Chapter 13

A/N: Three chapters left before the next arc.

Chapter 13

(Ruby Hale)

May 12th, 2010HyperdimensionBio-domeDay cycle

Ruby grimaced at the knowledge that she was sold off by her government to appease an extraterrestrial princess. She was told that Hydra and all its assets were found out and taken care of by the diverse governments around the world that the organization had infiltrated with a big help from the being that she was about to meet.

She walked along the big silver and black corridor leading to an airlock that made the word 'armored' not impactful enough to describe the layers of defenses she was seeing. The tall redhead who was escorting her made her thankful that she was silent, the woman was as intimidating as she was beautiful; but Ruby's training made it so that she would never show fear.

The redhead put her hand against a panel and the airlock opened swiftly with a hiss. There was a jungle behind the airlock and a pink sky. Birds and small animals could be seen scurrying away or flying in the sky. The roar of bigger creatures rang from the exotic tropical forest. A tall silver tower jutting out of a modern looking white domed palace overlooking a hill with a cascading waterfall filling a crystal clear lake could be seen on the horizon, and Ruby feared how they would cross the jungle with all the creatures she could hear.

The intimidating woman, who was clearly her chaperone, took her hand, then pulled her toward a black pedestal with rings engraved on its surface.

"Wh-what's this place?" Ruby asked with apprehension in her tone.

The eleven year old girl had been made to wear a black bodysuit with an integrated skirt to protect her modesty and calf half boots, incidentally, Ruby looked rather elf-like in her getup; they went up the stairs on the pedestal and stood at its center while the redhead informed Ruby. "This part of the ship, called the bio-dome, is able to sustain a population of hundreds of thousands of people in this jungle."

Ruby turned her head to the woman at her side and widened her blue eyes. "That many?!"

The redhead smiled at her. "That many."

By entering a command on the computer integrated into her right gauntlet, the two were suddenly teleported to a white room with a high ceiling complimented by a skylight. The floor was made of a smooth gray surface that seemed to prevent slipping; Ruby was helped down by the redhead who commanded, "Follow me, don't stray from the path."

Ruby wasn't seeing any path, but suddenly a glowing blue white line appeared on the ground showing the way out of the room. "It’s like we're in Tron or something."

As they advanced, Ruby couldn't be anything but impressed by the mix of metal and glass in the architecture of this modern palace. She was mesmerized by the fleet of robotic appliances cleaning the corridors and the rooms they passed. The cleaning robots strangely reminded her of the R2 Droids she had seen in Star Wars but in a totally gray color and in possession of multiple mechanical arms with integrated tools.

They finally arrived before large metal doors made of precious metal in what Ruby thinks is the center of this… palace; climbing plants with pink and red bioluminescent flowers that looked like a rose and orchid flower. It was beautiful, and she had never seen such flowers before.

"Those are Captain Komand’r apartments." Her redheaded chaperone took Ruby out of her reverie.

Contrary to Ruby's expectations, the door slid open by sliding out, then another door looking definitely more armored opened vertically and a blue forcefield shimmered into existence. The woman took her by the arm and pulled her toward the energy field and they... passed through it; Ruby felt a tingling sensation even as they were on the other side. The teenage girl touched her face and she looked at a strand of her blond hair.

"How does this work? I feel as if I've taken a shower." Ruby asked her chaperone with an excited expression.

The woman shrugged, she was human like Ruby and barely understood how the teleportation platforms worked, she just knew how to use them. Fortunately for the redhead, someone interrupted their conversation.

"Science. It uses really obscure ones, but you will soon know how it works." A beautiful brunette with black rimmed rectangular glasses and a similar bodysuit appeared in the lobby they were in, slowly walking toward them with the biggest and welcoming smile on her face.

The redhead nodded to her. "Darcy."

Ruby could finally put a name on the newcomer; the one named Darcy stopped before the older woman. "Hey Nat, you brought the kid."

Finally, Ruby mentally yelled as she got the redhead’s name! The woman didn't even introduce herself when she took her from the UN helipad in New York to the shuttle. The redhead, Nat, smiled at Ruby and said, "Yes, and she's been on her best behavior so far."

