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Norman had teleported to New York because the injuries Yelena sustained were not something he could heal himself in any way. To his luck it seemed that his power did not affect or aggravate people's conditions.
Osborn had appeared at The Shelter and in a swift manner made his way to the medical wing they had in the building and relatively gently placed Yelena on one of the gurneys.
His vision went over the wounds she had, and he could tell he was slightly impressed, though not too surprised, a deep cut probably made by a combat knife stretched across a large portion of her right shoulder.
At the same time he could see the space where the other part of the arrow he had found earlier had hit her and finally a bullet wound in her stomach. And yet she still managed to evade two of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best agents for a while.
The door to the medical wing was quickly and loudly opened by Forge who had a weapon of his creation in his hands by way of caution, "Norman?" he asked in surprise at the sight of his boss when he definitely wasn't expecting that.
"Set up the medical team for the application of the second version of Extremis" were Norman's only words before he disappeared leaving a confused Forge alone who after a few seconds approached the unknown woman and began to do as ordered by Norman.
A small hint of respect formed in the man's eyes as he saw the state the woman was in, no doubt she had had a difficult night and surviving with her injuries was no easy task much less for a normal human.
It didn't take long to set up the support equipment the woman would need for the Extremis application, but he was wondering what had happened? Forge was aware of the incident that happened shortly after the Nobel Prize ceremony, but not having received an order from Norman he thought everything was resolved, but it seemed that was not the case.
His thoughts were put on the background when Norman reappeared with a device similar to an electronic syringe. "Are you sure about that?" the question from Forge was quick, "I don't think you've got it confirmed that she's compatible" he added.
Norman's movements didn't stop for a second, and he just walked over to the woman lying on the bed, "One chance" he told her, "Don't waste it" he continued as he injected Extremis into her body.
Forge only sighed at the actions of his boss, but at least in the worst-case scenario she would simply have an incompatible reaction to Extremis and because of that she would eventually die, but at least there would be no explosion, so they would only have to dispose of the body.
Both Norman and Forge could see how the woman's wounds began to heal at a speed that could be visible to the eyes.
What Norman used was a version of Extremis, but it had a big difference from the Extremis he had in his body. Since this version would not give any kind of increase in power and its only functionality was to heal the wounds either internal or external that a person might have.
One could say that this version of Extremis had a similar effect to the HP potions in video games. Even so, its regeneration factor was slower than the first version of Extremis, and it could not regenerate lost limbs.
It could be said that the version Norman used was the version he had planned to bring to market, although it was likely that he would have to talk to Maya to reduce the effects a bit more than they had planned, as it was still too powerful.
"So" Forge began to say, "Will you explain to me what happened?" he asked, as he really didn't understand anything that was going on.
…
When she opened her eyes she was in a place she was definitely not expecting, probably a well-lit medical room and her body connected to various medical equipment.
There was also a lack of security either from people or some other type of system that prevented at least one from visibly escaping. She could feel how the wounds on her body had simply disappeared as if by magic, and although she felt weak she could feel her strength being steadily regained.
Thinking logically she must have to be in a cell or at least an S.H.I.E.L.D. medical station, but she knew instinctively that she wasn't in any of them. She doubted they would treat her as well or even give her any treatment for her injuries.
Her thoughts were completely interrupted when a voice was heard next to her, "I see you have awakened" Yelena's gaze shifted to where the voice came from, a handsome man with black hair and green eyes was looking at her, however, she only sensed a much higher level of danger than even when she faced Romanoff.
Despite immediately recognizing who it was, she could not reassure her instincts. She tried to covertly search for something she could defend herself with or feel safer with, but her gaze could find nothing.
"You won't find anything you can use as a method to attack me, while I'm not afraid of you doing, so I prefer to talk to each other like a civilized adult" Norman mentioned to the woman.
The only response he received from her was a doubtful and distrustful look from the blonde, "How is it possible that I ended up in Norman Osborn's hands?" she asked trying to get information and test a little the waters she was in.
"Sometimes things never happen the way you think they will" was the answer Norman gave, "You of all people should know that by now" he added.
"Do you know who I am?" asked Yelena with a bit of surprise, the existence of the Red Room was an even better kept secret than S.H.I.EL.D. so for anyone to know was somewhat surprising to say the least.
"You're a ghost" he replied almost immediately, "An agent trained by the Red Room to be a perfect assassin, since you were little you were trained for that single purpose and now that you failed in your mission you were labeled as a simple failure" he continued explaining in a very general way, at the moment Forge was looking for information about the Red Room, but he had nothing concrete.
Besides, it was likely that Bucky had not been the trainer of the agents, since he never mentioned belonging to such an organization, although once he returned he would ask him to be sure.
"And now you are here, after almost being captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. you find yourself under my grasp" after a few seconds of silence Osborn told her.
Yelena remained silent, somewhat understanding the implied meaning of Osborn's words.
"So you want me to work for you?" she asked pointedly dropping any attempt to drag out the conversation as she could see Osborn preferred things this way.
"I certainly do otherwise I would have let you be captured" he answered her simply.
"And if I refuse?" she asked trying to tempt Osborn's boundaries, besides she really didn't want to have a collar around her neck so soon.
"Then it will be a shame and I will have to eliminate you after all it would cause me trouble and uncertainty to let you go" he told her truthfully and Yelena could feel the sensation of death running through her body.
"However I don't think you are in a position to refuse, your current situation prevents you from returning to Russia and by consequences to the Red Room, on the other hand S.H.I.E.L.D. will be looking for you constantly" Norman continued.
