"Natasha, I see this as a good thing," Hawkeye Barton said immediately, offering comfort to Black Widow. Their relationship was special.
"Knowing how you're going to die means you can start dealing with it now, to avoid it."
"Not everyone gets that chance."
"Barton, I'm not a child," Black Widow said with a smile. "It's okay, you don't need to comfort me. Let's get back to the questions."
Hawkeye Barton didn't say anything more. Black Widow, an incredibly seasoned and battle-hardened agent, naturally possessed outstanding psychological resilience.
She could face her own death head-on.
Hawkeye Barton turned his attention back to the big screen, joining the others in focusing on the questions.
"Red Room? What kind of organization is that?" Tony Stark couldn't help but ask first, adding with a touch of sarcasm, "That's a really strange name."
"Natasha, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Hawkeye, Barton, immediately said to Black Widow.
Barton knew that the Red Room was a shadow Black Widow didn't like to mention.
"It's okay, Barton!" Black Widow paused briefly, then decided to reveal her unknown, less-than-glorious past.
Since joining S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Widow's experience, skill, and accomplishments would have allowed her to become a commander long ago, without having to constantly be on the front lines.
But Black Widow still chose to live a life on the edge of death, to atone for her past self.
Now, she could face her past with composure.
"The Red Room was a secret organization belonging to the former Soviet Union. They collected many war orphans and trained them to be the most professional assassins!"
"I was one of the assassins trained by the Red Room."
"Because of my blood-soaked hands, I caught the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. sent Barton to eliminate me, but Barton changed his mind."
"He persuaded Nick Fury to let me join S.H.I.E.L.D., and that's when I was able to start a new life."
Black Widow briefly introduced the Red Room to everyone, also mentioning her own past. It had to be said, it surprised everyone.
No one expected Black Widow to have such an unknown past, and that she and Barton had such a special relationship.
Then, the special feelings between Black Widow and Barton were not hard to understand.
"So, this is a secret assassin organization that has existed since the former Soviet Union?" Doctor Banner was slightly taken aback.
If that was the case, the Red Room was a bit too dangerous.
"The Red Room is destroyed," Hawkeye Barton stated seriously to Doctor Banner, addressing everyone present.
"Natasha's initiation into S.H.I.E.L.D. was destroying the Red Room. We blew up the Red Room's base and killed their leader, Dreykov!"
"I personally killed Dreykov," Black Widow added.
"So, their base was blown up, and their leader is dead, therefore the Red Room is destroyed?" Tony Stark asked, his hands spread in a gesture of doubt. "Am I the only one thinking of Hydra?"
Hydra was a perfect "case study" of how things could go wrong.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had sworn that Hydra was destroyed, but what happened?
Hydra wasn't destroyed, they had infiltrated and corrupted S.H.I.E.L.D. from within.
With that precedent, Tony Stark couldn't bring himself to believe that the Red Room was truly gone.
"Stark, this is different."
After some thought, Black Widow shook her head. "The reason Hydra left no trace is because they had cover within S.H.I.E.L.D.! They infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
"And the reason they were able to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. was because S.H.I.E.L.D. was running a stupid 'Paperclip' program!"
"So, the Hydra situation was an isolated incident, and it won't happen again."
"The Red Room was destroyed, and S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't found any trace of them in all these years. They've been destroyed! There's no doubt about it."
"That's right, Stark, you're being too sensitive," Hawkeye, Barton, said to Tony Stark.
Unfortunately, Black Widow and Hawkeye, Barton, were still too limited in their thinking. They couldn't have imagined that the new base after the Red Room was destroyed had been hidden in the clouds all along.
In the sky! Even if S.H.I.E.L.D. was super powerful, they wouldn't be able to find it.
"I'm just raising a reasonable question, that's all. It's up to you whether you accept it or not," Tony Stark said, shrugging his shoulders, and didn't say much more.
"Let's put A aside for now; let's look at the other options," Captain America said from the side.
He also felt that it was a miracle that a case like Hydra's had even occurred. It wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the Paperclip Project.
The Red Room, like Hydra, having the ability to perfectly hide under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nose was just too unlikely.
Otherwise, S.H.I.E.L.D. would be too useless.
"Sacrifice myself to get the Soul Stone?" Captain America looked at this option, thinking of something.
"Thor, the Soul Stone, is that one of the six Infinity Stones?" Captain America glanced at Thor and asked.
"That's right, it's one of the six Infinity Stones, possessing power over the soul," Thor nodded.
"Option B describes an action to compete for the Soul Stone, and I decided to sacrifice myself in this action... We know nothing about any clues or details of this action."
Black Widow shrugged. "So, we can't analyze that option for now."
Everyone agreed with this, so they turned their attention back to option C.
"Age of Ultron? That should be the battle in Sokovia, where the Avengers and Vision fought Ultron," Captain America immediately stated.
"Since it's an 'Age,' it must have been a large-scale battle, so I agree," Tony Stark nodded in agreement.
"Regardless of whether Ultron is the robot we think he is, it was a brutal and difficult war. Anyone could have died in that kind of battle," Hawkeye, Barton, said from the side.
"So, option C is possible?" Thor glanced at everyone.
