Interlude 5 - Fallout

The US was quite fast in branding me a criminal because the second I landed in New York with Jessica asleep on my back, Misty had forwarded me a news article of how I broke into the Raft and, completely unprovoked according to them, slaughtered Ross and seven guards.

The wording was very colorful, but the more they painted me as a monster, the bigger the slap they will receive once I release the news that the Sokovia Accords were used to turn heroes into tortured lab rats not even two months after they were signed.

For the following twenty hours, Jessica mostly slept with Misty and Eliza looking after her. And I went on a quest looking for everyone who was on the payroll or made choices to let what happened to Jessica and Pietro happen to make them pay. I even visited the White House, but only a general close to Ross was in the know. The president was unaware. But he wouldn't be for long, and he will not like it one bit.

"Release everything tomorrow evening. I want them to goad the public even more before it all crashes down," I said in a flat voice while looking at the sleeping form of Jessica from the doorway.

"What comes next for you then? You don't look like someone who intends to go to bed," Misty asked from behind me.

"Everyone important except for Tony has paid. It's about time I help Natasha. Did you hear if the rest made it to Steve?"

"Yeah, Sam, Wanda, and Pietro met him in New Jersey. Apparently, they are on their way to Wakanda. Clint is back with his family, and Scott actually turned himself in to the FBI first thing. Want me to find out why?"

"Not necessary. Getting Eliza's mom back is our first priority now."

"What about Jessica? Will you really not tell her about you being lovers?"

"I... I really want to, but for as long as she doesn't remember herself, she isn't who I fell in love with. Being her friend is all I should do for now."

Misty hugged me from behind to show her support as we both watched over Jessica.

Through Clint, Natasha had given me an update on her location. A farm outside of St Petersburg. I arrived there roughly after sundown, hidden from everyone's sight. I whispered into Natasha's ears to greet 'big sis', heard her relieved thoughts, and watched her talk to her 'mother'. So I also watched them hash out a plan where they would swap places to take down the Red Room.

To that end, I blocked Natasha's sense of smell with a spell. That way, she wouldn't need to smash her head on a table to sever the nerve of her olfactory senses to counter Dreykov's pheromone lock.

I flew next to the plane with Natasha's supposed family inside after they were taken by the Red Room operatives until we arrived in a fortress hidden in a cloud. If its purpose wasn't so dystopian, I would have quite enjoyed the view.

As promised, I followed the beautiful blonde Yelena, her 'sister', inside instead of Natasha, who was disguised as Melina. Yelena was strapped down to a table, but I cut her free immediately after the two medical professionals tasked to cut out her brain were on the floor after I knocked them out with a spell.

"And who the hell are you?" Yelena asked as I turned off my invisibility just for her.

"The big brother of your sister's daughter," I introduced myself.

She looked like she heard a joke she didn't think was funny.

"Okay, enough kidding around. I'm Eli, a good friend of Natasha. We need to find the Widows and release them from the mind control with the red dust. It should be here somewhere."

Yelena looked at me like I had grown a second head as she put on her vest. I thought it was because of my invisibility, but that thought was quickly dashed.

"Who would want to be 'good friends' with someone like her?" She looked me up and down as if I was an exotic animal.

"Dunno, she grew on me," I shrugged as we both ran through the labs toward the cold storage to find the gas to undo the chemical conditioning.

All widows were gathered in a single room, training in some kind of martial choreography as we freed them. I had released some of the red dust and spread it all around the room with my powers while hidden. The widows looked at me and Yelena for guidance, unsure of what their future would hold, so I gave them two choices.

"You're free now and highly trained. I can give you two choices. Either I drop you off in the next city, and you can enjoy your freedom, or you come with me and work for the W.I.B.E. foundation. We have more jobs than killing and spy work, so rest assured you don't have to keep living the same life. I trust you all heard about W.I.B.E.? We have our own agenda, but we do not have missions that force you to do something against your will."

I left them with an address in Brooklyn, not my house, obviously, where they could come should they ever change their minds.

As I looked at the astonished gazes, I took a moment to read their surface thoughts and would you look at that. I got two things done at once. Because Dreykov and the Red Room had sent some of the present widows and were responsible for the attacks on W.I.B.E. Misty told me about before in her one year recap. The pattern she realized only too late was planned right here. Obviously, Dreykov never told the widows his reasoning, so I would have to rip that nugget of information from the man himself.

