Variation - W.M.

Chapter 40 - December 13, 2016

Pietro and I were the first to the conference room. Soon after, Steve and Sam filtered into the room, followed by Tony and, a couple minutes after, Bruce. Wanda drew up the rear, arriving only a minute before the requested time ran out. When she entered the room she avoided my gaze, moving to the back of the room to lean against a railing. I let my gaze linger on her before sighing and looking away.

"What?" Pietro asked and I shook my head, catching sight of Nat.

The previously MIA redhead strode into the room, although it was the blonde trailing behind her that caught my attention. Apparently I wasn't the only one whose attention was drawn.

"Who is that?" Pietro whispered, his eyes not leaving the new woman.

"I am in the same conference you are Maximoff, how would I know her" I deadpanned and he shot me a look.

"You live in another timeline, be useful."

I grinned teasingly, ignoring the way my stomach dropped at his words as I nudged him with my shoulder. "Someone sees something he likes." He eyed me and I held up my hands, glancing at the woman again and trying to rack my brain for a name. "Maybe Yelena? Nat talked about her a bit while we were in the jet trying to avoid getting caught."

At the sound of the name the blonde's head whipped toward me, her eyes narrowed at the two of us.

"This is Yelena Belova, my sister. She was, until recently, a widow." Nat began, shooting me and Pietro a look to shut up.

"Damn, if all widows are this hot tell me where to sign up." I muttered, although not as quiet as I thought because I earned a snicker from a couple of the men and another look from Nat. I held up my hands in surrender before pretending to zip my lips and throw away the key.

"Widow? I thought you got rid of the Red Room?" Steve asked, sitting up a bit in his seat.

"I thought so too until Yelena sent me these" Nat said, holding up a narrow red vial. "After I got out, Dreykov and Madame B started made it harder for any future widows to escape. This is the antidote."

At everyone's lost expressions Nat sighed, turning to Yelena.

"Dreykov used chemicals to subjugate widows, making it impossible for them to escape. This gas immunizes the brain's neuropathways-"

"Making it impossible for the brain to be affected by external manipulation" Bruce picked up, looking excited. Tony hummed thoughtfully but everyone else seemed just as confused as me. Yelena shot Nat a look, only to receive an eye roll from the redhead.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, my brain not following all the fancy talk.

"Mind control bad, red gas good" Tony mocked and I flipped him off.

"I know you were mocking me but that helped so thank you" I shot back smugly.

Tony opened his mouth to say something else when Clint's voice joined the conversation, announcing him as he walked through the door. "So the Red Room is still active?"

"Thankfully, no. We managed to get rid of that but there are still widows out there who need this. We already have someone who can help synthesize the antidote but we need resources" Nat said.

"Mama widow" I gasped quietly, turning to Pietro, excited about the woman whose first name matched my middle one.

He nudged me, nodding towards the two Russains and I huffed, turning back around. For the rest of the meeting me and Yelena seemed suspended in a slightly scarier version of a staring contest. A contest I, unfortunately, lost.