Fury was looking at me with an unreasonable expression. I knew he wasn’t angry at me, not that I would have cared if he was, but he also wasn’t happy about being kept out of what was going on in Moscow.
“What happened?” Fury asked after taking a deep breath in.
“You already know what did. You are going to have to rephrase that question a bit.” I told him.
“Fine. What happened in Moscow?” He asked again to which I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“What didn’t if not the world government thinking it would be okay to produce metahuman-killing machines.” I said to him with narrowed eyes.
“That wasn’t what the SENTINEL project was about.” Fury said with a frown.
“Of course it wasn’t what it was about since it was HYDRA that greenlit the damned project.” I could see his eye widen in realization before it went downcast with frustration.
“The project was listed among the many other projects that have been collecting dusts in S.H.I.E.L.D’s archive. It was suppose to be about something that could temporarily neutralize the X-gene in mutants.” Fury sighed. “HYDRA fucked us up, big time.”
Everyone here could sympathize with what the man was feeling. It was HYDRA they were talking about, there was no feeling to be had for that organization other than those of the negative kind.
“So how did it devolve into the global shit of what happened in Russia was?” Clint asked.
“We managed to track Trask down but unfortunately for us he was a step ahead and gave his assistant the figurative keys to the city. When we managed to capture Trask and get him to talk it was already too late as his assistant, William Stryker, had already released what they were truly working for HYDRA for – killer robots who could adapt while fighting metahumans, which also had the ability to scan people for the X-gene making it the worst metahuman detector. These Sentinels had the minor ability to adapt to or nullify the ability of a meta acting on them. He ordered them to kill all the metas they could find in Moscow in a sick way of advertising it to the world that metahumans weren’t to be feared for their ability anymore since the perfect weapon to wipe them out was already created.
Thankfully he didn’t count on Magneto and his group being there since they were able to help and prevent the Sentinels from killing more people.”
“As if that deranged bastard was any better.” Steve huffed as he remembered Magneto’s speech.
“We weren’t able to get the full video on what happened during the fights since most of the streets camera were down, but from what we could get from witnesses the fight didn’t end there.” Fury said.
“Well, it was all going well, not exactly, but then Magneto had to give one of those Homo Superior speeches he is famous for which ended with us fighting off against the Brotherhood. I was able to beat Magneto but-”
“Back up for a sec! You said you were able to beat who?” Fury’s eye widened like that of his eyepatch. “You were able to beat someone countries' entire military could do nothing against?”
“You don’t seem to understand so let me break it down for you. Magneto’s ability is no doubt stronger than mine, at least presently, but what gave me the edge was that while his ability was more versatile, it was also in its basic form while mine was versatile and more diverse.” I explained since I didn’t want them thinking that I was as strong as Magneto. Well, technically I was, but the thing about strength measurement in a universe like this one was that it was more complex and technical.
“So basically it was just bad pairing.” Clint said to which I nodded.
“So what happened to Magneto? I doubt you would let someone like him go if you got your hands on him.” Fury had already sensed the complications that were in the little story I was telling.
“One of his members got him out. A speedster.” Damned Flash wannabe.
“A speedster? That one’s gonna be a trouble to catch and also very deadly. You know how fast he can run?” Fury asked after thinking for a while.
“Well for starters, he’s definitely faster than sound, also faster than bullets from how he was able to attack me before I could dodge. I’d say between Mach 2 to 3.” I said as I reviewed the way Pietro attacked me in my head. He definitely was fast, no doubt about that.
“Already that fast huh? This one might just be as dangerous as the top hitters of the Brotherhood.” Fury scratched his chin. “So what happened next?”
“Nothing of note. I kinda remembered reading about the Red Room in Russia and thought that maybe busting some bad guy’s ass was a good way to de-stress. Newsflash: it wasn’t.”
“So that was the reason why you destroyed the Russian-Soviet spy organization. Because you were stressed? Why not find the nearest brothel and ‘de-stress’ there?!” Fury said exasperatedly. He looked at me for a bit before he asked the question he wanted to ask ever since he came in here. “What the hell was that about then?” He asked while referring to what happened at the hangar.
