exastris_scientia | retired open post // will still tag in if threads are ongoing!

[If he stays, it will be different. She knows that. She's an agent, not a tool. She can make choices, she can turn missions down, she can change the parameters. She's been given the agency to make calls she never would've dared to working for the Red Room.]

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.

[ Nikolai only hums his agreement. His handlers were not pleased with his actions regarding a situation. He was not aware of precisely the situation, but apparently he has been taken liberties, working for his own interests and gain instead of the collective group. ]

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. ]

[Of course he is, he's a politician.

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.]

[ But even some politicians are not as duplicitous as this man. The endgame he is a part of will do more than line his pockets. It will turn the oceans red with blood.

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.

[Natasha leans back, the weight of that revelation like a punch to the gut. She knew what HYDRA was, of course, how couldn't she? It hadn't been explicit that some of her Red Room missions originated with them, she hadn't cared to know, but she was certain that was a truth.

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?

[ Nikolai knows that he has just brought down what world she has been living in and working with around her ears. He doesn't say anything for a few minutes, at least not until she asks after to confirm. He tests the sutures, they're strong, they'll hold.

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.

Sitwell?

[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.

Yes.

[ He finishes wrapping his arm, and moves to stand. His movements are a little slow, and slightly stilted. ]

I will go with you.

No. Absolutely not.

[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.

You cannot walk into that place on your own. It is not safe.

[ 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.

It's safe enough, if they don't know that I know.

[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.

[ The face he just made at her is impressive. She should have taken a picture of it. ]

If you trust him.

Of course I do, he's the ultimate Boy Scout. He can't tell a lie to save his life.

[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, he isn't. Like the old jingle, is it called? Star-Spangled Man?

[ 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.

[She snorts.]

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.

[ Nik doesn't have to be watching her to know the look that is on her face. He imagines his own is rather grim. But he never expected to leave this life clean. ]

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.

[HYDRA being inside SHIELD was one thing. The Soldier another. But the only launch they're getting ready for...

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.

retired open post // will still tag in if threads are ongoing!

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