"Derukov is trying to run. I'll intercept him."
Smith Dole gave a brief order, then instantly darted off toward the retreat route, moving so fast that a fierce gale blew everything around into the air.
Natasha, carrying Yelena on her back, her red hair fluttering, heard his words and also rushed after them.
At that moment, Derukov, under his guards' protection, reached the jet waiting on the lift platform. The moment he sat down in the plane, his heart settled — with the plane's takeoff speed, just a few seconds would be enough.
As the plane successfully lifted off, Derukov looked at the control tablet in his hands. As long as he lived, the dispersed Black Widows would still be under his control. Given time, he could rebuild this base again.
With a press of his ring against the tablet for verification, Derukov gritted his teeth and directly activated the self-destruct sequence. A 60-second countdown began.
"Damn you, Smith Dole. Damn you, Natasha. You'll all die with my base."
"You superhumans should be locked away forever like Alexei, subjects for research!"
Derukov clenched his teeth in hatred — this floating fortress, built with vast funds and manpower, was about to be lost.
Bang!
But the next second, a huge fist imprint suddenly appeared on the plane's door.
Seeing this, Derukov cried out in terror:"Shoot! Shoot!"
Boom!
The next moment, Smith Dole ripped the plane's door clean off and tossed it aside.
Clang, clang, clang…
Bullets hammered Smith Dole's body, their flattened heads falling uselessly to the floor. Thankfully, his suit was the bulletproof version and did not shred under the hail of fire.
As Smith Dole charged into the cabin, Derukov's guards were flung out of the aircraft one by one.
Even after being thrown out, these mind-controlled soldiers adjusted their stances mid-air and kept firing at the plane.
Smith Dole smashed the armor of Derukov's daughter with a single punch, knocking her out, then grabbed Derukov with one hand and the future Taskmaster with the other, flying back to the Red Room's landing platform.
As for the jet, Smith finished it with a single ki blast, blowing it apart mid-air.
Just as Natasha reached the platform with her unconscious sister on her back, two figures were hurled from above, landing heavily in front of her.
Ah~Bang, bang!
It was none other than Derukov and the Taskmaster, both trying to flee.
Derukov, badly battered, almost dropped his control tablet in the crash.
"Derukov!"
Hearing his name, Derukov sat up, hiding the tablet face-down behind him.
"Natasha. How unexpected…"
"I didn't think you'd actually bring people here to destroy my Red Room."
Smith Dole flew back from the sky at that moment, landing next to the group.
Natasha looked at the disfigured woman beside Derukov and asked in confusion:"Who is she?"
Clearly anyone Smith brought back wasn't just anyone.
"Derukov's daughter," Smith Dole said coldly.
Natasha studied the woman closely — she hadn't died after all.
This left Natasha bewildered. That bomb had brought down an entire building — yet Derukov was fine, and even his daughter survived?Had S.H.I.E.L.D. lied to her all this time?She'd seen the explosion with her own eyes, with both of them inside.
So all these years of working for S.H.I.E.L.D. — for what?Bad luck?Her guilt — was it all for nothing?Just self-punishment?
Seeing Natasha's pained expression, Derukov laughed.
"Ha ha…"
"I heard you've lived in guilt over that bomb all these years."
"I should thank you — you gave me a powerful warrior."
At that moment, Natasha finally understood — she had been living in lies all along, both in the Red Room and in S.H.I.E.L.D.
"What was my mother's name?"
Derukov froze for a moment, but since he was stalling anyway, he smiled and answered — after all, he didn't expect to survive, and could at least drag her down a bit.
"Hmm…"
"We buried her under a tree…"
"Uh…"
"A patch of pink flowers, very pretty."
"And a gravestone, with her name on it."
"What was her name?"
"Heh heh…"
"Unknown."
Hearing this, Natasha's eyes reddened.
"Kill him. I have nothing more…"
But before she could finish, the entire Red Room base exploded violently, the platform shaking and cracking under the blast.
"Ha ha ha!"
Derukov laughed manically, then bitterly, before looking at Smith Dole and saying:"I didn't think you could fly."
"I'd planned to kill you all with this explosion. Now let me perish with the Red Room."
On the plane, he had still hoped to kill them, but after seeing Smith fly up and grab him, he had lost all hope.
"I just wonder… can your flying carry two people?"
He glanced at the unconscious Yelena and at Natasha.
Smith Dole appeared in front of him in a blink, tore the control tablet from his hands, and snapped off the ring-bearing finger.
Ah~
Derukov screamed, shouting in disbelief:"No — how did you know?!"
Ignoring him, Smith hurled him into the inferno consuming the base.
"Go to hell with your Red Room. Tell Mephisto I said hi."
Boom!
Derukov's body disappeared into the flames.
Boom, boom, boom…
The base kept exploding and breaking apart. Smith pocketed the Black Widow control tablet and the verification ring, then walked to Natasha.
"It's time to leave."
Smith cradled Yelena in his left arm, while Natasha wrapped her arms around him on his right.
Holding the two sisters, Smith Dole flew them away from the crumbling fortress.
Boom!
The Red Room was finally obliterated in a fiery blast, reduced to rubble. A single tear slid down Natasha's cheek.
At long last — the past was over.
(End of Chapter)
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