— How long until arrival?
— Less than a minute.
Tony confidently informed his Russian friend as the Star Avenger quickly approached the small settlement. Stark's predictions were accurate, and upon seeing the first buildings, the heroes could see the commotion on the ground, which began to be transmitted to the screens.
The reason for this rush was an unidentified object that had recently landed here. The small village of a few hundred people was thrown into panic when the aliens began descending, capturing people like animals, and putting them in cages.
After checking that they were in the center of everything that was happening, Stark gave the command:
— It's your turn, gentlemen.
Hearing this, Alex pressed a button, and the chair he was sitting on disappeared beneath him in a second. For a few moments, he found himself in free fall until he was caught by the water released from the ship's compartment behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw Rhodey also begin his descent to protect the civilians.
Hovering several dozen meters above the ground, Ledov looked like a savior, supporting himself with water and spreading aquatic tentacles around himself. After surveying the battlefield, he headed for the nearest point of tension.
Several people fled from the humanoid with the net launcher, but a swift movement of a water tentacle sent the hunter scrambling to explore the local walls. After checking that these few were safe, Alex continued on, accompanied by the joyful shouts of the people who, upon seeing him, hid in the nearest shelter.
Tony controlled the perimeter from the ship and reported on what was happening around, so Alex knew where to go next.
Emerging from around the corner of a building, he encountered a group of space illegals who, upon seeing him, began firing their blaster cannons. Without hesitation, Alex created a barrier in front of himself and transformed it into ice, absorbing all the damage from the enemy's weapons.
Calmly watching as chunks of the ice wall began to break under enemy fire, he created a multitude of ice needles and launched them at the attackers. The gunfire died down immediately, as it's hard to shoot with bodies pierced through and through.
After looking over the fallen enemies and making sure they were dead, Alex continued clearing the city.
Having neutralized several more similar groups of people-hunting mercenaries, the water lord found himself in front of a space slaver's ship, which was located in a small square where nearly a hundred people were already being held in cages, waiting for the rest to return with their loot. Noticing him, a well-dressed humanoid in a red helmet ordered fire.
Taking no chances, Alex hid behind a wall, unsure if his barrier could hold back so many projectiles at once. So, summoning additional water, he created a pack of ice wolves right there on the street as a distraction. After sending them into battle and hearing their surprised cries, he created an ice platform beneath himself, rose into the air, and watched as the aliens, shocked, shot back at the aquatic creatures. The wolves took laser hits, but they inexorably closed in on the enemy. Taking advantage of the confusion, he began methodically picking them off until only one remained standing—one in a red helmet.
Having descended to the ground and hearing many groans from some of the creatures not killed by the needles, Alex calmly walked forward until one of the remaining wolves pounced and knocked down the fugitive.
People sitting in cages, who just a minute ago were afraid for their lives, were already joyfully shouting words of gratitude and requests to be released.
While the water lord was deciding between helping the captives and interrogating the hostage, the ship's engines began to roar, indicating that someone else was still inside. Before the ship had even risen a few meters, several small missiles struck, knocking out the spacecraft's power and sending it crashing back to earth.
Tony, as always on time, flew by on the Star Avenger, revealing that he had launched those missiles while monitoring what was happening on the ground.
Realizing there was no need to rush, Alex began freeing the captives, while his own captive was watched by the wolf, who was perched on him, ready to bite his helmet. A few minutes later, Rhodey, having finished with his area, arrived, and together they began helping the survivors.
*****
- I won't tell you anything, you pathetic worms.
In a small room on the Avengers' ship, a humanoid with four eyes and red skin sat, acting too confidently, and it made Alex's hands itch.
"Stop," Tony stopped his friend, seeing his impatience, then turned his attention to the prisoner. "And you take that smirk off, or my friend will quickly wipe it off."
- Ha-ha-ha. You're just worms and you don't even know who you're dealing with.
The three men exchanged glances, debating whether to try to prove who exactly he was dealing with. But realizing it was pointless, Tony continued the conversation using the machine translator.
"I know for a fact you're no captain if you took on this job and thought you'd get away with it," Tony replied boredly. "And if you had any real power, you wouldn't be hiding long ago, but conducting your missions openly and without fear."
The four-eyed pirate had nothing to say in response to this.
"So you have two options: either you answer me," Tony calmly pointed at himself, making his most friendly face, and then pointed at Alex's frowning face, "or you answer him."
- You won't get anything out of me anyway.
"Well, I tried the easy way," the persuasion ended too quickly, which alarmed the pirate. "Do what needs to be done."
As Stark walked away, he watched as the water disk began to spin rapidly in Alex's satisfied hands, transforming into a saw. The pirate's expression reflected this.
