Black Widow: Red Vengeance (A Marvel YA Novel)
Page 29
“Spoken like the son of a cop,” Ava said, but she hesitated. “He’s right. We’ll be careful.”
Captain Marvel clenched a fist.
Iron Man clenched a robo-fist.
And like that, the heroes were gone.
S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY
CLEARANCE LEVEL X
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES & INDIVIDUALS (SCI) INVESTIGATION
AGENT IN COMMAND (AIC): PHILLIP COULSON
RE: AGENT NATASHA ROMANOFF A.K.A. BLACK WIDOW
A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA
AAA HEARING TRANSCRIPT
CC: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, SCI INQUIRY
** FILE COPY ** NYPD INCIDENT REPORT **
DISPATCH:
At about hours, Dispatch advised that there had been a report of a disturbance in the vicinity of and , the approximate location of the Stark Parade of Heroes warehouse.
ARRIVAL & OBSERVATIONS:
On arrival at the scene, responding officer noted the destroyed perimeter wall of the structure.
Further investigation was interrupted by the emergence of an unknown individual dressed in a horror-type costume, extremely tall, physically intimidating.
After the individual fled the scene, Captain Cruz determined they were most likely a cast member of the Stark Parade of Heroes.
We proceeded with caution.
CASE NUMBER: 0572910
THE SIXTH AVENUE PARADE ROUTE
THE GREAT CITY OF NEW YORK
The enormous balloon was still bobbing down the avenue when Captain Marvel spied it.
Within moments, Carol Danvers grabbed the inflated Carol Danvers by the foot. This is kinda surreal, she thought.
With one twist, she snapped half the cords binding the balloon free from its twenty-six handlers below.
Then she streaked upward, dragging Captain Balloon after her, until she could lob her latex self as hard and as far as she could, sending it spinning into the atmosphere.
Where Alpha Flight and I will just have to clean it up later, because that’s what we do for you, Earth. Clean up your stupid space trash.
Captain Marvel sighed.
And people think I have an inflated ego.
Only the faintest BOOM let anyone know the deed was done.
By the time she headed back down for the Balloon Widow, Captain Marvel was almost enjoying herself.
Always knew you were full of hot air, Romanoff.
BOOM.
S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY
CLEARANCE LEVEL X
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES & INDIVIDUALS (SCI) INVESTIGATION
AGENT IN COMMAND (AIC): PHILLIP COULSON
RE: AGENT NATASHA ROMANOFF A.K.A. BLACK WIDOW
A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA
AAA HEARING TRANSCRIPT
CC: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, SCI INQUIRY
** FILE COPY ** NYPD INCIDENT REPORT **
DISPATCH:
Dispatch requested additional units report to the Stark Parade of Heroes warehouse.
ARRIVAL & OBSERVATIONS:
As Capt. Cruz began questioning the two minor teens present on-site, it became clear that he had a personal relationship with the minor male. It was later made clear to me that the minor male was indeed the eldest son of Capt. Cruz. The minor female was apparently no relation to either Cruz.
Both teens were described as “agitated” or “hysterical” by multiple officers at the scene.
When Capt. Cruz asked both minors to return with him to the precinct, the minor female reacted in an aggressive manner.
At that point, she retreated into the warehouse, saying she needed to retrieve personal belongings. Five or ten minutes later, it was determined that the minor female had broken out a first-floor window and exited the scene entirely.
CASE NUMBER: 0572910
THE SIXTH AVENUE PARADE ROUTE
THE GREAT CITY OF NEW YORK
The second Iron Man heard the first boom, he knew Captain Marvel had destroyed her inflated twin.
Fine.
That was her call.
It was the next boom that made up his mind.
He himself knew better than to throw away a research opportunity like this. Especially for a compound with no known antidote.
He flew the inflated Tony into the airplane hangar where he normally kept his older-model Stark Jets.
As the doors sealed shut, he wondered what the lab would come up with, when he launched the ten thousand samples this one balloon would generate.
Then he went back for Sana, the biggest sample of them all.
