Tony hovers in the sky a good distance away from the house, watching all that is unfolding below.
He hates just sitting here doing nothing, but Natasha said he would know what to do when he saw it, so until then, he's observing.
There are 4 planes and about a dozen soldiers outside.
They swarm the entrances of the house, setting up breach positions.
He shakes his head, thinking this Dreykov guy must really think he's something, but what else does he expect from another power hungry dictator, who thinks enslaving people - in this case women, and treating them like animals is okay.
Yeah, he might have an ego himself, as Natasha likes reminding him, but at least he's not doing sick shit like this - stealing children off the streets to fuel his own private army, then killing their parents when they asks questions. He supposes he and Natasha have that in common now, in that both of their parents were murdered, but at least he got to know his. He feels bad for her that she had to grow up in this kind of life after getting a glimpse of it today, but it also gives him perspective on why she is the way she is, and makes him think maybe he should cut her some slack.
Because has she even ever felt safe? He wonders.
And people have been using her for their own gain all this time - Dreykov - Fury, regardless if she enjoyed working with old eye patch. She just traded one agency for another. It's no wonder she has so many issues, but then again, so does he.
"Friday, magnify." Tony zooms in on the hulking figure stalking towards the house.
"So, you're my new buddy," he says, taking that as the sign Natasha told him about, since this person is all armored up.
The other soldiers reappear outside, carrying Melina's unconscious body, as well as Alexei and Yelena's.
Natasha reappears with the beefy dude at her side - at least Tony prays it's still Natasha under there.
She follows the big brass back to the planes before splitting off and jumping into the one her family is being piled into.
"Friday, get me a secure link to Natasha's headset." Tony orders the AI.
A red rectangle locks onto Melina's slumped body that's been buckled into one of the seats on the plane.
"Nope, not that one. Try the pilot," he says.
"Patching through now," Friday replies.
The plane starts to ascend and so does he.
"It's me, but first, I gotta make sure it's you," he says. "What's our safe word?"
"Really, Tony?" Natasha whispers with a hiss. "It's your safeword. I don't even know why we have a safeword."
They're not even kinky, surprisingly.
She peers behind her to make sure the guards haven't heard.
Tony wants to scratch his eyeballs out since he forgot in that short amount of time she would sound like Melina.
"Trust me, I'd rather not hear it coming from your mom's mouth either, but we're nearing that big blood diamond in the sky, and I need some confirmation I'm not helping you to your death."
The line goes silent for a beat. Natasha sighs.
"Rubber Ducky," she mutters.
Tony wrinkles his nose.
"Yep, we're definitely changing that. I don't think I'll be able to hear it again and not think of your mother."
"Did you find your friend on the playground?" Natasha asks, ignoring him.
"Sure did. What's the story?"
"I don't know." She shakes her head. "Who or whatever it is shot a rocket at my car when I was in Norway and nearly sent me toppling off a bridge. I thought it was Ross's goons, but turns out they were after the serum that will help free the Widows."
"Hmm, must be your buddy Dreykov's top hench," Tony replies.
"Yeah, listen, Tony, I barely got out alive fighting that guy, and then he followed me to Budapest and tried to finish me and Yelena off. They knew every move I was going to make before I even made it. Yelena says it's a mimic."
"Well, if it's one of your Black Widow brethren don't you guys have the same training?"
"This is different. He uses a shield like Cap, arrows like Clint. It's like it studied us all and can do anything we can."
Tony frowns.
"Huh."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Natasha arches an eyebrow.
"Really? It doesn't sound like nothing," she says, suspiciously. "Sounds like you are hiding something."
"You get all that from 'huh'?" Tony replies, while secretly wondering if he may have left some of his tech back in Siberia and Hydra or these Red Room people got a hold of it.
That would be bad.
"Yes, and my years of training and observation of you when you are actually hiding things."
"I'm not hiding anything. I just…need to investigate the matter further," he says.
"Right." Natasha rolls her eyes. "Just be careful, okay?"
"Copy that...so should I keep this guy out of the picture while you do your thing or…?"
"No, not yet. When Melina comes to she's going to activate the landing protocol to the Red Room while I deal with Dreykov, and then Yelena is going to get the antidote and use it on the other widows to free them."
"And I'm supposed to...?"
Natasha smirks.
"I need you to be the muscle - well, you and Alexei, that is."
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Tony says flatly. "You're pairing me with Redgut the Ridiculous?"
"It's a stealth mission, Tony. You shouldn't have to do anything at all if it goes right. That's how these things work. I know the concept is new to you, but it doesn't always have to be a fucking worldwide expo."
"Haha. Fine. I'll be on the comms if you need me."
"Copy that, handsome."
The clouds clear after they reach 25,000 ft. Natasha chews her lip as she finally sees the Red Room up close, hiding quite fittingly behind storm and lighting. The hairs stand tall on her arms as she reaches for the button on the plane's radio.
"Requesting clearance for landing."
"Copy that, you are cleared to land on bay 5." The controller answers.
A groan sounds from behind her.
She looks over her shoulder to find Alexei groggily lifting his head.
"Melina?"
"We're touching down in one minute," Natasha says.
"Then why are we still going up?" He mumbles.
"Now you know how Dreykov stayed under the radar all these years…"
She holds back a glare as a guard comes over and shoots Alexei in the neck with some more sedatives, guiding the plane towards bay five. She lands it on the strip, feeling both apprehensive and determined as she follows the guards out of the back of the plane towards the entrance.
