Chapter 2
Margarita Island, Venezuela - Twenty miles from San Juan Baptista
The quinjets hovered over the jungle landscape. It was nighttime and they were invisible to any sonar that could be watching. The ropes they would use to descend were not the problem. Being picked up was more of a problem and in this landscape, there was no way to land the jets. Once they hit the ground, the twenty widows in their four teams began spreading out.
“Chloe, take your team, set up explosives for landing spot. Dani and Kristina once the LZs are set up land. Chloe do not detonate until we attack the compound. After we attack cover the northside. And then flank the mansion.” Yelena ordered.
She turned off her mic and faced the newest member of her team.
“Kate, stay by my side and watch my back. I am serious. You do not leave my side.”
“Got it.” Kate assured her.
Yelena turned the mic back on. “If we are right and the girls are here, Sophia, Michiko and Maria, you secure the girls and calm them. If possible, you will approach first. Rachel, do we have any satellite infrared of a possible location?”
“Negative.” Rachel said from the control room in France. “Too much interference from trees, and heat signatures in forest and house. I have a picture of the roof, and I don’t see five signatures clumped together.”
Yelena cringed. She had been hoping for a nice clean rooftop stealth entry to secure the stolen girls and then attack the compound once they were secure.
The mission had begun last week. An alert crossed several American wires that an orphanage in Culiacán, Mexico had been attacked at night and five girls between the ages of twelve and thirteen had been abducted. When they tried to find more information Rachel and Everett discovered that an hour after crossing the wire, every trace of the crime was gone as if it had never happened.
Further investigation showed shortly after the event, a man wanted in connection with international gun running entered the police station with a briefcase and exited without it. The man was a chief fixer for Edgar Chavez, a well-known arms dealer, drug cartel head and human trafficker. Maria and Sophia had traveled to the city to ask around and found that the Fixer named Centare had been present during the attack, but witnesses were too afraid to speak out. After leaving the police station Centare had boarded an old drug running plane and flown to Margarita Island. They tracked him to Chavez’s little jungle paradise. With luck the girls would still be there, possibly for his own sick use.
Maria and Sophie had investigated Margarita Island’s sex trade locals and found no trace of girls that young. A weeklong replay of ships going in and out of the port gave no obvious indication that a shipment of girls had gone overseas.
They were taking a chance that the girls were with Chavez, and he had some use for them. If they weren’t there, he would tell them where they were. Taking him out would disrupt a lot of pipelines in all illegal trades.
“Drones are in the air. Sonar is picking up possible underground area.” Mika told the group.
“Ava, Sonia, Ingrid, are your teams prepared?”
“We are in position.” Sonia and Ingrid confirmed.
“Five by five, B.” Ava said, knowing Yelena would appreciate the reference to one of her favorite shows.
“Five girls lives depend on us. They are either in there or he knows where they are. You know the drill, ladies. Let’s be heroes ‘till we get the girls out. Then we can be widows.” Yelena ordered. “Attack.”
The attack was quiet at first. Nearly unseen figures in black uniforms and masks dashing across the lawn, their black blades slashing at the guards who patrolled the grounds. They made it through wave after wave until they reached the walls. Sonia and Ingrid placed explosives on the two entrance points. Ava and her team rappelled to the roof and planted a small charge on the window and prepared to jump in from the top.
“Chloe get ready to blow the LZs.” Yelena said. “Fire in the hole.”
Explosives went off around the fortified brick and concrete mansion, entrance holes on the ground and from above.
They had met more resistance outside than in, but the confined space and lack of cover due to lights turning on made it a more difficult space to attack. The men still dropped. Four women were also present in bedroom, dressed in very little and were stunned by the widows and gagged.
“Rachel, Mika are you picking up our scans?” Yelena asked, looking all over with her UV and infrared vision as the widows scoured the house looking for Chavez or an entrance to the underground area they knew had to be there.
“Got it.” Rachel confirmed. “Mika says the only flow of power is from a secondary generator. The path leads into the kitchen.”
“I’m in the kitchen.” Sonia said. “I’m not seeing a door.”
The widows converged and began unpacking explosives.
“Stop.” Yelena whispered.
Everyone froze.
Yelena observed the room and saw no lines, no electric wires and heard no sounds except one.
The refrigerator was humming.