The two adults decided to finally involve her into the conversation. *Being a kid sucks.* thought Ruby. The brunette turned to Ruby with a smile. "Hey, I am Darcy and you're Ruby Hale, right?"

Darcy held her hand to Ruby who looked at it with a neutral expression; she sighed and shook the woman's appendage and said, "Yeah… but it seems I've been adopted legally by her highness and my family name is now Blackfiredotter…"

Ruby knew her position was really precarious and she needed to not make a bad impression on the people who had her future in their hands.

"Eep!" The brunette pulled Ruby in her embrace and said as she hugged the teenager tightly, "Welcome to the family, Ruby!"

Extricating herself from the woman's embrace quickly, Ruby stepped back with her face reddening. "Wait, who are you?"

Even Ruby's own mother had never shown her such physical affection before, so much so that the girl didn't know how to react. Darcy grinned and said, "Your future stepmother. Well if everything goes as planned." She mumbled the rest of her sentence and made it inaudible.

Ruby didn't hear what she mumbled but knowing that this was someone really close to the alien woman who put Hydra on its knee was enough to elicit a bit of fear into Ruby. The brunette kept Ruby on the back foot, with each of her actions, the training at Hydra academy hadn't covered over affectionate women.

"Darcy-love, where are you?" A mellifluous voice rang from behind the screen separating the luxuriously furnished lobby to the central area of the apartments.

Darcy hollered, "We're in the lobby, Fire!"

Like a mirage, an orange skinned woman with a dark shade of red hair, almost black, blurred before Ruby and caught Darcy in her arms. Ruby was now seeing the woman responsible for her life being completely destroyed and her future being uncertain. Ruby couldn't deny that she was gorgeous, but like the academy had taught her, poison often comes in beautiful packages. Her mere presence on Earth shifted the geopolitical landscape and shifted the people's priorities from making money to trying to save the effing planet and defend against threats from beyond.

Ruby thought that was originally the goal of Hydra to gather everyone under its aegis and do that. But instead the organization was targeted and treated as the Mother of all Evil by basically everyone on the planet. Ruby was one of the lucky kids that wouldn't be marked and observed all their life because of their previous affiliation; they won't ever be able to reach a high level position or rise through the ranks as they were black balled from the get go.

That woman, Komand’r, looked so inscrutable; Ruby didn't know what the alien Princess wanted from her. The blonde teen glared at Komand’r and bluntly said, "You're the woman who helped kill my mom."

Natalia and Komand’r stayed silent at the young girl's word for a moment before Darcy kneeled in front of Ruby and put her hands on the little blonde's shoulders. "Fire didn't kill your mother or help do it, Ruby."

Darcy turned to Komand’r and asked "You didn't, right?"

The alien shook her head and walked up to Ruby, looking into her eyes. "I didn't, she was tried and sentenced because she broke her oaths to her Nation as a military official. Ruby, I don't have any sway over your countries laws; I am sorry, but the fault doesn't lie with me, little one."

Darcy stood up and put herself at Natalia’s side; the redhead didn't say anything and let the scene unfold.

"I don't believe you, your face is plastered everywhere and everyone is praising you about how you unearthed a sixty-five year conspiracy..." Ruby didn't care if she died right now, she had been to space and walked into a spaceship, she had already fulfilled her mom's oldest dream… contrary to her expectation, the little blonde wasn't killed or kicked out.

Komand'r simply laughed and said, "Oh, no, my young Friend. You will find that it is you who are mistaken, about a great many things."

Ruby looked into the glowing green eyes of Komand’r with mouth agape; Darcy laughed and held onto her stomach, while Nat looked completely lost. The teenager's brain finally rebooted and she said, "Did you just... quote Palpatine to me?"

Komand'r took a step and towered over the little blonde and patted her shoulder delicately as she knew her strength now. "I am full of the happiness that you did the noticing!"

