Laura who was still in her berserker state was destroying the abominations as if there was no tomorrow, though it lasted for no more than 5 minutes before she lost that state and her stats were halved. The total time that she was in her berserker state was 10 minutes. Which was a decent time in Alex's opinion.
[We're not done yet, Laura. We still have to fight off the rest of these abominations that seem to be targeting us with their lives on the line.] Alex brought the groggy Laura back to reality. She was feeling extremely weakened and just wanted to go to sleep.
[Goddamnit…] She complained inwardly but her head cleared up after hearing Alex's words. She wasn't tired, she was just weakened and would need some time to get back to her correct state.
'Good…' Laura felt Alex's thoughts and felt that he was proud of her. She had a light smile on her face as she got back to her coordination with Alex while killing the abominations.
It took them both 24 more hours to go through all of the abominations. almost 30 hours of constant fighting was bound to tire anyone out and Laura was no more than a dead girl walking after killing her last abomination.
Alex was the same as always, true to his inexhaustible stamina. Only in cases where his mental energy is overtaxed would he be tired and this didn't even qualify as a warm-up for his mental prowess.
By the end, Alex was very satisfied with his gains during this ambush. Although the abominations had been the ones to ambush Laura, she had been the one to benefit from the situation.
She'd gotten perfectly used to her new enhanced physique and her coordination with Alex was now impeccable. And the benefits that Alex got from this were even better.
«EP: 54635»
Just the 50 thousand EP was more than enough for him to consider this whole scenario a very successful endeavor, but he'd also received a new skill that he didn't yet know the use of, but he would know soon enough after he experiments with it enough.
‹Basic Blood Manipulation›:: Allows the user to manipulate blood on a rudimentary level. The user can create constructs made from the blood in their control. Also passively changes the blood to have a cursed effect that will make it toxic to anyone it touches.
This was why the leader abominations were taking so long to use blood manipulation to create constructs. They could only affect the blood under their control. But this wasn't a problem for Alex since he had a practically inexhaustible supply of blood after the massacre today. It was all stored in the inner dimension where he stored the biomass that could be used to eat so that he can take care of his hunger or increase the density of his body.
The ability was particularly useful for him.
'Time to go to another shelter…' Alex sighed as he looked at the destroyed remains of what was his and Laura's home for the last few weeks. He'd already found a couple of decent shelters after his exploration, some much better than this one, so it wasn't a big deal to move to another shelter. Especially after Laura's newfound prowess. The duo could cover the entire continent in a couple of hours if they wanted.
Taking control of Laura's unconscious body, Alex brought her to their new home for the foreseeable future.
This time it was a private shelter that was probably commissioned by some billionaire but was never used since there were no traces of anyone ever arriving here.
And it was still stocked to the brim with all the necessities that one might need. Food, entertainment, everything that one would need was present here. This place had an entire mini-theatre theatre with recliners and beds, a game room with all sorts of gaming consoles, there was even a BDSM room with all sorts of toys here. And Alex was particularly anticipatory to do unspeakable things to Laura after tying her up in there.
After putting Laura in the huge and luxurious master bedroom, Alex cuddled up with her and decided to focus a bit on his personal development. His main body that was present in space was close to a breakthrough in the structure of the symbiote race and how everything works while also finishing something that he'd been working on for the past few months since he discovered the virtually infinite biomass storage that he had.
…
In the spaceship that was floating in space near the planetary cluster.
The main anchor of Alex's body was present in the spaceship in his true form. A pitch-black blob of slime was floating above the ground of the spaceship as it was focused on invisible incorporeal threads that were extending from its body. 35 of them were weak as if they could be destroyed with a mere thought. But there were 6 threads that were thicker and had more substance. There was a light golden sheen around them. One of them was especially bright while the others had varied intensities of light. The brightest was Laura's thread while the one with the weakest glow was Natasha's thread.
But that's not what Alex was focusing on right now.
His focus was on the origin of those threads, an incorporeal golden sphere from which the threads extended out. This is the anchor of his consciousness to the main material dimension. He'd been unraveling how his consciousness is able to connect so many different bodies across such vast distances. While also trying to understand how the hive mind of the symbiotes works.
As he focused on the sphere that was the source of the threads, he was greeted by a vastly different view. A view that he thought to be incomprehensible, but he was fully able to understand everything when seeing that view.
Alex understood that this was his human side rejecting this unknown space that it couldn't comprehend. But his symbiote side was easily able to understand what was going on and where he was.
He was in the Klyntar Soul Dimension. This is where all of the Klyntar race's souls resided, connected to their bodies within the main material universe.
In this dimension, there was no concept of space and time. Its existence itself was a paradox. But it existed. And this was where Alex's main consciousness resided. And the view of that main consciousness was what Alex was seeing right now.
Alex could see tiny little beings around him. He realized that those were the souls of other beings that were connected to the hive mind.
'I'm huge…' Alex realized as he looked at the others and compared them to his own size.
If the other beings of the Klyntar were shapeless blobs of mass the size of tennis balls, Alex was a huge perfect sphere that was hundreds of times larger. But somehow, those other beings couldn't see the huge mass that was Alex. And instead, all they saw was a slightly larger deformed being that was in the place of Alex. This was his way of hiding from the others in the hive mind.
This dimension was also the place where all of Alex's internal storage existed. Since there was no concept of space here, anything could exist here as long as the rules allowed it. That was how Alex stored the huge amount of biomass that he'd devoured. It was considered part of his body and could be stored there. It was the same with the specific elements that he could transfer using his Matter Transmission.
And this ability was the reason that Alex was here today.
He wanted to combine all of these storage sections into a singular ability. He wanted his own inventory where he could store anything he wanted and for as long as he wanted. Since there was no concept of time, nothing could age in this dimension.
He'd been working on combining his elemental storage, energy storage, and biomass storage for a long time and his efforts were finally about to come to fruition.
After months of effort and trying to make stable storage for all his requirements, Alex was finally successful as his inventory formed, though there was a huge price that came with it. Alex had to use his EP as fuel to bring the ability to fruition.
[-5000 EP]
‹Inventory›:: A central storage present within the Klyntar Soul Dimension where anything can be stored. Whether it is matter or energy, it can be stored within this storage. As long as an item is placed within the inventory, no time will pass for that item and it will come out with the exact conditions that it came in. There is no limit to the materials that can be stored within the inventory as long as the consciousness can envelop the items.
After this ability, Alex was finally able to get rid of those inferior skills and replace them with ‹Inventory›.
[ «Skill Acquisition»
«EP: 49635»
«EP Generation: 1.3/Day»
«Owned Skills: ‹Superhuman Grade Physique Creation (200 Tons)› ‹True 6th Sense› ‹Intermediate Lightning Manipulation› ‹Basic Blood Manipulation› ‹Weak Magic Affinity— Mana Sense› ‹Host of the Scarlet Witch› ‹Lesser Heat and Sound Resistance› ‹Biological Manipulation› ‹Inventory› ‹Camouflage› ‹Host Enhancement› ‹Devour› ‹Copy›»
]
When the process was completed, Alex stopped focusing on the central node within his main body that connected him to the Klyntar Soul Dimension and his perspective changed back to the ship where he was a blob that was floating in the ship. The anchor node that connected this body to his consciousness in the Klyntar Soul Dimension was the same as always. Stable, without any fluctuations. The 41 threads that were extending from it were the same as ever. 35 dormant, and 6 with varying intensities of light.
He focused on the one that shone the second brightest and was led to the scene of Wanda and Natasha training. The incorporeal line led directly to Wanda's body and another fainter line led to Natasha's body.
It was going to be some time before he decides what to do with the rest of the EP. It was most probably going to be used to enhance his own stats, Laura's stats, and maybe Wanda's after Alex formed the Level 3 bond with her.
He didn't have any plans to buy any abilities since it wasn't exactly something he was interested in. Especially since he could get almost any ability by just devouring the person with that ability.
Wanda was huffing crazily as she tried to breathe after the intense fight against Natasha that had kept her on her toes for the past 6 hours. Nat was also sweating and was slightly out of breath but She was in a much better state than Wanda.
