Multiverse , Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 406: 406 MCU 81

Then she stared at me intently as well, and suddenly Alexei patted my shoulder and introduced me.

"He’s Jin from the Avengers. Handsome, right? He’s our son-in-law."

I just stood there quietly, but Natasha, clearly annoyed by that, frowned and kicked Alexei in the rear.

THWACK!

"Ugh! Why??"

Melina watched that for a moment, then rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache and slowly walked toward the house.

Alexei gestured for us to follow.

"Kids, let’s go."

We followed Alexei to Melina’s house.

She ran a pig farm, and there were several pigs visible in the pens around the property.

What stood out was that she wasn’t raising large pigs for meat—only small ones about a meter long, probably for experimental purposes.

The house at the end of the farm was a modest wooden cabin.

It looked quite old from the outside, but the clumsy repair marks here and there suggested she’d been maintaining it herself over the years.

Natasha, Yelena, and the Widows entered the house and looked around.

It wasn’t just casual sightseeing—they seemed focused on assessing the layout, probably a habit ingrained from their training.

"I figured they were Widows. You can tell just from how they move."

Melina seemed to have noticed right away as well.

"I’ll get us some drinks."

She said that and opened what looked like a storage space to put her sniper rifle inside.

But the problem was that there was another hidden space inside.

Various weapons were neatly organized, and several holographic masks—like the ones Natasha often used—were visible.

It seemed she was still actively operating.

Natasha, seeing that, was dumbfounded—this was completely different from the kind, ordinary Melina she remembered.

"Unbelievable..."

"I’m just putting away my gear."

Melina said it as if nothing was wrong, but Natasha’s distrust of her had clearly taken root.

"Are there any booby traps here? Or anything else we should know?"

"I didn’t raise my daughters to fall into traps."

"You didn’t raise us properly at all!"

At that, Melina paused for a moment and then said,

"Maybe not. So if you’ve grown weak, that’s not my fault."

She said that and began taking things out of the fridge, setting them on the table.

"I’m not sure if there’s room for all of you. I never expected this many visitors. Could you grab some chairs from over there?"

At her words, the Widows picked up chairs from the living room and sat at the table.

It was a bit cramped, but everyone managed to sit.

Just then, a strange sound came from the bathroom.

"Hngh! Urgh! Nnngh! Huff!"

We all listened silently.

It sounded like someone straining with constipation, which seemed awkward, so Melina picked up a bottle of liquor and said to us,

"Let’s have a drink."

She poured vodka for each of us.

"Ahem!"

Just then, Alexei cleared his throat loudly and made his entrance.

He had deliberately drawn attention with the cough.

Leaning one hand against the wall in an exaggerated pose, Alexei was wearing his Red Guardian suit—red with white accents and a large star on the chest.

"This suit still fits. Hahah~!"

"Oh my god..."

Natasha and Yelena looked like they’d seen something they shouldn’t have, while Melina found it amusing and whistled, clapping and laughing.

The sounds from the bathroom had probably been Alexei grunting and straining to force himself into a suit that no longer fit.

"That suit has never been washed... Anyway, come sit and have a drink."

Alexei happily took his seat at Melina’s invitation and began humming a Soviet-era song.

He seemed in high spirits, probably reminiscing about old times.

"The family is reunited. Well, with future family members and guests too, of course."

Hearing that, Melina looked at Natasha and asked,

"Speaking of which, Natasha. How did you meet Jin? It couldn’t have been easy to get the world’s richest man."

"That’s not what’s important right now!? What really happened in Ohio?"

"Hmm... We asked first, so if you want to know, it’s only polite to answer first, isn’t it?"

"Hah..."

Natasha sighed, and I chuckled.

"There’s no harm in telling."

"Jin!"

Natasha was startled and tried to stop me.

"What’s the big deal? We’ve had plenty of interesting stories."

"Oh~ Sounds interesting. Brother-in-law, tell us."

Yelena, who had been listening quietly, also urged me to hurry up.

"So, how we became lovers goes like this..."

I told the story with great excitement: Natasha infiltrating Gundam Island and getting caught, the hearing incident, being kicked out of S.H.I.E.L.D. and working as a secretary, and finally, through the New York incident, becoming lovers.

"Wow~ What a dramatic love story."