"General Dreykov is waiting for you." One of the widows tells her when they enter the main structure.
The guards carrying the rest of her family brush past her towards the holding cells like Melina said they would. Natasha nods at the widow, maintaining her picture-perfect composure though there's anger and dread coiling tightly in her stomach.
It may not be the same Red Room she attended, but the atmosphere is still as dead and lifeless as she remembers.
She stops short when she passes by a door on the way to the elevator and sees a group of widows running practice drills on the other side.
She just watches them for a minute, wondering have they ever even known anything else but this place? She vows to herself then and there that if they haven't, after today they will. She's going to make damn sure of it, that Dreykov and his Red Room never exist for the rest of her days.
The elevator opens to Dreykov's office. Natasha spots him right off the bat, just sitting there in his expensive fucking suit, lounging in his luxury fucking office like he owns and sits on top of the world with no care at all as to how many lives he's ruined.
Her rage for him grows, sitting just below the surface, ready to be unleashed once she gets the info she needs.
"My God," Dreykov says, his eyes roaming over her, instantly making her feel dirty as she walks further inside.
The sound of his voice sends bile rising up Natasha's throat.
"Look at you." He chuckles. "So uh, how was the family reunion?"
"Oh, it was…awful," she says, playing the part of Melina. "They were clingy, and emotional, and needy."
"Just like old times, huh?"
He crowds her space. Whatever cologne he has on is enough to make her gag.
She wants to break her nose already so she doesn't have to suffer through inhaling it a second longer.
"Yelena Belova. What's the deal with her? She was the only one affected, right?"
Natasha nods.
"As far as I know, yes."
"These gasses and antidotes, it's a pain in my ass. It's a problem. You need to sort it out."
"Hmm, I have nine pigs that will require attending to in my absence."
"I don't give a shit about your pigs." Dreykov waves a hand at her dismissively.
Natasha grits her teeth for a second when he grabs her roughly, like a doll made for his entertainment, and pushes her down into a chair in front of his desk. Her fingers twitch close to the knife strapped to her thigh, but again, she keeps calm, even as he moves her head with his sweaty hand.
"Cut her brain out. Hmm? Identify the weakness."
Elsewhere
Tony creeps through the corridors of the Red Room, amazed with himself for getting as far as he has without being detected.
Every inch of this place is covered in cameras and guards which he finds a bit excessive, even for a top-secret facility.
The thing is floating in the sky for christ's sake, how many infiltrators could there possibly be?
"Friday, you know what to do," Tony prompts the AI as he rounds a corner.
"Yes, boss."
A small icon appears at the bottom of his HUD, indicating that she's started hacking into the Red Room's systems and downloading all of their files onto his private server while he peers around the halls, trying to decide on a way to go that will get him to the prisoner section. Because there's no way a place like this doesn't have one. Natasha said Melina would be in the holding cells, and she's the one who's supposed to land this thing, so he should make sure she gets to where she needs to be.
"Thank you," he says to Friday, when she uploads a schematic of the facility to the HUD, saving him from wandering around blindly.
"A-ha!" Tony identifies the brig, following the map cautiously to get there.
He passes by a few groups of guards in the slim corridors along the way, but manages to remain undetected by holding still and letting them pass.
"And Natasha says I am shit at stealth," he mutters.
Once he's standing in front of Melina's holding cell, he finds himself debating whether or not he should let her out or not.
He knows Natasha trusts her, but he certainly doesn't.
"Give me one good reason why I should let you out of here," Tony says, as she stirs awake.
Melina glances up in the direction of his voice, still shaking off the effects of the drugs they've given her.
"What are you doing in here, Mr. Stark, it's not safe," she says, moving quickly to the front of the cell. "Besides, I designed these myself. I can get out on my own, thanks."
"Natasha?!"Alexei wakes up in the cell next to hers.
"You're going to talk to me about safe, lady?" He asks, amused, thinking she's certainly has balls after the things he's seen and heard her do in the one day he's known her.
"Oh, yes, yes. I know, you are upset I called them to the house. I ask again, how else did you think we were going to get up here?" She fiddles with a secret panel inside her cell.
"Who are you talking to? I can't save us. I need you to know I'm sorry. I pledged my life to a cause. You know I thought I was being very brave…"
"Um, any other way?" Tony snaps, over Alexei's mumbling.
"Fine. I make mistake, okay? You of all people should know what that's like."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tony asks, glaring.
"Please. Ultron, Sokovia? Are you saying you enjoy dropping cities from the sky, Mr. Stark?"
The barriers drop, and she steps out out, while Alexei falls flat on his face where he was sobbing against the glass.
"Okay, first, that's a low blow, and second, I'm not the one designing murder chips for their kill squads."
"No, you are just one designing hordes of robots capable of killing people in the name of protection," Melina fires back.
"It's not the same."
"How so?"
"Because!" Tony growls. "Look, you seem to know an awful lot about me, so maybe you'll remember when I saved the world by carrying a nuke into an alien portal? Let me tell you, all of this -" He motions around the Red Room, though she can't see him because he's still got the cloaking on. "- isn't shit compared to the army of aliens out there regrouping and waiting for the right moment to strike back at us. So yeah, I have made mistakes, and they eat me alive every day, but compared to what's coming, risks have to be taken. And then I have to put up with people like you and your boss, and fucking Crimson Dynamo over here, who are more worried about fucking over governments than about the real threats this planet faces."