She looked behind the fridge and pulled it back the entire structure, revealing it was on a set of hinges that opened to an electronic door.
“Panic room?” Ingrid asked.
“Dungeon.” Yelena guessed.
Ava came down after securing the upper floors. “No sign of them on the upper floor. Nothing, no clothes, no blood, besides the blood we just spilled. We going to call Wanda for this?”
“Wanda has sutures in a place I don’t want to think about.” Yelena said. “Time for some Sable tech. Ava, you have the Skeleton Key?”
Ava took a device that looked nothing like a key and placed it on the door. It was a rectangular box only a couple inches long and one inch wide. Maria plugged the device into a tablet she pulled from one of her side holsters.
“One second.” She whispered.
The box glowed red, and the locks retracted. The widows stayed to the side of the door.
“I’m going first.” Yelena said. “Kate since you refuse to wear our uniforms and opt for your purple suit without complete head protection you go last.”
“You are going to use yourself as a human shield?” Kate asked, not happy.
“This suit survived a land mine; it can survive a bullet if someone gets a lucky shot.”
“Stun grenade.” Sonia suggested.
“You want to take chance of electrocuting little girls? We don’t know how big or little they are or if they have bad hearts or other medical conditions. My team follow me. The rest of you secure the upstairs. Ava and Sonia with us. Ingrid, you take three teams and secure. Now move!”
Yelena ran down the stairs guns in front of her. A man stepped into the stairwell with an automatic rifle, and she fired, taking him out before he could fire. Another jumped in and she shot him as well. The two bodies piled in the door, making it difficult to enter cleanly. Yelena jumped over the crumpled bodies and rolled inside, taking a knee and searching for targets.
One man had a little girl in his arms. The girl was screaming but he kept her by his head. He had Yelena almost point blank.
An arrow went into his eye.
The man dropped and Yelena caught the girl before she hit the ground and covered her. The widows rushed in and began firing until only one was left.
Chavez, hiding behind a little girl.
“I know you.” he said. “You save little girls, huh? Get out of here. Leave this place and I may let them live. If I’m going down, I’m taking these kids with me. Do you think you can live with that? All you bitches who think you are heroes? I thought you stuck to aliens and magazine covers…
Ava had slipped behind, grabbed his gun and shocked him in the neck.
“Don’t you love it when they won’t stop talking?” she asked.
Maria, Michiko and Sophia began speaking Spanish with the little girls who were in tears and huddled together. They dropped their helmets and the girls somewhat relaxed.
After a few moments they talked the girls into following them upstairs.
“Wake this asshole up.” Yelena ordered.
“Outside perimeter is clear and under control. Beta team is here.” Chloe called out.
Chavez was kicked in the ribs until he was awoken.
“Hello asshole.” Yelena greeted him. “Right now, we are in your network. We have everything. I want more. I want to hear from your mouth. Tell me who your customers are. I don’t give a damn about weapons. I care about the girls. Tell me where you ship them, what asshole billionaire buys the most. Look at it this way. You are going to die. You can take some assholes with you.”
Chavez’s eyes were wild, looking for any chance to escape.
“The witch. Is she gonna take it from me? Does she really turn people insane?”
Yelena pulled a knife. “It is cute you think I need Wanda to get information from you. She could pull it from your head, but I think I am going to cut it from your body, a piece out of time. Red 8, go upstairs.”
Kate didn’t move. She knew Yelena wanted to spare her this sight, but she had already killed one guard in the yard who had an automatic rifle aimed at Bea and killed the asshole holding the gun on the girl. She had killed on other missions. She was a part of this. She had never seen Yelena do something like this, but she knew it happened.
Yelena didn’t hear her move and rolled her eyes. Red 8 still had problems following orders. Ava pulled his hair, jerking his head back and Yelena ripped open his shirt and began carving slowly into his chest.
“Let’s us start with Saudi Arabia. My friend at my base who is sorting through your intel says they have a liking for American girls. Tell me a story, Chavez. How many chunks of skin can I take before you give me a name?”
Yelena cut a chunk of his skin from his chest, and he screamed and jerked. He tried to lift himself up and Sonia stomped on his hand, shattering it.
“Ava what animal lives around here that might like bite size chunks of flesh?”
“I’m not a zoologist. Let’s put him in a bucket and use him as fish bait. I’ve never gone deep sea fishing. We can hover the quinjets right over the water. I bet there are some rods around here.”
