Chapter 65.
Hey everyone. Back with another chapter.
This chapter will have our heroes rescuing Alexi and meeting Melina, so I hope you're all excited for it.
Also this chapter and the next 2 are best read when listening to 'Zina' by Imran Khan.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed or favirouted this fic so far.
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters and elements you see in this fic. I only own Jason Stark and any other OC's and worlds you see in this fic.
On with the show.
Warning: Minor spoilers for the upcoming Black Widow movie.
SupergodzillaSailorCosmos: Thank you for the review. Yes Taskmaster is a difficult opponent to beat. You will see on Yelena. Enjoy the chapter.
OmniUIShaggyOverexagerated: Thanks for the review. You will see on Taskmaster. Yes it was logical for Jason to call up Gar and Dawn for backup. You will see on the Black Widows as well. Sort of on Oliver and Ollie. Enjoy the chapter.
Aragorn II Elessar: Thank you for the review. Yep everything is going downhill, but thankfully they have Gar and Dawn to aid them. Smallville Lex will appear at the end of this arc. Enjoy the chapter.
No One's POV.
"Where is this guy exactly?" Roy asked.
Natasha, Yelena, Oliver, Jason, Roy, Slade, Ollie, Robin, Dawn and Gar were flying in a plane towards a remote prison in Siberia.
Jason had warned them about Taskmaster.
Rick Mason had contacted them all with the coordinates for the prison, and Jason had introduced Oliver, Slade, Roy, Gar and Dawn.
"The prison is massive, and it's should be quite obvious" Natasha explained.
Yelena had gifted her a special combat suit. She was garbed in a black outfit with completely white armour covering her.
Everyone else except for Gar were all garbed in there suits.
Dawn was busy sharpening the feathers on her suit that she could use to slice her enemies.
"Where is he in the prison?" Oliver asked.
"On the most heavily guarded" Yelena replied from the cockpit.
"Okay here's the plan; we need to cause a distraction. Gar, Roy, Dawn, you 3 can use the distraction to sneak in and get Alexi out" Oliver said.
Gar had told them all about his ability to shape-shift into animals.
"You got it" Roy nodded.
"Dropping in now!" Yelena reported.
Everyone turned to see a massive prison.
There were rows and rows of walls, and rail gates, all of them holding armed guards.
"Let's go!" Oliver ordered.
Together, he, Natasha, Slade and Jason jumped out of the plane and landed on one of the gate bridges.
The guards were totally surprised and Oliver struck first, punching one in the face and shooting another down.
Slade and Jason drew there swords and cut down multiple guards.
Yelena flew over and Gar, Dawn and Roy jumped out.
Gar hit the ground and rolled to his feet, looking around.
Yelena was piloting there plane and was flying around, shooting at guards.
"Let's go!" Roy said urgently.
Together, the 3 of them ran across the snow covered area, until they saw several prisoners, all were very large and buff Russian guys, moving towards them.
One threw a punch, but Gar caught it and twisted his arm.
He then used his superhuman strength to throw the man to the ground.
Dawn avoided one and in a spin motion, knocked him out, while her wings sliced down 2 more.
Roy flip-kicked one in the face, sending him down and he shot another in the eye.
The 3 of them ran into the prison.
There were many cages, all holding prisoners.
"Which one is he?" Dawn asked confused.
"Yelena said he's a special prisoner, so I'm guessing at the far side" Roy said.
The 3 ran across, ignoring shouts from the prisoners.
There was a large, glass cage with a man standing in it.
And there were many armed guards.
Gar was trying not to turn into an animal unless it was necessary so he punched one in the chest, staggering him.
Roy and Dawn fought back to back and together, all 3 knocked out all the guards.
The man was large, older, almost like in his forties and heavily built.
He had a long, unkempt beard and a large paunch.
"Who are you?" the man asked in a thick Russian accent.
"We're here to rescue you. I'm Gar Logan. This is Roy Harper and Dawn Granger" Gar introduced himself and the others.