"Are we done?" Wanda asked with desperation in her eyes.
"We're done…" Nat smiled amusedly, "I can now leave you alone without any worry."
"God…"Wanda slumped on the ground and just lay there splayed.
Natasha chuckled, "Enjoy your rest. You're going to miss my training in a few days." Nat commented as she walked out of the training area.
They had both gotten much stronger in recent days.
[ «Status- Host #3»
«Name: Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) (MCU Earth)»
«Bonding Rate: 32->34%»
«Bonding Level: 2»
«Powers: Low Superhuman Physique (10->15 Tons)— Melee Mastery— Espionage Mastery»
]
[ «Status- Host #4»
«Name: Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) (MCU Earth)»
«Bonding Rate: 30->38%»
«Bonding Level: 2»
«Powers: Low Superhuman Physique (3->7 Tons)—Chaos Magic»
]
Wanda was too tired to even comment on Natasha's words.
[Can you get me back to top shape, Alex? It's going to be a long ride to Budapest.] Natasha said in her head as she walked out of the mansion.
[You don't want to rest a bit?] He asked after fixing her up and removing all her physical exhaustion.
[I've delayed it for long enough. I should check it out. If that message has even the tiniest bit of validity, I need to know.] She said and walked to the newly stolen helicopter that they'd gotten after the events in Wakanda. A plane was very impractical for a place such as this safe house so they ended up stealing two helicopters in exchange for that plane.
[Understandable. Though what do you think?] Alex said.
[To my knowledge, The Red Room, Dreykov was all destroyed with those bombs. Shield compromised an entire city to bring them down. It couldn't have failed. But if it did…] Nat said, her conviction faltering as she spoke the last words.
[What are you going to do if Shield did fail and The Red Room still exists? Shield wasn't exactly the most reliable of organizations after their whole Hydra infiltration situation, was it?] Alex asked.
[Then I'll take care of it. I'll finish what I started.] Nat said.
[I don't think you started The Red Room…] Alex tried to lighten the mood.
[You know what I mean…] Nat smiled lightly, [The destruction of The Red Room was the condition for my defection to Shield. If it still exists, then it's my job to finish it.] Nat told him.
[I like your conviction. You should call in your friends.] He said.
[I don't think Tony is very inclined to help here.] She said.
[Rogers?]
[He's busy with Bucky.]
[Wanda?]
[She has to train her powers.]
[Just say that you want to do this on your own and don't want to involve anyone else. Holy mother of god girl, it's like you're in denial] Alex snapped.
[Whatever…] Nat said with a wry smile and got quiet as she focused on the controls of the helicopter while piloting to Budapest.
…
"Will she be fine?" Wanda asked as she looked at the disappearing helicopter that was no more than a dot at this point.
"Of course. I'm with her. She'll be fine, no matter what." Alex told her as he rubbed her back while standing beside her.
"Yeah but, she seemed… I don't know… conclusive as she left." Wanda said.
"Because she's not coming back here after this. I think she's planning something. I don't know what, but she's got something that she wants to do after taking care of this ghost from her past." Alex told her.
"I hope she'll be fine…" Wanda said.
"Don't worry so much. What you should be worried about is where to find the Book of the Dammed." Alex told Wanda.
"I don't want the Book of the Dammed. Can't I get something that sounds positive? Like the Book of Truth or something?" Wanda said in a spoiled manner while looking into Alex's eyes with an adorable look.
"It doesn't work that way. Your powers are extremely strong and they can only be truly utilized to their fullest after you find the Darkhold." Alex loved seeing Wanda act spoiled with him.
"I know…" She grumbled, "You don't have any clues about its location?" She asked.
"It's supposedly connected to you and your Chaos magic. You should be able to locate it if you focus your intent on your chaos magic to locate it." Alex said.
They both got busy with their discussion to find the Darkhold. They would also be making a trip after Wanda finds a clue to the Darkhold. Alex's canon knowledge was of no use here. Agatha got the Darkhold during the 5-year gap after the snap. Its location before that was mentioned in the Agents of Shield, but Alex didn't bother with that show and had no clues about it.
In the end, Wanda would have to wing it if she wanted to locate the Darkhold, hoping that her Chaos magic could lead her to the book.
…
The door creaked open as Natasha opened the metallic entry door to the apartment complex. It had old architecture as designs ran over the door. She opened it and walked into the dilapidated courtyard that was surrounded by apartments. Noticing a few people out and about, Natasha kept a low profile and walked in with a destination in mind.
She walked through the concrete street and reached the apartment that she wanted to go to. Entering the old elevator that seemed like it would fall at any time, she pressed the button for her floor and closed the double metal grill doors of the elevator. The doors weren't automatic and she had to close them manually.
Breathing audibly, Natasha was more than a little nervous as she waited for the elevator to being her to the designated floor. The only thoughts that were going through her mind were 'what ifs'.
What if The Red Room was still in operation?
What if Dreykov was still alive and was in control of the army of Black Widow assassins?
What if her adoptive baby sister Yelena was hurt?
Countless thoughts were racing through her mind as she waited endlessly. Then finally, the ding of the elevator brought her out of her musings. Natasha opened the door and walked out of the elevator, closing its doors behind her.
She walked to the apartment that she used as a safe house in Budapest, feeling a light wave of memories coming back to her. Her eyes drifted to the designs on the double door, intricate wooden carvings that were a pain to keep clean, a metallic doorframe with even more of the same carving design. All of it brought back memories to Natasha.
With an uncanny familiarity, she grabbed a specific grill and pulled it out, pushing her hand inside the vent and pulling out a taped package that held a gun and the key to that apartment.
She put away the gun in the holster on her belt, in preparation for when she might need it.
She looked at the door and sighed inwardly before pushing the key into the keyhole and turning it, opening the lock.
"I know you're out there." She heard a voice call out to her from inside the apartment.
"I know," Natasha said without stopping her actions and pushed open the door to the apartment.
The doors opened with a creaking sound and Natasha drew her gun and readied herself for a fight, taking a stance before slowly walking in.
"Then why are you walking as if you're in a minefield?" The voice asked again.
"'Cause I don't know if I can trust you." Natasha was on full alert for an ambush. She kept checking her surroundings for someone hiding and about to attack her.
"Funny, I was going to say the same thing." The voice with a slight Russian accent said again. By then, Natasha had reached the area of the kitchen where the voice was originating from.
"So? We gonna talk like grown-ups?" Just as she said that she turned the corner and pointed her gun at the person in the room. Only to see a gun pointed at her too.
Nat gave a glance to the woman that she'd been talking to. She was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Russian girl with a round face. She was wearing some leather pants and what seemed like a t-shirt under a windbreaker.
"Is that what we are?" Yelena asked Natasha while pointing her gun at Natasha's head, apprehensive of her while also being anticipatory, hoping that Natasha was here to help.
Yelena's apprehension was readable by Natasha and she didn't waste the opportunity that Yelena's slight hesitation provided her. She walked ahead as Yelena stepped back, both of their guns still pointed at each other.
Natasha's actions put Yelena at a slight mental disadvantage as she was already pushed back before the fight started.
Yelena was feeling the palpable tension in the room as she said to Natasha in a threatening tone, "Put it down before I make you." She said, referring to the gun.
"You put yours down." Nat was as calm as she could be, being no stranger to these kinds of high-tension situations. Then again, the only reason that Yelena was even a little affected by the tension in the room was due to Natasha's stature as the big sister in their relationship. Yelena respected Natasha so she wasn't able to act completely objectively here.
Yelena kept walking back as she crossed a ledge and Natasha didn't hesitate to take advantage of the little opportunity, "Watch your step," She said with slight derision in her tone that irked Yelena.
Yelena's eye twitched just a little as finally, after this mental confrontation, both assassins made their moves.
Both of them were close enough to snatch the weapon from their opponent. and they both did that. Natasha snatched Yelena's gun while Yelena snatched Natasha's gun and they both got into a stalemate for a moment.