As Melina apparently escaped the prison cell and got to the correct computer to safely initiate the landing protocols of this flying fortress, the alarms were going off. That was my cue to leave Yelena and all the widows to think of my proposal to meet up with Natasha.

On my way, I found someone dressed in a blue full-body-armor with a dark glass visor. I tried reading their mind, but all I received was silence. As I concentrated more, I heard a distorted whisper repeating some kind of order over and over.

Since I was invisible, I did not engage the woman, as I found out, in combat but instead used my empathetic abilities combined with a spell to put her to sleep. I got rid of her helmet, found the cause of the noise in her head, and ripped out the chip on the base of her skull. I made her breathe in some of the red dust and healed the bleeding wound I had just caused with a quick spell.

Finally, she had thoughts of her own even in her sleep. Antonia Dreykov, or as her father called her these days, Taskmaster.

"These girls were trash. They are thrown out into the street. I recycle the trash. And I give them purpose. I give them a life," Dreykov told Natasha as I stepped into the room while hiding myself and the opened door with an illusion.

He had all the secret data of his organization made into a red themed video that was displayed with some sort of hologram projection. Like, who does that? It must have cost so much time and money to produce this, and all to spill the beans on his hidden assets - why?

I hoped this was just part of his database or reporting and would automatically update the shown information for his peruse, and he didn't have this made just to show it off to people.

Anyway, he rambled on about how he could use his widows all over the world to topple governments, the economy... he was sure he won, wasn't he?

I released my illusion and stepped close to Natasha after laying the unconscious Antonia on the ground.

"Did you get all you need from him? Want me to rip something else hidden in his mind outside?"

"Who the hell are you?" Finally, Dreykov was a little afraid. His daughter laid at my feet, and he was without protection.

"I'd like to know about my mother, all I got earlier was taunts," Natasha said out loud, knowing this was enough for me to get the information, since it would come to his mind as she said the words.

"And why would I tell hi-" "Magdalena Petrovich, born May 2nd 1959 on the outskirts of Minsk. Your dad's name was Ivan Petrovich, born May 29th 1955 here in St Petersburg."

Dreykov's eyes widened in disbelief. To mess with him even more, I began engraving the names of the parents of other widows that I found in his mind into one of the glass panes in his office with a spell.

"Anything else? Or can I ask him about his attacks on W.I.B.E.?" I asked, already getting the answer I was looking for. Natasha, in the meanwhile, started downloading all the files with the access his ring granted. I had stolen it from Dreykov with telekinesis and moved it in the correct sequence, as shown in his thoughts.

"No, all that's left is for him to die," Natasha said as the download finished.

"I get the feeling Antonia would like to see that, too. Let's wake her up," I said, doing what I just told Natasha. She looked ready to say something but waited on what would happen. Dreykov kept screaming obscenities.

"Antonia, you alright there?" I asked as I laid a hand on her head to softly wake her, breaking my earlier spell. She panicked for a moment, but she quickly regained her bearing. That stopped when her eyes fell on Dreykov. Even without chemicals and a chip to control her, Antonia was very much afraid of her father.

"I woke you to give you some closure. Your first thought after ripping out the chip was that you want your father to die. So here we are," I explained in a soft voice after silencing the incessant yelling of the man in question with a spell.

"Quick or painful, Natasha? Or do you want to do it yourself?"

Natasha looked at me with grief in her eyes. She wanted to do it herself and at the same time not. She wanted me to do it so she wouldn't have to hold her little girl with bloodied hands. But again, at the same time, she didn't want me to do it to keep me 'innocent'. Oh wow, I did not yet tell her of my actions in the last one and a half days, huh? To say nothing of the many bad people I killed in space with dad last year.

So I didn't make her choose and twisted every bone in Dreykov's body before I twisted his neck with telekinesis. It was quick, but still very painful. I considered it the best of both worlds... in a very messed up way. But my anger had to go somewhere.

Telling yet another person of how I lost Jessica would suck, but I did tell her as I led Natasha and Antonia through the Red Room fortress to clear out the remaining loyalists. We were surrounded by people dying, and Natasha desperately wanted to go back to her daughter, yet she still hugged me for a good five minutes when I finished telling her what I experienced since coming back to Earth.

