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L O N D O N
united kingdom
June|2016
The lights activated as Marc walked down the hallway of the storage warehouse.
He came to his unit, using his key to unlock it, letting a loud screech echo throughout the corridors as the door opened.
Thankfully his alter, Steven Grant, went back to his flat after getting a new job at the gift shop at the British Museum. It wasn't being a tour guide, but it would keep the guy occupied while Marc focused on his missions from Khonshu. It would keep Steven focused on his daily life and not suspect he shares a body with a mercenary.
He didn't realize how loud he was until he saw her eyes fixed on him, startling her awake. She glared before struggling to get up with her bound hands but she still managed to sit up on the cot. Her expression melted from shock to judgment, scanning him up and down.
"You're late. You'd say you'd be back in the morning. It's the afternoon." Alex said with her eyebrow raised.
Marc rolled his eyes as he shut the door behind him. "I'm here aren't I?" He huffed as he shuffled over to tower over her with hands on his hips.
"And I'm still trapped in these." She replied with her usual sarcastic tone, raising the cuffs around her wrists.
He ignored her comment as usual, gesturing her to scoot so he could sit down. "Move over, please."
Alex didn't budge. She kept her stare on him as if she was trying to slice his throat with them. "Why? You seem comfortable standing."
"Just move over!"
"Make me."
Triggering his blood to boil and his nostrils to flare, leading to a drastic shake of his head in frustration, he grabbed a box instead and moved it in front of her.
"Does you're boss purposely make you girls act like 5-year-olds?" He asked.
Alex frowned at the comeback but she was much more clever. "Nah, those are whiny victims, like you."
Marc clenched his jaw as he was about to scold her with his finger, ready to flame her more. But then she laughed.
"That's enough," Marc said before clicking his tongue. "Now, I need to ask you something."
Alex shot him a look of annoyance. "For the last time Marc Spector, I'm not telling you the name of my boss."
"But they can't hear you!" Marc threw his hands in the air, the disease of irritation continuing to grow with every word that left Alex's mouth.
"Yeah, but I'm sure they will find out who told you when you break into the Red Room, genius." Alex spat back in his face.
"Okay fine, you don't have to tell me." He said, lowering his voice but keeping it firm. "Where is my bag then?"
"Your bag?" Alex stated.
"Oh don't play coy! You know what I'm talking about! My bag! The one you stole from me!" He raised his tone again, running out of patience with this situation.
"Ohhhh, you mean the bag with a ton of Egyptian money? Yeah, I know where that is." Alex shrugged her shoulders with a smirk.
Marc leaned forward and furrowed his dark eyebrows. "You better return it you b-"
"That would explain your mummy costume then and your phone case," Alex added to her comment ignoring how pissed Marc was.
"It's not a costume, it's a suit!"
"Super-suit, costume, same thing." Alex rolled her eyes. "Ooooo! I wonder how much all of that money costs," Alex interrupted, taunting Marc, enjoying the power she had to irritate him. "I'm sure Dreykov would love to have his hands on it, maybe he'll take over Egypt next and -"
Dead silence fell on them as Alex bit her lip with shock in her eyes. Marc pushed the situation about his bag off to the side for a moment, realizing what she just slipped out.
"Dreykov?"He repeated the name quietly.
If he remembered correctly, the famous Black Widow, the one who worked as an Avenger, killed him. At least that was the information Khonshu gave him on the terrorist.
"I thought he was dead." Marc said as he put a hand over his mouth, lingering as he tried to find a solution. According to Khonshu, Dreykov went down in the explosion of a five-story building in Budapest. At least, whoever Khonshu's Avatar was at the time was suppose to bring justice to that man. That was until two S.H.I.E.l.D agents, now Avengers, gut the headlines of taking him out before Dreykov could ever face the fist of vengeance.
Marc thought the Red Room was operating with a new person at the head. But it was Dreykov all this time. He somehow survived the blow in the fire. Now it all made sense of why it was still operating.
Alex closed her eyes in regret with a sigh. "You weren't suppose to know that."
Her response alone was enough to convince him. A horrifying truth confirmed.
Dreykov was never dead.
Empathy, once again, winning out his frustration. Destroying the temptation to stab her with a moon dart. Marc couldn't imagine having to face a man so awful and traumatizing. Equivalent of facing her and the dreadful pain everyday if he hadn't left. A place he never wanted to go back to.
Marc then leaned forward. "Hey,"
Her eyes shot back open as she glared at him with fire ready to strike him down in violent rage. He bit his lip as if to choose his words carefully.
"Now that you told me who it is, I'll make sure he will never know that you did." Marc then dug in the pocket of his pants, pulling out a small key as Alex watched him puzzled.
"Marc, don't you dare."
