#subtle ghostwidow

Their partner led them down a series of hallways until they came upon the corridor that lead to their desired wing.

At the door, Walker handed them badges to pin to their uniforms.

"The next round of guards are due to patrol soon. I'm not blowin' my cover, so next time I see you, and, I don't need to tell you what that means, but-"

Ava eyed the taser in his holster, "You won't see us. Got it."

Yelena double checked their badges, frowning, "You sure about these credentials?"

"Contractors are the only ones who should be in there without supervision. You're on the list, so act like it,"

Walker opened the door slightly, checking to see if the coast was clear.

"There's another service exit right where the jewels are being kept. Go out through there. Mel should have control of the cameras and alarms soon."

Yelena nodded, "Got it."

"Don't fuck this up for us" Walker warned, walking away.

Ava couldn't help but whistle, "Nice baton"

Yelena joined in, smirking and pointing out the site-issued deterrent, "Wow. So long."

Walker threw his head back, growling, "You guys always do this."

"I hope you're not compensating for something" Ava quipped.

He pointed at them, eyes narrowed and patience wearing thin, "Next time, no more inside man shit. Ok? Got that, Belova? I bring more to the table than this, and you know it."

"And miss you in your little uniforms?" Yelena grinned and pushed the door open with her back, "Not a chance."

Ava fluttered her fingers in farewell and followed Yelena out the door. The moment they were in eyeline of the cameras, their postures shifted to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Yelena nodded at a couple of security guards making their last rounds before the early morning shift change.

To be doing this in bright daylight just before visitors were to be let in was ballsy, but Yelena wasn't too worried given their ample time to prepare and the luck of hitting one of the least secured museums in the city.

She had to withhold a sigh. It wasn't enough of a challenge for her and her team of this caliber, but there was a handsome deal out of it, as promised by the fence that employed them for this job.

Once the guards passed, Yelena tapped her earpiece.

"Bob, come in? Are you in position?" she whispered.

Soft snoring cut abruptly. Yelena could imagine the man's head jerking awake in the driver's seat.

"Yeah," he coughed, "Er, yeah. In position"

"Were you asleep?" Ava needled, amused.

"Nah, just…figured my eyelashes needed some quality time together" Bob replied, voice thick and groggy, "Been parked here for over an hour. Bored out of my mind. Over."

"You know, I could have come with, Bob. Keep you company?" Mel, their girl in the chair, offered warmly all the way from their base of operations "Make sure you don't get bored?"

"No!" Bob cleared his throat, course correcting, "Er, I mean, no. Mel. As much as I'd like you here, it's better if you just- if you stay put. Far away. Trust me you don't wanna be front row wh- if shit hits the fan"

Mel snorted, "Nice recovery."

"It never goes this smooth. I'm… managing expectations" Bob voiced.

Ava laughed under her breath, "Is that what your therapist told you?"

"But it's my job, you know?" Yelena didn't need to be back at the house to know that Mel was no doubt pouting during her delivery, "To be there, Bob. To watch your six."

"Pretty sure it's not my six you'd like to watch"

"This is an open line" Yelena reminded, rolling her eyes at this will-they-won't-they nonsense playing out.

There was a thud on the other end of the line. Bob must have hit his head against the steering wheel.

"Sorry, sorry. I was just-"

"He was just putting his foot in his mouth. Again" Mel giggled before returning back to business, "Ok, ladies, got remote access to the cameras and turned off the motion sensors. Working on the alarms right now, but you should be good to go for twenty minutes."

Great timing, they had just reached the chamber where these priceless gems were stored.

Ava picked the lock with ease.

Yelena opened the gargantuan door, "Copy that, Songbird."

She and Ava snuck inside, armed with their toolbox. The whole room, normally opened to the public, held the Infinity Stones collection. Each of the different gems lay atop different platforms and encased in hermetically sealed glass.

They got to work.

Yelena took on the purple stone, the one meant to resemble power or whatever. Reaching into their toolbox, she used a thin blade to wedge between the glass cube and the platform.

"Were you serious about what you said earlier?"

Ava's intrusion was enough to startle Yelena, nearly dropping the glass cube as she set if off to the side. But it was she said that forced her to whirl around, wide-eyed.

"Ava-"

Her fellow thief, who had yet to crack into one of the cases, held up her comm, no longer in her ear.

Yelena breathed a sigh of relief. She definitely did not want the rest of the team to hear this.

