Chapter 0138: Sustaining the Widows

As Alex was healing Yelena, Natasha got busy managing the personnel system of the previously called Red Room.

Within 24 hours of taking over the fortress, she had brought back all of the widows who were on missions outside the facility. Some of them had even been undercover for a decade or so, having infiltrated many influential positions in high society.

Unlike the ones who were inside the fortress, to most of the women who'd been undercover for decades, the answer was instant. They were more than willing to be freed from mind control and to go back to their 'normal lives'. They had essentially been freed from the control of the Red Room and couldn't wait to continue living their 'undercover lives'.

In the end, the final number of people Natasha had under her direct command was a bit under a hundred and fifty. That was including the initial hundred women that were already inside the base.

"What am I supposed to do with you two?" Natasha looked at Melina and Alexi who were currently imprisoned in one of the cells.

"What happened to Dreykov?" Melina asked.

"I'm not surprised that that's your first question," Natasha scoffed, "Dead. I'm going to be taking over this place from now on. Voluntary widows can become extended members of the Avengers."

"I'm so proud of you, Natasha!" Alexi boomed out in the usual proud fatherly tone that he always used with Natasha and Yelena.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Save the bit. I'm not interested. Stay there for a while until I decide what to do with you."

She turned around and was walking away when the sound of an airlock opening was heard, "You always were too quick to get overconfident, Natasha." With those words, Melina's kick connected with Natasha's back.

Unlike what should've happened, Natasha didn't even budge from her position, "Am I?" She asked with a smile that had hints of smugness as she turned to look at Melina who barely landed on her feet.

Before the older widow could say anything, Natasha threw her back in her cell and closed the door, "You may have worked in the creation of this fortress, Melina. But that's not enough in front of me."

The door closed again and Natasha walked away, [Try not to let the door open again…] She said to Alex.

[Of course. The only reason she was able to open the door in the first place was because I wanted you to knock her down a peg.] Alex didn't want to have an overconfident Melina on the loose inside his new toy fortress.

After Natasha went back to the control room, she sat in the main seat and contemplated, [How do I get the money to sustain this place? I doubt Russia is going to fund me like they did Dreykov.]

[Wakanda has enough money and resources to easily fund this fortress and make more if needed. On the other hand, you could talk to Stark and get him to fund you.] Alex suggested.

[Talking to Stark means signing the Sokovia Accords. Not just me, but every one of the widows would have to do that.] She told him.

[Or you could use the immense resources at your disposal, i.e. your new group of superpowered spies and get them to strong-arm the American government into making the Avengers a private organization again.] He said.

[It hasn't even been 4 months since the accords were approved. They can't just apply to revert a bill that the UN passed without a valid reason or at least a year of buffer time.] Natasha said.

[Then get the President to create a new Shield and to call it Avengers. If the Avengers are a government organization, but completely under your control, then everything is solved.] Alex said.

[You would do amazing as a dictator…] Natasha complimented Alex, 'I already am…' He thought to himself.

[Probably.] Alex shrugged her question off, [So what are you going to do?] He asked her.

[I'll contact Steve first… I need get another opinion.] Nat decided.

…

"Nice place you've got here…" Steve said as he got out of the jet. Bucky was off doing his own thing so it was just Steve here.

"Costs a shit-ton of money though." She told him as she greeted him with a light hug.

"Money that you don't have," Steve responded, understanding her problem.

"Yep," Nat agreed, "I never thought that I would have both personnel and a nice base, but no sanctioned organization to identify myself with." She sounded a little bitter.

"It's better this way." Steve told her, "How'd you even get this place?"

"The Red Room…" Natasha told him as she turned on her heel and started walking to the hangar's exit.

Steve's expression changed as he asked, "Didn't you take care of everything that had to do with the Red Room?" He knew almost all of Shield's information, especially important mission information about his team members, which included Natasha's past.

"I thought I did… Dreykov isn't dead… Neither is his daughter, apparently…" She said.

"Well, that's good, I guess." Steve said, "It means you didn't kill a child."

"Ever the positive outlook on things…" Natasha smiled, "I pulled that trigger. I intended to kill her. End of story." She had a tone of finality.

Steve went silent at her words before changing the subject, "So why'd you call me here?"

"I have a hundred and fifty trained top-of-the-line super assassins working for me and nothing for them to do. Nor do I have any funding to sustain them." She said.