“Where’s Ava? Sana?” Tony’s mask was off now. Captain Marvel landed behind him in the street in front of the warehouse. Which was surrounded by both the paramedics and the NYPD—
“I can explain,” Dante said as he walked out.
“I’d like to see you try,” Tony said.
An unconscious Helen Samuels emerged on a gurney, flanked by a paramedic holding up an IV bag, as well as one paramedic steering either end of the cart.
“The minute you guys left,” Dante said, “Sana freaked and busted out of here. Ava went after her, and Ellie—Helen—started to wake up. I panicked.”
“You did the right thing, kid.” Carol Danvers nodded.
“Calling the cops? When is that ever the right thing?” Tony asked.
“I didn’t! Not exactly,” Dante said, uncomfortably. “Sort of the opposite, actually.”
“Huh?” Carol looked confused.
“The cops called me,” he said, looking less than happy about it. “I didn’t come home last night, and my parents are pretty mad. So I guess my dad traced my phone and—well, he’s been following me—”
Dante shrugged as Captain Cruz came out of the warehouse and slammed shut the ambulance doors.
“Yeah, I’m grounded for life.”
“Been there myself, kid.” Tony clapped a hand on Dante’s shoulder.
“Not me. I was a saint,” Carol said.
“There’s something else,” Dante said, looking uncomfortable. “About Sana.”
“Spill,” Tony said.
“I think—I can hear her, in my head. Telling me what to do. Where to go. Weird things, things she’d never say. It’s like, her voice, but it’s not her.”
Tony looked at Carol, who nodded. “I think we found our Alpha.”
S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY
CLEARANCE LEVEL X
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES & INDIVIDUALS (SCI) INVESTIGATION
AGENT IN COMMAND (AIC): PHILLIP COULSON
RE: AGENT NATASHA ROMANOFF A.K.A. BLACK WIDOW
A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA
AAA HEARING TRANSCRIPT
CC: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, SCI INQUIRY
** FILE COPY ** NYPD INCIDENT REPORT **
DISPATCH:
Dispatch requested backup as officers on the scene followed the costumed individual and the minor female into the Stark Parade of Heroes.
ARRIVAL & OBSERVATIONS:
As helicopter units tracked the two fleeing individuals down the parade route, coordinates were relayed to all responding squad cars.
Near the intersection of Rockefeller Center and Fifth Avenue, one air unit radioed that the female minor had engaged in an altercation between the costumed individual and a third unknown female.
Three to five minutes later, both the female minor and the unknown female had drawn weapons. At that point, the costumed individual began to lose control and attack the surrounding environment until more units were called to the scene.
CASE NUMBER: 0572910
THE SIXTH AVENUE PARADE ROUTE
THE GREAT CITY OF NEW YORK
“Natashkaya!” She heard Ava’s voice while her back was still turned. “I found the Alpha. There’s just one thing—”
Natasha heard it in Ava’s voice before she saw it. The flinty hardness, the push of adrenaline that inflected every syllable. Her hand went immediately to the back of her waistband.
It’s not there—
She must have come from be
hind me.
“Touch one hair on that Alpha’s head and I’ll shoot,” Ava said. “I mean it.”
“I know,” Natasha said, raising her hands in surrender. And as she slowly turned to face all that remained of her family, she also found herself staring down the barrel of her own Glock revolver.
She looked up the street to Ava. Behind Ava, she could see what remained of the enormous parade of balloons lining the street. She saw a creature, surrounded by policemen, and squad cars, and flashing lights. It was the end of King Kong, without the Empire State Building—and just as tragic.
She felt for Ava, but it was surreal to see her holding a gun.
Natasha stepped toward her, reaching out.
“Ava. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but it’s going to be all right.”
“That’s not just the Alpha, Natasha. That’s not Helen Samuels. It’s Sana.”
“What?”
“That’s my Sana. Helen gave her a shot of pure Faith, and it’s not only a drug. It’s some kind of slow-acting chemical weapon.”
“I know,” Natasha said. “I mean, I suspected.”
