Hello, Readers! This is the longest chapter thus far in the story. Anyway, I did some major research for the mission I put them through. As far as I know, the information is accurate. Few exceptions: I don't know if there is a sex trafficking ring in Huntsville, and there is no bar called "Southern Charm." I hope you like the aliases I gave them.

Enigma

Chapter Seven

Field Test Briefing

Briefing Room

17:47 hours

Marissa was rather surprised when she was called into the briefing room so soon after her run in the obstacle course.

She was not surprised to see Natasha and Clint in the room waiting for her.

"What is this about? More questions for me?" Marissa asked cautiously, taking a seat across from Natasha.

"No idea," Clint replied as the door opened, revealing Nick Fury.

"What is this about, Director?" Marissa asked.

"Agent Hermann, consider this a field test of your abilities. You will be working with Agents Romanoff and Barton until your probationary status is lifted."

"Fine by me," she muttered.

"This is your first assignment. And this one is a doozy. We have evidence of a sex trafficking ring in the most unlikely of cities," Fury answered.

"Miami?"

"No. Huntsville, Alabama. Small city with about 180,000 people. Also known as the Rocket City. Strong space and engineering programs there. Brings in a lot of international people."

"It would be a good set up for a sex trafficking ring. Nobody expects something like that in the middle of small city Alabama," Clint replied.

"A lot of German scientists moved there after World War Two with Werner von Braun. They helped establish the Marshall Space Flight Center, too," Marissa added.

"And they have no preferences. Any nationality, both genders. So, here is what the three of you will do. Agents Hermann and Romanoff will go in as sisters that run a small time prostitution ring. Romanoff will be the madam. Hermann, you will handle the expenses. Agent Barton, you'll be the panderer."

"Panderer? I'm a bear?"

"Fancy word for 'pimp,' Barton," Marissa replied with a chuckle.

"Great," Clint mumbled.

"Romanoff and Barton will be an on again off again couple that just sprang Hermann from jail for money laundering. Your aliases are being generated now. Report to the briefing room now for details and make-up."

"Yay," Clint mumbled as the three made their way to the briefing room.

Marissa smiled as she followed her new colleagues. Maybe this would be the right push to get them together for real.

Briefing Room

"Okay ladies, I am going to ask you to take your tops off so I can apply the henna tattoos to your skin," a female agent stepped up to them.

"And Agent Barton, I want you to step behind this screen to give the ladies their privacy. You just need to roll up your sleeve."

"He gets off easy," Natasha groaned as she shed her top right as Clint stepped behind the screen.

Marissa shed her top as well, and lay down on the table. "At least the tats won't be permanent. I tried this once before. Didn't like the hydra they put on me."

"Don't blame you there."

"So, Agent Romanoff, you will get a black widow spider on your back. Plus, you will have a clear teardrop under the right eye. You know what that means?"

"Attempted murder."

"Correct. And Agent Hermann, since you are a launderer, you will have a tattoo of money hanging on a clothesline over your right shoulder. You will also have five dots on your right hand between your thumb and forefinger."

"Because I just did a stint in the pin. Four walls of the prison with a dot in the center representing the inmate."

"Correct. We will do the larger applications first then the smaller ones last."

Marissa and Natasha nodded. "Okay, Agent Romanoff, if you would lie down on the table? Deanne will work on you. I will take you Agent Hermann."

Two hours later, Marissa and Natasha found themselves looking at their new wardrobe. "Wow a leather jacket. We both get to be bad asses," Marissa commented, trying on the jacket over her green skin tight shirt.

"I get low cut blouses and skirts. Must be paying well, this whore house ring I run."

Marissa chuckled. "I wonder how they'll dress Barton."

"Muscle tees and wife beaters probably," Natasha mumbled blushing just a little.

"Thinking about how good he looks in those shirts?" Marissa taunted her friend.

"No, of course not," Natasha replied too quickly. Of course Marissa would pick up on that! She's a mind reader that girl!

Marissa smirked in response.

"Maybe a little," she admitted to her friend.

"So, at least you can play around with Barton and get away with it."

Natasha shrugged. "Okay, enough gossip. Let's change and meet Clint in the dining hall."

Marissa nodded and grabbed an outfit that made her look like she just got out of prison.