She tore off her comm too.

"It was a dumb idea. Don't worry about it," she muttered, wondering why Ava decided to bring this up now. Talk about timing.

Her nimble fingers made quick work pocketing the stone in a protective sleeve and stuffing it into the tool box.

She could hear Ava work behind her.

"An idea you've had for a while" she returned.

"I just…" Yelena shut her eyes, "don't know how much longer I could do this for."

This as in running the most formidable band of thieves this country has ever seen. Yelena had been in this line of work all her life. Her own 'father' had even put her down this path from such a young age, but lately…

Yelena started thinking.

What if? What if she had been normal? What if she wanted a normal life? And if that was really in the cards for… someone like her.

It seemed Ava was just as dubious.

"A new city every month? Reaping the spoils from our conquests? Traveling with your crew?" Ava pitched, "What more could you ask for?"

"But we're always running. Never staying in a place too long to just… be," Yelena moved onto the next few stones, "Is this really our life?"

Ava blew out a sigh, "It's a shit life for those who want something stable. Safe. Wait,"

Yelena could feel the change in the room and she tensed. If she was going to bring up-

"Is this about Alexei?"

"Don't" Yelena spun on her heel, waving her blade, "Don't you ever mention him."

Gone was Ava's usual snark, now their resident bitch was sporting an expression akin to sympathy. Then she looked down.

"Look, I know it must be hard, but he did what he had to"

Yelena scoffed, not wanting re-hash the topic of her father, "Doesn't mean I have to live with his choices."

"Well it was because of his choices you still have a life left to live"

Yelena let out a shaky breath she didn't know what she was holding. Talking about her dad had always been hard.

Even harder now that he had passed.

Though, her dad must have taken some satisfaction for going out how he wanted:

'To live and die… by the crew…' he used to say.

"None of us would be here if he didn't make that call" Ava doubled down.

"I know," Yelena whispered, "And I guess we all have to live with that choice."

There was a moment of silence, where Ava grabbed the 'Mind' and 'Soul' stone. Yelena could hear her place it in the toolbox. They were making good on time.

They didn't say anything to each other until they cleaned up the chamber and were out the door.

They walked side by side, making their way to the service exit when Ava chanced another attempt at a conversation.

"Look, I'm sorry"

Yelena pursed her lips, "I don't think I've heard you say those words before."

"It really is your life, and if you want to… leave all this behind, then you're more than welcome to"

Now, Ava was not an emotional person. She wasn't one to divulge her feelings or problems, but Yelena couldn't miss the awkward beats in her sentences- a messy attempt to conceal what really was bothering her.

Ava's past now resurfaced in her mind, Yelena turned to look at her.

"Out of everything I want to leave behind, it won't be you guys. You know that, right?" she broke it gently.

Ava's lips twitched, and Yelena knew she hit the nail right on the head. The other woman had yet to say anything else.

Yelena redirected her gaze ahead of her and sighed.

"Really I just want a dog"

Ava hummed at that.

"A dog would be nice" she seconded.

"A big one. Like a husky. Or an akita"

"Then you'll get one. Maybe a big yard for him or her to play in"

"If we get these things out of here, then we'll have enough to buy out the city. Yards and gardens for all of us and then some. Walker could barbecue-"

Ava laughed, "He's so American."

"And you'll visit. When you're not on the job. Agreed?"

The two reached the service door.

Ava smiled softly.

"Sounds like a plan"

Yelena nodded, "Good."

They entered the service hallways and tried to navigate their way out, when they realized Yelena was blanking on where to go.

She put her comms back in, only to hear Bob's panicked ramblings.

"Bob, what's going on?"

"Guys! I've been trying to reach you! What the hell?"

"Sorry, Bob. Had to step out. We got the goods. Making our way to rendezvous"

"We'll we've got a problem. Mel's comms have gone cold. She's not responding"

Ava had just put her comms back in to hear that tidbit. She tapped at her earpiece, "Mel? Come in."

Yelena was not going to feed into Bob's paranoia.

"She could have… just gone to bathroom. Girl's got a tiny bladder"

"I have a bad feeling about this"

"Relax, this must be the easiest grab we've had all year" Ava reassured.

"Now, tell me why that doesn't make me feel any less worried"

"We're almost there, ok. Just stay calm and we'll-"

Alarms began to blare.

Yelena was stunned. That… wasn't supposed to happen.

