Not The First Time, 3/5.
Title: Not The First Time
Series: #15 in Ready For The Siege
(#1 - Look Over Your Shoulder, #2 - Armed Up To The Teeth, #3 - Misery Inspires, #4 - Broken Underneath, #5 - Change Is Coming Soon, #6 - Lick Your Wounds, #7 - Bitter Sparks, #8 - Father's Will, #9 - To Feel Safe Again, #10 - Hit Your Prime, #11 - Open Your Eyes, #12 - Can't Be Ignored, #13 - Make You Ill, #14 - Aim Straight)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Loki/Natasha, Natasha/Yelena, Natasha/Winter Soldier
Disclaimer: Not mine! Some comic backstory is incorporated into characterizations, but this is still primarily movieverse.
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-Avengers, AU to the rest of MCU. Read the other stories before this one, because it does refer back to events in them. Additional warning for underage sexual situations, drug use (with and without consent), dubcon, noncom, mindfuckery of various flavors (hello, Red Room!) and detailed descriptions of violence.
Title and series title from "The Royal We" by Silversun Pickups
Special thanks to phoenixrising06/
romanovasledger for plotting and characterization discussion. :)
Summary: The Red Room has to be the best. That means continuing to destroy potential rivals and enemies across the globe. That means evading SHIELD's efforts to rein them in. That means avoiding the Avengers.
No matter the cost.
Previous chapters:
One - Light In Darkness
Two - Hiding In Plain Sight
Three - Soul Machine
The Hand's Naginata House was in Kyoto. The Scorpions and Shinobis looked like any other ordinary student learning the ancient art, so passersby paid the building no mind. Tanto House was in Akita, and Katana House was in Kushiro. Naginata House had been chosen as the next target mostly because it had been closest to Nagoya, where the Dragon House had been. Kyoto had a thriving tourist business due to the historical sites and festivals, making it easy for them to blend in. It was also Golden Week, so the streets would be especially busy.
Natasha dyed her hair black to cover the telltale red tresses. Yelena and James didn't have that problem, and James actually let Natasha cut his hair. If anyone else attempted it, even Yelena, the sharp scissors might have been buried in their throat.
Students at Naginata House seemed to be rather undisciplined compared to thoe of Dragon House. Perhaps the mentality was different because melee fighters always had to be aware of their surroundings in order to manipulate it properly. The naginata allowed the Hand trainee to have greater reach in an attack, though a skilled fighter unafraid of blades could still defeat it. Natasha and Yelena had been trained to get in close and move quickly, two things the naginata would not excel at countering.
Trainees were allowed out of the House to participate in the festivals and visit shrines. This was done in shifts, so that the House would not be left unattended at any time. Defenses at the House would be minimal, which was another bonus to choosing Naginata House first.
Instead of going top down as they had at Dragon House, this time they went in on the ground floor. James was the sort of fighter that didn't care for subtlety, and would rather go in with guns blazing. Natasha assumed it was because that would draw attention away from her and Yelena, allowing them to move silently through the hallways and eliminate the trainees quickly. He was also a bit of a thrill seeker, and the adrenaline rush was huge when it was one fighter against the dozens flooding in.
The House was more sparsely populated than even they expected, so James didn't have to make as much of a boom as he planned. Natasha took the east side of the House, Yelena took the west side. She could use the naginata if she chose to, but preferred to use her own shorter knives. One of the weapons stands also had a few katanas, so she grabbed one and proceeded to go to work on the hapless students. Occasionally she could see a flash of Yelena at work across the courtyard, eyes alight and lips drawn back in a delighted grin. She had blood on her sleeves and splashed across her chest from the force of her swings. Natasha had similar splashes of blood on her body and even a bit of spray on her face. She spun out with the katana, hacking her way through cowering students as well as those brave enough to try to counter her attacks. James moved slowly and steadily, stalking through the courtyard to pick off any runners.
Afterward, they piled the bodies in the back of the House, and laid in wait for other students to return. Once they did, the massacre began anew.
None of the students knew what hit them.
Natasha had thought ahead regarding the clothes they would wear leaving the House; Yelena had thought they would simply raid the students' wardrobes. Cleansed of blood and in new clothing, the trio left and walked the streets of Kyoto along with the crowds. Carrying a katana wrapped in fabric made it look like a touristy kind of purchase. Natasha took them past the Shimogamo Shrine, but it was too soon for the Aoi Matsuri festival. The Aoi Matsuri festival took place annually over a two week period beginning on May 3 at the Shimogamo Shrine. On that date, the yabosame took place; this was mounted archery, and Natasha had once attended with Clint. He had been fascinated by the festival, and managed to recreate the stunts flawlessly later on. They were a day early for the festival, but Natasha had wanted something to remind her of those she left behind.
There was a shimmer in the bamboo behind the shrine. Immediately she recalled the dream with Loki and his offer to create a portal for her. He was definitely the type to ignore her wishes and create one anyway.
"Think we've seen enough of Kyoto?" she asked nonchalantly. "We'd better get a move on before the rest of the organization increases security."
"It would be nice to have a challenge," Yelena mused.
"Katanas or tantos?" James asked.
"I haven't practiced iaido in years," Yelena replied.
"Neither of us have done formal tantojutsu," Natasha said as she steered them away from the shrine. "But we're familiar with using mass produced tactical knives. So basically, do we go with the easy way first or last?"
Yelena giggled. "Last. Let's test our iaido skills."
James repressed a sigh. "Either way, I plan to use guns. I'll need more ammo."
"All right. I know someone in Tokyo," Natasha said. "It's on the way, anyway. We'll get everything we need there, then keep heading north."
Though Yelena looked at Natasha suspiciously, it was a reasonable enough plan on the surface. She kept silent, and Natasha refrained from looking back at where the possible portal may have been. It was difficult enough to push through the crowds, and her mind could be playing tricks on her. Her dreams were more vivid across the board, sometimes leading her to wake up thinking she was one of her cover identities. Then seeing Yelena and James would bring her back to herself, whatever that was, and she knew what the plan was supposed to be.
The Hand Soldiers wielding katanas would be a challenge. Attacking Hand Spies and Assassins would be rather like being back in the Red Room preparing for exams to enter the Elites. Even a heightened alert among the Hand would not stop them. Once the four major training houses were eliminated, the Hand would be devastated. They would likely rebuild; that organization had existed for hundreds of years, and even tactical strikes could only delay them for a time. But that time was crucial in reestablishing the Red Room as a viable player, especially since it was just the three of them.
Though, the three of them would just be folded into SHIELD. The Red Room would be useful as a cover, a way to play a long game with the remains of these organizations. SHIELD's name would remain intact, and the Red Room would be its darker mirror, the entity that worked in the shadows to eliminate destabilizing forces.
That was Natasha's plan, at least.
Yelena giggled when they got to Tokyo and met with Natasha's arms supplier. The wizened old man had eyed the blonde and James in distaste, not wanting to deal with new and unknown players. He was immune to Yelena's flirting, just as he had been immune to Natasha's when they first met. James wanted his entire stock, which he wasn't willing to part with.
It went south from there, even though Natasha tried to deescalate the situation. Yelena's flirting was possibly a clue, though it was often a default behavior when entering into negotiations. Their training in the Elites was to craft a Black Widow, and seduction could be just as dangerous a weapon as a blade, pistol or garrote. She had gotten hold of her knife and it made short work of the arms dealer. Natasha was irritated; it was hard to find reliable contacts off the grid that SHIELD didn't know about, and now one of her main ones had been reduced to nothing more than bloody meat on the floor. That didn't seem to bother Yelena at all. While James gathered everything up, Yelena touched the still warm blood with a fond smile on her face. "We'll paint the world red," she said, bringing her fingertips to her lips.
