Chapter 9: Face-off

Watching the complex that is Red Room Academy surrounded by a large forest from inside the Kingjet, immediately gave the criminal team a headache.

"There's no door from the roof or even from the ground. How do you enter?" Asked Hawkeye after some silence.

"All entrances are hidden around the Academy. But they are watched over by at least 3 Widows. Each entrance require a password of their own that change every week. What's more, only the two Widows are near the door while the other one stay hidden, so that if there's a problem she can alert the whole Academy in time.

And I'm pretty sure that after what happened during the day, they changed every password. So we definitely can't go through the 'main' door." Explained Yelena a bit depressed.

"Our only solution would be to enter from the windows, because at least we won't be directly stopped at the entrance. But it would still be the same result, because breaking the window will make too much noise. And the most troublesome thing is that Dreykov could escape while we fight."

Observed Black Widow with a frown. But with reason, because their only target from the beginning had always been Dreykov. But if they are caught before even seeing the shadow of that person, then they should just give up. But they were obviously unwilling. Fortunately Rick had a solution.

"If it's just a problem of noise for the window, then it's easy. Your Widow Bites have a continuous laser mode. Instead of releasing laser bullets, it shoot a laser beam. And to not worry about stumbling upon other Widows and finding Dreykov more quickly, I can lend you my Alpha Goggles too." Even though Rick found the solution, Yelena and Natasha's focus were on other thing.

"What are the Widows Bites?" First ask Black Widow.

"...Your Wrist Blasters?" Replied Rick confuse by the question as for him it was an obvious thing.

"And why do you always name things? Kingjet, Alpha Goggles, U-Watch, Widow Bites... Why?" Continue Yelena also confuse.

"Because otherwise it would be very lame. Can you imagine? Watch with many gadget inside? Wrist laser guns? X-ray goggles with other layer integrate? If I really call them like that, I would rather die or not create them at all." Said Rick shamelessly, because as we all know he indeed create those gadgets right?

But for Yelena who didn't know the truth, it made sense.

"Anyway, all you have to know is that you can indeed get inside without a problem with my goggles as long as you're careful enough." Continued Rick as he take out his goggles to hand them over to Black Widow.

"By the way, even if they are broken, I want them back."

'Because even though I could recreate them, I would have to create some elements that doesn't even exist, and I don't have the money to create these elements.'

Thoughts Rick as he decided at the same time to fix it. Because he also thought about it, there will always be some situations where he won't be able to take back his gadget for miscellaneous reasons.

After giving the goggles to Black Widow, the latter put them on and start to search for their targets. Unfortunately, because the facility was quite big, finding him was a task that took her 10 minutes because she found him somewhere she never thought she would find him in.

"I've got eye on him. He is on the playground area. With Madame B and... Melina."

After learning the news, many of them had very different reactions.

Hawkeye who wasn't in the known was just happy to know that this mission will finally be over. But Ramsey was happy that Madame B who used to threaten and hit her the most was here, so she would be killed too.

While Yelena and Rick were shock because of Melinda's presence. But there was still some difference. Yelena was shock because it was the first time since their fake family mission that she had news on her 'mother' Melina Vostokoff again.

Because last time they saw her she was bleeding to death. So on one hand she was happy to know that she was alive, but at the same time, she was weird out that her mother was working with Dreykov, even if it shouldn't.

But Rick's was surprised for another thing. In his thoughts, the pheromones controlling chemical that Melina created, would be much later on.

Because with Kilian example he subconsciously thought that the vilains in the MCU would immediately exact their vengeance after being ready. And for Rick, being able to create that pheromones control thing in mass, which is more powerful than the chips, was being more than ready.

But he also remembered that in the movie, if it wasn't because Oksana gave the antidote to Yelena, nobody would have known about Dreykov scheme. Because he never bother to look for Natasha and take revenge on her.

So for a moment, he wasn't sure. Was Melina here because she had the finishing product? Or was it just to report the progress on it?

'Wait, maybe Melina didn't finish it, but she already have a prototype. And maybe this is what Oksana really took. And why Dreykov wanted to know her whereabout at all cost.'

In Rick's mind, everything make sense and he could probably figure out what happen.

Oksana and another Widow, probably learned about the chips or were controlled by it and escape somehow, then by wanting to stop Dreykov, they discovered that Dreykov wasn't please with all the defect the chips had and was trying to create a new way to control the Widows.

The reason why Melina is here and Oksana left her car to him, is probably because the research of that chemical product are here. Rick even deduct further, that the day Oksana was running away, Natasha was the one chasing her.

As for Dreykov supervising his new way to dominate the world, that was a normal thing.

'The only thing I don't understand is why Madame B is here? If it was just because of what we did in Baintronics Incorporated, it wouldn't have been necessary. She could have just called. So, is there any other reasons?'

But Rick didn't have to think more about it because Yelena interrupted his train of thought.

"What is mom doing with Dreykov? I thought dad was his best friend?" She asked, omitting to question her supposed death. But Natasha still understood Yelena thoughts and answer very seriously.

"I don't know, but we will ask her ourselves later. Let's not waste more time. Agent go to the east of the academy. Dreykov is there."