Huntsville, Alabama

SHIELD Safe House

July 26, 2008

14:23 hours

Natasha shut down her laptop after finding the location of the bar that was fronting the sex trafficking ring.

Marissa walked in from outside, fanning herself with a newspaper fan. "It is hot and humid out there," she commented, covering her German accent with a slight Southern drawl. "Is this typical of Alabama in July?"

"Yes. It's even worse in the dog days of summer. Our front is located downtown, near the courthouse of all places."

"Hiding in plain sight, brilliant plan," Marissa commented. "Barton make it back yet?"

"No. He just texted and told me he was on his way. He was putting out feelers in the right places."

"Okay."

"So, Penny," Natasha said getting into character, "you wanna head out and celebrate your freedom the joint? I'll call Jeremy. He'll meet us there."

"Sure thing, Mona," Marissa agreed. "Just let me get my shades."

Marissa and Natasha slipped easily into their roles as sisters Penelope and Ramona Scarlette. Natasha was glad that they looked similar enough to pass as sisters.

Marissa walked into her room.

Natasha took out her cell and dialed Clint.

"Hey Babe," Clint answered as his role, Natasha's—Mona's—on again off again boyfriend Jeremy Hawke. "Get your little sister settled in?"

"Yeah. We're heading out to celebrate. Meet us at Southern Charm?"

"I'm there in five, Babe. See ya."

Natasha hung up the phone with a slight grin. She loved hearing him call her 'babe.'

"You loved that, didn't you?" Marissa said behind her, sunglasses in hand. "I saw that little smile."

"Let's roll, Penny," Natasha said as she pulled the keys from her pocket. She locked the door behind her and her sister. They drove off from the house in a 2007 Mustang convertible.

Southern Charm Bar

15:03 hours

Marissa and Natasha walked into the bar arm in arm. Marissa automatically noticed several pairs of eyes on them ranging from lust to pure contempt. Marissa batted her eyes flirtatiously at one guy and plopped down at the bar.

"What can I get you, honey?" the bartender asked, giving both her and Natasha googly eyes.

"Jack straight up. What about you, sister?"

"Vodka."

"What are you ladies celebrating?"

"My first day of freedom in a long time," Marissa grinned tapping her right hand on the counter, giving the man a full view of the five dots.

"I see. What for?"

"I gotta little heavy handed when it came to company investments," she replied with a smile. "Took the idiot a year to figure it out."

"I got a crafty little sister. She's just happy to be free. Right, Squirt?" Natasha said, playfully punching her shoulder.

"Damn right." She pointedly looked at the bartender. "Our drinks?"

"Right on it, ladies."

"Allow me to buy your drinks, ladies?" a man in an expensive suit approached them. He was flashing a C note.

"I got 'em," Clint said stepping up and placing a twenty on the counter. Marissa saw him staring down the man with the Benjamins. His body language said it all. My girls are off limits. He was milking the role right now.

"Bastard," Natasha muttered under her breath as the bartender sat their drinks down in front of them.

C-Note walked off in a huff. Clint put an arm possessively around Natasha. "How you doing, Baby?" he asked, kissing her. He turned to Marissa "Hey, Penny. Enjoying your freedom?"

"You know it. I'll grab a booth while you guys catch up a little." Marissa grabbed her drink and sauntered off to a booth near the back where she could watch everything at once.

She saw the bar maids waiting tables, dressed in dirndls like they were in Germany. Some were rather low cut and mini skirted, making Marissa chuckle slightly. Like everyone in Germany wore those things.

Then, she saw some of the women in the bar tense up. Clint had taken off his button up shirt and slung it across his shoulder. His pimp tattoo was fully visible. Natasha pulled a strand of hair back behind her ear, revealing the clear teardrop under her eye.

Clint whispered something in her ear and they slinked towards her. "I reckon everyone knows what kind of people we are now."

"Oh say it ain't so," Marissa joked, taking a sip of her drink. She spat it out. "Oh hell no. They watered down my Jack."

"Penny, you just got out," Natasha warned her.

"I don't care. I want Jack Daniels, not flavored water!"

"Very German of you," Clint whispered as Marissa got up.

She walked up to the bartender with her tainted drink. "Hey bartender, I asked for Jack Daniels not colored water!" She slammed the drink on the table, the liquid sloshing out onto the counter.

"Okay," the man muttered as he grabbed the bottle.

"Thank you," she said grabbing the bottle.

