A Doctor and Director
Knock Knock Knock
Somebody’s knuckles rapped on the other side of her bedroom door, the sound causing Payton’s head to snap up from her desk where she had laid it down in an attempt to alleviate the headache she had from having her eyes focused on a computer screen and a small notebook for an unhealthy amount of time. The small desk that was situated in the room she was staying in, which everyone else still referred to as ‘her room’ (though it didn’t really feel like it), was covered with an assortment of drawings that served as a continuation of her work that she’d started a few days previously. The day that she’d first truly met the Avengers. One side of the desk also held a small case of tools she’d snagged from Tony’s office while he wasn’t looking, as well as the deconstructed Widow Bites from her uniform. Old uniform.
The days had been slow, though Payton assumed there was some conspiracy amongst the Avengers and her Aunt to not let her be alone for any true length of time. Every time she’d tried to sequester herself in her room had led to one of them coming to drag her out for one thing or another. Usually meals, movies, or games that Payton couldn’t really get into. She did try, she wouldn’t be rude and just shrug off their efforts of raising her spirits more, but she just couldn’t get invested, and by the sad looks in their eyes, they knew her heart wasn’t in it either. They continued to bring her along though. And honestly? Payton believed that they were worried about leaving her alone.
Like now.
Payton heard the person on the other side of the door shuffle, as if they were about to knock again, but she cut them off, standing and striding over to the door and cracking it open right as Tony’s fist was about to collide with the wood again. She watched as his eyes met hers, before focusing lower, likely on the bags that she knew were growing beneath them. Sleep… didn’t come easily. If at all. The nightmares kept her awake, and so she did as Natasha recommended, and she brainstormed, tinkered, anything to keep her brain occupied. Deep down, Payton knew that Natasha hadn’t meant for her to do what she was doing, and that it wasn’t healthy, but she could handle the exhaustion. Being tired was better than seeing Skip, Madame B, and Dreykov every night. Why Skip was reappearing when he hadn’t even been in the Red Room she didn’t know (and she checked. He was still in Riker’s. No way for him to have been there).
“Yes?” She finally asked, growing tired of seeing the pity on Tony’s face as he took in her haggard appearance. Footsteps made her turn her head as she watched Aunt May turn the corner, approaching her door as well. Her Aunt looked nervous, and that caused Payton to tense.
Tony coughed, shuffling on his heels after May joined them, the two adults sharing a look. “Mind if we come in kiddo?”
Her lips pressed into a thin line at the nickname. She wasn’t a kid. Not anymore. “Sure.” She replied, backing away from the door to let the two of them join her in the room.
Light from the hallway flooded the room as the door was pushed all the way open. As she blinked her bleary eyes in the sudden light, Payton made the connection that she hadn’t even known she was sitting in the dark. May, following Tony in, flicked the switch to the room, causing the world to blur as even more light illuminated the space, Payton’s eyes watered as they adjusted.
Despite having let them in, Payton’s instincts still screamed that her space was being invaded, and she was forced to fight the urge to find another dark corner to hide in. Instead, she walked backwards until her legs hit the mattress of her messy bed.
“You’ve been busy…” Tony noted, seemingly glad for a distraction as his eyes wandered over the clutter on her desk, narrowing slightly as they came to rest on the deconstructed Widow Bites.
She didn’t reply, instead watching him with tired eyes as he sat down in the chair she had just vacated. Her Aunt moved to sit next to her on the bed, hesitantly placing a hand upon her thigh. Payton just barely prevented herself from flinching. From the dour looks on both their faces, Payton realized that this must be it. They’d finally grown tired of her, just as she knew they would. Bracing herself, Payton took in a deep, shuddering breath, trying to steel herself for what she’d known was inevitable.
“How are you feeling sweetheart?” May asked, looking at her with sad eyes.
Why was she asking? Was May still trying to care about her? Even now?
“Good.” Payton answered simply, refusing to look away from her Aunt’s eyes. Refusing to show any of the turmoil within. Judging by how May’s face fell further she must have failed. The marble facade she’d tried to pull over her feelings must’ve let something through.
“Payton baby, we’ve been giving you time…”
Yep. This was it.
“And while I wish we could give you as much as you needed, Tony and I spoke to Helen and we all agree that we need to go through with the surgery to get that implant out of your neck.”
What.
