Per usual, this is written under the assumption that you've seen the movie and remember how it ends so I don't drag it out with too many explanations and connecting pieces, but if you haven't seen it or don't remember it, hopefully it still makes some sense?

"Yelena," Loki murmurs, peering down at the young woman before him. "Yelena, darling, it's time to wake up."

Yelena groans quietly, which isn't much, but it's more of a reaction than he's gotten out of her the last few times he's tried this. As far as he can tell, he's not needed anywhere else right now, so he'll give it another minute or two before he checks in on the others again.

Loki glances around the room at all the members of the Red Room that are now lying unconscious on the ground. He wonders if this is going to become a problem eventually. It won't become more of a problem than what had been going on before Loki stepped in – the preparation of a procedure to, if he understands correctly, remove and study her brain – but it could still lead to some complications if somebody happens to notice that nobody's heard from these men in a while.

And that's part of the reason he needs her to wake up. Her life may not be in immediate danger anymore, but if someone walks through that door, she's all but defenseless without Loki by her side, and he has his hands full monitoring all the moving parts of this plan; he can't stay here all day.

"Yelena," Loki says once more. This would be so much easier if he was physically present. If he could touch her, could give her a gentle shake, maybe he could wake her up. But for now, all he can do is speak to her. He hopes that's enough.

Yelena's eyes flutter open, only for a moment before they close once more. She groans once more, squeezing her eyes shut before forcing them open, squinting up at the ceiling. "What...?"

"It's about time," Loki remarks. "Everybody else is already awake."

Yelena's brows draw together slightly, and as she turns her head toward the sound of his voice, he makes himself visible beside her. "What's happening?"

"A lot," Loki replies. "You are in the Red Room. I have single-handedly saved your brain – you're welcome for that."

A look of confusion passes over her face, but it's gone as swiftly as it appeared. He's beginning to suspect she's not awake enough yet for all of this information, but he's going to give it to her anyway.

"Your sister has taken the form of your mother to confront Dreykov," Loki tells her. "She brought the antidote onto the ship; getting them back is the current goal. The vials will be split amongst you all – you, your parents, and the Avengers – and then your goal is to help Agent Romanoff, and to save as many Widows as possible in the process."

Yelena blinks a few times, and slowly, she sits up, swinging her legs over the side of the table. She looks up at him, then around the room, expressionless as she sees all the bodies lying on the ground around them.

"I should tell you," Loki adds, "that you have a small knife stored on your right thigh, courtesy of your sister."

Yelena's hand pats her leg, once, twice, and then her fingers find it, slipping it out of her bodysuit to look at it.

"Are you awake enough to go on your way," Loki asks her, "or would you like me to stay with you for another minute or two while you regain your composure?"

Yelena runs her hand down her face, then pushes herself to her feet. "I'm good."

"Wonderful," Loki says. "Now, here is where you're going."

~~~

"And how is it going over here?" Loki asks, looking between the Avengers with an invisible brow raised.

Sam and Pietro both jump at the sound of his voice. Everyone else, it seems, has started to grow used to its sudden appearances.

"Are we clear?" Steve asks.

Loki takes a few seconds to trail the path they're about to follow, searching for any signs of life – or, more accurately, any signs of future problems. Returning to the Avengers' sides, he says, "You are for now, yes."

Steve nods once, and the stealthy air that had surrounded them all fades, finally allowing them to walk like normal human beings and not video game characters stuck in crouch mode.

"How is everyone?" Clint asks. "How's Nat?"

Loki hesitates. "She is..." Not good, exactly. That would be too blatant of a lie, even for him.

"Loki?" Steve says cautiously.

"Is she okay?" Clint asks, an air of desperation to his voice that Loki's not sure he's ever heard before.

"Dreykov knows that it's her," Loki says. He doesn't know how long ago he unmasked her, but somehow, he figured out that she wasn't Melina, which puts them both in danger. "But he seems more content to play with her than to hurt her, at least for now." It's a game of cat and mouse, except the mouse is all but trapped, laid out for the cat to feast upon whenever it's ready.

"Shit," Clint mutters.

"Then we need to go find her," Sam says. "Screw the antidote; there's only one Widow I care about."

"No," Loki says immediately. "I will watch over her. I will keep her safe. But you cannot barge in on her until she is ready." She's using him for information – about the Red Room; about the Widows scattered across the globe – and she's not going to be happy if they burst in and sabotage her plan. "You must focus on your part of the mission and leave her to do her own."

Clint and Steve share an uncomfortable look, but nobody tries to argue with that. Nobody is going to tell Natasha Romanoff how to handle the dismantling of the Red Room. If she wants to do this alone – and she does – then she is going to do it alone (with, of course, Loki looking after her, just in case something goes wrong).

Pietro raises a hand. "I have a question."

Loki gives him a nod, a silent sign to ask.

"Is there any reason I cannot leave them," he gestures to the other Avengers, "and find the antidote to disperse amongst everyone in a fraction of the time it would take for us to all reach it?"

Loki pauses.

That...

That isn't a bad question.

"Would you feel comfortable doing that?" Loki asks. "You would be alone in the Red Room, you understand."

"It would only be a minute," Pietro says. "And I will feel much safer when we have the antidote."

Loki glances at the others, and when he's met with only mildly apprehensive expressions, he shrugs. "Alright, listen carefully," he says. "This is where you're going to go..."