The blood was vivid red on her lips and teeth, her pink tongue snaking out to lick it up. "This is only the beginning, Natalia." She smiled wide, blood still on her teeth, and brought her fingers across her cheeks. "The world will bleed red and fall at our feet. We'll never be beholden to anyone ever again."
"You didn't have to kill him."
"I saw him reach for a gun," Yelena sing-songed. "And I didn't like how he looked at you. Or looked at me. And he wasn't going to give Winter what he wanted."
"It's called negotiations," Natasha returned, starting to get angry.
"The Red Room dictates, not negotiates."
"Wash your face," James told Yelena. "Civilians will be upset. You can't break cover like this."
Walk, don't run. Blend in. Nondescript clothing and features. Don't be too loud. Act as if.
"I can handle it," Yelena whined.
He raised his hand to strike her. "You've done enough damage, little girl. Let the grownups make the decisions from now on."
Though Yelena bristled, she remained silent. She pouted, but Natasha had no time for that. This wasn't a standard Red Room kill and she didn't want it to be recorded as such. Taking all the money and some pawnable jewelry as Yelena washed up, she wiped their prints.
"She made a big mistake," Natasha grumbled when James looked at her in curiosity.
"We must go to Kushiro. We must complete the mission."
His voice was cold, almost robotic. Did Yelena's behavior trigger something in James?
If that was the case, what were her chances of turning them?
***
Loki, Clint, Steve and Sam stepped through Loki's portal. They had been in New York and now were in Kyoto. Sam laughed in amazement as he looked around the bamboo grove. "Holy shit, this is fantastic. No airport security to try to get through, either."
"You'll still get jet lag this way," Clint reminded him. "We're about eleven hours ahead of New York, so it'll be enough to knock you for a loop."
"That sounds like the voice of experience," Steve remarked.
"Because it is," Clint said with a slight nod. He looked around and began to smile. "I know where we are. Kyoto. There's an archery festival here."
"No wonder it's your favorite," Sam said with a grin.
"Tourist season," Steve commented. "No one would really notice us walking around while we look for Tash."
"Three people in a city of thousands plus tourists," Sam said, pointing out the obvious that no one wanted to discuss. "You think we'll be that lucky?"
"No, but we can try to trace her steps and predict where she'll be next," Clint responded with an audible sigh. "She can't work openly, not against those two."
"You think she wants to?" Sam asked, a bit uncertainly.
"Yeah, I think she does," Clint said, his voice brooking no argument.
"You seem to know her best," Loki said, finally saying something. His voice carried more than a trace of bitterness, though Clint tuned it out.
"You're the one that had the soul bond or whatever," Clint replied. He fixed Loki with a level stare, then swept his hand out to indicate the park. "Go find her, then. Figure out where she is, and we can haul them all back in before anyone else gets hurt."
Loki's mouth opened, then shut. He looked discomfited and looked around the packed area. "I can't tell where she is past that it's in this city somewhere. Our bond is severed, Hawk," he added, the bitter tone clearer to hear now. "That bitch Yelena erased it with the spells she had those casters craft before their death."
"Right. The overturned spa," Steve said, subtly stepping between the two.
"The spá," Loki corrected, subtly changing the pronunciation. "But it is different from the bond that we had." His mouth pinched, as if he bit into something sour. "It was created some time ago, and I suppose I didn't realize how much I relied on its presence."
Clint knew there was a deal between the two he hadn't wanted to talk about. Steve was vaguely aware of it as well, thanks to his monitoring of Loki as a female. Sam had no idea what Loki was alluding to but didn't care.
"So we do this the old fashioned way," Sam said, shrugging.
Thumbing in Steve's direction, Clint grinned. "There's the old fashioned."
Steve glowered at him a little. "Very funny. Fine, we're investigating rather than relying on magic. I think that's the better way, anyway. Rely too much on tools, and you miss something that you would've seen otherwise."
Loki pressed his lips together, still with the sour expression, but remained silent.
"Who's the competition that the Red Room had in these parts?" Sam asked. He was new to the Red Room dynamics, and had never been involved in international espionage. He knew that they were there because Yelena wanted to take apart The Hand, but not much else. Sam looked at Clint and Steve blankly. "The Hand, yeah, I know that part. But why Kyoto specifically? I mean, Clint, you were here before..."
"There was an informant that was part of the Hand," he allowed. "And there might still be something that way now, but I don't know for sure."
"So why don't we head on over to where you were before and see what we can find?" Sam asked.
Clint sighed a little. "The city's a little bit different now, but..."
The four men wandered through the crowds, moving through streets that had been part of Clint's memories of the place. Sam had such joy in the wandering that it lessened some of the tension. They could pretend to be tourists enjoying Golden Week as they ogled things, but there was no clear sign of where Natasha could be.
Until Clint received a phone call from Fury himself. "This is an unlisted phone number," Clint said mildly, though his knuckles were white as he gripped the phone.
"I got my eye on you, Agent Barton," Fury responded. "Don't think I don't know you're looking for Agent Romanoff."
"And?" he prompted, sounding as though he wasn't as tense as he actually was.
"Looks like there's some interest in Kyoto from our anti-terrorism friends."
"Kyoto," Clint echoed, standing at alert.
"Mass murder in a martial arts school. The alert called it a bloodbath."
"A martial arts school. Got it."
"I don't need a damn echo, Barton," Fury snapped. "Where are you?"'
"Looking into a lead," he replied, looking at the others with a tense expression. "Did they say where this school was? Or where other ones might be?"
"Other ones?" Fury asked, voice sharp. "You think there will be more like this?"
"They're the Hand, Director," Clint replied dryly. "They're literally ninjas. I know there are several training houses, and Belova wants to eliminate all of the Red Room's competition. I don't see any point going where she'd been already if it was a bloodbath. It would be better to move ahead of them."
"Not without sparking an international incident."
"So unofficially, if someone was to go on vacation right now..."
Fury sighed, and Clint could hear the sound of a thick file folder dropping to a desk. Well, then. Bringing out archival data, were they? Clint wasn't sure if that was desperation or foresight.
"I hear that Akita and Hokkaido Prefectures are good to visit."
"I'm sure they are, but those are pretty big places to visit. Care to narrow it down?"
"Think of large cities on the water in those Prefectures. Tourist traps, I hear. People go missing, old fashioned weapons get used... Theirs is a different way."
"Hey. I fight with a stick and string. Old fashioned isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"Keep that in mind when they have a katana swinging at your head."
"I'm a ranged fighter. I'll warn the others about katana swings."
"Others?" Fury asked, concern in his voice.
"Yep. We'll let you know what we find."
He hung up and turned off his phone. "Let's move."
They followed his lead, and Loki was frowning at Clint. "You were most disrespectful to a superior officer," he commented.
"Yeah. I'm sure there will be some kind of disciplinary slip in my file for that and for each time I mouthed off in his office."
"Why would they permit such a thing, then?" he pressed.
"Because I know my shit," Clint replied bluntly. "If I was all attitude with nothing to back it up, you bet your ass I'd be on lockdown or busted down to level one shit jobs. But I know what I'm doing, I got the contacts I need to go to, and I can hold my own."
"So what's the plan?" Steve asked, getting them back on track before it could be derailed too far.
"He specifically mentioned the Akita and Hokkaido Prefectures, with cities on the water." The others finally noticed that he had been angling them through the crowds into the shopping districts. "Now, I'm no expert, but a map might give us a starting point. We're going to try to stay a step ahead of them, but it's going to be hard to do."
"Those are still going to be big places to search," Sam pointed out.
"Sure. But we have Mr. Portal over here," Clint replied, thumbing in Loki's direction. The god bristled, but didn't deny it. "The Hand isn't going to just give us confidential information about their schools, and they would hide them in plain sight. So we're at a double disadvantage there."
"But we're not relying on just that much," Steve guessed.
