A few months before the events in London:
Sitting in the helicopter, Alex watched as it landed on the helipad of one of the most strictly guarded prisons in Russia for people who were sentenced to life imprisonment, which was built back in the Soviet Union. The mountainous terrain in which the prison was located did not allow prisoners to even plan an escape, since it would be impossible to escape without outside help.
When the helicopter landed, Alex left the cabin and a welcoming officer came out to meet him. The warden was asked to provide all possible assistance for Alex , but it seemed he didn't really want to do it, so he sent one of his deputies instead.
- Doctor Ledov, allow me to introduce myself, Captain Gavrilin, today I am here to help you in your case. - the already middle-aged man introduced himself.
Did the captain bring you up to speed?
- Yes sir, you are here to meet with prisoner Shestakov.
- Okay then, let's not waste time, lead me.
The captain did not hesitate and led him to the right zone. After passing several floors, they reached the general Zone, where the prisoners were now. The captain offered to take Shestakov to a special room for interrogation, but Alex refused and simply walked forward.
A loud door opening signal informed all prisoners that the passage was open. Many prisoners paid attention to the person who entered. A young man in a good suit stood out against the general background, which attracted everyone's attention. Having looked around, he went to the person he needed who was sitting at a table surrounded by several other prisoners.
There were whispers all over the hall about who it could be. Since there was no security to move around the hall, some individuals went along with it to check their guest for lice, even if they knew that they could get hurt by the guards later. Of course, the check quickly ended when the water from the glass flew out and turned into an ice shard that went into the eye of one of the thugs. The fall of this thug on the floor attracted everyone's attention, and the fact that the guards did not react to such actions calmed everyone down and freed the passage to their target.
A man in his forties with a good build for a man who had spent more than fifteen years in prison. With a flowing beard, many tattoos all over his body and a strong gaze, he looked at the approaching guest with a searching and even slightly challenging look.
- Good afternoon, Mr. Shestakov, my name is Alexander Ledov. I am here to talk to you and offer you a job if you pass the interview. - The former red guard looked at Alex seriously, and then looked at the corpse he left lying on the floor.
- What exactly do you want, Mr. Ledov? - this was said more with mockery than with respect, Shestakov understood that playing with such a person was dangerous, but he had nothing to lose and here was such entertainment.
- I need information and your skills that can be useful to the country.
- HAHAHA, look around - the prisoner showed his surroundings with sweeping movements - this is where working for the government brought me. I ended up here in this hole. And now you, young suit, want something. What can you offer me?
- I can offer you everything you lost and even more. - a calm and confident voice made the former guard calm down and think, and at that moment a photograph appeared in front of him.
This photo showed Steve Rogers in the Captain America costume.
- Here's a quick reference. Captain America, the likeness of which you are, is alive now. He is becoming the new symbol of America. Of course , their scientists cannot yet reproduce the super soldier serum, but who knows, maybe at some point they will succeed.
- So I'm needed only as a counterweight. And if he hadn't appeared, I would have stayed here. Well then, I'd rather stay here, and you give your jacket to your superiors that you won't be able to use me. - Having finished his speech, Alexey was about to get up and end the conversation.
- Before you go, I want to clarify. I do not work for the government and am here on my own initiative. Up there, no one cares about you and what you do, but you can be useful, and I have something else for you.
Two more photographs appeared in front of Alexey. One was of Natasha when one of the reporters managed to get a full-length photo of her, the other was of Elena, who was captured by one of the surveillance cameras.
No one could call Alexey a decent family man, but he was able to recognize two grown-up little girls.
- And what does that mean? - the guard's look said that he didn't care about the consequences and he could pounce on his interlocutor no matter what the result would be.
- It means that if you do what I say, I can make sure that the next time you meet them, they won't kill you, and if you're lucky, maybe you'll be able to go to a bar and pour out your soul to them. How's that for a deal?
Alexey looked at the photographs in front of him for a long time. The two little girls he tried to be a father to have now grown up and become beauties, and judging by the photographs, they certainly did not go on to live a quiet civilian life, which is partly his fault.
