The Red Room

Getting into the Red room was one thing. The next slightly problematic thing was getting to the places they needed to be. Natasha and Melina knowing exactly what they had to do.

Natasha had always worked well upon being given orders. A where, when, what and who always doing more favors and she'd figure out the how later. It wasn't until she had joined SHIELD that she started questioning the why.

Infiltrating the Red Room had never been on Natasha's to do list, nor her aspirations list, but here she was, in disguise as Melina in order to get as close to Dreykov as possible.

Natasha and Melina both knew what they had to do, they only two actually open to the plan, Melina would handle Alexi and Yelena, Natasha had Dreykov to worry about. Melina had told her what she had to do, to an outsider, the plan would have seemed simple enough, however considering what Dreykov was like and what exactly was going on inn the Red Room, everyone knew it wouldn’t even remotely be easy.

»»———　★　———««

Yelena had woken up in a room she didn’t know o recognize, it smelt clinical with a hint of metal, like chemicals had been freshly sprayed in the air, she was strapped to a metal platform, both her arms and both her legs tied down.

The crackle of a whisper suddenly came through Yelena’s ear and Melina’s voice was telling her to grab a small knife out the side of her boot, looking around Yelena was surrounded by people, sure she could take them on by herself but she’d just woke up from being unconscious and tied down so forgive her for being heavily disoriented.

Getting up from the table, she saw someone come down from the ceiling, recognizing the type of clothing they had on she knew they were safe, the person taking one person on at a time and rendering them useless.

Yelena took on the last two people, knocking them both out, before turning towards the masked figure.

“Finch?” Yelena asked to make sure that someone else wasn’t aware of her presence here.

The masked figure nodded and held out his hand in order to bring her to Melina and Alexi. Yelena nodded and gladly followed him, the two of them finding Alexi and Melina in another room than they were originally in.

Looking at the masked figure, Melina knew who it was, knew everything he had done for them and for Natasha, she brought their foreheads together before hugging the taller tighter into her.

“There’s not much time, the girls are all heading up, Dreykov has activated them all.” Finch informed them.

Alexi looked slightly panicked, he hadn’t done anything like this in years and he wasn’t exactly in the same shape as when he had. Yelena grabbed the vials and got them secure where they needed to be, Melina looked at Finch.

“You have to go to her.” Melina nodded. “She doesn’t know you yet, but she will, and she’s going to need you.”

Finch nodded before hurrying off to find Natasha. He knew there wasn’t much time, his senses picked up on Natasha’s voice and Finch felt both his hearts stop for a second.

»»———　★　———««

“My god, look at you.” Dreykov chuckled, slow and sadistic, like he had just told a dad joke instead of destroying thousands of women’s lives. “How was the reunion?”

“They were clingy, emotional….needy.” Natasha spoke, Melina’s face disguise was working wonders and she questioned how Dreykov couldn’t recognize something he had wanted Melina to design.

“Yelena Belova, she’s the only one affected, yes?”

“As far as I know.”

“These gasses and antidotes, they’re a problem and you need to fix it.”

“I have nine pigs that will require attending too in my absence.”

“I don’t give a shit about your pigs.”

Natasha shook her head, she had to get Dreykov angry, she knew that well, she could do that better than anyone, but now it was time to change tactics.

“What about Romanoff?”

“She’s a traitor, she turned her back on her people, on her blood. She had nothing. I gave her love, i gave her home. Put that thing in her you do, uh, chemicals. Turn her into one of your pigs. Could you imagine what I could do with an Avenger under my control?”

Natasha had learned over many years what different tones of voice meant about a person, whether they were in love, whether they were stressed, angry, happy. But right now, Dreykov sounded untouchable and happy in the knowledge that he was untouchable.

It took a few seconds for Dreykov to realize there was something else going on in the background, his security systems buzzing and flashing and then he realized. Finch has snuck into the room, walking towards the two of them, tilting his head as if deciding what to do with Dreykov.

Natasha looked at the new person with worry and intrigue, but the person never fought her, were they waiting for orders, was Dreykov controlling them? Dreykov stood up from his chair and came closer to Natasha.

“This was your plan?”

“My plan was to kill you.”

“Well, I’m alive, so what do we do now?”

“What was my mother’s name?”

Dreykov laughed, like Natasha had told the funniest joke in existence, looking at the other person as if asking whether they had heard such a funny joke before, the other person not moving a muscle as he did so.

“Mmm, where we buried her there was…um….a tree…a er…pink blossom. Beautiful. And there was a tombstone with her name engraved on it. What was her name?” Dreykov smirked as he made his build up. “Unknown.”

“You don’t feel anything? You feel anything when I killed your daughter?’

