A shield from reality

Natasha skulked down the underground hallway of the HYDRA base, closing in on the main lab room. In the days prior, she'd successfully managed to infiltrate the Purifiers' operation and had passed on vital information regarding their cooperation with HYDRA to both SHIELD and the X-Women. In the process, she'd uncovered a possible location for whatever was shielding the heads of HYDRA from the effects of the Cosmic Cube; a hidden lab on an uncharted island a few hundred miles off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.

It had been difficult to concentrate on the mission, especially considering what Natasha had to decline in order to infiltrate the lab; Jean Grey and Emma Frost were very happy with the info Natasha had uncovered, and had invited her to the Grey-Frost University campus so they could "congratulate" her personally; Natasha had found it incredibly different to turn down the offer, but she had another mission, and Natasha knew it would have likely ended with her having sex with Jean & Emma and memories of her old reality being overwritten by the new one. Jean and Emma left the offer open though, and Natasha couldn't help but seriously consider it...

Natasha quickly incapacitated group of guards were keeping watch at the main lab entrance and used a SHIELD hacking app to override the locks on the door. She made sure that the area was clear, and entered the room.

"Widow to Fury -- I've discovered the source of what's been shielding HYDRA's men from whatever's going on. It's the reality stone, just like you guys suspected."

"I see. I guess we can rule the stone out as whatever's reshaping reality," Fury said through the comm link.

"So how should I proceed?" Natasha asked.

"Take the stone, but be careful with it," said Fury. "HYDRA's men might be assmiliated, but we need that stone far more than they do."

"Understood. Widow out," Natasha said, ending the call. She carefully took the stone and placed it in a protective case, ready to exfiltrate the lab.

Meanwhile, HYDRA's high council were meeting at the Ravenous base not far away. "I've just finished speaking with Reverend Stryker, and we've finalized an agreement to help the Purifiers carry out their attacks on mutantkind as part of our deal," Wolfgang von Strucker explained. "In addition, we'll be using the reality stone to shield their men from whatever is causing this change in reality. In exchange, we get their cooperation in finding this cause -- wait, what's happening? Oh, no. No, no, no..."

Strucker watched in horror as the High Council vanished before his eyes, all being assimilated by the seemingly frozen Viper, the current Madame Hydra -- soon, he felt his consciousness joining theirs inside her mind, and then, only Viper remained...