Yelena doesn't bother waiting for everyone else. As soon as Natasha and Clint bring the pizzas to the kitchen, she digs in. It's been a very long few days, and she has earned this goddamn pizza.

The rest of the Avengers slowly trickle in. First is Steve; then the two scientists. She does her best to ignore them. She's already met them. She's already decided she doesn't like them. She's moving on.

She does have to give Tony credit for diving straight into the pizza, though. At least she can take comfort in the fact that they both value manners the same amount, which is to say, not at all. And it cues the rest of them to grab a slice, and thus, their dinner has started.

The next two to join are the Maximoff twins. Yelena's seen them on the news far more than she would have liked to – but then, that's to be expected, given that Wanda blew up a building full of innocent people. (She's sure there was more to it than that. She doesn't care enough to figure it out.)

The twins give her a strange look, and with her mouth full of food, the best Yelena can do is wave her half-eaten pizza at them.

"I did not know we had company," Pietro remarks.

Wanda looks at Yelena for a moment, then glances at Natasha, her head cocked slightly to the side. Does she know? Is her little magic radar thingy going off and telling her something?

"That's Yelena," Natasha says. "She's kind of my sister. I'll explain what she's doing here once everyone else is here."

Pietro gives her a weird look, but he doesn't question it aloud. To Yelena, he says, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Pietro."

"I know who you are," Yelena deadpans. "I've seen the news."

Wanda frowns at that. Yelena doesn't blame her. The news doesn't treat her very kindly, that's for sure.

The twins grab a plate and join them at the table. Then the awkward silence resumes, proving just how lucky she is that she doesn't have to deal with these people on a regular basis.

Then Bucky comes in. He glances at Yelena, raises a brow, and then grabs a piece of pizza and sits down next to Steve like this is the most normal thing in the world.

Yelena cocks an eyebrow. "You're not going to ask?"

Bucky lifts one shoulder in a half-assed shrug. "Am I supposed to?"

Natasha rolls her eyes. "That's Yelena," she says. "She's kind of my sister. I'll explain what's going on in a few minutes."

Yelena gives her a look. "Why do you always have to say that I am kind of your sister?"

Natasha shrugs and says, a bit defensively, "Because you're not really my sister."

Yelena juts out her jaw, annoyed. She might as well be her sister. They grew up together. For the longest time, she genuinely did believe that Natasha was her sister. Maybe Natasha had known all along, but that had to mean something, didn't it?

She takes another bite of her pizza, though it does nothing to soften her frustration.

And the awkward silence resumes.

She has to admit, though, she takes comfort in the fact that Bucky seems just as uncomfortable here as she feels. At least they can be miserable together.

She's on her fourth slice of pizza when Thor and Loki finally show up. Loki just looks like him, like he was plucked out of the years-old news footage of his attack on New York. He's wearing his badass leather god costume; his hair is slicked back; he's just... him. He's exactly what he looked like yesterday, and exactly what he looked like four years ago.

Meanwhile, Thor is in jeans and a white t-shirt that's half-transparent from the water dripping from his hair, and he looks absolutely ridiculous.

Tony snorts. "What, you just come back from the beach?"

"From the shower," Thor corrects him, as earnest as can be, like he doesn't even know that Tony's making fun of him. "We were in the training room when FRIDAY told us there was pizza." He grabs a plate and plops two pieces of pizza on it.

Yelena eyes Loki suspiciously. Either he was just standing around the training room while Thor was working up a sweat, or something fishy is going on, because this is not what a man who just stepped out of the shower looks like.

Thor gives her a friendly wave. "Hello, Yelena! It's nice to meet you." He plops down in the seat next to her, much to her chagrin. "It's so nice to hear that Natasha has a sister. I couldn't believe I was the only Avenger with a sibling!"

Just to be a sassy bitch, Yelena says, "I'm only kind of her sister," with an icy hint to her tone.

Natasha just rolls her eyes.

Thor waves that off. "Loki is only 'kind of' my brother, and that's changed nothing."

Loki huffs as he sits down next to him. "I wouldn't say 'nothing,'" he mutters.

Thor ignores that. "Biology is only a small part of what makes family, family. You can be siblings without sharing an ounce of blood. Loki and I are living proof of that."

Loki cracks a smile, which he swiftly hides behind his pizza. It is disgusting. Why do they get to have a cute, wholesome sibling relationship after Loki literally tried to kill him and take over the world, but Yelena and Natasha, who have experienced exactly none of that, can't even take the "kind of" out of "kind-of sisters"?

"It's not 'biology,'" Natasha says. "It's that we only knew each other for three years."

Thor raises his brows. "Oh."

Yelena tries not to let that get to her. This is fine. It's fine. She truly, genuinely believed that Natasha and Alexei and Melina were her family until she was six years old and she was pulled away from the only family she'd ever known, but this is fine.

"So," Tony says, "what's going on? What's the game plan? Someone entertain me while I eat my pizza, will you?"