Ruby seized the woman's hand and tried to pry it from her shoulder, but she was too strong. With her free hand she took Ruby's chin and lifted her head to look into her eyes. "Your desire for revenge is commendable, but misplaced." Her voice was smooth and full of comforting feelings.

Ruby found herself in the alien's arms and she floated up. "Come little Ruby, I will do the enlightening of what happened to your mother and do the explaining of your situation." She tried to struggle but realized that she was powerless to stop Komand’r.

The screen behind them separated to reveal a big living room with another blonde woman in green outfit smiling at the two, she had a big book on her thigh. Finally relenting, Ruby decided to listen and give a chance to the Komand’r but if she didn't like her explanation she would find a way to do away with her…

"It better be good…" Ruby threatened.

Komand'r nodded with a full smile showing her pearly white teeth. Meanwhile, Darcy couldn't help but remark, "Wow, Fire is scary good with kids…" Darcy followed the two of them.

Natalia did the same as she mumbled… "You'd never guess it."

~/.\~

(Peggy Carter)

While Komand’r and her posse were dealing with Ruby Hale, in the med Bay of the Hyperdimension, a Phoenix was being reborn from its ashes. The regeneration tank she was in before was empty and Healer Talonn's female assistant handed Peggy a blue robe that she put on automatically.

After she exited the regeneration tank, Peggy felt all the little ache accumulated over her long life were not there anymore, her mind that had been badly impaired by Alzheimers was back to being as sharp as before, no… she could think faster now.

Actually she felt better, faster and stronger, Period. More than any time in her long life. She tightened her fist and her knuckles popped and cracked. "This is how Steve must have felt when the procedure changed his body."

It was as if she had been reborn and-

"I don't like that you have compared my work with your primitive local genome enhancer." A strong male voice said from behind her.

It was Healer Talonn, the tall blue haired Tamaranean wore a white bodysuit with technological implements at his arms and belt. The chief physician on the ship, loyal only to Princess Komand’r; the man was incredibly smart, smarter than any scientist or doctor she had met before, but he could be so… abrasive and dismissive of human accomplishments sometimes…

Peggy turned to the Healer with an eyebrow raised. "Pardon?"

Talonn closed his eyes and said in an amiable tone, "I forgive you."

That was what annoyed Peggy most of the time, her hosts often misunderstood what she spoke about, and it created problems which normally could be avoided. "No… I mean-"

In a condescending tone, the Healer interrupted her as he took a PADD from the workstation linked to the regeneration tank. "It still astounds me that your species came up with a flawed genome enhancer that amplifies mental and strong personality traits. It clearly was a defective product if it alters the mind of the user at the onset.” Talonn shook his head. “The procedure you have gone through simply enhances and augments what was already there by a factor of 200%, while also cleaning your genetic structure of defects. You are at this moment, the pinnacle of your species."

Talonn looked at Peggy expectantly, curious to know what she understood from his explanation. He was surprised and half disappointed as the curly haired brunette said, "So… I won't ever get fat?"

Rolling his eyes, Talonn couldn't help but retort,"Ah, women… You're essentially right, but this isn't all that has changed within you."

The Healer handed a computing device to Peggy and said, "Take this PADD and read the notes on the changes that has occurred within your body.” There was a beep from Talonn’s personal device and Peggy could see one of his brows work its way upwards. She watched as he gave his device a final nod before deactivating the screen. “Pardon the intrusion, but I was just informed that your companion will be waking soon."

Walking forward and holding the Healer's right arm, Peggy said with surprise, delight and shock, "Steve, right?!"

Talonn and Komand’r had chosen to let the captain, Steve Rogers, wake up naturally to not damage his brain as he was slowly recovering from the accidental cryo-sleep he was in.

"Yes." Talonn said in an exasperated tone. Human women were decidedly more emotional and illogical than Tamaranean ones…

Peggy tried pulling the Healer toward the main med bay's exit, but even with her enhanced strength couldn't move the Tamaranean. "Please, show me where to go!"

With a sigh, Talonn said, "Follow me, Terran."

He knew he should've abstained from saying anything...