"It's Red Guardian," Alexei whines, huffing, picking himself up from the floor. "Why does everyone keep calling me Crimson Dynamo?"
Melina sighs, about to reply, but then Alexei is interrupting her.
"How did you do that, and who are you talking to?" He asks.
"Mr. Stark was just here to save us." Melina rolls her eyes.
"I don't see him." Alexei says, looking around.
Tony shakes his head. "Let's just get out of here."
"Fine." Melina sheds her nano mask.
Alexei gasps in surprise.
"What? I bared my soul to you, and it was just you the whole time?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so," Melina smiles. "But wait. Shh. I'm on the comms with Yelena."
"Yelena, it's me, Mama. You have a two-inch blade concealed in your belt line."
"What?"
"Outside, right hip."
"You couldn't have told me sooner?"
"Don't throw a fit," Melina scolds. "There wasn't time."
Alexei clears his throat and taps on his ear.
"Okay girls, listen. I'm having trouble hearing you, but Natasha, there's something I need you to know. I need you to know that, I'm sorry, okay? No more excuses. I gave my life for a cause, I thought I was being brave…"
"Oh no," Melina stares up at Alexei. "You don't have earpiece."
"What?"
"She can't hear you."
"Why not?"
"It wasn't part of the plan."
"Oh yeah? And what was the plan?"
"To get this done sometime within this fucking century. Are you two about ready?" Tony is sick of listening to them.
"You know, Mr. Stark. You shouldn't be so impatient." Melina tells him, shaking her head disapprovingly.
"She's right, son. You have to have clear mind so when the time comes you can focus, you know, like a Bengal tiger." Alexei tells him.
"I don't even know what the hell you are talking about. And I'm over here, by the way." Tony taps on the back of Alexei's shoulder, because he's facing completely the wrong direction.
"Are you seriously giving me a lecture right now? I think I'm being pretty calm considering my girlfriend is upstairs with a murderous tyrant, and I'm stuck in the bottom of the dreadnought with the two of you."
"Uh, sorry to break up the fun party you guys are having, but where did he take the vials?" Yelena asks.
"Probably down to cold storage," Melina replies. "Dreykov still has the widows under his control, so you'll still have to expose them to the antidote."
"Yeah. Sure. Easy."
Back Upstairs
"What about Romanoff?" Natasha asks Dreykov.
"She's a traitor." He snuffs his fat nose, gazing down at her
He's right in her face, a perfect position for her to cut his throat open - if only.
"She turned her back on her people. On her blood. She had nothing. I gave her a home. I gave her love. Put that thing in her you do. You know, uh, chemicals. Turn her into one of your pigs. Could you imagine what I could do with an Avenger under my control?"
"Wouldn't you like to speak to her first?"
Dreykov chuckles.
"When you look into the eyes of a child you have raised, no mask in the world can hide that."
He reaches up to touch her face, and Natasha instinctively grabs his hand, wondering how the hell he knew it was her.
The pheromones stop her from doing anything more, though, and she lowers her hand from his, allowing him to take the mask and slide it from her face.
"Welcome home." He grins at her.
Natasha stands angrily, making it appear as if she's losing her composure. As soon as she does, the mimic raises a gun at her.
"Now, now," Dreykov waves them off. "Don't go breaking my new toy."
"Is this you're plan?" He turns back to Natasha.
"My plan is to kill you," she says. "And to enjoy every second of it."
"I'm alive," he replies, arrogantly. "So, what do we do now?"
"What was my mother's name?"
"Ah." Dreykov nods. "Where we buried her, there was a tree. Um, a pink blossom. Beautiful. And there was a tombstone with her name engraved on it. What was her name?" He pretends to think, then chuckles."Ah, yes. Unknown."
Natasha wants to smash his face in.
"You really don't feel anything? How about when I killed your daughter?"She asks.
Dreykov laughs again.
"Is this your haunted past?" He snarls. "Really? Thank you, Natasha."
He stands and motions to Taskmaster.
"You gave me my greatest weapon. Say hello."
The mimic takes off their helmet, and Natasha's jaw and heart drop to the floor.
The person underneath is actually Drekov's daughter and she survived the explosion to.
Of course Dreykov wouldn't be above using his own daughter to do his dirty work.
"When your bomb exploded, it nearly killed my Antonia. I had to put a chip in the back of her neck. Look at her. Do you find it difficult to look at her? I do. She watches everything. And she can do it. She's a perfect mimic. And she fights just like all of your friends," he says.
Natasha swallows hard, staring at Antonia.
"Can she hear me?"She asks.
"What?" Dreykov spits and glares at her.
"You want to make her feel better? You want to tell her, you're sorry? Well, you should have thought of that before you blew her face off. But enough of all this bullshit." He nods to Antonia. "Go to work. I have rats in the basement. Go."
She puts her helmet back on and walks off.
Natasha chews the inside of her cheek in order to get control of herself. Part of her is relieved she didn't kill the girl after all, but then it seems she was condemned to a fate much worse than death.
"That was a mistake," she tells Dreykov, taking out her gun and training it on him.
"Was it?" He asks.
"You just sent away the one thing that would stop me from killing you."
"Try then," Dreykov says. "Do it.
Natasha continues the show of trying to pull the trigger on the gun, even though her body physically won't let her. It's unnerving, even if Melina did warn her it would happen.
"Is the safety on?" Dreykov asks, then pushes the gun away so it's not pointed at him. He takes it from her.
"No." He shoots it at the ceiling.