Yelena was surprised. She paused and looked at the other girls.
“Have any of us ever gone fishing?”
The widows shook their heads.
“I did once. I went with Dad on a camping trip. I caught a little fish but that was it.” Kate said.
Yelena nodded. “Okay. We send one jet back with the little girls and whoever wants to fish stays with the other. Somebody get a cooler so we can keep his flesh nice and fresh.”
Yelena pinched a part of his stomach, and he screamed.
“No! Stop! I’ll tell you!”
Yelena tilted her head. “You don’t want to be fish food?”
“I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just don’t do to me what you did to the rest. I’ve heard what you bit…women do.”
Yelena nodded. “You tell me everything and I kill you clean.” She lied.
The man began talking while she relayed everything back to base.
Yelena pulled out her knife again when he was done.
“Hey…”
“You threatened little girls.” She said.
Widow bites charged around him.
“Red alert. We have inbound!” Kristina said into the com.
“I’ve got them too.” Dani reported. “Radar has them coming in fast. We are a klick and a half away. They will be there in thirty seconds. Flying to you, Red One.”
“Understood. Whatever is in the air, shoot it down.” Yelena ordered then turned to the others. “Stay down here with him. Ingrid secure the girls in the center most room of the house. Teams surround them. Ava and Bea keep an eye on this asshole. Everyone else form a perimeter covering the mansion.”
Yelena rushed upstairs with Kate on her heels.
“This is rude. I raid a place and someone else wants to raid it. I was here first!” Yelena complained.
Dani called out. “I have lock. It’s a quinjet! They are hailing us.”
“Put me through.” Yelena ordered. “Do not fire yet. Keep an eye out. If they lock do not hesitate.”
Yelena waited for a call to come through.
“Come in ground teams. This is SHIELD agent Bobbi Morse. Identify yourselves.”
Yelena sighed. “We are the ones who have a lock on your quinjet.”
There was silence for a moment.
“Yelena Belova?”
“Yes. What do you want? I am in the middle of making fish bait.”
“Mind if we land and talk?”
Yelena looked at Sonia who shrugged.
“How many are with you?”
“Just a strike team of ten. We will come out, weapons down if you do the same.”
“We will have a sniper on you. You may do the same.”
“You have vibranium armor.” Morse pointed out.
“I never said life was fair.”
To the widows’ surprise they heard laughter.
“You are exactly like I imagined you would be. Mind if we land on the front yard? Let’s just have a friendly agreement not to try and kill each other.”
Yelena looked at Sonia. Sonia mouthed ‘kids’ and pointed to the center of the house where Ingrid and her team were protecting scared girls. The last thing they needed to hear was gunfire and Yelena didn’t feel like getting into an unnecessary fight.
She switched frequencies. “Everett?”
“She is good Yelena.” Everett told her.
His word was good enough for Yelena.
“Everett Ross says you are a good guy, Bobbi Morse. Land and I may share some of my fresh fish bait with you.”
Two minutes later a quinjet landed on the front yard and SHIELD agents stepped out with rifles but they were not aimed at anyone.
A blonde woman approached her and offered her hand.
“Bobbi Morse.”
Yelena nodded. “Yelena Belova since we are being official. Why are you here, Agent Mockingbird?”
Bobbi smiled. “Bobbi please. We were planning on raiding this place tomorrow night. We had been conducting surveillance from a mobile base for the past two days. We didn’t pick you up on radar. I guess the stealth tech you have is as good as ours. We didn’t know anything was going on until we heard explosions in the general area and then the mansion. I’m guessing your quinjets blew some LZs.”
“Yes. Hard to find a place to land. Did you find a place to land without blowing up trees?”
Bobbi shrugged. “We got lucky. We also had a ground team scout during the day. So… what are you doing here?”
Yelena thought of asking her first but saw no harm. “A few days ago, five little girls were stolen in an attack on a Mexican orphanage. We monitor all crime around the world that could have link to human trafficking. We saw this one was wiped off, meaning corruption, got a lead and hoped the girls would be here or give us a lead to where they might be. Your turn.”
“Weapons. This guy has been picking up business lately, enough to move him to the top of our board. I don’t suppose he is still alive?”