"You might wanna stand back" Roy warned, notching an explosive arrow.
Alexi Shostokoff moved backwards as Roy fired the arrow, shattering the glass.
Alexi dusted off his clothes and moved out of the cage.
"We need to get out of here. Yelena told me where the drop point is" Roy said.
"Yelena? Like Yelena Belova? Ha! I knew it!" Alexi threw his head back and laughed.
That was when Gar noticed many guards moving towards them.
"Let's go!" Gar shouted and the 4 took off in the opposite direction.
But there they encountered more guards.
They were pinned.
Gar suddenly let out an animalistic roar, causing many guards to shuffle back nervously.
That gave the others all the opportunity needed to strike.
Alexi sure was no slouch, as he grabbed several guards and threw them aside.
Roy and Dawn used there skills to take them down.
They ran across the prison, reaching a large, steel door.
"It's locked" Gar said grimly.
"I'll handle it" Alexi assured him.
He walked up to the door, and punched it so hard, a dent formed.
He punched it several more times until it finally fell off its hinges, crashing to the ground and exposing daylight.
"Yes!" Alexi laughed in victory.
"Why were you even imprisoned here if you could punch the door down?" Dawn asked.
"Because of a man named General Dreykov. He said that if he " Alexi explained.
They ran outside to see Yelena flying down at them.
"That's her, let's go!" Dawn said and they all ran towards the plane.
"Get in!" Yelena ushered them.
"It's good to see you again Yel" Alexi exclaimed, hugging her tightly.
Gar, Roy and Dawn stood back slightly as to not be impolite.
That was when an arrow flew past them and all turned to see Taskmaster striding towards them.
"This man is a damn cockroach, he won't leave us alone" Roy groaned.
"I'll handle him" Dawn assured him, jumping out of the plane.
"Dawn, Goddamnit" Roy punched the plane wall.
Taskmaster drew his sword and the 2 charged at each other.
Dawn punched but Taskmaster blocked, head-butting her.
"Dawn Granger. Dove. I was expecting better from you. I'm disappointed" Taskmaster said, making Dawn's eyes widen.
"We've never even met before!" she exclaimed in shock.
"Oh but we have. And in doing so, I know everything about you. I even know you're from Earth-9" Taskmaster replied, kicking her in the chest.
Dawn staggered backwards and Taskmaster leapt, elbowing her head.
Dawn flipped to avoid another strike and as Taskmaster tried to attack, she kicked his sword out of his hands.
He crossed his arms and claws similar to those of Black Panther protruded from it.
He slashed at her, and Dawn barely dodged.
He managed to get a lucky shot, opening a wound in her arm.
He then flip-kicked her into a gate, knocking her down.
She rolled to avoid another attack and kicked him in the knees, staggering him.
He turned and kicked Dawn in a spin motion.
Dawn got to her feet and kicked Taskmaster in the chest.
"You can't possibly hope to defeat me. I have copied the techniques of the greatest fighters in the world, including Black Widow and Hawkeye" Taskmaster smirked, flipping and bringing his feet down upon Dawn's head.
Dawn rolled and flip-kicked Taskmaster in the head, staggering him.
He jumped to avoid a leg sweep from Dawn and as she tried to flip-kick him again, he kicked her foot, sending her flying.
He kicked his shield into the air and caught it, marching towards Dawn.
Taskmaster heard something being fired at him and turned around but it was too late as an explosive arrow sent him flying and crashing into a building.
Dawn staggered to her feet to see Robin standing there, lowering his bow.
"Bullseye" he smirked.
Dawn ran as fast as she could and jumped into the plane as it took off to go get the others.
Jason flipped over one guard's attack and plunged his sword into his chest, killing him.
"Guys we need to get going!" Yelena's voice came in through the comms.
A rope flew down from the plane and Jason, Slade, Oliver and Natasha ran down and jumped, catching it.
Ollie stood from the plane and fired an explosive arrow.
It hit a generator, and exploded, triggering a prison wide explosion.
"Jackpot" Ollie quipped.