- You can really do what you say - Alexey's whole demeanor instantly changed from confident to excited, thoughts of family reunification and many missed opportunities flooded his mind.
- Here everything depends not only on me, a lot will depend on you too - there was not much time to watch the former super soldier think, so it was decided to push him - unfortunately I do not have time to tell about all the pros and cons of our future work, so we will do it this way. The next two minutes after I leave, the guards will not touch you, you can follow me or stay here, it is up to you.
After which Alex stood up and calmly went straight to the exit. Alexey Shestakov himself , realizing that the moment he had thought about a lot earlier while sitting in prison could run away, went after him.
Alexey, hastily following, left the photographs on the table , to which other prisoners quickly began to gather.
- Uhhhhh what birds today I'm bukhpvro - before one of them even had time to touch the photos, Alexey simply connected his face to the table of this person. After which he took the photos and quickly went out.
****
A week later, tests were being conducted in one of the laboratories that was under Alex's control. Alex ran, jumped, moved heavy things. Many of these actions were connected not only to check how much stronger he was than an ordinary person thanks to the serum, but also to get him into shape. Over the course of several decades, Alex had lost most of his shape. But thanks to the serum and following all the doctors' rules, the belly he walked with had already begun to noticeably decrease, and muscles began to appear on his arms.
Of course, getting back into shape is important, but to make a competitor to Steve, Alexey also needed to get his thoughts in order. During the helicopter flight, they discussed what exactly would happen and the Soviet super didn't like much of it. On the first day of working with a psychologist, he had a breakdown and the doctors who were talking to him were able to save him at the last moment by snatching him from the super soldier's hands. After that, the measures were tightened.
Work was also done on everyday life skills. It was necessary to renew his knowledge of history, new weapons that had appeared recently, the political situation, new military tactics. Taking him to some films or just walking around the city was also useful, so that he understood that he had not exchanged one prison for another.
All this had to be done against the backdrop of news of constant fighting between factions on the country's territory, which only encouraged the guard to put on a suit and go into battle, or sometimes even without a suit.
- Let me go to the field, I'll roll over them like a steamroller, and they won't even understand what hit them - of course, Alexey watched the news, and they couldn't ignore the fighting in the country, so having gotten himself into shape a little, he thought that he could already start doing what he was pulled out of prison for.
- Alexey, calm down - the conversation took place in the gym of the laboratory where Shestakov was hitting a specially weighted punching bag - I understand everything, but you are not ready, now you need to bring your mind into at least a semblance of order. No matter how much you want to, you will not be able to help everyone. But the way you show yourself can change the situation much more. Look at me, I do not run after criminals every day, but as soon as I appear somewhere, all conflicts cease, because they understand that I am not the police and will not arrest, a small compaction of water and a stream of water works no worse than a saw.
Of course, many people didn't like this characteristic. But it was very helpful when Alex had to participate in battles against firearms. Once, when there was a call to help free a ship from pirates, those who came to accept the ship after the water manipulator were shocked by the bloody massacre that took place on the ship. Of course, this got into the media, but no one was too worried about it as long as they were pirates or criminals. But these same pirates or criminals remembered what could happen to them.
When the former red guard calmed down, Alex, considering his mission accomplished, decided to leave. But before leaving, he left some last instructions.
- Your eldest daughter is working with Captain America now. When you appear in her field of vision, she will have someone to compare you to, so you must be better than him in everything.
****
Alex was preparing equipment to conduct a stream for the audience and since there was an opportunity to attract a sex symbol for a decent part of the planet's population who was now in his house, then such an opportunity could not be refused.
Alex was in one of the rooms of his house that had been re-equipped specifically for this. The most sophisticated holographic technology allowed him to do unimaginable things with its computing power, and Yumiko helped with the processing, and all of this was delivered from Stark Industries .
Streaming was never Alex's plan, but it is a good way to work with an audience to build his name and present an opinion that can influence the masses.
Of course, it's not that simple, but this kind of interaction with the audience has a positive effect on presenting the characters as ordinary people with their own dreams and problems.
Recently, all sorts of heroes have started to appear all over the world. Some of them were mutants and thanks to their abilities they helped the residents of their cities. One of the broadcasts touched on the issue that these people could be dangerous and no one knows who they are , considering that they have all sorts of masks.