“Within a month, everyone who has been exposed to it could already be dead. There’s no cure. Nobody knows anything about it. That’s what Dante said. He was in there with Helen, all night.” Ava looked distraught.
“We can help Sana. Just put the gun down.”
“No. You forget, I’m in your head. I know what you’re going to do.”
“I’ll do what I have to do,” Natasha said. “Nothing more.”
“And this is what I have to do,” Ava said. “She’s my oldest friend. My only friend. I’ve got to help her and get her out of the city.”
Natasha could see Ava starting to panic. “Helen’s twisted. She wants to spread the pain she feels. Her father’s wrath. Ivan’s wrath. He was her adopted father,” Natasha said. “Yuri was her uncle.”
“Why is she so angry?” Ava held her chin up and stood tall. “Is it because of what you did to Yelena?”
What does she know about that? Steady—
Natasha took another step toward Ava. “What do you know about Yelena?”
“I only know what I could get Tony to tell me.” Ava backed away. “I know you tried to protect her from being like you. I know you did everything you could to keep her from being a Widow. I also know that you failed.”
Natasha’s voice was impassive. “Since you know everything, where is she?”
“You couldn’t protect her, and you couldn’t stop her. She did what she wanted to do, and that was her choice,” Ava said, her hands shaking as they held the Glock. “And she died.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Natasha asked.
“Because you can’t protect me, either, and you have to stop trying. I’m not Alexei, and I’m not you. I’m not your responsibility, not any more than he was.”
What if I want you to be? Isn’t that what a family is?
Ava’s hand wavered again.
First my brother. Now this—
Natasha’s mind retreated to the thought of her own colossal losses, and she shivered. Get over it. Alexei’s gone and Ava’s—
Gone another way.
Natasha telegraphed her message before she could stop herself, just as a stray bolt of lightning might suddenly catch in the electrical wire strung between different city blocks.
Please. I’m begging you. Put down your weapons and step aside—
We can still help Sana. It’s not too late.
Talk to me—
Still nothing.
Natasha sighed and pulled her spare pistol from her boot. Maybe she could scare Ava into dropping the Glock.
Moy sestra.
“You’re on the wrong side of this one.” Natasha’s voice hung in the air amid the confetti. “Put down the weapon and step away.”
“I’m not leaving Sana. I have to get her out of here. I don’t trust S.H.I.E.L.D., and I don’t trust the police. I don’t trust anyone. They’ll see her as collateral damage, and she’s not. Not to me.” Ava took a breath. “So I won’t give her up.”
Not even to you.
Natasha raised her voice again. “This is your last chance, Ava. Put the gun down. Take another step and I’ll send you to meet my brother in the grave.”
She knows I’m bluffing. I know I’m bluffing. What else can I do?
Ava’s voice cut through the cold air of the avenue. “Do what you have to do. As for Alexei’s grave, I think you know we both already live there, sestra—”
Fine. Natasha tightened her grip on her revolver and began to count.
One—
Ava’s voice echoed across the street. “Like you, I’m not afraid.”
Two—
“But unlike you, I don’t desert the people I love—”
Thr—
Two shots rang out, just like always.
The first shot to hit the target, the second shot to slow the flow of blood to the nervous system. A proper double tap, exactly as S.H.I.E.L.D. had trained their operatives for more than a century now to do—
Ava screamed.
Natasha spun around.
In the street behind them, the creature that was Sana dropped, her legs collapsing under her.
A police captain stood tall, surveying his shot.
Sana sank to the ground. Her face was visible now. As the blood ran from her body, the Faith slowly began to lose its hold.
Ava ran to her friend’s side in horror.
Natasha stooped to pick up the forgotten Glock from the asphalt.
As Sana’s blood ran across the pavement, one heart quieted, but strangely enough, it was the other that had never felt so alone.
