Chapter 164: Red Guardian

The next morning, Natasha had driven all night to bring Yelena to where she kept her Quinjet.

"I've always wanted to try flying an advanced fighter jet like this. This is amazing!" Yelena said, looking at the Avengers Quinjet parked on the lawn ahead.

"This is my plane!" Natasha said, looking at Yelena.

"You've been driving all night and you must be exhausted. Leave the rest to me," Yelena said, patting her chest.

Helplessly, Natasha nodded, took out her phone to send her coordinates to Arthur, and then called him.

"Hello? I've sent you the location. When are you getting here?" Natasha asked Arthur over the phone.

"You really didn't even give me time to finish breakfast..." Arthur's voice came from right behind Natasha.

Natasha and Yelena turned around and saw Arthur stepping out of a blue magical portal.

Arthur was wearing pajamas, holding a cup of soy milk in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other, filled to the brim with steamed soup dumplings. He pulled one out and happily took a bite.

"Oh my god! You got here so fast!" Yelena said in astonishment, looking at the blue portal closing behind Arthur.

"He's always on time. A reliable guy," Natasha praised Arthur, though her tone suggested otherwise.

"Stop right there. Even you don't believe what you're saying. Why don't you try some steamed dumplings made by our Atlantis Restaurant? I guarantee you've never tasted anything this good." Arthur walked up to the two women and handed them the paper bag.

"Thanks!" Yelena and Natasha were genuinely hungry, having spent yesterday running for their lives and only grabbing a hasty bite the night before.

"Oh, wow! How can something taste this good? Where can you buy these?" Yelena took a bite of a soup dumpling and almost swallowed her tongue. She felt it was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten in her life.

"Well, the taste is alright, they have them in our cafeteria... Uh, well, the cafeteria isn't built yet," Natasha muttered. She ate at the Avengers cafeteria every day, which was staffed by chefs trained by the Atlantis Restaurant, so she was already used to it.

"Can the cafeteria stuff compare to this? I picked these straight from the Atlantis Restaurant. Beautiful, if you like them, feel free to eat at any Atlantis Restaurant in New York whenever you want. It's free! Just drop my name." Seeing that Yelena genuinely liked them, Arthur handed her the entire bag of dumplings.

"Thank you! My name is Yelena Belova. Nice to meet you, Aquaman Arthur, the superhero from Atlantis," Yelena introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you too. What do you need me for? Weren't you on vacation? Want me to take you guys sightseeing?" Arthur asked, turning to look at Natasha.

"I'm not like you, always looking to enjoy yourself. I can't even get a proper rest on vacation, talk about bad luck! I brought you here to help us deal with a mysterious organization," Natasha shot Arthur a sideways glance and said.

"What mysterious organization? Be specific," Arthur said, taking a sip of his soy milk.

"We'll talk on the plane..." Natasha took the lead and boarded the Quinjet.

"You're planning to come with us dressed like that?" Yelena asked, looking at Arthur's leopard-print pajamas.

"I'll change later. Let's go." Arthur boarded the plane as well.

Yelena shook her head and followed...

Inside the plane, Yelena and Natasha changed into matching white tactical suits and checked their weapons.

"Your outfits are way too flashy. But just to match you guys..." Arthur grumbled as he looked at their white tactical suits. With a snap of his fingers, the golden light flashed over his leopard-print pajamas, transforming them into a men's white tactical suit identical to Natasha's.

"Good grief, are you a magician? With an ability like yours, do you ever need to buy clothes again?" Yelena asked, looking at Arthur in surprise.

"In theory, yes. So you can call me Arthur the Magician... Alright, where are we heading next?" Arthur asked.

"We're going after a spy organization called the Red Room. It's where I used to be. I thought I had completely destroyed it, but recent events tell me it's still around, and we need to find it," Natasha explained, taking the copilot seat in the cockpit.

Yelena started up the fighter jet and steered it up into the sky.

"That's simple enough. Just tell me where the organization's base is, and I'll blast it to pieces to finish it," Arthur said casually.

"We don't know where it is either, but two people I know do, and we're going to find one of them right now!" Natasha told Arthur.

"Fine, whatever you say. I'll just treat this as stretching my muscles," Arthur said, lying back in his seat and closing his eyes to rest.

...

A prison near the Hungarian border.

The inmates gathered around, watching two burly men arm-wrestling at a table.

"So, I have the nuclear launch codes. But he was right there, Captain America, Steve Rogers!" One of the tattooed brutes won against several inmates in a row, boasting about his past glories.

"The era of the Red Guardian is coming!" He was Alexei Shostakov, known as the Soviet Captain America, the Red Guardian.

He had been locked away in this prison for twenty years, living the same repetitive routine every day, while Steve Rogers, who had undergone the same "Super Soldier" program, had become a household name and a celebrated hero.

Thus, Alexei harbored deep resentment, left to mope gloomily in this prison.

Suddenly, someone informed him he had a package. Puzzled, Alexei walked toward the guard room; no one had ever sent him anything before.

Two guards opened Alexei's package, snacked on the candies inside, and tossed a few letters and a toy over to him.

Alexei was furious yet helpless. There was no way for him to escape this prison on his own; it was built in a snowy mountain canyon basin. Even if he managed to break out, he would freeze to death on the mountain before reaching the nearest town.

Alexei picked up the letters and pulled out the toy from among them—a little plastic Red Guardian action figure. Pressing the button on its chest even produced sound effects.

Who would send him a toy like this? Was this some kind of cruel mockery? Alexei pulled the latch on the back of the toy, and suddenly the toy's head popped off. Inside the hollow head, Alexei discovered a wireless earpiece—the kind spies used.

He looked around the guard room and its surroundings vigilantly, then shoved the earpiece into his ear.

"It's your lucky day, Alexei! Head to the door on the southern wall!" A familiar voice echoed through the earpiece.

Alexei looked toward the iron door on the south side, which was already opening automatically.

Knowing his "daughter" had come to rescue him, Alexei stood up and strode toward the guard room.

A guard asked him through the glass what he wanted. Alexei suddenly threw a punch, shattering the glass, grabbed the guard by the collar, and yanked him out of the guard room.

The entire pane of reinforced glass instantly shattered into pieces. Alexei kicked the guard unconscious, grabbed the second guard, and smashed his head heavily against the iron window frame of the guard room.

Alexei had been sick of these two anyway. How dare they eat his candy and go through his packages! Alexei retrieved his candies and popped them into his mouth, chewing contentedly.