Chapter 203: Avengers Disbanded! Captain America Goes Underground!

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"Then what about Alexei Shostakov?" Tony Stark asked.

"I want to emphasize this point – he was the Soviet Union's first and only super-soldier, known as the 'Red Guardian,'" Natasha Romanoff explained.

"Red Guardian..." Steve Rogers chuckled, "I never thought I'd hear about him again after all these years."

"Captain, do you know him?" Tony Stark inquired.

"I'd say we've crossed paths before," Steve Rogers said.

"The Soviet super-soldier, huh?" Bruce Banner seemed quite interested. "Is he still fighting crime?"

"No, he's locked up in prison," Natasha Romanoff said, "and he'll be there for the rest of his life."

"..." This answer was rather unexpected, the only super-soldier being confined to a prison for life. It was quite a unique turn of events.

"So, what abilities does this Red Guardian have?" Tony Stark asked.

"He's similar to you, Captain, he also uses a shield," Natasha Romanoff explained, "you can think of him as a somewhat uglier version of Captain America."

"So, it sounds like this ugly Captain won't be sending you any mail since he's in prison," Sam Wilson remarked.

"I don't know," Natasha Romanoff said, "I've been away for a long time, and I've lost contact with them for quite a while. I have no idea what's going on with them now. Even I think they might be completely different from what I knew, just like my mother – she isn't really dead. And as for the Red Guardian, maybe he's already been released from prison. No, the last time I saw him was 20 years ago, and I only found out about his imprisonment from someone else. Maybe that news was fake."

"That doesn't sound like an easy choice," Stephen Strange commented.

"Let's go with our instincts, many say women have a strong sixth sense, so I'll test it now," Natasha Romanoff said, "those people who keep coming to my mind are probably Elena. I choose A!"

"Correct answer! Reward granted!"

A finely crafted arrow with a touch of red at both ends appeared on the ground.

"That's quite an arrow," Tony Stark remarked, "is Black Widow turning into the female version of Hawkeye now?"

"Tony, this isn't the type of arrow you're familiar with," Natasha Romanoff immediately whistled, and the arrow on the ground immediately shot up into the air, leaving behind a trail of red light. Its speed was so fast it was almost like lightning.

Tony Stark didn't have time to react and saw a floating arrow in front of him after a flash of red light.

"You just died." Natasha Romanoff stated, "Even in your armor."

"This arrow is definitely different from what I imagined," Tony Stark extended his hand to grab the arrow, but Natasha Romanoff whistled again, and the arrow turned around, flying back to her side where she caught it.

"It seems Clint won't be the only master archer in the team anymore," Steve Rogers remarked.

At that moment, a light appeared in the air, and a video began playing.

As the video started, Natasha Romanoff was driving a white car along a mountain road. The car's radio was playing updates about the Avengers: "Following the Sokovia Accords, the capture of the Avengers is ongoing. Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff are currently on the run..."

The car came to a stop near a white house in a forest. Natasha Romanoff held a gun and cautiously entered the house. She silently made her way to a bedroom, where the door was half-open, and snoring could be heard. She pushed the door open and found a man lying on the bed.

It was clear that Natasha Romanoff knew this man because as soon as she saw him, she broke into a smile.

"You're sleeping in my bed," Natasha Romanoff kicked Mason's leg.

"I..." Mason opened his eyes, "I haven't even gotten under the covers."

"Did you bring everything on my list?" Natasha Romanoff asked.

"I've got passports, entry visas, a few local driver's licenses," Mason handed a stack of items to Natasha Romanoff, "mix and match, and you can probably come up with around 20 different identities."

"Fanny Longbottom?" Natasha Romanoff opened a passport and looked at it, then asked Mason, "Are you 12 years old?"

"That's a valid name," Mason briefly explained the current situation to Natasha Romanoff, "There's a generator outside powered by gasoline. The septic tank will need to be flushed in a few weeks, but, you know, someone will come to handle it. You'll have to take the trash into town, it's only a 20-minute drive. I've put your gear under the stairs."

"Not bad," Natasha Romanoff said.

"Are you okay?" Mason asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Natasha Romanoff replied.

"I heard some things, you know, about the Avengers disbanding," Mason said.

