[1] 𝘿𝙀𝙑𝙄𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 | 𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨

➘ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧: 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬

➸ 2013
📍AVENGERS TOWER
Meeting Room
╰─────────╯

"SO YOU'RE telling us that you lied about Galina's past and lied about the literal existence of a human trafficking organization." Bruce berated a holographic Fury.

The Avengers (except for Galina, Thor, and Elora) were called in for an emergency meeting in the meeting room thanks to the fact that Galina was damn near forced to tell them the truth after the press conference.

"I did what needed to be done in order to protect her." Fury defended himself, a finger pointing down to the floor in emphasis.

"Protection? Protection from what? Was it protection for her or protection for yourself and for SHIELD?" Steve said in complete vexation, angry at the fact that the young girl that he became so fond of was becoming a pawn.

"Do you know what the government would've done to her if they found out about her full skillset plus the full extent of her abilities? Do you know what they would've done if they found out that she was a Widow?! I had to keep it hush hush from everyone."

"Oh please she was what? Fifth-teen...sixteen when you guys took her and you locked her up until you needed her assistance. She's just a kid and you're using her!" he strongly argued.

"I didn't know back then! She had only recently confessed." he admits, room falling silent. "She told me not to say anything."

The billionaire broke the silence snidely. "You shouldn't be shocked, Capsicle. I told you that his secrets had secrets." that's when Tony was reminded of something. "And oh, when were you gonna tell us that mutants exist? Because for starters Galina is in fact a mutant according to various blood tests and Aspen definitely is too....or did you hide that to "protect" someone as well?"

Fury pinched his nose bridge and leaned back in the chair that he was seated in. "If the existence of mutant were proven—"

"Which it is." he cut him off.

Fury glared. "It would cause a worldwide panic."

"Aliens literally invaded New York last year and half of these fuckers don't believe it what makes you think that they would believe in mutants?" Clint countered. "Hell, they don't even believe in basic science. Stupid cunts."

"Listen, everything is under control but we have to be sensitive—"

This is the first time in the whole entire meeting that Natasha has spoken up.

"Sensitive? Sensitive to what?" she started. It is clear that this is affecting her greatly. "Galina has been through the same exact thing as me probably even worse but the difference between us is that when I officially got out I had agents there for me who knew about my situation I had therapists and psychiatrists to diagnose me, I had a support system, but you knew of her origin for almost over a year and knew she was under control. You knew that she wasn't some random vigilante who learned basic martial arts on Youtube with freaky powers. You knew that she wasn't from an orphanage and was manipulated to kill you. You knew and this whole entire time she could've been getting the true help that she needed, but she hasn't."

"Romanoff...your situations are entirely differen—"

"Are they though? I mean, we both came from the same place. The only difference is that her training was far better than mine, which raises the question of how much has the Red Room progressed? Because last time I checked, killing Dreykov was my final defection for SHIELD which would directly mean that the Red Room shouldn't even be running anymore. Galina should not even be in this position."