Chapter 226: Chapter 227: A Drawer of Gems! The Avengers Are All Stunned!
"That's quite a serious accusation," Lavona Lentsreil said.
"Believe me, the scent of two Tony Starks is quite distinct," Loki said calmly, "If you're looking for the time criminals, then you should go look for them. Perhaps you can assign me a special team and provide me with some resources. I can go back and take care of them for you."
"We're not talking about the Avengers," Lavona Lentsreil said, "What they're doing was meant to happen, but your escape wasn't."
"I see..." Loki laughed upon hearing this, "Wasn't meant to happen, who says that?"
"The Time Keepers," Lavona Lentsreil said.
"The World Keepers, I see." Loki continued, "Perhaps I should have a chat with the Time Keepers, god to god."
"Sorry, they're quite busy." Lavona Lentsreil said.
"Is that so? What are they busy with?" Loki asked.
"Deciding the normal flow of time," Lavona Lentsreil said.
"I see, well then, what do you do?" Loki asked again.
"According to their decisions, I decide the normal flow of time," Lavona Lentsreil said, "Do you plead guilty?"
"I am indeed guilty..." Loki stretched out his hands and made a grabbing motion in the void, "Because of this."
"What's going on?" Lavona Lentsreil didn't understand Loki's actions.
"Wait a moment, don't speak." Loki tried grabbing again, but it didn't work, and he slammed the table in frustration, "Damn it! Why doesn't it work!"
"Magic? That's not allowed in the Temporal Variance Authority, Mr. Laufeyson." Lavona Lentsreil said, "This court finds you guilty, and I sentence you to a reset!"
Bang!
Lavona Lentsreil used the gavel to strike the table.
"Reset? What does that mean? Is it bad? What does it mean?" Loki exclaimed angrily, "You ridiculous bureaucrats, don't even think about deciding how my story ends!"
"It's not your story, never has been, Mr. Laufeyson." Lavona Lentsreil said, flipping through new case files.
"You can't even imagine what I can do!" Loki raged.
The scene shifted, Loki's body flickered, and he appeared in a room. He then saw an Asian man pushing a cart. When he had just been brought here, the Tesseract had been registered by this man.
Loki quickly followed the Asian man into an office.
"Hey." Loki ran up to the Asian man.
"Hey, I know you. You're the criminal with the blue box." The Asian man remembered Loki.
"What's your name?" Loki asked.
"Casey," the Asian man said.
"Give me the Tesseract, or I'll gut you like a fish, Casey!" Loki threatened.
"What's a fish?" Casey asked.
"How do you not know what a fish is?" Loki was baffled.
"I've been sitting behind a desk my whole life," Casey said.
"So what?" Loki asked.
"I want to know what threat I'm facing, and then I'll comply," Casey said.
"Death, Casey. Violent, painful death." Loki said menacingly.
"Okay, okay, I'll comply." Casey then opened a drawer, lifted a board, and took out the Tesseract, "This?"
Loki took the Cosmic Cube and finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, when he glanced at the drawer unintentionally, his whole demeanor changed.
Inside the drawer were colorful and vibrant gems – a drawer full of Infinity Stones!
"What?" Loki couldn't believe his eyes, "Infinity Stones? How, how did you get them?"
"We have plenty. Yes, some people use these stones as paperweights," Casey said.
At that moment, Loki completely broke down. He stared blankly at the Infinity Stones, then stood up to examine the office.
"So, this is the most powerful force in the universe?" Loki couldn't help but ask.
The scene darkened, and the video ended.
"I saw something! A drawer full of Infinity Stones!"
"Is it real? Infinity Stones are thrown around like trash in there!"
"And many people use Infinity Stones as paperweights? Are these the Infinity Stones that Thanos risked everything to collect?"
Seeing the TVA treating the Infinity Stones like trash, it was a huge shock to everyone in the Answer Space.
It was these Infinity Stones that Thanos used to slaughter half of life!
And with these same Infinity Stones, they revived the deceased!
These were the Infinity Stones that possessed the most powerful cosmic power, yet they were casually thrown into a small employee's drawer!
"I finally understand why the Ancient One and Odin didn't dare to resist. Even the Infinity Stones are treated like garbage. If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't dare to resist either," Tony Stark was still unable to recover from the shock.