Yelena nodded. “Follow me. Ingrid keep the girls inside. They don’t need to be frightened by more masked people with guns.”
The two walked inside and Morse saw the little girls huddled behind three widows. Their age shocked her, and she felt sick. “What will happen to them? Are you going to take them?”
Yelena nodded. “If they want to come with us. They are orphans and not safe where they were but if they wish to go back, we will take them. If not, they come with us, and we put them in a sort of…foster…it is hard to call it. We don’t have a name for it. Wanda calls it the foster system, but it is more permanent than that.”
“A foster system?” Morse asked.
Yelena nodded. “We have been working on it for a while. It is a network of people, married couples who do not have children from Wakanda, Sokovia and Symkaria. We have social workers who take the children to the three countries and see which one they like best. If they choose, we get them with parents if possible. It is still new but is working out so far. Of course, we would like them to go back to parents but in cases like this, why would I rescue them from a snake only to put them back into a viper pit?”
Morse was impressed. Symkaria and Wakanda were three countries notoriously private, and it was a miracle they were still in the United Nations. Symkaria didn’t bother with an ambassador to the U.N., and Sokovia was closing down embassies all over the world except for new allies who signed trade agreements for their rare minerals. They had left the United Nations not long ago and the agreement to be members of NATO that had been pushed through during American occupation was gone. Sokovia had basically told the world they had no interest in working with anyone except those they chose. Wakanda had a vibrant trade of vibranium for rare minerals that were no doubt created by Wanda Maximoff, but despite T’Challa’s announcement almost two years ago, Wakanda was very select in who was allowed Vibranium and the science to use it’s property for more than making shields. It was suspected Symkaria and Wakanda would soon be leaving the U.N as well.
The planning that must have gone into this foster system was impressive.
They reached the bottom and Bobbi had to step over quite a few bodies.
“Don’t trip. We haven’t moved them yet.”
Chavez was on the floor, his face swollen, eyes closed, and nose crushed. He was breathing strangely, and it was obvious Ava had not only smashed his face but broken his ribs.
“He tried to escape.” Ava said.
Yelena rolled her eyes. “He looked better than this when I left him, but Ava has short temper sometimes. I would say she used to be nice girl, but my face can attest she was never nice girl.”
“I apologized to you.”
“Anyway, here he is. He told us all about his customers and we have his digital information. Do you want to question him and then I can kill him? It’s going to be very slow and gory. Should be entertaining. Although his screams won’t be as good since Ava breaks his ribs. He can probably have some wheezing, moaning and squealing.”
Bobbi wanted to cringe but maintained an unaffected façade.
“Part of my mission was to bring him in to SHIELD headquarters for interrogation and then we were going to put him in the Raft.”
Yelena looked towards Ava who kicked the man once again.
“Any chance we can work something out?” Morse asked.
Yelena shrugged. “Take him.”
Bobbi failed to hide her surprise this time. “Really?”
“Yes. We came for the girls. You can handle the weapons. Prison, fish bait, he is done for either way. We have children we need to get safe. We have already taken the digital data, but it is still on his servers. They are cracked so help yourself.”
Bobbi tried to hide her smile, instead grinning. “Thank you, Yelena.”
“You are welcome. I guess you can clean the bodies up. Let us go, Ava. We have little girls to get home.”
Yelena and Ava walked out. The Widows followed suit, taking the little girls in their arms and leaving a destroyed mansion, a pile of dead bodies and a beaten and tortured weapons dealer and human trafficker in SHIELD hands.
Widow Mansion
“Has Dimi given a guess on when the three-bedroom suites are going to be added?” Wanda asked. “I need to help him.”
Bucky shook his head. “No. Dimi and I can handle it. We have twenty-two girls helping build. They are smart and getting very good at carpentry.”
Wanda sat in a rocking chair feeding Becca. Nadeja and Nela were doing schoolwork on their laptops on the floor.
“She can sleep in our room, Mama.” Nadeja said.
“I know Angel, but we are going to need a little more space. I know our rooms are big but with two cats and a big dog like Storm the two rooms can get very crowded. You two may start spending your nights in your own beds more often than not and want your own room. Becca will be waking up at night and I don’t want you waking up as well.”
Nela looked at her. “We have heard her cry. She wakes up everyone on the first floor. Just like Erik did when he was itty bitty and still kind of does sometimes.”