"Of course not," Clint replied, sounding insulted. "C'mon. Tash isn't the only one that can hide in plain sight, and I've got a few favors I can probably call in."
"We'll have to proceed quickly," Loki said darkly. "The Belova bitch is not stable, and they know where they are going."
"And coming from you, that's saying something," Sam said, a sober expression on his face.
Loki nodded, knowing that Sam didn't mean it in an insulting manner. That simply wasn't his way, though he would have bristled if Clint had said the same thing. "Exactly. She's unstable and desperate, and those are the most dangerous of all combatants to face."
The other three all looked at Loki and nodded in agreement.
They ducked into a bookstore, and Clint directed them to look at maps of northern Japan, specifically those prefectures. As they did, he went to the counter and asked for a specific employee in halting, badly accented Japanese. The woman at the counter smiled at the attempt, bowed a little and went into the back office. A slight woman with a streak of pink her hair emerged, wearing three earrings in her left ear, a nose ring and snake bites. Head to toe, she was in bright purple and black, straps and buckles all over. She brightened at the sight of Clint standing there, looking almost apologetic.
"Yo, this was not what I meant when I said look me up if you're in Kyoto," she said with a smile, only a slight accent to her English.
"Masumi, we're in trouble."
"When are you not?" Masumi teased.
"No, really. We're in trouble." He gave her a meaningful look. "Think former trainers."
The smile was wiped right off of her face. "Kuso," she swore softly.
"Yeah, well... When in doubt, go to the best."
"Nani hanashite no aho?" Masumi asked a little scornfully. At his helpless shrug, she pulled a face. "Shinjimae."
"Masumi, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important, you know that..."
She retained the expression that he was an idiot. "Shinde kudasai."
"Masumi..." he wheedled.
"Clinton! The last time you asked me for help, I had my tattoos cut out of my skin!"
He winced. "Oh. Right. I kind of forgot about that..."
"And you have other hacker friends you can go to for help."
"Yeah, but they're back in New York. And we're here right now..."
Not wanting to see this go any farther, Loki strode forward to approach them. Masumi immediately fell into a combative stance the way Natasha would, sparking his nostalgia, and she had two small blades in her hands.
"You seem to have a way with words," Loki told Clint sardonically. He grinned wider at Clint's scowl. "Perhaps a less public venue?"
"No one else is in here but you fools," Masumi said, eyeing him warily. She flicked a glance in Clint's direction. "Baka."
Clint didn't disagree. "Which is why I need your help."
Masumi rolled her eyes. "What is it this time, then?"
"The Hand's training house locations up north."
"Shinjimae!" she spat, eyes wide with fear. "I talk to you, everyone knows. The walls have ears, Clinton, especially in this country."
"Didn't you hear? There was a bloodbath at the dojo in this city."
She shook her head. "No, I don't believe you."
"Director Fury himself told me."
"Any survivors would be able to track me down." She shook her head and backed up a step, toward the counter. "I didn't escape them just to be killed by them."
"Give me a clue, Masumi," Clint pleaded.
"Not for you," she said, shaking her head. "Not for that. If you had a simple hacker job-"
"Do you know Natasha Romanoff?" Loki asked, interrupting. Masumi was startled by his abrupt tone, and frowned at him. "She's caught up in this, and we are trying to track her down."
"The Hand..."
"Please," Clint begged. "You're the only one I can think of who might be able to give me even a small clue where to go."
Masumi pressed her lips together, and looked as though she was about to refuse Clint again. Loki reached out and touched her arm, earning a wrathful look. He had no doubts that were he human, she would slice him apart with those blades in her hands and gut him. She very much responded to him the way Natasha did in the beginning. What was it about Clint that he attracted such strong warrior women?
"I have an idea," Loki said as pleasantly as he could. It was almost like the tones he used when verbally fencing during social occasions on Asgard. "I can craft a portal to another place, and all discussion would be in secret."
She scowled deeply at him, the blades steady in her hands. "There is nowhere far enough you can go to escape their reach."
"Another dimension?" Loki offered. He was rather impressed she didn't flinch at the mention of a portal, but he supposed that after the Battle of New York, magic and other realms didn't sound so surprising anymore.
That gave her pause. "Another dimension."
Loki nodded. "Tell your compatriots you're going to train me with your blades." He grinned at her, all sharp teeth and mania, and a part of him was thrilled at the slow blink of surprise that she had. "Then we may discuss. Time is of the essence."
"I recognize you," she said finally. "That smile is a dead giveaway."
"Then you know I can do what I say."
Masumi nodded slowly and relaxed her stance somewhat. She was still on alert, on the balls of her feet, ready to react if Loki crossed her in some way. "You owe me," she told Clint in a somewhat sour tone. "Again."
Clint nodded, appearing resigned. "Seems to be the way of it, isn't it?"
"If this goes wrong, I'm calling in the mark," Masumi said, heading toward the back room. "You will need to protect me, and there are few places their fingers won't reach."
"Understood." He nodded at Steve and Sam. "Those two are in on our search, too, by the way."
"Of course they are. They came in with you and are following your direction."
"Got me there," Clint allowed. He grinned at Loki's irritated expression as Masumi left them. "You have no idea what I'm doing, do you?"
Loki rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, but didn't respond. That pretty much meant yes, and they both knew it.
"I need to give her something to save face. It's huge in this culture. Sound familiar?"
Now Loki really glowered at Clint, who laughed unapologetically. It was going to be a long road to finding Natasha. For her sake, Loki hoped he wouldn't wind up killing Clint.
***
Akita was the capital of the Akita Prefecture in northern Japan. Its main attractions, aside from the requisite festivals, were the mountains and hot springs. As the largest city in the prefecture, Akita was the local hub for travel, shopping and tourism. There was even a historical city nearby with samurai homes open to the public. People walking about carrying a tanto wouldn't be too remiss, then. The Hand certainly knew how to hide their students in plain sight.
Natasha had heard the best local sake in all of Japan was in Akita, and saying that aloud triggered a memory for James. "The Prefectural Goods Shop in the basement of the Atorion Concert Hall usually has sales and sometimes free samples," he said, blinking as the memory swam to the surface of his mind. His accent was flawless; she wondered when he had learned the language, given that Sergeant Barnes had never fought in Japan in World War II. Perhaps once Hydra got their hands on him, but at the very least before Department X got him; they wouldn't have wasted resources teaching him the local language. He wasn't meant to be a fine instrument of destruction, after all. No need to blend in prior to the kill.
"The brands are codes," Yelena said suddenly, features going somewhat slack. A trigger memory, then. Natasha was alert as Yelena ran through a few of them, memorizing what the brands meant to the agents the Red Room had used in the past.
"So the Red Room did work with the Hand," Natasha guessed.
"I remember Myung," Yelena replied, slack features suddenly hardening with anger. "I remember what she did as part of training, what codes she drilled into us. I remember when they turned us loose in Tokyo."
"You've been there before," Natasha said without inflection. Her behavior in Tokyo suddenly made far more sense. Her supplier hadn't necessarily triggered that odd reaction, but it had been the city itself.
"Seduce and kill. You know how Madame likes to see her girls in action," Yelena said, bitterness lacing her voice.
Natasha slid her hand along Yelena's arm until she could cup the back of her neck. "I need you here with me, Yelena. We've got to do this together. They'll bleed us out if you can't stay on target here."
Her smile was a deadly flash of teeth. "I know how to use the tanto. I will take them all down and burn it to the ground."
The words were too familiar; Natasha had told Yelena that before burning down the Red Room with their former captors and handlers inside. It sent a chill down her spine, but she didn't outwardly react to it. She drew Yelena in for a kiss and pulled James closer to her. "We stick together, no matter what."
"Let's see if they use the old codes," James remarked. "We can use it against them, thin out the crowds of students and ensure we survive the kill."