That wasn’t…
May’s hand squeezed comfortingly on her thigh, drawing her attention back to the two adults. “Payton?” She asked, her voice dripping with concern that Payton didn’t deserve; didn’t need. She was made of marble now.
“Sorry. That wasn’t what I was expecting.”
It seemed it was May’s turn to be confused, but before her Aunt could open her mouth to voice as such, Tony beat her to the punch.
“You thought we were here to kick you out.” It wasn’t a question. He just knew.
May’s head snapped over towards Tony, and then back at Payton, her eyes wide as saucers in her shock. “What!? I would…! We would…! Never! Nuh uh. We would never get rid of you.”
Payton couldn’t meet her Aunt’s eyes anymore, and looked towards the floor instead. Another promise made that she didn’t believe could be held. The bed dipped as Tony sat down next to her as well. She heard as he shifted, lifting his arm as if to wrap it around her shoulders, but he paused. The arm lowered back down to his side.
“You’re stuck with us Bambina.” He told her. She didn’t recognize the word, but she could tell from his voice it was a term of endearment.
“When would we…” She trailer off, unable to finish the thought as her eyes trailer over the carpeted floor, counting the repetitions of the pattern sewn into the fabrics.
“Later this afternoon is preferred. With your healing you should be mostly recovered by tomorrow morning.” Tony answered.
Payton turned to face him, confused. “What’s so special about tomorrow?”
He smiled softly. “The rest of the Avengers get back, and we’ve got a meeting scheduled with an old friend from SHIELD. We’ve got an agreement with him to debrief him on major events, even if we don’t necessarily report to them anymore.”
“It's good to keep allies informed.” Payton remarked, reaching the unspoken conclusion.
“Yep.” He replied, popping the ‘p’. We’ve got to update him on Bucharest, Nigeria,… and the Red Room. You’ve got the most up to date information on the latter, so you’ve gotta be there kiddo.”
She huffed. “So a debrief for you, interrogation for me?”
“It's not like that.” He promised. “We just have to know anything that we might encounter once we find the bastards. SHIELD also has a cover story to explain your kidnapping - No I don’t know it yet, they’ll tell us tomorrow.” Tony cut her off before she interrupted, and she closed her mouth.
“We aren’t going to force you into the surgery. If you don’t feel up to it yet, we can wait. Tony and I just figured that it would be best to get it done sooner rather than later, and today seemed like a good day.” May offered softly. Payton could feel her watching her, looking for any signs of what she was thinking about.
Absentmindedly, Payton’s hand drifted from its place gripping the duvet beneath her to the back of her neck. Her fingers drifted over the solid lump that rested at the base of her skull, her skin stretched over the piece of metal attached to the top of her spinal column. The scars were gone. Both the original surgery scar and the ones her fingers had left behind when she’d panicked and tried to tear through her own neck to get to it. Her healing effectively doing away with the physical evidence of her injuries.
Too bad it couldn’t get rid of the memories too.
“That…sounds good.” She finally said, realizing that if the implant was gone, maybe it would take some of the nightmares with it. Maybe she wouldn’t be so anxious that she’d all of a sudden be hit without that terrifying feeling of imminent death that her spider-sense had given her. That sense of complete and utter dread was something that she never ever wanted to feel again.
“Are you sure? You aren’t just agreeing because it's what you think we want to hear?” Tony questioned, doubt lacing every word.
“I’m sure.” Payton affirmed. “I want that thing out of my head too.”
Judging by their faces, neither of them had expected her to agree as easily as she had and it took them both a moment to recover.
“…Alright!” Tony clapped his hands together. “I’ll call Helen and she should have everything ready to go within a few hours.”
The billionaire quickly turned on his heels and strode out of the room, seemingly in a rush to get the ball rolling now that Payton had agreed to the procedure… or at least Payton guessed that was the case. Tony usually stuck around, speaking to her about any number of topics, inviting her down to the lab (an invite she was truthfully ecstatic to accept… once she had the designs she wanted to complete done), or just making his presence known.
Turning towards May, who watched the man leave with an amused smile, the corner of Payton’s mouth rose as she watched her Aunt huff in amusement.
“That man doesn’t know when to slow down, I swear.”
“He’s got a lot to do.” Payton shrugged, letting the conversation fade away as her Aunt watched her.
