Marvel's Villainous Gacha 73 (Patreon)

With all the power in hand, it took ten minutes to find the truth, and that was with him validating every aspect. SHIELD databases, Hydra records, random Eastern European records. It drew one picture.

The Red Room was still active.

To be fair, it was actually a surprisingly well-kept secret. Even for him, it required digging through a lot of different sources to find it, and even then, his main source of information was mostly misfiled reports and other nonsense.

Whoever was running the ship, it was running cleverly. Even combined, it took a lot of inference to conclude it. As for where the base was, it was an even bigger mystery. The reports didn’t indicate any.

Luckily, he was no longer reliant on reports. A digital order to his bases sent a dozen stealth spy drones flying across Eastern Europe, which was the operating range, and started a wide search. The base was secondary.

Yelena was primary.

Luckily, knowing she had lived in America for three years allowed him to find the medical records, which he used to find her records in leftover Soviet intelligence records. Most were erased, but enough remained for someone with his reach.

He found her. She was currently in Bucharest, an undercover surveillance mission. That made him let out a relaxed sigh. She was alive.

The news that the Red Room was still in operation was bad enough. Giving the news that her adopted sister was dead would have been much worse.

“Alright, good news first,” he said, but he made sure to keep his tone somber, warning her. “Yelena is alive and well. And I have just identified her location. We can be there in twenty minutes.”

She tensed, and he immediately hugged her, trusting Soft Hugger to do its job. “And…” she said.

“The Red Room is still active, and she’s still working for them.”

“How?” she gasped in anger. “I bombed it myself. I made sure Dreykov is dead.”

“Look, I don’t know yet. They have a surprisingly limited digital presence despite having a lot of high-tech toys.”

“Did SHIELD know? Did Clint—“

He could have lied and made sure she never got back to SHIELD, but he decided it would be too cruel. “Nothing I have seen indicates they do,” he responded. “Most of them are low-level reports that’s not deemed credible enough to be pushed up. I’m sure a lot of idiots kept their mouths shut after being beaten by a woman.”

She sighed. “Likely.” Then, she looked up. “I want to see Yelena. I need to see—“

He interrupted her with a kiss. “Naturally,” he said, hugged her, and carried her to the gate room. “I can arrange it so that you can do alone, or I can come with you. Your choice.”

She didn’t answer, but her fingers tightened around his hand, which was answer enough.

He had seen this unsettled only once. When he had healed her completely, giving her back what was cruelly taken away. He kissed her, and together they went through a gate once more.

Pity, he was looking forward to introducing Nebula to her. He had a feeling they would get along.

&&&

One advantage of having digital capabilities far above anything available on Earth, he didn’t need to worry about pesky things like security cameras or other spies. They approached Yelena’s apartment confidently.

“I’ll take the point,” Natasha muttered. He let her, choosing to stay hidden.

She opened the door, and came face to face with Yelena, a beautiful blonde who was almost as sexy as Natasha, dressed casually. However, the moment she saw Natasha, she switched.

In two steps. First, it was a flicker of recognition, one of joy. One that Natasha shared. It was a testament to Natasha’s relief that she failed to react when Yelena grabbed a kitchen knife and lunged, pressing against her throat.

"Widow Natasha,” she said with a thick accent, but a soulless, empty tone. "You will come with me now to meet General Dreykov."

"Yelena—"

She pushed her knife, drawing a drop of blood. “Now—“

That was all she was able to say before he dashed forward, easily capturing her. It didn’t matter how good she was when she never saw his approach. It was obvious that she was under mind control, but unfortunately, he didn’t know about the method.

And, while Snap Out of It would have worked, he didn’t want to start it by slapping Natasha’s sister.

Natasha was still frozen. “Mind control,” he said, at the same time, noticed Yelena biting her tooth. Fake poison teeth trick, and a strong one. Whoever conditioned them had no mercy, and excessively security conscious.

He had enough Chemistry knowledge to identify whatever was going on would destroy a lot of evidence that could be extracted from the body afterward. No wonder they stayed secret.

Unfortunately, with him in the room, committing suicide required a lot more than a creative poison. He touched her head, using Purification, which got rid of her body of every foreign chemical.

She fell on the ground, gasping and panting, patting herself, then looked up. “N-Nat…” she whispered, shocked, fascinated, and horrified at the same time.

Chemical mind control, convenient.

“Mind control, cleared,” he confirmed. Natasha immediately hugged her, and they started crying.