S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY
CLEARANCE LEVEL X
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES & INDIVIDUALS (SCI) INVESTIGATION
AGENT IN COMMAND (AIC): PHILLIP COULSON
RE: AGENT NATASHA ROMANOFF A.K.A. BLACK WIDOW,
A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA
AAA HEARING TRANSCRIPT
CC: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, SCI INQUIRY
COULSON: I can’t believe you didn’t destroy a chemical weapon. I mean, I can.
STARK: It’s a little complex. This isn’t any of your standard chemical weapons.
COULSON: Can you work with it or not?
STARK: You don’t get it. This compound—the thing Romanoff keeps calling Faith—it doesn’t exist. Not on Earth, anyways.
COULSON: Don’t tell me.
STARK: I’m telling you. I think it’s Terrigen based.
COULSON: You think Helen Samuels is an Inhuman?
STARK: All I know is, she tried to gas Manhattan with a giant bubble of my chiseled face full of an alien-derived compound that is looking increasingly like Terrigen mist.
COULSON: Keep me posted.
STARK: I will. Also, the CERN project? It’s ready for them.
COULSON: Do they know?
STARK: About the other Quantums? I wonder.
COULSON: But a Quantum Inhuman? That’s just not something I want to think about.
S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY
CLEARANCE LEVEL X
CONFIDENTIAL: PHILLIP COULSON
CLASSIFIED / FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY (FOUO) / CRITICAL PROGRAM INFORMATION (CPI) / LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE (LES) / TOP SECRET / SUITE AB ENCRYPTION / SIPRNET DISTRIBUTION ONLY (SIPDIS) / JCOS / S.H.I.E.L.D.
** FILE COPY OF INCOMING TRANSMISSION ** FROM THE PENTAGON **
Phil,
I don’t know how you did it, but I just saw that [CLASSIFIED SUBJECT] was placed back on my Restricted Handling Assets circulation list.
Also see that [CODE:REDROCK] AAA hearing transcripts are officially closed. So let’s hope we’ve seen the last Red Room threat to Rockefeller Center, at least during the holidays.
Congratulations to you, but especially to her. I think it’s safe to say that she can stay at S.H.I.E.L.D. with you for the time being, especially as you continue to research the interplanetary nature
of the [CLASSIFIED SUBJECT] cloud threat.
Next round of nachos is on me.
ARTIE
OFFICE OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
9999 JOINT STAFF PENTAGON
WASHINGTON, D.C.
S.H.I.E.L.D. NEW YORK TRISKELION,
EAST RIVER
THE GREAT CITY OF NEW YORK
Sana lay on a metal table, a white sheet draped over her bruised and battered body. Only the shining gray-black crystals remaining on her human form gave any hint of the creature she had become.
“Thank God she’s alive,” Ava’s voice said.
Adhesive electrodes connected her skin to a maze of thin blue and red wires that apparently allowed the roomful of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the other side of the mirror full information on her vitals.
“What’s going to happen to her?” Ava stared through the window.
“I don’t know.” Coulson shook his head. “It’s ironic, though. That gunshot slowed her heart just enough to halt the permanent transformation. Captain Cruz probably saved her life.”
“I hope that makes Dante feel better,” Ava said.
They both knew it wouldn’t.
“As for Sana, we’ll just have to wait and see, then follow protocol.” Coulson looked over to Ava.
“I hate that word. Protocol,” Ava said, still watching the room. “It’s just a thing people say when they can’t admit they’re doing something horrible.”
“Life can be horrible sometimes, as I think you know.” Agent Coulson turned back to the window. “And this particular horrible thing is for Oksana’s own safety, as much as everyone else’s. We’d do the same to you or me or anyone.”
Ava glared. “She’s not anyone. She’s my oldest friend.”
“I know it’s tough. Be patient. Bodies take time to heal. She’ll wake up soon. For all we know, she’ll still be herself….”
“Don’t say that.” Ava pushed on the glass with one finger, wistfully. “Don’t lie.” She closed her eyes, wishing it away. Wishing everything was different. Wishing her friend was still her friend.
Come back to me, Sana.
Agent Coulson put a hand on her shoulder. “I know whoever Sana is, she’ll be needing you. And when she does wake up, we can talk about next steps all together.”