"Hahaha, that’s my daughter! Of course! A daughter of mine should be that impressive!"

"Wow... That’s kind of fantastic."

The Widows also listened with interest, but Natasha’s face turned red with embarrassment and she kept chugging vodka.

"Your love story is interesting, but ours is no joke either. Right? You haven’t aged a day. Still as beautiful and slim as the day we got married."

Alexei looked at Melina with warm eyes and said that, and she smiled slightly, looking shy.

"You’ve put on some weight. But you still look good."

"I just got out of prison. I’m... well... full of energy."

Sensing the mood getting awkward, Natasha looked like she was about to throw up and stopped them.

"Please don’t! Huff... We told you, so now tell us. What happened back then?"

"I’ll tell you what happened, but Natasha—don’t slouch. Sit up straight, or you’ll ruin your posture."

"I’m not slouching!"

Natasha frowned and denied it, arguing with Melina, and Alexei tried to calm her down.

"You should listen to your mother."

Natasha, apparently annoyed at being treated like a child, grumbled.

"This is a complete mess. Fine! Just stop talking now."

Yelena, who had been quiet, also spoke up with discontent.

"I haven’t said anything yet. That’s not fair. I have a lot to say too."

Just then, the Widows looked at each other and spoke up cautiously,

"Um... Should we wait outside? We’ll stay on the ship. It seems like you have a lot to talk about..."

The Widows probably felt uncomfortable staying in the middle of the constant arguing.

"Huff... Sorry, I didn’t think about you all. Go ahead and rest on the ship. We’ll definitely get the Red Room’s location."

"Okay."

As the Widows were about to leave, Melina packed some food for them—she couldn’t just let them go empty-handed.

When Melina returned after seeing the Widows out, Natasha didn’t want to waste any more time and immediately asked about the Red Room.

"Forget Ohio—just tell us about the Red Room already."

At that, Melina glanced at Natasha, sighed, went to the living room, grabbed a tablet, and called someone.

"Come in!"

Just then, a pig opened the door and entered the house, walking over to us like a puppy.

"Did that pig just open the door and come in?"

"Yeah, it did. Good boy, Alexei."

Melina gave the pig a treat and praised it, and Alexei looked dumbfounded.

"You named a pig after me?"

"Yeah, it’s cute. And it looks like you."

"It doesn’t look anything like me..."

Melina ignored that and tapped on her tablet, then gave a command to the waiting pig.

"Hold your breath."

At the command, the pig actually stopped breathing.

"We infiltrated the North Institute in Ohio. Actually, it was a front for S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists—though at the time, they were Hydra scientists. They were working with the Winter Soldier project, dissecting and disassembling human brains to create the first and only cellular blueprint of the basal ganglia. The basal ganglia is the center of cognition, voluntary movement, and procedural learning. We didn’t just steal weapons—we stole the key to dismantling free will."

In short, while they were living as a fake family in Ohio, they had stolen the brainwashing technology from the Winter Soldier project at the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility.

The Red Room had developed it further and used it on the Black Widows.

Hearing all this, it really drove home that Hydra was the most vile criminal organization on Earth.

Tony’s words came to mind: "Mercy is a luxury for garbage."

THUD!

Just then, the pig that had held its breath collapsed.

Natasha, worried about the pig, quickly said,

"What are you doing!"

"Ah, I was just demonstrating that when I command ’hold your breath,’ they have no choice but to obey."

"I get it. I get it, so let it breathe."

"Don’t worry. Alexei can survive 11 seconds longer without oxygen."

Melina operated the tablet again, revived the pig, and sent it back outside.

"Good boy. Alexei, go home now."

Alexei, who had been listening nearby, made a strange expression every time his name was called.

"Dreykov has planted chemically controlled Widows all over the world. Now that the Avengers know the Red Room exists, it’s only a matter of time before it falls—you’re the group that even brought down Hydra."

Given that Melina said this, Dreykov was indeed afraid of the Avengers.

"I understand you want to save the Widows, but Dreykov could kill all of them in an instant. So if you really want to save them, you’ll need to approach carefully."

Yelena asked Melina,

"Then do you know who experimented on them?"

"I don’t know. I only handled the research."

Alexei, thinking Melina was playing ignorant, spoke to her.