Marissa sauntered off before the bartender could say anything more. She took a swig. "Now that's more like it."

A man walked up to them and sat down next to Marissa. He looked at Clint. "Saw your tattoo back there. You in the life?"

"I got my little stable. Mona here helps me run it." Clint said, putting an arm around Natasha.

"What about you, doll? You the bottom bitch?"

"That's my sister, Penny. She's gonna keep up with the books. It's her specialty after all."

"I heard. Looks like you're a tough one too," the man said looking at Natasha's tattoo.

"Never convicted. They couldn't find any evidence to seal the deal."

"My boss was very interested in you when he saw those tattoos. He needs people with certain skill sets to help run his service. You cater to any specific parties?"

"Naw man," Clint replied. "We cater to all kinds of parties. We're not picky. She charms the customers, I bring in the merchandise. We get our quota, we're happy."

The Lackey nodded. He looked down at his cell phone. "Boss is intrigued. Wants to see more." He looked at his phone again as it vibrated with a new text. "Sends his compliments to the laundry girl."

"The name's Penny, not laundry girl," Marissa drawled out in a huff, dropping her stolen bottle of Jack on the table with a thud.

"Duly noted, ma'am." He grabbed a napkin and scribbled an address and a time. "Here. Don't be late," he said handing Clint the napkin. "Nice to meet you folks, call me Edge."

"Gotcha."

Edge walked off from the trio in the booth. Marissa looked at her friends. "I guess we did something right," she whispered.

"Yeah. Ready to split, ya'll?" Natasha asked, nearly making Marissa spit her drink in her bottle with her phony accent.

"Yeah. Come on, Baby. You can ride with me," Clint said with a wink.

"Please, you took the Shuttle bus here."

"Wound my pride, huh?"

"What pride? Your ego makes up for it, Hawke."

Clint glared at Natasha playfully. "Let's go. We gotta lot to talk about."

Marissa grabbed her bottle of Jack and walked off, dropping it in the trash, next to C-Note. She noticed his eyes following her rear as they walked out of the bar. She sashayed flirtatiously as she closed the door behind her.

They climbed into the Mustang and skidded off onto Courtside Square. Marissa chuckled as Natasha gunned it downtown and back to their house.

"Was that really necessary, Nat?" Clint asked when they arrived back at the house.

Natasha and Marissa shared a grin. "What can I say? I love fast cars." Natasha answered.

"Ich auch," Marissa agreed.

Marissa followed the two lovebirds inside. "Well, that was very informative. I saw many of the barmaids tense when you pulled off your shirt."

Clint nodded. "Let's look up this location and figure out how to case it."

Natasha pulled up the location on Google Earth. "Looks like an office space half a mile away from the bar, close to the hospital district."

"Let me see," Marissa said, looking at the computer. "If I can access the traffic camera network and check for any other cameras in the area, I can see if there's any activity around the office."

"You know how to hack into secure networks?" Clint asked, astonished.

Marissa nodded, taking the seat Natasha vacated. She typed in a series of code after code. Then, several camera shots popped onto the screen. "And here we go."

"Okay, looks like there are two entrances to the office. Looks like the front is heavily guarded by a state of the art security system. And the back is same way," Clint noted.

"It will take some pretty heavy hacking to get past those systems," Natasha replied.

Marissa nodded. "Two hundred fifty-six bit security. Our guy's not messing around. I wonder if he has cameras on the inside. If I can tap a wire near the area…"

"I gotcha," Clint replied. "We should get some in there ourselves so we know what's going on even when we're not there."

"Assuming we get in," Marissa commented.

"We will. I can make sure of that," Natasha said. "When do we meet Edge's boss?"

"Tomorrow at eight pm," Clint answered.

"We've got time to work it out then," Natasha replied. "Clothes, attitude, everything."

"I need to get out of these prison clothes," Marissa said with a chuckle. "Care to lend me any of your outfits, Madam?"

"Нет, Little Sister. Get your own clothes."

Author's Note:

So yeah, long chapter, but this seemed like a good point to end the chapter. More is to come soon. I hated writing some of the dialogue in this chapter, but I had to keep it as accurate as possible.

Let me say this right now: I will never support human trafficking. It is a dirty and heinous crime. It is my hope that human trafficking everywhere is abolished one day. There, rant over. Stay tuned for the next chapter.