"That's right. I could have died in any mission, including the 'Insight Project' in option D," Black Widow nodded.
"We can't make any judgments about these actions without knowing any details."
Black Widow's words made perfect sense. Whether it was a major battle or a small operation, there were countless possibilities of what could have happened.
In the dark, no one could make any judgments.
"No, I think we can rule out the Age of Ultron!" After some thought, Captain America seemed to remember something.
"The Sokovia Accords!" Captain America then firmly spat out these words.
Many people at the scene had their eyes light up. They weren't fools, and after Captain America's reminder, they all reacted.
"We previously speculated that the Sokovia Accords happened after the Avengers battled Ultron, and that battle was very likely the Age of Ultron."
Captain America continued to say to everyone.
"Not only that, but we also previously speculated that the fundamental reason for the Hero Civil War was because I signed the Sokovia Accords! And the Captain didn't!"
"Black Widow was there in that battle!"
Tony Stark added.
"In other words, Black Widow didn't die in the Age of Ultron!" Thor summarized.
Everyone was a little bit excited. If that was the case, then Age of Ultron could indeed be ruled out.
Of course, this inference wasn't rigorous. No one could be certain if the "Accords" mentioned in Captain America: Civil War was the Sokovia Accords.
Currently, the conclusion they could reach was that it was very likely, but that was all.
But even so, for the purpose of answering the question, sometimes just the possibility was enough.
"Come on, guys, just one option left. We just need to choose between D and B."
"We're at the final step in solving this question!"
Tony Stark clapped his hands, addressing everyone present.
In fact, Tony Stark didn't need to say anything; everyone had their eyes glued to option D, trying to analyze something.
"The 'Insight Project,' what's that?" Doctor Banner couldn't help but ask curiously.
"It's a Hydra project."
Captain America explained seriously to Doctor Banner, "I, Romanoff, and another guy will stop this plan someday in the future."
Then, he briefly introduced the related video information to everyone.
"Besides that, Captain, can you provide anything else? Apart from knowing 'we need to get into the Helicarrier,' we know nothing about this plan!"
Doctor Banner stared at Captain America and asked.
"That's all we know, about this plan. The answering system hasn't given us any other clues."
Captain America shook his head.
The scene fell silent for a moment. Up until now, everyone only knew that this plan might be related to the Helicarrier, but nothing else.
There was no way to start; there was simply no way to carry out any analysis.
"Captain, it's just you, Romanoff, and 'the other guy'? Those three?" Hawkeye Barton pondered for a moment, his expression slightly shifting, as if he had caught something.
"That's right, just the three of us." Black Widow nodded seriously. "From when we caught Sitwell to when the Winter Soldier tried to assassinate us, it was just the three of us."
"This isn't right. No, or rather, this is right." Hawkeye Barton said, his eyes shining.
"What's both 'wrong' and 'right,' Barton? Could you be more specific?" Thor asked, looking at Barton with a serious expression.
"Although we're not entirely clear on what this Insight Project is, Captain, you mentioned using Sitwell to sneak onto the Helicarrier!"
Hawkeye Barton cut to the chase. "This is about getting onto the Helicarrier! What you guys did didn't follow S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol at all."
"For an operation like infiltrating a carrier, S.H.I.E.L.D. would have planned meticulously beforehand, with rapid response forces, logistical support, and potentially even Director Fury himself directing the operation."
"But you? It seemed like you had nothing."
"Otherwise, Captain, you wouldn't have decided to use Sitwell to get on board. That decision was absolutely terrible, like a joke."
"Barton, you're right." Black Widow nodded after Barton's reminder. "At the time, we were indeed acting alone, without any support from S.H.I.E.L.D."
That much was obvious.
The ridiculous way they got onto the Helicarrier, with a crucial Hydra agent being taken out without any protection, and not contacting the command center for support when attacked by the Winter Soldier…
Captain America and Black Widow were indeed operating outside of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system.
"So, the mission to stop the Insight Project, S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't even involved? It was just Captain America, Romanoff, and them?"
Tony Stark quickly picked up on what everyone was implying. "So, the description of Item D is wrong. It's not 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mission to stop the Insight Project.' This mission wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D.'s at all!"
"Exactly, that's what I mean when I say something's off about this mission," Hawkeye Barton nodded.
But he wasn't finished. He continued to elaborate.
"Remember the 'Hail Hydra' video? Sitwell died during the mission to stop the Insight Project, so 'Hail Hydra' happened before that."
"And at that time, the Captain pretended to be Hydra and took the scepter."
"But this kind of thing is easily exposed. If Sitwell confirms with his superiors, they'll immediately know they've been tricked by Captain America!"
"So, what situation will Captain America be in next?"
"Captain America will be eliminated by Hydra, who are mixed in with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s high-ranking officials! And their first step is to use some excuse to kick Captain America out of S.H.I.E.L.D.! They'll portray Captain America as a criminal, and then use S.H.I.E.L.D. to deal with Captain America openly!" Black Widow immediately added.
As a veteran agent, she was very proficient in these matters, knowing how they operated and immediately grasping the key points.
"So I think, that's why you were acting alone, because at that time, you were very likely criminals of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
-------------
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