Then they both started moving, Natasha hit Yelena's gun with her forearm and disarmed her, while Yelena kicked Natasha's gun away. At the same time, Nat punched Yelena in her throat which was blocked by Yelena's arm. They both fought for a few more minutes, exchanging more and more blows, destroying the kitchen in the process. After a while, Yelena grabbed a knife and attacked Natasha with it.
At this point, Natasha decided to finish it as she was done with her probing and knew that Yelena wasn't compromised. How did she know? A fight with someone tells a lot. And someone like Yelena who'd trained with Nat for years in the Red Room was easily readable by Natasha.
So what did Nat do? She took the knife from Yelena and let her stab her in the stomach. Taking advantage of Yelena's momentary shock at the moment, Natasha grabbed her in a chokehold and flipped her over, subduing her.
"Never let your guard down, Yelena. Unless you're sure that your enemy's finished." Nat lightly admonished her. Alex could block high-caliber bullets without letting Natasha feel a thing, a kitchen knife was nothing.
"You seem to have gotten some tricks up your sleeve…" Yelena tapped out.
"Guess, I do." Nat smiled while reminiscing about her times with Yelena. She threw the knife to the side and got up, offering Yelena her hand. She gave nat a look for a few moments before grabbing Nat's hand and pulling down.
"Real mature…" Nat had an amused smile as she just pulled Yelena up instead. Nat's physical stats were more than enough to completely take care of Yelena without any problems.
"Did the Avengers make you Captain America now?" Yelena asked with a frustrated edge in her voice.
"Something like that…" Nat smiled a smile that had many implications, "You've grown up…" Nat had a fond smile on her face.
"No shit…" Yelena didn't seem so fond.
"Why did you come to Budapest, Yelena…" Nat asked. Yelena got up and walked back to the kitchen. She pulled out a bottle of vodka and poured herself a drink.
"I didn't know if you'd come or not." Yelena shrugged as she chugged the entire glass before filling up another one.
"Tone down on the vodka. These aren't shots." Nat snatched away the glass from her and chugged the neat vodka herself.
"Whatever." Yelena started chugging the vodka directly from the bottle.
"This isn't exactly a safe spot, Yelena." Nat was annoyed and snatched the bottle from Yelena who rolled her eyes.
"Question. What kind of bullet does that?" She pointed at a spot that was marred by holes made from Hawkeye's arrows.
"Arrows. Why did you call me here? I don't think that you needed to bait me about the Red Room just for a sisters' reunion." Nat finally got to the point.
"What do you mean bait?" Yelena asked with a genuinely confused tone.
"What else, if not bait? The Red Room's been gone for years. Dreykov's dead. I killed him." Nat told Yelena, walking after her who went into a closet that was filled with guns. Yelena was loading up. It seemed that she was expecting to get into a fight.
She scoffed, "You don't actually believe that, do you?" Yelena looked back at Nat only to see genuine confusion on her face, "…You really do believe that."
"Dreykov's dead," She said with finality, "It took almost destroying the entire city just to get to him."
"Tell me what happened. Tell me exactly." Yelena asked. Her tone gave Nat an ominous feeling. At this point, she understood what Yelena was getting to, but she didn't want to accept it.
"We rigged bombs—" She was interrupted by Yelena, "Who's we?" She asked.
"Clint Barton. And Shield. Killing Dreykov was the final step in my defection." She said.
"Simple as that…"
"Yeah, sure. Simple. If that's what you call imploding a 5-story building and then shooting it out with Special Forces…" Nat went back to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle that she'd left there before drinking large gulps of vodka while explaining the details to Yelena.
"And you saw the body? Confirmed the kill?" Yelena asked further.
"There weren't any bodies left," She said, [You're getting intoxicated, Nat. There's a fight coming.] She heard Alex's voice in her head. She knew that there would be a fight soon, judging by how Yelena was gearing up.
"You're forgetting—" Yelena was about to continue but there was an explosion that interrupted her. And with that, a team of 4 women entered Natasha's Budapest safe house.
"You were tracked?!" Nat said as she walked out in the open, uncaring about the assaulting team. At the same time, her casual leather jacket and jeans morphed into her Black Widow combat suit. Yelena didn't notice the absurd change in Nat's clothes as there was a lot of dust that flew up after the explosion, naturally hiding Nat.
The four women had come geared up and were easily able to spot Nat, but she'd already changed her clothes. The four pointed their weapons at Nat and started shooting. At the same time, Nat released two taser blasts from her wrists and incapacitated two of them before they could start shooting.
The other two started firing at Nat. And Natasha just dodged all of their bullets, courtesy of Alex sharing his sixth sense with her. Without delaying too much, she was upon the other two within a moment's notice and beat the two of them up with her superior combat skills within a few seconds flat.
"What the fuck?!" Yelena who'd just made her way to the area of the fight was extremely surprised to see the four women taken care of by the time she arrived.
Suddenly, Natasha pushed Yelena to the side with such intensity that it made her collide with the wall behind her, "What the hell, dude!" Yelena screamed and at that instant, there was the sound of a gunshot that was shot at the exact spot where Yelena's head was a moment ago.
"Thank me later. We need to go." Nat said and grabbed Yelena's arm, pulling her away from the apartment and to the corridors of the complex, "I assume you have a getaway planned?" She asked Yelena.
"Yeah, I do. East side of the building, there's a motorbike." Yelena told Nat as she struggled to keep up with Nat's insane speed.
Just as Nat made a turn, she ran into two more women that were blocking the duo's way ahead, "I'll take left." She told Yelena and attacked the one on the left while Yelena took the one on the right.
By the time Yelena was done with her opponent, she looked over at Nat who was already looking at her, "How long have you been done?" She asked.
"A while. I see quite a few glaring problems with your fighting style." Nat commented as they both started running again.
"Condescending much?" Yelena didn't appreciate Natasha's comment.
"I call it constructive criticism," Nat said. Her attitude was different from Yelena's, she was calm and confident in her abilities to get out of the situation unscathed.
Yelena didn't have time to roll her eyes and reply as they reached a viewing area that had a view of the rooftops of the many houses. There were 5 people that were running toward them from the hallway so they broke through the glass and kept running.
"Yelena, duck!" Nat warned her again. And Yelena listened to her without hesitation, just as she ducked, a bullet was fired.
"How are you doing this?" Yelena had to ask.
"Sixth sense," Nat said.
"Fine. Keep your secrets." Yelena grumbled as she looked back. They'd lost their initial pursuers, but they now had someone else on their tail, "She's one of the pass-outs." She informed Nat.
Nat didn't say anything, still coming to terms with the fact that the Red Room was still a thing.
They kept running to their destination, hopping across rooftops until finally, they reached a sort of inner courtyard area where the rooftops ended.
"Where, now?" Nat had just asked but Yelena grabbed her hand and had her grab onto a chimney pipe before unclasping it from the roof. The chimney slowly started falling, but its slow pace gave their Black Widow assailant a chance to catch up. Just as they were off the building, the assailant jumped in hopes of reaching the duo. But she fell short.
Thankfully for her, Natasha grabbed her. She needed answers. The girl slashed her knife at Nat's hand but it was no use as it couldn't pierce through the glove that Nat was wearing.
By then, the chimney pipe fell to the next building, acting as a bridge to a window within the building.
Yelena was holding the pipe higher so she fell into the window, breaking through the glass but Natasha was a little lower so she had to grab onto the ledge. She then hoisted herself up from that ledge while bringing the unknown woman with her.
Just as she crossed the ledge, Yelena shot a red gas at the face of the woman that she'd just pulled up.
***
"The fuck was that?" Nat asked, keeping herself away from the red gas.
"No time, let's go!" Yelena said as she pulled the still-confused woman away. She'd stopped attacking them after being hit by that gas.
Nat followed after Yelena who seemed to be giving some instructions to the woman.
"Which one?" Nat asked.
"Black, Brown seat," Yelena said. And the woman that she'd been talking to separated from them.
"You owe me a very lengthy explanation," Nat said as she passed Yelena and took a seat on the bike.
"Where are my keys…" Yelena asked rhetorically as she started looking through her jacket. Just then, there was the sound of the engine revving as the bike came to life. Alex was pretty helpful when it came to any sort of electronics.