“You know, for a smart guy, you really are slow. Why don’t you take a guess.”
He looked at me in silence but even I could see the figurative gears turning in his head before his eyes glowed in surprise.
“You sly motherfucker! You are nuts, you know that right?” He said but there was a smile on his face. “What makes you think something like this is going to work in the first place?” This time he asked genuinely.
“First of all, the HYDRA case. While the council have been trying to get a hold of what Pierce and the others left, they also fail to notice that the agents no longer trusts the council since one of its prominent leaders and key figure was a terrorist. That was already the first crack in their authority.
Second is you. Although you might not see it, or maybe you do, but you have a steady growing faction under you with Phil, Clint and Hill. And while you may not mean so, it doesn’t mean that the others won’t see who their boss’ trusted aides are, after all you all did take down HYDRA on your lonesome. So as they lose their trust in the council, they naturally will gravitate towards the one who they perceive is right, which in this case is you. And today’s fiasco only helped strengthen that thought.”
“Wait, I’m lost. What are you trying to say?” Hill asked.
“He is saying that unknowingly, the boss has been taking control of the mooks and top agents of S.H.I.E.L.D without him knowing, or maybe he does, which means that he wants the boss to take full control of S.H.I.E.L.D thereby giving us a large room for autonomy or however the boss sees fit. It’s a risky call, which conversely is what politics is all about.” Clint explained which caused everyone to look at both of us in shock as we both held our smiles.
The bastard knew, oh he knew and that was why he has been giving subtle flip offs to the council.
“So that means the whole thing today…” Phil began.
“Was just a ruse to see who would be the first to attack this delicate balance S.H.I.E.L.D has.” Clint said and alternated his view between the both of us. “Are the both of you some kind of demons?”
“Now you are just been rude, Clint. Anyways, that’s the gist so you already know what to do.” I sat back and tried to lose myself to the soft comforting embrace of my couch while the rest were thinking of who knows what.
“After all that, you still thought it was a good idea to bring the Black Widow with you.” Fury asked me with a raised brow which I didn’t know what it meant.
“She wanted to escape her torturers so I just extended the invitation you sent out. What’s wrong with that? And besides it’s not like we are going to be working with her or anything.” I just shrugged off his concerns, whatever they were.
While I may have loved to meet the Avengers once upon a time when I was a kid, now I was just… meh.
I could walk over to Tony Stark’s house and kill him, or the Widow, even Cap and Hawkeye. The only people from the original Avengers who I knew I couldn’t put up any kind of fight against were Thor and Hulk. Both of them could one-shot me. But the point still stands, if people from my former world were to start having powers, comics and movies of superheroes would be nothing more than a cheap imitation of everyday life.
The reason we loved them was because they could do things we couldn’t dream of doing.
So me living in the same world as them, having powers greater than most of them, killed off any kind of excitement or admiration I would’ve had.
“You want to ask anything else, because I have a bath that is getting overdue.” Fury didn’t ask me anything so I just left them there and went to take my long awaited dip.
…
[Natasha Romanoff POV]
The past two weeks were a roller coaster of emotions for her. It was just as surreal as it seemed impossible.
She was freed.
The other girls were freed.
She found her sister, who despite having been gone for long still hugged her and cried her eyes out. She was just fourteen after all.
The next two week they spent freeing the other girls from the other facility the Red Room had while the people who liberated them went around destroying HYDRA in the neighboring regions.
She was extremely grateful for the help they extended to her and the girls by providing a safety net of travel if they ever wanted to leave Russia. While some had already left since day one, some stayed behind to take care of the younger ones who still knew nothing about the outside world but she and her sister decided that they would leave Russia the first chance they got because her sister wanted them to find their parents.
She had no objections to that but she knew how hard it would be, it was like finding a needle in a country wide haystack but she would do it – it was her family after all, even if not for herself, she would do it for her little sister.
She was able to request from Draul, if they could tag along for the ride and he didn’t even listen to her for more than ten seconds before he agreed. If it were before she knew him, she would have liked to believe it was her charms that did most of the work but the ‘I can’t be bothered’ look he had on his face spelled out how wrong that her thought process was, still she was grateful because he genuinely helped them.