"On the other hand if you work for me then I will take care of providing you with a shelter and some freedom that I am sure the Red Room never gave you" after those words Norman remained silent.
"What kind of work?" questioned the woman seriously.
"Nothing you are not familiar with, assassination, espionage, and infiltration maybe a little sabotage and from time to time you will need to act as a bodyguard" Osborn told her.
Yelena just kept silent as she thought about what to do, while most of what Osborn said was true she still didn't feel too comfortable being the only one of the two who didn't seem to know the other.
Norman simply started to get up from the seat he was in, "You have about 15 hours to make your decision, I hope you make the right one" were his words directed to Yelena who just followed with her gaze at Osborn until he left the large room.
As soon as he walked out the door of the medical room Norman looked at Forge who was a few meters away, "If she tries to escape use lethal force" he made it clear before disappearing, he had to follow through with his cover story.
Forge just nodded he had his orders and at this point he had no problem following them, at least not so far.
…
Norman awoke from his sleep and training cycle and in a routine manner began to make his way to the bathroom.
Having left Yelena in Forge's care, he had teleported back to Stockholm to continue his normal person cover. A brief glance at the city's police frequency made him realize that they had ended up capturing two possible suspects.
Norman just smiled, before he turned back to New York he had caused multiple anonymous calls to be made to various police stations in an attempt to raise awareness of a possible shooting.
The results hadn't disappointed him, while he knew it was only a matter of time before Fury managed to get them out of jail, but at least it would give him a headache and a situation he hadn't expected, at least that way he could hit him back a little.
Putting those thoughts aside, Osborn decided to go to breakfast after he finished taking a shower. As soon as he stepped out into the hotel hallway it crossed his mind to ask Connors and Gwen, but after the event that happened last night he doubted they were awake.
So after thinking about it for a few seconds he headed to his destination alone. As he made his way to the hotel restaurant, Norman began to make certain calls regarding permissions to leave the city.
The answer was positive, so Osborn scheduled his departure at some point in the afternoon, as this would give Gwen some time in case she wanted to go somewhere else in the city, although he doubted it.
Osborn was currently sipping a cup of coffee awaiting the arrival of his dish, as he contemplated what would happen because of the situation.
Although it was very likely that in a few days the culprit of the event would appear, of course it would be a simple scapegoat that would be used to reassure people and governments.
While Norman was thinking about it, out of the corner of his eye he could see the arrival of a young blonde woman in the room. Osborn looked in the direction of the young woman and a brief smile formed on his face before he gave a nod of his head.
Gwen just looked at Norman and began to approach the black-haired man's table and with complete naturalness sat down at it, "Good morning" she mentioned to him.
"Good morning Gwen" Osborn answered her.
"Dr. Connors?" asked Norman as he saw no sign of the older man.
"He's probably still asleep, since when I knocked on his door there was no answer" she replied. Norman just thought that Connors really liked to stay in the hotel room and rest.
Soon Gwen ordered her own breakfast and the conversation between the two flowed in a natural way, Norman left aside any topic related to the awards ceremony incident because Gwen seemed to be avoiding talking about it.
Once they had both finished their meals, Norman told Gwen about the schedule for returning to New York.
Stacy was a little surprised because she had seen that the planes would be under suspension and unable to leave the city until further warning, probably to cut off one of the shooter's possible escape routes.
So hearing that Norman had gotten permission for the plane to take off took her by surprise, but after a few seconds she realized that it was Norman Osborn and any kind of doubt was simply forgotten.
As Norman thought Gwen preferred to stay at the Hotel instead of exploring a little more of the city, although that was also a good idea, since many of the guests of the ceremony were also there including the winners of the other categories.
Which despite what happened the night before began to gather to exchange some friendly chatter among all, of course the Oscorp team was also there, with Gwen probably being the one they were most curious about.
Osborn just watched Gwen while that whole little meeting was going on, so that in case she was overcome or overwhelmed he could intervene until she managed to recover, but unlike what he thought there was really nothing to fear, as Gwen was able to deal with the situation correctly.
Time passed quickly and the three Oscorp members were boarding the plane that would take them home. The experience had been wonderful even with their inconvenience, but at the same time it had also been relatively tiring.
…
Somewhere in Stockholm.
Two people stood in a small office looking at an African American man with an eye patch, Norman would recognize them as Romanoff and Barton plus the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury.
"Explain" Fury ordered, his one word was loaded with seriousness.
"We tracked the target to the printing press and once there we began the search however" Barton began to say only to fall silent, as he really didn't know what was going on.
He only remembered losing the strength in his body and losing consciousness, once he woke up he was in a cell with multiple police officers by his side not knowing what was going on, that was until recently he was let go and was immediately brought in to report his mission.
"There was a third element" Romanoff continued with his partner's words.
"Who?" asked Fury immediately.
"I don't know" Natasha replied, "But I'm sure it wasn't someone from the Red Room, however, he is well versed in stealth, as he managed to get close to me and I only realized it when it was too late, it probably happened the same with Barton" she explained and the two men paid attention to her words.
"After that he took Yelena and simply took her away without us being able to do anything" she finished by saying what had happened in a simple way.
Fury just stood silently trying to analyze the little pieces of the puzzle that had formed, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't even make sense of them.
"Find Belova" ordered Fury "If we have her then we have the third mystery element" he added.
After the order was given, both agents left the room to do their duty, leaving Fury alone with his thoughts.
