They did not make it to St. Petersburg. The plane crashed about five miles from where Alexei said Melina lived. The four of them piled out, Maggie rubbing the stitches where they were irritating her face.
Yelena and Natasha had both reached to pull her hand down. They stared at each other before Yelena had stepped away. Natasha was Maggie's mother, after all, even if Yelena had known her before Natasha had and for just a bit longer than Natasha had known Maggie.
Yelena had always been the baby in her family but she'd been assigned to train Maggie and she'd always looked at the girl like a little sister. She had only been five when she'd joined the Red Room, barely after her fifth birthday. Yelena had been six when she'd joined, fifteen when Maggie came, and she knew it was hard. She had barely survived without the thought of Natasha to keep her going.
So, she vowed to be Maggie's lifeline in there, and it had worked for the next five years. And then Maggie had disappeared. Yelena had been told she was dead and part of her had hated herself for letting the innocent little girl die when she was supposed to be watching out for her.
"You should've brought the Avengers' superjet," Alexei said. Maggie, Yelena and Natasha started walking ahead of him quickly.
"I swear, if I hear one more word from him, I will kick him in the face," Yelena said.
"He's the worst," Natasha muttered.
"Natasha. Natasha. Natasha. Come here, I want to ask you something. Come, it's important," Alexei jogged after them.
"What?" Natasha frowned, falling back a bit.
"Did he talk to you about me?" Alexei said. Maggie raised an eyebrow at Yelena, who shrugged.
"What?" Natasha said.
"Did he talk to you about me? You know, trading war stories?" Alexei said.
"Who? What are you talking about?" Natasha frowned.
"Captain America. My great adversary in this theater of geopolitical conflict. Not so much a nemesis. More like a contemporary, you know? Coequal. I always thought there was a great deal of mutual respect..." Alexei trailed off.
"Wait. You haven't seen either one of us in 20 years and you're gonna ask me about you?" Natasha scoffed. Maggie and Yelena turned to look at them.
"What is with this tension? Did I do something wrong?" Alexei said.
"Is that a serious question?" Yelena frowned.
"I only ever loved you girls. I did my best to make sure you would succeed to achieve your fullest potential, and everything worked out," Alexei said firmly.
"Everything worked out?" Natasha scoffed.
"Yes. For you, yes. We accomplished our mission in Ohio. Yelena, you went on to become the greatest child assassin the world has ever known. No one can match your efficiency, your ruthlessness. And Natasha, not just a spy, not just toppling regimes, destroying empires from within, but an Avenger. You have a daughter, so she will be just as powerful as you are. You both have killed so many people. Your ledgers must be dripping, just gushing red. I couldn't be more proud of you," Alexei took Natasha and Yelena's wrists, shaking them with a grin.
He pulled them into a hug and Natasha scoffed, wriggling free. She grabbed Maggie's hand and pulled her ahead.
"You okay?" Maggie mumbled.
"I hate family," Natasha muttered.
"Yeah, the feeling is mutual," Maggie sighed.
Yelena stepped beside them again.
"So, are we there yet?" she asked.
"You'll know when we're there," Alexei said, making pig noises.
"Wow. If I didn't know better, I'd think we had an actual pig in our midst," Maggie said sarcastically. Yelena and Natasha both bit back a smirk.
"Honey, we're home," Alexei smiled softly as he, Maggie, Natasha and Yelena stared at a woman with dark hair in front of them outside the farm in St. Petersburg.
The woman studied them, confusion in her eyes when she saw Maggie, but then turned and walked towards the house.
"Come on, girls," Alexei said, leading them forward. The three of them followed Alexei and Melina into the house.
"Welcome to my humble abode. Make yourself at home. Let's have a drink," Melina said.
"Maggie, go to the bathroom and wash that blood off from around your stitches, please. Carefully," Natasha said, following Melina down the hallway.
"Because I know where the bathroom is in this strange farm house I've never been in before," Maggie said sarcastically.
"C'mon," Yelena sighed, leading Maggie down the hallway until they found the bathroom.
Maggie sat up on the bathroom counter at Yelena's nod and Yelena wet a flannel with warm water. She stepped to Maggie.
"It might sting," she said.
Maggie nodded.
"I know," she said.
Yelena carefully wiped the dried blood off her face, Maggie watching her closely as she did.
"I missed you," Maggie said quietly. Yelena's hand stopped moving and she looked up at Maggie.
"You missed me?" Yelena said.
"A lot. You were the closest thing I had to family in the Red Room. When Nat said you were her sister and we were coming here, I got excited to see you, even though the reason is bad. I'm glad you made it out of there. Really," Maggie said honestly.
