ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ ᴄᴀʀᴘᴇᴛ ʀɪᴅᴇ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
exastris_scientia) wrote2015-12-06 09:33 pm
exastris_scientia) wrote2015-12-06 09:33 pm
retired open post // will still tag in if threads are ongoing!
1. pick a character and tag them in the subject line.
2. post pictures, starters, whatevs
3. profit!
no subject
Mm, not that I have anything to transfuse blood. You'll have to get that back the old fashioned way.
[She uncaps it, breaks the seal, and applies the goop with gloved hands. It's a nice little gesture, something that they'd never had access to when working for Mother Russia, because they were automatons that didn't need it. Even on her most trying missions for SHIELD, they've never treated her as anything less than completely human. It had been a novelty at first.]
Still, I'm not going to start sticking you with a needle and thread without any kind of warning.
[That's a pretty good way to get a shoulder dislocated at the very least, when dealing with people like them.]
no subject
[ He's allowed his awful humor, especially if she still is. He doesn't flinch when she begins to apply it. Nik wouldn't know much about being treated like human. He only just found his sister again. Only just went against his handlers. ]
That's good to know, but I'll consider this warning in case you need to.
no subject
[she thinks she has a box of girl scout cookies that Clint left in the freezer. She doesn't eat them, usually. So if you really want, yes, you can have a cookie.]
Alright.
[Because she does need to. There's a couple of holes that could use one or two, and she brings out the suturing thread and needle and closes them up with brisk efficiency. Not her first time doing this. Not even her first time doing this to Nikolai.
As she works, she breaks the silence only after a few moments, after the first wound is stitched closed.]
...who was your target?
no subject
[ They aren't trained to show weakness, but Natalia was the only person he was ever safe enough around to show such things. They could truly be themselves with the other. He doubts he will actually take her up on the offer of sweets, at least not before his body demands actual rest to replenish what he's lost.
He's perfectly still as she begins to suture the wounds closed. Pain is a distraction. Pain slows you down. You just turn it off. ]
A senator and his family.
[ Simply put. No remorse to be heard in his voice. Why would there be? ]
no subject
She doesn't flinch or stop as he says what his mission was. Not long ago, she would have been doing the same, so she can't judge him for it.]
Did you complete it?
[Her voice is level as she asks. Either way, she's going to need to report to Nick. Damn. Why couldn't it have been some gangster that had stepped out of line? Senators complicated things.]
no subject
This is all he knows, all he's ever known, and once, she was with him. He has no illusions to what he is. A tool to be used, implemented and discarded. Put away until his handlers have use of him again.
He looks back to her, jaw working a moment. The next word leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Conditioned that way, of course. ]
Incomplete. Target is unaware. They'll send another for them. They're in DC for a conference. Their name is Stern.
no subject
Not surprised someone wants that prick dead.
[Just because she's technically a government agent doesn't mean she's a flag-waving patriot.]
He's a jackass. Loud, too. I had to deal with him on an undercover mission and I wanted to punch him in the throat.
no subject
He is supposed to be working towards the mutual benefit of another group, not your government. He has failed to achieve what he was supposed to. They are not pleased.
He is not who he seems. [ He could tell that easily enough without his orders. He could see it in his daily dealings. Side meetings. ]
no subject
She leans back as she finishes the last few stitches in the knife wound on his arm, looking at him.]
What was he supposed to achieve, then?
[She's going to have to report this, but she wants something to back it up. She can take what Nikolai has given her, find information to support it--but he's certainly right, if they sent him, more will follow--and they'll come for Nikolai too. Natasha doesn't intend to let them harm her brother.]
no subject
He hesitates, not because he distrusts her, but because there is a part of his mind that still resists giving over this information. But his "people" lied to him first, did they not? There is no more trust. ]
I do not know his exact orders, but I know he works for HYDRA. He meets with one of your SHIELD agents.
You are compromised.
no subject
And she'd been so certain of what SHIELD was, too. Nik's revelation, with three words, cast all of that back into the murk that she'd been working so hard to claw herself out of.
She needed to contact Fury. Steve. Clint. Those three that she trusted absolutely. The rest she couldn't be certain of, not anymore. Because she also trusted Nik. Enough to at least bring this to light.