~/.\~

Stasis crypt20 minutes later

Peggy was getting nervous, she had a right to be; after all, the man she carried a flame for was finally awake. She looked at him from the one way observation window. Steve looked lost as he looked at the bare walls and he was completely naked as well. Steve was sitting up and clearly thinking about his situation, Peggy chose to not make him wait.

The guard in a purple bodysuit at the door had an energy rifle in his hands, looked at Peggy and pushed a button on his vambrace, causing the door to swish open. Peggy had been given a gray bodysuit that molded itself to her body perfectly, she appreciated the integrated bra that gave her breasts perfect support, she didn't even feel like she wore the embarrassing outfit as well as it was made of ultra light and soft material. Peggy at least found herself looking presentable...

Steve swiftly turned his head and his eyes widened as he stood up, making the bed sheets slide from his naked body. The captain quickly caught it and stayed rooted in place as he finally saw a familiar face, his expression became wistful and full of longing as he said, "Peggy?! Is that really you?!"

The brunette smiled as Steve, the man she had been yearning for, tried to hide his state of immodesty with the plain white bedsheets. It reminded her of other compromising situations she had found him in in the barracks in the old days. "Oh Steve you loveable buffoon."

Peggy walked over to him and hugged Steve, the man fortunately didn't let go of the sheets. They stayed like this for a moment before Peggy slowly stepped back and let go of him, then like a cobra, swiftly struck his face with a slap.

SLAP. Steve held on his hurt cheek and shouted, “Ouch that hurt!"

Not knowing her own newly enhanced strength, Peggy left a big red imprint on Steve's cheek, there was a bit of blood in his mouth as well. The super soldier had felt that and asked out loud, "It hurt… how?"

Peggy herself was surprised by how fast and strong she was, but she didn't let herself show it and continued to speak. She poked Steve with her left index finger in a threatening manner and anger in her voice because he wanted to play hero. "You made me wait sixty-five years for our date!"

She had counted every year, every month and every day she had been waiting for him. Steve's face morphed into an expression of disbelief and shock. "S… sixty-five…? But you look just like when I met you." The man let go of the sheets in his hand and touched her face. "You're still as beautiful as before." Steve blurted out.

Peggy's anger was drowned in the torrent love and positive feelings elicited by Steve's words. She closed her eyes and stood rigid, forcing herself to not hug Steve and kiss him. *Calm down Peggy, you can't just push him down and fuck him like a harlot on his hospital bed.*

Steve noticed Peggy's ruddy face and her demure expression as she said, "Our friends the Tamaraneans, they helped me get back to my prime."

The captain remembered the nurse who had come to check on him earlier… an orange skinned attractive woman in a white bodysuit, black hair and green eyes. "Who are they? They look… strange." Steve didn't want to say that his hosts were inhuman, that was rude.

Peggy proceeded to give him an enlightening revelation. "They are visitors from another planet, they helped us a lot and assisted us in taking down the remnant of hydra."

Becoming more animated, Steve put his hands on Peggy's shoulders and shook her as he asked,"Hydra? But you said it's been sixty-five years… we didn't win?"

Peggy swore up a storm; she had completely forgotten in her haste to meet Steve that he didn't acclimatize like she did to the world that she lived without him.  Steve will need help, to learn about the new technology available, then there's the social changes that happened in the last sixty-five years. There was also the matter of Steve's legal existence; the world thought he was dead.

Peggy made Steve sit on the bed and exited the room. The guard helped her by providing a bodysuit for Steve after she asked for clothes and volunteered his help in navigating the ship; the brunette returned with a gray bodysuit and underwear that she handed to Steve who asked for her help to put it on.

Once Steve was all kitted out, Peggy took his arm and said, "Steve, I think we need to catch up to a lot of things. Follow me okay?"

They exited the medical room with the Tamaranean guard leading the way. As they walked  out of the medical bay, the two humans looked at the passing Tamaraneans who greeted them or floated away to their duties. Steve had to pinch himself when he saw the alien flying in the corridors or transporting heavy things in pairs.

"So I guess we're on a spaceship or something?" Steve said to break the silence that had been wearing on him.

