"The Spider Bite" by @PaleLilSpider

[tirepanted3]

The following is from a Marvel fanfic posted on Twitter/X a few years ago, told from the perspective of Yelena Belova (the second Black Widow). It seems to be partly inspired by the famous comic book scene where Yelena mugs a flight attendant for her uniform while tailing Natasha. The story is a little fragmented in spots, but I've posted the key paragraphs here.



From my first day in the Red Room on, I had given every waking second and most of my dreams to earn this title. It’s the breath that came out of my mouth, the sweat trickling from my pores, and the tears streaming down my face.

And yet, I always knew that Romanova would be one step ahead of me. At this point I am unable to count the times when I lay on the floor of the training room, trying to put my fist through the floor, claiming that Romanova would have seen that move coming. And the times the Colonel tried to soothe me down, telling me it’s not a competition.

But it was a fucking competition. Yes, there can be more than one Black Widow, but in the end, there will always only be one of /the/ Black Widow. Of the woman that earned the title above everyone else, and it’s not me. Shit, it’s not me even though I’m the only student of the Red Room who’s ever surpassed Natalia’s marks. I should be equal to her, or even better, but I know I’m not.

They train you to listen to your trainer, and so I should have believed when Starkovsky told me I’m ready to get the Spider bite. But once I’ve learned that he had a kink for me, that he got himself tied up and beaten by a Yelena lookalike in a fetish club to get off with the name of Black Widow on his lips, this just doesn’t count that much anymore. A man with his testicles in a twist can’t be trusted. Dammit, he had been like a father to me!

(Yelena had never learned that this was all a ploy so that she asserts herself as the new Black Widow. And woe to those who did it if she ever finds out).

I’m not embarrassed to say that I’ve rushed to that job that would put me on a mission with Natalia. I wonder if she knows who I am.

She’s on that plane, and that’s where I go. I must admit, the flight attendant looked kinda sexy tied up in the plane toilet, stripped to her underwear.

“I’m sorry, little one.” I say and put a kiss to her gagged mouth. “But you just happen to have my size.”

Her clothes fit me perfectly, and I’m out with the passengers now, offering coffee, tea and water. No one notices that the flight staff had changed, because the passengers don’t even bother to look into the faces of those who serve them.

Three rows ahead, there she is. Natalia Romanova, Black Widow. But let’s face it, she’s getting too old for the job. It’s time for some fresh blood to take over.

“Of course Ma’am, would you like some peanuts with it?”

My smile must be exactly the fake one the flight attendants usually sport, a smile that is impenetrable, and could mean anything from ‘oh sure, old hag, have some vodka to drown out the fact that you’re getting wrinkly’ to ‘I just love to serve, wanna meet me in the back of the plane later?’.

The temptation to slip something into Romanova’s drink has been great, but I know better than that. A Black Widow can smell poison a mile against the wind, even if the poison is odorless. That’s how we’re trained, that’s how we survive.

“Would you like another blanket, you seem to be cold?”

Actually, Natalia looks warm and comfortable, judging from the way her eyes shine and her skin radiates beauty. Damn it, I had hoped she would be worn-out, lonely and haggard. Had Romanova found some happiness in her life? A shoulder to lean on? This just seems to very unfair.

In the small isle, another flight attendant, a male, is coming towards me with his cart, eyeing me suspiciously. Damn, did he realize I’m not the one I am supposed to be?

“If you need anything else, let me know.”

I’m pointing to the button overhead where she could ring for service - how humiliating - and then quickly I make my way back, to the toilet I had used before to overpower the woman.

“Listen, we change clothes again, and you will go out there and show your face. And I warn you, if you don’t smile like you should, or if you tell anyone, I will kill you. Well, first you and then everyone on this plane. You understand?”

I don’t have to show her my weapons, she’s already seen what I can do. So I remove the gag and the ropes, and get her young, slender body into her flight attendant dress.

“Come back here in fifteen minutes….”

My voice doesn’t go down at the end of the sentence, so the threat of ‘or else’ can linger in the tiny room of this plane.

It didn’t take the poor soul fifteen minutes to get back, but the message she is carrying is making me wanna squeeze her pale little neck until it snaps. However, it would make no difference, I have been made. So instead I’m just knocking her unconscious to get her out of the way, and then storm down the aisle - in my underwear - to find the male flight attendant who had looked at me weirdly before. With a catlike move I had practiced million of times I’ve got him in a stranglehold, and push him forward to Natalia’s seat. The other passengers are silent for a very long moment, surprised at what’s happening, and then they start screaming. Idiots. There’s not even a gun being waved around.

Of course I won’t need one.

Still walking, I quickly snatch a blanket from one of the other passengers, and then throw it on Natasha’s lap.

“Don’t get a cold, Natalia, I’ve heard it happens when you get old.”

I’m staring down the older woman, tightening the grip of my arm on my hostage’s neck until he turns a bit blue. I’ve always been accused of having a tendency to make a mess in missions, but this time I’ve outdone myself. There’s movement behind me, but I don’t care. In a narrow aisle like this they could only attack me one at a time. And it needs a whole army to bring down a Black Widow.

Full story: https://twitter.com/PaleLilSpider/statu ... 3194940416