"Or you could do that…" Yelena commented as she got on the bike and took her seat behind Natasha.
Just then, a car flew from the side, making Nat and Yelena pause for a second. Then an armored vehicle came to view that took a turn to face them. Its presence brought Nat out of her reverie and the bike started moving.
What followed was a scene of a huge armored vehicle chasing after a bike through the streets of Budapest, sending whatever car came its way flying. After some expert maneuvering, Nat took a turn into a narrow alley, losing that truck. But then they had two bikes on their tail. They seemed to be driven by Widows who were shooting at them both.
"Be a dear and help me lose them," Nat handed Yelena a gun.
"Where did you—" She was about to ask where Nat got the gun from, but a bullet whizzing past her head made her take action and start shooting at the two bikes.
Yelena herself was also an experienced killer and was a very good shot. Both of her shots hit their mark and hit the tires of the bikes, getting rid of their assailants.
"I see that you didn't kill them." Nat noticed.
"They're being controlled." Yelena didn't say any more.
"I see…" Nat started connecting some dots but she knew that right now wasn't the time for this talk.
[Incoming!] Just as Nat took a turn to make her getaway, the armored vehicle appeared and almost rammed her and Yelena. Only with Alex's timely warning could she dodge the ramming of the armored truck, and the bike ended up being led into a subway down the stairs. Nat had to maneuver through groups of people that were here to use the train as she lost the armored truck again, it couldn't enter the subway entrance, so the person that was driving the vehicle came out.
It was a fully armored individual with a shield that was reminiscent of Captain America's Vibranium shield. Seeing that the targets were getting away, the armored individual made the only move that they could think of and threw the shield at the bike.
Nat wasn't able to dodge it due to the presence of the pedestrians and the shield ended up hitting the back wheel of the bike, sending both Nat and Yelena into the air.
"Ahh!" Yelena's hand got caught on the exhaust port of the flying bike and she got a horrible burn, "Fuck!" She suppressed her pain.
Just as Nat and Yelena landed, Natasha shielded Yelena being her and faced their armored assailant.
"Who is this, guy?" Nat asked Yelena who was busy trying to mitigate the effects of her burn.
"Dreykov's special project. He can mimic anyone he's ever seen. It's like fighting a mirror. Calls him Project Trickster" Yelena told her.
"None of this makes any sense," Nat took a fighting stance.
"A lot of things don't." Yelena's reply was a little snarky.
"You seem to have some problems—" Nat was talking to Yelena but the trickster was already upon Natasha and attacked her. Nat easily grabbed the gloved hand that was punched toward her and flipped the person over, "I'm trying to have a talk here." Nat held the person in a chokehold and held them down.
"You were really holding back weren't you…" Yelena was honestly in awe of Natasha's power.
Nat didn't waste any time and shocked this Project Trickster into unconsciousness. She was strong enough to deal with any threats, but that didn't mean that she was willing to fight an army of Black Widows right now.
She helped Yelena up and brought her away.
"You have got to teach me this stuff…" Yelena was awestruck by Natasha's power.
"Let's get you fixed up first," Natasha said and shocked Yelena too, leaving her unconscious.
[Alex, some help…] She asked, and invisible tendrils extended out of her body and wrapped around Yelena. At the same time, Nat and Yelena both turned invisible.
…
Alex and Nat brought Yelena to a suburban area, close to where Nat hid their helicopter and put her in the back seat of the car after having Alex heal her up, waiting till she woke up.
[What do you think?] Nat asked Alex who'd been strangely quiet for a while.
[You can trust her. I haven't sensed her lying to you yet, nor is she under any external mind influence.] Alex had probed her mind while healing her up.
[I see…] Nat went deep into thought and didn't say anything more.
[You don't have to think so much. Just do what you want. The Red Room isn't something that you need to be worried about. You can easily take care of that Dreyfuck or whatever without any issues.] Alex said.
[Dreykov…] Nat had a light smile on her face.
[Whatever. The point is that he doesn't matter. You can treat this as a bonding adventure with your little sister. Maybe take in a few of the Black Widows, and make your own personal army or something. It'll clearly be extremely difficult for them to adapt to normal life in any other situation.] Alex said.
[I'll think about it…] Nat wasn't decisive.
Alex didn't say anything after that and paid attention to his side project. He was looking for an opportunity to replace Killmonger and take over Wakanda. He'd been waiting for the past few days to do exactly that and he'd finally found the opportunity. He had many plans that could be executed after he took over Wakanda. Plans along the lines of an intergalactic empire spanning multiple worlds. But that's for later.
Natasha looked over at Yelena and decided to wake her up. Going over to her, she put her hand on Yelena's neck and delivered a fine controlled electric zap to wake her up naturally.
Yelena's eyes opened wide and she got up, banging her head against Natasha's.
"Oww…" She held her head while Natasha looked at her with a flat look.
"Where am I?" She asked Natasha while holding her bruised forehead.
"In a car, far away from any conflict. Now I want answers. Then we'll see what to do about this whole Red Room stuff that you've been going on about." Nat said as she got out of the car and let Yelena get out by herself.
"Yeah, yeah…" Yelena looked at her arm where she'd received the burn but was surprised to see the burn missing, "What happened? How did you heal me?"
"My questions first. What was that red gas?" Nat hadn't planned on exposing Alex to her.
"Fine…" Yelena grumbled, acting like an immature kid in front of her big sister, "It's an antidote to mind control. Specifically, the kind of mind control that the newer Widows are chemically subjugated to. This gas counteracts those chemicals" She explained to Nat who went silent for a while after hearing what she said.
"How is it different from what I went through?" Nat asked.
"What you went through was mental conditioning and brainwashing. This," Yelena held up a vial of the gas, "Is far more intrusive. It chemically alters brain functions. You don't even know which part is yours and which is under control. Dreykov can easily control the Widows with ease. And this is the only antidote." Yelena's eyes got a hollow look as she remembered everything that she'd had to do under the influence of that mind control. It was traumatizing for her, leaving her feeling like she was a prisoner in her own mind.
"That bad?" Nat asked.
"Worse. The person who made this was an older widow from Melina's generation. I was the one who killed her. Just as she freed me from the control, I stabbed a knife into her gut. She died in my arms…" Yelena said.
"So it's all real, huh? The Red Room, Dreykov… They're all still there." Nat finally came to terms with the situation. She couldn't avoid the fact that she failed. She couldn't do it in the end.
"Now, I'd like to know what happened with Dreykov's daughter," Yelena asked.
"Hm?" Nat had a questioning expression on her face.
"Don't play dumb. You gave me the details of your risking-the-city-bombing but never mentioned what happened to his daughter." Yelena wanted to know.
"Fine," Nat said, "She was bait. She was the one whom we'd tracked back to Dreykov. We could only be sure that he was there if she was too. I sacrificed a child to get to Dreykov. Happy?" Nat asked with a snappy edge to her expression and tone.
Yelena didn't have much to say after hearing Nat's words.
After a while of thick silence, "Well, whatever. Now, can you call in your heavy-hitter Avenger friends to take care of the Red Room?" Yelena asked.
"What do you mean, heavy-hitter?" Nat asked.
"You know… Someone who can track down Dreykov, do something about the mind control issue, and take care of everything. I doubt a god that can shoot lightning or even Tony Stark would have any issue taking care of a bunch of overtrained assassins and their controller." Yelena said with an expectant edge in her tone.
"Well… We're not really on talking terms right now." Nat was a little embarrassed.
"This day just keeps getting better and better." Yelena rolled her eyes.
"Come on, baby sis. Let's get something to drink." Natasha said, much to Yelena's surprise who turned to her with a wide-eyed look, "What?" Nat asked Yelena.
"I thought you didn't think of me as your baby sister…" She said.
"What gave you that impression?" Nat asked with amusement. She liked seeing Yelena's surprise.
"I don't know. You never tried to contact me after you left." Yelena said, looking up at the starry night sky.
"Here." Nat handed her a bottle of beer, "I thought that you wouldn't want to meet me again. I thought that after getting out, you'd settled down in some peaceful town…" She said.