"I'm fine," Natasha Romanoff assured, "Actually, I'm better off on my own."

"Are you sure?" Mason asked.

"Yes," Natasha Romanoff said.

"You can tell me, you know? Friends are like that," Mason said.

"I know, I have friends," Natasha Romanoff responded.

"People with friends don't call me," Mason exposed Natasha Romanoff's lie.

"I won't bring trouble to you," Natasha Romanoff half-heartedly defended.

"What's all this junk?" When Mason was leaving, Natasha Romanoff kicked a box at the doorstep and asked.

"Oh, just some mail and personal information from the Budapest safehouse," Mason turned back to say.

"Budapest?" Natasha Romanoff was somewhat surprised.

"I knew you wouldn't be going back, so I let others use the apartment," Mason explained, hands in his pockets.

"Sorry for causing you trouble, I should have told you I wasn't staying," Natasha Romanoff said.

"Alright," Mason said, "If you don't want those things, just throw them in the trash."

Natasha Romanoff tossed the box into the back of the car, planning to get rid of it when she went into town.

The "when" came quickly. In the evening, Natasha Romanoff noticed that she was low on fuel, so she drove into town to refuel.

Boom!

As she was passing over a bridge, without warning, a shell hit her car. The car erupted into flames and flipped multiple times, rolling to the edge of the bridge. Half of the front of the car was dangling over the edge, and it looked like the whole car was about to plunge off the bridge.

Natasha Romanoff was dazed by the impact, appearing semi-conscious. The gasoline on the road started to ignite, and sparks crackled inside the car.

Whether it was the fire or an electrical spark that jolted her, Natasha Romanoff gradually regained consciousness. She turned her head in the car and saw a figure slowly approaching her step by step.

The person was wearing a distinctive combat suit and had a helmet on their head, although clearly not a motorcycle helmet – it looked more advanced.

"I'm pretty sure Ross doesn't have jurisdiction here!" Natasha Romanoff channeled her inner Antonia Dreykov and said, "You should know that I'm even more accurate when I'm angry."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Natasha Romanoff fired her gun at Antonia Dreykov, who picked up a shield and deflected all the bullets with it.

Then, Antonia Dreykov threw the shield, and with a clang, it embedded itself in the car window.

"Captain, are you sure you haven't been recruiting students behind our backs?" At this point, Thor couldn't help but remark to Steve Rogers, "This person's shield throwing looks a lot like your style!"

"A shield isn't an exclusive weapon," Steve Rogers said, "That Red Guardian also uses a shield."

In the span of these two sentences, Natasha Romanoff had already crawled out of the car in the video. She held a gun in both hands and looked around warily.

However, there wasn't a single shadow around, and Antonia was nowhere to be seen.

Antonia hadn't actually left; she was hiding on the roof of the car. When Natasha Romanoff turned her head, Antonia somersaulted off the car's roof. However, Natasha Romanoff was incredibly alert and almost as Antonia flipped down, she swiftly turned her head and opened fire.

As usual, Antonia used her shield to block all the bullets.

After landing, she kicked the gun out of Natasha Romanoff's hand.

Natasha Romanoff spun around, attempting to trap Antonia Dreykov's neck with her legs to bring her down. But Antonia Dreykov landed steadily on the ground, and then with a swift spin, she trapped Natasha Romanoff's neck with her legs, flipping her to the ground.

Antonio's helmet was indeed no ordinary helmet; it displayed some data about Natasha Romanoff and outlined her movements with some motion lines.

Natasha Romanoff quickly got back on her feet with a kip-up, and at the same time, Antonia Dreykov performed an identical kip-up. Their movements mirrored each other perfectly.

"This guy, he can mimic other people's moves!" Seeing this, Steve Rogers had already figured something out.

"So Thor wasn't wrong; he's really copying the Captain with that shield?" Tony Stark remarked.

"He's already mimicked Natasha and Cap. I wonder if he'll mimic the others in the Avengers," Bruce Banner added.

"I don't know about the others, but Bruce, he definitely can't mimic you," Natasha Romanoff said, "It seems like he can only replicate certain physical actions."

"Tony and Thor are definitely out of the question," Stephen Strange chimed in, "Clint, on the other hand, is quite likely."