So Natasha does just that. She briefly summarizes everything that's happened – the vials, the persistence of the Red Room, the mind-controlled Widows and the Taskmaster that attacked them – and everybody looks on with intrigue. She would love to listen to this and feel intrigued. She would love to listen and not know that it's her life that they're talking about; that it's the lives of everyone she's ever dared call a friend.

As Natasha talks, Yelena slouches in her chair and continues demolishing the Avengers' supply of pizza. She doesn't really want to look at anybody. She doesn't want to talk to anybody. She's just here to take down the Red Room and nothing more. Clearly, that's all Natasha wants from her.

"How's recreating the antidote coming?" Steve asks when she's done.

"It's comin'," Tony replies flippantly.

"We'll keep working on it overnight," Bruce says. "I bet we'll have it done by morning."

"Sounds good," Natasha says.

Yelena scowls. Now she has to spend the night here, too? This is awful. Everything about this is just awful.

"And then, what, we hit up the Red Room?" Steve asks. "Free all the Widows? Kill Dreykov and the Taskmaster?"

"Yeah, you know," Clint says, "in a perfect world where everything we do is simple and easy and uncomplicated."

Natasha huffs a sarcastic laugh. It doesn't bode well for the future of this little adventure of theirs.

"Where is this Red Room?" Bucky asks. "Russia?"

"We don't know," Natasha says.

Tony scoffs. "How do you not know?" he asks. "Yelena, you work there. Where is it?"

"I don't know," Yelena says, a bit annoyed by the question. "It moves location constantly, and every Widow is sedated on entry and exit for maximum security."

Tony blinks. "Damn."

"So that would be the 'complicated' aspect, then," Pietro remarks.

"So, if we don't know where the Red Room is," Steve says slowly, "how do we get there? Do we have any leads?"

Yelena shakes her head. She doesn't have the slightest idea where to start with this. She just has to hope that the Avengers will do what they do best and figure out a way to get their... avengeance... Is that a word? That should be a word.

Natasha thinks for a few moments; then, slowly, "I might have a potential lead."

Yelena gives her a weird look. How could she possibly have a lead? She knows the same amount that Yelena knows. Hell, she knows less than Yelena knows. This doesn't even make sense.

But then Natasha looks at her, and all she says is, "Alexei."

Suddenly, it makes sense again.

Yelena nods slowly. "He might know," she agrees. It's someplace to start, at least – the only starting point they have, more importantly. She doesn't want to do this, of course. Nobody in their right mind would want to go see Alexei Shostakov, especially if they want something from him. But what choice do they have? They can't take down the Red Room if they don't know how to find it.

"Who's Alexei?" Bruce asks.

Natasha heaves a dramatic sigh. "He was our 'dad.'" She puts the word in finger quotations.

Tony perks up at that. "Ooh, I want to meet Widow's dad!"

"No, you don't," Yelena deadpans. He may think he does, but he doesn't.

"You're not even coming," Natasha reminds him. "You're retired. Why do you care?"

Tony shrugs. "You can bring him back here after."

"No," Natasha says immediately. "No, he is not coming anywhere near the compound."

"Why not?" Tony whines.

"Because he's not," Natasha says, shooting him a look. "Drop it."

Tony mimes zipping his lips, and Yelena still can't decide if he's funny or annoying. He may simply just be both.

It's Steve who steers the conversation back on track. "And you think he can help us find the Red Room?"

"I don't know," Natasha says. "I guess we'll find out."

It's then that Yelena notices a potential problem in their plan.

"Um... Natasha?" she says uncertainly.

"What?"

"Are we sure it is a good idea to bring Alexei near Captain America?"

Natasha pauses.

It looks like Yelena's fears aren't unfounded. Natasha seems to share the same ones.

Steve furrows his brows. "Why wouldn't that be a good idea?"

Natasha hesitates, and then she sighs. "He's kind of..." She pauses for a moment, trying to find the words, and Yelena revels in her discomfort. "He has this thing where he insists that he fought you during, like, the Cold War or something – that you guys are, like, arch-nemeses." She shakes her head to herself. "He's very weird and eccentric and not pleasant company, but if you just ignore him, he'll..." She trails off, then sighs once more. "If you just ignore him, he still won't shut up. This will be miserable. I'm sorry in advance."

Steve chuckles. "Well, thanks for the heads up," he says. "I take it you guys know where he is, at least?"

"Prison," Yelena says bluntly. "In Russia."

That seems to put a dent in the Avengers' confidence.

"Well, shit," Pietro remarks. (He has a European accent and he likes to say shit. He's easily Yelena's new favorite Avenger, just for that.)

Tony sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Alright," he says, "what prison is he in? I'll make some calls; see what I can do."

Yelena huffs. "You think that a Russian prison is going to listen to you?"

"Money talks," Tony says simply.

Yelena just looks at him for a few moments. "Hmm." He makes a good point. Maybe she can snag some money from him when all this is over. She would love to get paid to take down the Red Room.