It suddenly felt weird that Nat was walking down an airport terminal without that paranoia that someone was after her. It felt like a great paranoid, stiffened, rigor mortis weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Tony, he was being looked at because of his hoodie and skull mask.
Nat moved from the terminal and out into the parking lot, heading to her car and resting her forearms on the top. She lets out a pensive as her eyes survey the parking lot. The sun was setting.
Tony gently grabbed his sister's shoulder. "Getting lost in trance, don't."
"I'm sorry," Nat said half-heartedly as she turned towards her brother. "I just spent an entire week believing that I've been hunted by Homeland Security, only to figure out that I was in a red herring. You'd be feeling weightless if you were me."
"I'm not you, thankfully. But we can't stop enjoying the peace yet. Where could Rose and Rappaccini be?"
Nat opened her car door and sat in the driver's seat. She took off when Tony was situated in.
"We can't do anything," Nat said regretfully. "If those two planned on spreading Flower, then they would've had to infect foods with the virus. How they're going to infect people with the gas is a different story."
"The best way to spread a chemical weapon is to do it in a large crowd of people. I would say Time Square if I was in New York."
Nat turns a corner but stays focused. "The only place large enough for a big crowd is the Washington Monument. But even so, they have no way of knowing which virus carriers are present. And in the Washington Monument, the people don't stay together in large groups."
"Unless she draws a crowd. Like Joker did on Batman with the money parade."
"In this day and age, Tony, you have to be original. Assuming they spent months or even a year spreading the virus, it is bloodborne and bloodborne viruses don't spread far."
"Unless a large food company like Chef Boyardee is contaminated with the virus. Since it's a dormant virus, it would be able to evade detection."
Nat pulls up at a red light. "I don't know much about Rappaccini, but I can tell she is a strategically planned opportunist. She's not going to wait for a large crowd to appear, she'll make it."
"So she could do something like giving away free money."
"Nothing can be ruled out but the money would be too suspicious. If she wants Flower to work, then she would need a large crowd of people in a situation that she can control. She would need to infect those people either by contaminating the food or through other means. If she wants the chemical gas to spread, it would have to be in the same area with the same people."
"Sounds like the best place to gas someone would be a parade or festival."
"But are there any festivals going on?" She drove when the light turned green.
She drove as fast as she could before she pulled into the neighborhood. They wasted no time knocking on the door and reuniting with FitzSimmons, Mercedes, and Jeanne.
"Daddy!" Jeanne ran and hugged her father. "How was North Carolina and Miami?"
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Mercedes asked Nat.
"We found out that Rappaccini is indeed a real person and her accomplice is a hypnotist."
"A hypnotist?" she gasped. "You've been hypnotized this entire time? How do we know that this isn't part of the hypnosis?"
"My heart stopped beating for Tony to save my life." She looks at FitzSimmons. "I need to know, are there any festivals or parades happening within the week?"
The two nerds stuttered and looked at each other nervously. Fitz answered: "There us Valentine's Day festival happening tomorrow."
A festival, that's a good start. "What is going to be at this festival? Food, water, pre-cooked meals?'
"All of the above."
Simmons held up her hand like she had a question. "That, accompanied by live music and karaoke. It'll mostly be live songs with live performances."
"Any balloons overhead?"
"It is a festival," FitzSimmons answered in unison.
"Then it's the perfect place to unleash Flower."
"Flower? FitzSimmons asked.
"Flower," said Tony.
"Flower?" Mercedes.
"Flower." Nat.
"Why do we keep saying flower?" Jeanne.
Nat broke the cycle of saying 'Flower' before it could continue until the end of time. "It's a hallucinogenic biochemical weapon. It's a mixture of the Carrion Virus and Midnight Oil. It causes insanity."
The whole crowd gasped like a group of students.
"Both the Carrion Virus and Midnight Oil are harmless individually," Fitz said. "A festival would be the perfect place for an attack."
"But there are so many people there," Simmons pointed out. "The only thing I can think is if she contaminates the food."
"If she is doing this all by herself with no accomplices other than her Taskmaster copycat, it would be an all-day job."
"Not necessarily," Mercedes spoke up. "Usually, at festivals, they serve one type of food overall. If Rappaccini can find this source, all she needs is one dose of the virus. The water would be a good start as well as hot dogs, cotton candy, ice cream, anything kind of sweets that people would buy."
"She wouldn't have to poison every food stand," Tony said. "She would just need to contaminate the trucks delivering them."
"That problem has been solved," Nat said. "But what about the gas? Where could she store the gas?"