Wisely, he left the room, giving them time to reconcile. They deserved their privacy.

But, he didn’t waste his time. While they were dealing with Yelena, his drones found their base. Cleverly, it was a flying base with cloaking, enough to avoid the current satellite technology.

Combined with the limited operational radius, it was no surprise that it stayed hidden. He particularly admired their digital security: no constant uplink, no constant radio communication, just a tight beam to a station on the ground.

Unfortunately, he had dealt with far greater threats. The moment a remote drone landed on them, giving him a hacking vector, it was game over.

Relying on their other measures, their digital security was not particularly outstanding even by commercial standards. Soon, his drone had ensured that he had total control of the flying base, as well as the current location of all operating Widows.

He even got his hands on the mind-control chemical. He wasn’t planning to use it. The chemical solution was unnecessarily flawed by his standards.

He hummed, and while the two talked, he gave orders to position drones near every Widow operative, each loaded with the necessary chemicals to break the mind control and neutralize the poison as necessary.

The numbers were impressive. Almost five hundred, which was very small for an army, but for an elite spy force with excellent combat training, it was different.

However, he didn’t act. Today, he was just a supporter. Very competent, decisive support, but still support. Decisions belonged to Natasha.

He waited outside until Natasha called him. Though, he did make a quick shopping run. A shopping run he had used his gates for, actually visiting a small shop in Manhattan. So when Natasha called for him, he walked in with a bag.

Neither of them had made it to the sofa. Natasha sat with her back against the cabinets, and Yelena sat against Natasha, hugging desperately. Natasha's arm was around her. Natasha was looking at the wall with a complicated expression. She couldn’t decide whether to feel angry or sad or happy, and feeling all of it at the same time.

They both looked up when he came in.

“What’s that?” Yelena asked, seeing the opaque bag, immediately reaching for her gun.

Coming from anyone else, it would have been paranoid, but he decided a brainwashed and recently saved superspy deserved softer standards. “The perfect solution to depression,” he said.

“Vodka?” Natasha asked.

“Better,” he said, showing the boxes. “Ice cream.”

Natasha’s eyes widened. “You’re not serious. Are those…”

“Ice cream from your favorite store. Yes.”

Her eyes widened. “I can’t believe you brought them for mission—“ she started, but he shook his head. Her eyes widened, catching the implication, but her habit of operational security kept her from revealing it.

He sat across from them.

“Hello, Yelena. I’m Michael, nice to meet you,” he said.

“Sorry for the introduction. I can be a bit cranky before breakfast,” she said.

He chuckled. Her sarcasm was impressive. “Don’t worry. It can’t be as awkward as my cutie here,” he said. It was both a quick test to understand Yelena’s state, and a chance to help Natasha focus on something other than her raging fury.

Her eyes widened. “Oh, there’s a story there.”

“Of course. One that’s about the world’s greatest spy defeated by cuddles—“ he started.

“I’ll stab you,” Natasha warned, but that was a mistake.

Yelena looked at her, shocked. “Oh my god. You’re blushing. You’re actually blushing. That means it’s true!”

He opened his mouth, but Natasha growled. “Not another word, or I might break an arm.”

“You know I can just heal it back, right?” he teased. Yelena started laughing … which turned into hysteria, then she started crying. He hugged her from one side, and let Natasha hug from the other.

He didn’t blame her for crying. He couldn’t begin to imagine living under mind control, especially the crude formula kept her conscious of the control. Calling it unhealthy didn’t begin to cover it.

"It is warm," Yelena muttered after a few minutes. “Is it a part of your healing flames?”

“Yep,” he said.

“I now understand how she got seduced by cuddling,” she said, giving a wet smile.

Natasha sighed, but hugged her tighter. Yelena giggled and let her head drop against Natasha's shoulder, and the three of them sat like that on the kitchen floor for a while. Natasha reached for the ice cream, feeding to Yelena.

“I remember you feeding me snacks, back when we were a family.”

Natasha opened her mouth, but he smiled. “Oh, are there any other embarrassing stories? I can bribe you.”

“With what? Hugs?”

“That, and weapons. I recently built a very nice sniper rifle based on Chitauri tech. It can shoot a target twenty-miles away with no issues.”

“I want one,” Natasha immediately said.

Yelena laughed again. “Hugs and weapons. The full package. I can see why you’re so besotted with him, sister.”

“I’m not—“ she started, and he caught her gaze. She blushed and avoided him. “Shut up,” she muttered.