“When does Becca start therapy?” Nadeja asked.
Wanda wasn’t sure where that question came from. “She is two weeks old. Why would she need therapy?”
“Everyone else goes to therapy. Sasha told Bridget that we may as well start her because growing up in this place she will need it eventually.”
Bucky nodded. “Sasha actually has a point. At least she won’t be the only child. Anya is trying for number two. Plus, with the girls you healed, they will either leave to have kids one day if they want or…I don’t know. Maybe stay. We have proven we can raise kids around here. Billie, little Erik. It’s not so bad, is it?”
Wanda nodded. “It is a good place to raise children. Everyone here is trying to be better, do better, get better. We have come a long way. There is no place else I want my children to be, surrounded by the most badass women on the planet who adore them and a very strong and protective super soldier.”
“Mama, how do you know when one boob is empty, and she is ready for the next one?” Nela asked.
“She has her way of letting me know.” Wanda told her.
There was a knock on the door. Naomi stuck her head inside. “Got a second?”
“Am I needed?” Wanda asked immediately.
“No, relax. Everything went well. The girls are rescued and are enroute to Sokovia as we speak. None of them wanted to go back to that hellhole orphanage. The Novi Grad orphanage is setting up rooms and organizing tours of potential living areas. There were also three more orphans brought in from Sokovia. There was a car wreck that killed their parents outside of Novi Grad. The three kids are going to be harder to place to keep them together, but it is being worked on. Mrs. Chernov believes she has found potential parents in Latveria.”
“Latveria has joined the system?” Bucky asked.
“Sable talked to this Von Doom guy who said he would be pleased. Isn’t it weird that we have never met him, and he is never seen?” Naomi asked.
Bucky shrugged. “If Sable is good with him that’s good enough for me.”
“I’m surprised,” Naomi said, “knowing how social you are I thought you would love the chance to make a new friend, Buck. There was something that went off script. SHIELD showed up.”
That caught Wanda’s attention.
“Why?”
Naomi explained the situation and Yelena’s decision.
Neither were surprised. “Makes sense.” Wanda said.
“Yeah, screw Chavez. We got lucky though.” Bucky mentioned. “It would have been a real mess if SHIELD had attacked the same time we did.”
“What? Do you think we should plan with SHIELD to make sure we aren’t double booked, Bucky? If we tell them where we are going we are opening ourselves up for a trap!” Naomi pointed out heatedly.
Bucky looked at her irritated. “Did I say that? I just mean that we need to be aware of potential players. Many of the traffickers we go after are also involved in weapons. If this is something SHIELD is going to be pursuing it is likely our paths may cross again. We just have to be more alert. You all right Naomi? Why are you snapping at me?”
Naomi cleared her throat and looked embarrassed. “Yeah, I’m fine…just….”
“Cramps?” Wanda guessed.
Naomi scowled. “Maybe the next time I ask you to heal something on me I should give it more thought.”
Wanda laughed after she walked out.
“SHIELD, huh?” Bucky said. “Think it’s a coincidence?”
Wanda nodded. “Yes, I do, and you know how paranoid I am. The same happened to us with SWORD when we first started going after A.I.M.. If there was more to it Everett and Yelena would know.”
“Hey girls why don’t you start getting ready for bed, brush your teeth and then you can both hold Becca before bed?” Bucky suggested.
Nadeja and Nela both ran for the bathroom leaving Bucky and Wanda alone.
“What’s wrong, horúce veci?” Wanda asked.
He paused for a moment. “I was just thinking, you healed Naomi from the chemical sterilization, but a lot of girls are going to want to be healed from the surgical procedures if this works on Nat.”
“Yes. I can handle it. If this is what they want, I will do it. I just have to make sure…make sure I can. I’m very nervous about this, Bucky.”
He understood. “What if you practiced creating organic tissue that isn’t an organ as much. Something less fatal if it goes wrong?”
“Like what?” Wanda asked.
He paused for a moment and looked down.
“Like an arm?”
“Bucky?” Wanda asked. “How long…”
“I just want to hold her in both my arms. All of you but especially… she can grow up never remembering me holding her with a cold, dead metal arm.”
Wanda felt a tear fall down her cheek. “If I could do it, I have no idea if it will be as strong as the rest of you.”