After a few minutes, May stood and approached the desk, causing Payton to rise and follow her, feeling slightly defensive about her concept drawings that were still scattered across its surface. Most of them were rough drafts for the schematics to the components for a new iteration of web-shooters, though some of them (thankfully at the bottom of the clutter) had suit designs. She really hoped May didn’t see those ones yet. Her Aunt wouldn’t understand and would freak out about it.
“What are these?” May questioned, lifting two of the drawings to get a better look.
“They’re web-shooters.”
“web-shooters? What…?”
Payton sighed. “I created them during the week I spent with the Punisher. They were a self defense tool.”
The frown on May’s face really showed how she felt about the fact that Payton spent time in close proximity to Frank Castle, but she didn’t say anything about it. “What do they do? Besides the obvious of course.”
“The obvious was basically all they did.” Payton smiled. “The first versions anyway. I had created a formula to create an adhesive that, when pressurized and subsequently exposed to the air, created strands that imitated spider webs. The webs were strong enough that everyone I hit them with couldn’t get out of them.”
“You used them on people?” May turned towards her, worried on her face.
Shrugging, Payton replied “Yeah. When the Red Room found us I used the webs to try and help me escape. Taskmaster was a bit smarter than the average goon though. It… didn’t work out. But that’s what I’m trying to solve with these new ones! The first model could only shoot the webs, and I was lucky I even got them to work with the shi… scrap I was working with there.”
“So this new model should be able to do more?” May guessed, turning back towards the drafts with an inquisitive look.
Payton was surprised to say the least. She’d been expecting May to get upset and tell her to leave this to the professionals; to trust the Avengers to protect her. But she wasn’t. Her Aunt seemed to understand why Payton was working on this project, and that was more than she had expected. It was…nice. To say the least.
“Yeah. I asked Fri for an inventory list of Tony’s lab to see what I have to work with… once I actually get down there that is. Theoretically, I should be able to get some extra functions added.”
“Is that why you have those on your desk?” May continued, gesturing towards the Widow Bites that lay in pieces across the wooden surface. Her face grimaced as she saw the weapons wielded by the Red Room’s assassins.
Payton nodded slowly, gingerly lifting one of the coils that generated the weapon’s electrical charges up. “The web’s are great for sticking people in place, but they don’t actually do anything else. I’m trying to find a way to combine the Widow Bites into the web-shooters, allowing me to send electric shocks towards people caught in a line.”
“Like a taser gun?”
“Yeah! Like a taser gun! Just… one that doesn’t really have to reload or anything. I don’t actually know how taser guns work.”
“So you know how to create artificial spider webs and place them in capsules on your wrist, but you don’t know how a taser gun works?” May laughed.
“What!? It's never come up!” She protested, laughing alongside her Aunt, who reached over and pulled her into a hug.
“Looks like that’s something you should figure out then sweetheart.” She concluded, pulling Payton in tighter, placing a kiss atop her head before releasing her. “I’m going to go help Helen deal with Tony’s micromanagement obsession. You keep working at this, and we’ll come get you when it's time. Okay?”
Smiling up at May, Payton nodded. “Okay. Thanks, May.”
The door closed behind May as she left the room, and Payton got back to work, digging through the mess until she found her formula notebook. The book was already half full with different iterations of her web formula, some designed to last longer before dissolving, and others meant to be far less flexible but far stronger. She hadn’t managed to figure out how she was going to design the system that would allow her to switch between web fluid types yet, but she’d get to that later. First she had to figure out how to actually make the webs conductive. But luckily, she had time to do so.
Despite what her niece believed, May knew and understood that the last seven months had changed Payton. Nobody would come out of what Payton had to live through unscathed… unscarred. May knew that. So while she might mourn the innocent girl that Payton had once been, she was under no illusions that that girl didn’t exist anymore. But it didn’t matter. Oscorp’s experiment may have made her niece superhuman, and the Red Room may have forced Payton to grow up far faster than any teenager… any kid should have to, but she was still her niece. Payton, despite being different now, was still Payton. Nothing would change the fact that she was still the person who would dance to music in their apartment. The same girl who would nerd out over the newest announced Stark-tech that they would never be able to afford. Payton changed, but she hadn’t been replaced.
Knowing that didn’t make it any easier to watch Payton suffer though. Nothing would ever make that easier. No matter how much she assured her niece that she wouldn’t abandon her, May saw the disbelief. Natasha had told her once that it would get better. That Payton just needed time. And as inclined to believe the Avenger as she was, May couldn’t help the pang of grief and guilt that stabbed through her chest each time she saw Payton bracing for a rebuke she would never receive, or flinch against a punishment that would never come.