“This is your haunted past? Really?” Someone else jumped down from the ceiling and Natasha was unsure of what happened after this. “Thank you, Natasha, you gave me my greatest weapon. When your bomb exploded, it almost killed my Antonia. I had to put a chip in the back of her head. Look at her. You find it difficult? I do. She watches everything. And she can do it. She can fight like one of your friends.”

“Can she hear me?”

“What? You want to make her feel better? Tell her you’re sorry? Should’ve thought about that before you blew half her face off. Now go, go. I have rats in the basement.”

Natasha watched as Antonia left, but the other person was still standing in the room, Natasha was beginning to think they were a robot standing in position.

“Well, that was dumb. You just sent away the one person who would stop me from killing you.”

“Well, go on then, try it.”

Natasha grabbed her gun and aimed it at Dreykov, pressing her finger on the trigger but nothing was happening, like he had a huge, thick force field surrounding him.

“Is the safety on? Jesus. Try something else. What about the knife?”

Natasha grabbed her knife and tried to wound Dreykov, her arm not going any closer than four inches in front of him. Dreykov simply laughed as the knife clattered to the ground.

“How are you controlling me?”

“Ah, you see, I’m not. Not yet anyways. But there’s a pheromonal lock. The smell of my pheromones prevents you doing anything to harm me.”

Dreykov looked around as the building was shifted in a different direction. Natasha smirked, her eyes catching the person in the background again, trying to work out what they were here for.

“So that was your big plan? Melina was going to land the Red Room and you’d hand me over to the authorities?”

Natasha shook her head. “So what now, you’re gonna become my pathetic puppeteer?”

“Pathetic, huh?”

“Mmm, what would you call it?”

“I would call it….”

“When is the last time you had a conversation with someone who wasn’t forced to talk to you?”

“You ran away to fight the wrong war. The war was here in the shadows.”

“You didn’t fight innocent the shadows. You hid in the dark.”

“Real power comes from undetectable influence.”

“If no one sees it or knows about it, what’s the point in doing it?” Natasha shrugged. “You have nothing.”

“There are 50 people on this planet…..”

“Oh stop it.”

“Don’t tell me to stop!”

“If I don’t tell you when to stop, then how will you know when to shut up?”

Natasha smirked when her face was met with a punch. This was what she needed, the plan finally coming together.

“You think I can’t take a punch?”

Dreykov raised his brows a little as if only now Natasha was challenging him. Another punch to Natasha’s face, spitting a little blood out but Natasha just laughed.

“Goddamn it, you’re weak.”

“Weak?”

“I bet it’s easier to be tough in front of defenseless little girls, huh?”

“That’s enough.” Dreykov slammed his fists on the table turning round to face Natasha, standing between her and the other person still in the room.

“You wouldn’t be so glib if you had any notion of the scope of what I’ve built. I own this world. Me.”

“You seem so desperate to impress me.”

“I don’t need to impress you. I don’t need to impress anyone. These world leaders, these great men, they answer to me and my widows. Look at them. These girls were trash. They are thrown out into the street. I recycle the trash. And I give them purpose. I give them a life.”

Natasha shook her head. This coward was making human trafficking sound like a business deal, like he was pitching a revolutionary idea.

“It’s my network of widows that help me control the scales of power. One command, the oil and stock markets crumble. One command, and a quarter of the planet will starve. My widows can start and end wars. They can make and break kings.”

“You control all of that from here?”

“And with you, an Avenger under my control, I can finally come out of the shadows using the only natural resource that the world has too much of….. Girls.”

“All from that little console?” Natasha could help but smirk, boys and their toys.

“Yeah. Oh, you find this amusing? Why are you smiling?”

“Don’t take it personal, but, uh… Thank you for your cooperation.”

Natasha positioned her hands on the desk in front of Dreykov and he looked up at her he had taught her to never let anyone her next move, he had never anticipated being on the receiving end of it.

“What are you going to do?”

Natasha smirked before she looked down at him.
“Sever the nerve.”

Smashing her head down on the desk, she had successfully broken the nerve in which Melina had told her caused Dreykov to still hold his pheromonal control. Now it was broken…..

Natasha smirked and stepped away, Dreykov standing up in a panic, the other person throwing the tablet somewhere else in the room so he couldn’t touch it and Natasha stood in front of Dreykov, the person standing behind him.

Natasha looked at the other person, as if they were standing between a mirror and the person was a mirror reflection of her.

The redhead throwing a punch and sending Dreykov flying towards the other person. The other person also throwing a punch at Dreykov and sending him back towards Natasha.

The two of them fighting together against Dreykov and Natasha still didn’t know who was helping her. She sent a elbow into Dreykov’s gut and the other person kneed him in the stomach.

Dreykov punching the other person in the stomach and then the face, forgetting that the other person didn’t take much damage but was thrown back into a wall.

Natasha looked over checking they were okay, seeing that they were she continue the fight, Dreykov sent another punch to her face, her nose getting the brunt of it.