He sighed, wishing that they were meeting without the somber realities of their situation. He had seen Natasha happy and relaxed, but Yelena’s presence unlocked something else in her.

Her older sister instincts were strong.

“Wow, this ice cream is really amazing. Where’s it from?”

“A shop in Manhattan,” he said. “I’ll give you the address, so if you ever visit New York, you can taste all the flavors.”

“America,” Yelena muttered, chuckling sadly. “I still remember the house, better than everything, with that ugly yellow wallpaper on the kitchen wall.”

“God, that was ugly.”

“Yes, but Mom always loved it,” Yelena muttered.

This time, he had to interrupt Natasha with a poke, because he didn’t miss her flash of anger. Clearly, her positive feelings toward Yelena didn’t apply to her fake parents. Understandable. Yelena was a child, for her, it was the reality.

Their parents must have been spies, which made it much more complicated.

They fell silent once again, hugging and eating ice cream. He stayed quiet, hugging. An hour of silence.

“How are we going to kill Dreykov?” Yelena finally asked.

“That’s up to you two,” he said. “The cure for the mind control will be ready by morning, and I can also arrange a hacking expert to assist with the base defenses. Combined, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

Yelena’s eyes widened. “Really? I mean, I know Avengers is good, but—“

“It’s not Avengers, I resigned,” Natasha said.

“And I have never been a part, at least not officially,” he added. “Let’s just say I know a few people who would love for a healer to owe them a favor,” he said. Natasha smirked. She knew it was a lie, but she also understood that revealing the full situation to Yelena wouldn’t help. “Dreykov had two overwhelming advantages. His secrecy, and his mind control. Now what both have been resolved, dealing wouldn’t be hard. The real challenge is what’s next. Five hundred trained specialist spies are enough to make a lot of people scared.”

“Yeah, that’s a lot of people,” Natasha said. “I would say SHIELD, but…”

“They are already struggling to stay alive. There’s no way they can handle the influx, nor do they have enough trustworthy people. I like Phil too much to ask him to take care of five hundred Black Widows.”

Natasha smirked. “A wise choice.” Then, her expression turned more serious. “What are our other options?”

“As you said, trusting the System is one. SHIELD, United Nations, CIA, or other agencies, but that’s just an invitation for trouble. We can make the offer, but I suspect not many of them will accept.”

“You got that right,” Yelena said.

“Civilian is another path,” he offered. “I have enough pull to set up fake identities. Ideally, it would be rural areas, concentrated around America and Canada. Farm work, new identities, everything. A chance to retire and live their own lives.”

Yelena sighed. “It sounds like a dream. But, I’m not sure how many of them will be able to adapt to it.”

He shrugged. “I see that. That’s why I have a modified version as the third option. Reserve forces.”

“Reserve for what?”

“Real threats, like the Battle of New York. They will still live where they want, but they will have access to training simulators for certain high-tech stuff.”

“Like the mechs that you used for the Battle of New York?”

“Exactly.”

“I want one,” she said, her tone childish once again.

“Maybe Natasha will get you one for Christmas.”

Yelena giggled. He sighed, amused by the absurdity. “What’s the fourth?” Natasha asked.

“For those who want to fight, really fight, we will float the option to join a dangerous mission, one that is about the safety of the planet,” he said. Natasha’s eyes widened, understanding what he was talking about.

Yelena realized Natasha knew what he was talking about, but she didn’t ask any questions, understanding the need for operational security instinctively. “That’s nice and good, but we still need to defeat the General. It will not be easy.”

“Actually, it’ll be, trust me,” he said, and then he looked at Natasha. “I have already made the necessary calls, and you’ll have more than assets to handle the mission. Do you want me to stay, or do you want to go with your sister?”

“We will do it together,” Natasha said, holding Yelena’s hand. “It’ll be a good family adventure.”

“Maybe we can even find Mom and Dad,” Yelena suggested.

“Maybe,” Natasha said, substantially less enthusiastically. He didn’t say anything. That was something two of them should solve.

However, he stayed with them for the night. Three of them fell asleep on the kitchen floor, cuddling.

He said goodbye to them in the morning, trusting them to handle the situation.

He trusted Natasha to handle it even if she had been alone. With all the tech he provided her, it would be trivial. However, the care after the rescue would be much harder. And take a lot of time.

He returned to the space situation. It was time to meet Jane again, and see if he could use his abilities to solve her problems with utilizing the reality stone.