"You could talk to Stark," Steve told her. Nat didn't miss the subtle undertone of bitterness in his voice, but didn't mention it, "He was the one who funded us back then. I'm sure that he would love to fund the second coming of Shield. Or you could talk to the actual remnants of Shield…"

Nat laughed with amusement, "Yeah. I'm sure Coulson's team would love to have a hundred and fifty more ex-Widows to work for them."

"That's sarcasm," Steve noted with a weirdly proud tone.

"Yes, that's sarcasm." Nat shook her head, "Now give me more ideas…"

"You could defect to Russia. I'm sure they would love to give you Dreykov's position. They were the ones who funded the creation of this fortress in the first place, right?" He laughed.

"Wouldn't that be fun… So Stark's the only option?" She asked.

"Yeah. Or bounty hunting, I guess… But that's not a sustainable model. When T'Challa was still there he…" Steve trailed off, still not having gotten over the loss of his Wakandan friend.

[So Wakanda's the best option, huh…] Nat said to Alex.

[Told you.] He shrugged. Nat was internally resistant to depending on Alex for everything. She didn't have to talk to Steve about this and could directly move the fortress to Wakandan airspace. Her current actions were all because she didn't really want to go to Wakanda, which would essentially be the most convenient and easy country to be in. But she didn't want to do that.

Nat and Steve spent an hour or so brainstorming ideas for funding sources but they kept coming back to relying on Tony. If Natasha wanted to publicize her new organization as the Avengers, Tony's presence was extremely important. Neither Natasha nor Steve could be the face of this organization since they were still wanted.

After making a rough plan, Steve got back on the jet that he'd 'procured' from one of Shield's old stashes and left the fortress. He had some things to get done.

When — if — Natasha got her new organization legitimized, Steve and the other 'decommissioned' Avengers would be able to work as unofficial operatives under the guise of that new organization. It would make life much easier for them.

As Nat looked at Steve's departing jet while the hatch slowly closed, she sighed, "I have to talk to Tony…" She felt that it was such a troublesome situation.

…

"Well, this is a surprise…" Tony said with surprise evident in his tone as he saw Natasha sitting on his couch. He was staying at a penthouse apartment in New York for the week, and he'd kept his current whereabouts pretty discrete, so his surprise wasn't unjustified, 'Then again, it's Natasha…' He thought as he changed his destination to the bar.

"How are you, Tony?" Natasha asked him with a subtle smile.

"What would you like?" He asked as he poured himself a glass of whiskey.

"My usual," Nat told him as she stood up and walked to the other side of the bar as Tony poured some clear liquid from a bottle.

"Vodka, neat. What's going on?" He asked while sliding her the drink.

"Straight to business, I see…" She smiled, "I want back in." She told him.

"Great. Sign the accords, you're reinstated." Tony shrugged.

"You know that I'm not going to do that." Nat looked dead into Tony's eyes.

"I know. So why are you here?" He asked her, "There's not much I can do aside from that."

Nat stayed silent for a few seconds before saying, "I have a group of women who don't know what to do in their lives. Over a hundred trained widows who have graduated from Dreykov's Red Room."

"So, a hundred copies of Agent Romanov?" He said insensitively. He was still a little bitter about Nat playing for both sides during his fight against Steve's team at the airport in Germany.

"Pretty much." Nat nodded with an uncaring shrug, "But with one key difference."

"What's that?" He asked.

"I'm an Avenger." She said with mock dramatics and Tony smiled with amusement.

"So you want to bring about a second coming of Shield?" He asked her, "As fun as bantering is, I would rather get to business, I have a date with Pepper in…" He looked at the clock, "…about 5 minutes."

Nat shook her head and downed the glass of vodka before saying, "I'll get the necessary sanctions from the government, but I need your money. The new 'Shield' will be a private organization. I'm not putting those tragic women in the hands of the government."

"So… What the Avengers were before Steve wrecked everything?" Tony asked her.

Nat smiled at him, "Pretty much. We can even name the new organization the New Avengers if you want."

***

If you want to support me, check out my Patréon.

I post 20 advanced chapters of the book on my Patrèon. Check it out!

I also do weekly polls there to decide which story I will be posting for the following week.

www.patrèon.com/addyctive

(Replace the è with e)