"What's going on?" I asked in a hushed voice as I slid into the seat next to Coulson.

I'd gotten a text message from Coulson to meet him in one of the briefing rooms as soon as I had a shower. For once, it was only me that got the message. Clint and Natasha had been left out for some odd reason. The room was already half full, all with Alpha team guys. Everyone was quiet. Except for the turning of pages the room was strangely silent. It was odd to walk into a room with STRIKE guys and have it so quiet.

Coulson didn't look very happy as he handed me his tablet.

"Read it as quickly as you can," Coulson instructed me. "Don't ask questions and in advance, I'm really sorry."

That was an odd thing to say to me. I did as I was told, quickly scanning over the document Coulson had on the screen.

At the top was a photo of a middle-aged man with the name Gideon Malick. It took me a few moments to place to name. Malick was one of the members of the World Security Council. They were the ones who had oversight of SHIELD. I raised an eyebrow at the high profile person in the brief but kept reading.

SHIELD had caught wind of an assassination contract taken out on Malick. So far there'd been no luck in tracking down the person responsible for the contract. Nor had there been any news on who had picked up the contract. There'd been murmurs that the assassin would make their play at a fundraising gala in Paris this weekend. Even with the threat of an assassination on his head, Malick refused to step out of the spotlight and insisted he be at the gala. At $15,000 a head for the fundraiser, all the upper echelons of society would be there flashing their checkbooks. It was going to be a security nightmare. This is where we came in.

STRIKE Team Alpha would be covering the security for Malick. The entire time would be there for his transportation, eyes, and ears on the ground during the event disguised as guests and one lucky person got to be Malick's eye candy for the evening.

The eye candy was me. My heart dropped seeing my name on the brief. Now I knew why Coulson said he was sorry in advance. Gareth was leaving for Iraq tomorrow and I was meant to head down this afternoon to spend the night with him. I looked up to see Coulson watching me carefully.

"Why aren't they sending a Specialist in?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral. This was the life I chose and there was no point voicing my disappointment in having to cancel my plans. "That would make more sense than me."

"I believe the Council's words were along the lines of 'We have female STRIKE personal here, why aren't we utilizing them in this capacity?'" Coulson reached up to rub his face. He looked very weary right now. "Natasha is still on their shit list after Pripyat and there is no persuading them otherwise. They still think you were only following your superiors in that situation. I'm sorry Kari, I did try to keep you out of it."

This came from very high up in the food chain. No wonder Coulson looked so stressed over it. I knew very little about the World Security Council. Though I knew enough that their word was final. Even Director Fury had to bend to their wishes and commands. Protecting one of their own would demand the best be sent in.

"I'm guessing I'm going by myself because Hawk is on their shit list too?" I hadn't seen Clint's name in the briefing at all. I was heading out all by myself. A flutter of nerves hit me at how serious this all was.

Coulson nodded in confirmation. The look of unease on his face made my stomach twisted uncomfortably. Coulson looked really unhappy about this. To which end, I wouldn't find out in a room full of people. I had to put my big girl pants on and deal with the mission given to me. This is what I trained my ass off for day in and day out.

"This is going to make me look like I'm a gold digger." I tried to inject some humor into the situation. "Or a high-end hooker. Which way should I play it?"

"Gold digger." A flicker of a smile came across Coulson's face. "You have to at least look classy."

"No drinking straight from the wine bottle." I turned my eyes back down to the mission brief. "Got it."

I didn't need to look at Coulson to know he was rolling his eyes at me. I could practically hear his eyes rolling into the back of his skull at my comment. I smiled to myself and started to read again.

Malick would fly to Paris in his private plane at 1530 this afternoon. Myself and a handful of the STRIKE guys would accompany him. The rest of the team would meet us at Malick's estate in Ile-de-France, about an hour out of Paris. From there we would act as private security so nothing would look out of place. SHIELD intelligence was certain the assassin would make a play at the gala, so we had to be on our toes the entire time. Malik was going to be in someone's sight at all times. He wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom without one of the guys tailing him.