The explosion rapidly approached the plane as Natasha, Jason, Oliver and Slade held on for dear life.
"Whoa hoo!" Yelena exclaimed as they flew away.
Robin and Ollie turned to stare at them.
"Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to help us!?" Jason snapped.
The 2 chuckled and helped them up.
"Natasha" Alexi said with a fond smile and Natasha turned to look at him.
"Alexi" she said in a hoarse tone, tears coming to her eyes.
They moved forward and hugged each other, years of pent up emotion coming to the surface.
"Dawn are you okay?" Jason asked in concern as he noticed her wounds.
"Yeah I'll be fine. It's not too serious. Just had a little confrontation with that Taskmaster guy" Dawn said.
"What is it?" Jason asked, seeing the look on her face.
"He knew who I was. My real name, my codename and that I was from Earth-9" Dawn said.
Everyone imeadelty turned to face her with varying degrees of shock.
"This guy is definitely gonna be a problem. And I'm pretty sure Dreykov doesn't know you're here" Natasha said.
"General Dreykov?" Robin's head imeadelty snapped up at that.
"Yeah why?" Natasha asked in a confused tone.
"I've had a bad encounter with him" Robin said in a bitter tone.
"Me too. I encountered him a while ago" Jason added.
"Okay then, we can discuss this later. Yelena how far are we from Melina's house?" Natasha asked.
"About an hour" Yelena called back.
Jason sighed, as he was now exhausted.
An hour later, Yelena called out.
"We're here"
Everyone snapped up at that and looked out to see a large, cottage type house in the middle of a forest. There was a small garden with bright flowers.
"Land here" Natasha pointed to an empty patch of land.
They landed, and everyone moved out of the plane, with Natasha and Alexi in the front.
"What is this place?" Gar asked as he looked around.
"Probably some kind of safe-house" Slade replied.
Natasha knocked on the door and waited.
After a few minutes, the door opened and a woman stepped into view.
She looked to be a lot older than Natasha and Yelena, almost in her forties.
There were a few wrinkles starting to form on her face.
Her face brightened upon seeing Natasha and Alexi.
"Natalia!" the woman exclaimed, hugging her.
"It's good to see you again Melina" Natasha replied.
Melina then turned to face Alexi.
"Alexi" she greeted neutrally, in a tone that told the others that there was some kind of history between the 2.
"Melina" Alexi replied.
Upon seeing Natasha's look, Melina imeadelty turned serious.
"You need a place to hide out?" she guessed.
Natasha nodded in response.
"Come in please" she said.
That was when she noticed the others.
"Look's like you made some interesting friends" she said to Natasha who smiled and nodded.
"Hi, I'm Melina. Please come in and make yourselves at home" Melina said, smiling at the others.
Yelena stepped forward and hugged her.
Everyone else stepped forward and shook hands with Melina, and walked inside.
It was small, neat and tidy, almost like a robot.
The dishes were packed almost like a clean freak, or how one who was trained in the Red Room would pack.
"Sweet" Gar grinned.
"Natasha, explain to me what is going on" Melina ordered in a gentle tone.
"I'm on the run, from both the United Nations, and now by the Red Room" she explained.
Melina's face darkened upon hearing that.
"Dreykov is hunting you?" she demanded.
"Yes. And it's not just him. He has allies from other universes as well" Natasha explained.
"So the Multiverse theory is true then?" Melina asked.
"Yes it is. My friends here except for Jason are all from other Earths as well" Natasha replied.
"All right then, baby girl. I will help you" Melina said, softly kissing Natasha on the forehead.
"I will make lunch for everyone. Just relax" Melina said.
Natasha nodded, and moved into the dining room.
Gar, Ollie and Jason were together, looking around.
There were lots of shelves, full of books, which made them guess that Melina liked to read a lot.
Alexi had left for the bathroom.
Oliver, Slade, Roy and Robin were all a little hesitant, while Dawn was neutral.
Her wounds had been stitched up, although it was still painful.
A few minutes later, Melina called out from the kitchen.