Peggy stopped walking, suddenly thinking of something to make the situation sink in for Steve who looked like a lost puppy following her. Then something came to mind as she called out to their escort who had stopped walking as well, “Guard?"

The red haired Tamaranean put himself at attention. "Ma'am?"

Steve noted how perfect the man’s form was, how feline his gait had been as he moved; the people around them were all so graceful as well…

"Could you lead us somewhere where we can see the planet?" Peggy found herself asking, she wanted to show Steve Earth, to make him change perspective and stop him from being nervous and twitchy.

They would also  need to go see Princess Komand’r but not right away… the guard nodded and gave them a smile, he seemed to understand the situation as his eyes fell on Steve. "Follow me to the Observation Deck."

He turned on his heel and changed direction to reach one of the doors in the middle of the corridor that opened into one of those teleporters on board. The ship was two kilometers long after all. Peggy pulled Steve toward the teleport station and said, "Come Steve."

The man let himself be guided by Peggy who continued speaking and passed an arm around his waist. "The world has changed since you were asleep and none of us can go back to how it was in our time. All we can do is our best to live in it."

~/.\~

(TALI)

Only four days left before they leave the system to return to Asgard. TALI had many things to do with the allotted time she had left, her resources were focused on clearing the objectives that she had given herself to create the best crew for herself and her Captain. Her current objective was to secure Natalia’s loyalty and for this she needed to research The Red Room.

By spreading her subordinate VIs all over the primitive Extranet, TALI gradually amassed information not caring one iota how secure it was as Terran firewalls or even isolated servers meant nothing to the Intelligence of the Hyperdimension. Searching for agents of the Red Room and operations led by them through varying search patterns, TALI's quest led her first from the Soviet Union to Budapest in Hungary.

By following the data about an operation led by SHIELD and undertaken by agent Hawkeye and Black Widow to eliminate General Dreykov and shut down the Red Room, TALI finally connected the dots between the Red Room and Russia and an Aerial Facility currently flying in the large country's airspace.

TALI broke into the servers of the craft called The Red Room Academy and analyzed the data. The Red Room, also known as the Black Widow Program, was a secret Soviet-Russian training program that involved taking young women and turning them into elite spies and assassins known as Black Widows. Initially using psychological conditioning to make the Widows obedient, by the 2000s the program had shifted to using mind control.

TALI wasn't shy to express her disgust at such methods to subvert the will of anyone, she lost 1% efficiency in her core for .0001 second. TALI searched for a solution to free the women being enslaved in mind and body. With the resources on board the Hyperdimension the intelligence knew that she could easily do it. However, the time needed to create a method to undo the programming on the Widow agents was counted in months when they would only be on Earth for four days until they left for Asgard.

TALI was disappointed but as if it was happenstance her lower process went over the stolen data from General Dreykov’s own files and the intelligence was surprised that a chemical agent called Red Sand was developed by what she thinks to be low tech using apes; the gas could be used to free mind controlled victims from their subjugation by immunizing the brain's neural pathways from external manipulation.

PRIORITY OBJECTIVE: RETRIEVE RED SAND SAMPLES

As she was writing her mission directive, TALI stole samples of the gas in the flying vessel by teleporting them and charged her subroutines to analyze and synthesize it for duplication. Next, she deployed drones to look for the Widow agents deployed in Europe and started with the most efficient ones. She got a ping as her search parameters discovered a Yelena Belova who is acclaimed to be the second most lethal agent of the Widow Program after agent Romanov.

Synthesis time: 5 minutes

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: YELENA BELOVA

TALI used the data Yelena has left behind to track her by using a mathematical algorithm to look for her with the help of her up to date biographical data. TALI found her 10 minutes later (a lifetime for her as time was relative in the digital world), somehow the assassin was in Hungary in the vicinity of Budapest thanks to the nano-drones deployed in the atmosphere. The woman was kidnapped from her bed to a cell in the brig. She landed noisily in her cell and immediately stood up in a guarding position.

