Late at night, Dreykov looked at the information Yelena had sent on his phone. A slight smile appeared on his lips.
"It seems your people have successfully gotten close to the target."
Francis took an unidentified liquid with a metallic casing from his pocket and placed it on the table.
"A highly concentrated anesthetic. No need for injection—just spill it and let it diffuse. Within a ten-meter radius, even a real T. rex would collapse immediately. Developed by the military, specifically designed for the Hulk."
"Oh? You can get your hands on U.S. military tech?"
Dreykov was a little surprised. The Hulk had appeared in the public eye several times. While ordinary people might not know due to information being withheld, there was no way someone like him, the ever-present leader of the Red Room, could be kept in the dark.
"Why do you think I've been so comfortably stationed in the U.S.?"
Francis said smugly. As one of Hydra's leaders, Alexander Pierce had riddled S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.S. government with loopholes, so it was no surprise Francis had planted his own people in them.
"Blake's strength is no small matter, and with Natasha Romanoff by his side... In two days, once they fully trust my agent, we can make our move."
Dreykov had his own calculations. Even if they had Blake, there was no guarantee they could develop a serum as powerful as his blood. It would be better to directly control Blake—he would not only cooperate with the serum's development but also serve as a powerful weapon. Why not kill two birds with one stone?
He had already ordered the scientists in the Red Room to spare no effort in synthesizing a super-concentrated neurotoxin, with the goal of controlling Blake completely.
Once the neurotoxin arrived, that would be the best time to act. If things didn't go as planned, they could always use Francis' anesthetic.
...
After a few days of interaction, Yelena had gradually started to trust Natasha and Blake.
At least on the surface, it seemed that way. Not only did she begin to slowly share her experiences with Natasha, but she also quietly removed the small traps she had set at her bedroom door at night.
These changes delighted Natasha. At the same time, she felt a deep sadness for what Yelena must have gone through all these years, to the point where she was so cautious even when sleeping.
Blake, adopting a "see but don't speak" attitude, watched the two sisters with amusement every day.
Finally, on the eighth day after Yelena's arrival, Blake received a call from Tony.
"The party's ready. You can come over anytime!"
"OK!"
Blake hung up the phone with a grin.
"Natasha, I need to head to Los Angeles, to Tony's house. I'd like you both to come with me. Yelena could use some new friends. She needs to have her own social life."
Whenever Tony came up with a new idea—whether it was about his suits, the arc reactor, or some other gadget—he'd always retreat to his mansion in Malibu, Los Angeles, and disappear into his underground garage lab.
Everyone was used to this scientific genius vanishing from time to time.
So Natasha wasn't suspicious about Tony suddenly returning to Los Angeles. She simply followed Blake and pulled Yelena along as they boarded the plane.
"Want to check out where Iron Man was born? Or rather, where the Iron Man suit was born, ladies?"
Blake said happily at Tony's doorstep, addressing Natasha and Yelena.
"Jarvis, open the door!"
"Sorry, Mr. Blake, your access has been revoked by Mr. Stark. He says that now you all have your own lives, it's better to keep a bit of distance."
"Mr. Stark has approved your request to enter, but for some reason, he's instructed me to open the door one minute later. Once inside, you can go directly to the basement. Although the main door's permissions have changed, the basement remains the same."
"Thank you, Jarvis. Please send this hand gesture to Tony Stark right away!"
Blake said, flipping the bird.
Natasha stood next to Yelena, explaining what was going on. She knew Tony was getting back at Blake for leaving him outside the door last time.
The three of them entered the basement.
Tony was busy fine-tuning one of his suits.
His fingers flew across the keyboard, entering commands, and the suit responded with a series of movements.
It even flipped Blake the bird.
"Not bad. I'm trying to program Jarvis to control the suit autonomously and perform some actions or even fight independently. It's a huge project. Natasha, is this your sister? Let me think... her name's Yelena, right? Yelena, congratulations on finding your sister!"
Tony greeted the two sisters.
Blake, in a playful tone as if talking to a child, said to Yelena, "Want to touch it? Go ahead, try it!"
Though Yelena was under someone's control, her basic curiosity remained.
With the Iron Man suit's reputation, of course, she wanted to take a closer look. She cautiously circled the suit, reaching out to touch its material.
Suddenly...
The suit's right-hand thruster ignited, and the right arm swung back, hitting Yelena directly on the back of her head.
Caught off guard, Yelena let out a groan and collapsed.
"Hey! What are you doing, Tony?" Natasha shouted in concern, rushing towards Yelena.
Blake quickly grabbed Natasha, gesturing for her to stay quiet. At the same time, he spoke up, "Tony, are you crazy? Why did you knock Yelena out with the suit?"
"It was an accident, you know I'm still tweaking its programming. Maybe Yelena's movement made the suit think it was under attack."
"Jarvis, run a scan to figure out what went wrong, you get what I mean?" Tony said with an implied meaning.
"Understood, sir."
A red beam of light descended from the garage ceiling, slowly scanning Yelena's body.
Though Natasha was confused, her trust in Blake made her hold back, watching to see what they were doing.
"No listening devices found, sir, but there is a GPS satellite tracker in Miss Yelena's thigh."
The red beam pinpointed a location on Yelena's right thigh, revealing the position of the tracker.
Hearing there were no listening devices, both Blake and Tony sighed in relief.
Natasha finally pieced it together.
"You suspected Yelena from the beginning and kept it from me?" she asked.
"Don't be mad, darling. We were just attacked, and then she shows up at our doorstep? It seemed too convenient."
Blake whistled towards Tony, "Are you ready?"
"Don't worry!"
Tony rolled out a massive white machine from between the cars. It looked a lot like a hospital CT or MRI scanner.
"What's this? What else are you hiding from me?" Natasha asked, annoyed.
"It's the latest brain scanning machine. I made a few modifications. It can clearly scan the neuron activity in the brain."
"To put it simply, we can test whether your sister is being controlled by someone else!"