Fury first. He could look deeper, at things she wouldn't be able to, to collaborate this information. Then they could...do something. For someone who had very recently been fighting aliens and gods, this was entirely new.]
You're sure.
[Because she can see it in his face, he is certain, and that terrifies her in a way the Chitauri didn't.]
Do you have a name?
no subject
He turns enough to reach for the gauze so that he can wrap it. It will likely still bleed, especially if he has to fight or run. He is hardly in any shape for either. But she will go to tell her handlers, to tell this Nick Fury he has heard of, and he cannot let her do that alone.
It's too dangerous. Who knows how many operatives that HYDRA truly has planted in SHIELD's ranks. ]
The agent is Sitwell, Jasper and I know of no reason they would trade words of Hail HYDRA to each other were this a game to play.
no subject
[He wasn't on the level of people Natasha trusted, not like Fury, not like Clint, but if there was a name she didn't expect, his was probably second on the list, preceded by Pierce himself. He was almost as high up the chain as you could get.
They were in deep, if that was true. And she has no reason to doubt Nik's intelligence.]
I need to report.
no subject
[ He finishes wrapping his arm, and moves to stand. His movements are a little slow, and slightly stilted. ]
I will go with you.
no subject
[Not that she wouldn't feel better with him at her back, but if they really are compromised, someone will know his face. Or someone will wonder at who Black Widow has dragged to the Triskelion, or to a meeting with the Deputy Director, and questions will be asked. They're going to have to play it cautious.]
Someone will pick you out. If we're going to have any chance, we can't alert them too early.
no subject
[ But she's right. He can't walk in there and he can't watch her back. ]
Who do you trust? Someone, if you have stayed for this long.
no subject
[But she sees why he's concerned. If she ends up needing to fight her way out, she won't be able to do it alone. She smiles wryly.]
I could always call Captain America.
no subject
If you trust him.
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[It's adorable, really.]
You know your history. He's not going to give me up to HYDRA. I'll have a tougher time convincing him not to take on all of them by himself.
[She tilts her head, wondering. Does he know, who else they'd send? It'd be convenient.]
Who will they send, once they know your target is still active?
no subject
[ He should sit again. He hasn't regained the blood he's lost yet. His quiet is unusual. He knows the answer to her question. A part of him wishes he didn't. ]
He will not be able to help you then. Or me. They will send the soldier.
no subject
That is what they called him. He's good, though.
[She means more than his skills, because Steve Rogers is very much a Good Man. Moreso than anyone else in SHIELD, surely.
As for what Nik says next, she wishes she hadn't asked. She goes pale white--even before leaving Mother Russia, she knew of the Soldier. And she'd been on the wrong side of him before, on one of her first missions as a SHIELD operative. She'd survived because she hadn't been the target.]
Damn. They must really want him dead.
[She says weakly. Because she knows that once they start fighting HYDRA, they'll be his next mission. If they aren't already, if they haven't guessed that Nik had gone rogue and came to her, and that's why he didn't complete his objective. Surely they could put those pieces together.
They're going to have to move fast.]
This apartment is off SHIELD's radar. Stay here. I'm going to report to Fury.
no subject
He is interfering with their plans. If he does not push forward, the launch will not happen when it should. I do not know if it is a literal launch or not.
[ He, himself, has worked with the Soldier, as much as anyone can assist an Alpha predator. For all his training, he felt truly useless in the face of his cold, ruthless methods. He has more than earned the blood on his hands.
The Soldier owns more than the world's oceans in blood. ]
I will be here. [ A beat. ] I was due to report back by 0645 a week from today.
They will send him after.
no subject
She curses viciously in their mother tongue. Project Insight. They've been launching satellites for it for months now, the ship carrying the last one due to leave port today. It has to be that. The bulk of the project's details are above her clearance level, but it's not like she's ever let that stop her. She knows enough to know that if HYDRA manages to sabotage or take control of it...well. It won't be good. Three next-gen helicarriers under HYDRA control?
She goes to the closet, where she keeps a small stash of burn phones. She activates one and tosses it in Nik's direction.]
I'll check in in three hours. If you hear from me before that, or I don't make contact...Clint Barton's name is in there. Call him. Tell him you need a safehouse and what you told me about HYDRA. He's trustworthy.