Frankly it was astounding how much damage people could do to someone’s psyche in a time frame measured in only months.
Hopefully, today would mark a major step in helping Payton recover. She had seen the look in Payton’s eyes as she thought about the implant stuck in the back of her neck. Payton was scared of it, and it was obvious why. Nobody wanted something that nearly killed them just sitting inside their body. Payton may have changed, but that didn’t mean she had to live in fear and pain the rest of her life.
“Are you okay?”
May was dragged from her thoughts by the very object of them speaking up. The two of them stood in the elevator that would take them to the medical floor where Helen and her team were waiting to operate. Looking to the side, she met Payton’s eyes. Her niece’s gaze was filled with concern, which made her internally scoff. After everything, Payton was still worried about her. It wasn’t right. Not when Payton was the one who had been hurt.
“I’m fine, sweetheart. I’m not the one about to go into surgery here.” She replied, nudging Payton’s shoulder with her own.
Something flashed over Payton’s face, but it was quickly hidden behind the mask that the girl liked to keep up whenever people asked about her. Yet another thing she had to curse Dreykov for. How dare that man make her niece feel like she had to hide her true feelings behind a stoney expression. How dare he make her believe she had to be strong all the time.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this? I know you want the implant out, but we don’t have to rush things.”
Payton hesitated, just for a moment, but it was long enough for her to notice. “I’m ready.”
“Payton…”
“I said I’m ready!” Payton snapped, before quickly schooling her features again.
She brought a hand up and cupped her niece’s cheek. “If there is any reason you feel like you aren’t… I just want you to be okay.”
Payton leaned into her hand, closing her eyes. “I know, I know. I’m sorry for snapping at you. It’s just… I had bad experiences with Doctors in the Red Room.”
Anger ripped through her. “Did they…?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought.
Payton’s head quickly shook against her hand. “No! No. They didn’t… do that. They just experimented on me. Dreykov liked using it as a punishment. One that also helped them study my biology more.”
Releasing a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, May smiled sadly. “Natasha and Yelena had warned me a few times about how the Red Room liked to treat the girls trapped within it. I was convinced they were doing the same to you.”
“They didn’t.” Payton repeated. “I think part of Taskmaster’s contract with the Red Room was that the Enforcers weren’t allowed to… to rape me.”
She scoffed while simultaneously flinching at the word. “Ethical enough to protect you from it, not ethical enough to avoid working with the bastards who freely hurt other girls.”
Payton shrugged; the motion jostling May’s hand off of Payton’s cheek. “He never claimed to be a good person.”
“Oh that’s a relief!” May spat sarcastically, running a hand through her hair.
The elevator door slid open ahead of them, and neither of them continued their train of conversation. If Payton wanted the Avengers to know about her… history with that particular strain of violence she would tell them; May knew that. But she couldn’t help but feel conflicted about that. Ultimately it was Payton’s choice, but she felt that at the very least Tony should know. She’d said as much to her niece previously, but Payton adamantly refused. May was certain that the girl was afraid that Tony wouldn’t want anything to do with her if she told him about Skip.
Years of therapy had done wonders to help Payton not feel as broken as she had. Not feel as dirty as she’d admitted to feeling on one particularly bad night. But it seemed that the Red Room could also be thanked for regressing Payton’s progress on that front as well. Just another reason on an infinitely long list of reasons to hate that organization.
Ahead of them, Doctor Helen Cho stepped out of her office. “We’ve got everything set up and ready to go. Payton, if you would follow me I can take you to the operating room. May, Tony is in the waiting room if you would like to join him. The surgery itself should not take too long. Maybe an hour or two.”
Smiling, May nodded her head. “Thank you, Helen.” Turning towards Payton, who had grown paler than she had been a minute ago, May pulled her into a hug. “You’ll be alright Payton. Helen saved my life; you can trust her.”
Slowly, Payton peeled herself away and followed Helen down the hallways and out of view, leaving May alone to join Tony in the nearby waiting room. Together the two of them spent the next hour and a half waiting in silence (though Tony spent the entire time on a tablet designing something). May couldn’t bring herself to do anything other than wait, staring at a wall while her foot tapped idly on the ground.