Yelena stared at her for a few seconds before pulling Maggie into a hug and kissing her cheek.
"You were my lifeline in there. You really were, Magdalena," Yelena mumbled.
"I'm sorry I left," Maggie said.
"Don't be sorry. You got out. Maybe it wasn't to the best place, but you got out of there and found Natasha. And she seems to really care about you and you look taken care of," Yelena said, pulling back to resume wiping Maggie's face clean.
"She does care, so much. I probably would've killed myself by now if Nat didn't meet me when she did. And I didn't make it easy on her. I still don't," Maggie smiled slightly. "But she didn't give up on me and she helps me be a better person every day. I know she's acting like a bitch right now, but give her a chance to fix this. She just doesn't handle her own feelings well," Maggie said.
"I know," Yelena sighed, throwing the flannel into the sink. "You're cleaned up enough for Natasha's standards, so let's go and get drunk," she said.
Maggie slid off the counter with a grin.
"Sounds like a plan, Lena," she said.
Maggie hid her face in her hands as she, Natasha, Yelena and Melina were forced to listen to Alexei grunting in the bathroom.
"Let's drink," Melina cleared her throat. She poured three shots before looking at Maggie. "I don't know who the child is or if she's old enough," she said.
"She's not. Pour her one anyway," Natasha sighed. Melina did and the four of them took their shots. "This is my daughter, Magdalena. I adopted her four years ago, nearly," Natasha said.
Someone cleared their throat and Maggie looked up. Alexei was stood in the doorway of the bathroom in the Red Guardian suit.
"Still fits," he said. Melina whistled and Maggie groaned.
"Oh, my god," Yelena turned back to look at Maggie and Natasha. Melina laughed as Alexei walked over.
"I never washed it once," Melina said. "Come and drink," she added, pouring more shots.
"Rise, you workers of salvation," Alexei sang, sitting at the head of the table. "Family back together again," he hummed. "And now we have a granddaughter! Little Natasha has gifted us with a granddaughter," Alexei said.
Maggie rubbed her face to hide the flush in her cheeks. She had never been anybody's granddaughter, considering both her parents had been orphans when she was born, but thinking of Alexei and Melina as her grandparents was really weird.
"Mmm. Seeing as our family construct was just a calculated ruse that only lasted three years, I don't think that we can use this term anymore, can we?" Melina said.
"Agreed. So, here's what's gonna happen-" Natasha started.
"Okay. A reunion then, huh? And, uh... I want to say something right off the bat. You haven't aged a day, huh? You're just as beautiful and as supple as the day they staged our marriage," Alexei smiled at Melina.
"Oh my god," Maggie mumbled.
"You got fat. But still good," Melina said. Alexei chuckled.
"I just got out of prison. I, uh... I have a lot of energy," Alexei said.
"Oh!" Melina smirked.
"Please don't do that," Yelena mumbled.
"No, thank you," Maggie whispered.
"So, here's what's gonna happen," Natasha tried again.
"Natasha, don't slouch," Melina interrupted her.
"I'm not slouching," Natasha frowned.
"Yes, yes, you are," Melina said.
"I don't slouch," Natasha frowned.
"You're going to get a back hunch," Melina made a hunch in her back.
"Listen to your mother," Alexei said.
"Oh, my God, this-" Natasha tried.
"Up, up," Melina motioned for Natasha to sit up.
"All right, enough. All of you," Natasha snapped loudly.
"I didn't say anything. Neither did Maggie. That's not fair," Yelena frowned.
"Here's what's gonna happen-" Natasha tried again.
"I don't want any food," Yelena bat Melina's hands away as she tried to put potato salad on Yelena's plate.
"Eat a little something, Yelena, for God's sake," Melina snapped. "You, too, Magdalena. You're tiny. You'll blow over with a strong wind. Natasha, why do you not feed your daughter?" she said. She leaned over the table and started piling food onto Maggie's plate. Maggie looked at Natasha for help.
"You're gonna tell us the location of the Red Room," Natasha snapped. Melina inhaled sharply.
"You know, it's like when you told them that they could stay up late to catch Santa Claus," Melina snapped at Alexei.
"What? That was fun. You know, he come down the chimney, girls. Look out. Where is he? You wait for him, and then when the cookies are gone, then you see he's there," Alexei chuckled.
"No, no," Melina shook her head.
"What? I want them to follow their dreams," Alexei scoffed.
"No good," Melina said.
"Reach for the stars, girls. That's a good mentality to have, Magdalena," Alexei said.
"Finding Dreykov is not a fantasy. It's unfinished business," Natasha said.