~~~

Natasha seems to be doing alright – or as alright as can be expected, given the situation – so Loki turns his attention to Melina and Alexei. It's perhaps a good thing that he does, because somehow, the Taskmaster has found them, and it's not exactly going well.

It's not exactly going poorly, either, though, so Loki just stands back to watch.

He has to admit, this Taskmaster is very well-equipped. He wields his Captain America knock-off shield like a professional. He whips out claws that would put the Black Panther's to shame – especially impressive, given that as far as Loki knows, most of the world had never even seen the Black Panther until this week.

He wonders briefly if any of the Iron Man suits' capabilities have been added to this Taskmaster's variety of offensive strikes. It's not to say the Taskmaster isn't a formidable foe already, but that would add an extra layer of impressiveness that he'd almost like to see, if it wouldn't put his allies in more danger than they're already in.

He can pick out pieces of the Avengers' fighting styles in the Taskmaster's movements. It's fascinating, really. Just as interesting, perhaps, is the way he can pick out Natasha's fighting style in Melina's movements. They have the same grace to their attacks – a Widow thing, he's sure. For all Dreykov's flaws, he trained his girls well.

Finally, Melina manages to throw the Taskmaster into the cell she'd been locked in, and Alexei closes the door. Loki waits just long enough to ensure that the Taskmaster can't escape before he leaves.

It's time to check on Yelena again.

~~~

Yelena is fighting four men at once, and while Loki could step in and give her a hand, he instead opts to stand back and watch the show. She's talented; he can see that very clearly. He can see that she and Natasha were trained by the same agency. Their styles differ, certainly – Natasha's fights are more performative, for one – but they clearly share the same roots. It's interesting to watch.

He waits until she's taken down the last of them before he says, "You're very good at this."

Yelena flinches at the sound of his voice, then grits her teeth in frustration. "Will you stop doing that?"

"Doing what?" Loki asks with faux innocence.

"That whole..." She gestures vaguely. "'Talking to me when you're not here' thing."

Loki allows himself to be seen, and he spreads his arms. "Is this better?" He's not here, exactly, but it's as close as he can get.

Yelena just rolls her eyes and starts walking. Loki, of course, follows.

"Barton and the Maximoff boy are on their way to you," he tells her. "They have the antidote; once they've shared it with you, you and Barton can go search for the Widows, and Pietro will bring the rest of the vials to your parents."

Yelena's air of annoyance only grows, and she all but whines, "I have to do this with Clint Barton?"

"Take comfort in the knowledge that it could be worse," Loki tells her. "You could be expected to work in tandem with the both of them at the same time. That is a fate I would wish on very few people."

Yelena just rolls her eyes once more. If only she knew how those two bickered; she would understand how true his words are.

"And Natasha?" Yelena asks. "How is she?"

"She's doing just fine," Loki assures her. "As are your parents, and as are the Avengers."

"I do not care how the Avengers are doing," Yelena deadpans.

"Given that they are the ones who carry the antidote you're waiting for, you probably should care," Loki says. He pauses, then says, "And I do believe I hear their voices."

Sure enough, Clint and Pietro are there within a minute, though fortunately, whatever they'd been talking (or, more likely, bickering) about has come to an end before the other two had to listen to it.

Yelena folds her arms over her chest and raises a brow. "Antidote?"

Pietro pulls some vials out of his jacket pocket and hands them to her, and she tucks them into the many, many pockets of her vest. Loki instructs Pietro on how to find Melina and Alexei, and then he's off in the blink of an eye.

Loki gives Clint and Yelena a polite nod. "I trust you can handle this yourself."

Clint nods. "We got it," he says. "Go keep an eye on Nat."

"Of course," Loki replies. "Good luck."

And then he disappears.

He doesn't leave, though; he just disappears. His time on Midgard has proven to him that he is nothing if not nosey, so if he has a chance to eavesdrop on the first private conversation between Natasha Romanoff's sister and her best friend, he has to take it.

The two share an awkward glance, and, with nothing more than a muttered, "This way," they're on their way. But that can't be all the fun, juicy gossip that's going to happen. There has to be something more coming. This is too interesting of a situation for nothing to happen.

... Nothing happens.

They do not share a single word that does not have to be shared.

It's very underwhelming.

Eventually, he just has to give up. He'll check back in on them later. For now, he has a scattered team to look over.