"All right people, listen up." Rumlow's voice made me look up. He strode into the room with his jaw set and looking as serious as I'd ever see him. "Let's get these details down so we can all prep for this mission. It's going to be a long day."

By the time we were done, no one could ever fault Rumlow for his preparation. We had everything down to by the second timings. Nothing was left unturned and we had plans A through to Z if anything changed. I had an hour and a half to get home, pack a bag and then get back to the Triskelion for the rest of my gear. Coulson promised he'd get my formal wear sorted for me so all I had to worry about was weapons.

As soon as I got out of ear reach of the group, I grabbed my phone out and pressed Gareth's name.

"Hey!" Gareth answered on the second ring. He sounded suspiciously tipsy. I knew there was going to be some farewell drinks for Gareth today. It was a little early for that though. "Are you on your way already?"

"I have some bad news," I said tentatively. "I have to work. I'm sorry."

"That sucks," Gareth sounded a lot more sober immediately. "I was looking forward to what you described to me in great detail last night."

"Me too," I fought back a sigh. I'd really been looking forward to what I told Gareth I was going to do to him last night. "I've got about 2 minutes before I have to turn my phone off."

"Stay safe," Gareth said immediately. "Try not to break anything this time."

"I won't," I said with a small chuckle. "Have a good flight. Let me know when you land and I'll let you know when I'm done. Jared might be nice and teleport me over if you feel up to breaking some rules about me in your room."

"I'm all for breaking those rules." Gareth chuckled as well. He paused before he spoke again. "I mean it, stay safe this time. Don't give me another heart attack when I hear you've been in a car accident."

"I think the worst thing that will happen this time is I'll get sore feet." His words made me smile. "You too. Don't do anything stupid just because you get bored."

"Who, me?" Gareth snorted. "Not likely. I'm not a daredevil like some people are."

"I wouldn't know who you're talking about," I said innocently. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rumlow and Coulson talking in the corridor. Coulson caught my eye and tapped his watch. "I have to go. Have a good flight."

"You too." There was a hesitation in Gareth's voice. "Please be careful."

"I will."

"Bye."

I hung up before I could draw this out any longer. I really needed to get moving.

I was packed and back at the Triskelion by the required time. Rumlow and Coulson were both in his office. As promised, Coulson had a garment bag and everything I needed for the gala. He also had a P30, knife and my kevlar for me. This must have been Coulson's way of saying I wasn't allowed to take my AWSM.

"Ready to go?" Rumlow asked. He was dressed in a dark blue suit, minus a tie. I raised my eyebrows as I looked at him. He looked surprisingly good in a suit. I don't think I've ever seen him so dressed up. He was a jeans and shirt guy.

"Sure." I was feeling anything but ready right now. I looked down at my own jeans and sweatshirt. While it wasn't the worst thing I owned, I felt a bit too casual right now. "I feel like I should be getting changed."

"You are." Coulson tapped the garment bag. "There's your traveling outfit in there so you look the part."

I took that as my cue to go to the toilet in Coulson's office. The outfit SHIELD provided me was comfortable jeans with ankle boots, blouse and cashmere cardigan over the top. The designer jeans were the most comfortable ones I'd ever worn. I may have to lose them and deal with the wraith of SHIELD clothing department later. I took the hint with the make up bag and quickly brushed on a natural look. I never did it as well as Clint, but it still looked passable.

"How do I look?" I asked as I stepped back into Coulson's office.

"You'll do." Rumlow tapped his watch impatiently. "We really have to go. Do something with your hair on the way."

"Be careful." Coulson gave me a critical look up and down before nodding. He still looked very unhappy with me going. "Check in when you get there."

I didn't miss Rumlow's eye roll at Coulson's mother hen tendencies coming out. Rumlow didn't let me reply and gave me a shove towards the door. I could feel the tension in the room between the two men. Curiosity bubbled up in me as I wondered what had been said between them. Coulson and Rumlow usually got along very well. It wasn't like them to argue over something. I knew I was probably the contributing argument, but why was going to remain a mystery.