"You can't defeat a man who commands the very will of others. You never saw the culmination of what we started in America. Nor did you," Melina looked pointedly between Natasha and Alexei.
"Natasha, always focus, focus. Get what you want," Alexei said. Melina grabbed a tablet and pressed a button.
"Come in," she called.
A pig snorted and opened the door, walking into the room. Maggie raised an eyebrow.
"Did that pig just open the door?" Natasha asked.
"Yes. It did. Good boy, Alexei. Good boy," Melina said, feeding the pig a sausage.
"Cannibalism. As you do," Maggie mumbled.
"No, you don't?" Yelena frowned slightly.
"You named a pig after me?" Alexei smirked.
"You don't see the resemblance? See, he sits just like dog. Amazing. Now, watch," Melina said.
"It's a little weird, to me," Alexei muttered.
"Stop breathing," Melina told the pig.
The pig grunted, it's heavy breathing sounds falling silent.
"We infiltrated the North Institute in Ohio. It was a front for SHIELD scientists. Actually, it was Hydra scientists at that time. In conjunction with the Winter Soldier project, with the MSS project coming years after, they had dissected and deconstructed the human brain to create the first and only cellular blueprint of the basal ganglia. Was the hub for cognition. Voluntary motor movement, procedural learning. We didn't steal weaponry or technology. We stole the key to unlocking free will," Melina explained.
Maggie felt her stomach sink. MSS project. Magdalena Stefania Sokolov project. She had been the first test subject for giving somebody superhuman abilities that weren't like the ones provided in the super soldier serum and she was the only reason the Red Room knew about that kind of experimentation.
She looked up and saw Yelena and Natasha were looking at each other. Yelena's eyes were filled with tears. Her own mother had been a part of the chemical subjugation she was subjected to. Natasha looked from Yelena to Maggie.
This was turning into a disastrous family reunion.
The pig grunted in pain.
"What are you doing?" Natasha said.
"Oh, I am explaining that the science is now so exact, the subject can be instructed to stop breathing and has no choice but to obey," Melina scoffed.
"Okay, you made your point. That's enough," Natasha said quickly.
"Yes, all right. Well, don't worry, Alexei could've survived 11 more seconds without oxygen," Melina rolled her eyes and turned the control off on the tablet. Alexei got to his feet, breathing again. "Good boy. Now, you go back, back home where it's safe. You go. You go back home, back home where it's safe. Good boy, Alexei," she said.
Alexei trotted out of the room.
"The world functions on a higher level when it is controlled. Dreykov has chemically subjugated agents planted around the globe," Melina said.
"And do you know who they test it on?" Yelena asked.
"Hmm... No. That's not my department," Melina said.
"Ah, come on, come on. Don't lie to them. Hmm?" Alexei said.
"I'm not lying," Melina said.
"You're Dreykov's architect, huh?" Alexei said.
"What were you? If I was his architect, you were his partner. You were his business partner," Melina scoffed.
"No, no, no. I was patsy!" Alexei banged on the table, making Maggie jump in surprise.
"Don't give me that-" Melina said.
"He sell me ideology-"
"Stop with the politics-"
"All the while, bigger-"
"Shut up!" Natasha yelled. They both fell silent. "You are an idiot," Natasha glared at Alexei before turning to Melina. "And you're a coward. You're a coward. And our family was never real, so there's nothing to hold on to. We're moving on," she said.
"Never family, huh? In my heart, I am simple man. And I think that for a couple deep undercover Russian agents I think we did pretty great as parents, huh?" Alexei scoffed.
"Yes, we had our orders, and we played our roles to perfection," Melina said.
"Who cares? That wasn't real," Natasha snapped.
"What?" Yelena's voice cracked. Maggie looked at her and felt her heart drop. Yelena was going to break down.
"That wasn't real. Who cares?" Natasha said again.
"Don't say that," Yelena shook her head, not letting the tears fall. "Please don't say that. It was real. It was real to me. You are my mother. You were my real mother. The closest thing I ever had to one. The best part of my life was fake," she said, exhaling deeply, "And none of you told me," she said.
She banged the table softly.
"And those agents you chemically subjugated around the globe?" she looked at Melina. "That was me. Mmm. And the MSS project?" she said. Yelena pointed at Maggie. "That was her. Magdalena Stefania Sokolov. Your granddaughter was the baseline for your experiments on your daughter," Yelena snapped.
Maggie pulled her knees up to her chest, the sleeves of Wanda's jacket clenched tightly in her fists. Yelena turned to Natasha, who was holding onto Maggie's fist tightly.