"Try your knife." He goads, but she already has it up and aimed at him, unable to follow through.
He takes the knife as well.
"You're in trouble."
"How are you controlling me?" She feigns ignorance.
"I'm not controlling you, Natasha. Well, not yet. But there is a pheromonal lock. Smelling my pheromones prevents you from committing any violence against me."
He makes a move to slap her, and she expertly pretends to flinch away.
"I'm very upset with Melina, it's a shame I'll have to kill her."
The Bowls Of The Red Room
Tony leans against the wall with his arms crossed, head in his hand.
He honestly doesn't understand how either of these two gets anything done.
They've been babbling about nothing for the past ten minutes.
"Come on now," Alexei purrs at Melina. "If we're just going to push buttons and hack computers…I don't know. There's nothing for me to do. I want to – I want to break something." He clenches his fists, begging for excitement.
Tony rolls his eyes, but then he straightens up as the elevator door opens.
He and Melina eye Taskmaster.
"There is something you can break," she says, walking away.
Alexei turns around and grins at his new adversary, meanwhile, Melina turns and jogs past Tony.
"I'm going to activate the landing sequence. Maybe you could help him?" She asks.
Tony sighs behind his faceplate, then at Alexei as the Guardian puts on his helmet and moves into a fighting stance.
"This ought to be good," he thinks, yawning, chuckling.
Taskmaster comes to stand in front of Alexie, getting into her own fighting position, then things get interesting as razor sharp claws extrude from her gloves.
Alexei laughs, staring the person down.
"You want in on this Tony?" He asks.
"Why don't you start and if you get tired tag me in," Tony says, wanting to see more of what this person or thing can do.
Upstairs
"So, this was the big plan huh? Melina was going to land the Red Room and hand me over to the authorities?"
Dreykov laughs, watching Melina on the camera in one of the control rooms. He taps a button to keep the the landing sequence from initiating, then looks back up at Natasha.
"So, what now, you're going to fold me into your pathetic little puppeteer act?" She asks, after seeing what he's done.
"Pathetic, huh?" Dreykov leans back in his chair.
"Yeah, what would you call it?" Natasha steps forward.
"I would call it – "
"When was the last time that you had a conversation with somebody who wasn't forced to talk to you?" She asks.
"You ran away to fight in the wrong war." He says, looking at her pointedly. "The real war was fought here, in the shadows."
"You didn't fight in the shadows." Natasha shakes her head. "You hid in the dark."
"Real power comes from undetectable influence."
"If no one noticed, then why even do it?" She leans across his desk, getting in his face like he was doing to her. "You're nothing. You have nothing."
"There are fifty people on this planet- "
"Oh, stop it." She laughs, trying to get a rise out of him, because men like Dreykov hate to be laughed at, and she has him on the edge now - can see his anger rising, just like most men with a hurt ego, he's now eager to prove how powerful he thinks he is. She just needs him to break her nose.
"Don't tell me to stop!" He screams at her, flying up from his seat.
"If I don't tell you to stop, then how will you know when to shut up?!" Natasha taunts.
She stumbles back as he finally snaps and slaps her across the face. It hurts, but she's definitely had worse.
"Come on, think I can't take a punch?" She laughs at him again.
Dreykov belts her with his arm this time. Her whole body twists from the force. She wipes the blood from her mouth and smiles through the pain.
"God damn it, you're weak." She mocks him.
"Weak?" Dreykov says, slightly out of breath from the exertion.
"I bet it's easier to be tough in front of defenseless little girls, huh?"
He smacks her a third time, this time seemingly with all his strength, and she lands on the floor, Dreykov almost sending himself there in the process.
Natasha smirks, crouching so she can get up, only to be kicked back down as he walks around to his desk.
"You wouldn't be so glib if you had any notion of the scope of what I've built. I own this world. Me!" He shouts.
"You seem desperate to impress me," Natasha replies.
"I don't need to impress you," Dreykov says.
He shoves his chair out of the way of his desk and opens one of the drawers.
"These leaders, these great men, they answer to me and my widows," he says, running his ring over a security pad.
A holographic map pops up, and Natasha stumbles to her feet and walks closer to it because this is what she's been waiting for.
"Look at them," Dreykov says, as red dots appear all over the map.
Natasha looks over all the countless names and faces of the women he's apparently controlling.
"These girls were trash. They are thrown out into the street. I recycle the trash. And I give them purpose. I give them life. It's my network of widows that help me control the scales of power. One command, and 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?" Natasha asks.
"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."
She looks at the screen disgusted, then turns around.
"All from that little console?"
"Yeah," Dreykov answers, smugly.
Natasha slowly grins.
"Oh, you find this amusing. Why are you smiling?" He asks.
"Don't take it personal, but uh, thank you for your cooperation," she says. "You weren't quite strong enough, so I'll have to finish it myself."
"What are you going to do?" .
"Sever the nerve."
And with that, Natasha slams her face against the desk, pain roaring through her nose as it breaks swiftly.
Downstairs
"Natasha was right," Tony murmurs to himself, chuckling at how many times he's said that to himself today while watching Alexei fight Taskmaster.
His HUD is lit up like a Christmas tree from Friday analyzing all the combinations that make up Taskmaster's fighting style. Indeed, there's some Captain America, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Widow, and even, to some degree, the Falcon in there, but she doesn't have any of his.
