white_widow | overflow

yelena. i'm going to overly justify ever action i take as a calculated risk. it's how i operate.

... i absolutely would not vote for myself. and neither would bob.
you're what? that's not fair. i never signed up for babysitting responsibilities.

Does that make you happy?

Mm. Okay, fine. There would be some abstaining.
I have something I need to take care of. Unfortunately it does not matter if you signed up, in this case. I learned a new word a while ago that applies nicely here: voluntold.

it makes me less anxious.

i'd vote for you. and so would bob. that's nearly a landslide.
except now i'm feeling betrayed. so maybe i'd vote for walker in retaliation. and neither of us actually want that.
i hate that word. ... is there anything i can actually help with?

Okay. Justify as much as you like, I will not contradict it again.

That is not
I - do not actually know what to say to that.
Anyway. I am not betraying you. It is not my fault you're smarter than all of the boys.
...
I am going to put up a headstone for her. It is a familiar process.

appreciated. i know it's okay to have emotional-based responses. but i like things to make sense.

true, but it's not a very difficult task to accomplish given they have the collective iq of walker's bent shield.
... ah. suppose it's not right for me to offer to go along.
but. i still have her sword. if you'd like it.

I can understand that.

That may be insulting to the shield.
Eh. My sister nearly killed her, she has tried to kill me in the past, that is just sort of... typical for those of us from the Red Room. I would not say pulling it off disqualifies you, and honestly I would not hate the company. I do worry about if we would come back to a smoking crater.
She would call me stupid for burying or retiring a weapon that can still be useful, just because of some sentimental attachment.
Actually she would probably call me stupid for spending the money on a marker because of sentiment, as well.

at least the shield has shown flexibility.

it is typical. that those of us who are best equipped to understand each other, and this life, are the most likely to eliminate us.
we all understand these inherent risks. the inevitability of being bested.
the most any of us can ever hope for is that we at least get taken out by somebody worthy. and she fought a good fight.
but i don't want that to be me anymore.

alright then. i'll continue to carry it in her honor.

Ha, exactly.

Mm. At least she outlived her father.
Who do you want to be?

Yes. That is the much better option, I think. That... eats away a little more at the anonymity that tends to swallow all of us. Thank you.

that's what... about a decade since the red room was taken down? that's longer than a lot of our kind gets.

i don't know. a teammate. i'm starting there.

that's why her and i wear masks, i'm afraid. the anonymity gets too comfortable.

It is. What a pleasure, to get to count as an old woman in this field.

I think that's an excellent place to start.

I am sure that was a large part of it for her as well, but there were other factors.
And it is possible to have anonymity without a mask.

no wonder valentina was throwing us an retirement party.

and it's the best group to mess up with, because none of you ever expect all that much better from me than what i am.

other factors? bullet proof didn't seem to be one of them. no offense.

Terrible party. There was not even a cake.

We were all due for a bit of that sort of luck.

No, not that. Why would any of us get that much protection?
I will put it this way: it was a mercy she did not have to be aware of the possibility of burning to death.

we definitely earned a cake after all that.
but i wouldn't trust her not to poison it at this point.

she was frustratingly good at blocking the shots up until that point. never saw anyone quite able to predict my moves that way.
ah. so not the first time she got caught in a trap.
i really couldn't leave you all that way. not after how i lost my parents.

We earned a lot more than a cake, but yes.
True.

And likely you never will again. It was not an ability she was born with.
The previous time, she had more 'gotten home from school' than 'gotten caught in a trap,' but. They did amount to much the same thing.
It feels extremely insufficient to say thank you, now. I'm sorry.

hey, at least your team has now won one whole game
and nobody shit themselves.
so we'll get our own cake. what flavor?

ah. no, we're all things to experiment upon aren't we. funny how being "enhanced" always equals worse and more dehumanizing treatment.
that young. hate that i know what that's like.
we all saved each other, however many times over. at this point i've lost track. doesn't even matter what the score is.

That one has to count as a championship game, I think.
Oh, I don't know. Marble would probably get the least amount of complaints.

The man who ran the Red Room, and also did that to her, was of the opinion that little girls were the only resource the world had too much of. I am sure she heard him repeat it often, as well.
The younger, the better.
It is kind of nice to lose count of that.

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