Multiverse , Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 405: 405 MCU 80

We used the ship’s AI to display the prison blueprints in 3D, tracking the package’s location as we waited.

"Thankfully, it looks like he received it."

"Good, get ready."

When the signal came through the earpiece that it was powered on, Natasha said,

"Today’s your lucky day, Alexei. Come to the door on the south wall."

We used the AI to hack the prison system and opened the doors along the southern route.

Alexei began moving slowly south, visible on the screen.

"Go left. Don’t cause a commotion."

WEEE-OO! WEEE-OO!

"It sounds like he caused a commotion anyway."

No sooner had Natasha said that than alarms began blaring throughout the prison.

Alexei had not moved quietly.

"Hah... Seriously..."

Yelena let out a heavy sigh.

"There he comes."

I spotted Alexei breaking through the iron door and alerted Natasha.

After getting outside, Alexei ran toward the outer wall of the prison and asked into the earpiece,

"What now?"

"We’ll pull you up, so wait."

Natasha tried to lower the wire, but suddenly other prisoners started breaking out too, and the situation quickly turned chaotic.

If we dropped the wire now, not just Alexei but dozens of prisoners would latch onto it, making escape difficult.

To make matters worse, guards came out with guns, tightening security and opening fire on the prisoners, escalating the situation to a crisis.

"Climb up to the top! Move it, super-soldier!"

At Natasha’s command, Alexei began scaling the barbed wire fence without hesitation.

He’d gotten heavier and looked sluggish, but he was still a super-soldier—he jumped much higher than an ordinary person and climbed quickly.

ZZZZT!

"GAAAH!"

But the guards who had already taken position shocked him with electric batons the moment he came up.

"This isn’t working! Should I go down?"

Yelena said, and I replied,

"Don’t worry. I have a way."

Alexei eventually lost his grip and fell.

Just as his heavy body was plummeting through the air, a flash of light opened a gate beneath his landing point.

He fell right into it, as if it had been waiting, and the gate closed without a trace the moment he vanished.

I had perfectly timed an Eldritch Gate to catch his fall.

THUD!

"UGH!"

He crashed loudly onto the ship’s floor.

But being a super-soldier, his body was tough—he didn’t seem injured.

"Wow... Brother-in-law, you have so many amazing abilities."

Yelena was amazed by the Eldritch Gate, and Alexei, regaining his senses, spotted Yelena and asked in surprise,

"Yelena? Is that you? How did I get here... and where is this?"

"This is the Aurea, an Avengers ship. And I’m here because my sister, brother-in-law, and I came to rescue you."

"What?! Natasha is here too?! And brother-in-law... Jin from the Avengers?"

"Yeah. He’s right there."

When Yelena pointed at me, Alexei looked me over.

"Unbelievable, it really is Jin... To think I was rescued by the Avengers... Anyway, nice to meet you. I’ve been wanting to see Natasha’s boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you too. I’m Jin from the Avengers."

"Comrade, can you hold your liquor? My daughter’s boyfriend ought to be able to drink."

After I gave a light greeting, Alexei suddenly started talking about alcohol.

Unable to stand it, Natasha spoke from behind him,

"Don’t say weird things to Jin! It’s embarrassing."

Alexei finally noticed Natasha and asked in surprise,

"Oh! Natasha! The Avengers’ top spy! That escape was thrilling. I’m so proud of you both!"

Then Yelena suddenly punched Alexei in the face.

THWACK!

"Ugh! C-cra... Why are you so aggressive? Is it that time of the month?"

"I don’t get periods, you idiot! I don’t have a uterus. The Red Room had me forcibly sterilized. They removed my entire reproductive system—cut it all out with instruments, this and that..."

Yelena made hand gestures to describe the procedure in detail, but Alexei told her to stop.

"Okay, okay, I get it! Stop! You don’t have to be so cold and graphic."

"I haven’t even mentioned the fallopian tubes yet."

"Enough! Huff... Anyway, thank you for coming for me. Oh, ah! That’s right—wait a moment."

Alexei suddenly opened the ship’s window and shouted toward the shrinking prison,

"GOODBYE!!! YOU IDIOTS!!!"

Then he grabbed a bottle of liquor, threw himself onto the sofa, and started chugging straight from the bottle.

"Ahh... As expected of an Avengers ship—even the liquor is high-class."

Natasha sighed at the sight and asked him,

"Feel better now that you’ve shouted?"

"Of course."

"Then tell us where the Red Room is. That’s our goal."

When Natasha asked, Alexei realized that the rescue was for the Red Room’s location and said, sounding a bit offended,

"Hah... Is this Avengers business? Little Natasha has been completely brainwashed by Western thinking."

"No, this is for me, Yelena, and the Widows behind us. To stop more victims like us from being created."

"What?! They’re all Widows?"

"Then who did you think they were?"

"I... I thought they were just Avengers agents, or cosplaying maids since Jin is so rich..."

THWACK!

"OW!"

Natasha frowned and kicked Alexei hard in the shin without hesitation.

He clutched his calf and groaned in pain for a while.

"Agh... Damn it."

"Stop wasting time and just tell us! We know you worked with Dreykov!"

At Natasha’s words, Alexei scowled, looking a bit stung, and began to speak.

"Fine. General Dreykov! He was my friend. He lured me in with promises of glory—said I could be the Soviet Union’s first and only super-soldier, even more famous than Captain America. But he buried me in Ohio for that stupid mission. For three whole years! It was so boring it made me cry!"

Yelena glared at him. Ohio was where she and Natasha had lived as a fake family.