Ava pushed her along, "Go, go, go!"

"Mel, a little warning?! What happened to our 20 minutes?" Yelena yelled into her comms to no response, "Hello?"

They booked it down the first turn they made, luckily it lead right onto the street exit where Bob was waiting in the car.

"Get in!"

Throwing the toolbox into the backseat, they climbed in a hurry, and Bob floored it.

All of the sudden red and blue flashes were upon them the moment they left the alleyway.

Now shit really did hit the fan.

Ava whirled around in her seat, eyes wide at how many cars were tailing them. This wasn't the kind of police response now just reacting to a theft at the museum, "Shit!"

Bob peered in the rearview mirror and paled. This had never happened before, "What's goin' on?!"

The car veered into a hard left in a desperate attempt to evade, but a few cop cars reacted swiftly enough, still in pursuit.

Yelena was contemplating busting out the glock she kept in the glove compartment, though that would escalate the situation.

('Armed' robbery would definitely tack some decades onto their sentence. )

She growled, slamming her hand against the dash, "Bob, shake them!"

"I'm tryin'!" Their driver reached forward, grazing the pink dice hanging over the mirror, "C'mon, Alexei. Talk to me. What would you do?"

He whispered it, but Yelena noticed.

Then, as if struck by inspiration, Bob sped up, putting enough distance between them and cop whilst expertly dodging cars and pedestrians left and right.

Soon, he pulled into a parking garage, blowing past the gate leading to the upper levels. He found a parking space and yelled for everyone to get out of the car.

Everyone rushed out and Bob made sure to grab the dice and a blanket from the back before they ran up a flight of stairs.

"We should be good. City had yet to put cameras in this old lot" Ava noted once they reached the floor above, "Good job, Bob."

"No, not this one, definitely not that one- here" Bob pointed to a nondescript SUV. He took out a slim jim from the toolbox and unlocked the car for them.

"I'll handle the ignition" Yelena ushered Bob to the back with Ava, "Hide!"

Climbing into the driver's seat, she tossed the baseball cap to the side, shedding her jumpsuit down to her waist, revealing her tank top.

Yelena cracked into the panel and tugged on the wires. Finding the right ones, she rubbed them together and started the engine.

They heard the sirens echo in the parking structure. It was time to move.

Yelena rolled the car forward, slowly, praying this rouse would work. She drove past the cops, who had stopped to inspect their burned vehicle.

Then an officer stepped forward, out of nowhere, barring her from leaving the parking structure.

She rolled down the window, "Yes, officer?"

He peeked into the car, only seeing the toolbox and blanket covering the floor. He gave no indication of seeing two breathing forms hidden underneath.

"Have you seen three individuals run in here by any chance?"

Donning her American accent, Yelena lied, "No, I don't. Sorry. I just got back from the gym."

"Ok then, be careful" he nodded at her, "You get home safe, ma'am. Lot of dangerous folk out here."

"Boy, I know it," she smiled, "Will do."

Yelena rolled up the window and pressed on.

She didn't let out a breath until they cleared the parking structure.

Ava and Bob popped their heads out, gasping for air not long after.

"That was… quite the response" Ava coughed.

"It was like they were waiting for us" Bob said what they were all thinking.

Yelena clenched the wheel, "Or someone tipped them off."

"If it was Walker, I swear to God-"

"No, it couldn't have been" Yelena cut off that train of thought.

Walker was… an asshole, but he was a loyal one. This crew had been through too much together to rat each other out.

Then she remembered Mel, ever reliable. Their girl in the chair wasn't there when they needed her the most.

Now it was time to share in Bob's worry.

"We need to go back to the house. Now" she glanced at Ava, "And call Walker. I don't care if it will blow his cover. It might already be blown to begin with."

They didn't go straight back to their base of operations, just to ensure they weren't being followed. At one point, Yelena had to swap with Bob just to get them the rest of the way without further incident.

They ditched the car a couple blocks away from the townhouse they were renting.

Walker was waiting for them in the back alley entrance. It looked like he just got there.

"No one tailed you, did they, Bobby?"

Bob shot him a nasty look before pushing past him to get inside.

"What?" Walker huffed, noting the attitude.

"You know better than to call him that" Yelena scolded. Then she lowered her voice, "He's worried about Mel."

"Look, I'm sure she's fine," Walker showed her his phone, "Her location says she never left the building.

"Guys!" Ava called from inside, urgency in her voice, "Get in here!"