"Come on, sis. Killers like us don't get that…" Yelena said as she took a sip.
"I guess so… You wanna take down the Red Room?" Nat asked casually.
"It's going to be a pain…" Yelena said.
"It'll be fine. We can treat this as an adventure." Nat said, "A sisters' bonding experience…"
"You're serious?" Yelena looked at Nat.
"Dead serious. Since I failed last time, the least I could do is finish the job." Nat said.
"I'm in…" Yelena had a little emotional look on her face, "You've changed sis… You seem a bit more… I don't know. Unrestrained? It's like you have some sort of confidence that you can take care of whatever the world throws at you." Yelena said something that she'd just noticed.
"Is that so?" Nat smiled. Anyone with the power that she has would get an innate confidence that would let her act in such a manner.
"Yeah. It's like you're so much more… living." Yelena said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nat asked while looking at Yelena with an offended look.
"I didn't mean it that way… Well, I kinda did. But that's because you seemed so serious all the time. Only caring for the mission and shit like that. You never even wanted to acknowledge me as your sister…" Yelena wasn't sure what she was saying. But she was just pouring her heart out for Natasha.
"I guess…" Nat was about speak, but Yelena continued, "And what's with your posing?"
"What?" Nat was confused.
"Every time I see you in some magazine or in the news you're doing some sort of badass pose… Like, like this." Yelena got up from the hood of the car that they were leaning on and did Natasha's signature superhero pose where she was bending down, putting her curves fully on display with one hand extended to the side and the other on the ground.
Nat looked at Yelena who was trying to imitate her and chuckled getting up from the car and walking to her.
"See this is what I was—" Yelena said as she was about to get up and just at that, she felt Natasha spanking her ass.
"Hey!" She jumped and looked at Natasha.
"Don't make fun of your big sister. I like posing 'cause it looks cool." Nat said and wrapped her arm around Yelena's neck, pulling her back to lean on the car.
"What a bully…" Yelena said with a grumbling tone.
"So, back to the important stuff, where is the Red Room?" Nat asked, hoping that Yelena would have the needed information.
"About that… No one knows. We were sedated before being brought there and then sedated when we were deployed. There's no information about its or Dreykov's location. He's pulled all the stops to hide his tracks." Yelena told Nat.
Nat went deep in thought for a few seconds before saying, "I have an idea about someone who might know…"
…
In a Russian prison, in the middle of the snowy mountains.
Alexei Shostakov was telling the other prisoners baseless stories about his time as the Red Guardian— A cheap rip-off of Captain America that was made by Dreykov. He was exaggerating and jesting to get people to pay attention to him and fill his vanity.
He was a vain, hopeless person who'd given up on himself. The biggest indicator of this was how out of shape he'd gotten. He was an enhanced super soldier for crying out loud. It should be practically impossible for these guys to have bad physiques. But this guy had done it.
-Alexei Shostakov. Mail delivery!- There was an announcement from the public speakers. It was repeated three times as Alexi got up from his seat and stopped the arm wrestling match that he was having.
"I'll be back. There are more tales of the Red Guardian for you all!" He screamed out to his inmates, expecting them all to start cheering, but all he got was a few weak reactions. But that didn't affect him. He was as dense as they came.
He went to pick up the package at the collector's area.
"There's the Red Guardian." The guard who was manning the area had a tone of slight derision as he looked at Alexi while his partner that was sitting beside him was stuffing his face. They were both eating some sort of creamy doughnuts.
"In the return letters to your fans, tell them to add some more sugar, these aren't as sweet as I like them." He told Alexi as he passed a stack of letters and something wrapped in newspapers to Alexi.
Looking at the two guards, Alexi was burning with fury, but he didn't say anything. He'd grown all too familiar with this scene and it had stopped getting a reaction out of him by now.
He grabbed his stack and gift and walked to the sitting area to see what it was all about. Unwrapping the newspapers, what was revealed was an action figurine of the Red Guardian. Looking at it, Alexi got a little nostalgic. He started playing with it, there was a little string to pull back and unwind, so Alexi unwound that string, expecting the figurine to move. But instead, its head popped off, and hidden inside that head was a tiny earpiece.
"Well this just got interesting…" Alexi had a smile on his face as he looked around and discretely put that earpiece into his ear.
-Today's your lucky day, Alexi.- He heard a woman's voice from the other side.
-Who is this?- He asked.
-Move to the east side of the building.- All he heard were instructions. And just like that, the hopeless and vain fucker got some hope in life. He looked at the two guards that had made fun of him for years with a dark look and attacked them.
At the same time, there were loud explosions all over the prison, destroying key locations.
…
In a helicopter, a few hundred meters above the prison that Alexi was currently in, Natasha and Yelena were talking.
"Do you just keep bombs with you?" Yelena asked Natasha as she saw the explosions that just took out the key locations of the prison.
Nat exercised her right to remain silent.
"He won't be able to make it out himself. I'll go down to help out." Nat changed the topic of the conversation.
"I'll lower us." Yelena said, but Nat stopped her, "No need." She said and get up from the co-pilot seat. She put down the aviation headsets and went opened the door that was on her side.
"Natasha…" Yelena was scared.
"Just watch me, Baby sis…" Nat said while giving Yelena a cheeky look as she jumped down from the helicopter hundreds of meters up in the air.
Mid-air, her clothes started morphing into her White Knight persona.
[Hey, I have an idea. Do Thor's pose. I could make you a hammer.] Alex said in her head.
[Nah. It'll feel like a cheap copy. I'll just go with my usual pose. You have the electric burst ready, right?] Nat told him.
[Yep, you don't have to worry.] Alex said as clouds started gathering above in the sky. At the same time, Alex noticed something, [Also, just thought I should mention, we're on a time crunch. Those explosions that I rigged triggered an avalanche and it's coming down the mountain with an unholy speed.] Alex told her and Nat's head went in the direction Alex was referring.
[Fuck…] Nat said as she focused on nailing her landing right in the center of the prison.
Just as she was close enough to the ground, invisible tentacles started extending from her body and slowed her descent just enough that she would be fine after landing. And just as Nat landed on the ground, a huge bolt of lightning fell directly on her and an electric explosion ensued, frying all of the electronics in the prison.
***
"What the fuck?" Yelena barely kept piloting the helicopter as the huge bolt of lightning made her panic and pull it away from the prison.
She then noticed the huge explosion in the prison and panicked before remembering Natasha's confident expression. Deciding to trust in her big sister she said, "Don't die sis… Please," As she looked at the aftermath of the electric explosion.
That explosion slowly fizzled out of existence within a few seconds, leaving no trace of ever having occurred, but the damage was done. Although all of the buildings and constructs were fine, the people were all already unconscious after that wave of lightning hit them. She didn't know if they were dead or not.
Natasha was nowhere to be found by Yelena and by the time she saw Natasha, the was waving, waiting for extraction with a fainted man lying on the ground behind her. She noticed that Nat's clothes had changed into a white armor combat suit while her hair fluttered in the wind as she looked up at her.
"Such a poser…" Yelena said and didn't waste any more time before descending to Natasha's location, having already noticed the avalanche that was approaching the prison, and dropped a rope for Natasha to climb.
Another couple minutes later, both girls were sitting in the pilot seat while a fainted fat man was strapped to the seat behind them. Nat was still in her white combat suit.
"You're crazy, you know that?" Yelena could still feel her heart thumping to the extent that she couldn't even pilot the helicopter and Nat was the one flying it.
"Now who's a heavy hitter?" Nat said with an amused smile. She liked impressing her baby sister and seeing her excited reactions. It made her feel like they were little again and she had just shown Yelena some cool trick that blew the little girl's mind. Although they'd grown up, that bond was still there, just buried under decades of baggage.
"Honestly… How did you get so strong? Superstrength, I can understand. But lightning? What exactly happened? Did you eat Thor?" Yelena was dying to know. To the point that she didn't even mention how Natasha's clothes changed mid-air.
"I guess you could call it a recent chance encounter…" Nat didn't seem to want to talk about it.
"Hell no, you're not getting out of this. I want to know." Yelena said.
