Last week’s awful experience at the werewolf bar makes Kate upset. She hates losing control and hates everything she saw in the bar. And mysterious Yelena makes it worse. So she goes to the forest to enjoy running through the woods.
…However, her relaxing evening is destined to be interrupted by Yelena.
“Kate Bishop.” She hears a Russian accent says.
Without even thinking, Kate throws her water bottle toward the source of the voice, even though she can already smell the familiar scent.
“Hiiiii-!” Yelena, wearing a yellow and black plaid coat, says in a singing voice.
Kate turns to her.
“What do you want, Yelena?” Kate asks.
“Relax, Kate Bishop. I just want to talk to you, okay?”
“Last time I tried to talk to you you kicked me in the ribs,” Kate complained, “that really hurt.”
“Yeah. Yeah, well, so did the knocked to the ground by a giant wolf.” Yelena’s eyes lit up, “Oh, yeah, that was a good one. Vert effective, no? But you did the really cool body row.”
“Yeah, Than-thank you.” The golden retriever inside her, that Yelena once called, is so happy to hear that, then she remembers that Yelena was an obnoxiously annoying vampire, “Stop making me like you!”
“I’m sorry, I can’t help it. That was really fun.” Yelena shrugs unapologetically.
Kate can’t help but give her a smile. She’d never had much experience with other vampires (at least not by words), but she finds Yelena very charming.
Yelena stops smiling and gives her a meaningful look, “Are you going to put some clothes on? This isn’t that kind of conversation.”
Kate blushes at the implication in Yelena’s words, she doesn’t have the time to think about why she said it, she just simply says, “Sure, I’m not a monster.” She finds her clothes discarded nearby and put them on, sitting lazily near Yelena (she didn’t know what social distance vampires are comfortable with, so she picks a neutral spot).
“I am a Black Widow. Natasha Romanov is my sister. Since she and I destroyed the Red Room, we’ve been searching for Red Room technology that’s still exciting and destroying them.” Yelena says directly.
Kate is caught off guard by the information. “You… what?”
Natasha Romanoff is Kate’s idol as a child (aside from Hawkeye). She single-handedly escaped and destroyed the paramilitary criminal organization that exploited little girls, released all relevant documents from the Red Room, and ensured that nothing like that ever happened again. The man in charge, Drakov, disappeared before getting caught and now is presumed dead. But none of the public records mentions that the widows are actually vampires, or that there was another person who destroyed the Red Room with Natasha Romanoff.
“You’re really Natasha’s sister? Wow, I did not see that coming. Thank God I didn’t kill you the other day!” Kate exclaims.
“You kill me?” Yelena bursts out laughing, her laughter stirring the silence in the forest. “You’re so funny. I’m immortal.”
“Vampires can be killed,” Kate says, matter-of-factly.
“That’s true. But not like the way we fought. You’re going to need to learn how to kill vampires if you’re going to mess with Kingpin.”
“How do you know about Kingpin?” Kate gets defensive, but then realizes, “You know a lot about me.”
Meanwhile, Yelena says, “I know a lot about you, remember?”
“So, what do you know about Kingpin?” Kate asked.
Yelena measures Kate carefully. “There’s evidence that Kingpin has some Red Room technology in his hands. That’s why I was investigating that coven and the werewolf bar. It looks like our cases got mixed up.”
“Yelena, is this your way to say we should work together?” Kate laughs happily.
Yelena stands up and looks at the werewolf on the grass.
“No. I work alone. With Natasha.” Yelena said calmly, without waiting for Kate to say anything, Yelena continues with a half smile, “But I can’t let my favorite werewolf get herself killed, so, Kate, I’m going to teach you how to fight vampires. Well, and how to kill vampires.”
Kate tries not to blush at Yelena calling her her favorite werewolf, “So no more ‘stay out of it, Kate Bishop’?”
“That was a poor imitation of my accent,” Yelena grumbles. “I did tell you to stay away from all of that, didn’t I? But you’re so stubborn, stopping you is like trying to stop a tornado. You’re such a pain in the ass.”
“Thanks!” Kate said cheerfully.
“That’s not a compliment,” Yelena replies dryly.
“But you still decide to teach me how to fight.” Kate says proudly.
“That’s because I need you to not engage with those witches and werewolves for a while.” Yelena explains, “I need to find out who’s behind them so that I can eliminate them for good. In the meantime, their powers only grow. Attacking humans seems inevitable. Can you do that for me, Kate Bishop?”
Kate stares at Yelena for a moment then asks, “And what humans get attacked because of the delay?”
“Don’t trust in yourself to protect humans, Kate Bishop?”
Kate is enraged. “Of course I can do that. I just don’t trust you that much.”
“I’m willing to teach you how to hunt my kind, Kate Bishop,” Yelena wrinkles her nose, “which is probably the ultimate symbol of friendship from one species to another.”
That’s… fair enough. Kate cannot argue with it.
“Well, we have a deal,” Kate stands up and reaches out to shake Yelena’s hand.