“You would replicate my blood so it probably will but even if it isn’t… I still would want it. You don’t have to… I mean you have already cured my head and given me these daughters and been a great wife, given me more than I ever deserved. I know I’m being selfish…”
Wanda nodded. “I would stand up and kiss you to shut you up but I’m sitting on an ice pack and have a baby attached to my breast so I will just say shut up. Of course I will, if it is really what you want. If I can’t though…”
“If you can’t I still don’t have an arm, and this metal one goes back on.”
Wanda smiled. “I think she is done. Do you want to hold her before the twins are all over her?”
Bucky grinned and gently took the nearly asleep baby in his arms.
The next morning, the family got up to Rachel calling out over the intercom for Widows to find televisions.
“What now?” Wanda asked. She snapped her fingers and the television came on. “This better be good for her to wake up the mansion this early.”
The two watched the television and their eyes widened. Nadeja and Nela could have cared less, and Becca stayed asleep in her crib. Bucky and Wanda knew the world was getting even stranger and more dangerous now. An arms race had begun like the world had never seen.
SHIELD Headquarters / Avengers Compound
Bobbi Morse had just finished giving her after action report to Phil Coulson, Maria Hill and the Avengers.
“Yelena Belova just let you have him. Just like that?”
“Yes. Like I told you they were there for the girls.”
“Can you imagine the mess that would have happened if SHIELD had arrived at the same time as Belova?” Hill asked. “We needed Chavez alive. A few more seconds and he would have been fish food. If Bobbi didn’t react to the explosion and stuck with original mission time, we would have only found his bones.”
Bobbi nodded. “I thought she was joking because I know they all have weird senses of humor but when I saw the chunk missing from his chest…”
“Oh, she was about to cut him into fish bait.” Rhodey said. “Yelena Belova doesn’t joke about stuff like that.”
Maria nodded. “He must have seriously angered them. I’ve seen the photos of their early kills and then the later kills as they grew. They kept becoming increasingly gruesome. And then it stopped.”
“Stopped?” Morse asked.
“Quick kills. No more torturing, skinning, nailing enemies to walls and gutting them. They just started killing cleanly.” Hill told her.
“What changed?” Morse asked.
Phil shrugged. “I asked Nat, but she is very tight lipped about the widows. For good reason. She is raising one. I have no idea what changed. Maybe they got therapy or something. Wanda wasn’t there?”
“No. I would have noticed.”
“She may have given birth. I saw her once not long ago at Clint Barton’s. She was very pregnant then.” Phil suggested.
Hill snorted. “That would be when she threw Fury against a barn.”
The room was quiet.
“Can we ask?” Scott asked. “I mean she didn’t keep it a secret when she was pregnant. All of Sokovia knows she is pregnant. Hell, the entire world saw her walking with the Sokovian President at the park, pregnant. Just ask Captain America if she had the kid. Maybe we could send her something like a congratulations card or maybe get her a nice stroller?”
The room looked at Scott for a moment.
“Just trying to be a good neighbor.”
Carol Danvers cleared her throat. “The Widows are a topic we have tabled for too long. We have crossed paths with them once now. It went well. No dead bodies. What happens next time? We don’t just need some sort of open line of communication with them, we need an understanding.”
“An understanding?” Rhodey asked. “About what?”
“We need to have boundaries. For instance, if something happens on United States ground, they stay out of it or go through us. Common diplomacy. I won’t try to arrest someone on a Sokovian military base, and they won’t raid anymore U.S. military bases, kill soldiers and take the CIA Deputy Director, drive her insane and dump her off in a foreign country with no trial. They also stole weapons plans from that base from what I understand”. Danvers pointed out.
Coulson couldn’t disagree. He had been furious when it first happened. The situation with Thanos had forced them all to be allies but Thanos was dead, and they were living on the same planet with each other.
“We need a plan to deal with them.” Banner agreed. “Maximoff… I’m not belittling what she did, but she has a god complex…”
Rhodey began laughing.
“Something funny, Rhodes?” Danvers asked.
“Yeah, thinking you can plan for her. I’m probably one of only a few who has stood across from her as a potential enemy more than once and lived and that was because I was lucky. The last time I saw her she touched my old suit and turned it to dust. She could have done that to me. I get it. I felt the same way, but I have come to the conclusion that Tony came to a long time ago. There is nothing we can do about it. If Wanda Maximoff goes crazy there is only one way to stop her. Talk Yelena Belova into stopping her. Yelena is the only one she listens to.”