My duffel bag had been replaced with a suitcase and my weapons were nowhere to be seen. I didn't doubt that was Coulson's doing. My weapons were probably in Rumlow's bag or my new found suitcase. The Lois Vuitton suitcase might also go missing before the end of this mission. It boggled my mind how easily SHIELD had things like this laying around. Without being asked, Rumlow grabbed my suitcase leaving me with the garment bag.

Nothing was said as Rumlow and I walked to the garage together. There was a tinted and unmarked car waiting for us. I got in the back and waited for Rumlow to finish putting our gear in the back. He was there to look like my own security while we were anywhere in the public eye. The rest of the team traveling with us were escorting Malick to the airport and would meet us there.

"So, what's up between you and Coulson?" It took me until we were on the bridge before I had to ask. Rumlow was quiet and brooding, not the way I wanted to spend our drive.

"A disagreement on you going," Rumlow said shortly. "He didn't like the fact I told him you have to lose your training wheels eventually."

"Yeah, I can imagine he took that very well," I said dryly, shooting Rumlow an incredulous look. I thought I had a complete lack of filter. "I don't have training wheels on either you asshole. I've been on missions with Bravo team before by myself. Remind me again why I'm going?"

"Because I trust you," Rumlow's voice softened a little as he glanced at me in the rear vision mirror. "And you're versatile. I can put you in a pretty dress to work your way around a crowd or I can stick you on a rooftop a mile away as a sniper. I don't have that kind of luxury with a Specialist. Besides, weren't you bitching in the locker room a week ago about not getting any missions?"

Rumlow was right about the last part. Every team except for us seemed to be out and doing things. It was getting frustrating to see everyone else head out and we were kept in the wings. Even Jared had gotten another mission trying to track down the group Bravo team failed to find on their last mission. I'd been rather jealous to see him head off again.

"I did have plans this weekend." I changed the topic instead of answering truthfully. "Very big plans."

"Oh yeah and what's that?" Rumlow's usual teasing tone came back. "You and Romanoff shopping and getting drunk?"

"No, I was going to head over to my fuck buddy's place and ride him until I can't walk properly," I said with a nonchalant shrug acting like it was nothing at all. Beyond Sam and Evans, no one else in SHIELD outside our circle knew about Gareth. I was hoping to get a good reaction out of Rumlow for this.

My casual declaration had the exact reaction I'd hoped for. Rumlow was so surprised the car jerked to the side as he looked back at me.

"Since when do you have a fuck buddy?" Rumlow asked with a furrowed brow. He recovered as quickly as he'd been surprised. "And what did he do to get so lucky?"

"He leaves for Iraq tomorrow." I ignored the first question. "So thanks for that."

"Sorry." Rumlow had the grace to look as apologetic as his word. "What branch is he? How long is he gone for?"

"Air Force and 3 months," I paused, debating how much information to give Rumlow. He wasn't a gossip so this would stay between us. "I used to work with him when I was in the Air Force. He got divorced last year and we started talking after I did the F-35 demo."

"Tex will be heartbroken." The serious mood of before was long gone as Rumlow started to tease me. As usual. "Should I tell him or are you going to be the one to rip his heart out and stomp it in the dust?"

"Oh my god, Tex does not have a crush on me," I groaned. If Rumlow wasn't driving I'd punch him for his comment. "Stop it. It's bad enough Romanoff and Barton tease me about that."

After the weird mood and vibe all morning it was good to see Rumlow's usual personality come back through. Secretly, I was very pleased he thought so highly of me to ask me on such an important mission. There were plenty of Specialists who were just as versatile as me. He'd been right I'd been bitching about the lack of action lately. I was feeling fit again and more than ready to jump back into work. Keeping busy was going to get me through the next few weeks. Being early afternoon we managed to avoid the worst of the traffic to Dulles Airport. We were escorted by security straight to the private plane. As planned, we were the first ones to arrive.