Yelena stares curiously at her hand, not moving. “What is that?”
“Handshaking for a deal!” Kate exclaims, shocked by the fact that Yelena doesn’t know the meaning of a handshake.
“Vampires don’t have such things.” Yelena says thoughtfully, “We are defined by what we do, not by strange rituals.”
Kate gazes at Yelena for a moment. “You basically pay humans for blood instead of just killing them, and you even take them to dinner, that’s ritual.”
“That’s capitalism.” Yelena raises her eyebrow, “You think only mortal societies deal in money? A little bit of racist isn’t it?”
Kate’s face reddens, not knowing how to respond. Yelena gives her a look and decides to cut her some slack. “Anyway, vampire culture is indeed different from your mortal culture. Now, tell me, Kate Bishop, do you know how to kill a vampire?”
Kate thinks for a heartbeat. “Stake through the heart, decapitation, fire, and sunlight?”
Yelena nods.
“I saw your choice of weapon,” she gestures toward the bow and arrows Kate has set aside, “very impractical, but I’m guessing you have silver arrowheads?”
“Hey! I’ll have you know that arrows are very practical.” Kate is offended, “But I do have silver arrowheads with wooden arrow shafts. I got them after the coven incident. No offense.”
Yelena shrugs. “Bows and arrows take up a lot of space. Not good for hiding. And you run out of arrows so fast. Not as practical as guns.”
“Guns are so loud,” Kate whines. “And I have my trick arrows! They’re so much better than bullets!”
Elina snorts. “Let’s agree to disagree. What trick arrows do you have?”
“Let’s see, I have putty arrows, web arrows, acid arrows, ice arrows, sonic arrows, electronic arrows, explosive arrows, and tranquilizer arrows…”
“You need colloidal silver for those little arrowheads of yours.” Yelena said matter-of-factly, “Most of your arrows are effectless to vampires. Even if they could wound actually hurt vampires, we can heal quickly. But colloidal silver can cause great damage to vampires. If your arrows can emit ultraviolet light would be nice. ultraviolet light works quite well at night, especially if you don’t have a fire.”
“Sonic arrows should also work,” Yelena adds, looking at Kate’s arrows thoughtfully, “Vampire ears are very sensitive. That’s going to give us hell.”
“Okay.” Kate says, “First thing tomorrow, make new arrows.”
“When you run out of your arrows, I assume you’ll shift into your wolf form?” Yelena hands the arrow to Kate.
“That’s right.” Kate tries not to preen (and she fails).
“Then shift, wolfie, and show me how you deal with vampires.” Yelena says.
So Kate shifts.
“Good girl.” Yelena says.
Those words have an unexpected effect on Kate. She couldn’t help but lets out a whimper and prays that the vampire doesn’t read her as easily as she reads her in her human form.
Yelena laughs.
She rubs the wolf’s ears, “Aw, You like it, don’t you?”
The werewolf lets out a sound that could easily be identified as frustration.
“Come on, wolfie. Don’t play coy and attack me,” Yelena says, “I promise I’ll go easy on you.”
The werewolf lets out a growl and charges at the vampire. The vampire expertly avoids the wolf’s teeth and wraps her arms around the werewolf’s neck, her mouth pressing against the werewolf’s ear.
“You’re dead, wolfie,” Yelena said, “You aimed for my throat is not wrong, but at the same time you exposed yours.”
The werewolf growls and throws the vampire off her shoulders before attempting to pounce on the other woman again.
Yelena is knocked to the ground, but she quickly wraps her legs around the werewolf’s waist. “Remember, the waist is the most vulnerable part of a wolf. Never let your waist be exposed to a vampire’s attack range if you can’t eliminate your opponent fast.”
Yelena easily flips their positions and is on top of the werewolf. She chuckles. “I think I like you in your wolf form more. You’re so talkative,”
The werewolf beneath Yelena huffs as she rolls and tosses Yelena aside before launching herself at the vampire again.
They challenge each other before sunrise.
“This was fun,” Yelena says as she releases her grip on the werewolf’s fragile neck and rises gracefully to her feet, “but it’s almost sunrise.”
Kate shifts into her human form, breathing heavily, and can’t help but be a little jealous of the vampire’s unwearying appearance.
“put on a shirt, wolfie,” Yelena says with a smirk.
Kate snorts arrogantly and puffs out her chest. “We werewolves have our own culture: we don’t care.” She says as she pours water from her water bottle over her head, knowing fully well that Yelena was checking her out.
“Well, I guess I can learn more.” The vampire said with interest, not a hint of judgment in her voice. “See you here at the same time tomorrow evening?”
“Oh! Sure.” Kate says with some surprise, then watches Yelena suddenly disappears into the forest as she always does.
Kate gets to know a little more about Yelena today, but she guesses some things will never change: Yelena will always appear at her will and then leave suddenly.
Notes:
Yelena not telling the whole truth! And she’s not asking for help either.
And Kate? She just tries to understand Yelena and subtlely gay panicking around Yelena
R. H. Felidae Athena 