Ignoring his master, who was towering over him at the moment, Marc held up the key to release the cuffs. Taking her silence as a signal to clarify his intentions.
"You all deserve to be free. Not used."
Alex studied his face for a moment and Marc waited. The tracker was gone, but she was still chemically subjugated from Dreykov. Taking this risk, hoping to persuade her.
"How about we make a deal?" Marc started his proposition as her eyebrow raised in interest. "If you stop trying to kill me, I won't kill you."
"Marc!"
A hint of pride sparked inside his chest as he rebelled against the old skeleton bird. It would mean getting completely lectured and a higher demand as an Avatar for a couple more years, but if it could save someone from facing hell, then it could be worth it.
Alex kept staring at Marc like he was the most insane person she had met on the planet. "Explain with your brain Marc Spector. Everything you just said made zero sense." She finally broke silence shaking her head.
"First of all, quit using my full name like that-"
"Why not?"
Biting his tongue from snapping back. This is what I get for trying to be reasonable? Marc thought to himself.
"Marc, you are making a giant mistake. Set her free and she's going to take advantage of you. She'll-"
"Second," Marc cutting Khonshu off, not amused from having to deal with two nagging voices in this moment. Just wanting to get his point across without the bird's complaint or Alex's commentary.
"If I let you go, you can keep doing whatever you do. In return, I will stay hidden from your boss so he will never find out you told me about him. But, you try to kill me again, I'll make sure Dreykov knows exactly who told me." He explained, glued his eyes on hers, holding her captive. Establishing that this wasn't a joke. He would summon the suit the moment she attacked him. Holding up the key again as he leaned closer to be face to face.
"Do we have a deal, agent Balandin?"
Unexpectedly, she came closer too, as if they were magnets, the distance between them smaller. With the tilt of her head, her eyes analyzing his idea. He didn't know if there was a trick up her sleeve or not.
"Deal." Alex said quietly with a smirk.
-|-
The sun peaked through the cloudy sky, shining down on the streets of London after a full downpour. People going about their busy lives, not know two assassins were right under their noses. She took in the city, watching red double decker's pass by and hearing British accents from almost every person on the sidewalk. But not saying a single word to her culprit since he took off her cuffs.
"So this is where you live Marc Spector?" Alex asked as she scaled with her eyes the doric columns in front of an old bank. "Seems unlikely for a vigilante like yourself, but-"
The moment she turned her head, Marc Spector was gone. Disappeared and out of sight. Just like what happened at the restaurant a few days prior.
It didn't matter to her that he left. Now she can focus on her next task.
Go and find Yelena Belova.
And eliminate her.
B U D A P E S T
hungray
June|2016
Aiming her gun at the apartment window, Alex was positioned on the opposite roof of Ingrid. The latest was that Oksana was dead, but freed Belova in the process.
"I've spotted Belova." Ingrid spoke in Russian, into the comm.
"Copy that." Alex replied into her achieved earpiece, looking inside the scope, waiting for Yelena to be on target. Until a flash of red hair made her pause. Hair that was tucked into a braid that had to be the Red Rooms biggest threat and enemy.
"Natasha Romanoff is in there with her." Ingrid confirmed.
Alex felt a slight intimidation from the traitor. Unlike any other Widow, she experienced fighting aliens, robots and who knows what or who else. She was not a force to be reckoned with.
"Dropping in now." Another Widow informed through the comm.
Moments later, two Widow's crashed into the building from the roof. Dust rising everywhere and red lasers on from their gun ready to strike any sign of movement.
Alex remained at her spot, seeing the blonde and redhead running inside the broken windows in the hallway.
"They are going to the east roof, Ingrid." Alex stated in Russian as she kept her aim on the victims like a hawk or an eagle.
"Copy. In pursuit." Ingrid replied as she leave her post, chasing the traitors.
"I'll meet them at ground level, you go up high." Alex added as she set her machine gun down and used her grappling hook to make her way down to the concrete road.
After running down a block or two, Alex found Yelena and her sister, now hanging on a pipe with a large radius. Ingrid jumping on before it fell to far, Natasha grabbing her arm for dear life. But the Widow used her knife to cut her hand, causing Natasha to let go as Ingrid dropped to the ground in a large pool of water.
Alex pulled the trigger but Natasha jumped onto a lower roof, hiding behind a taller building as she climbed down to the ground. Yelena on the other hand, fell inside an open roof of a small building.
This was her chance. Alex could darken her ledger and redeem herself so that Dreykov won't ever threaten her life again.
Alex made her way inside, pointing her gun towards the pile of crumbled walls and broken wood. Right when she got close enough, a shuffle of movement under a plank, revealed a hand grabbing onto a beam with the intention to escape.
Alex aimed at the emerging figure, pulling the trigger, missing as Yelena dodged behind the rebel.
