Begin Again In Marvel

POV Rio

It was January 1st and the leader of the Red Room was nearly killed. I also released Trigon a few days ago to deal with the Cosmic Entities. I moved to secure the Red Room while Agent 47 ensured Dreykov died. It wasn't that hard as he was injured all 47 had to do was ensure that he didn't make it far. As for securing the Red Room that was easy. Just use magic to knock everyone unconscious. Then remove all the different fail safes. Use Drain Knowledge on all the caregivers. Kill those who are evil and then transport the Widows to a facility on Gaia. The hard part began now. Once I was certain everyone was awake I walked into the main room in my Alicorn form. I felt their fear and worry at my appearance.

Rio: "Greetings lost ones. I have saved you from your captivity. Now I have brought you here to give you a chance at a new life. I offer you several different routes. The first is you can stay here for as long as you want. The second is I erase your violent memories give you false new ones and set you up a new life somewhere. The third is you can join me to do something more with your skills. The fourth is I can set you free to wander the world, in this option I would erase your memories of this conversation. The fifth is you get training here to integrate back into society, in this option, you just have to sign a magical non-disclosure agreement. The sixth option is you become a civilian of my empire. The seventh option is whatever else you can think of. Regardless of what you choose, I will give you back what they removed."

They all look at each other and I can feel the fear and confusion. The older ones reach for their stomachs and I can feel hope in them. They have never dealt with this kind of scenario and I can tell some of them think this is some kind of test from the Red Room. I decide to add some proof. I cast some spells to let them see that this is real.

Rio: "As you can see I am quite real and your captors are all dead. They will never harm any of you again. I will not force you to fight. If you join me I can guarantee you never need to fear death again. For me, death is merely a state of being. Regardless of what you choose, I will not harm you unless that is what you request of me. I can send your souls off into the reincarnation cycle so none of you have to worry about going to a bad afterlife. Now all of you have all the time in the universe to make a decision."

I turn to leave but I hear someone ask me a question.

Ana: "Why did you help us?"

Rio: "Because it was the right thing to do. Beyond that some Widows who have joined me have asked I rescue you. The Red Room was a disgusting place made by those who had no morals. They had caused issues to many and when Natasha tried to kill Dreykov I knew it was time to strike. In one swift move, the Red Room has been erased and only 6 Widows remain. All 6 are currently guarding the Russian President. I will go collect them soon."

Ana: "What are you?"

Rio: "I am an Alicorn. You can consider me a mythological horse of a sort."

When I saw they had no more questions, I left them to discuss things. My biggest advantage was my Santa Aura, which made others trust me, so they were willing to trust me to some extent. Beyond that, I had very high Charisma, so I was more convincing. If everything goes well, they should be able to lay down their weapons and return to a normal life.

'Those 10 and under will likely be young enough that they can rejoin society. 11-15 will need some retraining but I imagine most will accept leaving. The real trouble comes from 16 and up. They are all completely trained and will likely not want to leave their current job.'

I look at the list and see that in total the Red Room only had 168 Widows both trained and untrained. I had resurrected 41 Widows that were killed in action by us. Then we captured an additional 15 Widows and all joined us. With the 6 we still need to capture that means there is a total of 230 Widows. 130 will leave due to their young age. 35-40 will likely choose retirement or retraining. That will leave us with 60-65 Widows that will stay. Most will likely join the Spartan Program. So at best, we will get 65 more Spartans.

'Not bad. I believe that we have just finished the revised Spartan Program so now all of them are about 5 times better than Steve Rogers if they are outside the armor. With armor then Steve would be no better than an average human.'

I walk to Thrawns office to get his opinion on the matter.

Thrawn: "Hmm, I think your estimations are likely off. You are underestimating the will the Widows will have. You saved them from a terrible fate and further will heal them. I expect more than half will want to join us. I wouldn't be surprised if all of them decided to join."

Rio: "Surely that must be a bit too exaggerated. They would surely be more interested in leaving this kind of life behind. They weren't brainwashed all that much and what little they have was removed by me."

Thrawn: "You underestimate the value of being a savior. You are the person who rescued them from a life that they have likely been hoping someone would save them from. Natasha's escape is proof that they didn't want to be Widows. You answered their prayers. Even if you didn't know that. Thus, they will likely hold on to you and never let go."

After thinking about what he said, I rethought whether I was wrong about my understanding of them. If I was, then I would need to make sure they were not reliant on me.

'It is unhealthy to have such a relationship. I will wait and see for now.'

I leave and review the current state of affairs of the world.

'China is still clueless as to what caused the explosion that made them lose 125k men and supplies. They have reduced aid for the time being and the Federation is trying to hold their position. Belarus has fully entered the war and is now being attacked by the Imperial forces. Iran has started sending volunteers and aid to the Federation. The Federation is losing and seems to be offering more and more desperate deals to other nations to support them. With the Red Room disappearing they will likely lose some of the support from the other nations.'

I think about how best to take advantage of this.

'The recession has already begun and will worsen if our plans succeed. Then, by this year's end, the world will be plunged into an energy crisis. The Imperium will reveal itself and we will start accepting countries to join us. Hydra will likely start expanding during the crises. With their flawed methodology, they will only make those under them want to leave. We should start influencing nations to be more willing to accept a union with the Imperium. Japan, the Koreas, the Baltic States, and Ukraine would most likely accept membership.'

I reviewed a plan Thrawn and Tex suggested.

'They want Zelda to expand Hyrule throughout the former Byzantine Empire territory. I can see how some of the territory would fall easily enough. NATO would maybe resist but they likely wouldn't be in a position to fight it. Turkey would be tricky. They are a sizeable country and they have a decent-sized military. Perhaps we could do a soft takeover. They will be crippled by the energy crisis and be desperate for power. Hyrule could easily offer such a thing with its connections to LexCorp.'

I considered the idea but decided to let it sit for a while as nothing would happen for nearly a year. The next report I read was about Tony Stark almost finishing the Jericho Missile.

'If what this says is true then Tony will be kidnapped soon. I just need to keep watch to make sure he doesn't die for some reason. If he does it isn't that big a deal I will just resurrect him. My prank allowed me to put a tracking spell on him so I could always know his status. He should be fine. From what I have seen he really needs this. Hmm, would Howard be upset about this? Maybe but I doubt it. He was a tough love kind of father.'

I keep reading the documents and thinking about our different plans.

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Authors Note:

The MCU has just about begun. I have a pretty good idea about what the world will look like after the numerous plans and crises. Please note this is a work of fiction and as such some things might not be 100% accurate to our world. Until next time Ciao.