~~~

"Thank you," Natasha says, a smirk on her lips, "for your cooperation."

The door bursts open, and in storms their team – the Avengers; Natasha's family; the Widows whose minds they've freed. They can't hurt Dreykov, of course. None of the Widows can, Natasha included; the pheromonal lock made sure of it. But this fight belongs to all of them, and they're going to finish it together.

"Now," Natasha says, peering up at him, "we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"You should pick the hard way," Pietro adds. "It will be much more fun for us – and by the time you wake up, you will already be in the United Nations' custody."

Dreykov clenches his jaw, hands balling into fists by his side.

"It's over, Dreykov," Natasha says. "You took my childhood. You took my choices and tried to break me. But you're never going to do that to anyone ever again."

Dreykov narrows his eyes, but even he knows he doesn't stand a chance fighting against this army.

Natasha looks over at Steve and nods once, and that's his cue to take care of this lowlife – one who will never know freedom again once the UN gets ahold of him. This is what they wanted: a bargaining chip of a sort. Dreykov will spend the rest of his life in a secure prison under constant supervision, and the Avengers will have something to hold over the United Nations; to prove once more that the world needs them.

Natasha and Yelena meet each other's eyes from across the room, and Natasha gives her a small smile. Yelena gives her one in return. They should consider themselves lucky that Loki isn't physically present, because he would absolutely grab them by the arms and drag them toward each other to force them to have a conversation if he was.

Unfortunately, Natasha's smile only lasts a moment, and then it's all business once more. Her eyes scan the Widows before her, until finally, they land on Clint and she asks, "Where's the Taskmaster?"

Clint shakes his head, raises his shoulders in a small shrug. "I don't know."

"I do!" Alexei says proudly. "We locked him in a cell – me and Melina."

"Where?" Natasha asks.

"We'll show you," Melina says.

Natasha glances at Clint, almost on instinct, and he gestures for her to go. With the silent promise that everything here will be handled, Natasha pushes her way through the crowd, and Melina and Alexei do the same. And then, Loki notices, Yelena squeezes through, too. Loki, of course, being the nosey person that he is, has to follow.

It's quiet at first, the four of them walking in silence toward their destination. It's very awkward, though that shouldn't be much of a surprise. He's glad he's not physically there; he'd probably suffocate, with how thick the tension is.

Finally, Yelena asks, "What are you going to do to the Taskmaster?"

"We still have another antidote, right?" Natasha asks.

Yelena furrows her brows. "Will that work?"

"It will," Natasha says. "She's a victim, just like the rest of us."

Yelena's confusion only grows. "'She'?" she repeats, incredulous. "The Taskmaster is a woman?"

Natasha nods. "And not just any woman."

Yelena cocks her head to the side.

"She's Dreykov's daughter."

There's a collective gasp from the others, and Natasha clasps her hands behind herself, lowering her gaze to the floor as she walks.

"You killed Dreykov's daughter," Alexei says cautiously.

Natasha shakes her head. "I thought I did," she says. "She probably would have been better off if I had. But..."

It grows quiet once more, a solemn silence that even someone as socially inept as Alexei doesn't want to disrupt.

The silence stretches on for a few minutes, until finally, Melina asks, "What happens now? Now that Dreykov is...?"

