Chapter 8: Flowers for the Widow
August 29
In the Capitol
It wasn't hard at all to guess what Ronan's meeting with his silver-clad assassin was about, since it had been all over the news. All of the Fantastic Four except for Reed Richards were presumed dead, though from the aerial views of the burning district streets, it was doubtful that that would be confirmed without intelligence sources from SHIELD doing so.
So when Natalie saw the information come in that Ben Grimm and Susan Storm were confirmed dead and Johnny Storm was in critical condition, she was sure to pass that along to Ronan. He wanted independent confirmation on the hits before he would believe they were dead, after all. He wasn't going to make his father's mistakes and assume that SHIELD personnel were out of the running before they actually were, he insisted.
The blue-skinned president broke into an honest-to-goodness grin as he read over the reports, especially concerning the fact that Sue and Ben's bodies had been completely unrecoverable — which meant the Capitol wouldn't have to kill them all over again if they had been salvageable through the Tahiti process.
"It's quite the statement," Ronan mused, still smiling and mostly talking to himself. "The Four… darlings of the people…" He trailed off as he reread the details of the operation and the intelligence reports.
Natalie hung back at the entrance to the office. She hadn't been dismissed, but he seemed to be so wrapped up in enjoying the news of how well his hired assassin had done on his first hit that she had to wonder if he even knew she was there.
Finally, he looked up from what he was reading and turned a wide smile in her direction as he almost lazily waved her off with one hand. "Go find the Surfer," he told her, and she very quickly nodded and rushed off to go find the silent assassin.
For the moment, the man was staying in the palace as an honored guest, though Natalie knew it was only a matter of how long Ronan decided the Surfer was useful before he was moved elsewhere at the least, kicked out — or outright killed if he ever brought back news that Ronan didn't like. Since his ascent to the presidency, Ronan had gone through so many generals and lieutenants because of bad news that Natalie was starting to lose track, even with as meticulous and detail-oriented as she had to be.
When she found him, the Surfer was studying over the details of Two's victors; he seemed to be more or less moving down the list in district order. She recognized most of the intelligence data that was laid out over his desk — most of it had passed over her desk first as she tried to find Viper for Ronan. And if the Surfer was as good as this first hit indicated… Natalie wouldn't complain if he took out Viper for them.
She cleared her throat, and he looked up at her, the slightest of smirks passing over his expression when he saw her standing there.
"He's ready for you," she said simply, stepping out of the way so he could leave.
As usual, the Surfer didn't say a word as he moved past her, simply gliding past with nearly silent footfalls, though until he was past her, he was still giving her that same uncomfortable smirk without taking his gaze from her, and Natalie made it a point to keep as much distance between herself at the assassin as possible. That wasn't even part of her cover as Natalie Rushman — she honestly didn't like the guy, and she knew exactly what the looks he kept giving her were meant to convey.
She didn't follow after the Surfer, either. Ronan had only asked her to find the Surfer, not to accompany him — and she wasn't going to spend any more time with either of them than was necessary, especially not both of them together. So she went back to what she had been doing — and made sure to send Fury a little note that the Surfer was moving down the list of victors in district order.
September 5
District Three - Yashida compound
Viper was in a fine mood as they left the Yashida compound behind them. The meeting with Shingen had gone over swimmingly. Logan introduced Viper to the head of the clan as his wife — which, after their previous meeting, automatically gave Viper, and by association-Hydra, a bit of good standing with the powerful clan.
Of course, she had no idea what he was saying, since the entire conversation was in low, quick Japanese, but the way that Shingen's men were nodding approvingly after a short time, it was clear that Logan had done exactly as Viper had instructed. Particularly when Shingen very carefully and quietly shifted the conversation to English.
"So as not to insult our honored guests," Shingen said as Logan locked his jaw and nodded once.
From there, the conversation had quickly turned to a sales pitch more or less from Viper, and although Shingen listened carefully to all that she was proposing, he kept looking at Logan. The young man looked to be more and more just a part of the scenery, head bowed and eyes diverted.
At one point during the meeting, Shingen turned to him and asked if he truly backed up all that Viper had to say, to which Logan finally looked up and, after a moment of looking almost confused, nodded once as he said "Iie."
Shingen turned his head toward Viper but didn't take his focus from Logan. It was clear to him anyhow that something was wrong in the very mixed message.