"Now isn't a good time to remind you that I'm scared of flying, is it?" I asked as I got out of the car. I looked over the sleek aircraft with dread. I'd been so focused on everything else going on today it didn't really register that this was going to happen.

"I have Ambien in my pocket." Rumlow didn't break his stride at my question. He patted the pocket of his suit jacket. "Or valium. Take your pick. Just get your ass on the plane and wait until Malick is on board before you take them."

Coulson must have pre-warned Rumlow. When we landed I'd have to thank Coulson for thinking ahead for me. I shot Rumlow a wry smile and did as I was told.

The Global XRS was impressive on the inside. The crisp white leather chairs combined with the dark wood paneling was classy and modern. At the end of the jet was a fully stocked bar. Behind the bar, I could hear a few people shuffling around. There was three flight attendant on the flight with us, along with the two pilots. All of them were SHIELD personnel. The usual staff were deemed too much of a security risk even with SHIELD's thorough background checks.

I'd barely had time to look around the jet before another car was pulling up. Gibson jumped out of the passenger seat and opened the back door. Out of the car came Gideon Malick.

He looked like any other older politician. He was dressed immaculately in an obviously expensive suit, even for the long international flight. He carried himself like a man who didn't have a care in the world. Certainly not the stance of a man with a 5 million contract on his head. He must have had a lot of confidence in our ability to protect him. Without waiting for his protection detail in the car, he boarded the plane. Rumlow and I both met him at the door.

"Sir," Rumlow greeted Malick in a professional tone. "It's a pleasure to meet you again. This is Agent Lyngley, she'll be part of our protection detail this weekend. If you want to get seated we can get into the air shortly."

Malick didn't even glance in my direction, despite the introduction. I got the feeling despite being the obvious choice he didn't care for my presence. I took that as my cue to have a seat and be invisible. As I walked past Rumlow, he reached into his pocket and pressed the promised drugs to help m get through the flight into my hand.

The protection detail from the car were right on board a few seconds later. I knew Gibson and Wilkerson well enough. It was especially good to see Gibson back at work and on a mission after his time off last year.

The three of us took our seats away from Rumlow and Malick. Both of them were in deep discussion. Well, deep discussion on Rumlow's behalf and Malick was arguing with him. I couldn't catch exactly what they were saying, but Malick was very unhappy about something. It seemed to be the day for it. I greeted Gibson and Wilkerson before taking half an Ambien.

"I'll take whatever you aren't having," Gibson said, motioning to the ziplock bag in my lap. "I hate flying."

"You and me both." I threw the ziplock bag over. It was a 7-hour flight and I'd be happy to sleep through the entire thing. It would probably be the only solid few hours of sleep I'd get once we landed in France. I fiddled with my seatbelt while we were waiting for the pilots to finish doing their pre-flight. There was nothing to do but sit here and wait.

"Drinks before taking off?" One of the SHIELD agents acting as a flight attendant came to our little section. She had three beers in her hand.

"God yes." Wilkerson instantly answered, holding his hand out for a beer. "I'll need it to deal with Gibson freaking out about flying over there."

"Go fuck yourself, Wilkerson." Gibson took both the beers and handed one to me. "Though, why are you scared of flying Kari? You're a pilot for fuck sake."

"Which is the exact reason I'm scared of flying," I said dryly, cracking open my beer. "Do you want to know how much shit can go wrong?"

"No." Gibson cut me off straight away. "I don't need to hear that. Drink your beer and tell us more about your last training exercise before we all pass out."

I did as I was told after a swig of beer. The gossip ran pretty deep in STRIKE so the guys knew the basics pretty well. I filled them in on the rest of the details until Gibson nodded off right before the pilots started up the jet. The Ambien and beer sent me to sleep as we started to taxi to the runway. I stayed that way until the SHIELD agent shook me awake with a coffee and set a plate of food down in front of me.

"We're an hour and a half from landing," she provided helpfully as she set the cutlery down beside my plate. My brain wasn't working well enough to do anything but stare at her. "If you need anything else, call out."

