the red widow and captain carter

I'm Not A Good Person, Peggy.

Natasha Romanoff felt a wave of relief when she held the canister over Dorothy Underwood's face and released the antidote, freeing her of Dreykov's grasp.

The semi-solid particles absorbed into her skin and momentarily lit up her veins, before fading away. She looked down at the unconscious widow and smiled. She was helping them. All the widows. With the help of her father, mother and sister, Yelena, over a couple of days Natasha had finally taken the Red Room down and gotten a hold of the antidote to Dreykov's mind control.

She'd parted ways with her family and kept in contact with Yelena, who'd gone off to help widows around the globe.

Natasha had finally destroyed the organisation that ruined her life.

A single tear rolled down her face as she stared down at Dottie. She had no emotional connection to her — heck, she'd been alive back in Peggy's day — but she knew what Dottie had experienced. How alike they were.

The door opened and Peggy softly stepped inside, smiling at Natasha.

"Did it work?" She asked hopefully.

Dottie had been in a chemically induced coma since she'd awoken in the medical bay of the Avengers Tower and attempted to strangle a doctor, obviously still under the Red Room's control. They'd put her back under and she'd been lay in the bed for a month. Peggy would check up on Natasha's mission daily, see if she'd located her sister, updates on anything new, her family.

When Natasha returned with the antidote for Dottie's condition, Peggy had nearly crushed her to death in a hug.

"We'll know once she wakes up. I'm going to go grab a doctor, see if they can do it now."

Peggy gave her a nod as she slipped out of the room, taking a seat next to Dottie's hospital bed. She looked down at her body in... well, awe.

It was much different than it had been in 1948. Her entire stature had grown, she probably stood at 6"2. Her muscles were defined, not that they weren't exactly prominent back then. Dottie had had what Natasha called a 'Red Room Ballerina' figure; essentially a dancer's body with assassin-grade training. Now it was just like hers once she'd been given the Super Soldier Serum; bigger and better.

Later on, Natasha returned with a doctor and he requested they both leave the room in case of any violent outbursts. They'd both nearly laughed in his face (as if we couldn't handle it) but complied, waiting in Tony's office and watching on the camera.

The doctor injected her IV with a fluid and took a step back, awaiting results. Dottie twitched slightly before opening her eyes and blinking in the light.

"Where am I?" She asked, voice scratchy from being asleep an entire month.

"You're in the medical bay of the Avengers Tower, ma'am. Captain Carter brought you here." The doctor replied.

She chuckled humorlessly and shifted, sitting up. "And where has Peg run off to?"

Peggy couldn't help but crack a smile at Dottie's seemingly never-ending need to call her that. She walked back into Medical and opened the door to her room, watching as her face cracked into a smile mimicking her own.

"Can we have a bit of privacy, please?" Peggy asked the doctor. He nodded and left the room, leaving Peggy to walk up to Dottie's bedside and resist the urge to laugh at Dottie's unfaltering Iowa smirk.

"Finally gotten me all alone, Peg. What've you kidnapped me for this time?"

"I haven't kidnapped you, Dottie. Do the Red Room own you?"

Dottie's smile fell slightly as she turned away, pulling out the IV silently. She winced momentarily before shutting off the machines and standing.

"They don't own me. And neither do you." She attempted to open the door but it wouldn't budge. "Let me go."

"We can't do that, I'm afraid."

"What are you talking about? I can't stay here, General Dreykov knows-"

"General Dreykov is dead. And Natasha found the antidote for his pheremonal lock on you. You are not under anybody's control anymore."

Dottie remained silent before smiling again.

"Except yours."

"I'm not controlling you Dottie, Jesus! Will you please just listen?"

"Why should I? You've tried to kill me in the past, Peg."

"And I can't say the same for you?"

"Fair point. What do you have to say to me?"

Peggy took a seat in the armchair and tapped her fingers lightly.

"We want to offer you a place. Here, as part of the Avengers."

"And why on Earth would I join you people?"

"Because you know, deep down, that we're the good guys. And you're one of us, Dottie. You can do good-"

"I've killed so many people, Peggy." She interrupted, eyes glossing. Peggy was shocked even by the thought of Dottie showing any emotion other than amusement. "I'm not a good person."

"Yes you are, Dottie. What the Red Room did to you, it was inhumane. You were completely brainwashed and thought how they told you to think. Do you think Natasha would be here if not? She was raised in the same ways you were, Dottie, and she saved New York City from aliens."

Dottie raised an eyebrow. "Aliens?"

Peggy let out a hearty laugh. "You've missed a lot under the ice, Underwood."

"Tell me about it."

They stared at each other for a moment, Dottie seemingly taking her in after so long. "So. What do you think? You want to be a part of the good guys?"