A shield whizzes by his head from Taskmaster throwing it at Alexei, but he manages to block it and sends it sticking into the floor next to Tony's feet. Taskmaster then races forward and dolls out a backflip chest kick like Falcon, sticking a landing like Natasha. Alexei goes flying backward from the force, but gets back just in time for her to come after him again. Guardian dodges the swipes from the blade she has, but he's not quite fast enough to avoid the punch to his jaw, and goes hurdling into the wall behind him just as the entire facility begins to shake and alarms start going off.
Tony looks at the blaring red lights everywhere and figures that must mean the plan is well underway.
"Okay, fuck it," he says, shutting off his cloaking and walking out to stand between Taskmaster and Alexei, needing to find out if this person really does have a piece of his tech or not.
"Alright buddy, my turn." Tony rolls Alexei's moaning form out of the combat zone with his iron foot. "Why don't you take a break."
"Good call," Alexei says.
Taskmaster tilts her head to the side, studying him as Tony walks forward a little.
"Yeah, that's right. You know who I am. As entertaining as this has been, this is my girlfriend's dad, and I can't have you…well-" he laughs. " -beating on the elderly."
Taskmaster rips their shield from the floor and sprints toward him, apparently not one for jokes. They fling the shield which Tony ducks easily, having experience with this sort of thing. He ducks again when it comes back to her, and they walk circles around one another, sizing each other up.
"So, what are you thinking?" He asks. "A little Cap? Maybe some Black Panther? I've never fought him before; he was on my side you know…"
Taskmaster lunges at him again, with full force this time. She attempts to drive the shield into the reactor on his suit, which works in catching him off guard. Tony eyes widen as he grabs the edge of it and holds her off.
"Fuck." He blinks, shaking his head of the images Siberia filter through his vision. Meanwhile, Taskmaster uses their combined force for leverage and runs up the wall beside them, flipping herself behind him and wrapping her arms around his neck. She lands punches to his back, and finally, Tony wakes up and springs into action.
He boosts himself up with his repulsors and smashes them both into the ceiling, then sideways into the wall, trying to shake her loose. She goes sailing into the air after a few more hits, and slides across the floor, but doesn't let up. She returns to her feet in seconds, flinging the shield at his head again. Tony fires repulsor blasts at her as she rolls towards him, sliding between his legs. She catches the shield that comes flying back and they get into hand-to-hand combat.
Tony blocks several of her jabs to his neck and head, and he blasts her leg, making her knee buckle. He then lays an uppercut to her helmet, sending her soaring through the air and onto her back. He steps up after that, waiting to see if she'll stay down, but as usual, she whips herself back onto her feet and wings the shield again. He blasts it away and it flips through the air.
With no shield now, she switches back to her claws and goes racing for him. Tony readies himself for the impact, but she surprises him when at the last second she drops to the floor again and slides to his legs once more, wrapping her hands around his left one, using the momentum to circle herself around his right. She then thrusts up, kicking him with both feet under the chin of his helmet.
Tony grunts from the force and crashes into the wall, but there's no time to recover because she is already all over him again. Her claws start tearing through the surface metal on his armor, essentially trying to pry him open like a can opener. He manages to grab her right wrist in his right hand, but then she slashes his helmet with her left, leaving 4 jagged gouges across his faceplate. She then digs her claws into the crevices of it in an attempt to rip it off. The metal creaks and starts to give way, but Tony grips her right arm tighter, then brings his left up to grab the wrist of the hand she has sunk into his helmet so she can't, leaving his chest exposed, but he doesn't really have a choice. Taskmaster pushes him further into the wall, her gaze trailing down to his reactor. With their arms still locked in a stalemate, she begins headbutting her helmet into the glass on it, shattering the casing.
"Boss, the reactor can't take many more blows like that. It's starting to short circuit." Friday yells.
Tony takes a deep breath and plants his foot forward, holding Taskmaster back with all his might.
"Let's see how you like it asshole," he says, then headbutts her back with brute force.
The blow chips the corner of her helmet, but he does it again, and again, until finally her grip falters and he's able to twist her arms over one another and bring his foot up to kick her in the stomach. She backsteps, shaking her head before readying herself to come at him again, but thankfully she doesn't get the chance. Alexei comes charging from the side and tackles her like a linebacker.
They both end up on the floor right next to her shield. Taskmaster grabs for it, belting Alexei in the back, sending him slamming into one of the holding cells. Tony moves between the two of them just as she tosses the shield again, but this time his hand darts out at the last second and he catches it in midair. He glares at it, analyzing the metal, then snaps it in half.
"Huh. Definitely not vibranium," he mutters, tossing it aside.
Taskmaster begins circling him again as result, and he sighs.
"I know this goes against all your programming, but just give up," he says. "You're already done Cap. Panther didn't work. Who else do you have?"
She stops and stares back at him, then reaches on her back and disconnects a retractable bow and arrow, snapping it into place.
"You had to ask," Alexei yells, rolling out of the way of an explosive arrow.
"Okay," Tony says. "I'll go high, you just…try not to die." He moves to hovering position.
Alexei charges her again as she lets another arrow fly, but Tony shoots it before it can hit Alexei. It still doesn't save him though, because she just dodges and uses Alexei's own momentum against him. He goes headfirst through the glass divider and drops onto one knee. Tony grits his teeth as she stalks over and ejects another blade from her wrist. He flies forward to stop her, but just as he is about to tackle her, Melina comes flipping in from out of nowhere and does the famous widow's leg wrap around her neck, slamming Taskmaster into the holding cell and closing the divide, locking her inside.