There. That was an improvement already; the Winter Soldier never had to worry about survival, because he didn't matter as much as the mission. She didn't have to worry about his state of mind, then. Parts of himself were coming to the fore, bits and pieces she knew and bits and pieces that she didn't.
Yelena was the problem. Then again, Yelena had always been the problem.
The Hand's Tanto House was in the western part of Akita City, which had some of its sports centers and its Prefectural Motor Vehicles Testing Center. A Tanto House would fit right in, and with Golden Week done, the trio likely would have an easier time getting in and out of the area.
Of course, that also meant fewer civilians that would serve as cover for their entry.
In addition to floors above ground, there were three levels below ground. The Hand kept their training rooms below ground, with some residences tucked into the offices on upper floors. There was a legal instruction area that was a front on the ground floor, and the hidden entrance to the training rooms below. "Collateral damage," Natasha sighed once she realized it.
"No one is innocent here," Yelena hissed in response.
"We can't let James blow up the front entrance," she insisted.
James shrugged, not insulted in the slightest. "You could be our entry into the building, then I'll take apart the hidden doorways."
"A trench coat to hide the body armor and guns will be noticeable," Natasha pointed out. The early May weather wasn't cool enough to justify a long coat.
"You really think I care about that?"
Yelena laughed as Natasha conceded the point. "We're letting people know the Red Room is back. We're letting the Hand know they can't fuck with us. Let it be a warning. Let them try to prepare. We'll still kill them all. We're not planning on letting any of them live, you know. No need to be careful."
Natasha leaned back in her seat and let her mind drift over her mental map of Akita. "We should disable police first, then. Let them worry about their own, and we can be farther into the training area before they arrive."
"Fewer distractions," James agreed.
Entering the school was relatively effortless. Natasha and Yelena entered the front martial arts studio posing as JET program participants looking to learn a new skill. As soon as they were in the back room to speak with the manager, they overpowered him and knocked him out. Once he was bound and gagged, they let James in through the back door. Together, they looked for the entranceway to the lower levels, but it proved to be fairly cleverly hidden.
"Fuck it," James said finally in frustration. He pointed his machine gun at the floor. "It should be somewhere around here, right?"
"Yes," Yelena replied. "The student I had gotten the information from had said it was a trapdoor, easy to find."
"Obviously it isn't," James growled.
"What? When did you question that student?" Natasha asked.
"When we took out Dragon House."
Natasha blew out a breath. "It could be faulty. Their dying men know how to tell convincing lies. It's one of our first lessons, Lena."
Yelena flushed in anger and shame. "I know what I'm doing."
"You also shut down afterward. Your skills are a little suspect right now."
Giving Natasha a shove, Yelena bared her teeth. "I will cut you for that."
"Not now," James hissed. "I'm blowing open the wall. That's the most common place to hide the entrance point."
Before Natasha could even protest, he swung the machine gun up to shoot at the wall. Yelena grinned as the large caliber bullets shredded the drywall, and she followed closely when James kicked the wall open. There was a hallway behind it, with covered light bulbs on the wall. Yelena shot Natasha a triumphant look, then plunged into the tunnel to look for the stairs down.
It was the middle of the day, and the rooms were all occupied with students of varying degrees of skill. The first level held the trainees; any difficulty detected on this floor, and the students with better skill would come up from the lower levels. The way to defeat them all without getting killed or bled out would be to create a bottleneck, forcing the better skilled tanto users to come out one or two at a time. Of course the architect for the Tanto House had thought of that, so most of the rooms had open plans and flimsy walls in between them. There was no easily defensible area. They would have to go all in and be careful.
Natasha missed her nanomesh armor. The element of surprise only carried them through the first two rooms. Shouts and thuds from falling bodies couldn't be masked as training exercises any longer, and by the fourth room the more skilled students were coming through the flimsy walls. James had been saving his guns for when the skilled students arrived, and there was a grim joy in his expression as he mowed down the incoming students. Yelena moved forward, beyond Natasha's reach, laughing as she grabbed the tantos of fallen victims. It didn't matter to her that they sliced at her arms or stomach, that her left side was exposed. Natasha had a tanto in each of her hands and pistols strapped to her thighs and back, as well as extra magazines. She didn't have her Widow's bites or electronic discs, no garrote or grappling hooks. Not that she needed them to kill when her entire body was a weapon, but having those would be nice to even the odds.
Left to her own devices, Natasha focused on the three students in front of her. She moved sinuously, elements of ballet and gymnastics in her steps. There was focus for her, not a manic glee, and she dodged blows from tantos as best as she could while delivering death blows of her own. She ran up and threw herself at a taller student, the momentum from her body throwing him to the ground. Her arms flew out from her sides, her own tanto blades swinging wide and slitting throats as she took the student to the ground. Once her knees hit the floor, she scissored her blades across his throat and looked up, her hair swinging up and out of her face. More students were flooding in. It would still be a massacre, but it would be hard fought and they were going to need time to heal up afterward.
Pushing aside the sting of aching muscles and sliced skin, she kicked up and out of her crouched position, flipping up and into a standing position. She fought two students at once now, one male and one female. The male seemed to be more vicious, maybe angry over getting kicked in the ribs on her way to standing. She spun in a pirouette, parrying one of his blades and then slicing through his abdomen with her other. That left her back undefended, and the female took full advantage of that. The tanto she carried scored over her entire back. Twitching away from the blade, she continued her spin and caught the girl's arm. Natasha severed several tendons and muscle groups with one blade, then thrust her other into her throat. She kicked the female student away as she choked and drowned in her own blood, and Natasha kept moving.
More students, more knives, more slices, more kicks and punches and pirouettes. There was the staccato punctuation of James' bullets and the manic laughter from Yelena as counterpoint to grunts and the slap of skin on cement as bodies fell. She wanted to fall herself; Hel's gift meant that she wouldn't die right away, but she ached so badly and needed rest to fully recover. But if she fell the students would converge and kill her. And she couldn't die, not here, not like this. She had to get James and Yelena back to SHIELD. She had to help them undo the programming in their minds, had to get them free of the last chains the Red Room had bound them with. She had to do this, she couldn't afford to fail.
Slice, slice, slice. Natasha moved without thinking, without planning. There was nothing to gain from this encounter other than escaping with their lives. Yelena wanted the Hand gone, but it was an impossible task. It was going to kill them to do it on their own.
Covered in blood and gore, Natasha finally stood still. The tantos fell from her hands to clatter onto the floor next to her. She hadn't even gone for the guns strapped to her thighs. There simply hadn't been time to do that, not when they rushed at her all at once and without the easy choreography of martial arts movies.
Surrounded by the dead and dying, Natasha found Yelena propped up against a wall and James clenching and unclenching his fingers to test mobility in his metal arm.
"For the record, Lena," she rasped, getting the blonde's attention. "Your idea of a good time sucks. This is definitely not a party."
Yelena laughed and slid down the wall, a smear of blood from her arm across it. "We'll have a better time at the next house, I promise."
"Fuck that. We're lucky we survived," Natasha snapped.
Her smile was all sharp teeth, a crazed glaze to her eyes. "No, not luck. We're better than they are, and we'll destroy their other house."
"There's always going to be someone else-"
"Black Spectre's next," James said evenly, stepping carelessly through the dead bodies to get to Natasha's side. "They still need to be destroyed."
Natasha blew out a breath. "Okay, fine. They need to be stopped, and no one could get a handle on them or how to do it legally."
Yelena snorted. "Laws. As if they matter to us."
"They're useful."
James ran a hand down Natasha's back, keeping her from saying any more. "We should go. Tend our wounds. It'll be a fight to get out of here, and we're too conspicuous."
Time to wash off the blood and eliminate their torn and sliced clothing. Then it was escaping Akita and heading over to Katana House in Kushiro. That would be no small feat, but they could do it. They were the Red Room.
There was no room for failure. Failure led to death.