I managed to mumble out what vaguely sounded like a thank you. My brain was foggy and it felt like hours before I could l sit up and drink my coffee. I didn't begin to fell human until halfway through my steak and vegetables. I was fully awake in time for landing and deal with the white-knuckled grip on my seat from the less than ideal landing.

There was one advantage to traveling this way. There were customs officials already waiting for us on the tarmac. We didn't need to go through the airport terminal like normal people. It was all done within 5 minutes and we were speeding off into the dark morning. It was 0400 here. It was going to be a very long day. Gibson and Wilkerson took Malick while Rumlow and I hung back for 15 minutes to give us a gap to make sure Malick was secure en-route before proceeding. Both of us were silent as we watching the other car on the GPS tracker on Rumlow's iPad. It was a small sigh of relief from both of us when Wilkerson said they were clear with no one following them.

"So slight change of plans."

We'd barely made it out of the airport before Rumlow spoke. I was about to make a snarky reply but he cut me off.

"Malick is not happy with having you as his date. You're younger than his daughter and he was very adamant he is not Senator Stern."

I vaguely recalled Senator Stern was one of the politicians very against Tony Stark and him being Iron Man. Beyond that, I didn't know the man.

"So, we have you going as his interpreter now," Rumlow continued as he glanced back at me. "It's not perfect but it's what we have."

"Is this going to change anything else?" I asked. Rumlow was right about it not being ideal. At these high society functions, most people spoke English so having an interpreter was rather unnecessary. But there was no way to put me out there as a guest. These people's social circles were small and an unfamiliar face would stand out from a mile away.

"No, everything else will run as planned." Rumlow was tapping his fingers against the steering wheel looking mildly frustrated. "Security is as tight as we'll ever get it in the house and for the function. Still no word on the assassin who took the contract but we have a list of possibilities. It's on my iPad for you to look at."

Rumlow picked up his iPad and held it over his shoulder for me. I took it from him and unlocked it. The file was already up for me. I flicked through the unfamiliar faces until I came to a file with no photo on it. It was a female assassin given the nickname of Red Death. There was very little information on her. She was basically a ghost. In and out without anyone ever seeing anything. She liked to leave quite a mess of her victims though, hence the nickname.

Looking at these faces staring back at me it was hard to believe this was the life that Clint and Natasha had both led before SHIELD. If things had been different I could have been staring and a grainy photo of them.

I memorized the faces while Rumlow drove us to Malick's private residence. He avoided all the major roads which meant no sightseeing. I'd been to Paris before though I was still disappointed when I didn't get to see the major tourist attractions. I had to remind myself I was here to work and not wander leisurely through Paris gawking at the Eiffel Tower.

Malick's private resident was tucked away in a secluded street. The driveway seemed to go on forever as we pulled up to the sprawling mansion. The mansion in front of us was quiet, as planned and our arrival was very low key. No one came out to greet us and Rumlow got the door for me.

The inside of the mansion was even more impressive. While I remember Stark's mansion in Malibu being very minimalist and modern, this one swung the other way. It was very old school English manor type feel inside. It reminded me a little of Xavier's mansion at my old school. The dark wood and rich fabrics made it feel very cozy. Oil paintings lined the walls, along with expensive looking artifacts decorating the rooms. The main foyer had a double stair leading up to the upper levels. From the house plans we were provided, there were 7 bedrooms all with ensuite on the upper level along with the main study which is where we'd run the mission command from.

"Breakfast or sleep?" Rumlow asked as we paused at the bottom of the stairs. "How long are you going to need to look presentable for tonight?"

"Breakfast." My stomach growled despite eating on the jet. "Barton usually does my hair and makeup so it'll take me at least 2 hours to do it myself."

"I'll give you 3 hours then," Rumlow said as he motioned towards one of the rooms to the side. "Kitchen is that way."

After breakfast, the day passed slowly. There wasn't much to do except wait until tonight. Beyond turning my phone on to send a quick message to Coulson, I didn't have my phone to keep me amused. Rumlow got all of us together again around lunchtime to go over all the planning again. It was tedious going over everything for the 20th time though I knew it was necessary. It also made me very glad that I didn't have to do this normally. Missions with Natasha and Clint seemed so much simpler. We didn't have all the other people to worry about, it was the three of us trusting each other to do our job.