The flight was quiet, which she appreciated, but that all changed when they landed.
She immediately prepared for a flight or fight situation immediately they were approached by a tall black man with an eyepatch with some trained personnel along with him.
The man, who Draul called Fury, exchanged heated words with Draul which made her understand something – Draul wasn’t an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. On the contrary, he didn’t belong to any organization. Just a freelancing mutant, or meta as Draul called them.
Things almost got out of hand when the councilmen of S.H.I.E.L.D wanted to take him into custody but all he did was say ‘fuck off’ in different ways and just walked out. She exchanged glances with her sister and saw that she wasn’t the only one surprised by that. This was THE S.H.I.E.L.D.
This was one of organizations she was advised not to trifle with and Draul just blew their Senates off.
Then she realized a problem.
She would also be targeted.
She had just escaped one hell and she wasn’t keen on going to another, not anytime soon at least so she tried to be subtle and asked him why he acted like that. People feigned civility for a reason.
But the answer she got was that he didn’t care if they came after him.
She didn’t know if he was being arrogant or not but she couldn’t risk her safety and that of her sister on just assurance of words so whole they were talking she signaled her sister for a momentary distraction and bugged him with a tracker. With this she would be able to know where he frequents and where he lives. A safety precaution.
When it was time to leave he asked where they were going to be staying. She first of all thought that he had some underlying reasons for asking that but the problem was that she couldn’t really know with him.
As long as it wasn’t a mission, Draul’s thoughts and emotions could be read like a book which bothered her a lot but she quickly learned not to take it at face value, not when she saw him punch through a person with his bare hands. Fact was if he wanted something from her, he would have gotten it already since he could kill both her and her sister without breaking a sweat.
With that reasoning which both sisters shared, Yelena told him they were planning to stay at a hotel until future notice.
She saw how his eyes flickered before it settled with his default ‘can’t be bothered’ look. She could tell he wanted to help but he also didn’t care about them in the slightest.
Draul St. Cross truly was an odd man.
Fury was looking at me with an unreasonable expression. I knew he wasn’t angry at me, not that I would have cared if he was, but he also wasn’t happy about being kept out of what was going on in Moscow.
“What happened?” Fury asked after taking a deep breath in.
“You already know what did. You are going to have to rephrase that question a bit.” I told him.
“Fine. What happened in Moscow?” He asked again to which I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“What didn’t if not the world government thinking it would be okay to produce metahuman-killing machines.” I said to him with narrowed eyes.
“That wasn’t what the SENTINEL project was about.” Fury said with a frown.
“Of course it wasn’t what it was about since it was HYDRA that greenlit the damned project.” I could see his eye widen in realization before it went downcast with frustration.
“The project was listed among the many other projects that have been collecting dusts in S.H.I.E.L.D’s archive. It was suppose to be about something that could temporarily neutralize the X-gene in mutants.” Fury sighed. “HYDRA fucked us up, big time.”
Everyone here could sympathize with what the man was feeling. It was HYDRA they were talking about, there was no feeling to be had for that organization other than those of the negative kind.
“So how did it devolve into the global shit of what happened in Russia was?” Clint asked.
“We managed to track Trask down but unfortunately for us he was a step ahead and gave his assistant the figurative keys to the city. When we managed to capture Trask and get him to talk it was already too late as his assistant, William Stryker, had already released what they were truly working for HYDRA for – killer robots who could adapt while fighting metahumans, which also had the ability to scan people for the X-gene making it the worst metahuman detector. These Sentinels had the minor ability to adapt to or nullify the ability of a meta acting on them. He ordered them to kill all the metas they could find in Moscow in a sick way of advertising it to the world that metahumans weren’t to be feared for their ability anymore since the perfect weapon to wipe them out was already created.
Thankfully he didn’t count on Magneto and his group being there since they were able to help and prevent the Sentinels from killing more people.”
“As if that deranged bastard was any better.” Steve huffed as he remembered Magneto’s speech.
“We weren’t able to get the full video on what happened during the fights since most of the streets camera were down, but from what we could get from witnesses the fight didn’t end there.” Fury said.