"We have to go," she says, helping Alexei up off the floor.
"Uhh. You know we had that completely under control," Tony replies.
"Yes, of course," Alexei agrees, limping a little.
"I have no doubt." Melina ushers them down the hall.
Tony takes one last look at Taskmaster still punching the barrier and follows them out.
Upstairs
"Not so talkative now, are you?" Natasha kicks Dreykov in the face.
"You took my childhood. You took my choices and tried to break me. But you're never gonna do that to anybody ever again," she says, pulling a climbing pick from the back of her suit.
She moves closer, deciding what she wants to start hacking off of him first, but then her breath hitches, and her back feels like a thousand knives have been shoved into it all at once. She grunts as she's yanked forcefully backward by one of the widow's grappling guns, landing with a thud on the floor.
Dreykov hurriedly rushes to his feet, seeing her subdued. He closes the connection to his database and moves to leave.
"Nobody leaves this room until she's dead," he tells the widows.
Natasha pants, raising herself back up, ignoring the giant hook in her back.
"Make her suffer," Dreykov says, looking at her angrily before leaving.
Natasha stands to find all the Widows now surrounding her.
"I don't want to hurt you," she says to them, falling into a defensive position. "And you don't want to hurt me."
They launch at her first with their batons first, and she uses her pick to block, just hoping Yelena will show up with the antidote soon, otherwise, she very well may die here.
She does okay at first fending them off, but then things get dicey as one dropkicks her in the face, sending her back into Dreykov's desk. She fires a widow bite at the girl and grabs the wrist of another who starts swinging a knife at her. They roll across the desk but she manages to pull back her arms before an electrified baton gets slammed onto them. Afterward, she gets up and charges at the widow closest to her, but that girl twirls and spins in a way that launches her across the room and onto the floor yet again.
She mutters to herself in Russian and gets back up and just starts firing widow bites at whoever she can, trying to survive.
"Come on, Yelena," she whispers, nearly taking down all of them with her bites until she turns and a staff whisks by her face. The next thing she knows, she's being pushed back with it at her neck, and she holds it back with her hands although she's barely keeping it from cutting off her airway. The other widows join in, adding more pressure and restricting her airflow.
She desperately moves her hands in a last-ditch effort so they are on either piece of the staff, using all her energy to pull the pieces apart. It breaks, and she gasps air back into her lungs, pushing the girl in front of her back, turning to kick the two on her left and right. She sighs in relief that is short-lived as someone else comes behind her and kicks her, sending her flying into the fucking desk again, whimpering as her rib abruptly snaps.
She tries to stand up, but the edges of her vision are spotted back now. They surround her like a pack of wolves, and the one closest kicks her in the jaw, sending her spinning. She tries to crawl away, but they grab her and put her in a headlock, pinning her and rendering her unable to move. All she can do is endure the pain while they take turns beating the hell out of her after that, landing punches and kicks to her broken rib and nose, bringing her near to the point of passing out.
She seriously considers calling for Tony for a second until the sound of beeping fills the room. A black satchel full of the antidote comes flying through the air, exploding in a red mist that rains down over them.
Natasha gasps thankfully as all the Widows let go of her, now freed from their mind control. She closes her eyes in relief as Yelena rushes to her side.
"Are you okay?" she asks, helping her up and leading her away from the group.
"That looks like it hurts." She says, noticing the grappling hook in her back.
"That's an understatement," Natasha says.
"Okay. I take out on three, ready?"
Natasha nods.
"1."
Yelena jerks the metal hook from her skin, making her cry out.
"I'm sorry," she says.
But Natasha is just happy it's out.
She blinks as all the Widows come to stand around her and Yelena.
"What do we do now?" One of them asks.
"Get as far away from here as possible," Natasha says. "You get to make your own choices now."
They all share a look of uncertainty at her words, and more explosions begin to rock the facility.
"We gotta get out of here," Yelena says.
"We need to find Dreykov." Natasha turns back to the desk, pulling out his ring she'd slipped from his finger earlier.
"Are you coming?" Yelena looks at her worriedly as everyone else starts to leave.
"I'll be right behind you," she says, running the ring over the security pad.
The database pops up and she shoves a drive into the slot to start downloading everything from it. The walls are crumbling around her as she reaches up and snaps her broken nose back in place. When the download finishes, she ejects the drive and grabs a few unbroken vials of the antidote off the floor before running to the door.
Downstairs
"You guys go ahead; I'm going to go find Natasha," Tony yells to Alexei and Melina when they reach one of the landing bays.
"Go, go." Melina shoos him off. "We'll be fine."
Tony flies off as her an Alexei start running towards one of the planes.
"Come on, baby, where are you," Tony says to himself, scanning the facility as whole sections of it implode and drop away, just praying Natasha isn't in one of them, because surely she would have called for help…right?
Fucking hell,he thinks, singing into the comm, slightly anxious flying around the imploding structure. "Honey, where are you?"
"I have no idea," Natasha answers, as she tries to run up a falling corridor, but slips and crashes into a wall, clenching her jaw at her screaming and battered body.
"Tony, you have to find Dreykov. He's trying to get away on one of the planes," she pants.
Her broken rib making it very hard for her to breathe at this moment.
"I'd rather find you first," Tony says, frowning when she yelps due to the floor giving way beneath her.
"Are you okay?" he asks, flying to her location once Friday pinpoints it.
He lowers himself down into the hole she fell through and helps her up.