By late afternoon I went to my room and took my time enjoying the opulent bathroom. It had everything I needed, making me wonder if this actually Malick's daughter bathroom. The luxury bath products and female accessories certainly pointed towards it. I was glad for the extra hour because I needed it by the time I wrangled my hair into something acceptable and I was happy with my make up.

My dress was definitely not going to look like something an interpreter would wear. There was nothing demure about the bold deep purple dress. I had more skin showing than was covering, despite the long formal length of the dress. The backless, vee neck halter dress was still stunning and fit me perfectly. At least the slit up the side of my leg was on the opposite side of my scarred thigh. I could easily hide a knife on my thigh thanks to the material not being too clingy. The top of my thigh high stockings easily concealed the throwing knife without needing a holster for it.

I made my way downstairs with 20 minutes to spare out of my three hours. Rumlow was already there with the group of his men who'd act as security on the ground. Whatever they were talking about stopped abruptly as I came down the stairs.

"Wow." Gibson was the first to speak as I walked up to them. "You are a girl. Who would have thought?"

"Go fuck yourself, Gibson," I said with a sickly sweet smile. "I can still kick your ass in these 4-inch heels."

Despite the teasing, I felt a little bad for Gibson. He was a sniper and being put on the ground crew made him look very uncomfortable. But he was one of the few who weren't ex-military on Rumlow's team. The non-military guys tended to blend into a crowd better and not stand out quite as much. Tex would have been long gone by now and probably nearly in position to watch everything from 2 blocks away.

"Enough," Rumlow cut our teasing off before it could get started properly. He had his game face on and looked ready to take on the world. "Earpiece."

Rumlow held out the small discreet earpiece I'd be using. It fit snugly in my ear canal and came to life instantly with the sounds of the room coming back into my ear with a half second delay. As I got it into place, Malick came down the stairs. I was met with a pair of raised eyebrows from him.

"You scrub up better than expected Agent Lyngley," Malick said, pausing as he got me. His scrutinizing gaze didn't miss anything as his eyes went over my body. I felt uncomfortable under his stare, not because he was being a dirty old man and checking me out. Rather I felt like he was analyzing me, almost like he was looking for any weakness. Considering he'd ignored me completely on the jet, it was an unexpected turn of events. Still, I could be professional and polite when I needed to.

"Thank you, Sir." I schooled my face into what I hoped wasn't too fake of a smile. "Shall we?"

A limousine was already waiting for us. A limousine was probably the wrong word for it. The car might look like one but it was built more like a tank. The SHIELD designed car even was fully armored and had enough firepower built into it to take a small town down. Rumlow opened the door for both of us before climbing in the front. Malick was polite enough to sit in the seat across from me. I felt awkward sitting there in silence as the limousine pulled away.

"Tell me Agent Lyngley." Malick started as we pulled out onto the road. When his heavy gaze settled on me, I wanted the awkward silence back. "Why did you come on this mission?"

That was a weird fucking question. I came on this mission because I was ordered to. It wasn't on a whim or me begging Rumlow to come with him. Right now I'd very much like to be naked in Gareth's apartment with a good bottle of whiskey.

"I came because Agent Rumlow thinks highly of my abilities to be versatile." I used Rumlow's words from earlier. "And I appreciate his confidence in my abilities to get the job done."

"Given your STRIKE team's record of inability to follow orders, I wonder if Agent Rumlow's confidence in your abilities is misplaced."

I had to give it to Malick. He didn't mince words. Though he was polite enough not to come outright and ask if I was a disobedient little shit like my teammates. Or whether I was likely to cause a scene by not following orders.

"There is one thing I am very confident about and that's my ability to follow orders and do my job to the best of my ability." I was quick to respond. At least I didn't have to lie about that. I was the only one of us who didn't regularly break the rules "My Mom always said I was the better behaved of her children and I think Agent Coulson now shares that sentiment."