At this point, an unexpected change occurred in the video. Antonia Dreykov saw a box and abruptly abandoned Natasha Romanoff. She turned away and headed toward the box.

"You didn't come for me!" At this moment, Natasha Romanoff finally understood; the other person was after her mail!

Mason had handed it to her, and without even looking, she had intended to throw away the contents of the package.

Now it seemed clear that this was anything but simple, otherwise, someone like this wouldn't be trying to take it by force.

Natasha Romanoff drew a dagger and charged at Antonia Dreykov. After a few exchanges, she was sent flying with a single blow from Antonia.

Natasha Romanoff got up and tried to engage again, only to be kicked away by Antonia Dreykov.

But that was fine; Natasha Romanoff had more tricks up her sleeve. She pulled out a small cylinder, pressed a button, and a rope shot out, entangling Antonia Dreykov's legs.

Antonia Dreykov was bent over to pick up the box, her hand almost touching it, when the rope suddenly retracted, pulling her towards it.

Natasha Romanoff hurriedly ran over to the box, opened it, and found several vials of red liquid. Without pausing to ponder what they were, she quickly stashed the vials in her waistband.

Almost immediately, Antonia Dreykov sliced through the rope with her sword, executed a mid-air somersault, and swung her sword toward Natasha Romanoff.

Natasha Romanoff grabbed the shield from the ground and sparred with Antonia. But before long, Antonia kicked her off the bridge into the water.

Antonia Dreykov jammed her sword into Natasha's back, then opened the stolen box. It was empty, nothing inside.

That was when she realized she had been deceived. But as she walked to the bridge's edge to look down, there was no sign of Natasha Romanoff's shadow in the vast river.

Natasha Romanoff swam to the shore and took out the vials, now having the time to examine them closely.

Among the vials, she found a photo – a picture of two little girls laughing heartily.

It was her, back when she was young, and her sister, Yelena Belova.

Since the email was from Yelena, and it had attracted the attention of someone like the mimic, Natasha Romanoff was determined to get to the bottom of this.

She arrived in Budapest.

Arrived at the place she had once lived.

There were still two small doors under the main entrance. She opened them and reached inside – sure enough, there were guns hidden inside. She took them out and holstered them at her waist.

"I know you're out there." Just as Natasha Romanoff was unlocking the door, a voice sounded from within, a woman's voice.

"I know you know I'm out here." Natasha Romanoff drew the gun she had just holstered and cautiously opened the door, stepping inside.

"Why are you skulking around like you're in a minefield?" The person inside the room spoke again.

"Because I don't know if I can trust you," Natasha Romanoff replied.

"Interesting, I was going to say the same thing," the person in the room retorted.

"So, are we going to talk like adults?" Natasha Romanoff entered a room where a woman stood, also holding a gun aimed at her.

Although many years had passed, Natasha Romanoff recognized the other woman at a glance – she was Yelena Belova.

"Before I kill you, put the gun down," Yelena Belova warned Natasha Romanoff.

"You put yours down first," Natasha Romanoff responded, embodying the fine tradition of "ladies first," despite being a lady herself.

The two of them didn't hesitate long with their guns pointed at each other before they started fighting. Their intensity was such that if you didn't know better, you'd think they were mortal enemies. Who could have imagined that they were sisters?

"Most long-lost sisters would embrace and cry when they reunite. But you two are just going straight for each other's throats," the sight of the sisters fighting left Stephen Strange dumbfounded.

"They're even using knives; aren't they afraid of killing each other?" Scott Lang was equally astonished. When Natasha had seen the photo of her sister earlier, she had clearly shown emotion, but now, upon meeting, she was attacking without mercy.

"This situation is quite normal," Nick Fury chimed in, showing no surprise. "If Natasha had just blindly trusted Yelena, she wouldn't have become one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most elite agents."

"But she's her sister!" Wanda Maximoff found it hard to accept this scenario.

"So what if she's her sister? Even for blood-related siblings, after so many years apart, you can't easily trust each other," Phil Coulson explained, understanding the behavior. "Wanda, this is just how we operate. Maintaining suspicion and vigilance is the fundamental requirement of our profession. The only thing we can fully trust is the gun in our own hands."