"What are you doing laying down on the job?" He teases, but he can tell she's in a lot of pain.
Natasha lets out a half chuckle,half groan and leans into him heavily, her entire body is throbbing.
"Jesus, not you again." Tony sighs, realizing he's back in the basement.
"What?" Natasha follows his gaze and gasps.
"Antonia?!" She gapes at Taskmaster in the holding cell.
"Who?!" Tony furrows his brow. "That's a chick?"
"It's Dreykov's daughter," Natasha replies, moving towards the barrier.
"Well, she and I already had a run-in earlier and that's why she's in there. Come on, we need to go." Tony says, grabbing her hand.
"I'm not leaving her in there,"Natasha says, pulling her hand away.
Tony huffs.
"That's the second time you've said that to me today, baby, and look at where it got us."
"She's still under the influence of the drugs, Tony. She doesn't have a choice. She's just like the rest of them. She needs help."
"If you let her out of there all she'll try to do is kill us, you know that, right?"
"Not if you get her helmet off while I give her the antidote." Natasha waves the red vial at him.
"Are you fucking serious?"
"Tony. Please."
"My god."
Natasha looks back at Taskmaster.
"Antonia, I'm gonna open the door. You're gonna come after me. It's okay. I know you're still in there. I'm not gonna leave you. Okay?"
She glances at Tony, who arches an eyebrow at her hesitantly. Natasha punches in the code and steps back as Antonia walks out, eyeing the both of them.
She makes a grab for Natasha first while Tony slowly tries to get behind her so he can grab her while she's distracted, but right then the floor explodes under them and caves in, dropping Natasha below again.
"Natasha!" Tony yells, before being buried under a heap of rubble himself.
Natasha flails a bit as she hits the corridor below and it splits in half, causing her to go sliding down the collapsing floor. Thinking quickly, she takes out the climbing picks from the back of her suit and punches them into the metal under her, making sparks fly as they cut through, leaving jagged trails all the way to the end where she stops and hangs there.
"Tony!" She yells, hanging by one arm. In the mean time, she looks down to see Dreykov has made it to his plane and is about to leave.
"Natasha!" Tony groans and pulls himself out of the pile of rubble. flying out a small opening towards Natasha's cries.
He sees her dangling at the end of the platform and quickly flies over.
"I got you," he says, scooping her up.
"Where's Antonia?" Natasha asks, hanging onto him.
"I don't know. I wasn't that concerned about it." Tony hovers in the air.
Natasha points to the plane at the end of the landing bay.
"Dreykov's getting away." She says.
"No, he's not," Tony says, blasting towards him. "We didn't go through all this shit for nothing."
But as they get closer, Natasha can see Yelena grappling up onto one of the wings of Dreykov's plane.
"Yelena, no!" She yells at her.
"What the hell is she doing?" Tony asks, engaging his booster jets.
Yelena smiles and takes out her batons and snaps them into a staff above the propeller.
"Don't do it!" Natasha pleads with her, but Yelena just grins wider.
"This was fun!" She yells back, shoving the staff down into the propeller.
The entire plane explodes, going up into a ball of fire, creating a concussive blast that blows them all back into the sky.
Tony tightens his grip on Natasha while Friday tracks Yelena's falling form.
"Hold on," He tells Natasha, going into a nosedive.
Natasha grips his neck tightly as they plummet down through a falling plane, then sail around some debris. Tony holds out his left hand to Yelena for her to grab, but she's falling so fast she's drifting in and out of consciousness. Her fingers brush his metal hand once though, twice, until eventually she gets a firm hold that steadies her enough to grab onto his arm. Yelena pulls herself up on him, and Tony wraps his left arm around her, except now there's no way he can straighten himself back up due to the position they are in, not without the use of his hands.
They spiral in a corkscrew for a few minutes, smashing through a glass platform before he finally yells "Watch your hands!"
A small compartment pops open at the back of his suit and a red and gold parachute with the Iron Man symbol deploys and inflates above them, abruptly forcing them upright. Tony hisses as he squeezes both of the girls close so they don't slip from his grip from being whipped upward. They start to float normally after that, and Tony clenches his jaw.
"Nice catch, prince charming." Yelena chuckles at him, patting the top of his helmet.
Natasha smirks and rests her head against Tony's shoulder.
"I should have just let you fall. What kind of stupid thing was that to do?" He asks her, annoyed. "We were right there. I could have just shot the propellor." He gripes at Yelena.
"You were taking forever, and Dreykov was getting away. Sorry if I don't want the whole mission to be for nothing." Yelena rolls her eyes at him.
"I got all the information on his database," Natasha says. "It wouldn't have been for nothing."
Yelena looks over Tony's shoulder. "Uh, guys? We've got company," she says.
"What now?" Tony asks, unable to turn around due to his hands being full.
"Antonia," Natasha replies.
"Great, still think it was a good idea to let her out?"
"I almost killed her once, I'm not going to do it again." She glares at him.
"Then what do you propose we do? Because it's still a long way down and my hands are kind of full."
Natasha thinks for a minute.
"Yelena, get out your knife," Natasha says, slipping her blade from her thigh, cutting through the rope on the parachute.
"I swear you're going to give me a fucking heart attack," Tony says, once he realizes what they're doing.
Both Yelena and Natasha grab a side of the cords on the parachute.
"On three," Natasha says.
"1."
They slice through the remaining rope at the same time, gripping their sides tightly as they go floating up due to the reduction of weight from the Ironman armor. They're ripped from Tony's arms and end up directly in Taskmaster's sights.