"Yel—" Nat was about to explain to Yelena that she couldn't tell her in another way but a groan stopped her from saying anything further, "We'll talk about this after taking care of everything. We can continue this conversation when it's just the two of us."
At the same time, [Do you mind?] Nat asked Alex in her head.
[Nah, it's fine. You can tell her about me. Just don't ask me to bond with her.] Alex told her jokingly.
[I don't think I will.] Nat inwardly rolled her eyes.
[Could you introduce me to her with some cool badass name? Like… anything other than Alex. I told my name to you and Wanda because we're partners. It's an intimate thing. I don't want other people to know it.] Alex told her. His name is his identity, something that he prefers to tell only his hosts. He wanted some cool superhero name when it came to outside people with whom he wouldn't be bonding.
[What are you, a kid?] Natasha smiled, saying the exact same words to him that he said to her about calling herself White Knight.
[I'm not sure how old I am— most likely millions of years old, but I can definitely tell you that I'm a child at heart.] Alex told her.
[Whatever. We'll come up with a cool superhero name for you some other time.] Nat telepathically conveyed the thought of her shaking her head with a smile. Their entire conversation took no more than an instant as Natasha turned to look back at Alexi in that time.
"Fine," Yelena grumbled but agreed and took control of the piloting while Natasha shocked Alexi again to make him conscious.
"Ahh!" He jumped up and was about to punch Natasha in the face but she grabbed his hand and stopped his attack, pushing him down.
"Calm down," Nat told him.
"Natasha?" Alexi was confused for a few seconds as he understood the situation, "Oh… baby girl, how are you? And little Yelena too… I've missed you both." He also missed the fact that Natasha had just overpowered him just now. And it was a big deal for her to be able to do that. He may have been a knock-off of Captain America, but he was still someone far beyond normal human levels.
Neither Natasha nor Yelena replied to him.
Alexi didn't realize it initially and kept going before realizing that the aviation headsets blocked his words. Then he grabbed another headset and put it over his head.
"It just means so much to me that you girls would be willing to come for me…" He started.
"Don't get your hopes up, Alexi. We're here 'cause we need you to lead us to the Red Room." Nat didn't have the patience to listen to his bullshit.
"I have no idea," Alexi said and that resulted in a simultaneous scoff from both Natasha and Yelena.
Natasha turned to look at him and gave him a dry look, "Come on. You and Dreykov were like…"
"Yeah. General Dreykov, my friend, huh? Gives me glory, and makes me the Soviet Union's first and only super soldier. I could've been even more famous than Captain America. What does he do? He buries me in Ohio on that stupid mission for three years. Three fucking years! Taking care of two orphans and dealing with his scientist for three whole years for a dumb undercover operation. So fucking annoying. So tedious, boding me to tears." Alexi notices Yelena looking at him with a complicated look of emotions, hurt being the most prevalent.
"No offense," Alexi said. Yelena shook her head and paid attention to the flight and Nat gave her a look. Alexi continued, "Then he puts me in prison for the rest of my life. I'm not even the one, who… you know, killed his daughter." Alexi looked at Natasha with a sharp look.
"All right. Can we throw him out the window now?" Yelena asked. She was done with this bullshit.
"Let's get to a higher altitude first," Nat added, "Wouldn't want him to survive… Super soldiers are exceptionally tough."
"Good idea." Yelena agreed, "Why don't you ask Melina?" Alexi interrupted their plans to murder him.
"She's alive?" Nat asked with a surprised tone. "Mom Melina?" Yelena also chimed in from the side.
"Hm?" Alexi was confused for a moment, "Oh, you're referring to those wounds from when we escaped from Ohio. Of course, she's fine. She's a tenacious fox, that one." Alexi said with a reminiscent tone that had an undertone of his pent-up lust.
"Ugh… I did not need that information," Nat turned away from him. Yelena was so annoyed that she just took off the headsets so that the sound of the rotors could overshadow Alexi's voice before putting them back on after a few seconds since the noise from the rotors was hurting her ears.
"She was the scientist, the strategist. I was just the muscle. You two were just there to look cute and sell the idea of a happy family. Her work was directly under Dreykov, far more than mine."
"You're telling me that Melina is working for the Red Room, present day?" Nat asked, not noticing Yelena's expression that had hurt marred all over it, 'If you were alive then why did you never help…' Yelena's thoughts were naive.
"Yes, she works just outside of St. Petersburg," Alexi told them.
"Well, that's just great. We have to go the exact opposite way…" Yelena wasn't having a very good day.
"It's fine, we have enough fuel," Nat commented.
"How do we have so much fuel?" Yelena asked. They'd traveled quite a bit and the fuel counter wasn't even halfway down.
"It's got a big tank." Nat shrugged. She couldn't exactly tell Yelena that she had a slime monster helping her take care of the fuel levels.
…
"Did you have to destroy my front yard?" Melina asked as she stood in front of her ruined garden and pigpen that she managed. She was glad that she'd already brought them away after being notified that the airspace above her house was being breached.
"Don't really care." Natasha stepped out of the helicopter with her hair flailing in the wind. She looked at Melina after running her hand through her hair. Melina was pointing a rifle at Nat's face.
"Of course, you don't…" Melina mumbled, "Why are you here?" She asked. At the same time, Yelena and Alexi also got out of the helicopter.
"We're home." Alexi was a straightforward guy. He just said what he thought. And he was thinking about the 3 years of peace that he'd spent with Melina and their two 'adoptive daughters' in Ohio.
Melina sighed as she put down her gun and started walking, "Let's go." Alexi followed after her.
As they walked into Melina's house, she said, "Welcome to my humble abode. Make yourselves at home." She said and walked to a specific bookshelf.
Nat wasn't exactly trusting of her and followed after her. Seeing Melina push back that bookshelf to reveal a gun closet she got tense, "Hey, no funny business." She told Melina. Just because she was now confident in her power didn't mean that she was arrogant.
And she didn't know about Alex's recent power-up either. So she was clueless about how strong Alex actually was by now.
"I'm putting away my weapon," Melina said as if she was disappointed in Natasha.
"Right," Natasha rolled her eyes and walked away after making sure that Melina didn't get something from that closet. She walked around the house and commented, "Any booby traps that we need to be worried about?"
"I didn't raise my girls to fall in traps," Melina said
"You didn't raise us at all," Nat said.
"Maybe so. But if you got soft, it wasn't on my watch." Nat couldn't help but scoff at Melina's words. She understood the slight mental tricks that Melina was utilizing on her. She was utilizing that mother angle. The older widow had been a big part of Natasha's and Yelena's practically non-existent childhoods and she was leveraging that influence fully.
They moved to the dining area and saw Yelena already seated at the table. Alexi was nowhere to be found, but his groans were very audible from a specific area of the house.
"Let's drink." Melina pulled out a bottle of vodka and poured four shot glasses for Natasha, Yelena, herself, and Alexi.
Natasha was about to breach the topic that she'd come here for but it was halted by Alexi's presence in the room. He was wearing a crimson red spandex suit with the Red Guardian tones and theme.
The other two also turned to look at Alexi. Yelena froze for a moment before grabbing the glass and drinking the vodka in one go. Melina on the other hand whistled in appreciation at Alexi's outfit.
"Still fits." He said as he walked to the table and took a seat.
Nat couldn't help but grab the shot glass and was about to take a sip before she heard Alex's voice in her head, [It's got a slow-acting sleep-inducing agent.]
[Can you neutralize it?] Natasha asked. If she put the drink down now, it would be suspicious.
[Can I fuck you to the point that you can't think about anything but my cock?] Alex asked back.
[Got it.] Natasha chugged the shot.
***
"Family. Back together again." Alexi said as he picked up the glass that was set for him. Melina had already filled up Natasha and Yelena's glasses again.
"Sure." Natasha rolled her eyes and felt that she'd been rolling her eyes a bit too much today.
They all toasted and drank the shot.
At this point, Natasha had had enough, "So, here's what's going to happen…" She started.
"You haven't aged a day since…" Alexi started flirting with Melina, completely discrediting Natasha's words.
