#redshot

"New Avengerz" the title sounded far too wrong to Yelena's ears, especially after the events with The Void in New York. The city—no, the world—needed heroes, and the only option at the moment was a group of misfits and former assassins like herself. They obviously weren’t the best, but they were the only ones doing something right now.

Even so, Yelena still had her doubts about being an Avenger. Would she be enough? Would she be as good as Natasha was?… None of that mattered now. The title had been given, and people were counting on them—counting on her—to save the day whenever needed. And now, she had a mission: eliminate a fugitive assassin who was causing trouble in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.

The files were straightforward, containing his name and status. Benjamin Poindexter. He had deadly aim and a mind too dangerous to be left loose. And if the devil of Kitchen couldn’t handle him alone, then the Avenger would have to act quickly.

“Are you sure you can do this alone?” Bucky asked, staring at the mission file as if it were a three-headed monster.

“It’s just a guy with emotional problems, it won’t be hard.” Yelena replied with disdain. To her—having read the file multiple times—Poindexter was nothing.

And with that, their conversation ended, and she got up to prepare for the task.

The city was wrapped in a cold, rainy night, adding an extra layer of mystery to the mission, a sense of danger…

Yelena walked calmly through the nearly empty streets of Hell’s Kitchen. She knew exactly where Poindexter’s hideout was. She just needed to get there and eliminate him. Easy.

It didn’t take long for her to arrive at an apartment complex. The place was almost hidden from view—dirty and in terrible condition—a perfect place for a fugitive assassin to hide. She quickly made her way to the fire escape, it would be a better and more hidden way to get in and eliminate the target, climbing through the window. Yelena saw nothing but dark and a big mess… The guy obviously didn’t like cleaning.

She stepped inside, but what she didn’t expect was the sound of broken glass beneath her feet… The place was really a wreck.

Then suddenly, the clicking of a gun, aiming directly at her.

“Who sent you? Was it Fisk?” The guy spoke as low as a whisper, his voice slightly hoarse.

Yelena raised her hands in surrender, for some reason not aiming her own gun at him… Why??

“I don’t work for any Fisk…”

That got a sigh of relief from Poindexter, who immediately lowered the gun.

“Are you here to kill me?”

Silence, she couldn’t utter a word. She was supposed to kill him, but as she looked him in the eye she didn’t see a threat, just a broken person… Just like her.

“No, you’re the wrong target, sorry for invading…” Yelena lied, why did she lie? He was the right target, she should’ve killed him.

And just like that she leaves through the window again, now walking into the cold rainy night of New York.

She spared him, yet she doesn’t know why. His face still in her mind, those sad eyes with dark eyebags underneath, he wasn’t the monster Valentina said he was… He was just broken.

So, a few weeks later, Yelena was still thinking about Poindexter. She thought about why she let him live when her mission was specific to take him down. All of this was driving her crazy, so crazy she decided to start following him, just to make sure he really wasn’t a threat, of course.

It wasn’t exactly a routine, she told herself. It would be only once a week, but then it started being every other night, then every night after that, then even on weekends… Maybe it was a routine now.

She’d watch him while he was in his apartment, when he left at night only to buy coffee from the cafeteria around the corner of the street, when he went to the grocery store once a week, even when he tried to sleep.

She was not obsessed, Yelena told herself. This was only to make sure he wouldn’t snap and kill people again, she was only doing her job.

But then one night everything changed.

Dex left a note behind in his apartment, but he wasn’t there like he usually was.

The note was direct and simple.

“–Why are you following me?”