“Well, it was all going well, not exactly, but then Magneto had to give one of those Homo Superior speeches he is famous for which ended with us fighting off against the Brotherhood. I was able to beat Magneto but-”
“Back up for a sec! You said you were able to beat who?” Fury’s eye widened like that of his eyepatch. “You were able to beat someone countries' entire military could do nothing against?”
“You don’t seem to understand so let me break it down for you. Magneto’s ability is no doubt stronger than mine, at least presently, but what gave me the edge was that while his ability was more versatile, it was also in its basic form while mine was versatile and more diverse.” I explained since I didn’t want them thinking that I was as strong as Magneto. Well, technically I was, but the thing about strength measurement in a universe like this one was that it was more complex and technical.
“So basically it was just bad pairing.” Clint said to which I nodded.
“So what happened to Magneto? I doubt you would let someone like him go if you got your hands on him.” Fury had already sensed the complications that were in the little story I was telling.
“One of his members got him out. A speedster.” Damned Flash wannabe.
“A speedster? That one’s gonna be a trouble to catch and also very deadly. You know how fast he can run?” Fury asked after thinking for a while.
“Well for starters, he’s definitely faster than sound, also faster than bullets from how he was able to attack me before I could dodge. I’d say between Mach 2 to 3.” I said as I reviewed the way Pietro attacked me in my head. He definitely was fast, no doubt about that.
“Already that fast huh? This one might just be as dangerous as the top hitters of the Brotherhood.” Fury scratched his chin. “So what happened next?”
“Nothing of note. I kinda remembered reading about the Red Room in Russia and thought that maybe busting some bad guy’s ass was a good way to de-stress. Newsflash: it wasn’t.”
“So that was the reason why you destroyed the Russian-Soviet spy organization. Because you were stressed? Why not find the nearest brothel and ‘de-stress’ there?!” Fury said exasperatedly. He looked at me for a bit before he asked the question he wanted to ask ever since he came in here. “What the hell was that about then?” He asked while referring to what happened at the hangar.
“You know, for a smart guy, you really are slow. Why don’t you take a guess.”
He looked at me in silence but even I could see the figurative gears turning in his head before his eyes glowed in surprise.
“You sly motherfucker! You are nuts, you know that right?” He said but there was a smile on his face. “What makes you think something like this is going to work in the first place?” This time he asked genuinely.
“First of all, the HYDRA case. While the council have been trying to get a hold of what Pierce and the others left, they also fail to notice that the agents no longer trusts the council since one of its prominent leaders and key figure was a terrorist. That was already the first crack in their authority.
Second is you. Although you might not see it, or maybe you do, but you have a steady growing faction under you with Phil, Clint and Hill. And while you may not mean so, it doesn’t mean that the others won’t see who their boss’ trusted aides are, after all you all did take down HYDRA on your lonesome. So as they lose their trust in the council, they naturally will gravitate towards the one who they perceive is right, which in this case is you. And today’s fiasco only helped strengthen that thought.”
“Wait, I’m lost. What are you trying to say?” Hill asked.
“He is saying that unknowingly, the boss has been taking control of the mooks and top agents of S.H.I.E.L.D without him knowing, or maybe he does, which means that he wants the boss to take full control of S.H.I.E.L.D thereby giving us a large room for autonomy or however the boss sees fit. It’s a risky call, which conversely is what politics is all about.” Clint explained which caused everyone to look at both of us in shock as we both held our smiles.
The bastard knew, oh he knew and that was why he has been giving subtle flip offs to the council.
“So that means the whole thing today…” Phil began.
“Was just a ruse to see who would be the first to attack this delicate balance S.H.I.E.L.D has.” Clint said and alternated his view between the both of us. “Are the both of you some kind of demons?”
“Now you are just been rude, Clint. Anyways, that’s the gist so you already know what to do.” I sat back and tried to lose myself to the soft comforting embrace of my couch while the rest were thinking of who knows what.
“After all that, you still thought it was a good idea to bring the Black Widow with you.” Fury asked me with a raised brow which I didn’t know what it meant.
