6418/The Framework: When Life Gives You Frameworks, Bring A Black Widow

The Framework: When Life Gives You Frameworks, Bring A Black Widow
Date of Scene:	02 June 2021
Location:	10 Natasha's Suite - Playground
Synopsis:	The risk Hydra is posing with the Framework is immense. SHIELD having lost agents to the Framework is alarming. Given the circumstance, Sharon Carter makes the call to turn a prisoner into an asset. Unleash the other Black Widow.
Cast of Characters:	Yelena Belova, Sharon Carter
Tinyplot:	The Framework

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Yelena Belova has posed:
While Morse more or less assigned Natasha to be Yelena's direct Handler, finding a way to have an option to slowly introduce Yelena into the fold, while not introducing the complexities of an authority system Yelena has zero faith in (and let's be honest, not many SHIELD Agents may trust a Black Widow that isn't Nat in turn), there has been all kinds of developments with the Framework, leading to chaos. In a state of chaos, things are forgotten, one of them is Yelena Belova, most recently active Black Widow, currently in SHIELD captivity in the Playground.

Yelena wasn't bothered by being forgotten, still shaken to the core by the harrowing experience of killing 'Mother'. There's something earth shaking about being responsible to the death for the one person who dictated every single step in your life, who told you what to do, who was simply everything. It left Yelena devoid of the will to live.

Still feeling like an utter failure, Yelena is sat on the floor of her cell, back pressed to the wall, knees bent against her chest. Her eyes, vacant seeming, stare at nothing. She hasn't eaten much, she hasn't drank much, it's only because of Natasha she had enough to sustain life at all.

Sharon Carter has posed:
To dwell is to bring yourself terror; Sharon knows this all too well. They've found the sphere what seems like weeks ago. And ever since then there has been work. Decipher this. Bring in more equipment. Check vitals. Explore. Everything went off without a hitch, which could be seen in others eyes. But those who've usually kept their feet to the ground and operated on their own knows that it is not the truth. When you're alone, you know that something is coming. The bad part?

You just don't know when.

With Melinda trapped in the Framework, that left Sharon in charge. Frightening aspect to all of those around, really. Frightening because there were gaps in her resume and her extended time away from the fold could have quite possibly turned her into a true goon. You'd do anything for the cause. Anything such as.. activating a couple of Widows and a psychotic killer to be on the side that's right.

Which brings her to this particular cell. Sharon wasn't dressed in her usual garb, just black pants and a black turtle neck, short sleeved top. On the shoulder, the symbol that unites them all underneath that singular banner at the Playground. Hands folded behind her back, mimicking her father compounded with an easy stroll that brings her into view.

Everything said here? In Yelena's mother tongue. That way words are not minced.

"Long time no see, Yelena Belova."

Yelena Belova has posed:
Much thanks to Natasha Romanoff, Yelena was allowed to keep her Black Widow garb, likely a result of Nat fully understanding the delicate psychological condition that Yelena was currently at. Natasha warned Morse on several occasions that the best course of action is to simply shoot Yelena, but there were too many mirrored aspects between Yelena's status, and how one Black Widow, Natalia Romanova, wound up working for SHIELD. Yelena lucked out in surviving her current circumstance.

The sound of spoken Russian makes Yelena perk, her head lifting, and eyes veering towards Sharon. They had a shared history those two. Not an altogether pleasant one, well, parts were, until Yelena unearthed who Sharon really was, setting a chase that nearly got Sharon killed.

"It's a deteriment to me, that you are still alive and well..." Yelena starts with a plastic, empty smile on her lips, "but...seeing as I killed mother, it's not like she will punish or execute me." A rather matter of fact observation. "You're good. Sharon Carter, Agent 13." She takes a deep breath, and finally stands up, her back against the wall. "Will you be ending my life today?" A shockingly calmly made statement, considering the words used.

Sharon Carter has posed:
It could have been shocking to see Yelena this way if Sharon wasn't prepared for it. It wasn't as if the Playground's cells were left unattendant. Round the clock guard, cameras at every angle. There could be one in the cell where Yelena was and neither of them would know it unless checked.

Sharon didn't, just the halls and the ones angled towards the cell, not in. She's not -that- much of a monster..

"I do hope that killing Mother wasn't a direct result of that." Sharon notes. "Though, knowing that you did is rather shocking. As much as I'd like to ask you about it, learn the gritty details, possibly gloat that I'm still alive and free while you're in there.."

Shared history, yes. Good. Bad. Traumatic for Sharon, yes. But..

"..I won't. You were a friend once."

Sharon didn't elaborate on if she wouldn't kill her, or if she wouldn't gloat. But she did let the silence hang in the air as she looks to the floor, staring intently. Fingers pry at her bottom lip in thought, not speaking.. but thinking.

"Do you want to die?"

Yelena Belova has posed:
"Natasha won, it was a misplay by Mother..." Yelena notes, tones of regret in her voice, "...but it wouldn't have worked if it were not for the...'other' her, and 'other' me." Yelena leaves it at that without elaborating. "As were you, but you know as well as I, when it comes to field and wetwork, less friends, less enemies, less chances to die."