She treasured those memories deeply.

Alexei, knowing that, glanced at Yelena and continued,

"W-well... Anyway, after that mission ended, he sentenced me to life in prison and threw me in jail. Why? What for? Why did he put me away? Maybe because I was about to talk about the country—about the Soviet Union’s decline. Or maybe I just didn’t like his hairstyle and made a casual remark. Or maybe, I wanted that ’party’ to feel like a real party instead of a depressing organization. But in the end, that never happened. He locked me up for life and ran off into hiding. Well, I’m not that kind of person. You know me."

He rambled on, but the gist was that he had no idea why he’d been discarded by the government or Dreykov.

The way he kicked at the floor as he spoke showed just how much bitterness those long years of imprisonment had left him with.

Yelena, clearly tired of listening, urged Alexei,

"Stop rambling and just tell us where the Red Room is."

"I don’t know. I don’t know anything about the Red Room’s location. Why don’t you ask Melina instead?"

"What? Mom? She wasn’t dead?"

"A fox that quick can’t be killed."

Natasha looked shocked—she too was stunned to learn that Melina Vostokoff was still alive.

Until now, she had believed her foster mother had died in Ohio.

"Melina is working for the Red Room now?!"

"Yeah. She worked higher up than I ever did—a scientist and strategist. I’m the muscle."

"Where is she now?"

"She’s probably working remotely on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg."

We turned the ship around and headed for Saint Petersburg as Alexei had told us.

During the trip, I noticed Alexei smelled a bit off, so I pointed him to a room to shower and gave him fresh clothes.

He washed up for a while and came out clean-shaven—he’d clearly put in effort for Melina, but his physique was still heavy and not particularly impressive.

"Ta-dah~! What do you think? Your dad still looks pretty spry when he dresses up, huh?"

Alexei flashed his gold tooth and grinned widely, but Natasha and Yelena both just stared at him with blank expressions.

He casually squeezed himself onto the sofa between Natasha and Yelena, who were resting.

They both grimaced and moved to the sides as if avoiding something unpleasant.

He may have called himself their father, but seeing him rejected by his daughters made me feel a little sorry for him.

"Hey, Natasha... Can I ask you something... Are you close with Captain America?"

"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"

"It’s important."

When Alexei’s expression turned serious, Natasha answered.

"I suppose you could say we’re close. We’ve done a lot of missions together."

"Then did he ever mention me?"

"Wha, what?"

"Captain America. My greatest rival on the stage of ideological conflict... Hmm... No, not a rival—more like a contemporary, a symbolic figure on equal footing with the Red Guardian. I always thought we had a deep mutual respect."

Natasha looked incredulous.

"After 20 years, that’s all you have to ask? I feel stupid for thinking you were being serious."

At that, Alexei looked wronged.

"Why are you both so cold? Did I do something wrong?"

Yelena shot back,

"Is that a serious question?"

"I loved you both. I did everything I could to help you reach your full potential and succeed. And everything turned out well, didn’t it?"

"Do you really think everything turned out well?"

"You? Yeah, it did! We completed our mission in Ohio. Yelena, you became the greatest child assassin in world history! No one could match your efficiency and ruthlessness."

Then he turned to Natasha.

"And Natasha—you’re not just a spy. You’re someone who topples regimes, brings down empires from within, and you’re an Avenger. You’ve both killed so many people. Your ledgers must be dripping red by now. I’m so proud of you. Don’t you agree?"

Alexei had tried to praise his daughters in an attempt to repair their relationship, but he was completely off the mark.

Just looking at the Widows resting on the opposite sofa, who stared at him in disbelief, made that clear.

The important fact was that they hadn’t chosen to become Black Widows—they had been forced into it.

Natasha and Yelena eventually shook their heads and gave up talking to him.

Just then, I decided to share some hopeful news with the Widows.

"I told Natasha this before, but our company can also regenerate uteruses. The technology has developed that far. In simple terms, we culture stem cells to grow organs. If you want, we can regenerate yours so you can conceive again."

Yelena and the Widows were shocked.

"Is, is that true?"

"It’s still in the clinical trial phase, and it’s expensive, but the prospects are bright."

"So we could have a normal family life someday?"

"Yes."

At that, Yelena and the other Widows’ faces brightened considerably.

Actually, that research didn’t really exist—I was planning to solve it with my [Matter Creation] ability anyway.

It wasn’t a complete lie, though: artificial organ transplantation using stem cells was a future technology that existed in the Nanoverse.

I also added the "expensive" caveat for a reason—to recruit the Widows as employees of our company after the Red Room fell.

If they knew it cost a lot, it would be much easier to persuade them to join as staff.

While we talked, we arrived at our destination.

It was also near the Arctic, with a chilly breeze blowing.

"Hold on a little longer. We’re here."

Following Alexei’s directions, we landed the ship behind a farm and began to disembark.

From inside the farm, a woman was aiming a sniper rifle at us.

The Widows quickly drew their weapons in response, but Alexei urgently stopped them.

"Whoa, whoa, it’s okay. She’s friendly. Calm down."

He walked toward her slowly, and we followed.

The woman lowered her rifle after checking us through her scope and slung it over her shoulder.

"Honey... We’re home."

Alexei stood before her and said that, and the woman stared at him in surprise for a long moment, then at Natasha and Yelena.

She was Melina Vostokoff—Natasha and Yelena’s foster mother.

She had her long black hair neatly tied back and wore work clothes, and despite her age, she still had an impressive figure and appearance.