It felt really nice, Natasha gave very good hugs that conveyed the warmth of a mother.

Since Melina wasn't able to trigger the landing protocols because Dreykov ran interference, and we were cleaning house, Natasha decided she would just keep it as a base of operations for the widows who wanted to help free their fellow widows. I had no problem with that. It looked cool and all, but I could get an actual spaceship twice the size as that easily.

Antonia wanted to stay at my side, and when I learned her intentions were true, I told her about extremis and how it could probably get rid of her scars. She was even more determined to follow me afterward.

Since they all had a flying fortress now, I reminded the widows that wanted to join W.I.B.E. about the address I told them about and left using my powers. Natasha was in my arms, Antonia was on my back.

Natasha's reunion with her daughter was truly heartwrenching. Both of them were so happy to have each other again.

Jessica looked at the scene with tears in her eyes, but only because she saw a picture in her room, where she was enjoying a picnic with Misty, Natasha, and Eliza and she couldn't remember any of it.

As I explained to Misty that I already helped out with her problem and the possible surge in operatives thanks to freeing the widows, Jessica called out to me.

We talked a bit of our lives together, but I kept romance out of it as best I could. She was not taking any of it well, but I used my empathatic powers to keep her calm. That way, she could process all this better, I hoped. Time would tell how all of this would work out.

Once all that was out of the way, I looked at my phone and ignored all messages but two for now.

[Thank you for your help, Eli. But I would have both preferred to help and have less blood spilled. Though after Wanda showed me what happened to Pietro and Jessica, I understand. We will be in Wakanda for another two weeks. T'Challa tells me you are acquaintances, so come over if you feel like it. Sincerely, Steve Rogers]

All I sent back was a maybe and take care. The next message wasn't as friendly.

[What is wrong with you!? I told you to come to me! We could have done this without you becoming a wanted man in 120 countries!!! How could those you broke free ever hope to join the Avengers again after the shit you just pulled???]

Reading that made my blood boil, so I took a few deep breaths. I wanted to write a message back that did not involve an immediate death threat.

[Watch the news in four hours. You better hope you are not one of them. See you tomorrow to pick up Jessie's armor.]

After that, I turned off the phone and sat down on the roof to play some music. To clear my mind. Nobody interrupted, though I heard Misty sit down below the window inside. She likely guarded the roof so I could remain alone, as a chance to take a breath. She truly knew me, I needed this.

Four hours later, I turned on the TV without any sound and watched the world go crazy. The specialists from W.I.B.E. acted under the facade of a hacktivist group they invented just for this purpose called Bringing Obvious Truths, or B.O.T. and released every incriminating evidence we had on Ross, Roxxon, and everyone else involved.

I would need to give a statement soon, too. I couldn't let them decide the narrative.

My phone was blowing up twenty minutes later, but I ignored it. I stepped inside, thanking Misty for leaving me alone with my thoughts for a while and going downstairs to greet Natasha. She would crash here for a few days since Eliza's stuff was here anyway.

I sat down next to Natasha, who had her legs up on the couch and her daughter sleeping in her arms. I used a spell to muffle all sounds to pleasant background noise for Eliza, something I regularly did for Natasha, and we began talking.

"You look very tired, Eli."

"Yeah, been up for five or six days now. Space didn't exactly have earth clocks, you know? Well, our spaceship didn't... and I didn't bring a phone. Got one in space instead. Sovereign tech, dad got it for me on my birthday. It's all golden, but the camera on it is amazing. Probably for selfie purposes exclusively, based on what I know about the Sovereign race," I responded absentmindedly.

"That's all very cool. How about you take a nap with the littler Eli, though?" Natasha asked with a kind smile as she carefully kept brushing Eliza's hair.

"I can't, not yet. Tony still has to pay," I defended my actions with a tired smile.

"And how will Tony pay?"

"I don't know. If he didn't know, that would have been it. All he would have lost is my friendship and trust. But he warned Ross I would come. He actively tried to stop me from doing what was right. When he didn't even know how wrong he was. He tried to keep me away from Jessica," I whined.

"Why did he have to do that," I rambled on in my exhaustion. Natasha shot me a wry smile and shook her head.