"Fortunately, they're here to protect the universe. If the Temporal Variance Authority wanted to destroy the universe, it would have been destroyed multiple times over," Steve Rogers muttered.
"Talking about Thanos and Hela, compared to the TVA, they're nothing," Stephen Strange said, "If the TVA wants to judge them, just like they did with Loki, they could capture them at any time."
"So, what's our purpose in all of this?" Bruce Banner felt despair for the first time, "We risked our lives to traverse time and space to save those who died, only to find out that it was all part of someone else's script, meant to happen?"
"I don't believe that," Clint Barton shook his head, "I protect people because I want to protect them, not because I'm supposed to."
"Bruce, the TVA hasn't said that they set a script for us." Nick Fury said with a serious tone, "They're just protecting the timeline."
"Is that so? Then why do they decide what should happen and what shouldn't?" Bruce Banner asked.
"They're the Time Variance Authority. Time might be unknown to us, but to them, time is like a book. Whether it's the past or the future, they can freely flip through it. Their duty is to ensure that events unfold according to the book they've read. If something deviates from that book, they intervene," Stephen Strange explained, "I feel that we shouldn't concern ourselves with the TVA for now."
"The Captain is right. The existence of the TVA isn't something we can touch right now," Tony Stark said, "Let's focus our attention on Thanos."
[The fifth question begins, please be prepared.]
[Where is the red house located?]
[A. On the ground]
[B. Underground]
[C. In the sky]
[D. Under the sea]
[Answer correctly for a reward of ten years of life. Answer incorrectly, and one year of life will be deducted.]
"No wonder we couldn't find the red house no matter what methods we used. Turns out the red house might not be on the ground at all," Natasha Romanoff understood immediately upon seeing this question.
"If it's not on the ground, then where is it?" Clint Barton asked.
"It's unlikely to be underground either," Natasha Romanoff said, "Even though I don't know the exact location of the red house, during my training there, there was sunlight, it was very bright. So, it can't possibly be underground."
"Likewise, it's unlikely to be underwater," Clint Barton said, "There's no sunlight underwater either."
"Then, by logical deduction, it must be in the sky," Nick Fury said.
"Exactly, it can only be in the sky. Only that option explains the bright sunlight," Natasha Romanoff said. "So, the answer is C!"
[Correct answer! Reward granted!]
Suddenly, ten years of life were added.
Natasha Romanoff had just gained more life.
"It's actually built in the sky. The technology of this red house is quite something," Tony Stark said.
"It's truly well-hidden. No wonder we had no leads," Clint Barton said.
Soon, the video began playing, and the scene initially showed several planes flying through the night sky.
The Scarlet Defender, Alexei Shostakov, woke up slowly. He turned his head and saw Yelena Belova and Natasha Romanoff lying on the ground, their fates unknown.
"Requesting descent," he heard Melina Vostokoff as Kovac's voice, and he called out, "Melina?"
"We'll be landing in one minute," Melina Vostokoff as Kovac said.
"Then why are we still ascending?" Alexei Shostakov asked.
He looked up and saw a massive steel castle looming above them.
"Now you know how Dreykov managed to stay out of people's sight all these years," Melina Vostokoff as Kovac said.
Next to her, an arm reached out and injected a substance into Alexei Shostakov's arm. He felt his head grow heavy and slipped into unconsciousness again.
Soon, the plane landed at the Red Room in the darkness of the night. Melina Vostokoff as Kovac walked through the Widows' training grounds, took an elevator, and arrived in a spacious office.
"My my, look at you," Dreykov, leaning on the couch, stood up. "So, how's the family reunion?"
"Oh, it's a complete disaster," Melina Vostokoff as Kovac said, "They're too clingy, too emotional, too needy."
"Just like old times?" Dreykov asked.
"Hmm," Melina Vostokoff as Kovac responded.
"And Yelena Belova, how is she?" Dreykov asked, "She's the only one affected, right?"
"As far as I know, yes," Melina Vostokoff as Kovac said.
"These gas antidotes are giving me a headache. It's a problem you need to deal with," Dreykov said.
"I have nine pigs. When I'm not around, they need taking care of," Melina Vostokoff as Kovac said.