***
***
To Chapter Four - Missed Chances
Series: #15 in Ready For The Siege
(#1 - Look Over Your Shoulder, #2 - Armed Up To The Teeth, #3 - Misery Inspires, #4 - Broken Underneath, #5 - Change Is Coming Soon, #6 - Lick Your Wounds, #7 - Bitter Sparks, #8 - Father's Will, #9 - To Feel Safe Again, #10 - Hit Your Prime, #11 - Open Your Eyes, #12 - Can't Be Ignored, #13 - Make You Ill, #14 - Aim Straight)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Loki/Natasha, Natasha/Yelena, Natasha/Winter Soldier
Disclaimer: Not mine! Some comic backstory is incorporated into characterizations, but this is still primarily movieverse.
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-Avengers, AU to the rest of MCU. Read the other stories before this one, because it does refer back to events in them. Additional warning for underage sexual situations, drug use (with and without consent), dubcon, noncom, mindfuckery of various flavors (hello, Red Room!) and detailed descriptions of violence.
Title and series title from "The Royal We" by Silversun Pickups
Special thanks to phoenixrising06/
romanovasledger for plotting and characterization discussion. :)
Summary: The Red Room has to be the best. That means continuing to destroy potential rivals and enemies across the globe. That means evading SHIELD's efforts to rein them in. That means avoiding the Avengers.
No matter the cost.
Previous chapters:
One - Light In Darkness
Two - Hiding In Plain Sight
Three - Soul Machine
The Hand's Naginata House was in Kyoto. The Scorpions and Shinobis looked like any other ordinary student learning the ancient art, so passersby paid the building no mind. Tanto House was in Akita, and Katana House was in Kushiro. Naginata House had been chosen as the next target mostly because it had been closest to Nagoya, where the Dragon House had been. Kyoto had a thriving tourist business due to the historical sites and festivals, making it easy for them to blend in. It was also Golden Week, so the streets would be especially busy.
Natasha dyed her hair black to cover the telltale red tresses. Yelena and James didn't have that problem, and James actually let Natasha cut his hair. If anyone else attempted it, even Yelena, the sharp scissors might have been buried in their throat.
Students at Naginata House seemed to be rather undisciplined compared to thoe of Dragon House. Perhaps the mentality was different because melee fighters always had to be aware of their surroundings in order to manipulate it properly. The naginata allowed the Hand trainee to have greater reach in an attack, though a skilled fighter unafraid of blades could still defeat it. Natasha and Yelena had been trained to get in close and move quickly, two things the naginata would not excel at countering.
Trainees were allowed out of the House to participate in the festivals and visit shrines. This was done in shifts, so that the House would not be left unattended at any time. Defenses at the House would be minimal, which was another bonus to choosing Naginata House first.
Instead of going top down as they had at Dragon House, this time they went in on the ground floor. James was the sort of fighter that didn't care for subtlety, and would rather go in with guns blazing. Natasha assumed it was because that would draw attention away from her and Yelena, allowing them to move silently through the hallways and eliminate the trainees quickly. He was also a bit of a thrill seeker, and the adrenaline rush was huge when it was one fighter against the dozens flooding in.
The House was more sparsely populated than even they expected, so James didn't have to make as much of a boom as he planned. Natasha took the east side of the House, Yelena took the west side. She could use the naginata if she chose to, but preferred to use her own shorter knives. One of the weapons stands also had a few katanas, so she grabbed one and proceeded to go to work on the hapless students. Occasionally she could see a flash of Yelena at work across the courtyard, eyes alight and lips drawn back in a delighted grin. She had blood on her sleeves and splashed across her chest from the force of her swings. Natasha had similar splashes of blood on her body and even a bit of spray on her face. She spun out with the katana, hacking her way through cowering students as well as those brave enough to try to counter her attacks. James moved slowly and steadily, stalking through the courtyard to pick off any runners.
Afterward, they piled the bodies in the back of the House, and laid in wait for other students to return. Once they did, the massacre began anew.
None of the students knew what hit them.
Natasha had thought ahead regarding the clothes they would wear leaving the House; Yelena had thought they would simply raid the students' wardrobes. Cleansed of blood and in new clothing, the trio left and walked the streets of Kyoto along with the crowds. Carrying a katana wrapped in fabric made it look like a touristy kind of purchase. Natasha took them past the Shimogamo Shrine, but it was too soon for the Aoi Matsuri festival. The Aoi Matsuri festival took place annually over a two week period beginning on May 3 at the Shimogamo Shrine. On that date, the yabosame took place; this was mounted archery, and Natasha had once attended with Clint. He had been fascinated by the festival, and managed to recreate the stunts flawlessly later on. They were a day early for the festival, but Natasha had wanted something to remind her of those she left behind.
There was a shimmer in the bamboo behind the shrine. Immediately she recalled the dream with Loki and his offer to create a portal for her. He was definitely the type to ignore her wishes and create one anyway.
"Think we've seen enough of Kyoto?" she asked nonchalantly. "We'd better get a move on before the rest of the organization increases security."
"It would be nice to have a challenge," Yelena mused.
"Katanas or tantos?" James asked.
"I haven't practiced iaido in years," Yelena replied.
"Neither of us have done formal tantojutsu," Natasha said as she steered them away from the shrine. "But we're familiar with using mass produced tactical knives. So basically, do we go with the easy way first or last?"
Yelena giggled. "Last. Let's test our iaido skills."
James repressed a sigh. "Either way, I plan to use guns. I'll need more ammo."
"All right. I know someone in Tokyo," Natasha said. "It's on the way, anyway. We'll get everything we need there, then keep heading north."
Though Yelena looked at Natasha suspiciously, it was a reasonable enough plan on the surface. She kept silent, and Natasha refrained from looking back at where the possible portal may have been. It was difficult enough to push through the crowds, and her mind could be playing tricks on her. Her dreams were more vivid across the board, sometimes leading her to wake up thinking she was one of her cover identities. Then seeing Yelena and James would bring her back to herself, whatever that was, and she knew what the plan was supposed to be.
The Hand Soldiers wielding katanas would be a challenge. Attacking Hand Spies and Assassins would be rather like being back in the Red Room preparing for exams to enter the Elites. Even a heightened alert among the Hand would not stop them. Once the four major training houses were eliminated, the Hand would be devastated. They would likely rebuild; that organization had existed for hundreds of years, and even tactical strikes could only delay them for a time. But that time was crucial in reestablishing the Red Room as a viable player, especially since it was just the three of them.
Though, the three of them would just be folded into SHIELD. The Red Room would be useful as a cover, a way to play a long game with the remains of these organizations. SHIELD's name would remain intact, and the Red Room would be its darker mirror, the entity that worked in the shadows to eliminate destabilizing forces.
That was Natasha's plan, at least.
Yelena giggled when they got to Tokyo and met with Natasha's arms supplier. The wizened old man had eyed the blonde and James in distaste, not wanting to deal with new and unknown players. He was immune to Yelena's flirting, just as he had been immune to Natasha's when they first met. James wanted his entire stock, which he wasn't willing to part with.
It went south from there, even though Natasha tried to deescalate the situation. Yelena's flirting was possibly a clue, though it was often a default behavior when entering into negotiations. Their training in the Elites was to craft a Black Widow, and seduction could be just as dangerous a weapon as a blade, pistol or garrote. She had gotten hold of her knife and it made short work of the arms dealer. Natasha was irritated; it was hard to find reliable contacts off the grid that SHIELD didn't know about, and now one of her main ones had been reduced to nothing more than bloody meat on the floor. That didn't seem to bother Yelena at all. While James gathered everything up, Yelena touched the still warm blood with a fond smile on her face. "We'll paint the world red," she said, bringing her fingertips to her lips.