— You were so confident just now. Where does this fear come from?
After closing the doors, Tony tried not to dwell too much on the horrors that were about to unfold inside. A few steps later, he encountered Rhodey, whose face wore a worried expression.
- Tony, I understand that they are pirates, but to do this to them...
Stark sighed heavily at the words of his childhood friend.
"I'm not particularly thrilled either, but they still have hundreds of people there, and the faster we get the information we need, the faster we can save them."
"Have you seen him with that saw? He won't leave anything behind."
"Don't worry about it. Alex will cut it and put it back together. Then the only proof that anything happened to him will be this fear of our aquatic friend."
The wait wasn't long. Literally half an hour later, the water lord emerged, his face calm. Rhodey tried to detect any sadistic tendencies in his expression, but saw nothing.
- Gentlemen, he is yours.
Two old friends went to look at the handiwork of a Russian.
Entering the small room, they saw no blood or severed hands. Even the pirate's clothes looked normal, unlike the pirate himself. Lying in a fetal position on the floor, he muttered something to himself that Tony's translator couldn't decipher.
- Well, are you ready to talk now?
Four eyes on one face looked at Stark in panic, and then widened in fear when Ledov entered the room.
"Guys, can you manage without me?" Seeing the confirming nods, Alex glanced at the prisoner. "If they don't get everything they need, I'll come back angry."
— I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you everything!
The alien pressed himself against the wall, trying to get as far away as possible.
Tony and Rhodey exchanged glances at the sight.
- As you can see, his methods are not entirely democratic, but they are effective.
*****
In the quiet of the forests stood a small complex of buildings, built during Soviet times. Several five-story buildings, surrounded by a wall, served as barracks, a cafeteria, a classroom, and a medical facility.
Looking at all this, Natasha relived painful childhood memories of her training here. It was hard to watch. She thought this place had long been closed or destroyed, but unfortunately, the Black Widow project continued to operate as usual. This was partly her fault. If she had verified that Dreykov was truly dead after the explosion, everything might have turned out differently.
The former SHIELD agent wasn't surprised that Alex's men hadn't cleared the place out. Dreykov had kept it top secret. If you don't know about it, you won't know. There are no confirmed documents about it, and the communications center is minimal, so you can't contact anyone.
Having surveyed the surroundings and learned everything she needed to know, she gazed with mild satisfaction at her body, which simply dissolved into the shadows of the trees. Various data about her condition began to appear on her helmet display, along with the markers she'd placed indicating the location of the guards.
Security had improved since her last visit. Cameras and sensors were installed to detect enemies and track escapees, but they required a lot of power, and the location required increased secrecy, so there wasn't much of it.
Bypassing several sensors, she carefully approached the wall. The camera trained on her didn't notice the change, as it couldn't see her in her camouflage.
The leap of a few meters over the wall was a bit awkward, but she never imagined she could do such a thing. After surveying the courtyard, she continued moving.
Completely avoiding the security posts, she reached the right door and discovered that an electronic key was required to enter. This wasn't a problem for her. Producing a small wire, she connected it to the device, activating the decryption program. Within ten seconds, she had access and was inside, still invisibly hidden.
The suit concealed her very well, making her already quiet steps practically silent, but that didn't mean she had to let her guard down. Pressing herself against the wall, she waited until the patrolman, armed with a machine gun, passed her and the passage became clear.
Climbing a couple of floors, she felt like she'd stepped back in time. Several girls of various ages were in the hallway, doing physical exercises under the supervision of several people.
"The methods never change ," the spy looked at this for a moment and then moved on.
Walking along the corridors, she peered into various rooms and saw sleeping future widows, many of whom would fail their training. She herself recalled how she had become a murderer for some of her fellow students.
Heavy thoughts and memories overwhelmed the former graduate of this institution. How she walked these hallways, how she slept on these beds, how they also tormented her with physical exercises at night. For years, she hadn't left this place and knew many of the hallways by heart, which hadn't changed at all.
Having walked around the entire building, she marked the necessary rooms with the Red Room's wards with sensors, then headed back down. On her way back down, she again encountered the group engaged in their nighttime exercises. Only now, several of the girls were being encouraged to continue their exercises by being struck with wooden batons. The blows elicited only quiet groans, as any louder screams would have resulted in even more severe beatings.
For the next action, Natasha gets a minus as an agent, but five points as a heroine.
She could have eliminated them with the silenced pistol she had on her hip, but that would have left bloody marks, so she decided against it.
The three guards didn't even realize what had happened when one of them simply turned around and began looking at his own back. The other two didn't even have time to scream before they were hit with several shocks that paralyzed them and left them shaking on the ground.
