Dreykov isn't dead, and it was Nick Fury who told Hawkeye about it.
Black Widow always believed that both Dreykov and his young daughter Antonia had been killed in the explosion she caused.
In reality, after Dreykov realized that he was being targeted by S.H.I.E.L.D., he faked his death using the explosion as a cover.
The Red Room organization also shifted from the open to the hidden, going underground.
In fact, while Blake and Hawkeye were chatting, Dreykov was actually in New York, staying in a hotel not far from them.
Sitting across from him was none other than one of Hydra's leaders, Francis, who had previously activated the Siberian super soldiers to rescue Ivan Vanko.
"Your intel is absolute garbage, Francis. You told me to attack a Siberian wolf, but it turns out I was dealing with a T-Rex! That's the kind of mess you've put me in."
"That guy is practically a humanoid monster! He stood his ground and took a direct hit from an enhanced mini-missile without even flinching."
"Do you know how powerful that thing is? Oh, and he's a good friend of Iron Man, Tony Stark, and recently has been getting cozy with S.H.I.E.L.D.'
"You've made me an enemy I can't possibly contend with, and you'll have to pay for that."
Dreykov angrily slammed the table and then took a large swig of vodka from a bottle.
"You haven't lost anything, my friend. If you're talking about the missile that injured the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the travel expenses for your Widows, I can compensate you tenfold. But beyond that, you've lost nothing."
"Your people didn't even show their faces. All they did was launch a missile from a rooftop. No one knows it was you. But our potential gains, my friend!"
"If we could capture this enhanced super soldier, someone comparable to a monster and study his serum, even if just ten percent of your Widows became as strong as Blake, you could rule the world!"
Francis's words didn't elicit any reaction from Dreykov.
He just gave Francis a cold glance.
"My target is Natasha Romanoff. I'm not interested in Blake. You provide me with Natasha's whereabouts, and I'll help you capture Blake. But now that your intel has proven faulty, I'm pulling out."
"Do you have any idea the risks I took coming to the U.S.? Killing Natasha is just a personal vendetta. I won't take such great risks for it."
Francis gritted his teeth in frustration. Dreykov claiming he's not interested in Blake's serum? What a lie! If he really thought the risks were too high, this old fox would have already fled. There's no way he'd be lingering in the U.S.
He'd clearly realized Blake's potential and was now trying to raise the stakes.
But Blake was indeed intriguing. Originally, it was impressive enough that he could suppress four super soldiers on his own and take bullets from a Gatling gun without flinching, but it turns out even that was an understatement of his strength.
"A super soldier... I only have three left. I'll give you the control codes, whether this works out or not!"
Francis gritted his teeth.
Because of what happened last time, the entire Hydra organization had been sidelining him, leaving him no choice but to work with Dreykov. He had no other options.
"Two! And hand them over first!"
Dreykov's eyes gleamed as he spoke slowly.
"Deal!"
Francis's heart bled!
-------------------------------------------
"Blake, there's a letter for you!"
This happened just after Black Widow was told she could be discharged from the hospital and recover at home, needing only a follow-up visit later.
Despite Black Widow's objections, Blake brought her back to his house.
After settling in briefly, the two decided to go out and buy some groceries to fill the empty fridge.
As soon as they got downstairs, Black Widow noticed that a letter was sticking out of the mailbox, not fully inserted by whoever delivered it.
"Is it a tax bill or something?"
Blake muttered as he opened the envelope.
Inside was a photo that looked quite old.
It showed two little girls, one around ten years old and the other about five or six.
"Hmm?"
Blake found it odd and thought it might have been sent to the wrong address.
Hearing Blake, Black Widow instinctively glanced at the photo in his hand.
The next second, her expression drastically changed, and she snatched the photo from Blake's hand.
She then rushed outside, anxiously looking around as if searching for someone.
"What's wrong? Is there something unusual about the photo?"
Blake looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"The girl in the photo is me, and the younger one is my sister, Yelena!"
Black Widow held the photo, her eyes filled with memories.
"You have a sister?"
Blake said in surprise.
Black Widow didn't answer him. Instead, she scanned the people around again.
Seeing nothing suspicious, she looked at the photo once more and flipped it over. On the back was a handwritten message:
'Can I trust you, my sister?'
It was signed by Yelena.
"Let's go back!"
Receiving this photo so unexpectedly, Black Widow had lost all interest in grocery shopping. She pulled Blake back to the house.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of a distant building, a man and a woman were watching the spot where Blake and Black Widow had just stood.
The man was none other than Dreykov, the leader of the Red Room!
Seeing Black Widow rush out and look around frantically, Dreykov smiled faintly.
"It seems your sister really cares about you, Yelena. This time, it's up to you!"
"Yes, Master," Yelena, dressed in black, said coldly, standing behind Dreykov with no expression on her face.
Back at the house, Blake finally heard Black Widow recount her childhood story in her own words.
At six years old, Black Widow had entered the Red Room for training. By the time she was eight, she had been selected to pose as part of a family with two adult agents, infiltrating the U.S. to gather intelligence.
Yelena, the girl in the photo, played the role of Black Widow's little sister.
At that time, Yelena was only three years old. In this makeshift family of four, she was the only one who believed it was all real.
A father, a mother, and a sister.
But when Black Widow was eleven, their cover was blown.
The four of them barely managed to escape the clutches of S.H.I.E.L.D. and flee the U.S.
What awaited them, however, was the disbandment of the temporary family that had existed for three years.
Black Widow knew how brutal the Red Room's training was and didn't want her six-year-old sister to endure the same inhuman torture she had.
At such a young age, she pointed a gun at the soldiers around her, but it was in vain. In the end, both of them were drugged with tranquilizers and forcibly taken away.
They were then separated in the Red Room. After successfully graduating and becoming one of the Red Room's killing machines, Black Widow never saw her sister again.
Later, after she met Hawkeye, killed Dreykov, and joined S.H.I.E.L.D., she tried searching for Yelena, but there was no trace of her. She never expected that today she would receive this photo.
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