A few more moments later, their words started getting graphic, and both Yelena and Natasha were disgusted, "Ugh, can you please stop…" Yelena commented.
Natasha tried to get the conversation back on track, "So here's what's going to happen—", "Natasha don't slouch" She was interrupted again. By Melina this time.
"I'm not slouching" She got defensive. Just because Natasha knew about the mental manipulations didn't mean that she was immune to them. Melina's motherly figure was engraved in her mind for a long time.
"You're slouching," Melina stated again in a motherly tone. "Listen to your mother, Natasha," Alexi said. The whole table started spiraling down to a family argument.
"Shut it, All of you!" Natasha snapped but it was useless, "What did I do?" Yelena asked. "Don't drink so much, Yelena." Melina was fully leveraging her status in the minds of the two girls. "I'll do what I want," Yelena said.
"Tell me where the Red Room is now!" Natasha had had enough.
Immediately, Melina's reaction was a scoff filled with derision. "Alexi, you remember when we used to tell the girls that they would be able to catch Santa Clause if they waited up long enough," Melina said to Alexi.
At this point, Natasha was done. The situation was completely out of her control and the people in the room were doing their best to push her buttons. She decided to listen to Melina while thinking of what to do later.
"Finding Dreykov is not a fantasy. It's unfinished business." Natasha said.
"You can't defeat a man, who commands the very will of others, Natasha," Melina said to Natasha who had skeptical eyes.
"I'll show you something, Natasha. Something that will tell you just how out of your depth you are, going after Dreykov and the Red Room." Melina understood that Natasha would require convincing and grabbed her tablet before tapping on it a few times, "Come in." She said into the tablet.
There was the sound of the creaking of a door and a pig came into the room.
"Did that pig just open the door?" Natasha asked, impressed.
"Yes, it did. Good boy, Alexi. Good boy." Melina scratched it under the chin.
"You named a pig after me?" Alexi, the Red Guardian, was offended.
"You don't see the resemblance?" Melina said unapologetically, "See, he's just like a dog. Sits like one, acts like one, and everything." Melina looked at Natasha and Yelena.
"Now. Stop breathing." She moved a slider on the tablet. And the pig stopped breathing. It was as if it didn't know how to breathe and was just looking up at Melina.
"This is what the mission in Ohio was about. 3 years undercover. Acting as a big happy family with him and both of you girls. All to get the formula that could bring this to fruition. It was a front for Shield scientists. Or well Hydra. I'm sure you know more about it than me." Melina looked at Natasha.
Melina turned to Alexi who was still offended and said to him, "We didn't steal weapons or tech. We stole to key to free will itself." Melina drank the shot and filled up her glass of vodka.
"All right, you made your point." Nat eyed the dying pig that was still not breathing.
"It's fine. Alexi could've survived for another minute or so." Melina said and sent it away, "Dreykov has such chemically subjugated agents planted all around the globe that he can order around whenever he wants. It's completely out of your depth." Melina stated.
"Do you know whom they used this stuff on?" Yelena interjected.
"Hm? No, that's not my department. But it's usually orphan girls with no one to look after them. They're the easiest to manipulate after all." Melina didn't realize how each of her words was hurting Yelena more and more.
"Ahh. Come on. Don't lie to them. You're Dreykov's architect. You definitely know." Alexi said, "No I—"
"Shut up. You are an idiot," Nat said to Alexi, "And you? You are a coward." She snapped at Melina.
"Oh, bullshit—" Melina was interrupted by Yelena again.
"You know… those agents. Those agents that you chemically subjugated around the globe. Those orphan, easy-to-influence women. That was me…" Yelena broke down as her voice started cracking, "And you," She looked at Natasha, "You got out. After you, Dreykov made sure that no one could escape. But you got out." Yelena blamed Natasha.
"Yelena…" Nat said as Melina brought her hand to Yelena's shoulder. But Yelena ignored Nat and shook Melina's hand off before grabbing the bottle of vodka and getting up.
"I'll go after her." Alexi got up and went after her, leaving Natasha and Melina alone to talk.
Natasha got up and Melina followed after her, "What? You're going to do it alone?" Melina asked.
"If you're not helping then I'll look for another way. You won't be the first mother that abandoned me." She said and looked at Melina, only to see her stiffen up. Nat narrowed her eyes as she felt an old doubt surfacing in her mind.
"Right?" She asked Melina again.
"I believe that you weren't abandoned…" Melina trailed off, thinking about what to say.
"What…" Natasha had a dark expression and asked with a frigid tone.
"You were taken… Dreykov had this system that could determine if children had the genetic potential for his training. Your parents were paid off, I believe," She said, "But your mother. She was relentless. She kept snooping around." Melina said.
"What happened to her?" Natasha asked with the same frigid tone.
"Dreykov had her killed," Yelena saw the slight confusion in Natasha's otherwise cold expression and explained, "Normally a snooping civilian wouldn't warrant an execution. But as I said, she was relentless."
"That so, huh?" Nat's voice lost its coldness and was not flat.
"I'm… sorry. I've already informed the Red Room." Melina finally stated, "They should be here any minute."
"I know," Natasha said with a smile, but her eyes were cold as she stared at Melina.
"Hm?" Melina was confused about how Natasha was so confident.
[Alex is she under control?] Natasha asked Alex.
[Nope, fully conscious. I've checked those pigs and the widow from before. They were all chemically subjugated. But not Melina.] He explained to her.
"We're done here." Natasha walked to Melina as the sound of whirring aircraft was heard from the outside.
Before Yelena could even react, Natasha reached her and shocked her, sending her to the land of dreams.
[Give her a few nightmares while you're at it, Alex…] She asked Alex. Natasha was unbelievably angry right now. She'd expected all of this from the start. But that didn't change the fact that she was disappointed and angry.
She didn't waste any time before kicking open the door to the room where Alexi and Yelena were. She saw an unconscious Yelena who was sitting on the ground leaning against the bed and Alexi struggling to keep his consciousness while looking at the curtained windows where the lights were shining from.
"Go to sleep, Alexi. I'll be taking over from here," Nat said and within two seconds his resistance failed and he also succumbed to the drug that Melina had fed them through the vodka.
Nat looked at Yelena and asked Alex, [Could you wake her up?]
[It'll take a minute.] Alex said as a tendril extended from Nat's sleeve and wrapped around Yelena's neck, forming a choker.
[Don't wake her up, yet… And what is it with you and chokers?] Nat asked as she was formulating a plan in her head that would get her access to Dreykov in the easiest way possible.
[I don't know.] Nat could imagine Alex shrugging as he replied to her question.
[I presume that you've already checked Melina's memories?] She asked Alex.
[You know me so well.] He smiled inwardly.
[I need concealed earpieces.] She told him.
[Behind the bookshelf right side, corner most cabinet. There's a set.] He said.
[I also need you to turn me into Melina, and turn her into me.] She asked him.
[Easy.] He agreed as Nat went into the bookshelf cabinet and got what she needed. She'd already turned into Melina.
[You have got to take over the Red Room.] Alex said to her in an excited voice.
[What?] Natasha asked while waiting for the cavalry to enter into the mansion.
[Nat. It's a fortress hiding in the clouds. Trust me. We want it.] He told her.
[Why?] Nat didn't share his fascination.
[Think about it. What will you do with the army of mind-controlled assassins that Dreykov has under his control? It's practically impossible for most of them to live normal lives. We might as well take them in and use the Red Room as a base of operations. You could make them into a general crime-fighting division of the Avengers. The main team deals with large-scale threats while these girls who don't know anything better than to kill can put their skills to some use by taking a more street-based approach. It's a win-win.] He said to her, appealing to the person inside her who wanted to do good.
[We'll discuss this later.] Nat decided to think about it later.
And soon, Dreykov's Trickster Project walked into the living room where 'Melina' was standing.
"Let's not keep him waiting," Nat said to the intimidating armored individual in front of her while copying Melina's mannerisms. She'd observed her enough to copy her well enough.
-x-X-x-
Alex groaned as he was the first to wake up. It made sense, his super soldier serum may not have increased his metabolism to the point of reaching Captain America, but it was still very high. His system was the first to get rid of the drugs.