“She wanted to escape her torturers so I just extended the invitation you sent out. What’s wrong with that? And besides it’s not like we are going to be working with her or anything.” I just shrugged off his concerns, whatever they were.
While I may have loved to meet the Avengers once upon a time when I was a kid, now I was just… meh.
I could walk over to Tony Stark’s house and kill him, or the Widow, even Cap and Hawkeye. The only people from the original Avengers who I knew I couldn’t put up any kind of fight against were Thor and Hulk. Both of them could one-shot me. But the point still stands, if people from my former world were to start having powers, comics and movies of superheroes would be nothing more than a cheap imitation of everyday life.
The reason we loved them was because they could do things we couldn’t dream of doing.
So me living in the same world as them, having powers greater than most of them, killed off any kind of excitement or admiration I would’ve had.
“You want to ask anything else, because I have a bath that is getting overdue.” Fury didn’t ask me anything so I just left them there and went to take my long awaited dip.
…
[Natasha Romanoff POV]
The past two weeks were a roller coaster of emotions for her. It was just as surreal as it seemed impossible.
She was freed.
The other girls were freed.
She found her sister, who despite having been gone for long still hugged her and cried her eyes out. She was just fourteen after all.
The next two week they spent freeing the other girls from the other facility the Red Room had while the people who liberated them went around destroying HYDRA in the neighboring regions.
She was extremely grateful for the help they extended to her and the girls by providing a safety net of travel if they ever wanted to leave Russia. While some had already left since day one, some stayed behind to take care of the younger ones who still knew nothing about the outside world but she and her sister decided that they would leave Russia the first chance they got because her sister wanted them to find their parents.
She had no objections to that but she knew how hard it would be, it was like finding a needle in a country wide haystack but she would do it – it was her family after all, even if not for herself, she would do it for her little sister.
She was able to request from Draul, if they could tag along for the ride and he didn’t even listen to her for more than ten seconds before he agreed. If it were before she knew him, she would have liked to believe it was her charms that did most of the work but the ‘I can’t be bothered’ look he had on his face spelled out how wrong that her thought process was, still she was grateful because he genuinely helped them.
The flight was quiet, which she appreciated, but that all changed when they landed.
She immediately prepared for a flight or fight situation immediately they were approached by a tall black man with an eyepatch with some trained personnel along with him.
The man, who Draul called Fury, exchanged heated words with Draul which made her understand something – Draul wasn’t an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. On the contrary, he didn’t belong to any organization. Just a freelancing mutant, or meta as Draul called them.
Things almost got out of hand when the councilmen of S.H.I.E.L.D wanted to take him into custody but all he did was say ‘fuck off’ in different ways and just walked out. She exchanged glances with her sister and saw that she wasn’t the only one surprised by that. This was THE S.H.I.E.L.D.
This was one of organizations she was advised not to trifle with and Draul just blew their Senates off.
Then she realized a problem.
She would also be targeted.
She had just escaped one hell and she wasn’t keen on going to another, not anytime soon at least so she tried to be subtle and asked him why he acted like that. People feigned civility for a reason.
But the answer she got was that he didn’t care if they came after him.
She didn’t know if he was being arrogant or not but she couldn’t risk her safety and that of her sister on just assurance of words so whole they were talking she signaled her sister for a momentary distraction and bugged him with a tracker. With this she would be able to know where he frequents and where he lives. A safety precaution.
When it was time to leave he asked where they were going to be staying. She first of all thought that he had some underlying reasons for asking that but the problem was that she couldn’t really know with him.
As long as it wasn’t a mission, Draul’s thoughts and emotions could be read like a book which bothered her a lot but she quickly learned not to take it at face value, not when she saw him punch through a person with his bare hands. Fact was if he wanted something from her, he would have gotten it already since he could kill both her and her sister without breaking a sweat.
With that reasoning which both sisters shared, Yelena told him they were planning to stay at a hotel until future notice.
She saw how his eyes flickered before it settled with his default ‘can’t be bothered’ look. She could tell he wanted to help but he also didn’t care about them in the slightest.
Draul St. Cross truly was an odd man.