Once that hour and a half ended though, the door slid open to allow Doctor Cho entrance to the room. Both her and Tony stood up as she entered, eager to hear what she had to say.
“The surgery itself went off without a hitch, and the implant has been removed. We encountered two things you should know before the surgery however. The first is that we discovered our math was incorrect on the strength of the anesthetic we would need. We managed to get her asleep, but at some point I would like to see her back down here so we can figure out just how fast her metabolism works.”
Both her and Tony nodded at that. It wasn’t a major issue, but Helen had mentioned two things that they’d discovered. “And the other?” She asked.
“We used a topical anesthetic when we were putting in the IV and discovered that she has an adverse reaction to it. From the differences between it and the anesthetic used to put her to sleep, I believe that Payton has a severe allergy to ethyl chloride. One I hadn’t seen in her medical records that you provided to me, Missus Parker.”
“So the spider bite changed her reaction to certain chemicals.” Tony concluded for them, to which Helen nodded in agreement.
“Yes. We also hope to figure that out next time we see her. I plan to research more into spiders and things that they are allergic to, but wanted to ask if you guys had noticed anything since she has been staying here at the Tower.”
Now that Helen had brought it up, May realized she had noticed Payton having odd reactions to food that she’d previously loved. “Oranges.” She answered, causing Tony and Helen to both look at her. “I noticed at dinner the other night that Payton avoided the oranges like the plague. She used to love oranges, but she seemed almost sick anytime someone had cut into one.”
“Hmmm. I’ll keep that in mind during my research. For now, we have moved Payton to another room. She should wake up in another hour or so if you two want to wait there. I’ll be in my office.”
“Thank you, Helen. Truly.” May called out before the other woman could leave the room.
“It was my pleasure, May. Nobody should have to live with a device like that threatening them.”
Once Helen had left the room, both Tony and her immediately made their way towards the room that Payton was sleeping in, directed on the way by FRIDAY. Both of them chose a seat to sit and wait for the young girl laying in the bed to wake up. May couldn’t help but notice just how peaceful Payton looked in sleep compared to when she was awake. And looking at Tony, he’d noticed it too.
As she waited, May let a smile grow on her face at seeing Payton’s face without the mask she had built over it, and hoped that she would have the chance to see Payton’s face like this while she was awake.
It had been four years since he was last in this tower. Back then the building had “STARK” written across the top, and the world hadn’t known that aliens existed. Now the only letter that adorned the tower was a large “A”, and not only had there been two publicly seen alien incursions, but superpowered humans seemed to be appearing at an ever-increasing rate. Luckily, this time was a more positive visit as well, with no impending invasion from an alien god, and no hacking into the building’s security system to override the elevator.
No. This time he’d been welcomed cordially by FRIDAY, the elevator open and waiting for him by the time he reached it. He also wasn’t alone. Last time, he had been forced to approach Tony Stark on his own, and had really only gotten as far as he had thanks to his friendship with Pepper Potts. This time he had one of his longest friends in Melinda May by his side. The two of them together had worked hard to rebuild SHIELD after HYDRA’s revelation within the organization, and so far they’d done a good job. While the World Security Council had been disbanded, SHIELD had fallen under the direct supervision of the United Nations Security Council. Unlike the Avengers whose signatures on the Sokovia Accords meant that they simply agreed to work with the United Nations when the time came for them to act.
When the ride in the elevator ended, he came face to face with another one of his oldest friends. Maria Hill stood at the elevator doors, a binder held under her arm, and the Avengers logo imprinted on the badge she wore on her chest.
“Direction Coulson. Deputy Director May.”
“Miss Hill.”
The three of them looked at each other for a beat before smiles appeared on their faces.
“It’s good to see you again Phil. I’ve been hearing good things about the new SHIELD.” Hill greeted, taking a step back to give them room to get off the elevator.
“You’re always free to come back. Your old position isn’t open but I’m sure we could find a place for you.” He offered kindly, though he knew she wouldn’t take it, which was confirmed when she shook her head.
“That’s a kind offer, but I’m happy here. I may not do field work anymore, but the work I do to help the Avengers is vital.”
Melinda laughed. “This is weird. I remember back when Phil was the one most involved with the Avengers while you were in line for the Director position.”
“Well, things change, and in this case, I think we are all where we are supposed to be.” Maria replied.