Humour was always a good way to deflate a situation. While Malick didn't smile at my quip, he didn't look quite as stern as before. He gave me a sharp nod and turned his attention to his phone. I felt like I had passed some sort of test. What the test was, I had no idea.

The rest of the drive passed slowly. Our brief conversation didn't make things any less awkward in the car. Without my own phone, I could only look out the window and watch the scenery pass by and listen to the chatter from the team on my earpiece. Like our trip here, it was dark so there wasn't much to see.

When we arrived, I didn't get time to linger and enjoy the sight of the Shangri-La Hotel. Rumlow had us out of the car and ushered past the small crowd gathered at the entrance. We made it into the vast LeGrand Salon where the pre-dinner drinks were being held.

As soon as he was in the public view, Malick's face instantly transformed into someone warm and welcoming. As we breezed through the room, we were stopped straight away by another middle-aged man.

"Ah, Gideon." The man spoke with a heavy French accent. He took Malick's outstretched hand and shook it vigorously. "So glad you could make it. Who is this beautiful woman you have with you?"

"Remi," Malick said with a nod. "This is my translator, Anastasia. My team insisted I needed one."

Malick's last sentence was said with an over-exaggerated eye roll. Still, I smiled while Remi laughed at his sarcastic comment. Even if it was for show, it was a relief to see some sort of personality besides angry asshole come through in Malick. We'd decided to use my middle name during the mission brief for security reasons. I thought it was overkill considering it wasn't likely the assasin would know my name or face. Rumlow wasn't taking any chances with anything though.

"But my dear, you are worth the aggravation," Remi switched to French. He took my hand I started to stretch out to shake his hand politely and kissed it instead. His lips lingered a lot longer than necessary on my skin. "Can I steal you from Gideon when you have a minute?"

I could hear someone snickering in my ear. One of the team obviously understood French. Still, I smiled wider at Remi's charm. It wasn't hard to fall for. Even though he looked old enough to be my Dad, he was very charming.

"For you, I will make sure I have five minutes," I said in my own French. I was a little slower than I'd like to be from lack of practice lately. But I could still perfect it.

"Such a perfect accent too," Remi said in English with a wink. "I look forward to our five minutes Mademoiselle Anastasia."

Even I had to admit, my middle name sounded very pretty with a French accent. There was no faking the slight warming of my cheeks at the flirty smile as Remi left us.

"Remi is the Defence Minister of France," Malick said lowly as we continued on our way. He snagged two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and handed one to me.

I knew Remi looked vaguely familiar. There'd been a guest list as part of the mission brief, along with photos of the key figures for tonight. I only got to nod in response as someone else was already coming up to greet Malick.

Despite my reservations about being an interpreter, I did actually get to look like I was doing my job on a few occasions. It also gave me the advantage of constantly moving around the room and scanning the crowd for any faces of the assassins I was given earlier. Alpha team kept a steady stream of mission chatter as well making passing the time mostly bearable.

I was taking a sip of champagne while half listening to Malick talk to some big oil tycoon from Saudi Arabia when someone caught my eye. It was another woman dressed in a simple strapless green dress. She was on the arm of one of the younger men amongst the party. It wasn't anything outstanding that caught my eye. She wasn't stunning and you could easily overlook her in a crowd. But it was the way she was walking. It sounded weird in my own head, but she walked exactly like Natasha. There was that predatory stalk in her step along with how she held her body. To most people, she would look simply uncomfortable in the company she had. I'd been watching Natasha for a year and a half now. It was unmistakable in how this woman held herself. My mind went back to the file on the assassin called Red Death. There had been a question mark about her training but I only had to look at this woman once to know she was Red Room trained. I didn't doubt this was our assassin.

Rumlow was lurking in the shadows of the room, along with most of the other private security. I caught his eye nearly instantly and inclined my head towards the brunette in green.

"There's a lot of people in that direction Kari," Rumlow's voice came in my ear. I could hear the frustration in his voice easily enough. "Narrow it down."