As the group in the briefing room shared their opinions about the "sisterly brawl," the video showed that the two sisters had finished fighting. Both of them seemed unharmed, as if neither had just been desperately trying to harm the other.

"Did you have to come to Budapest?" Natasha Romanoff asked.

"I came here because I thought you wouldn't," Yelena Belova replied, opening the fridge and taking out a bottle of wine. She gestured at some marks on the wall. "You used to live here. What caused those bullet holes?"

"They're not bullet holes; they're arrow holes," Natasha Romanoff clarified.

"They look like bullet holes," Yelena Belova poured herself a glass of wine.

"If you thought I wouldn't come here, why did you send me this?" Natasha Romanoff took out the vials of red liquid and the photo and placed them on the table.

"You brought it here?" Yelena Belova took the photo.

"I didn't come here to be your friend, but you need to tell me what this is," Natasha Romanoff demanded.

"It's a synthetic gas, a counteragent against chemical subjugation," Yelena Belova explained as she packed her things. "This gas can immunize the brain's nervous system through various means..."

"Can you speak in plain English next time?" Natasha Romanoff interrupted.

"It's an antidote to mind control," Yelena Belova clarified. "Why didn't you take it to your super-scientist friend? Like Tony Stark?"

"We don't communicate much these days," Natasha Romanoff replied, "So..."

"Great, perfect timing," Yelena Belova said, "When you need the Avengers, where are they?"

"I don't want to be here. I'm on the run. You could get me killed," Natasha Romanoff said.

"What am I supposed to do? You're the only superhero I know," Yelena Belova stated. "That's why I sent you that stuff."

"I've been keeping up with the news." Natasha Romanoff paused, then added, "Looking forward to seeing Captain America take down the Red House."

"What?" Natasha Romanoff was shocked to hear this. "Demolishing the Red House? What are you talking about? That's all in the past, years ago. Dreykov is dead. I killed him."

"You can't really believe that, can you?" Yelena Belova chuckled, looking at Natasha Romanoff with surprise. "So you actually believe it."

"Dreykov is dead. We almost destroyed the entire city to kill him," Natasha Romanoff stated.

"If you're so sure, then tell me how you killed him, in precise detail," Yelena Belova challenged.

"We planted a bomb," Natasha Romanoff answered.

"Who is 'we'?" Yelena Belova asked.

"Clint Barton," Natasha Romanoff looked at Yelena Belova and said, "Killing Dreykov was the final step in my escape to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Is it really that simple?" Yelena Belova inquired.

"Yes, it is. Of course, quite simple," Natasha Romanoff turned away and walked, continuing, "That's what I meant by the explosion at the Pentagon, then the shootout with the Hungarian Special Forces. We hid for ten days before leaving Budapest."

"Did you check the body?" Yelena Belova bent down to pick up her bag and placed a handgun inside. "Confirmed his death?"

"There was no body left for us to examine," Natasha Romanoff replied.

"You forgot about Dreykov's daughter," Yelena Belova said.

At that moment, both Yelena Belova and Natasha Romanoff heard a faint noise and sensed danger. In the next instant, with a loud explosion, the roof was blasted open, and a group of fully armed Widow assassins stormed into the room through the hole.

However, neither Natasha Romanoff nor Yelena Belova were easy targets. They effortlessly burst out of the room and fled onto the rooftop.

As they ran, they found themselves cornered with no way forward. Yelena Belova took matters into her own hands – she unscrewed a large chimney and both she and Natasha Romanoff clung onto it. With a forceful push against the rooftop, the chimney toppled over towards another building.

One of the pursuing Widow assassins, as if without regard for her life, followed them and attempted to leap across. However, the chimney had moved too far from the rooftop, and she failed to grasp onto it, plummeting downwards.

In a critical moment, Natasha Romanoff grabbed the hand of the falling assassin.

One might think that this act of saving her life would earn Natasha Romanoff gratitude, but the assassin, under these circumstances, drew a knife and attempted to stab Natasha Romanoff. The outcome was her own fall.

Boom!

The large chimney crashed onto the other building, flinging Yelena Belova and Natasha Romanoff outwards.

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