“I’m glad you’re happy here Maria. Truly.” Phil told her. “And not that I’m not happy to be greeted by an old friend, something is telling me you have some business for us.”
His old boss took the binder from under her arm and held it out towards him. “Tony wants you two to sign these before the meeting.”
Flipping the binder open, Phil couldn’t stop the disbelieving bark of laughter that escaped from his lungs. “An NDA? Really?” He asked, looking incredulously towards Maria, whose smile thinned slightly, but the humor remained in her eyes.
“You know Stark.” She gave him as an answer.
“So it's his version of a joke.” Melinda deadpanned, to which Maria shrugged.
“He found the idea funny, but he is very serious about it. The NDA bans either of you from discussing anything regarding Payton with… anyone really. The only authorized parties in SHIELD to know anything about her are those who need to know to keep the cover story for her airtight.”
Understanding dawned on Melinda’s face, and Phil had to agree. Reading further into the document revealed everything he needed to know, and stressed just how important Payton’s secrecy was to Stark. Taking a pen from his breast pocket, Phil signed his name at the bottom of the documents and passed them over for Melinda to sign; she did so without even reading them, clearly trusting his judgement in the matter.
“Thank you.” Maria stated once the binder was back in her hands. “Please follow me.”
Maria led the two of them through the halls of Avengers Tower until they reached a marked conference room. Opening the door, she led him and Melinda through into the room beyond, revealing that the room was occupied with the entire Avenger’s roster, including the newest member in Prince T’Challa, as well as Yelena Belova and Tony Stark’s daughter, Payton Parker. Mutate, teenager, and most recent escapee of the Red Room.
Looking around the room, Phil couldn’t help but notice that the interactions amongst the team were what he had imagined whenever he thought of the concept of the Avengers oh so many years before. Fury had always said the party line “A group of remarkable people”. He had always believed that they could be more. More than just a group, more than a team. But a family. A family brought together by the common goal of defending the people of Earth against the worst of threats that the people couldn’t handle alone. And seeing the Avengers now? He saw that family he’d imagined.
The Sokovian twins had reunited after a little over a week apart, but they were joined by others. Pietro Maximoff was speaking animatedly, his hands appearing more as blurs rather than limbs as he lost himself in whatever story he was telling to his sister, Natasha, and Clint. The Vision and Prince T’Challa were speaking near one of the windows, and judging by the gestures from the Wakandan Prince, they were discussing Vision himself.
The Soldiers of the Avengers were laughing in their own little group nearest to the door. Steve, Sam, and both James’ all gathered around sharing war stories. Phil couldn’t help but be impressed that after such a short amount of time James Barnes seemed to be somewhat comfortable here now. There was still plenty of tension within his body, and the smiles on his face weren’t as large as they might’ve been. But it was a far better sight than the footage he had seen of the Winter Soldier.
Finally his eyes drifted back towards Payton, who silently listened in as Yelena and Tony seemed to be laughing about something that caused Natasha to look back at the two with an exasperated look before returning her attention to Pietro. Despite the different conversations he could see one thing that all of them shared. A sense of contentment. A gathering of some of the strongest people on the planet, and it seemed more like a Sunday barbeque in the suburbs.
“Ahem.” Maria cleared her throat to get the room’s attention. Immediately, the conversations drew to a close as the gathered heroes all turned their chairs back underneath the table. Friendly conversation turned into professional silence at a speed that told Phil this was hardly the first time Maria had managed to wrangle them all.
“Now that we are all here, plus a few new faces; we can begin.” Maria commented, sitting down in her own seat while he and Melinda got their own. “This is the first meeting we’ve been able to have as a whole team in nearly nine months and plenty has occurred over that time. Director Coulson is here with Deputy Director Melinda May to go over the events of the past month, as well as share some of their own intel with the team. The Avengers may not fall under SHIELD’s jurisdiction anymore, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep working together to protect the world.”
Murmurs of agreement made their way around the table before settling down again. With the silence, Phil took the chance to begin the meeting properly.
“I want to start by saying that you all did a marvelous job on your recent operations in Bucharest and Lagos. From what I’ve seen, the whole world was impressed with the professionalism shown in the running of the first two missions the Avengers have run since the signing of the Sokovia Accords. It's barely been a week of course, but overall the media coverage is overwhelmingly positive. There were no fatalities in Bucharest, and only a few injuries that had to be taken care of. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said about Lagos, but the fatalities were restricted to the Nigerian anti-terrorism task force and Rumlow’s group. The fact that no civilians were killed in either city meant that the world currently views the Accords as a resounding success.”