"Lunch is ready" she said.
"Wonderful. I'm starving" Gar rubbed his hands with enthusiasm.
There were sandwiches and soup which smelled absolutely delicious.
Even Oliver was hungry at this point.
And of course there was vodka, because Russians.
Alexi was still nowhere to be found.
As everyone sat down, Alexi emerged from around the corner, garbed in his full Red Guardian suit.
It was red and white, with a silver star on the chest.
There was a cowl, which was red in color.
"Yes! Still fits" Alexi said in victory as everyone turned to look at him.
"And why does he think it fits?" Ollie whispered to Jason who shrugged in response.
Alexi walked and sat down, removing his cowl.
"Family. Back together again" Alexi grinned.
Yelena simply rolled her eyes while everyone else looked either amused.
Melina leaned over and whispered to him, "You got fat"
Alexi looked at her with an amused look.
"It's mostly water weight" he replied.
Dawn and Robin had to chuckle at that.
"So, Natasha tells me you are all from other Earths?" Melina said, looking at the others.
"Yes that's true. I'm still from this Earth though. Oliver, Slade and Roy over here are from Earth-1, Gar and Dawn are from Earth-9, Ollie is from Earth-21 and Robin is from Earth-1937" Jason explained, gesturing to each.
"Well that's certainly news" she commented.
Natasha then decided to get serious.
"Okay, here's what's going to happen" she started.
"Natasha, don't slouch" Melina scolded her.
Natasha sat right back up, with a small glare on her face.
"I'm not slouching" she replied in a defensive tone.
Alexi reached over to tap Natasha's shoulder, while Melina continued, "You're going to get a back hunch".
"Listen to your mother" Alexi said, and then demonstrated.
"Oh my god…all right, enough! All of you!" Natasha said in an exasperated tone.
Yelena looked at her in confusion.
"I didn't say anything, that's not fair" she said, while Natasha gave her a deadpan look.
Jason, Slade, Oliver, Roy, Ollie, Robin, Gar and Dawn were just sitting back, quietly watching the family bicker with each other.
"We're gonna die" Jason said in exasperation.
"These people are freaking me out" Dawn said.
Everyone looked over at them in confusion, but he waved them off.
"But you're right Natasha, tell us what's going to happen" Melina said, as everyone looked at Natasha.
"We have to go back to where it all started. So that they never do what they did to us ever again" Natasha said with deep pain in her voice.
Everyone looked at her with sympathy.
"You know Natasha, I've always felt it best, not to look into the past" Melina said, meeting Natasha's eyes.
"I know Lina" Natasha assured her.
"And we need to figure out a way to defeat Taskmaster" Slade added grimly.
"Taskmaster?" Melina said in horror.
"You know him?" Dawn asked.
"I have heard of him before. A very dangerous man. He studies his opponents, learning everything he can about them" Melina explained.
"But how would he even know about me? I've never visited this Earth until yesterday" Dawn said in confusion.
"Unless he is someone close to us" Oliver said in realization.
"Kid's right. Someone who has met all of us, and clearly knows who we are" Slade continued.
"But who would work for the Red Room and try to kill me?" Natasha asked in confusion.
"What about Steve Rodgers?" Gar suggested, only for Natasha, Robin, Ollie and Jason to look at him increduesly.
"Don't be absurd. Steve Rodgers is one of the most honorable people I've ever known" Jason scoffed.
"It could possibly be a clone of you" Ollie suggested, looking at Natasha.
"It's not entirely impossible" Gar said thoughtfully.
"Gar is right, with all the crazy things that have been happening lately, Taskmaster being your clone isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility" Jason agreed.
"But Taskmaster looks to be much taller than Natasha. Unless this clone is bigger than Natasha, I highly doubt it's a clone" Robin said.
"Then that only leaves one person; Rick Mason" Oliver said.
"That's impossible. Rick has been one of my closest friends for over a decade. Him being Taskmaster is absurd" Natasha dismissed it.