Yelena looks curious at the question, and her for a moment, there's deathly silence between the too, until she eventually utters, "a useless failure doesn't deserve to live, it's only fair." Then again, that one time they met in Russia, ultimately Sharon didn't achieve her goal because of Yelena. Was that a remark relating to both? Doesn't matter, at this point it was obviously Yelena's neck on the line.

Sharon Carter has posed:
No elaboration necessary. Sharon shows no emotion, no glee or joy at the death of Mother. A death was just that, death.

"So you believe yourself to be a useless failure." She purses her lips. "Why do you think that you are here? Because you are a failure, or because you helped achieve a goal that you didn't think was worth a success? In your eyes that is." Sharon was pacing now, only stopping to regard Yelena as she answers, if she answers.

"What if I tell you that there is a way that you can redeem yourself. And if not, what if I tell you that there is a way that you can let off some steam? Or whatever sorrowful wallowing you are building up in here."

Yelena Belova has posed:
"I had an assignment, I failed to deliver, my Handler is dead..." Yelena describes the factors, before ending with, "by my hand." Her blue eyes level with Sharon's, "would SHIELD call it anything less than spectacular failure?"

Of course Sharon places SHIELD's priorities to light, and there's no arguing that from SHIELD's perspective, having Yelena at the Project Iceworm excrusion was a god send. "I guess it is a matter of perspective," Yelena entertains, without showing any emotional response, simply staring coldly at Sharon.

"..." Yelena opens her mouth but says nothing, looking Sharon over, listening to her words, and eventually smirks, "you don't care about me. You are desperate." There are many things one could excuse Black Widows of for better or worse, one of those things is being perceptive, as anyone who knows Natasha Romanoff might attest.

"...if I help you, I assume it in turn helps me. What ails you...?"

Sharon Carter has posed:
"Depends on who you ask." Sharon answers. "Me? I'd call it a 'whoops'." It was -almost- funny. Sharon didn't laugh though, the conversation itself was meant to be serious. Now hands slip into her pocket, taking on a more relaxed tone. Her head bobbing faintly as she smiles just a little.

"You -could- say that we're desperate, yes. I am not going to mince words. We are scattered and most of us are in the wind. And with what we have done and found; danger will come knocking. It's only a matter of time." It was a thing that all agents knew. Chickens come home to roost.

"You could also say that I need someone who is willing to do the things that I will not. Not for the sake of morality." Sharon takes a step closer. This was previously a friend, and now her adversary. "But to keep that part of me that no one has ever, nor will ever see in the dark."

A step back now, Sharon was going to be upfront. "Cliff notes. We've found a hidden, advanced tech HYDRA facility beneath Manhattan. We infiltrated." Simple. "And I -know- they're coming." No she doesn't, but its just a feeling. But if she sells it right, maybe..

"I will say though. You're wrong. No matter what happened back in .." She switches to English, only for this line. "..Russia, I do care for you Yelena. And I do not want to see you dead."

Yelena Belova has posed:
"Whoops..." Yelena utters the words very slowly, and one can almost feel the eye roll that should be there with it, but somehow isn't. But her voice makes it apparent.

"Ah...," Yelena remarks, as if she's more intent now that the actual information is coming out. Pleasantries are fun, and can be useful, but when she's in a cell it seems a waste. "Hydra is every bit Red Room enemy as they are SHIELD enemy. They are vile, their goals are an affront to Mother Russia." One could expect a Red Room operative and very recent Black Widow to have such concerns in mind. Their training is...unique, but effective.

"I appreciate not meeting my end in an ignoble execution. I believe I warrant better..." she takes a deep breath, "can I work with Natasha against these Hydra? I have no moral qualms in ending those dogs."

Sharon Carter has posed:
This was all good news to hear. In fact, Sharon doesn't even feel the need to play it up.

"Good." Sharon doesn't draw her hands from her pockets, nor clap like a happy child. Most of this is reserved for .. well, off camera actions. "Dying in battle? Eh." Now is when Sharon waves her hand, pushing off that notion of dying in battle as if it were trivial. "Surviving after?"

Letting that hang, Sharon nods. "Of course. Though that also means she gets to let you out. Besides, I don't think I can trust anyone else to watch you. You'd probably kill them all." Sharon smirks, then turns upon her heels to stroll away. "See you in Manhattan, Yelena Belova."

Yelena Belova has posed:
"It is what we do, don't we? Kill or be killed," Yelena speaks of it ever so casually, like they were discussing preferred dress color. "In the field, over in a cell, every time."

Yelena offers a ghost of a smile when Sharon mentions surviving after, she's been dealing with that bit of trauma since she's been put in this cell. "I am capable," is all Yelena says to the remark she might kill anyone else. Not as a threat, or a promise, simply conceding the point that prudence is advised when dealing with a Black Widow. Even if she is, supposedly, on your side. But can one ever truly tell? That's what makes Natasha best equipped to become her Handler, if she is to work at all within the confines of SHIELD.

"I will await the briefing."