Natasha shakes her head. "I don't know," she admits. "We're going to let the UN finish cleaning up the mess. I'm sure I can negotiate on your behalf; keep the locations of the remaining Widows secret until the guarantee you'll be safe."

Melina gives her a small, grateful smile.

Alexei only frowns. "I guess I must go back to prison, then," he says, and he is not at all subtle about the fact that he would like some Avenger-sponsored help at changing that.

"I'll see what I can do about that, too," is all Natasha says.

Alexei just nods.

Natasha glances back at Yelena, who's trailing along behind the others. "What about you?" she asks. "What are you going to do, now that this is over?"

Yelena's quiet for a moment; then, "I don't know."

"Do you have somewhere you can go?" Natasha asks her. "Someone you can stay with, or...?"

Yelena gives her a look. "Yes, because I have had much time to make friends while I was brainwashed," she says sarcastically.

Natasha glances back at her again, only for a second before she turns her attention back to where she's going.

Loki waits impatiently for her to do the obvious thing and invite her sister to the compound.

... It seems he's going to be waiting for a very long time.

Is he going to have to do this himself? This is getting ridiculous. Why couldn't Natasha have learned from his mistakes with his relationship with Thor so he didn't have to watch the exact same thing play out again with her sibling relationship, too?

Eventually, they reach the cells where Alexei and Melina had been held, and, just as they'd suspected, the Taskmaster is still locked up in one.

The moment she sees them, she climbs to her feet, crossing the cell and slamming her fist against the door.

Natasha flinches, face contorting into a grimace. She holds her hand out to her sister. "Antidote?"

Yelena pulls a vial out of her vest pocket and hands it to her without a word.

Natasha approaches the door slowly, the vial held tight in her hand. "Antonia," she says slowly, "I'm going to let you out, but you need to take off your helmet first."

The Taskmaster just screams, pounding her fists against the glass with a reignited rage – at the sound of Natasha's voice or the sound of her name, it's hard to tell.

Natasha sighs, resting her forehead against the door and closing her eyes, a rather calm, subdued scene despite the burning fury on the other side of the glass. "I want to help you," she says quietly. "Please. Let me help you."

She doesn't, of course. The Taskmaster jams her foot against the door, and it's clear that she has no plans to stop fighting.

"We could let her out," Yelena suggests. "There are four of us and one of her. I think we can get the helmet off."

Natasha glances over at her, her hesitation clear on her face. Loki decides to step in for her piece of mind.

Taskmaster's helmet removes itself from her head, courtesy of Loki's magic, and though Taskmaster tries to grab it and pull it back on, it manages to slip from her grasp, levitating in the upper corner of the cell and out of her reach. It's then that Loki sees the Taskmaster's face for the first time, and he begins to piece together what's happened. Natasha did blow up the building with her inside of it, and she has a scarred, disfigured half of her face to prove it. But she had the misfortune of surviving anyway.

It may take more than the antidote to Dreykov's mind control to convince the Taskmaster that Natasha is not worth killing.

Alexei, Melina, and Yelena are, perhaps unsurprisingly, far more confused by this seemingly sentient helmet. Natasha, of course, knows exactly what it was.

She shakes her head to herself, a slight smile on her face. "Thanks, Loki."

Melina furrows her brows. "Loki?"

Yelena groans. "I swear, it is like he is everywhere!"

"Thank you," Loki says, a bit smug in his answer. "I do try."

Yelena lets her head fall back and groans once more.

Natasha looks down at the vial in her hand, then back at her family. Melina nods once, and Natasha turns back, takes a deep breath, and opens the door.

Before the Taskmaster can even take a step, Natasha's opened the vial, and the red dust fills the air. Her irises begin to glow, their hue matching the scarlet of the antidote, and then it fades away. Any fight she'd had in her seems to dissipate in an instant, and she just stands there, frozen, as she tries to make sense of what's been done to her.

Natasha brings a hand up, slowly, cautiously, and rests it on her shoulder. "Antonia?"

Antonia meets her gaze, and when she speaks, all she says is, "Is he gone?"

Natasha nods. "We've got him."

Antonia lets her head fall forward, forehead resting against the other girl's, and as she falls to her knees, Natasha goes with her. And there they stay, silent, holding onto one another as though they could slip away at any moment.

... Loki suspects they're going to need to prepare more bedrooms in the compound.