STATUS: available [ ] taken [×]
requested by pepperronys

* MEANS IT CAN BE CHANGED

TITLE: Killer Instincts*
FANDOM: Marvel Cinematic Universe
LOVE INTEREST(s): Natasha Romanoff
TIMELINE: AU - Age of Ultron - Endgame*

CAST

jensen ackles as
NIKO CONSTANTIN
" WOLF SPIDER "

DESCRIPTION

In the right circles, there were only ever a few names whispered in fear as the assassins you either desperately wanted to hire or wanted nowhere near you. The Black Widows of the Red Room all carried such titles, as did the infamous Winter Soldier. But sharing this title was never enough for General Dreykov, oh no, he wanted to outshine Hydra's precious Winter Soldier with his own assassin so he would finally have all the power.

And so the Red Room began the Wolf Spider program, a program nearly identical to that of their Black Widow program except it would be for their male trainees and there would be a focus on strength and power instead of stealth and seduction. Where the Black Widows slipped quietly past their opponent's defences, the Wolf Spiders would, ideally, be able to kick in the door and take on all their enemies alone. At the beginning of the program, Dreykov was confident that this program would be just as successful as his last. He just didn't account for the volatility that would result from the administration of his version of Doctor Abraham Erskine's super soldier serum.

The first class of Wolf Spider trainees held no survivors once the serum was administered. Nor were there any in the second class. By the third class, Dreykov had managed to tweak the serum enough that it didn't kill all of them. One survivor yielded from this third class and only one would survive the fourth and final class as well. After losing almost fifty men to the program with nowhere near enough success to back up the cost, Dreykov was forced to cut his losses and make do with the two successes he had.

If you could call them successes.

Niko Constantin was volatile. While he proved to be an effective killer, he was also nearly impossible to handle or control and seemed to like the act of killing more than he should have. He would always complete his missions if they meant lives were lost at his hands but he didn't always do it the way he was told. At first, the solution seemed to be to simply pull him from doing missions, keep him on site where they could better monitor him and he could be reassigned to training Black Widows so they could at least put his training to use. When this attempt lost them more than one Widow, they decided their best option was to simply put him on ice.

There he stayed for years. Until the Red Room found a use for him in going after the one Widow that managed to get away. For what better use could the uncontrollable Wolf Spider have than going after Natasha Romanoff when they didn't care if he died in the process?

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

› as always, I think the summary could use a little tidying, but that is up to you. and, also as always, apologies for the delay in getting this to you

› so I've actually had my eye on Niko Constantin for a while and have been trying to fit him into the MCU somewhere so I think this is a really good place for him. I think Jensen really suits the role here

› like I said in the summary, Niko is one of only two survivors of the Wolf Spider program run by the Red Room. The other, of course, is Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian. You can choose who was the first and who was the second because I kept flip-flopping on which I thought made more sense. Like on one hand, I felt that David Harbour looks older than Jensen Ackles so he could be the older one and they got the slow aging thing more right the second time but then on the other hand, they could have gotten it more right the first time and then their second attempt aged more like a normal person. Then there's his age in relation to Natasha's to consider. I really couldn't decide, it's up to you.

› so, Niko did his missions and was bad at listening to orders totally. eventually, they put him on ice so that they wouldn't have to deal with him but they didn't kill him obviously because he was one of their only two successes. then they pulled him out after Natasha left and sent him after her as he was their most disposable asset

› I would like to think this first happened sometime after The Avengers as that's when she was really out in the open for the first time since leaving the Red Room. So he finds her sometime in the months that follow the Battle of New York and he tries to kill her but, as you requested, he fails to do so in the end because they have a history

› you can definitely decide just how detailed that history is, but there is one and it stopped him from killing someone for the first time in his life. so that should be some indication

› after this, Niko disappears for a while. Natasha can either tell someone about the attack or keep tracking him in private. That's up to you

› regardless of your choice, the next time that Niko appears is around Age of Ultron. I think it would be cool to incorporate him into the movie somehow like he was maybe working for Hydra because he needed a job and money and they paid and let him kill people and whatnot and then he ran into Natasha in the base in Sokovia and like full on panicked about seeing the one person he couldn't kill. Then he could, like, show up again at the end and help out, maybe? Or just show up after, having seen the news. Up to you

› again, regardless of if you choose to include him in the bulk of AoU, he will show up at the end after seeing the news about Sokovia. It's been a couple of years, he could have done some soul-searching and whatnot and Natasha convinces him to stick around at Avengers Compound

› this will, of course, cause some tension as he's not the most kid-friendly and his unorthodox methods will need to change and all that, but you do have a bit of time to do that before the next movie

› so, when Civil War comes around, things get a little tricky. I feel kinda torn on which side he would be on because I don't totally know if he would be Team Iron Man but him being on Team Cap also doesn't totally feel right. when in doubt, stick him with his love interest I always say and we know where Natasha's loyalties were

› there should still absolutely be a showdown between the activated Winter Soldier and Niko. they definitely need to go toe-to-toe. I just need that. Niko's gotta defend his girl

› now, after Civil War, I can see things going two ways. one would be for Niko and Natasha to regretfully split up to go into hiding or they would go together to wherever it was that Natasha went initially

› if you go with the former, I think Yelena should contact both of them and then they individually show up in Budapest. if you go with the latter, then they'd obviously just both go when they were attacked by Taskmaster on the bridge

› I think that Niko will definitely have a soft spot for Yelena because he would sympathize with how she was controlled by Dreykov for years in the same way he was put on ice for years because they couldn't control him

› so, when it comes to meeting Alexei, there will obviously be tension there. Since, obviously, Alexei was the other survivor of the Wolf Spider program but he was treated much differently than Niko was. Because of this, he should be just a little bit a dick about the fact that they stuck him in a Russian prison to rot. But, of course, he deserves to be a dick about it all things considered

› Niko will obviously be defensive of both Natasha and Yelena when it comes to Alexei and even Melina to a lesser degree

› he will also be in Infinity War and Endgame, obviously. I think he'd stick about with Natasha after the Blip (because no way is he getting dusted). And he'll also be at the Battle of Wakanda with Natasha, obviously

› now, you can either stick with Natasha dying and have Niko lose it or also die or you can have her live and we can figure out how to make that work with her canonically being dead. it's up to you what you want to do to make it work with the rest of your series and where you want Niko to go after if you keep Natasha dying

› if you do have her die but keep Niko around, I definitely think he should show up in Hawkeye given that Clint was Natasha's best friend and also Yelena appears and tries to kill Clint. Niko should definitely be there for that if he's alive and also he should definitely adopt Yelena after as they're both missing Natasha

› and honestly that's all I really got right now but you know that I'm always willing to chat and help you work things out as my thoughts don't always become coherent enough to make it in here. I would also like to once again apologize for how late this is, it was not supposed to take this long so I'm sorry