"Request clearance for landing," Melina said into the intercom as she looked back and noticed Alexi having woken up.
"We're touching down in a minute." She told him.
"Then why are we still going up?" Just as he asked, the fortress in the sky became visible, hidden by an artificially generated cloud.
"And now you know how Dreykov stayed above the radar all these years," Melina said and the Trickster pushed a needle into Alexi's neck, drugging him to unconsciousness again.
…
A while later, Natasha, in disguise as Melina, was walking through the corridors with familiarity while getting directions from Alex who'd already read through Melina's memories.
[They haven't kept Yelena with Alexi and 'Natasha'] Alex told her.
[I guess they're going to start experimenting on her. She got through their mind control after all. They probably want to understand how the cure worked so that they can reverse-engineer it…] Natasha said. Not too worried. After she meets with Dreykov, Natasha was going to take over the entire ship and crew. Courtesy of Dreykov's mind control stuff, no one would have the power to disobey her.
She reached a door and waited as a camera detected her presence, there was a beep and the door opened to let her in.
"Melina… Look at you. It's been so long. How was the family reunion?" Dreykov was a large, chubby man with white hair and was wearing a suit and thick glasses. He got up from his couch and walked toward her.
"Annoying. They were clingy, needy, and overall annoying." She said to him as she looked around the room, noticing only one other person in the room apart from them. The Trickster.
"Yelena Belova. What's the deal with her? Are there more like her? Who got free." Dreykov got straight to business, not interested in hearing what she had to say.
"As far as I know, she's the only one who got free." She told him, [I'm waking Yelena. Her face is about to be skewered.] Alex told Natasha.
"This whole gasses and antidotes and more gasses thing… It's a pain in my ass. And you need to solve it." He ordered 'Melina'.
"All right, this has gone on long enough." Natasha wasn't interested in hearing anything more from the guy. She grabbed her face and pulled, [Alex…] She signaled and he understood that she did this so that it would seem as if she was taking off a standard Shield issue mask.
"Oh dear, what a surprise." Dreykov didn't seem surprised to see Natasha here.
"How are you, Natasha?" He asked as he smiled.
"You seem awfully confident." She smiled.
"Of course. Though I never expected that Melina would betray me like this." Dreykov said.
Natasha smiled, deciding not to clear up the misunderstanding, "So why are you here?" He asked her.
"To finish what I started I guess. I failed the last time, but not this time." Natasha said and put a finger in her ear, "Yelena? I hope you're up. Get yourself out of there and get the gas to the widows."
"About damn time," Yelena said from the other side.
"You should find a knife in your hand just about now," Nat told her and Yelena's reply was a series of grunts.
Nat knew that Yelena could take care of herself and looked at Dreykov again, "Can't let my baby sister get hurt, can I?" She smiled.
"What is this… overconfidence that I see in you? I never trained you to be like this." Dreykov looked disappointed.
"It's not really overconfidence." Nat shrugged her shoulders and fired a supercharged taser shot at the only other person in the room, immediately immobilizing the Trickster, "See?" She smiled as she walked to Dreykov who still seemed to be fearless as he looked at her. He had a specific stoic attitude that only old people with too much pride have.
"What do you think about her? Hm?" Dreykov pointed at the unconscious Trickster.
"Her?" Nat had an ominous premonition.
"Yes, her. She's my pride and joy, my greatest creation. To be honest I should thank you for giving me my greatest weapon."
"What are you talking about," Natasha asked as she frowned.
"When your bomb exploded. It nearly killed my daughter. My dear Antonia. I had to put a chip in the back of her neck. It seems that she needs some modifications though." He said with disappointment as if he was talking about some tool to be modified.
Nat couldn't even bother to hear any more from him and moved to punch him in the face but stopped mid-way. It was more like she was forced to stop mid-way, "What the fuck?" She exclaimed, [Alex?] She asked in her head.
[Give me a moment.] Alex hadn't remembered this moment from the movie and only now recalled it. Dreykov had conditioned every single Widow from the start to be conditioned to his pheromones. They couldn't attack the person that was emitting those pheromones. Alex could notice a specific conditioning in Natasha's brain that was forcing her to react in that manner.
[Didn't you read Melina's memories? I'm sure she knew.] Nat asked.
[I just glanced at them. I haven't processed every moment of her life from her birth to now. I just got the stuff that was deemed important.] He defended.
Meanwhile, Dreykov said, "See? I told you. You should never be overconfident. You are always going to be my creation." He said.
[Try now.] It only took Alex a moment to remove that specific conditioning from her mentality. He could alter people's memories, something as simple as removing mental conditioning was child's play for him.
Natasha grunted as she kicked at Dreykov, and this time she didn't freeze. As the kick connected, Dreykov was thrown off to the side, reaching his desk.
"How?!" He screamed as he desperately held his desk for support and tried to get up.
"I told you, Dreykov. I'm here to finish my mission." Nat said to him as she walked over to the fainted girl in the armor. She had to see.
At the same time, Dreykov started discretely moving to the terminal that was built into his desk. He was going to call in the Widows that were within his Flying Fortress to deal with Natasha. He'd truly panicked after how easily Natasha was able to bypass his pheromone lock.
Natasha walked to the person who still had her feeling guilty for everything and kneeled beside her, [It wasn't all your fault.] Alex tried to console her, but he didn't know how.
[It was, Alex. And it was meaningless…] Natasha grabbed the helmet and pulled it off. She took a sharp breath as she looked at the burnt face of the woman who was just a little girl when Natasha blew her up.
"I'm sorry…" She whispered as she got up from there and looked at Dreykov who was pointing a gun at her head.
"Realized that you can't use your terminal?" Nat smirked, hiding the guilt that she was feeling.
"You called in help?" He asked, assuming that she had someone like Tony Stark helping her.
"What? No… Why does everyone think that I'm a weakling." Nat grumbled as she walked to Dreykov, uncaring about the gun that he was pointing at her.
"Go on, take a shot. You can't do shit to me, dude. You're a weak pathetic man who can do nothing but hide in the dark and from today, you'll be dead too. Though, I do have a question for you." Nat said.
Dreykov was getting more and more rattled as his hands were shaking while pointing the gun at Natasha.
"What was the name of my mother?" Natasha asked. She wanted to know.
"Really? That's what you ask me?" Dreykov said and finally got the courage to shoot at Natasha. Though the bullet was stopped by an invisible wall in front of her face. It couldn't even touch her skin.
"Told you. You can't do shit to me." Nat reached him and grabbed his head, [I presume you've got his memories, Alex?] Nat asked.
[Totally.] He said and that was all Natasha need to know before releasing an intense electric current at Dreykov's head, frying his brain to mush. It was a controlled strike that completely destroyed his brain and killed him.
[Well, that was anti-climactic.] Alex said in her head.
"Yeah, you're right…" Nat took a seat in Dreykov's seat, "What now?" She asked out loud.
[I still have my suggestion about giving the Widows a choice between either becoming your personal assassin task force or retiring. For now, though, assemble every single one of them in this fortress, quite a few of them are currently out on missions. Then we can collectively give them the choices that they've never been given.] He said.
"I like that…" Nat started operating the terminal and gave instructions to all of the Widows that were out on missions. She told them all to converge in a specific location where they would be extracted and brought to the fortress.
At the same time, Nat put her finger on the earpiece and said, "Come to the control room, you should be able to find your way here. I've already taken care of everything. We have a lot of stuff to talk about."
"I didn't get to do anything…" Nat heard Yelena's sad voice from the other side.
"You are going to have a whole lot to do, don't worry," Nat told her. Meanwhile, she made sure to keep everyone in the fortress keep their positions and instruct them as necessary. Dreykov had quite a few firewalls in place, but with his memories and dead body beside Natasha, Alex was easily able to get Natasha access to all of his systems without any issues. And Dreykov is no Tony Stark. It wasn't going to be too difficult for Alex to brute force his way through either.
While Natasha was giving instructions to the people within the fortress and the Widows outside, she heard a whistle. It was a very specific whistle which was clearly a signal.
***