"In the balloon," Mercedes offered. "Most balloons at the festivals are blown up with helium. Midnight Oil is a colorless gas so all she would have to do is fill the helium tanks with midnight oil."
"What prevents them from deflating?"
"Unless," Tony began. "The chemical gas is above them so that way, it spreads without obstacles in its path. I would do it. I would contaminate the atmosphere."
Nat sat down and rubbed her head. She sighed. "If I was a Black Widow assassin on an assignment to use Flower on a large crowd of people in a festival, I would make sure that the chemical gas is stored somewhere safe then wait a minimum of a few hours before I release the gas."
"But where would you unleash the gas?"
"Somewhere that I can touch without being seen. Somewhere hidden in plain sight because I'm trying to gas people. I would use the balloons to store the gas or even keep them hidden in the water supply, like on Batman Begins where the fear toxin is dumped into the water supply."
"But then they would need to vaporize the water supply to get it into the air."
"Then I would use a custom made water vaporizer that I designed and someone like Rappacini is capable of creating such a thing."
"What happens if you get infected by accident, then what would you do?"
Nat had no answer to that question. She immediately went into silent mode and thought of an answer. She wasn't a biochemist so she didn't know what the cure to this biochemical weapon was. "I'd wear a gas mask at all times so I wouldn't get infected."
"So, if Rappaccini is there, she could have a gas mask on her?"
"She wouldn't need one because the chances of her being infected with the Carrion Virus are extremely unlikely."
"Her and her accomplice."
"Yeah."
"So, we may need gas masks but what about a cure?" He turns to FitzSimmons and hopes for the best as he asks, "You think you two can synthesize a cure for tomorrow?"
"Of course," Fitz nodded. "But we still need a sample for that to happen."
"We've got concentrated samples." Tony reaches inside his hoodie and pulls out the red canister and the vial. He hands them to Fitz and Simmons respectively. "We need a cure, ASAP."
"We didn't win all those Nobel Prizes for nothing."
Next prize you'll be winning is a Golden Raspberry award if you don't shut up and create a cure already. Nat smiled to herself before she jumped out of the chair and turned to her brother. "There's no way we can detect any presence of Carrion or Midnight Oil, right?" Tony shook his head. "So that means looking for the source is the Carrion virus is useless as well as the source of Midnight OIl. Best we could do is find Rappaccini before she unleashes the gas."
"We're also going to need gas masks because we could be infected and not even know it." Tony touched his mask with his gloved hand. "I doubt this skull mask is going to cut it, however."
"You should evacuate Jeanne and get her as far away from here as possible."
"But I want to stay and help, Aunty Natty," Jeanne said before giving a sad puppy look.
Nat looked at Tony and Mercedes, expecting them to have an answer for their daughter.
"As dangerous as it is, we can't let you go with us," Mercedes kneeled. "We don't want you getting hurt by bad people."
"But I don't want to go," Jeanne cried. "You're my mommy and daddy."
That comment right there sent heartwarming signals in Nat's brain as and reminded her as to why she never killed children, even as an assassin.
"We could watch her," Simmons offered, "We like having her around. She can stay and be our assistant."
You're using my niece as a substitute for a baby you're trying to have. I understand. I want children but since I haven't found the right man, Jeanne is compensation enough.
Monica Rappaccini sighed and looked at the mirror. She put on a pair of black leather gloves before she ran a hand over her cinnamon-colored skin. She pushes a comb down her dark and silky hair. She grabs a stick of red lipstick and smears it on her lips. She buttons up the remains of her shirt before putting on a blouse and sporting a smile. "You're a pretty girl, Monica."
It was time to score a victory. After being raised in a broken home with three older sisters that abused her daily while her single father did nothing to protect her, she was determined to prove her family wrong when they constantly called her a failure and smashed all her science awards. She already murdered her sisters one by one but her father was still alive. He had gotten a girlfriend recently and was heading to Valentine's Day festival. No way in hell was he going to survive. She dug up a grave for him and she was waiting for him to fall in.
Rappaccini heads into the living room, where several vials and red canisters laid afoot. She picks up a vial and takes out a small quantity via a syringe. She puts the syringe in her pocket before picking up a canister. She hides the canister in her jacket before walking out the door.
Washington D.C. was a great place. She loves the weather, the food, how much tension rises within because it's the country's capital, everything about it is perfect. The only thing that was missing was the fact that America overall disgusted her. A.I.M. stands for Advanced Idea Mechanics to the public but to her, it had a whole other meaning and she intended to exploit it.
A car pulls up to her as she walks on the sidewalk. She gets in the back before turning to the driver.