"such abilities that appear in people will excite the public for a long time. And not all of these people will be happy to know that such people live next to them. It is good when there are those who want to help the people around them, but it is better to do this together with the authorities, so I ask all those who decided to engage in such activities to try to contact the local authorities and try to find a compromise. This will at least be useful in that you will not be declared an outlaw and will not start shooting as soon as you are discovered.
After waiting a bit, he added: "And for those who decide to use their abilities for personal gain or criminal purposes, know this: for your bad behavior, the Hulk will come for you."
These statements caused a storm in society: after some time, news channels began to show footage of people in masks who worked with the police and rescue services. Discussion of the issues of responsibility and safety of heroes became one of the main topics in the media and public debate.
Such broadcasts had their use in order to be able to smooth things over between supers and ordinary people, and the next broadcast also had its purpose.
Almost finished with the setup, his future companion Natasha came into the room and spent several hours separately getting herself and her thoughts in order.
- There you are, we still haven't discussed what needs to be done. - stretching, the black T-shirt she was wearing stretched out on her, showing her athletic figure that was mesmerizing to the eye.
- Of course, we'll start right now. The first task will be to earn a few million and kill a few dozen people - Natasha's raised eyebrow demanded an explanation.
Without giving time for explanations, Alexander started the broadcast.
- Good day to all. - Deciding not to waste time, Alex called Natasha and continued - I know that you are all already waiting for what we will do today, but before we begin I want you to greet our guest today. This is a woman athlete, Komsomol member and simply a beauty Natasha Romanov .
At that moment Natasha appeared in the frame and the whole audience exploded. Alex himself did not read the comments because there were too many people and there was no opportunity to view them, so he just left everything as it was and occasionally glanced at the chat.
Natasha was not prepared for such a confession, but thanks to her preparation, she did not lose her head and greeted everyone on camera with a charming smile. She saw the statistics of people who were connected to this broadcast and was amazed at how many people were now sitting and watching the two of them and with each passing minute the number of viewers was increasing.
- I know that Natasha is our interrogation specialist, but today we will interrogate her together. You know how to ask questions. I want to remind you that all donations that come here go to charity, so don't worry, your money will go to a good cause. - Of course, due to the large number of people who wanted to talk to the avengers, we had to raise the bar higher, but on some broadcasts, other streamers collected money so that a question could be asked collectively. - I also want to say that we have our own secrets and some signed documents, so we will not be able to answer some questions, so we ask for understanding and forgiveness.
Thanks to the help of Tony and Jarvis, the broadcast that was being conducted was translated into many languages very quickly, which allowed people around the world to understand what the conversation was about. And the conversation was conducted on various topics, almost all of them were addressed to today's guest. There were very different questions, starting from the date of birth, ending with favorite poses or a request to reveal some state secret. Although Natasha herself did not show it , she was clearly shocked by the people who wrote such questions.
- Well, that's how it happened. I'm sitting on a chair tied up. This general was interrogating me, and then one of his subordinates gets a call - this "interrogation" has been going on for almost an hour now. I gave many answers to questions, and to many she simply smiled sweetly into the camera and was silent - they tell me that I'm urgently needed in another place, so I had to quickly finish with him and his guys and go on the next mission.
- Wait, wait, that is, what kind of fruits you like is secret information, but this mission does not fall into this section - of course, the question about fruits was one of the most innocent that were voiced.
- At the moment, this is not secret information, but what I like is tangerines or - a small play of the eyes and a change of intonation for the audience - bananas, of course, is secret information.
- Okay , I think we'll finish the interview for today, but we have a sequel. Natasha, how well do you rate yourself as a killer?
Such questions are not usually asked to a multi-million audience, and the super spy understood that this was not just for fun.
- There are many factors in my work that cannot be properly taken into account, so it is difficult to evaluate myself without bias.
- I understand you, so you can show us your skills right here and right now.
Even though they were not reading the messages sent to the general chat while sitting in front of the monitor, special programs showed the general mood of the people who sent the messages. So it was not surprising when the graph showed a surge in interest.