"And you, you got out. Dreykov made sure no one could escape. Are you gonna say anything?" Yelena said. Natasha didn't say anything and Yelena stood up. "No," she muttered. Melina reached to grab her but Yelena stepped out of her way. "Don't touch me," she said.
"Yelena," Natasha tried.
"No," Yelena grabbed the vodka and stormed towards the bedroom.
"I had no idea," Melina whispered.
"It's okay, it's okay. I'll go talk to her," Alexei stood up and walked down the hallway.
"Do you know Dimitri Sokolov?" Maggie asked Melina.
"I do," Melina said, voice quiet.
"Is he at the Red Room?" she said.
"He has been for two years," Melina said. Maggie's jaw clenched.
"Mags," Natasha turned to Maggie. Maggie stood up, tucking her chair under the table.
"I, uh, need some fresh air, or I'm gonna do something I really don't want to do," she mumbled.
She hurried out of the front door and sank down on the grass underneath a tree. She put her face in her hands, forcing herself to take a few deep breaths.
"Magdalena?" Wanda's voice chimed in her head and Maggie sighed in relief.
"Hi."
"How are you holding up, sweetheart?"
"I miss you. I really really miss you."
"I miss you more. I promise, we'll be together again soon. When you've taken down the Red Room, we'll go on an adventure. Just me and you. Or Natasha and Yelena can tag along, too, if you want."
"No. Just me and you for once. It'll be nice."
"Are you going to do it?" Wanda's voice was quieter, now.
"Kill my dad?"
"Yes."
"I have to."
"I know. I hope you do it."
"Me, too."
"I know it's not my place but I wanted to check in on Johann and Katerina for you and give you an update faster than Stark can."
"Are they alive?" Maggie asked curiously.
"And safe. Johann is worried about you because you're on the run with Natasha. So is Claudia, but she isn't as worried as he is. Johann told Andreas a story about you guys when you were all kids. You were two and you let them cut your hair all wonky."
"I remember the photos of that. Alexandra was so pissed at them. Katerina?"
"She's okay. She dropped out of college after a few weeks. She's depressed, too, but Johann and Claudia are helping her. Andreas helps, too. She'll be okay soon, I think."
"Okay."
"Are you okay?" Wanda said softly.
"I'm talking to you. Of course I'm okay." Maggie smiled, fiddling with the red woolen bracelet around her wrist. They'd both come so far since fighting Ultron and they'd done it together.
There was a sharp pain in Maggie's shoulder and she gasped, looking down to see a tranquillizer dart in her skin. She stumbled to her feet, banging on the window.
"They're here for us!" she yelled.
The floor was swaying beneath her feet and her eyes were getting heavier and heavier. Maggie collapsed right into the arms of two Red Room agents, who moved her to the jet while they got the other four out of the house.
Maggie woke up in a lab. She was strapped to a table but she was alone in the room. She frowned and looked around, catching sight of herself in the mirror.
Her hair was greasy and scraped into a ponytail, a large red spot towards the front where her cut was. Her face was dirty, too, and the stitches through her lips had broken. Dried blood stained her chin and her cheek.
"Maggie?!" Yelena yelled down the hallway. "Maggie, where are you?!"
"Yelena?" Maggie said, voice cracking. "Yelena?!" she called louder.
The door was kicked open and Yelena smiled at Maggie.
"You look like shit," she said.
"Yeah, I know. Help me out of this. What the fuck is going on?" Maggie asked.
"So, Natasha and Melina are doing a face swap thing so Natasha is interrogating Dreykov. Melina is going to cut the engines so we can land. Alexei is in a jail cell and we are going to get the Widows, after we find the antidote," Yelena said.
She cut the bindings on Maggie's body and helped her to her feet.
"Your face looks sore," she said.
"I've had worse," Maggie shrugged.
"We have to move, alright?" Yelena said.
"Yeah," Maggie nodded.
The two of them left the room and hurried down the hallway to try and find the antidote.
"Here!" Maggie yanked open a fridge and handed Yelena the vials.
"Melina, Maggie and I found the location of the vials," Yelena said into her comms.
"I've had a slight setback. You'll need to get to the Widows," Melina said, loud enough for Maggie to hear.
"Setback?" Maggie said.
"Dreykov stopped the engine landing protocol. I'll handle it. You two focus on the Widows," Melina said.
"This is the weirdest family holiday I've ever been on," Maggie looked at Yelena.
"Agreed," Yelena muttered, tugging Maggie towards the lab door so they could find the Widows.
"Yelena, slight change of plan. I completely demolished one of the engines and we are going into a controlled crash," Melina said over comms. Maggie stopped in her tracks, turning to look at Yelena with raised eyebrows.