It's Rose, Taskmaster's biggest fan. "Where to, Rappaccini?"
"Valentine's Day Festival. I need to do a little more preparation to make sure everything is in order."
"Of course." Rose drove them to the festival.
"Is your radio working?" she asked her right-hand woman whom she met on a classified serial killer website. Rappaccini was a woman of resources but once those resources were useless, she would kill them. Rose was going to be no exception after Project: Flower was 'Rap-paccini'.
Rose touched her 1980s radio placed on her hip. "I've recorded all my orders on a tape while a secret frequency was on in the background. Like usual, if I mute the radio but keep changing signals to match the hidden frequencies, I can secretly hypnotize people into following a movie script, basically, without outright saying the hypnotism. It's what I did on Natasha Romanoff when she brought her niece to Baskin Robbins."
In some way, Rose was just like Rappaccini: They both came from broken families except Rose had it much worse.
When Rose was a little girl, she stayed in her room to hide from her abusive parents and mean older brother. She practiced techniques with her mind like meditating, which eventually evolved into hypnotizing people. It became difficult for her at first but she tried to tell her parents that she could hypnotize people and they beat the living crap out of her for falsely accusing her of lying. Then she went back to hiding in her closet, crying and wishing for their deaths.
During eight grade, she met Tony Masters. He was the only one who was nice to her and he even bestowed a kiss upon her cheek. She instantly fell in love with Tony that day. Wanting to start a new life, she hypnotized both of her parents into committing suicide but the psychological damage had been too severe. She feels emotions for no one but the only person who could possibly tame her was Taskmaster. He was the only one that she refused to hurt, hell, he was the only one that she may have genuinely loved. Rappaccini met her on a secret serial killer website and was impressed with her hypnotizing abilities. She took her in and Rose sees Rappaccini as the first person to actually want to work with her, but secretly despises Rappaccini because Rappaccini was only using her for her hypnotizing abilities. She was not stupid. As soon as this was done, Rappaccini was going to go and she would be reunited with the love of her life.
Rappaccini pulled out a security badge and used it to gain access to the festival. Rose was following her.
"I've spent two weeks making sure all the good that came in the trucks were 'purified' with Carrion," Rose said reluctantly. "I've been keeping tabs on Romanoff and my lover. She's in Miami if the hypnotism goes according to schedule.:
"Excellent," she praised her right-hand-woman. "She should be putting a blade to her throat at this time, correct?"
Rose nods.
"Good, now help me finalize our project."
And she did.
"Now that everything seems to have fallen into place, you, Rose, are going to play a very special role in Project: Flower starting tomorrow."
Rose's eyebrows arch and a smile forms. "Really?" She was like a little girl who was told by her mom that she was getting all the presents she wanted on her birthday.
Sadly, she never got presents on her birthday. It's been so long since she celebrated her birthday that she forgot her birthday. She forgot the one day of the year she was born. "What am I doing?"
"I need you to draw the biggest crowd you possibly could in your direction." She looks over to a staging area and points to the mic setup. "They are doing karaoke this year and you can use your hypnotizing skills to seduce a crowd."
"Anything," Rose said quickly, "Anything for Project: Flower."
"Once you've drawn in the crowd when it is at its peak, I will activate Project: Flower. I won't tell you what the signal is but you have to promise me that you'll trust me."
"I trust you."
If Rappacini was talking to someone that she didn't know, she would've killed Rose herself. Her father may have been an asshole, but he did bestow wise words to her. 'Trust those who carry a sword with you in battle, but be prepared to slash their throat when the battle is over'.
"Alright then, no gas mask is needed but once Project: Flower is spreading through the air, run as fast as you can. You don't want to get caught in the crosshairs between insane people, do you?"
"NO," Rose shook her head and dropped her smile. "I want to live long enough to see Taskmaster once again."
"If he sticks to the schedule, he should be back home from Hawaii four days after Project: Flower is a go. That way, you can do whatever you want with him. Nat should be dead, killing herself out of grief, and you will get to marry the love of your life."
"I-" she stopped herself from speaking anymore, realizing that she was going to spill the beans on seeing Taskmaster in South Carolina. She didn't want something so vital like Project: Flower to ruin something so vital like meeting Taskmaster (again) and getting the chance to truly fall in love with him.
I won't let you hurt Taskmaster. I love Tony too much to let you hurt him. If Tony breaks up Project: Flower, then I will be there by his side. I will survive, I have to survive. I have to live. I've never lived for anyone before, my parents took my dignity from me but Tony gave it back by just being nice to me. If you think about separating me from this world before I can see Tony, I'll kill you.