- I hope you know what video games are and how they work - seeing Natasha's skeptical look, he continued - if not, then consider it just an unexpected difficulty. Your goal is to do what you are told.
After launching the game, everyone saw the main screen on the monitor, where a bald man in a suit with a gun was shown.
- Now you see one of the most professional killers on the screen. - Natasha only snorted at this , but did it with a smile. - Your main task is to eliminate the target as unnoticeably as possible, which I'm sure you can do, and not to attract attention to yourself, which you can't do.
- Ha ha, no need to flatter, but now I understand better what you meant before the broadcast, well, let's try.
It all started with the training, the gamepad in Natasha's hands lay uncertainly and the actions themselves were unusual for her, but after completing the training mission twice in different ways, simply because it was possible to do so, and to get used to the controls.
After training, the spy entered her combat mode and began to show a master class, of course, not everything went according to her plan and sometimes missions had to be restarted, but the comments "oh Enrique, your greed ruined you" when she drowned one of the guards in the toilet or "Samantha, I'm so sorry" when she poured poison to one of the thugs were priceless, as if she was remembering some of her goals or just playing to the crowd. Of course, the spy went through the missions twice, once dirty and noisy, and the second time quietly and without attracting attention to herself. During the game, as a professional in her field, she gave an expert opinion on certain issues, but without going into it too much, since she understood that this was fiction and fantasy. In general, it was interesting and people were delighted with all of this.
- You know, that's not bad, I would never have thought that I could learn something new from the game.
- For many, games have become the biggest problem in the world, although there are wars and alien invasions all around, but this is the number one problem - Natasha listened to Alex express his opinion for the audience and noticed that this question somehow really touched him - I think that games are a new form of entertainment like books or films, because they can be evaluated in the same way...
This went on for a couple more hours. Natasha played, in between missions they just talked, sometimes answering incoming questions.
- Thank you to everyone who was with us today, because we will answer one more question and then finish for today.
The last question that came to them was very specific and made Natasha and Alex look at each other trying to figure out what to answer.
"Natalie kiss on camera" - the audience that watched them was large and among them were people who have a lot of money and are fans of the Avengers and in particular Natasha.
- It was n't me - Alex quickly raised his hands, making it clear that it wasn't his doing, responding to Natasha's serious look - but before you make a decision, I want to remind you that all the money goes to charity, and now this user has already sent ten thousand dollars, so think about your answer.
- Let's do it this way - after a short thought, the spy began, looking straight into the camera - in order to fulfill your request, I want you to make a generous reward and if it satisfies me, then I will satisfy your request.
After a few minutes of waiting, the answer that came amazed Natasha.
- Dear viewers, we received a donation of ten million dollars from this user. Natasha, what do you say?
- Will this money definitely go to charity? - What was happening now did not fit any of the patterns of action known to her, so she needed to find time to think.
- I give you my word - but Alex didn't give her that time.
- Then there's only one thing left for me to do - Natasha stood up from her chair, turned Alex's chair around so that people could see it better and sat on his lap - then I want to take part in this - after which she kissed him in front of an audience of millions.
For several dozen seconds, the kissers did not pay attention to the world around them. Alex did not resist much, simply putting his hands on her waist and enjoying the kiss with a beautiful girl. The spy herself, although she was working off an unsigned contract, could not say that all this caused any bad feelings in her. The whole day was very emotional and she also needed an emotional release.
What should have ended quickly lasted about a minute, because both participants got carried away. They finished it when they were already out of breath.
a small sly smile appeared on Natasha's face, which she showed to the camera.
- Yes, but they still didn't see it – to Natasha's questioning look, Alex simply showed that his account was blocked for inappropriate content – I was even wondering if they would do it or not.
Still sitting on her partner's lap , Natasha smiled mysteriously before leaning over and whispering her proposal into Alex's ear.
- I don't see any reason to refuse - people who very often live for today and who can die tomorrow have no time for long flirting, so Alex didn't see anything wrong with spending the night with a beautiful woman, even if she is a spy for another country. Grabbing her by the hips, they continued the kiss and went to his room.h