Not arguing too much, Rick did as told and quickly positioned his jet in front of the windows at the the east side. Then he waited for Black Widow signal to open the hatch as look for the right opportunity to get inside the building.

Because once he open the door, a part of the Kingjet won't be invisible which represents a danger for them. Furthermore, while cutting the glass of the window with a laser is a quick operation, going inside one by one still take some times. And they wanted to get inside undetected the for as long as possible.

So under a tense silence, everyone got ready to go, waiting for the signal.

"It's now. Open the door!"

Under Natasha's command, Rick quickly open the door. Then without wasting time, Black Widow jumped over, sticked on the window and immediately started to go to work. And under less than two seconds she cut cut off the glass, and went inside the building.

The others, not having the ability to stick on walls could only go with Hawkeye help and his arrows and threads.

The operation, while stressful, because it was done by professionals was also done very quickly, without mistakes. And so after Yelena enter inside the academy, Rick directly close the hatch, making the Kingjet invisible again and start to communicate with his teammates inside.

{So, where is that playground area? By the way, I always thought that spies like you didn't have recreational activities or even rests.} Rick wonder aloud.

"We don't. Let's turn right, someone's coming from the left." Replied a highly focus Black Widow as she lead their spy group to avoid the patrolling Widows.

{Then if you can't play there, why do you have a playground?} Rick asked puzzled.

"Because this is where we train to act on how to look like girls playing like any other girls."

While he guessed the answer after asking, it still caused him to have some reaction.

{...How to say. I'm impressed on the dedication the Red Room have for your your training, but it's a bit morbid. I mean, little girls actually need to learn how to act like an actual little girl? That's almost the next level of creepy.}

"When you know that our teddy bear were hunting knifes, you would understand why it was necessary for us to have that kind of training." Replied Natasha with a sad face but because it didn't show up in her voice, both Rick on the coms and her team behind her didn't notice.

Fortunately, Rick didn't pursue it further. Thinking about the fact that they were inside the enemy territory, he stop talking to Natasha so they will have less chance to be caught. Instead he start to bother Ramsey who was doing god knows what on his smartphone.

"Hey Ramsey, why did you create 'God Hand'? I mean, was that on a whim, or for any other reasons?"

Understanding the meaning under his question made Ramsey chuckled.

"I didn't have any master plan of conquering the earth through mobile phone if that's what you're asking."

"Well that's a relief, because I wouldn't want to release a super villain that has too much evil plans in mind. Because then it would be my job to stop you. That's too much trouble."

Even though Rick said it in a joking tone, Ramsey could still detect that he was serious about it. But because she really didn't have that kind of thing in mind, she focused on something else.

"A super villain? What's that?"

Rick was going to mock her for her lack of knowledge, until he realized that the concept of super villain didn't exist yet, because superhero also didn't exist yet. Even Captain America was called a hero without super before the 'hero' word.

Because of that, Rick put way the jokes and explain seriously.

"A super villain, or just a super is someone who is above the common people and do things seemingly impossible for others. The best example being yourself.

You can create a program that can controls ANY phones, and it took a year for other to crack it. Or the fact that you create a program to control peoples. Those things aren't normal at, especially the human control part which seems impossible or at least not currently possible for our time. And that's what make you a super.

As for super villains and super hero, think about Red Skull and Captain America. Both had the strength of ten men at least and could do things no common man can."

After understand where I was going with it, Ramsey looked at me weirdly.

"So you're saying, that I'm in the same category as Captain America? I'm not human?"

Rick looked at her with a face that clearly tell her 'obviously yes!'.

"Do you know any other Hacker or programmer that can control humans? Or like Hawkeye, do you know any archer other than him, who just with arrows can fight an entire armed spy army and still win? I really think that after a certain level, we can't call that being a genius anymore, because it would be too harmful for other genius to be compare to you."

"Yeah, but to put a label on us when there's only like four people like us, five if we count you and your ability to create inventions way too much ahead of their time, it's a bit too much. We're just super genius at what we major in that's it. There's no reason to create an entire category for us."

Tried to explain Ramsey only for Rick to let slip spoilers unintentionally.

"We're only five for now, but it won't be in a few years."

Ramsey scoffed at that with a smile.

"Yeah right. You also know that people like us are rare. I can hardly imagine ten people like us existing. Not to mention 'many'."

Not wanting to say to much on that subject, Rick just smile at her and then got back to his initial question.

"You still didn't answer my question though. Why did you create that program?"

Ramsey didn't answer right away, but start to think about something else, like a painful memory. But after thinking about where she was, she quickly regained her composure before replying.

"My parents were quite strict on me, but they also wanted for me to have the best education possible, so I was schooled in an elite boarding school for almost my entire childhood. And because everybody there was too stuck up and I didn't fit in, I didn't have any friends.

So my only friend when I was a kid, was my little cousin with whom I was very close to. And while my social circle was consisting on basically only my family, I was still very happy. Unfortunately my parents died in a car accident when I was ten. And in the same year later, my cousin's parent died too.