"An eye for an eye then? You imprison Pepper on the moon? Or you do the same to him as you did for Ross?" She pointed to the muted TV with the news on. It was currently discussing all of Thaddeus Ross' misdeeds in life. From his involvement in turning his almost son-in-law into the Hulk and his cover-up to his most recent faux-pas that cost him his life. B.O.T. really did nice work. They somehow managed to make the press talk about everything but the fact that I killed Ross.

"There's a reason I'm sitting here, Nat. Well, more than just enjoying your presence. I was hoping you could share some wisdom. I want to hate him for what he did... but he thought he was doing the right thing in his twisted, self-centered mind. Anything I thought of that I could do to him would have way too many long-term effects or could just be solved with money. I can't even take Stark Industries away from him because that would hurt Pepper, not him. Well, not him more than Pepper. Does that make sense?"

"You're really talkative when you're tired or cranky, huh?" Nat asked me with a smirk. All I did was close my eyes in response.

"Hmm, well, you don't have to just do one big thing or one inconsequential thing...," Natasha tilted her head in thought. "Can you groundhog day his ass with a spell so he relives something awkward-tragic for a while, and he gains a new perspective? Don't do something tragic-tragic, though. No making him relive the day his parents died."

"How about I fly to the compound and destroy all his suits once a week?"

"Aren't you just punishing yourself at some point in that plan?"

"Uh, I cast a spell on him so everything he drinks tastes like motor oil."

"And that's enough for you?"

"I enchant his suits, so they all are a few degrees too warm at his ass. Give him swamp-ass and he doesn't know why."

"I won't even dignify that with an answer," Natasha said with clear disgust in her eyes.

"I make him relive the day of his falling out with Steve?"

"You mean when he tried to 'kill a gun for killing a person' instead of the one holding the gun?"

"Yeah, he of all people should have some perspective on what it's like to get blamed for what a weapon did instead of blaming the one holding the weapon. I understand he really loved his mother, but it's like his character regressed by a decade back to his entitled philandering days."

"Mhm, I approve. Is that all you will do?" Natasha asked as she regained her smile.

"I mean, I'm still partial to one of my more childish ideas in addition to that. I could enchant his helmet to show him ads, so that way he thinks he got malware somewhere, but it's just magic. Should drive him insane. It would have to. Because, if he comes out of this groundhog day in a reasonable time, it's like I gave him free therapy and free parenting. It would not be enough for me," I sighed.

"What will you do if he knew about Jessica, though?"

"I will leave him broken. Just like the rest."

I looked at Natasha with a worried look and noticed her goosebumps. She didn't reply to me, though.

An hour of relaxation with Natasha later, I stood in front of a camera dressed in dark grey dress pants, an earthen brown dress shirt, and my signature green scarf on. My jewelry that really is just hidden armor was not on me for this recording, well except for the transformed earring and my Shatterstar necklace.

"Hello, Earth. Many of you know me as the Emerald Blur, or Tempest," I introduced myself as I released Shatterstar into sword form to prove my point.

"I record this to explain my actions to you and to give you a warning. Checks and balances are great. Making it so a group doesn't fully govern itself, lest they have no perspective and abuse their position of power, is wise. But if you, people of Earth, allow the people you elected into power to alienate the people with actual power," I continued explaining as my eyes began to glow green and Shatterstar began to fragment.

"Who will come to save you? A policeman with a pistol? How will he stop a person with powers like mine? Or an alien invasion? I grew up on this planet, and since I live on this dirtball, I will use my power to make sure I have a home to come back to. But since Earth signed off on the Sokovia Accords in bad faith, it has lost its mightiest heroes. To give men without power the illusion of actual power, 117 nations agreed on making criminals out of half of the Avengers. And they were immediately in the wrong about everything. You have to do better, Earth. Because the next time this happens, you might not have anybody left to defend you."

"In the fallout of it all, I have lost someone very dear to me, and I have made everyone involved pay for it. Because if you are in the business of killing people for profits or experimenting on people to gain power, that means to me you are ready to pay the price you ask of others," I calmly stated in a dark tone as I cut off the recording.

"Ugh, that was way too edgy, wasn't it?" I asked Misty who was snickering on the side.