"Don't concern yourself with your pigs." Dreykov pushed Melina Vostokoff as Kovac back onto a chair. "Cut off her head, hmm? Find her weakness."
"And what about Romanoff?" Melina Vostokoff as Kovac asked.
"She's a traitor. She betrayed her people to the core," Dreykov said, "She has nothing left. Bring her back home. I gave her love, put those things on her, you know, the chemicals, turned her into your pig." Dreykov looked into Melina Vostokoff as Kovac's eyes. "Can you imagine what I could do to an Avenger under my control?"
"Don't you want to talk to her first?" Melina Vostokoff as Kovac asked.
"When you look into the eyes of a child you raised, there's no mask in the world that can hide that fact," Dreykov said, reaching for Melina Vostokoff as Kovac's face. He pulled off her mask and wig.
It turned out that the person standing there was not Melina Vostokoff as Kovac, but Natasha Romanoff.
"Welcome home," Dreykov said.
Beside him, the mimicry master, Antonia, drew her gun and aimed it at Natasha Romanoff but was stopped by Dreykov. "Not now, not now. Don't ruin my new toy."
There was a Natasha Romanoff here, but there was also a Natasha Romanoff by Alexei Shostakov's side. They were both held captive together.
"Natasha, I can't save us," trapped in a sealed room, Alexei Shostakov spoke with a touch of despair, "I want you to know I'm sorry. I dedicated my life to a cause, you know, I thought I was brave, maybe the bravest. But I'm not brave at all, I'm a coward. In Cuba, when they took you all away from me, I should have sacrificed myself. For what..."
He didn't finish his words when the glass door in front of him suddenly slid open.
"How did you do it?" Alexei Shostakov grabbed his helmet and walked out of the room, looking at Natasha Romanoff in astonishment.
"These cells were designed by me," Natasha Romanoff removed her mask and wig. It turned out that she was the real Melina Vostokoff as Kovac.
"What?" Alexei Shostakov was utterly stunned, "I revealed my soul to you, and yet you were my soul all along?"
"Yes, unfortunately. Wait, shh! I'm on a call with Yelena," Melina Vostokoff as Kovac covered her ear and said, "Yelena, it's me, your mother. There's a two-inch knife hidden in your belt."
At that moment, Yelena Belova was tied to an iron bed, with a curve drawn on her forehead, and several lab-coated individuals were preparing a syringe. It looked like they were about to perform a procedure on her.
"What?" Yelena Belova heard Melina Vostokoff as Kovac's voice and was so surprised that she blurted it out.
The doctors preparing for the procedure all turned to look at Yelena Belova. Luckily, she was quick-witted and changed her words, "What are you planning to do to me?"
The doctors were momentarily puzzled and turned back to focus on their work.
Yelena Belova quietly retrieved a knife hidden in her belt, slashed the strap binding her, swiftly attacked one doctor with the knife, and knocked another down with a kick to the face.
A sudden pain shot through her shoulder as another doctor injected her with a syringe. Yelena Belova took down that doctor as well and kicked him in the face, causing him to lose consciousness.
Swoosh!
In the end, she flung the knife out, pinning the last fleeing doctor to the wall.
"Couldn't you have told me earlier?" Yelena Belova pulled out the needle from her shoulder, put on her clothes, and walked away briskly.
Meanwhile, Natasha Romanoff was still engaged in a confrontation with Dreykov.
"So, this is your plan?" Dreykov asked.
"My plan is to kill you," Natasha Romanoff said.
"I'm still alive," Dreykov said, "So, what do we do now?"
"What's my mother's name?" Natasha Romanoff asked.
"There's a tree where we buried her, with pink flowers, very beautiful, and a gravestone with her name on it," Dreykov said, "What was her name again? Ah, 'Unknown'."
"Don't you feel anything?" Natasha Romanoff's eyes glinted, "When I killed your daughter, did you feel anything?"
"Is this your haunting past?" Dreykov laughed heartily, "Really?"
"Thank you, Natasha. You've given me the best weapon," Dreykov walked over to Antonia, "Say hello."
Antonia removed her helmet, revealing a disfigured face.
