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Chapter 168: Dottie Underwood
🕑 Added 2025-01-18 09:56:21 +0000 UTCWith the help of the Irish Mafia, a powerful organization with influence throughout the U.S., Carter's investigation of Leviathan became much easier and faster than in the original storyline.
This unexpected development also took Howard Stark by surprise.
To be honest, being accused of treason wasn't a big deal to Howard.
If he had simply attended the hearings as required from the beginning, everything could have been resolved without much trouble.
The situation only escalated because Howard liked challenges and wanted to expose the mastermind behind the accusations on his own.
By this time, Howard had already discussed plans with General Phillips to restructure the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) into what would become S.H.I.E.L.D. A little cooperation with Congress could have solved his problems entirely.
But Howard's pride wouldn't let him take the easy way out.
Including Carter in his plans was also a test and an opportunity to promote her. As a British citizen, Peggy Carter needed an extraordinary achievement to secure a high-ranking position in the organization.
This explains why, at the end of the first episode of the original series, Jarvis sat in a car and watched Peggy Carter from a distance as he reported to Howard Stark that Carter was an excellent choice and would not be suspected.
Although portrayed as a somewhat bumbling gentleman in the series, Jarvis was once a distinguished officer in the British Army. He traveled the world under the command of a general, but was discharged for forging his superior's signature to save his Jewish wife, Ana. Howard later rescued him, and Jarvis became his butler.
If compared in terms of military skill, Jarvis might not be far behind Carter.
However, Josh had more than just helping Carter in mind when he brought Dix into this situation.
In Manhattan's Midtown East stood the Continental Hotel of New York.
Formerly known as the Pierre Hotel, it had been built in 1930 and was one of the most luxurious hotels in New York. Six months ago, Josh purchased it from the Continental Hotel Group, a subsidiary of Continental Bank.
One of the reasons Josh chose this hotel was its state-of-the-art underground vault, which was designed to provide "permanent safe deposit box" services to its guests.
In the original timeline, this vault was the site of a world-shaking jewel heist in the 1970s.
But now, such an incident would never happen again. The vault has been transformed into a secret Ouroboros base in New York, similar to the Hydra base in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, was being held.
However, instead of Bucky, the base was currently holding a simple yet intriguing blonde woman.
Her name was Dottie Underwood.
Yes, she was the same Dottie Underwood from the original story, a woman with a complicated and intense relationship with Peggy Carter—one of the first Black Widows.
But in this timeline, Dottie had just arrived in New York a few days earlier, intent on blending in as a ballet dancer.
Through a fabricated ballet audition, she walked right into Ouroboros' carefully laid trap.
Despite her training in the Red Room, Dottie was no match for the Ouroboros agents who had planned every detail. She was quickly captured and secretly taken to the base.
Even now, locked away in the facility, Dottie had no idea who had captured her.
Looking at the guards standing in the distance—expressionless, silent, and seemingly emotionless—Dottie could almost confirm that they were not American agents. How could they train such cold-blooded individuals in such a corrupt and depraved country? (TL/N: She’s a Soviet agent in the 1940s–50s. Racism was common during that time, so I kept this part as it is.)
But why had these people captured her? How had she been exposed?
Using a ballet audition as bait to catch her meant that they already knew everything about her. Could there be a traitor among the higher-ups of the organization?
Or maybe... this was another test set up by the organization?
Just as Dottie was drowning in questions, she heard the sound of a door opening in the distance.
As the tightly secured metal doors opened one by one, the rhythmic clicking of high heels echoed through the halls. Finally, a graceful figure dressed in green appeared outside Dottie's cell.
"..."
When she saw the person outside, Dottie didn't speak, but her eyes couldn't hide a trace of shock.
She recognized the woman: Ophelia Sarkissian, the Viper Lady of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior. (TL/N: Funny name isn't it but its true, The Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior (Bundesministerium für Inneres, BM. I) is responsible for safeguarding the internal security of Austria.)
Ophelia's affiliations with Ouroboros and Hydra were well-kept secrets. Publicly, she was known as a high-ranking official in the Austrian intelligence service, the Directorate for State Protection and Intelligence (DSN), and the Ministry of the Interior.
The nickname "Viper Lady" was given to her by Claire Voyant, a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer and one of the first Black Widows, after several encounters with Ophelia.
According to Claire, Ophelia was like a poisonous snake-cold, calculating, and deadly.
Although the nickname fit both Ouroboros and Hydra, Ophelia did not like it.
Undeterred by the insult, Ophelia retaliated by using a term she had picked up from Josh; "Black Widow".
While Josh often referred to Claire, Dottie, and other Red Room agents as Black Widows because of his knowledge as a transmigrator, the title hadn't been officially used for Red Room agents at the time.
In fact, the term "Black Widow" became common only during Dreykov's time leading the Red Room.
Now, thanks to Claire Voyant, the nickname was catching on sooner than expected.
"Call me Ms. Ophelia. Viper Lady? What a vulgar title. It must be that b**** Claire who came up with it, right?" Ophelia broke the silence, seeming to read Dottie's thoughts as Dottie remembered everything she knew about her.
Dottie was visibly shaken.
"How do you know what I'm thinking?" she asked with surprise.
"Ha, just a little trick. Your superior, Johann Fennhoff, can do the same thing, can't he?" Ophelia tilted her head and looked at Dottie with amusement.
Johann Fennhoff, the only surviving normal individual from the Midnight Oil incident, was a master of mind control.
It was this ability that had earned him a place in the upper ranks of Leviathan.
Fennhoff had used his powers on countless individuals, but in the original story, his most notable victim was none other than the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes.
The moment Ophelia mentioned Fennhoff, Dottie instinctively lowered her head, avoiding Ophelia's gaze while deliberately filling her mind with random thoughts. As one of Fennhoff's direct reports in Leviathan, she knew exactly how to handle situations like this.
Unfortunately for her, Ophelia had obtained advanced techniques for enhancing mental abilities from Josh through Yuri. After years of rigorous training, her mind control abilities far exceeded those of her former self. Dottie's tricks were useless against her.
"Don't bother, dear~. Stop resisting. Come now, join our great Ouroboros~," Ophelia said with a slight smile, her crimson lips parting softly.
