Chapter Ten

Paris Underground

April 17, 2014

Paris, France

"Let's not wait around," Vincent said. Facing forward, he shined his flashlight down the tracks as he led Natasha through the dark subway tunnel.

Natasha followed him with her own flashlight. "The trains stop running at 1:15." That had been a few minutes ago, when they had slipped into this tunnel after getting off at a nearby metro station. "Besides, this tunnel hasn't been used in years."

"You did your homework. Makes my presence here a bit...redundant."

Vincent's pause did not escape Natasha's attention. Nor did the way he was nervously examining their surroundings. Despite his earlier agreement to join her, he was now clearly having second thoughts about the mission.

"I'm all ears if you know anything more," Natasha said.

Vincent sighed. "I told you already," he said with growing tension in his voice. "SHIELD operated with impunity in this city. People like me knew better than to watch them too closely. You should be glad I've told you as much as I have."

According to Vincent, he had tailed several SHIELD agents after they had purchased a number of trafficked girls at the edge of the city. Those agents took the girls through several known access points to the catacombs located in the area above. Vincent had never dared to follow them underground, and it was anyone's guess what had happened to their victims.

Natasha assumed that the catacombs were being used to hold the girls until they could be transported to secret sales locations in other parts of the city. With no infrastructure on the streets above, those corrupt agents could avoid scrutiny even from the parts of the government that did care to investigate their trafficking.

Vincent came to a stop and shined his flashlight along the wall.

"Are we lost?" Natasha asked.

"No. I just haven't been here in a while. This hole we're looking for is somewhat off the beaten path." According to Vincent, one of his local informants was a "cataphile," an urban explorer who enjoyed sneaking underground into places where he wasn't supposed to go. The young man had shown him an entrance to the catacombs that was located in this tunnel and allegedly known to very few. "It won't do you much good if we get caught at a busy entrance."

Vincent moved on, slower than before. Natasha noticed his hand trembling. She remembered that he had never been the bravest field agent, and she couldn't resist ribbing him on that. "Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark as well," she said, smiling as she walked up beside him.

"I have a family now. I have more to lose than you do."

Good point.

They continued in awkward silence for several minutes. The only sounds Natasha could hear were the echoes of their own footsteps. The only thing she could smell was a vague stink in the damp, chilly air.

"There," Vincent said as he walked around a bend in the tracks. "That's it."

He shined his flashlight on a three-foot wide hole where the left wall met the floor. Natasha looked inside, and sure enough, there was another tunnel below running parallel to the train tracks. The floor underneath was about six feet down, meaning the ceiling in the tunnel wouldn't be that far above their heads. Nor were the walls very far apart. It didn't even look like two people could walk side-by-side down there.

"Looks good," Natasha said. She could see that Vincent didn't agree. "You coming?" she asked, already knowing how he would reply.

"Eh...Maybe I should sit this one out. I'm not as...petite as you are."

"Suit yourself," Natasha said as she walked over to the hole. As always, she was fine with working solo.

"I'm sure you can find your way down there." He paused and smiled, clearly relieved to be free from the task ahead. "It'd just be a shame to ruin such a nice coat."

"I know how to dress for the occasion." Natasha pulled her trench coat off to reveal her black catsuit. She removed the gun from her coat pocket and stuck it in her right thigh holster, opposite from the Glock already on her left leg. Looking up at Vincent, she could see him eyeing her up and down. "Hold this for me," she said as she tossed the coat at him.

"Of course."

"I'll be back for it later. Just don't let your wife catch you with that."

He nodded. "Good luck, Natasha."

She squeezed through the hole and dropped down into the catacombs. There, she shined her flashlight around for several seconds to get a better view of her immediate surroundings. The walls were made of stone blocks, and the floor was unpaved and bumpy. Any fighting in this environment wouldn't just be at close quarters; it would be awkward with virtually no room to maneuver. Her best bet was to take out any threats she would find before they could even see her.

Fortunately, she had come prepared. She turned off her flashlight and stuck it on her utility belt. Reaching for another compartment, she removed a pair of night vision goggles that she wrapped around her head with an elastic band.

Night vision worked by amplifying faint star and moonlight, neither of which existed in the sealed, pitch-black catacombs. These goggles, however, were equipped with an infrared illuminator mounted above the two lenses. The IR energy it projected could be seen with the goggles on but not with naked eyes. It wouldn't reveal her location the way a flashlight would.

Unless the enemy had night vision of their own, in which case the illuminator would become a bright green "Shoot my head over here" sign. Only a fool would think that she could cover all of her bases.