Before she could stick a bullet in her contenders head, Alex felt a substance in her eyes, like dust. After blinking and wiping her eyes, seeing powdery-red on her fingers.
Her vision blurred like her head was underwater. Her mind fuzzy, as flashes of memory crowded inside as if they were walking on around each other on a busy street. The raging fire in her blood, dispersing.
After blinking rapidly and wiping her eyes, Alex looked around her. Finding a gun in her hand and standing inside of a building. Her grip loosened as felt a minor ache pinch inside her head, her palm clasping her skull. A war rioting in her thoughts that battled for dominance. Some, were commands that restricted any rebellious actions. She shut her eyes and shook her head as if to stop the contention consuming her mind.
Then, as if clouds parted, Alex thoughts for the first time, were clear.
They were hers.
The muscles in her body seem to relax as she took a deep breathe. She remained still, afraid to move in fear of being eliminated. He had to have known she was no longer in his control.
"Alexandra?"
Alex redirected her weapon at a familiar voice, worried Dreykov had sent another Widow to assassinate her for good now that she had failed twice.
She found her victim, Yelena Belova, backing away with heavy quick breathes leaving her lungs and her hands up in defense. "Whoa, calm down! I just used the synthetic gas on you. You're okay Alexandra. He's no longer yours. Your free."
As if the world around her stopped, Alex froze hearing that four letter word. Her heart yearning to hear that relief for years.
"I'm what?" Alex said under a breath in unbelief, her eye beginning to sting, lowering the gun.
Yelena approached her slowly and grabbed the comm out of her ear. Tossing it aside, disappearing under the broken piles of wood and concrete walls.
"You're free Alexandra Balandin." The younger Widow place her hand on Alex's arm.
Terrors of being strapped to a bed or going through torture like an animal washed away. More comforting, she didn't have to be afraid of him.
For the first time in her life, sliding down her cheeks were real tears.
"I-I. I'm free." She said again as confirmation for herself.
Not used.
"I know." Yelena smiled before she tugged her arm. "It's going to be confusing for you the next day or two, but we have to go now."
Alex nodded, wiping her wet tears mixed with red ashes as she followed Yelena, as the two of them dashed to a pool of gutter water from pipes.
A gasp escaped her mouth, finding a lifeless corpse, bleeding into the water.
Ingrid.
Someone Alex had grown up with. It was nowhere near a perfect childhood in the Red Room, but any interaction with another Widow was the closest connection she had. The dark reality that Dreykov never cared about any of them became more real than she already witnessed. Alex was a favorite, but even then, she wouldn't last long if she didn't satisfy him.
It haunted her more that she could've ended up in Ingrid's position a few days ago if it weren't for Marc Spector. Hatred inside her seemed to decline with sliver of gratitude increasing.
"Do you believe me now?" Yelena asked.
Alex was too busy concentrating on the fallen Widow, she failed to noticed Yelena's famously known older sister.
Natasha Romanoff.
"How many others?"
Alex stood there, not knowing what to say as Natasha made eye contact with her. Both remained quiet and didn't know what to say. The older women seemed to notice Alex wasn't a threat, only another victim of Dreykov.
Yelena, holding the other viles filled with red chemicals, putting them back in her bag as she stepped away, responding with one word. "Enough."
Alex and Natasha shared another glance before following Yelena.
"Ugh! Where are my keys!?" Yelena shouted as she checked her pockets, three of the coming to a line of motorbikes. Natasha threw them up in the air and caught them.
"Suka." Yelena cursed at her sister as they hopped on the bike.
The only problem, the vehicle had no room for a third person.
Alex looked at them with determination. "You two go!"
Natasha shook her head. "What? We aren't leaving you here!"
Alex tilted her head, not expecting the Avenger to care so deeply about her when they barely just met.
Before either could say another word, a giant tank of some sort crashed into the alley way.
"Go! I'll catch up to you two!" Alex assured before dashing away.
Yelena smacked Natasha's shoulder. "Just drive already!" Pressured by her sister and the monster vehicle, Natasha stepped on the gas.
Alex ran down a few blocks, out into the street, almost getting hit by a man inside of a navy blue car.
Perfect.
The sound of another bike caught her attention as it was another Widow on the hunt as well.
Without a second to waste, Alex ran around to the drivers side, pointing her gun at him as he stepped out of the car with his hands up, thanking him in Russian as she snuck in behind the wheel. She drove around the city trying to find the two sisters, breaking every street law without a care. Passing by several types of cars including a long white limousine that cut her off.
She rolled down her window and stuck a finger at the driver, flipping him off. "Watch it!" Alex snapped.
The tinted windows made it hard to see the driver, something about the figure of his face seemed similar. Yet, she had to keep on driving to really notice him.