"Nat is right. He doesn't look like he could be Taskmaster" Jason agreed.
"Well then who is it? We've listed all of our possibilities but none of them add up" Dawn said frustrated.
No one looked any closer to answering that question.
After lunch, Natasha had left to contact Rick and tell him where they were heading.
Dawn and Melina had ended up talking, and the 2 quickly bonded.
"Nat, I need to show you something" Jason said to her.
He led Natasha to a small case.
"My close friend Cisco Ramon has been working on a little something for you" Jason said as he unlocked the case.
He opened it to reveal a black combat suit.
It had gold blotches over it.
Next to the suit were a pair of escrima sticks, along with a pair of handguns.
"Okay this is nice. Give my thanks to this Cisco Ramon guy when you get back" Natasha grinned as she took the suit out.
"Plus honestly I had to get it out of S.T.A.R. Labs before Elizabeth decided to use it as a Christmas decoration" Jason said mostly to himself.
"Thank you so much Jay" Natasha thanked him.
"You welcome. Just keep it under wraps please. I didn't bring one for the whole team" Jason joked and Natasha chuckled.
They heard footsteps and turned to see Gar, Melina and Ollie walking up to them.
"Hey guys" Jason greeted.
"Jay" Gar nodded back.
"Why does Dreykov want to kill you?" Ollie asked Jason.
"I killed 2 of his associates a while ago" Jason replied.
"He has a whole list of reasons to hate me" Natasha said with pain in her voice.
"His daughter?" Melina guessed.
Everyone looked at her in shock.
"How do you know that?" Natasha asked in confusion.
"A long time ago, I met Ava. She always was a sweetheart" Melina addressed Natasha.
Natasha's lip quivered which was her equivalent of sobbing.
Jason put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
"It is my entire fault. I should have just stayed there" Natasha said with self loathing in her voice.
"Don't blame yourself Nat. We will make them all pay for what they did" Jason assured her.
"Thank you Jay" she smiled.
"They are right" a new voice said.
Everyone turned to see Rick Mason walk up to them.
"When did you get here?" Natasha asked, smiling at him.
"Right now. The UN managed to track you guys down here, so if you are going to the Red Room base, you better do it quick" Rick warned.
"How did you even know we were here?" Gar asked him suspicialdsy.
"Natasha contacted me" Rick explained.
"I did" Natasha nodded.
Gar looked hesitant and motioned for Jason to follow him.
"This is suspicious. Someone has to be a traitor" Gar voiced.
"Yeah but who?" Jason asked.
"I don't know but we need to on full alert" Gar replied.
"Yes" Jason said.
They returned back to see everyone standing there.
"And there's more. There is a deadly conspiracy tied to your past at work here. Not sure what but there is" Rick said grimly to Natasha.
Everyone looked shocked at hearing that.
"Son of a bitch" Jason muttered.
He traded a look with Gar and nodded.
"We have one hour. Let's gear up!" Jason said fiercely.
And Chapter 65 is done. I hope you all enjoyed it.
So now Alexi has been rescued and our heroes have met Melina. I hope you enjoyed the character interactions.
So yes, there is a deadly conspiracy tied to Natasha's past involved. It will be explored next chapter with some of our heroes looking for what it is.
I also hope you enjoyed our heroes discussing who Taskmaster could be. (SPOILER ALERT. Everyone mentioned are all possibilities for who he could be in the actual film END SPOILERS).
Here are the list of Earths involved in this chapter:
Earth-1. Home of the Arrowverse, Star Trek, Lucifer, Devil May Cry, Fast and Furious and Final Fantasy.
Earth-9. Home of 'Titans'.
Earth-21. Home of 'Smallville'.
Earth-1937. Home of 'Once Upon A Time'.
Earth-199999. Home of the MCU, John Wick and Lord of the Rings.
Next chapter will begin the final showdown, and you will also find out Taskmaster's identity, and the conspiracy will be explored.
Until next time, review, follow, faviroute, stay tuned and tell me what you think of this chapter.
Arrowverse Fan 217 Out.