With one gun in hand, Natasha carefully proceeded through the cramped, winding tunnels. Some sections were big enough for her to walk through normally. Others were so narrow that even at a slim 5'3, she had to duck and turn sideways in order to squeeze through. The conditions made her feel even more sorry for the poor girls who had been dragged down there against their will.

Here and there, the tunnels were propped up with limestone support pillars that should have made her feel better about the place. The cracks in those crudely shaped pillars, and on the parts of the ceiling where they connected, made her feel otherwise.

Everything, all of the walls, supports, and rubble on the floor, appeared to her in eerie shades of green. It seemed so unnatural, and she felt as if she were watching one of those "found footage" horror movies. Like I'm making one myself, she thought. And I haven't even gotten to the scary part yet. Vincent had been wise to opt out of this.

Further and further in she went, picking turns at random and trying her best to remember the route she had come from. She didn't have any maps to go by. Those didn't even exist for this place, which was obscure even to experienced cataphiles. All she knew was that the SHIELD agents she was looking for had gone underground somewhere in the vicinity of where she had started.

The stuffy air and the confining spaces began to wear on her, and Natasha sat down to rest behind a support column. She kept herself from leaning against it for fear of straining the centuries old structure. How long have I been down here? She looked down to check her smartphone. It wasn't getting any service at all down there, but it could still tell the time. An hour. Only an hour.

The batteries in her night vision goggles could last for several more, and she had been smart enough to pack some spares. Still, she worried about being trapped down there blind. She had no friends left who could bail her out, even if she wanted to call for help.

After another minute, she pushed herself up. She didn't groan as she did so despite how much her damn shoulder was bothering her again. The catacombs were silent and she didn't want to be the only thing making any noise.

Continuing on, she hugged the wall as she went around another corner. Looking ahead, she saw a solid wall just twenty feet away from her. Just what I need. A dead end.

Or was it? Lowering her head, she shined her IR illuminator along the bottom of the walls around her. There was a hole in the corner, just tall enough for her to squeeze through.

Natasha didn't like the idea of going even lower. However, she also knew that she had barely ventured into the catacombs so far. Parts of the network were at least seven levels deep. Further down was where people would probably go if they had something to hide.

She lay flat on the ground and stuck her head through the gap. The corridor below her was extremely tight. It was barely wide enough for her to spread her arms out, and its uneven ceiling was so low at some points that even she would probably have to bend over in order to get through. Natasha went in, hoping that it wouldn't be long before she could reach a more reasonably sized tunnel.

Hunched over, she was now moving even slower than she had before. Making matters worse, she began to hear some splashing under her feet. The corridor was partially flooded, and soon the depth of the water increased from about an inch to almost a foot. There was no way for her to get through it without making noise. She was dead meat if someone were to show up at the other end of the tunnel with a gun...

Thankfully, she reached dry ground again. It quickly began to slope up, and soon the walls around her gave way to a more open space. Natasha went up the ramp into a much wider corridor, glad that she wouldn't be so confined anymore.

At first, the floor felt smooth as if it had been paved. A glance at the walls also showed them to be of better construction than what she had seen before. This was a real tunnel. Not one the many side passages and crawlspaces she had spent the last hour in. Natasha felt a slight lift in her spirits as she began to walk again. She was surely getting closer to her objective, and her current surroundings were far more bearable.

It wasn't long before she arrived at a corner. As she turned into the next hallway, she heard a crunching sound. She looked down and saw that the floor was littered with bones, many of which were piled up as high as her thighs. Just beneath her right foot was a cracked skull, staring up at her with it gaping, broken jaws.

Natasha grimaced in disgust. She looked forward, and she saw that the walls of this hallway hadn't been neatly constructed with blocks. They had instead been made of human remains. As many bones had been used to build this hallway as had been discarded on its floor.

The worst things about it were the skulls. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them were arranged in several parallel rows running along both sides of the hall. All of them had been neatly placed and made to face outward so that they seemed to be watching the corridor.

Can't believe this is real. Natasha couldn't decide on the creepiest aspect of it all. Was it the skulls themselves, or the fact that people had seen fit to arrange them like this? The thought of it made her grit her teeth for a moment before she pushed herself to continue.

A stone cross was mounted against the left wall about forty feet away, as if it made the place look any less unholy. Natasha also saw several openings in the walls that led into narrower hallways. The hall she was in must have been a central passageway for its section of the catacombs. If there was anything of value in the surrounding area, it was probably connected to where she was.

Lights suddenly appeared from up ahead. One was coming from the left, around a curve about sixty feet down the main hallway. The other appeared from one of the smaller passages through an opening on the right. The first signs of life she had seen since she had made her descent.

