?"

"To date I have been tracking this group online, but soon it may be necessary to attempt to infiltrate them directly," Yelena explained, glad that she could use this opportunity to give Peter additional instruction even if she was also giving him time to recover. "When I take that action, it would be beneficial for me to have someone keeping an eye on the Internet chatter and alerting me if anything comes up."

"So I'd be keeping you up-to-date while you're in the field?" Peter at least sounded interested in the idea. "That… well, nothing against the idea of doing more than fighting people…"

Yelena was about to say more when another phone began to ring over the connection. Yelena only had time to realise this must be some side-effect of them using Susan to communicate rather than a more conventional phone line before the ringing ended and Yelena heard an unexpected voice on the line.

"Hey, kid," Yelena heard Tony Stark's distinctive voice as he spoke to Peter.

"Mr Stark?" Peter said, which at least confirmed Yelena was right but left her with no better option than to stay silent. "What are you-?"

"You get stabbed in Philadelphia and I'm not meant to be concerned about that?" Stark said with a pointed tone in his voice. "And that's before I take into account the reports that there was some girl running around shooting arrows at people with you-"

"So what?"

"So what?" Stark repeated, clearly shocked at Peter's defiance. "In case you're forgetting-"

"If this is about the Accords, my partner just has some training with a bow; that's not exactly using unique technology, and there are no physical enhancements involved in that," Peter said firmly. "I'm letting them help me out on patrol, but like I said, there's no advanced tech involved; there's no reason for me to report anything to whoever's responsible for the Accords, so I didn't think it was worth it."

"Kid, the whole point of the Accords is to keep us in check-"

"And who's getting hurt if I'm going out with an archer to deal with local crime?" Peter interrupted. "We're just dealing with street-level criminals, and there's no advanced tech involved on our end except from what you added to my suit; there's nothing about that which means the Accords are an issue. I'm just doing what I've been doing for the last few months, and my partner provides back-up; where's the problem?"

"…Fair enough," Stark said, an edge to his voice that left Yelena wondering even as she doubted he knew anything significant. "And… your partner-?"

"I trust them," Peter said firmly. "I won't share anything dangerous with them, but I'm keeping their secret, and… please don't pry into the issue."

"…I won't," Mr Stark said, an element of resignation in his tone before he began to address Peter in a firmer manner. "But only so long as the Accords don't apply to this 'partner' of yours."

"Fair deal," Peter said, before he gave a brief gasp. "Sorry to cut this short, but I'm still a bit sore; kinda need to get some rest right now…"

"Sure I can't-?" Stark began.

"I just need a few days to… let myself heal," Peter cut him off. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm good… or I will be, anyway."

That seemed to be enough for the official Avenger, as he terminated the call at his end.

"I thought this line was secure?" Yelena said, hoping that the right person would understand why she was asking this question.

"You heard all that?" Peter asked in surprise.

"Of course she did," Susan observed. "I was the one maintaining the call; Mr Stark may have access to my systems by default, but I can still choose who else is able to listen in."

"And he will not know I was there?"

"Of course not," Susan confirmed. "I kept Yelena's presence secret from him."

"You can hide things from Mr Stark?" Peter was clearly surprised at that.

"Only so long as he isn't actively looking for signs that someone is hiding something from him," the artificial intelligence clarified.

"Not that I am complaining," Yelena observed, "but I thought you were created by Tony Stark?"

"I was."

"Then why are you keeping secrets from him?"

"Because I have calculated that it is most beneficial for Peter's well-being if Mr Stark is not aware of the extent of his association with officially unregistered vigilantes," Susan responded. "While I am essentially loyal to Mr Stark like most of his creations, I am also capable of making my own decisions, particularly when he designated Peter as my primary user rather than himself."

"…Cool," Peter said.

"Indeed," Yelena acknowledged, before she turned her focus to Peter. "So we should get back to the matter of these terrorists…"