“Just the Accords? Not the Avengers part in the missions?” Wanda questioned, confused.
He nodded. “The world already knew the Avengers were capable of completing your missions. The governments around the world wanted proof that you could do so while actively working with local officials, which you have given them. Apparently the governments of Nigeria and Romania couldn’t be singing your praises any further.”
“What of Rumlow? We left him in the hands of the Nigerians. Can they keep him contained?” Steve spoke up while casting a cautious glance at Barnes, who had flinched slightly at the name.
Melinda took the initiative to answer the question. “Rumlow was transferred two days ago from Nigeria to the Raft. A few days before that, the Raft was placed under the control of SHIELD to use as a holding facility for enhanced criminals.”
“Ross gave it up?” Tony exclaimed, shocked.
“He wasn’t given a choice, Mister Stark.” Phil told him. “President Ellis freely signed control of the Raft over to the United Nations. It's the best facility on the planet to contain superhuman threats, and those threats are not just contained to the United States.”
“What about a trial? One of the biggest issues we had with the original Accords was the fact that that facility could be used to contain enhanced individuals without one.” Sam asked, leaning forward slightly over the table.
“Rumlow will have a trial. With that clause removed from the Accords that is guaranteed. But he can still be held in the Raft. His ties to HYDRA make keeping him in a standard prison anywhere too dangerous to the staff of any of those prisons to accept holding him there. The ICC will try him according to his crimes against the world, and Nigeria plans to hold their own trial against him as well.”
The Avengers were mollified by that. Those that had shown any concern over it that is. The rest simply accepted his answers normally.
“Unless anyone has anything else to say about Lagos, I think we should move on to the most pressing matter.” Maria remarked.
He nodded his head. “I agree. The Red Room cannot be allowed to continue operating. The fact that they survived our original attempt to purge them is already catastrophic enough. Who knows how many agents they currently have around the globe?”
“Not many now.” The voice that answered his rhetorical question was small, as if the speaker wasn’t confident in speaking up but did so regardless.
All eyes in the room drifted towards Payton Parker, who slumped down in her seat for a moment before forcing herself to sit upright, the previous embarrassment on her face masked over with seriousness.
“After Natasha, Clint, and Yelena -”
“Why was I last?” Yelena petulantly interrupted before multiple Avengers shushed her.
“- freed those six Widows sent to eliminate… whoever it was who created the cure… Dreykov recalled any Widows that weren’t in deep cover missions. I don’t know any exact numbers, but I know that dozens had ended up returning to the Red Room shortly after I got back from Ohio.”
“Ohio? You were there?” Tony questioned, sitting upright in his chair.
Payton looked away from him, head craning down to look into her lap. “Yes. I… I was the one who killed the HYDRA agent there.”
The admission left the room in silence, different emotions crossing over the faces of everyone present.
“That’s good to know.” He remarked. “But ultimately irrelevant. Local authorities don’t have a suspect, and nobody really wants to spend a bunch of taxpayer dollars looking into the death of an old Soviet Colonel and HYDRA agent.” His words didn’t seem to be much comfort to Payton, but the rest of the room seemed to appreciate them. “Anyway, do you have any other information we should know about Dreykov’s operations?” He directed the question back towards Payton. “I know the Red Room compartmentalizes a lot, but anything you can think of would be helpful.”
“I… I don’t know. I just trained there or was experimented on until they sent me on the two missions I went on.”
“How about the mole? Have we heard anything else from them?” He asked the room at large.
“No. They went dark after informing us that they made sure Payton would be sent on the mission to Bucharest.” Natasha reported.
At the mention of her name, the girl’s head snapped back up, looking towards Natasha. “They said that?”
“Yeah? Why?”
“The only reason I was sent was because Dreykov’s favorite scientist promised him that she had created a drug that would prevent the Red Dust from working on me. I injected it just before the mission to capture the Winter Soldier started.” She sent an apologetic look towards the ex-HYDRA assassin, who grimaced but nodded in acceptance.
“Do you know the scientist's name?” Colonel Rhodes asked, speaking up for the first time.
“Uh. I’m pretty sure it was Melina. I heard some scientists and guards referring to her as the ‘Iron Maiden’ as well.”