"When your bomb went off, almost killing my Antonia, I had to implant a chip in her neck," Dreykov said, "Look at her. She can see everything. She can do it. She's a perfect mimic. Just like all your friends, she can fight."
"That's a mistake." After Dreykov sent Antonia away, Natasha Romanoff drew her gun, aiming it at Dreykov.
"Is it?" Even with a gun pointed at his head, Dreykov remained remarkably composed.
"You just sent away something that could've stopped me from killing you," Natasha Romanoff said.
"Then try it." Dreykov nodded, "Go ahead, try to kill me."
Natasha Romanoff gripped the gun in her hands, clearly wanting to pull the trigger, but for some reason, she couldn't. It was as if her brain couldn't command her hands anymore.
"Is the safety on?" Dreykov extended his hand and took the gun from Natasha Romanoff.
"No," Dreykov raised his hand and fired a shot into the air, then said, "Try your knife."
Without hesitation, Natasha Romanoff pulled out her knife and lunged at Dreykov. However, a strange scene unfolded once again. When her knife was about to strike Dreykov, her arm halted.
It seemed that her arm was once again not obeying her brain's commands.
"You're in trouble," Dreykov took the knife from Natasha Romanoff's hand.
"How are you controlling me?" Natasha Romanoff asked.
"I'm not controlling you, Natasha, not yet," Dreykov said, "But there's a pheromone inhibitor. It prevents you from killing me if you smell my pheromones."
"I'm angry with Melina. I regret having to kill her," Dreykov continued, "Melina was going to bring the Red Room down from the sky and hand me over to the authorities."
Saying that, he pressed a button on a tablet, and Melina Vostokoff as Kovac, who was acting covertly, was locked in a room.
"So, what now?" Natasha Romanoff asked, "Are you going to make me join your sad little puppet show?"
"Look at them, these girls are all garbage, thrown out on the streets, and I recycle garbage. I give them purpose, I give them new life," Dreykov showed off his Widows network, whether out of arrogance or something else, to Natasha Romanoff. "This is my Widows network, helping me control the balance of power. With a single command from me, the oil and stock markets can crash. With a single command, a quarter of the world's population could starve. My Widows can wage wars or end them. They can create and defeat kings."
"You control everything through this?" Natasha Romanoff looked at the large screen.
"With you by my side, an Avenger under my control," Dreykov said, "I can finally step out of the shadows, using the world's only natural resource – girls."
"It's all done through that little console?" Natasha Romanoff turned around.
"Yes," Dreykov confirmed.
Then, Natasha Romanoff laughed. She stepped closer to Dreykov, still laughing.
"What? Do you find this amusing?" Dreykov asked, "Why are you laughing?"
"Thank you for your cooperation," Natasha Romanoff looked at the console in front of her, "But you're not strong enough. I'll have to take matters into my own hands."
"What are you going to do?" Dreykov asked.
"Sever the nerves," Natasha Romanoff lowered her head and smashed her face into the console, causing her nose to bleed profusely.
However, this meant she wouldn't smell Dreykov's pheromones anymore, and she could now take action against him.
Bang!
She delivered a powerful punch to Dreykov's face, knocking him down.
"Now you can't talk, can you?" Natasha Romanoff kicked Dreykov in the face, "You stole my childhood, you stole my choices, tried to break me, but you won't do that to anyone else again."
Natasha Romanoff was about to finish off Dreykov, but a sickle flew from behind and lodged itself in her shoulder.
Attached to the sickle was an iron chain, which was pulled back, dragging her backward.
Then, a large group of Widows burst into the room.
"Nobody leaves this room until she's dead," Dreykov found his glasses, put them on, and turned to leave, "Ensure she dies in agony."
"I don't want to hurt you, and you shouldn't hurt me either," Natasha Romanoff stood up and addressed the Widows.
But no one paid her any attention. The Widows rushed forward, and Natasha Romanoff found herself in a battle against them.
Although Natasha Romanoff was highly skilled, the other Widows were also formidable fighters, and with their overwhelming numbers, she quickly found herself overpowered and unable to fight back. She was brutally attacked from all sides.
Bang!
Just when things looked dire, a bundle of antidote gas was thrown in, exploding over the heads of the Widows, releasing a cloud of red gas.
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[END OF CHAPTER]
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