"Right towards what we're trying to get away from. Brilliant plan," he mutters.
"I can still hear you, you know," Natasha says. "Look out!"
Tony turns just in time to dodge the giant blade Taskmaster has aimed at him as she flies by at high speed.
"I suppose you want me to catch her now," Tony says, watching her falling form.
"If you wouldn't mind."
"I mind a lot, actually."
He bolts down after Taskmaster and the rapidly approaching ground.
"If you can just stop swinging that sword at me that'd be great," Tony says, darting away from the various attempts to decapitate him with her great sword.
He uses his laser to lance the blade so it's only a nub, then grabs her arm, trying to keep a hold of her long enough to slow her down, but she punches him in the face and starts clawing at his reactor again, bringing her legs up and kicking him in the chest. Tony spins backward and flips in the air, staring as she deploys her parachute.
He blinks.
"So, did you know she had a parachute?" He asks Natasha, frowning and clicking his tongue irritably.
"We do now," Natasha replies, and Tony can hear her and Yelena giggling in the background.
"Wow." He shakes his head, dropping to the ground in a pose.
"No wonder you like him, Tasha, he's a total poser too!" Yelena says, as they let go of their parachute and land in the rubble of the Red Room near where Taskmaster is trying to get up.
Tony comes over and hurriedly rips off her helmet, holding her as best he can.
"Give her the juice!" he shouts at Natasha.
Natasha runs over with Yelena, taking the vial out of her pocket. She smashes it on the ground next to Antonia who's struggling, giving Tony a run for his money. The girl suddenly goes slack in his arms as the antidote takes hold and her eyes go red and cloudy, releasing her from the controlling chemicals in her system.
Antonia falls forward on her hands and knees to the ground, and Natasha crouches in front of her, taking her shoulders in her hands.
"I'm sorry," she tells Antonia, tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry."
"Is he gone?" Antonia raises her head.
Natasha nods slowly.
"He's gone."
The girl falls to the ground onto her backs, trying to catch her breath.
Natasha stands back up, gazing at what is left of the Red Room as pieces of it continue crashing to the ground off in the distance, sending shockwaves through the earth.
Yelena laughs walking over to her.
"We did it," she says, watching it burn with satisfaction.
"It's finally over," Natasha replies, turning to Yelena.
She hugs her tightly.
"It was real to me too." She whispers next to her ear.
Yelena squeezes her back while Tony chuckles.
"Well, if it isn't Bonnie and Clyde," he says, as Melina and Alexei come hobbling over.
"Everybody good?" Natasha asks them, seeing Melina limp and Alexei holding her up.
"I am clearly injured," Melina says.
Tony flips his helmet on then back off again.
"You have a broken hip." He tells her.
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Stark." Melina glares at him.
He smirks.
"You got something to say?" Natasha asks Alexei with a small smile.
"I'd just mess it up," he says, reaching for her hand instead.
Natasha takes it and squeezes it, feeling a bit awkward as neither of them looks at each other, but it means alot.
"Here comes the calvary," Natasha says, catching a glimpse of Ross's convoy in the distance.
"So, what's our plan?" Melina asks.
"You guys go. I'll stay," Natasha says.
"We'll stay." Tony corrects her, sliding his arm around her waist.
"That's insanity. We fight. We fight with you." Alexei insists.
"That wasn't the plan," Natasha tells him, causing him to throw up his hands.
"What is this plan? Why does nobody tell me about the plan?" He complains to Melina.
"I'm sorry," Melina says. "It happen to fast I-"
"Oh my god, how can I properly do mission if – if I don't know what's happening? It's no good. No good." Alexei shakes his head.
Natasha smiles at their arguing.
"Well, if you're leaving then I guess you should have this," Yelena says, peeling off her vest, handing it to Natasha.
Natasha chuckles and takes it from her. "Ah, shucks."
"I know how much you like it." Yelena giggles.
"It does have a lot of pockets, she says, smiling.
"Very handy pockets, yeah."
Natasha reaches into her own back pocket.
"He has widows planted all over the world. Melina will need to copy the formula." She hands Yelena the drive and a vial of the antidote. "But you should be the one to tell them it's over."
Yelena nods. They all look up at the sound of a plane engine whirling and landing across the field. All the Widows from the Red Room jump out.
"You came back for us," Yelena says, suprised.
"We wouldn't leave you behind," one of them replies.
Yelena walks back towards the plane with them and Melina grabs Natasha's hand.
"Hey, you take care of yourself," she says.
"I'll be fine." Natasha smiles at her, linking their fingers.
"Take care of my daughter, Mr. Stark. I know where you live." Melina turns to Tony.
"Is there anything about you that isn't creepy?" Tony asks her.
She smiles at him as Alexei helps her walk towards the plane.
"Good man." Alexei claps Tony on the shoulder and smiles at him.
"You put up a good fight against the gladiator chick, Redbeard. Until next time," Tony smiles back as they walk away.
"Remember what I told you, Tony. Painful and slow." Yelena yells to him from the plane.
"Yeah, kind of like our time spent together," Tony yells back.
Natasha chuckles.
"Maybe we should have just gone with them." Tony jokes, walking back over to her.
Natasha leans up and kisses him softly before Ross's cars surround them and a swat of armored soldiers get out.
"You're not running out on me now, Stark. You promised me a vacation."
"As soon as I get us out of prison." Tony grins at her.