Because my parents were well-off and paid for my entire study in advance, I didn't have any problem after being place on caretaker. As for my cousin who I wanted to be with, was adopted by her parents friend.

But the problem is that I can't contact her. Not only her, but even that supposed friend just disappeared. I never knew who that friend was, and where he took my cousin. Even later when I hack the adoption center, I couldn't get the info, because they simply didn't have it.

Because of that I decided to create a program to help me track her. 'Hand of God' is just a prototype. Even though, every time someone invade another phone with my program I got access to their phones myself, it just too slow and it can only be done with phones for now. My ultimate goal is to be able to track and locate a person anywhere in the world through any electronic devices with cameras or microphones so that I can finally found my cousin."

To say Rick wasn't surprised of Ramsey's story would be a lie. But he wasn't surprise of her having a tragic story considering her status of supporting role of the protagonist in American cars.

And Rick also didn't want to hear depression stuff like that anymore. So after expressing his understanding and encouraging her to pursue her goal, he changed the subject.

"And beside working on your super program, what are you going to do after all of this is over? Because I for sure will go to Symkaria after this and take some day off from anything a bit too crazy for a while."

At that, Ramsey mock him mercilessly.

"Humpf, do you really think that I'll have the luxury to chose where I'll go after this mission is over? It will be good already if your archer just didn't put me in jail directly without a word."

'Aw crap I forgot about this.'

Fortunately, Rick didn't have to think about replying, because at that moment, a big explosion sounded not only through the comms, but could be heard even outside the building.

That explosion instantly made Rick alert and worried as he immediately tried to contact his team on the other side.

"Black Widow, Hawkeye! What's going on? Are you okay?!"

The only thing that reply to him for half a minute was the sound of gunshots he could that could be heard through the comms, before Hawkeye voice finally got through.

"Don't worry we're okay. Black Widow and her sister were able to enter inside the playground area while I'm guarding the entrance. But I have to say, their door really hard."

Even though Hawkeye was complaining, Rick was still glad to hear it, because at least it meant that he was fine for now.

But Hawkeye wasn't complaining for nothing. Three minutes ago, they finally found the playground area with the entrance guarded by six Widows.

Fortunately with the combination of a thick smokescreen created by Hawkeye arrow and the Alpha goggles to see through, Natasha took them out in a few seconds. But then came the tricky part: The door.

In the Red Room Academy, all door had to by open with a palm print. And big facilities like the playground area all had one big reinforced metal doors. And obviously when she tried, Yelena couldn't open the door.

"They must have removed me from the system after I didn't came back last night."

"Your organization is really damn careful." Grumble Hawkeye with a bad mood.

Unfortunately this wasn't the only bad news. Because Yelena access was denied, the Academy was aware of their intrusion, which results in them making hasty decisions: because it would take to much time for Black Widow to cut through the metal doors, they decided to blow it up with Hawkeye arrow, which explains the explosion.

And because they didn't want for their shot to miss, Hawkeye decided to hold off the incoming army of Widows for as long as he could, so they can have enough time to find and kill Dreykov.

Fortunately, while the playground area was quite big, and they had to fight some Widows inside along the way, finding Dreykov with Rick's glasses was quite easy.

Hence the momentary surprise on Dreykov face when in front of of him stood the two rebellious sisters so soon. But as a big boss, he quickly regained his calm which wasn't the case for his two companions. As the brown hair woman with bun, Madame B., was reaching for her gun hidden in her. As for Melina Vostokoff, was actually so shocked to see her 'daughters' again, that she didn't react at all.

"Well, well, well... If it isn't my proudest child and her, 'sister'. I have to say, you impress me. I mean I knew after you killed that widow that you will eventually stand in front of me to try and kill me, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. Besides you really impressed me these days, like never before."

Not seeing the despair which she was expecting or any other form of panic from Dreykov, made Natasha extremely vigilant and confuse of what's going on. As for Yelena she didn't have any scruples in asking after seeing his strange behavior.

"What do you mean you're impress? We're going to kill you! Why aren't you panicking?"

To which Dreykov continue calmly while ignoring Yelena .

"I am impress, because of what you have accomplished Natasha. From tracking and killing that old widow, all to the chips to finally come to me, it only took you twenty days. With such a record, how could I not be impress and proud of you?

Especially the fact that you succeed in rallying in your cause so much skilled peoples in such a little time and convince them to go against me. It's a shame that they won't be able survive after today and that you lost your chance."

Not seeing what Dreykov's ploy was, Natasha decide to shoot him and then see what happens. So she quickly raised her arm at him with her hand close. But she tried to shoot something happen, or more precisely something didn't happen.

"Wh-What?" She said incredulous as she tried again, but still couldn't shoot. Yes, it's not that her Widow's bites didn't work, but when she tried to shoot, her body refuse to listen to her and make her unable to shoot.

And her strange behavior was quickly notice by the other present in the scene. The most nervous being Yelena who immediately point her gun at Dreykov while yelling at him.

"What did you do to her!?!"

To which Dreykov simply laugh before answering cryptically.

"I've already told you. It's unfortunate for you that you came instead of them. If it was them who came instead, then there's a good chance that you might have won. Unfortunately you both can't kill me."