The blood was vivid red on her lips and teeth, her pink tongue snaking out to lick it up. "This is only the beginning, Natalia." She smiled wide, blood still on her teeth, and brought her fingers across her cheeks. "The world will bleed red and fall at our feet. We'll never be beholden to anyone ever again."
"You didn't have to kill him."
"I saw him reach for a gun," Yelena sing-songed. "And I didn't like how he looked at you. Or looked at me. And he wasn't going to give Winter what he wanted."
"It's called negotiations," Natasha returned, starting to get angry.
"The Red Room dictates, not negotiates."
"Wash your face," James told Yelena. "Civilians will be upset. You can't break cover like this."
Walk, don't run. Blend in. Nondescript clothing and features. Don't be too loud. Act as if.
"I can handle it," Yelena whined.
He raised his hand to strike her. "You've done enough damage, little girl. Let the grownups make the decisions from now on."
Though Yelena bristled, she remained silent. She pouted, but Natasha had no time for that. This wasn't a standard Red Room kill and she didn't want it to be recorded as such. Taking all the money and some pawnable jewelry as Yelena washed up, she wiped their prints.
"She made a big mistake," Natasha grumbled when James looked at her in curiosity.
"We must go to Kushiro. We must complete the mission."
His voice was cold, almost robotic. Did Yelena's behavior trigger something in James?
If that was the case, what were her chances of turning them?
***
Loki, Clint, Steve and Sam stepped through Loki's portal. They had been in New York and now were in Kyoto. Sam laughed in amazement as he looked around the bamboo grove. "Holy shit, this is fantastic. No airport security to try to get through, either."
"You'll still get jet lag this way," Clint reminded him. "We're about eleven hours ahead of New York, so it'll be enough to knock you for a loop."
"That sounds like the voice of experience," Steve remarked.
"Because it is," Clint said with a slight nod. He looked around and began to smile. "I know where we are. Kyoto. There's an archery festival here."
"No wonder it's your favorite," Sam said with a grin.
"Tourist season," Steve commented. "No one would really notice us walking around while we look for Tash."
"Three people in a city of thousands plus tourists," Sam said, pointing out the obvious that no one wanted to discuss. "You think we'll be that lucky?"
"No, but we can try to trace her steps and predict where she'll be next," Clint responded with an audible sigh. "She can't work openly, not against those two."
"You think she wants to?" Sam asked, a bit uncertainly.
"Yeah, I think she does," Clint said, his voice brooking no argument.
"You seem to know her best," Loki said, finally saying something. His voice carried more than a trace of bitterness, though Clint tuned it out.
"You're the one that had the soul bond or whatever," Clint replied. He fixed Loki with a level stare, then swept his hand out to indicate the park. "Go find her, then. Figure out where she is, and we can haul them all back in before anyone else gets hurt."
Loki's mouth opened, then shut. He looked discomfited and looked around the packed area. "I can't tell where she is past that it's in this city somewhere. Our bond is severed, Hawk," he added, the bitter tone clearer to hear now. "That bitch Yelena erased it with the spells she had those casters craft before their death."
"Right. The overturned spa," Steve said, subtly stepping between the two.
"The spá," Loki corrected, subtly changing the pronunciation. "But it is different from the bond that we had." His mouth pinched, as if he bit into something sour. "It was created some time ago, and I suppose I didn't realize how much I relied on its presence."
Clint knew there was a deal between the two he hadn't wanted to talk about. Steve was vaguely aware of it as well, thanks to his monitoring of Loki as a female. Sam had no idea what Loki was alluding to but didn't care.
"So we do this the old fashioned way," Sam said, shrugging.
Thumbing in Steve's direction, Clint grinned. "There's the old fashioned."
Steve glowered at him a little. "Very funny. Fine, we're investigating rather than relying on magic. I think that's the better way, anyway. Rely too much on tools, and you miss something that you would've seen otherwise."
Loki pressed his lips together, still with the sour expression, but remained silent.
"Who's the competition that the Red Room had in these parts?" Sam asked. He was new to the Red Room dynamics, and had never been involved in international espionage. He knew that they were there because Yelena wanted to take apart The Hand, but not much else. Sam looked at Clint and Steve blankly. "The Hand, yeah, I know that part. But why Kyoto specifically? I mean, Clint, you were here before..."
"There was an informant that was part of the Hand," he allowed. "And there might still be something that way now, but I don't know for sure."
"So why don't we head on over to where you were before and see what we can find?" Sam asked.
Clint sighed a little. "The city's a little bit different now, but..."
The four men wandered through the crowds, moving through streets that had been part of Clint's memories of the place. Sam had such joy in the wandering that it lessened some of the tension. They could pretend to be tourists enjoying Golden Week as they ogled things, but there was no clear sign of where Natasha could be.
Until Clint received a phone call from Fury himself. "This is an unlisted phone number," Clint said mildly, though his knuckles were white as he gripped the phone.
"I got my eye on you, Agent Barton," Fury responded. "Don't think I don't know you're looking for Agent Romanoff."
"And?" he prompted, sounding as though he wasn't as tense as he actually was.
"Looks like there's some interest in Kyoto from our anti-terrorism friends."
"Kyoto," Clint echoed, standing at alert.
"Mass murder in a martial arts school. The alert called it a bloodbath."
"A martial arts school. Got it."
"I don't need a damn echo, Barton," Fury snapped. "Where are you?"'
"Looking into a lead," he replied, looking at the others with a tense expression. "Did they say where this school was? Or where other ones might be?"
"Other ones?" Fury asked, voice sharp. "You think there will be more like this?"
"They're the Hand, Director," Clint replied dryly. "They're literally ninjas. I know there are several training houses, and Belova wants to eliminate all of the Red Room's competition. I don't see any point going where she'd been already if it was a bloodbath. It would be better to move ahead of them."
"Not without sparking an international incident."
"So unofficially, if someone was to go on vacation right now..."
Fury sighed, and Clint could hear the sound of a thick file folder dropping to a desk. Well, then. Bringing out archival data, were they? Clint wasn't sure if that was desperation or foresight.
"I hear that Akita and Hokkaido Prefectures are good to visit."
"I'm sure they are, but those are pretty big places to visit. Care to narrow it down?"
"Think of large cities on the water in those Prefectures. Tourist traps, I hear. People go missing, old fashioned weapons get used... Theirs is a different way."
"Hey. I fight with a stick and string. Old fashioned isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"Keep that in mind when they have a katana swinging at your head."
"I'm a ranged fighter. I'll warn the others about katana swings."
"Others?" Fury asked, concern in his voice.
"Yep. We'll let you know what we find."
He hung up and turned off his phone. "Let's move."
They followed his lead, and Loki was frowning at Clint. "You were most disrespectful to a superior officer," he commented.
"Yeah. I'm sure there will be some kind of disciplinary slip in my file for that and for each time I mouthed off in his office."
"Why would they permit such a thing, then?" he pressed.
"Because I know my shit," Clint replied bluntly. "If I was all attitude with nothing to back it up, you bet your ass I'd be on lockdown or busted down to level one shit jobs. But I know what I'm doing, I got the contacts I need to go to, and I can hold my own."
"So what's the plan?" Steve asked, getting them back on track before it could be derailed too far.
"He specifically mentioned the Akita and Hokkaido Prefectures, with cities on the water." The others finally noticed that he had been angling them through the crowds into the shopping districts. "Now, I'm no expert, but a map might give us a starting point. We're going to try to stay a step ahead of them, but it's going to be hard to do."
"Those are still going to be big places to search," Sam pointed out.
"Sure. But we have Mr. Portal over here," Clint replied, thumbing in Loki's direction. The god bristled, but didn't deny it. "The Hand isn't going to just give us confidential information about their schools, and they would hide them in plain sight. So we're at a double disadvantage there."
"But we're not relying on just that much," Steve guessed.
"Of course not," Clint replied, sounding insulted. "C'mon. Tash isn't the only one that can hide in plain sight, and I've got a few favors I can probably call in."