Dreykov smirked as if he’d finally won, Natasha coming back twice as strong grabbing her gun and aiming it at Dreykov’s head.

The other person grabbing the tablet from the floor and taking care of it, Natasha looking Dreykov in the eyes with her gun aimed at his head.

“Not so talkative now, are you? You took my childhood. You took my choices. You tried to break me. But you are never going to do that to anybody ever again.”

Natasha pressed her finger harder against the trigger.

»»———　★　———««

Natasha only had one thing left to do, Yelena was rapidly reaching the ground, not attached to a parachute and surrounding by incoming flying shrapnel, she could either go down with the ship or save Yelena but for the redhead there was only one.

Jumping out of the ship, the wind accelerated her towards the blonde, carrying her the whole way until she could wrap her arms around the blonde and pull her in close, trying to change their direction, placing the parachute she’d grabbed onto Yelena to ease them to the ground.

The other person who had helped Natasha fight Dreykov flew towards them, grabbing onto the straps and flying them closer to the ground so that Natasha could pull on the parachute release, safely dropping them both to the ground, the other person landing and rolling further away from them.

Melina ran towards the other person, checking to see if there was any damage and after finding none, she helped pull them to their feet, pulling them into a hug.

Natasha looked at Yelena, their eyes meeting the way they had when they were both kids and playing was the only thing on Yelena’s mind, a smile still somehow gracing the blonde’s face as she looked up.

“It was real to me too.” Natasha almost whispered before resting their foreheads together.

The two of them made their way to Melina and Alexi before Natasha caught another glimpse of Antonia, walking slowly over to her, Natasha outstretched a hand to make peace.

“Antonia…..you’re gonna come after me and that’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay because I know that you’re still in there.” Natasha nodded and instead of starting a fight like she imagined she would, Antonia shook her hand and gave a nod in understanding.

Melina smiled as the other person started heading towards Natasha and Antonia, slowly as to not startle them and hesitant as to whether to introduce himself, Melina slowly following him to aid in his explanation.

Natasha looked at them and nodded her head in thanks. “I never thanked you, you helped me save those girls, you didn’t have to.”

Taking the mask off, Natasha could now see the face of the man who had helped her save thousands of women who other wise wouldn’t have been able to have their lives and freedom back, there was again something so familiar about him and Natasha couldn’t place it.

“I really did have to.” The man spoke, sending a nod towards Antonia, who in return nodded back.

“Who are you?” Natasha almost spoke in a whisper as more debris came tumbling down.

“The name is Finch.” Finch spoke, his voice almost shaking with fear of being rejected.

Melina stepped in by his side. “Romanoff-Hill.” Looking at him as she did so.

Natasha looked at him and she could see the blue in his eyes, a blue she had only ever seen in Maria’s eyes, a deep blue that she had come to know as a comfort, blue she could drown in, but the nose and jaw were hers, that smirk she had perfected over years also present on his face.

“I created him, he was supposed to be part of a bioweapon that Dreykov had asked for, the project was created a number of times, failing because of certain components so we had to take another route, Nick Fury also helped though up until now he has never known of whether it worked. We took the blood and genome from one of the greatest Red Room agents and the blood and genome from one of the strongest SHIELD agents and collaborated them as well as a DNA type from an outside alien resource, Mal’Torian. He’s the perfect mix between you and Hill.” Melina explained and nodded as Maria turned up in a dark SUV, stepping out in a trenchcoat to meet Natasha.

Finch smiled and nodded before showcasing the usual Romanoff smirk. “Hi mama.”

Natasha smiled and pulled him in for a hug. “Thank you.”

“You needed help. Here I am. And I’ll be there whenever you need me.” Finch promised.

Antonia took him to the side, the two of them having a conversation as Natasha turned around and walked towards Maria, jumping into her arms and Maria kissing the sense out of the redhead before returning to their usual profesional selves.

The two of them getting into the SUV and back to HQ. Things were different since the fall of SHIELD, Maria had taken it the hardest of all. Maria had always looked at SHIELD as more than a job, it had been her family, a safe space, a home. She almost missed the paperwork that she'd spend hours sitting in her office trying to get through. But when SHIELD fell.... So did Maria Hill.

Natasha had seen it first hand, Maria wasn't the same since SHIELD fell, she'd lost her sense of purpose, didn't know whether anything she was doing made a difference and Natasha didn't know how to help her.

They’d seen each other at their worsts, both of them still somehow managing to make it out alive, Maria having cut her hair a few times as she struggled with her identity a few times, Natasha having been there throughout, after everything with the Red Room and Dreykov, SHIELD had been Natasha’s home, the first people to look at her and tell her she could do more.

And when Maria looked into her eyes, it was like she’d spent her whole life floating as some kind of balloon and Maria had found the string to pull her back down to earth.

To be continued…..