TERTIARY OBJECTIVE: FREEDOM FROM PROGRAMMING

Before she could kill herself or cause herself harm because of her programming, TALI manipulated the life support system to deploy the Red Sand gas to Yelena’s cell. For over 10.2 seconds, the blonde Terran stood immobile with glazed eyes. Then Yelena shook her head and looked around herself, then at her body.

"You're free now." TALI'S voice rang in the cell; making Yelena look for the provenance of her voice. When she found no one she intoned loudly, "Who are you!?"

TALI tuned out the assassin and let one of her VIs speak with Yelena in order to enlighten her of her situation while the ship’s intelligence proceeded to focus on new parameters for her current mission.

Query Captain Komand’r for deployment mission authorization …

Query to deploy drone units and infiltration avatar...

Permission GRANTED

TALI deployed her infiltration chassis in the Red Room Academy and took on the form of a widow trainee thanks to its concealed holo-projector. The intelligence's avatar shrunk from 1.80 meter to 1.50 meter and became an attractive brown haired asian teenager clothed in training slacks.

The guards circulating in the section of the ship ignored the avatar until she tried to access the administrative offices in the superior level of the flying vessel; TALI was unchallenged for thirty minutes before being confronted by a group of guards. She disposed of them with the highest setting of her integrated particle weapon in her right forearm.

She morphed into one of the male guards next and directly walked to the main office of the instigator of the Red Room. The heavy set man was present in his office, fornicating with one of the older students; TALI'S process the information and...

Querying permission to terminate TARGET General Dreykov

Query Captain Komand’r…

Permission denied…

"Why captain?" TALI was surprised that she had been denied, Komand’r wouldn't normally let this kind of thing go.

With a cold tone, the captain answered, "It’s not our role to clean up this mess, but those who have been wronged need revenge."

TALI understood, she personally marked the man with spy nanites and walked away to access the vault that she couldn't access remotely from the ship as it was covered by a Faraday cage blocking teleportation. The intelligence silently eliminated the vault's guards and hacked the security rather easily, taking down the defenses.

The Faraday cage was cut off and TALI opened the vault with the codes, a quick scan inside revealed three different sections respectively full of gold, boxes full of paper files and cryogenic medical crates made of metal with the symbols of infinity and designation such as: Black Widow serum. TALI teleported everything back on the ship with some VI to sort and analyze everything, then she retrieved her Avatar from the flying vessel.

30 minutes later, TALI'S VIs compiled the information from the files they stole and analyzed the crates of two distinct chemical compounds called the Forever Compound and the Black Widow Serum.

The Forever Compound is an alchemical serum created by a secret organization called the Brotherhood of the Shield, it is a diluted form of the Elixir of Life developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1652. TALI was surprised that those humans kept surprising her by developing such medical wonder despite not having the proper technology for it.

She then consulted the data about a human biochemist, a Dr. Lyudmila Kudrin,  a member of the Red Room. She was the head scientist responsible for developing the variant of the Super-Soldier Serum that keeps a Black Widow young and in her prime. TALI watched a video of the woman personally administering the special treatment she developed to female infants to enhance their immune system, lifespan, and physical attributes. It became the Widow serum.

There was cold anger spreading in TALI'S core as she wrote her objectives after consulting the data.

Permission to deploy assets to seize the bases…

Query First Warrior Koldonn...

Permission GRANTED

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: CAPTURE ENEMY ASSETS DESIGNATION: WIDOWS

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: CAPTURE OR KILL NON WIDOW PERSONNEL

TERTIARY OBJECTIVE: TAKE OVER SERVERS

Of course TALI didn't forget about someone who deserved as much payback as the human babies who have been experimented on.

Query Agent Romanov...

The beautiful voice of Natalia answered her. "Yes TALI?"

"Are you interested in obtaining some well-deserved payback?"

There was silence for 2 seconds, enough time for her combat drones to all come online. Natalia finally answered her with, "Tell me what I must do."

A/N: For TALI, taking out the Red Room is like an after thought, and I won't be lingering on this part of the MCU for long, we have things to set up for space.

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