"We'll have to proceed quickly," Loki said darkly. "The Belova bitch is not stable, and they know where they are going."
"And coming from you, that's saying something," Sam said, a sober expression on his face.
Loki nodded, knowing that Sam didn't mean it in an insulting manner. That simply wasn't his way, though he would have bristled if Clint had said the same thing. "Exactly. She's unstable and desperate, and those are the most dangerous of all combatants to face."
The other three all looked at Loki and nodded in agreement.
They ducked into a bookstore, and Clint directed them to look at maps of northern Japan, specifically those prefectures. As they did, he went to the counter and asked for a specific employee in halting, badly accented Japanese. The woman at the counter smiled at the attempt, bowed a little and went into the back office. A slight woman with a streak of pink her hair emerged, wearing three earrings in her left ear, a nose ring and snake bites. Head to toe, she was in bright purple and black, straps and buckles all over. She brightened at the sight of Clint standing there, looking almost apologetic.
"Yo, this was not what I meant when I said look me up if you're in Kyoto," she said with a smile, only a slight accent to her English.
"Masumi, we're in trouble."
"When are you not?" Masumi teased.
"No, really. We're in trouble." He gave her a meaningful look. "Think former trainers."
The smile was wiped right off of her face. "Kuso," she swore softly.
"Yeah, well... When in doubt, go to the best."
"Nani hanashite no aho?" Masumi asked a little scornfully. At his helpless shrug, she pulled a face. "Shinjimae."
"Masumi, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important, you know that..."
She retained the expression that he was an idiot. "Shinde kudasai."
"Masumi..." he wheedled.
"Clinton! The last time you asked me for help, I had my tattoos cut out of my skin!"
He winced. "Oh. Right. I kind of forgot about that..."
"And you have other hacker friends you can go to for help."
"Yeah, but they're back in New York. And we're here right now..."
Not wanting to see this go any farther, Loki strode forward to approach them. Masumi immediately fell into a combative stance the way Natasha would, sparking his nostalgia, and she had two small blades in her hands.
"You seem to have a way with words," Loki told Clint sardonically. He grinned wider at Clint's scowl. "Perhaps a less public venue?"
"No one else is in here but you fools," Masumi said, eyeing him warily. She flicked a glance in Clint's direction. "Baka."
Clint didn't disagree. "Which is why I need your help."
Masumi rolled her eyes. "What is it this time, then?"
"The Hand's training house locations up north."
"Shinjimae!" she spat, eyes wide with fear. "I talk to you, everyone knows. The walls have ears, Clinton, especially in this country."
"Didn't you hear? There was a bloodbath at the dojo in this city."
She shook her head. "No, I don't believe you."
"Director Fury himself told me."
"Any survivors would be able to track me down." She shook her head and backed up a step, toward the counter. "I didn't escape them just to be killed by them."
"Give me a clue, Masumi," Clint pleaded.
"Not for you," she said, shaking her head. "Not for that. If you had a simple hacker job-"
"Do you know Natasha Romanoff?" Loki asked, interrupting. Masumi was startled by his abrupt tone, and frowned at him. "She's caught up in this, and we are trying to track her down."
"The Hand..."
"Please," Clint begged. "You're the only one I can think of who might be able to give me even a small clue where to go."
Masumi pressed her lips together, and looked as though she was about to refuse Clint again. Loki reached out and touched her arm, earning a wrathful look. He had no doubts that were he human, she would slice him apart with those blades in her hands and gut him. She very much responded to him the way Natasha did in the beginning. What was it about Clint that he attracted such strong warrior women?
"I have an idea," Loki said as pleasantly as he could. It was almost like the tones he used when verbally fencing during social occasions on Asgard. "I can craft a portal to another place, and all discussion would be in secret."
She scowled deeply at him, the blades steady in her hands. "There is nowhere far enough you can go to escape their reach."
"Another dimension?" Loki offered. He was rather impressed she didn't flinch at the mention of a portal, but he supposed that after the Battle of New York, magic and other realms didn't sound so surprising anymore.
That gave her pause. "Another dimension."
Loki nodded. "Tell your compatriots you're going to train me with your blades." He grinned at her, all sharp teeth and mania, and a part of him was thrilled at the slow blink of surprise that she had. "Then we may discuss. Time is of the essence."
"I recognize you," she said finally. "That smile is a dead giveaway."
"Then you know I can do what I say."
Masumi nodded slowly and relaxed her stance somewhat. She was still on alert, on the balls of her feet, ready to react if Loki crossed her in some way. "You owe me," she told Clint in a somewhat sour tone. "Again."
Clint nodded, appearing resigned. "Seems to be the way of it, isn't it?"
"If this goes wrong, I'm calling in the mark," Masumi said, heading toward the back room. "You will need to protect me, and there are few places their fingers won't reach."
"Understood." He nodded at Steve and Sam. "Those two are in on our search, too, by the way."
"Of course they are. They came in with you and are following your direction."
"Got me there," Clint allowed. He grinned at Loki's irritated expression as Masumi left them. "You have no idea what I'm doing, do you?"
Loki rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, but didn't respond. That pretty much meant yes, and they both knew it.
"I need to give her something to save face. It's huge in this culture. Sound familiar?"
Now Loki really glowered at Clint, who laughed unapologetically. It was going to be a long road to finding Natasha. For her sake, Loki hoped he wouldn't wind up killing Clint.
***
Akita was the capital of the Akita Prefecture in northern Japan. Its main attractions, aside from the requisite festivals, were the mountains and hot springs. As the largest city in the prefecture, Akita was the local hub for travel, shopping and tourism. There was even a historical city nearby with samurai homes open to the public. People walking about carrying a tanto wouldn't be too remiss, then. The Hand certainly knew how to hide their students in plain sight.
Natasha had heard the best local sake in all of Japan was in Akita, and saying that aloud triggered a memory for James. "The Prefectural Goods Shop in the basement of the Atorion Concert Hall usually has sales and sometimes free samples," he said, blinking as the memory swam to the surface of his mind. His accent was flawless; she wondered when he had learned the language, given that Sergeant Barnes had never fought in Japan in World War II. Perhaps once Hydra got their hands on him, but at the very least before Department X got him; they wouldn't have wasted resources teaching him the local language. He wasn't meant to be a fine instrument of destruction, after all. No need to blend in prior to the kill.
"The brands are codes," Yelena said suddenly, features going somewhat slack. A trigger memory, then. Natasha was alert as Yelena ran through a few of them, memorizing what the brands meant to the agents the Red Room had used in the past.
"So the Red Room did work with the Hand," Natasha guessed.
"I remember Myung," Yelena replied, slack features suddenly hardening with anger. "I remember what she did as part of training, what codes she drilled into us. I remember when they turned us loose in Tokyo."
"You've been there before," Natasha said without inflection. Her behavior in Tokyo suddenly made far more sense. Her supplier hadn't necessarily triggered that odd reaction, but it had been the city itself.
"Seduce and kill. You know how Madame likes to see her girls in action," Yelena said, bitterness lacing her voice.
Natasha slid her hand along Yelena's arm until she could cup the back of her neck. "I need you here with me, Yelena. We've got to do this together. They'll bleed us out if you can't stay on target here."
Her smile was a deadly flash of teeth. "I know how to use the tanto. I will take them all down and burn it to the ground."
The words were too familiar; Natasha had told Yelena that before burning down the Red Room with their former captors and handlers inside. It sent a chill down her spine, but she didn't outwardly react to it. She drew Yelena in for a kiss and pulled James closer to her. "We stick together, no matter what."
"Let's see if they use the old codes," James remarked. "We can use it against them, thin out the crowds of students and ensure we survive the kill."