When they'd finished their tea with Yashida, Viper was still in a mood to celebrate, and she had Logan read to them the names of the places in the Japanese district as they went, tickled that he'd gained this little skill under her nose.
"It's so lovely to discover hidden talents, don't you think?" she said to Bobbi with a broad smile. "No one has been able to make a dent into the Yashida clan until now." It was obvious her gloating was getting worse the further out they got, but it was quickly shut down when a shot rang out and dropped the guard that was right next to Bobbi.
"SHIELD!" Viper hissed after she ordered Logan to protect her. He picked her up and made a dash for heavy cover, bullets missing them along the way and ricocheting off the stone wall that they'd darted behind. "Which one is it?" she shouted to Bobbi, who had managed to find cover of her own.
"I can't tell, but it doesn't look like SHIELD," she called back when she didn't see a sign of a blue uniform — or even a black one from Weapon X or Tahiti. Shortly after that, the gunfire died out, but neither group was ready to poke their heads out to see what was happening.
But it was definitely too quiet. Bobbi finally was the one to peek out from around the corner of the building, and then the attack came — not from the direction of the shots but on Bobbi's blind side as a silver-clad assassin simply took her to the ground. Only Bobbi's training and instincts kept her alive as she managed to grab his arm to prevent him from getting a good grip on her throat or neck.
The attacker had her at a disadvantage in size and strength, and it took her longer than she liked to admit to get her legs under him to flip the situation, pulling out of his hold to reverse it on him. He was well-trained, clearly, and had anticipated the move, and Bobbi cried out when he twisted on her arm before she simply bit his hand and got him to release her. It was enough space for her to reach her signature staves, and with her chosen weapons and without the surprise attack giving the Surfer the advantage he'd had earlier, it was a much fairer fight.
She spun both of the staves in her hand and rushed forward, surprised at how nimbly he was able to duck and dodge out of the way of her strikes. It was the first real fight she'd had in a while — since she had been spending so much time with Viper's little projects — and Bobbi felt herself honestly grinning and enjoying the chance to do something she actually liked. A good fight like this was just what she needed to let out a little pent-up frustration.
The two of them all but danced around each other, neither one really able to get the advantage when Bobbi was able to keep him at bay with the reach of her staves. She saw that he had weapons, too, but he hadn't reached for any of them. If she had to, she had a few surprises of her own — Viper's ideas, like a knife coated in poison, among other things. But neither of them had reached for their deadlier toys just yet.
They likely could have kept fighting for some time, feeling out each other's styles and boundaries, as it looked like the Surfer was enjoying the chance to stretch as much as Bobbi was. But apparently, Viper wasn't quite patient enough for something like that.
When it looked like Bobbi wasn't coming out of the fight quickly enough, Viper simply sent Logan out after the silver-clad attacker while the man's back was turned. As Bobbi was pushing the assailant back, or trying to, Logan rushed up behind him and landed a hit squarely in the man's lower back — a nasty kidney punch that got him to loosen his grip on Bobbi and turn to face Logan.
Bobbi took the little break as a chance to catch her breath as the two men started up — just pounding on each other in the most brutal ways they could dream up. "Even being part of the process, I'm still in awe of that," Bobbi told Viper as she put aside her staves and slid up to the older woman, tipping her head at the fight. "The creativity. Other programs stamp it out, but he's still got it."
"What would be the point of getting rid of what we can use?" Viper asked. "We don't want him just for his followers' loyalty."
"That's what I'm saying," Bobbi said, her arms crossed as they watched the fight. "I've seen the Red Room churn out girls with no mind of their own. Whitehall's process… it's much better."
"Of course it is," Viper said, waving off the comment almost lazily.
Logan and the mystery man were getting nastier in their fight, and it looked like a tough match — with both of them landing solid hits and staggering each other. But when it was clear that the Surfer had taken a hard hit, he decided he wasn't going to play around anymore.
The Surfer had fallen backward, and Logan was panting hard as he started toward the prone assassin. He waited until Logan got closer before he lunged and jammed a knife up under his ribcage. Before he could pull the knife back though, a ringing snikt! Echoed the air as Logan returned the favor in kind.
"Come along now," Viper called out as the two men glared at each other — though it was clear that the surfer was in a fair lot more pain than Logan was.
"Let go of the knife," Logan growled out. "Or I'll cut your heart out right now."