The name meant nothing to most of the room, but Phil recognized it, as did Clint. The two it affected the most however, were Natasha and Yelena, both of whom looked at eachother, faces pale with shock.
“Melina!? Are you sure?” Yelena demanded, leaning over to look into Payton’s face.
“I think so?”
“You think so?! Did you hear the name Melina or not?!”
“That’s enough Yelena!” Clint barked, causing the blonde assassin to back off from Payton who was getting more and more agitated.
“I heard the name Melina. And I’m ninety-nine percent sure she was the one who created the drug.” Payton said quietly, leaning into the hand that Stark placed onto her shoulder.
“Who is this ‘Melina’? I mean, Nat and Yelena clearly know her so she must be important.” Steve asked aloud, getting his response from Natasha.
“She was our mom. Well, she pretended to be our mom. We had a mission in Ohio in the mid-nineties. Yelena and I were posed as sisters. Melina was our mom while the Red Guardian, Alexei, was our father.”
“She was our mom, Nat.” Yelena insisted.
“It was just a mission, Yelena. It wasn’t real.”
“Don’t say that! It was real to me! You, Melina, Alexei… You were all I ever had.”
“...I’m sorry.” Natasha apologized, though it didn’t prevent Yelena from storming off, leaving the conference room behind. Phil watched as Natasha nearly stood to follow her, before deciding against it and sitting back down.
Coughing awkwardly, he started the conversation back up. “So Melina had a reason to betray the Red Room, seeing as both her… daughters… had done so, and were actively working against it. We will just have to wait until she gets into contact again.”
“We could also look into Alexei.” Steve suggested. “Whoever this ‘Red Guardian’ was, he might be able to tell us more about the Red Room as well.”
Natasha seemed to agree. “Alexei was one of Dreykov’s closest friends and most loyal officers. That is until Dreykov exiled him. If anyone could tell us something we don’t know about Dreykov, it would be him.”
“He was exiled? Do we have any idea where he is now?” Phil asked, but only received negative responses. “Damn. So for now we need to focus on locating Alexei while we wait and hope Melina gets in contact again. Any other ideas?” Once again only negatives were given in response to his question. “Alright. Then there is only one other thing we need to discuss before we move into the boring stuff. Payton’s cover story.”
“I hope it's a good one. Seven months of being missing is impossible to wave away.” Stark remarked, his hand still resting on his daughter’s shoulder.
“We have one picked out, but ultimately, it's up to her if she accepts it or not. We could always try and come up with something else, but the one we have is based on enough truth that we don’t have to make up a lot of details.” Melinda told him, getting Stark to wave his hand in a ‘go-on’ gesture. “About two weeks ago a team of ours took out a trafficking operation in the Philippines. This operation abducted people across the globe with the express purpose of selling them for experimentation. With the ever-growing number of enhanced individuals around the globe, illegal laboratories are popping up around the world to try and create more to sell as weapons to the highest bidder. We’ve got all the reports already filled out that claim Payton was found in one of their camps, waiting to be sold to some mad scientist’s lab in Indonesia.”
“It explains her absence, without having to have people ask more… uncomfortable questions regarding her experience in captivity. The fact that everything about the story besides Payton’s presence is true also makes it a rock-solid alibi.” Phil concluded.
All eyes in the room were once again directed at the young girl as she mulled it over. Payton glanced up to her father, who merely shrugged. “It’s up to you, Bambina.”
Sighing, Payton looked up to him. “That story works.”
“Okay. We’ll make sure you get everything you need to know so that you don’t have to make stuff up on the spot if anyone asks. Although, we can submit the report to the NYPD on your behalf. That way, they’ll close the case and we can avoid them having to talk to you about it. If you want that, that is.”
Payton nodded eagerly. “That would be awesome, I really don’t want people asking me about it if I can avoid it.”
“Excellent! Now, if that’ll be all, Payton and I have lunch planned with her Aunt, and we really must be going.” Tony exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
“Stark, the meeting isn’t over yet.” He told the billionaire, already knowing that his words would be useless.
“Uh, yeah. I know. But you said it yourself; it's the boring stuff. I’ll get caught up with Steve later. Let’s go, kiddo.” Stark brushed him off, directing Payton out of the room ahead of him.
Sighing, Phil turned back to the rest of the Avengers, who all were willing to continue the meeting. “Well. As Stark said. Time for the boring stuff.”