"Fantastic. We're heading to the Widows now," Yelena said.
"This really is the weirdest holiday," Maggie muttered.
"I know," Yelena said.
They headed into the Widow's training room and saw it was empty. Maggie's skin crawled at the sight of the room, anyway. It wasn't the same room she'd trained in, but it was almost identical. This room had been part of her trauma.
"Fuck," Maggie muttered. They quickly grabbed the electrical batons left on the shelves and hurried from the room.
"Oh, Melina?" Yelena said.
"Yelena?" Melina said.
"Is Maggie's dad here?" Yelena asked.
"He is. I don't know where but he is here. Watch Maggie's back," Melina said.
Yelena and Maggie shared a look.
"If it comes to a fight with him, you have to stop the Widows. I can handle my father," Maggie said.
"I can't leave you. Natasha will kill me. I will kill me," Yelena said.
"He hasn't killed me, yet. He won't get a chance if I have any say. You have to go to the Widows if he comes," Maggie said.
"Not a chance, hey?" Dimitri's voice came from behind them.
Maggie felt like she had brain freeze. She turned slowly, seeing Dimitri stood behind them. Half of his face was caved in from their fight against HYDRA a few years back and he had clearly gotten reconstructive surgery to try and make it look better, though he just looked worse. He was holding a gun and had a lopsided smirk on his disfigured face.
"Third time is the charm, right?" Dimitri said.
"Mag-" Yelena started.
"Yelena, go," Maggie said lowly, swinging the batons in her hands.
"Mag-"
"Go!" Maggie said.
Yelena looked at her and Dimitri before nodding. She turned and hurried down the hallway with the vials.
"Maggie's with Dimitri. We have to hurry," Yelena's voice faded as she disappeared out of sight.
"I didn't think you and Dreykov were close," Maggie said.
"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Magdalena," Dimitri said.
"And there's a lot of things you don't know about me," Maggie said. "But I know the truth, now," she said.
"The truth?" Dimitri raised an eyebrow.
"How Alexandra abducted Johann and Katerina, how she dumped them as soon as you abducted me. How you abused us. How I was a target from the day that I was born because you had easy access to me and could experiment on me. How you helped make the groundwork for Dreykov's network of chemically controlled Widows. How you helped that doctor try and kill the Winter Soldier," Maggie said.
"You know more than I thought you did," Dimitri smiled proudly. "What else do you know?" he said.
"Nothing good," Maggie said.
"Did you ever find out about the others that I helped change?" Dimitri said.
"The Maximoff twins," Maggie said.
She felt a familiar buzz in her head that said Wanda was in her head and listening to what was going on.
"The Maximoff twins. You know them," Dimitri smiled.
"I do. Did you ever find out that Strucker was murdered in his cell by a robot Tony Stark created? That we took down HYDRA and got the scepter back? That we turned the twins against you and brought them into our family?" Maggie said.
"What do you know about family?" Dimitri scoffed. "All you remember is fake," he said.
"No," Maggie shook her head as she stepped closer. "I remember Johann and Katerina loving me, even though bastards like you and mom took them and abused them. I remember when mom was sober and she used to sing me lullabies. I remember escaping from you and finding a new family who took me in and made me feel like I wasn't the monster you tried to make me into," Maggie said.
"You're a weapon, Magdalena. A gun may disguise it's true nature but it's sole purpose, the reason it was created, it will always be to destroy what wrong lies in the path of righteousness," Dimitri said.
"I'm the wrong in your path, right?" Maggie smirked, spinning the batons in her hands again.
"You've always been the wrong in my path. The day you left me, the day you first tried to kill me, that was when you became the wrong. You're never going to see your family again, Magdalena. Do you not understand that?" Dimitri said.
Maggie swallowed roughly.
"You got this, sweetheart. I believe in you. I'm here if you need me."
Maggie lifted her head, setting her face into a cold expression she hadn't used in years. Dimitri's jaw clenched at how easily Maggie seemed to turn off her emotions.
"Well, papa," Maggie said, "I guess that, if I'm going to die tonight, you're gonna have to come with me. Together, right? That's what you used to say? We'll get through this together?" she said.
"That was a long time ago. You betrayed me. I'm going to make you pay for that," Dimitri said.
He fired the gun, the noise echoing around the hallway they were trapped in. Maggie easily sent the bullets upwards with her powers.
"You know what you used to say to me, too?" Maggie said.
"What?" Dimitri clenched his jaw.
"The pain only makes you stronger," Maggie said, stepping forward and swinging her baton at Dimitri.