Inside the Avengers' base, Natasha stared wide-eyed as she took the Red Flag Medal, noticing the traces of wear on it.
"What do you think? Is it real?" Steve asked.
Natasha opened her mouth, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I have never received this medal. The Red Flag Medal has a long history and many versions. But the wear on this one suggests it's not a souvenir..."
"There are a lot of Red Flag Medals in circulation; you can find them on the market, it's unlikely anyone would specifically make a fake one, right?"
Afterwards, Natasha, puzzled, weighed the medal in her hand. She looked at Steve and said, "Are you planning to defect to the communists? Isn't it a bit late for that?"
"Don't joke." Steve said with a serious face, "We found this in the office at the Schiller Sanatorium. Now we suspect that his wife may have been contemporary with you, and may have undergone genetic modification as well, perhaps also a product of the Red Room..."
"Impossible." Natasha promptly denied this fact. She then turned her gaze to the medal. Steve looked at her beautiful face, but there was no expression on it. This female agent always managed to control her emotions well.
"Maybe you don't know about those times and I don't want to talk much about it because it was long ago. But no matter what, it is impossible for anyone, other than me, to have gained immortality through modification."
Natasha took a deep breath and began her story:
"I was born in Stalingrad in 1928. At that time, the first five-year plan of the Soviet Union had just begun, and everything was in its early stages, including intelligence work."
"No country in the world doesn't need special agents. After realizing this, they started selecting gifted children for training. I was one of those to undergo modification."
"And the children who were modified at the same time as yourself?"
"There were no children modified at the same time as me." Natasha sighed, looking at Stark, she said, "At that time, World War II had broken out, and Stalingrad had become a battleground. The Soviet Union was fully invested in the war, and the focus of the intelligence community had shifted to wartime intelligence. The Red Room project had been shelved."
"Furthermore, at the time, the level of technology wasn't as advanced. I was the only one to undergo modification. Luckily, it was successful."
"You could understand it this way: Captain America and I had the same experience. We were both super soldiers created for war, and our success cannot be replicated. There isn't a second Captain America in the United States, nor a second Black Widow in the Soviet Union."
Natasha's words convinced Steve because Steve himself knew that the super soldier serum was only successful on him. More than 70 years have passed, and there is still only one Captain America.
If it is necessary to state the reason, in addition to luck, the technology of that era indeed was not so advanced. Steve remembered what he heard from a worker before the experiment began, that this was a huge project, it had nearly bankrupted the army, but in the end, there was only one successful case.
Although the United States was not as wealthy as it is now, the Soviet Union was the same, and even more so as they had to face the enemy on the front lines. The strategic decision not to lean in this direction was, therefore, justified.
"Or, in other words…" stated Natasha with arms crossed, "If they could have produced a squad of me at that time, would the front line have been so brutally fought?"
Stark and Steve both nodded. At this time, Stark suddenly asked, "So, you defected because they took a chance with your life through human experimentation?"
Natasha let out a derisive snort and said, "You don't know how glad I was when they told me I had been selected for the experiment. It was the happiest day of my life because I thought I could finally use this powerful strength to dedicate my life to a great nation."
Stark noticed Steve turned his head away, emotion evident on his face as he clearly knew more about Natasha's past.
"In essence, Steve and I are no different. You're not in a position to blame who is risking lives. After all, Captain America is also the product of a human experiment. We were both created to respond to war, neither of us is superior or inferior than the other. The only difference is, your home still exists, while I…"
Natasha shook her head. Stark saw that when Natasha looked at the medal again, there was a hint of a different emotion in her eyes.
But quickly, the female agent regained her composure and said, "I think your conjectures are all nonsense. You Americans love these melodramatic scenarios."
"Firstly, I am the only one to acquire immortality from the genes. The other Red Room agents have long been dead."
"Secondly…" Natasha picked up the medal using two fingers and brought it close to her eyes, "Do you think just anyone could receive this medal?"
"I admit, the late Soviets loved issuing medals, but judging from this medal's manufacturing technique, it should be an early Red Flag Medal, quite significant indeed."