Blake probably hadn't realized it himself, but as his friendships with Tony, Natasha, and others deepened, and his contacts with the Ancient One and Asgard increased, both his power and influence in this world were steadily growing.
Blake's style of action had also gradually become much more high-profile.
In the past, he would have snuck in quietly to rescue someone, hiding his tracks. But now? He barged right through the wall.
Behind him, alarms blared, and soldiers were assembling in the distance, preparing to charge.
"Natasha and Yelena sent me to rescue you. Whether you want to come or not is your choice!" Blake wiped his hand over his pants, and a photo appeared in his hand—it was a family picture of Alexei and his "family of four."
"Natasha, Yelena, my daughters..." Alexei trembled as he took the photo.
"And you are...?"
"Shut up and get moving!"
After completing his mission in the U.S., Alexei had watched helplessly as Dreykov's men took Natasha and Yelena away in Cuba, letting the two girls who called him "dad" be taken to the dreaded Red Room.
That was why Blake had no patience for him. If Alexei had been Natasha's real father, Blake might have been a little more polite, even if the man was a scumbag. But to this fake, he owed no courtesy.
Grabbing Alexei by the shirt, Blake hoisted up the man who once claimed to rival Captain America.
Meanwhile, the soldiers above had formed a formation, aiming their guns at the two below.
"How do you plan to get out of here? Actually, you could put me down. I could take on a hundred of these soldiers alone!" Alexei, dangling like a large toad, tried to show off his long-lost biceps.
"No need. Are you afraid of heights?"
Blake glanced at the height of the wall and asked calmly.
"What? Afraid of heights?"
"Yes, afraid of heights."
As soon as Blake finished speaking, he swung Alexei backward before flinging him forward with force.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Alexei screamed as he flew over the wall, landing heavily in the thick snow, leaving a person-shaped crater.
Before he could get up, Blake had already landed beside him with a whistle.
"What are you doing? No! Wait, ahhh!"
With a few more leaps, they had made it to the mountaintop across from the prison.
To avoid an avalanche, Natasha had parked the jet on the mountain. Blake tossed Alexei into the plane without hesitation and strode inside.
"Oh, Natasha, Yelena, you've both grown so much. My God, my daughters!" Alexei scrambled up from the cabin, spreading his arms excitedly toward Natasha and Yelena.
In return, he received nothing but calm, indifferent looks from the sisters.
"What? You don't miss your dad? Don't be shy, come on, you came to save me, right?"
"They saved you to get you to reveal your good friend Dreykov's hideout, not because they missed their so-called 'father,'" Blake pressed Alexei into a seat.
"Dreykov? Don't mention that bastard to me! I completed my mission in the U.S. perfectly! I don't know what I did to offend him—maybe I said one wrong thing, or something else—but he threw me into that damned prison for over a decade!"
"By the way, who are you? Why are you so strong? What's your relationship with my daughters?"
Puffing out his chest, Alexei tried to assert himself as a father in front of Blake.
"Shut up! Whatever relationship we have is none of your business. You're not our real father. We only came to find you to get to Dreykov, so you'd better tell us everything you know!" Natasha shouted at Alexei.
"That's your purpose? You only come to me when you need something? Yelena, what about you?"
Yelena glanced back, opened her mouth but said nothing.
"Why the long face? Is it that time of the month for you?" Alexei asked shamelessly.
"I don't have 'that time of the month,' dear 'father.' Ever since you had us thrown into the Red Room, we were 'graduated' by having our uteruses, ovaries, and everything else removed. Cold surgical tools cut into our bodies, snipping and slicing. Our fallopian tubes…"
"Oh, stop it, stop it! That's just too disgusting!" Alexei grimaced.
*Slap!*
Blake delivered a hard slap right across Alexei's face.
"You... you hit me?"
Alexei and even Natasha and Yelena were stunned.
"You think that's disgusting? Do you realize how much pain you caused them by walking away all those years ago? You could have stopped it, but you didn't."
"They had their reproductive organs forcibly removed—that's what they did to your 'daughters.' You think it's gross? Have you ever had your reproductive organs removed? Have you ever had your balls stomped to squish? Want to try?"
Blake grabbed Alexei by the collar, speaking menacingly.
Alexei froze, his mouth moving slightly, but seeing the murderous look in Blake's eyes, he eventually said nothing.
"You have three minutes to think about how to find Dreykov. Otherwise, I'll throw you out of this plane from tens of thousands of feet in the air. Got it, you bastard?"
The whole plane fell silent. Neither Natasha nor Yelena knew who their real parents were, so the few years of family life in America had left a deep impact on them.
During those years, Alexei had treated them like a real father, so they had feelings for him. Blake's harsh words not only silenced Alexei but also brought tears to the sisters' eyes.
Especially Yelena—Natasha had always known it was fake, no matter how real it felt, and had prepared herself mentally. But for Yelena, that was her first memory of a family.
After a long silence, Alexei finally spoke slowly.
"I really don't know where Dreykov is, but I think Melina might know—your 'mother.'"
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