There. That was an improvement already; the Winter Soldier never had to worry about survival, because he didn't matter as much as the mission. She didn't have to worry about his state of mind, then. Parts of himself were coming to the fore, bits and pieces she knew and bits and pieces that she didn't.
Yelena was the problem. Then again, Yelena had always been the problem.
The Hand's Tanto House was in the western part of Akita City, which had some of its sports centers and its Prefectural Motor Vehicles Testing Center. A Tanto House would fit right in, and with Golden Week done, the trio likely would have an easier time getting in and out of the area.
Of course, that also meant fewer civilians that would serve as cover for their entry.
In addition to floors above ground, there were three levels below ground. The Hand kept their training rooms below ground, with some residences tucked into the offices on upper floors. There was a legal instruction area that was a front on the ground floor, and the hidden entrance to the training rooms below. "Collateral damage," Natasha sighed once she realized it.
"No one is innocent here," Yelena hissed in response.
"We can't let James blow up the front entrance," she insisted.
James shrugged, not insulted in the slightest. "You could be our entry into the building, then I'll take apart the hidden doorways."
"A trench coat to hide the body armor and guns will be noticeable," Natasha pointed out. The early May weather wasn't cool enough to justify a long coat.
"You really think I care about that?"
Yelena laughed as Natasha conceded the point. "We're letting people know the Red Room is back. We're letting the Hand know they can't fuck with us. Let it be a warning. Let them try to prepare. We'll still kill them all. We're not planning on letting any of them live, you know. No need to be careful."
Natasha leaned back in her seat and let her mind drift over her mental map of Akita. "We should disable police first, then. Let them worry about their own, and we can be farther into the training area before they arrive."
"Fewer distractions," James agreed.
Entering the school was relatively effortless. Natasha and Yelena entered the front martial arts studio posing as JET program participants looking to learn a new skill. As soon as they were in the back room to speak with the manager, they overpowered him and knocked him out. Once he was bound and gagged, they let James in through the back door. Together, they looked for the entranceway to the lower levels, but it proved to be fairly cleverly hidden.
"Fuck it," James said finally in frustration. He pointed his machine gun at the floor. "It should be somewhere around here, right?"
"Yes," Yelena replied. "The student I had gotten the information from had said it was a trapdoor, easy to find."
"Obviously it isn't," James growled.
"What? When did you question that student?" Natasha asked.
"When we took out Dragon House."
Natasha blew out a breath. "It could be faulty. Their dying men know how to tell convincing lies. It's one of our first lessons, Lena."
Yelena flushed in anger and shame. "I know what I'm doing."
"You also shut down afterward. Your skills are a little suspect right now."
Giving Natasha a shove, Yelena bared her teeth. "I will cut you for that."
"Not now," James hissed. "I'm blowing open the wall. That's the most common place to hide the entrance point."
Before Natasha could even protest, he swung the machine gun up to shoot at the wall. Yelena grinned as the large caliber bullets shredded the drywall, and she followed closely when James kicked the wall open. There was a hallway behind it, with covered light bulbs on the wall. Yelena shot Natasha a triumphant look, then plunged into the tunnel to look for the stairs down.
It was the middle of the day, and the rooms were all occupied with students of varying degrees of skill. The first level held the trainees; any difficulty detected on this floor, and the students with better skill would come up from the lower levels. The way to defeat them all without getting killed or bled out would be to create a bottleneck, forcing the better skilled tanto users to come out one or two at a time. Of course the architect for the Tanto House had thought of that, so most of the rooms had open plans and flimsy walls in between them. There was no easily defensible area. They would have to go all in and be careful.
Natasha missed her nanomesh armor. The element of surprise only carried them through the first two rooms. Shouts and thuds from falling bodies couldn't be masked as training exercises any longer, and by the fourth room the more skilled students were coming through the flimsy walls. James had been saving his guns for when the skilled students arrived, and there was a grim joy in his expression as he mowed down the incoming students. Yelena moved forward, beyond Natasha's reach, laughing as she grabbed the tantos of fallen victims. It didn't matter to her that they sliced at her arms or stomach, that her left side was exposed. Natasha had a tanto in each of her hands and pistols strapped to her thighs and back, as well as extra magazines. She didn't have her Widow's bites or electronic discs, no garrote or grappling hooks. Not that she needed them to kill when her entire body was a weapon, but having those would be nice to even the odds.
Left to her own devices, Natasha focused on the three students in front of her. She moved sinuously, elements of ballet and gymnastics in her steps. There was focus for her, not a manic glee, and she dodged blows from tantos as best as she could while delivering death blows of her own. She ran up and threw herself at a taller student, the momentum from her body throwing him to the ground. Her arms flew out from her sides, her own tanto blades swinging wide and slitting throats as she took the student to the ground. Once her knees hit the floor, she scissored her blades across his throat and looked up, her hair swinging up and out of her face. More students were flooding in. It would still be a massacre, but it would be hard fought and they were going to need time to heal up afterward.
Pushing aside the sting of aching muscles and sliced skin, she kicked up and out of her crouched position, flipping up and into a standing position. She fought two students at once now, one male and one female. The male seemed to be more vicious, maybe angry over getting kicked in the ribs on her way to standing. She spun in a pirouette, parrying one of his blades and then slicing through his abdomen with her other. That left her back undefended, and the female took full advantage of that. The tanto she carried scored over her entire back. Twitching away from the blade, she continued her spin and caught the girl's arm. Natasha severed several tendons and muscle groups with one blade, then thrust her other into her throat. She kicked the female student away as she choked and drowned in her own blood, and Natasha kept moving.
More students, more knives, more slices, more kicks and punches and pirouettes. There was the staccato punctuation of James' bullets and the manic laughter from Yelena as counterpoint to grunts and the slap of skin on cement as bodies fell. She wanted to fall herself; Hel's gift meant that she wouldn't die right away, but she ached so badly and needed rest to fully recover. But if she fell the students would converge and kill her. And she couldn't die, not here, not like this. She had to get James and Yelena back to SHIELD. She had to help them undo the programming in their minds, had to get them free of the last chains the Red Room had bound them with. She had to do this, she couldn't afford to fail.
Slice, slice, slice. Natasha moved without thinking, without planning. There was nothing to gain from this encounter other than escaping with their lives. Yelena wanted the Hand gone, but it was an impossible task. It was going to kill them to do it on their own.
Covered in blood and gore, Natasha finally stood still. The tantos fell from her hands to clatter onto the floor next to her. She hadn't even gone for the guns strapped to her thighs. There simply hadn't been time to do that, not when they rushed at her all at once and without the easy choreography of martial arts movies.
Surrounded by the dead and dying, Natasha found Yelena propped up against a wall and James clenching and unclenching his fingers to test mobility in his metal arm.
"For the record, Lena," she rasped, getting the blonde's attention. "Your idea of a good time sucks. This is definitely not a party."
Yelena laughed and slid down the wall, a smear of blood from her arm across it. "We'll have a better time at the next house, I promise."
"Fuck that. We're lucky we survived," Natasha snapped.
Her smile was all sharp teeth, a crazed glaze to her eyes. "No, not luck. We're better than they are, and we'll destroy their other house."
"There's always going to be someone else-"
"Black Spectre's next," James said evenly, stepping carelessly through the dead bodies to get to Natasha's side. "They still need to be destroyed."
Natasha blew out a breath. "Okay, fine. They need to be stopped, and no one could get a handle on them or how to do it legally."
Yelena snorted. "Laws. As if they matter to us."
"They're useful."
James ran a hand down Natasha's back, keeping her from saying any more. "We should go. Tend our wounds. It'll be a fight to get out of here, and we're too conspicuous."
Time to wash off the blood and eliminate their torn and sliced clothing. Then it was escaping Akita and heading over to Katana House in Kushiro. That would be no small feat, but they could do it. They were the Red Room.
There was no room for failure. Failure led to death.
***
***
To Chapter Four - Missed Chances