Instinctively, the man did just that, and in a sign of good faith, Logan only retracted his claws rather than twisting first, though he didn't blink as they stepped back from each other. The assassin was in rough shape, though Logan was reasonably sure that he'd be fine if he got himself to help.
He watched the surfer as he backed away, and when he was sure that he wasn't going to be followed, or shot at, Logan turned and headed back to Viper and Bobbi with the knife still sticking out of him.
When he met up with the two women, Viper looked more put out that he'd managed to get hurt and entirely glossed over the fact that he'd left the Surfer with more damage than he'd inflicted on Logan. "How tiresome," she said when she approached him and took a grip on the knife. "If I didn't have more plans for you, I'd pull this out right now and let you bleed here in Yashida's domain." He kept his focus on the ground as Viper released the hilt and reached up to rest her hand on the side of his neck. "We'll just have to see what our medical team has to say — if you're worth salvaging."
With her little dismissal, he silently led the way back to their transport — the fallen Hydra soldier left behind like trash on the side of the road and setting the tone for Logan. He found a quiet corner in the plane to wait — at least until Viper beckoned for him to sit at her feet so she could leave one hand resting on the back of his neck as she and Bobbi chatted about the attempted assassination.
"Ronan has a new pet," Bobbi said. "He wasn't SHIELD, and this soon after the attack on the Four, I'm sure he's just blasting through anyone tied to the Games, victors first."
"He's just upset he's not valid anymore," Viper replied with a wave. "Sad, worthless little man."
"Was he ever valid?" Bobbi asked with the slightest smirk.
Viper chuckled and shook her head lightly. "He certainly seems to think so."
"Ego," Bobbi said with a light chuckle of her own. "Even under Thanos' rule, he was nothing compared to Thanos — or even his sisters, really."
"There was certainly good reason that Gamora was Thanos' favorite."
"Do you think we could have turned her our way if SHIELD hadn't thrown her aside the way they did?" Bobbi mused, finally looking Logan's way.
"Doubtful," she replied. "She had no interest in handing over any power."
"Shame. It would be nice to outnumber the boys around here," Bobbi said with a smirk.
"In good time," she said in a slow drawl as she started to fiddle with Logan's hair — though he jerked a bit away from her hand.
Bobbi frowned at the gesture for a moment before she shrugged and looked back up at Viper. "You know, I'd love to pay Ronan back for the insult," she suggested. "Crush him, maybe take the palace for ourselves."
"Perhaps with time," she said in a sigh, though she was glaring at Logan. "For now, we must be patient. Let him drain out his resources."
"Give him enough rope…" Bobbi let the sentence hang in the air.
"And kill him before he has the chance to figure out what to do with it," Viper said with a smirk.
"I like your version best, as usual," Bobbi had to laugh, leaning back to close her eyes and at least look relaxed as they flew back to Hydra's base.
When they got back to base, Bobbi stuck close to the injured Logan as Viper led the way to the medical facilities. It took Hydra's doctors all of fifteen minutes to find exactly how severe Logan's injury was.
"No major arteries or veins were hit," the doctor said as he looked over the scans critically. "A few stitches, and he should be fine."
"No major repair?" Viper asked, one eyebrow raised.
"No. The guy who did this … it had to be a desperate jab," the doc opined. "We could do a surgery, but for where he was tagged … the chances of him bleeding to death are slim."
"Wonderful," Viper said before she reached over and simply yanked the blade out, earning a surprised gasp from Logan that had Viper grinning. "Bobbi, you can practice your stitches. No numbing agent." She put her hand on Logan's wrist as a warning, and the young man simply closed his eyes and leaned his head back as the blood flowed.
"Are you sure .."
"Just do it," Viper said, waving her free hand. "It'll do you some good to practice ignoring the screams if he forgets how to behave, of course."
"It's not the screams but the squirming that makes it hard to work if he forgets himself," Bobbi said smoothly as she wiped her hands on her knees with a clinical businesslike look that she had perfected having to work with Whitehall.
September 10
In the Capitol
After the disastrous run-in with Viper, Bobbi, and Logan, the Surfer had temporarily put aside his plans for the two women from Two, getting himself seen to and sticking to the rifle for the next victors he went after.
He did still go in order, meticulously moving down the line. Masters, from Two, had a meeting with Stane, from Three — which fit in perfectly with the Surfer's plans. He waited until Obadiah Stane came to the door to greet his visitor before he shot both of them and packed up to leave, the injury Logan had given him only pulling slightly as he was careful not to put any strain on it.