Walker and Yelena shared a look and ran into the building.

Right away, they saw tables toppled over, papers scattered all over the floor- the front door busted through.

There were signs of struggle.

Bob frantically tore through the mess, searching. Then he set his sights on the stairs and wasted no time racing up.

"Mel!" he shouted.

Yelena tried to go after him, "Bob, no!"

"You won't find her. The house is empty" a new voice sounded off.

Yelena stilled at the stairs. She, and the others, turned to the kitchen.

Antonia emerged, leaning against the doorway.

"I checked"

At the sight of their fence, Ava blew up.

She drew a knife and held it to the other woman's neck.

"You!" she spat "You double crossing bitch!"

Walker pried Ava off of Antonia, "Woah, woah wait. Let's calm down here!"

Yelena inserted herself between the two women. She should have known this was bound to happen, considering their history, but the job had been too good to pass up. Even if it came from the Taskmaster herself.

"Is this some kind of payback? For what I did?" Ava accused.

Antonia glared, "Do you really think kidnapping your computer girl would have been proper payback for you putting a bullet in my head?"

"You survived, didn't you?"

"Barely! Anyways," Antonia smoothed out her jacket, eyes sweeping over the damage, "Now, I came here to make sure you wouldn't double cross me. Or at least tried to skip town. I saw you were almost made. Do you have them?"

Yelena held up the toolbox, "Yes, we do, but you're gonna tell us when you got here."

Antonia shrugged, "Half an hour ago. The place was already trashed. Looked fresh."

"Shit!"

At Bob's interjection, the group went upstairs.

The piled into Mel's room, where her multi-screen set up was. The monitors were all smashed in, the chair was flipped over, her phone left on the desk and-

Bob was holding Mel's bird charm necklace in his hands, the chain broken. As if it was torn off her neck.

Yelena and the others began scouring the room for evidence, but the more they searched, the more panicked they became. She was about to move the search downstairs, when she set Mel's chair upright and caught a whiff of-

Jasmine.

Jasmine perfume.

She pressed her nose against the chair, just to see if her mind was playing tricks on her. But no. She made everyone smell too.

"No," Ava sniffled, "Don't tell me that's what I think it is."

They all recognized it immediately, from their shared traumatic past. Even Antonia stiffened upon inhale.

Jasmine was the signature scent of one very powerful, very dangerous Contessa of crime herself, their old boss-

Bob shook his head, clutching the necklace against him, "Valentina. It-It had to be. She took Mel."

"Fuck!" Walker punched the wall, "I thought we were done with her!"

Yelena thought so too.

Valentina should have been left in the past. Especially after the woman had tried to get them all killed while under her employ. They had narrowly escaped the death sentence, with some of them, by dumb luck, ending up making their own crew-

A crew with a growing reputation. One that now threatened Valentina's precious little kingdom, Yelena figured.

"Toni," Yelena addressed, already dreading the answer, "You had a buyer lined up for the stones, right?"

Antonia shifted her feet, looking away, "I don't disclose my clients."

"Bullshit. Tell me, Widow to Widow-"

"We're not Widows anymore!" Antonia spat, the name of their old ring like poison on her tongue, "I wouldn't have been able to tell you anyway. I don't know. It was all very discrete."

"Did you tell them who you tasked for the job?"

"Yes"

"It must have made it's way back to Valentina then"

"Perfect" Ava leaned against the wall, "We were the only ones to have escaped her wrath. Finding out all of us were involved in a job?"

"It's like payback Christmas" Walker sighed, "She must have been the one to tip off the police. Distract us long enough, so we couldn't rush back and help Mel."

"But why take Mel?" Bob brought up, "What could she want with her?"

"She must be bait" Antonia took out her phone, scanning through her messages, "What a coincidence. My 'client' changed the dropoff location for the stones."

Yelena snatched the phone, "Where?"

"The vault"

Walker frowned, "Please tell me you're not talking about the same vault where she left us for dead?"

"Oh well, isn't she the sentimental type?" Ava scoffed, "It's clearly a trap."

"So what, we don't go? Don't hand over the stones?" Bob waved around the necklace, eyes alight, "What is she gonna do to Mel if we don't go through with it?"

"Wasn't she Valentina's favorite computer whizz?" Antonia recalled.

Before she had helped the rest of them escape Valentina's clutches.