Six girls, aged between eight and twelve, didn't even scream, but simply looked around, trying to determine whether a similar fate awaited them.
At that moment, they saw the silhouette of a woman in a high-tech suit begin to appear before their eyes. Behind the helmet's mask, Natasha's face could be seen, trying in every way to show they weren't enemies.
"Everything's fine," she even raised her hands, seeing the frightened looks. "I'm not a danger to you! I came to help you!"
Seeing all this, the girls began exchanging glances. Until one of them, the older one, a girl with a short haircut and blue eyes, decided to start a conversation.
"You can't do anything alone. There are too many of them, and they're armed."
Natasha merely smiled kindly, crouching slightly to keep the conversation level with them.
"I'm not alone here, I'm just a reconnaissance team to make sure where to hit and where not to hit."
These words brought a sigh of relief to the uneducated widows.
"Let's do it this way: you go to the sleeping people now, and when the noise starts and they wake up, you keep them in their rooms. I've marked the locations, and my people will keep their distance, but just in case, it's best if no one leaves the sleeping quarters. Can you do that?"
The girls looked at each other again and then said that they could.
The satisfied heroine was about to move on, but decided to first hide the corpses so that no one would notice them.
The spy's hands tightened as she watched such small girls calmly begin to help her move them. Her confidence that the job needed to be completed grew even stronger.
Once again camouflaged and making sure they had reached the right place, she moved on.
Each corridor evoked its own associations and memories for her, as if she were a ghost walking through empty corridors.
After spending a little over an hour, she went through all the buildings and, having neutralized only a few guards who were blocking her passage, she was convinced that there were no more girls anywhere.
Turning on the transmitter, she told the cleanup team to begin the operation.
Within three minutes, having taken a convenient position between the floors, she became an impenetrable ghost, through which they had to pass. She watched as several helicopters and vehicles simultaneously began their assault.
A siren began to sound over the training complex. Natasha calmly watched from the window as stormtroopers jumped out of helicopters and began a methodical sweep, skirting the building where she was holed up.
The sound of gunfire began to echo throughout the complex. Natasha watched as Ledov's stormtroopers, like living tanks with the strength and speed of Steve Rogers, advanced fearlessly, bearing the brunt of the attack and practically scattering anyone who stood in their way.
She was distracted from watching the Red Room's militants being eliminated by the sound of people approaching from below. Drawing her pistol, she fired, killing the first person to climb the stairs. The others hesitated, unable to see where the shot came from.
After several more failed attempts to get up to recruit hostages, the guards realized they couldn't get through the corridor, left the building, and attempted to escape, but they failed. As soon as they left the building, they immediately became targets for execution.
Over time, the sounds of battle died down, and the widow decided to go upstairs.
Having reached the right floor, Natasha was stunned.
An entire corridor of the Red Room's wards now stood in the corridor and looked out the barred windows at what was happening outside.
When she came into their field of vision, hundreds of eyes stared at her.
Slowly removing her helmet, she showed them her face.
Some people's eyes widened in recognition. They were likely new arrivals who already knew who Natasha Romanoff was.
- Well, it's time for you to leave this place.
*****
Several hundred children now stood in a small clearing near the place that had recently been slowly turning them into instruments of death. Even though these people, led by the red-haired woman, had pulled them out, that didn't make them any less fearful.
Their eyes constantly monitored the movements of everyone passing nearby, especially those carrying weapons. Fortunately, there were practically no guards around them. After checking that no one was seriously injured, they were led to the field and asked to wait.
Many wanted to escape, but where could they go if there was a small army around them that wouldn't let them out? At the very least, these people gained the benefit of trust by helping secure their release.
While there was little time, the girls in the know revealed who the woman was. It was Natasha Romanoff, the heroine who saves the world and is the Black Widow, which shocked many, as they all thought there was no escape.
After waiting a little, they saw her again, and there was a smile on the heroine's face.
"Your life there has come to an end. You won't return there because there will be nowhere to return to."
Immediately after her words, several explosions occurred, which destroyed all the buildings in the area.
The buildings that had given them nightmares became nothing but a pile of rubble in an instant.
With the push of a button, Natasha evoked a multitude of tears and cries of joy. Everyone nearby paused for a moment, watching the explosion as they watched the crowd of children and their outpouring of pent-up emotions. Natasha saw pity in the eyes of many of the soldiers. Fortunately, no one rushed to console anyone. They were on a mission, and they had other priorities. Seeing people doing their job and the outpouring of emotion from the crowd of young widows, she knew she was on the right path.