“Not her husband?” Hill asked.
“He wouldn’t ask her to stop.” Rhodey pointed out. “You want a plan for Maximoff, Bruce? I suggest you worry about surviving her plan for you. She is going to cure you of gamma poisoning as easily as she put my spine back in one piece and cured hundreds on an alien planet after nearly dying at Thanos’s hand. She will cure you and no more Hulk. Then the widows are going to shred you to pieces and all your PhDs won’t save you.
“Danvers, you are powered by cosmic energy. Superstrong, blasts of powerful energy… ask Vision how that worked out for him. She took his power and tore him apart and she was an amateur then. Scott, she likes you and Hope and wouldn’t see you as a threat and she would be right. Jessica, what do you got? Have a plan to take down the Scarlet Witch, Spider Woman?”
Jessica Drew said nothing.
“Daisy?”
Daisy remained quiet but shook her head slightly. She had seen Wanda in action.
“Thor?”
“I believe I can battle her.”
Rhodey nodded. “While you do and she is kicking your ass, Silver Sable International is going to blow New Asgard off the map. I’m not trying to be contrary here. I’ve thought about this before a lot. I was at that Air Force base she rolled over. I saw her go through elite soldiers like bugs on a windshield. Danvers has Maria Rambeau figured out a way to defeat her?”
Carol said nothing.
“Tony Stark and I haven’t spoken in a year. He called me yesterday. He wants to look over my suit.”
Coulson’s eyes widened.
“He is willing to be a consultant again?”
“No, he wants to look over my suit. He said Maximoff told him if something happened to me in this suit he would always regret it. So, he is going to check it out and make sure it won’t blow up with me in it at a bad time. She used to hate him. She wanted him dead more than anything on Earth. Now they are pals and hang out, have conversations, they are friends!
“Here is your Maximoff plan. Be nice to her and she will be nice to you. Most importantly, make nice with Yelena Belova. If Wanda becomes truly angry or feels threatened, Yelena Belova is the only person on Earth who could calm her down.”
Phil’s phone buzzed and then the others as well. He flipped on the monitor.
The President of Russia was delivering a speech on the steps of the Kremlin that was being interpreted in every language on Earth.
Due to the recent hostile actions of the United States in assembling and taking control of a team of enhanced individuals, a notion that was rejected with the War Criminal Thaddeus Ross and his so called Sokovia Accords, Russia has taken precautions to protect itself and assembled our own special citizens to protect our home.
The names were read and the individuals stepped up to thunderous cheers from the gathered citizens.
Mikhail Ursus
Laynia Petrovna
Nikolai Krylenko
Aleksey Lebedev
Illich Lavrov
Tania Belinskaya
That was it. No explanation of power, no demonstration, just a warning to other countries that Russia was not at the mercy of the United States.
Rhodey closed his eyes. “Anybody still worried about Maximoff, or do we have other problems?”
Hill cringed. “I think I need to ask Natasha for Yelena’s number. We have no intel on these people. If we don’t, no one else does. That means there is only one source that could possibly give us information on them.”
“The Red Room records.” Coulson realized.
“The Red Room records.” Hill confirmed. “Nat may refuse to get involved. I was under the impression that if she ever became involved in any type of spy activity again, there would be trouble with Maximoff. Something about Maximoff and Nat coming to an agreement over Stannic, contingent on Romanoff staying out of the game completely. Fury opened his mouth about it and was thrown into a barn.”
“Then we leave them out. Keep Rogers and Natasha out of it.” Phil decided. “Bobbi, how would you feel about tracking down Sharon Carter? Maybe she can get you a sit down with Belova.”
“Me?”
“Belova likes you.” Hill pointed out.
“What the hell makes you think that?”
“You asked for her target, and she gave him to you without turning you into fish bait. On her scale you are practically giving each other pedicures. Let’s make it happen. We need to know everything about these people.” Coulson ordered.
“And Maximoff?” Danvers asked.
“Maximoff isn’t likely to attack NATO countries” Coulson pointed out. “Okay, it is always possible but unlikely. Russia has been rattling the nuclear sabers for months. We need to find out everything we can about these people, who they are, what they can do, where they have been and the only ones who might have the answers are the Red Widows.”