"Why do you think she took her first? She could be making an example of her as we speak-"

"Don't" Bob cut Walker off, "Don't say that."

"Her betrayal would have pissed Val off the most, ok? You really think the Contessa's the forgiving type?"

Yelena thought for a moment.

"We're gonna get her back. But we need to put the drop on Valentina, and, for that, we're going to need some help"

"Anyone we could call or ask for help could be in Val's pocket for all we know. It's hard to figure out who doesn't do business with her" Ava pointed out.

Walker nodded, "No one in our circles would be dumb enough to help us take on the Contessa."

"Then, we're gonna need someone who's…not in the game."

A name came to mind.

On any other ocassion, Yelena would have dismissed him. The idea itself was ludicrous and had low chance of success.

But Valentina would not expect it, and that, right now, was all they needed.

"Someone who wants to see Valentina go down for every crime she's committed, and just might be crazy enough to go after her"

Walker put it together, "Yelena, you're not seriously considering-? Like, what? We're gonna walk up to him, in broad daylight, and just ask him to help out a bunch of criminals?"

"He has to" Yelena said, "He has no choice. We have no choice."

Antonia started walking towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Ava called after her, "You're in this mess too."

Antonia paused in the hallway.

"I want no part of this. I-I've worked so hard. To put Valentina and-and-" Yelena heard a sharp intake of breath, "I will not be controlled ever again."

"If you don't come with us, she'll find a way to get to you too. You know that" Yelena argued, "We need to stick together, if we're gonna get out of this alive. After that, then, we'll go our separate ways. Like last time."

Antonia debated this, but both her and Yelena knew that she might as well be dead if she tried to carry on her business like usual.

Walker took initiative and started to gear up, even leading Antonia down the corridor to help herself to the weapons that hadn't been ransacked. They needed to protect themselves.

Ava nudged Yelena, dropping her voice to a whisper, "So much for one last job, huh?"

"What do you mean? We're still on it" Yelena tried to smile, "Plans change. Here. Don't let these out of your sight."

Yelena handed Ava the toolbox filled with the Infinity Stones.

"We'll head out and find Barnes soon. He'll help us. He's always had a soft spot for Mel anyway"

Ava scrunched her nose, "Don't tell Bob that."

Speaking of Bob-

Yelena redirected her attention to the man perched on Mel's bed with a vacant stare on his face. She motioned for Ava to give the two of them space, and her fellow thief made a swift, silent exit.

She joined him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We'll get her back, ok?"

Bob sniffled, "You think so?"

"Of course"

"I- I don't know what I'm gonna do. If I see Valentina again. I might just-"

Her gaze was drawn to Bob's hands- calloused and weathered- and how it curled tightly around Mel's necklace. She was reminded of who Bob was before they were discarded by Valentina.

Who Valentina had wanted Bob to be when she had pumped him full of drugs and let him loose on her enemies.

"Hey, hey" she cooed and placed her hands over his trembling fists, "You can't lose yourself, ok? Not now. Right now, we need a driver, not a hitter."

She ruffled his hair with a gentle reminder to come downstairs and find a car for them whenever he was ready, but the sooner he did, the better.

Closing the door gently behind her, Yelena tried to compose herself.

It was difficult.

Not when it had been years since they had all left that dreadful woman behind and decided to make new lives for themselves, but now that she was back, Yelena feared her crew would unravel.

They weren't in the right state for her to leave them just yet. She had to fix this. She had to make sure Valentina wouldn't bother them ever again.

She ambled down the stairs, sifting through the mess for anything of valuable worth taking along. Any irreplaceable keepsakes and mementos they managed to lug around with them while on the run.

Yelena spotted the pink dice. Bob must have dropped it in his hurry up the stairs.

She picked it up, a token from their previous getaway driver.

'Could have really used your help with this, dad' she thought, stuffing the ornament into her pocket.

Her dad had been awful at a lot of things: being sober, a good parent, thinking before acting.

But she had to give it to him, the man sure knew how to give a good rallying speech to boost morale.

Yelena wasn't looking to lose anyone else from her crew today.

"Alright, let's go" she clapped her hands, summoning everyone downstairs, "Let's beg for assistance."

When the group showed up on a certain F.B.I Agent's doorstep an hour later, Yelena was front and center, sporting a grin too big for her face while ringing the doorbell.

The door opened, and Agent Barnes, from Organized Crime, took one look at them and sighed.

"Shit"

"We need your help, Barnes"