Natasha assumed a two-handed grip on her pistol, readying herself to shoot. She preferred not to use it as a first resort though. Swinging around, she looked for somewhere to hide. A few piles of bones and rubble on the floor tempted her, but she doubted that they would be tall enough for proper concealment.

She opted instead for one of the openings on the right side, just before where the lights were coming from. Quickly, she ran there and pressed herself against its wall. From her chosen spot, she could look into the main hallway and watch those people as they entered.

Two sets of footsteps converged until a man gasped. "Jeez! You could've warned me you were here!"

"Who else did you expect?" said another man. This one had a gruff voice, and he sounded older than the other one did.

"How the hell should I know? God damn it...This place gives me the creeps."

Natasha could see a light shining over the skulls on the left wall, as if the younger man was carefully looking at them. Soon, the two men moved into view. They were wearing standard issue tactical gear from SHIELD, and they were both armed with short-barreled assault rifles. Together, they proceeded toward another opening on the left side of the main passage. This one led down a staircase.

"You've been here for a week," the older man said. "Quit your bitching already."

"Pay me right and I will." The newbie followed his more experienced partner, lagging behind by several paces. "At least SHIELD was giving us money. All we get from Hydra is a bunch of empty promises."

"Yeah, well there's no going back now, is there?"

Quietly, Natasha made her way to the staircase beside the one they were descending. It looked like it was going down to the same place. If she hurried down, she would get there in time to cut off the younger man.

"I swear," the new guy said. "I heard something before. There's something else down here."

Natasha waited five steps from the bottom of her staircase, watching the hallway below to see which way the men would turn. The older man went left, passing by without seeing her. She holstered her gun and pressed a button on her right bracelet, activating one of her taser gloves.

"Stop being a pussy. I bet those girls have bigger balls than you." The older man laughed again, louder than he had before.

Perfect, Natasha thought as she prepared to seize on the distraction. The younger agent walked by, and he was about to say something when she pounced. With her left hand, she covered his mouth and brought him down as she pressed her taser glove into his neck. He was out before he knew it.

"You gonna say anything, kid? It's like you just saw a ghost." The remaining agent giggled as he continued down the hall.

Natasha moved to catch up with him. "Your friend was right," she said, stopping him in his tracks. "There is something else down here."

The man cursed and spun around, but Natasha used her left arm to keep him from bringing his rifle to bear. She kicked him in the side and seized his head when he bent over. Running up the wall beside them, she passed above her opponent and snapped his neck as she came down.

She let go of his limp body and looked down the hall, squinting. There was another light nearby. This one was mounted on the ceiling above a locked metal door that sealed off this section of the catacombs. Natasha turned off her night vision goggles and pushed them up above her eyes.

The door was sleek and clean. Definitely not a leftover from World War II. It was electronically locked, with what appeared to be a retinal scanner. No security camera though.

This is it...

Excitement coursed through her hands as she picked up her fallen enemy. Natasha dragged him over to the doorway and lifted his face to the scanner.

With one click, the door's lock opened. Natasha dropped the body and drew one of her guns before she turned the door handle to go in.

The door opened into a spacious, well-lit passageway that curved to the right. Its walls were bare rock, but there were cables running high above to power numerous lights. No shadows or obstacles to hide behind. She needed to get in and find some cover, fast.

Natasha ran to the curve and peeked around. The passage led into a bright round cavern. There were locked doors and openings into other passageways all around its floor, as well as on the wall about fifteen feet up. Metal staircases stood on both the left and the right, leading up to a grated walkway that provided access to the upper level. Natasha watched three men walking up the left staircase and disappearing into one of the rooms.

Keep moving. Natasha knew that the entrance was where she would most likely be caught. She jogged into the cavern, careful to watch for any guards or security cameras. So far so good...

Two men were chattering as they came through a door across the floor. Natasha turned into the nearest passageway, which was relatively dark. She got out of the central cavern just they came in.

Running blind over here. This is what she got for rushing in alone.

She walked through the passage, which led into a large, dimly lit storage room. There, she could stop for a moment and hopefully figure out what to do next.

Standing in the middle of the room, she looked around to decide on which shadowy pile of crates would best conceal her. Before she could choose, lights turned on all around the room.

"Agent Romanoff. How nice of you to drop by."

To be continued in Chapter 11: In the Dark

Author's Note: Yes, the catacombs are real. I did a bunch of research for this one, although I left most of it out for the sake of brevity.

I've also noticed that a few of you have submitted anonymous comments. That's fine, but it'd be even better if you signed in so I could respond to you personally. Make an account if you don't have one already. It's definitely worth it!

Hope you're all enjoying the story. I've got the next few chapters outlined already. Things should be picking up from here. :)