Eventually, he did want to go after the two Hydra victors — but he would do it when they were spread out, not so clumped together that he had to deal with all three at once. After all, the payout for Viper or Logan was substantial, at least twice as much as he would make with the job he had just done for either one of them.
But in the meantime, it was a job well done — two fewer victors to deal with, narrowing the list from twenty-three to nineteen. It would have been eighteen, but infuriatingly, the reports from SHIELD indicated that somehow, Johnny Storm was still alive. Whether that was because SHIELD had pulled a hat trick and revived him or not was yet to be seen, and the Surfer did eventually want to find that out himself, just to see what his record was. And to see if killing him a second time would stick.
His mind was already on the next district on his list — Odin would be harder to reach, and the rewards higher, but Octavius would be an easier kill, and he was still healing… though on the other hand, he did still have unfinished business with the women from Two…
He considered the two possibilities over and over in his mind, silent as ever as he made the trip back to the Capitol, and he was well into plans for how best to find either of his quarry when he paused at the desk outside the president's office. The girl who occupied it was gone, likely on an errand of some sort. He left the white oleanders on her desk before he went in to see Ronan.
He didn't mix business with pleasure often, and she had been the one to send out the request for his services. But it was abundantly clear that she was not the employer, nor was she the one running accounting — and all the same, he thought he would make an exception anyway.
The Surfer was still meeting with Ronan when Natalie arrived at her desk, and she honestly didn't know what to do in reaction to the oleanders. In five months working at the palace, this had never once happened, and she would have to temper her reaction, tailor it to fit whoever had sent them… She stared at the flowers for a good long time as she considered it and almost didn't notice the Surfer leave Ronan's office until she heard the door click shut behind him and looked up to see that he was giving her an honest grin before he left. Which… she had never seen before either.
She had absolutely no frame of reference for what to do with this, especially in the palace environment, but with nothing else to fall back on, she ended up falling back on her Red Room training of all things, slightly wide eyes and parted lips and a look of pure surprise for just a moment before she covered her mouth with one hand that didn't hide a little smile entirely before she sat down at her desk and looked away, furiously refusing to meet his gaze until she heard the door close behind him, glanced up, and let out a breath.
No one — no one — had ever given her flowers before. Setting aside the fact that it was the Silver Surfer — and even considering that he was an assassin — it was literally the nicest thing that had happened to her in five months. Though that wasn't saying very much. As she considered it, she almost had to shake her head at how ridiculous her undercover life had become that this was the nicest thing to happen the entire time.
Not that she was flattered or anything close to it. She was horrified, a little creeped out, and already thinking of five different ways to try to keep him at arm's length while giving him just enough of a tease that she could remain close enough to give Fury a heads' up as to what the Surfer was planning next.… She was absently considering the different ways she could use this to her advantage when the door to Ronan's office opened, and she immediately got to her feet out of habit.
It honestly looked like Ronan was in a good mood after hearing that two more victors were dead and gone, and in such short order. This new assassin was already making an impression, and it was clear he was happy about it, though when he turned her way, that smug look disappeared
He seemed to focus only on the flowers for a moment as his brows drew together in a scowl. "What is this?" he asked, gesturing to the white perfumed blooms. "Who put these here?"
"I — I can get rid of them," she said quickly, backed up a few steps from her desk. "I just found them here ... they were left for me…"
"Are you sure? They're poisonous," he said, glaring at her as he turned to face her. "Why do you have poisonous flowers?"
"I didn't know they were poisonous," she lied easily, allowing her face to show simple shock at the revelation. "That new assassin left them here…"
He looked more insulted for a moment as he weighed it all out. "Why?"
"I … don't know, sir," she said. "He didn't say."
He glared first at her and then at the flowers before he pointed to the offending plants. "Dispose of them."
"Yes, sir, of course," she said, nodding quickly as 'Natalie' was wont to do as she very quickly gathered them up, letting fear show plainly in her expression as she touched them; little Natalie looked suddenly wary of the poisonous flowers.
"Let me know if any other … deliveries appear," he said as he looked down his nose then turned slowly, watching her all the way as he headed back to his office.
"Yes, sir," she said quickly. "Thank you, sir. I… I had no idea… I never take food or drinks, but flowers…"
He gave her a final appraising look before he just shook his head of the matter and closed the doors behind him.