"Oh, Melina... Don’t lie to them."

"I’m not lying."

"You were Dreykov’s architect."

"Then what were you? If I was the architect, you were his partner!"

"I was about ideology! Don’t sell out ideology!"

Suddenly, the two started arguing, shifting blame, and Natasha slammed the table and shouted,

"Enough!"

She looked at Alexei and Melina in turn and said,

"You’re an idiot, and you’re a coward! Our family was never real, so there’s nothing more to say!"

Everyone fell silent at her words.

But their expressions said a lot.

Natasha’s eyes were filled with sadness even as she spoke.

Melina looked at her with pity, Yelena just sipped her drink quietly, and Alexei didn’t look happy either.

Just then, I broke the silence, took Natasha’s hand, and said,

"You sure say things you don’t mean. You’ve been disappointed by the truth time and again, but you still think of them as the closest thing to family. So I think it’s time to stop saying things like that. Nobody’s perfect."

"Jin... You’re not the one involved, so you don’t know."

"You’re right—I’m not involved, so I may not know everything. But being a third party means I can see things you might miss."

Yelena agreed with me.

"Brother-in-law’s right. They were real family. At least for me, it was real. Melina was the closest thing to a mother I ever had. The best part of my life was fake, and no one ever told me. And those agents—the ones you chemically brainwashed all over the world? I was one of them. So was Natasha."

Yelena looked at Natasha and continued, as if confronting her.

"You escaped, but after that, Dreykov made sure no one else could. That’s why we’ve been his slaves all this time! What do you have to say now?"

"..."

Natasha couldn’t answer, her face filled with guilt as she lowered her head.

Melina tried to comfort Yelena by patting her shoulder.

"Don’t touch me."

But Yelena brushed her hand away, grabbed a bottle of vodka, and stood up.

"Yelena!"

Natasha called out urgently, but Yelena ignored her and went into another room.

"I had no idea."

"It’s okay. I’ll go."

Melina said, but Alexei said he’d go instead and stood up to go into Yelena’s room to cheer her up.

"Hmm... After this is over, I think it’d be best for both of you to come to the U.S. with the Widows. Once the Red Room is gone, staying here would be dangerous. I’ll talk to the U.S. government, so don’t worry. I’ll even help move the pigs and take care of your living expenses."

When I said that to Melina, Natasha added a condition.

"That’s only if you cooperate. Stop stalling and tell us where the Red Room is."

Melina thought for a moment and then replied,

"Honestly, I don’t know either. Until a few days ago, we were sharing research data and staying in contact. But since yesterday, I got a message saying ’The Avengers are hunting us, so we’re cutting all communication for a while.’ Since then, no contact. Besides, the Red Room is a floating base in the upper stratosphere. Its location changes constantly, so finding it is impossible."

"Damn..."

This was a bit different from the original—probably because I was involved, Dreykov had chosen to go into hiding until things quieted down. In a way, he’d made the best choice.

"This is tough... What do we do now..."

Natasha looked troubled, and I said as if it were no big deal,

"No, that’s enough information. If it’s a large floating base in the stratosphere, it’s actually easier to find. I have satellites in orbit—I’ll find it quickly. It would have been much harder if it were on the ground or underground."

"Really? That’s a relief. Not hiding in a forest ended up being their poison."

"Yeah."

I said satellites, but actually I was planning to use the radar from Isisphol, a space station in orbit.

"As expected of the Avengers. Finding it so easily with just that much information..."

"Honestly, the Red Room is nothing compared to what we’ve dealt with. We’ve fought highly advanced aliens, monsters with unbelievable powers, and organizations that tried to reshape the world."

"I see... The Red Room doesn’t even come close to that level."

Melina looked a bit bitter at my words—whether because the Red Room she’d been unable to escape was being dismissed so lightly, or because she still had some lingering attachment to it, I couldn’t tell.

"Huff... Natasha, I have something to tell you. I’d like to talk alone."

Natasha agreed and followed Melina into the study.

Probably, just like in the original, Melina was going to tell Natasha about her biological mother.

Natasha had believed her mother abandoned her, but in reality, her mother had never stopped searching after she went missing.

Meanwhile, I was locating the Red Room.

Honestly, I could have easily found it with [Jack Sparrow’s Compass], but this was also a bit of fun.