Pushing the thought aside she, happened to loose the Widow, but found a crashed motorcycle with two women rolling onto the ground. Alex stopped right in front of them and opened the door.
"Hop in!" She yelled as she moved to the backseat. Yelena climbed into shotgun and Natasha took over the wheel.
"You can't just steal someone's car!" She scorned as she turned over her shoulder at Alex.
Yelena snickered. "So you want her to chase them down an un-steal it?"
"I'll ask next time sorry." Alex chimed into the bickering with an eyeroll, not knowing how bossy the redhead would actually be.
An annoyed groan, came from Yelena. "Anytime now-"
"Shut up!" Natasha shouted back at her little sister as she stepped on the gas.
The Widow caught up and was right on their tail as the went through the streets of Budapest. Going down a right turn, Natasha continued to drive in hopes to loose her.
Alex started to doubt the Avengers' intellect, even more so when the the back window shattered into pieces. Both her and Yelena covered their eyes to avoid being cut by the glass.
"Okay, do you have a plan or should we just stay duck and cover?" Yelena asked.
"Yeah my plan was to drive us away!" Natasha said in her defense.
"It's a shit plan." Yelena criticized as she face forwards.
A scoffed came from Alex in the back seat. "You know for an Avenger, I thought you'd be more helpful."
Natasha shot a glare at the Widow, and Alex immediately regretted getting on her bad side, deciding to just keep her mouth shut until they were safe.
Yelena put her hand on the wheel and whipped the car in a 180 to face the Widow on the motorbike. She then opened her door that was ripped of by hitting a street sign, knocking the Widow off her vehicle. Natasha then corrected the direction of the car.
"Your welcome." Yelena said with a hint of pride.
Taking another turn to the right, and having a chance of escaping, the tank had crashed into the intersection into the cars behind them. With a figure revealing themselves on the top of the tank.
Taskmaster.
"Look who's back." Alex said as she glanced behind her before her and Yelena shared a look, bracing themselves for one hell of an escape as Natasha continued to drive recklessly.
The henchmen of Dreykov pulled out a bow and positioned an arrow.
"Both of you put your seat belts on!" Natasha snapped.
Yelena groaned as she obeyed. "You're such a Mom!"
Unlike Yelena, Alex knew that it was more than a bossy suggestion and that it shouldn't be taken lightly. Right as her seatbelt clicked, an explosion sent the car rolling forwards. Tumbling but stopping right before the subway entrance, with the car landing on it's side.
Feeling bruises on her arms and legs, Alex took off her seatbelt and kicked the door closest to her, wide open. Natasha seemed to get out in the same time, but Yelena was still struggling to climb out. The weight of the car made her exit smaller.
Without hesitating, Alex lifted the car with all of her strength. It wasn't much, but ir was enough as Natasha aided her sister out through the window. Setting the heavy load down after Yelena was out, Alex noticed drips of red dotting the ground.
"I'm bleeding." Yelena grunted as she stood up and tried to tie a cloth around her arm.
Natasha grabbed her arm. "No! Not now trust me!" She then shared a glance with Alex.
Alex nodded as she let Yelena hop onto her back, trying not to think of the blood that would be dripping down her back.
Natasha led them down the stairs into the subway station, running through a crowd of witnesses who had seen the crash in horror.
Just as they made it to the escalators, Taskmaster had followed them, throwing the shield right as the three women began to slid down the railing. Alex, picking up Yelena again as they reached the bottom.
"Where to?" She asked as Natasha beckoned her to follow.
There was a vent above that she pointed to and opened. The two of them worked together to get Yelena in first before they hoisted themselves up as well. Closing the entrance of a secret hideout. Alex watched as the henchman searched for them like a vulture.
Finally catching her breath, Alex processed everything that had happened within the past twenty minutes.
She not only broke her conneciton with Dreykov and the Red Room and ran for her life.
She was free.
_________________________________________
Hey Lovers!!
This part of the story is kind of slow, just because most of it is establishing Alex's character for future chapters.
Now, don't get sad, but we are moving towards Black Widow territory and probably won't see a ton of Marc (and the system) for a chapter or two. mostly because being a Widow is part of Alex's character. But Natasha and Yelena are here!!
Don't know if you caught that special cameo and mention of Steven at the beginning. That means even though the system won't be present or the main focus for a while, I might toss a reference in. So don't worry!
With the Black Widow movie, there were some inconsistent scenes and unrealistic moments that I'm planning to adjust.
(Ex. I had Natasha climb down the building instead of falling because she should be living from a fall like that. If she survived that in the film then she should've survived Vormir.)
I'm not going into the full BW movie plot, but just highlighting moments that are relevant to Alex's character. So I'll most likely skip breaking out Alexei and the family reunion.
Long rant/explanation over...
Please comment, share and vote!!
-marie xoxo