There was no way to discreetly do this but I had an idea. If I was wrong, I was about to wreck someones dress and embarrass myself but it was better than the alternative. The way the couple was moving they were circling closer towards female had been the one leading the way. Malick was in the middle of a conversation that I couldn't interrupt. I waited until there was a pause in the conversation.

"Please excuse me, I need to use the ladies." I cut in with an apologetic smile.

I saw Gibson out of the corner of my eye emerge from his corner of the room. He stayed on the edge of the crowd, skirting them enough that he didn't look out of place. But he was close enough to get to Malick is about 5 steps if needed. Malick and the man he was speaking to both nodded but went back to this conversation without an indication anything was amiss. Malick wasn't stupid. He would have already noticed Gibson moving closer to him. He shifted his position so there was a clear path to the other STRIKE agent. I quickly moved away from the two men, pretending to teeter in my heels to give off like I was already slightly tipsy.

"Do not take your fucking eyes off me," I said quietly as I wove through the crowd. "But stay where you are until I make a move. I only have a knife on me if this goes really wrong."

"Copy that." Rumlow was quick to comply. I'd have to thank him later on for trusting me so easily.

I drained my glass and quickly snagged another one as I walked towards the couple. The brunette was standing to the side, seemingly looking bored. By her tight posture, it wasn't boredom. It was her coiled and ready to spring into action. As I got to the pair, I pretended to look back like someone had called my name. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the brunette's attention snap in my direction.

There was no stepping into her like a normal person as I'd planned. She was already sidestepping around my pretend fumble. I let the glass fall forward from my fingers like it had slipped out of my hand. With perfect reflexes, her hand shot out and she caught the glass without a drop spilling on either of us.

We locked eyes, her blues eyes on mine. The murder was clear on her face but I didn't flinch. Most people would have stammered an apology by now but I simply held her gaze. Time stopped as I watched her eyes widen in the realisation of what she had done and that the game was already up.

Sometimes I really hated being right. In the next heartbeat, the glass was slipping from her fingers and her free hand went to her thigh.

There was a split second decision to make. If I went for my knife it would give her a chance to draw her gun. Now I was close enough I could see the very discreet bulge against her thigh of her own weapon. If I defended myself, I may not be quick enough to dodge a bullet.

I went for my knife.

In the same movement her small sidearm came out and she pointed it at me.

After Pripyat, Yelena had taught me a very valuable lesson when dealing with anyone who had trained in the Red Room. Never, ever hesitate.

I palmed my knife and without a second of hesitation, threw it at my intended mark.

The assassin didn't hesitate either. It was like watching something happen in slow motion as her finger squeezed the trigger.

I twisted my body as soon as the knife left my fingers. For once, luck was on my side and I managed to avoid the bullet that would have gotten me in the head. Training with Natasha all this time was probably what saved my life. I knew she wouldn't hesitate and she'd aim for an area to get me out of the way quickly. I avoided a bullet to my head and my throwing knife landed in her thigh.

She dropped her gun in shock, both of hands going to clutch at the knife now sticking out of the front of her thigh. In a blink of an eye, she had 5 STRIKE members descending on her all with their own guns drawn.

t was like everything had been on mute as soon as I dropped that champagne glass. Now I could suddenly hear everything. People were screaming. The STRIKE guys were yelling at the assassin to get down which was coming through my earpiece as well. The function room has turned into a scene of utter chaos all within the 10 seconds everything had happened.

Rumlow shoved the assassin to her knees. There was no fight in her as she hit the ground. There was no emotion on her face at all. Her leg had to be killing her but all she did was stare ahead blankly as she got cuffed. I winced in sympathy as I saw her leg bleeding freely with my knife still sticking out of it. I knew from personal experience what it was like to be stabbed in the thigh. At least I got her in the front of her leg and not to the side.

"You're with me," Rumlow said glancing up at me. "Let's go."

I didn't need to be told twice.

Authors Note

First up, for anyone who hasn't seen Agents of SHIELD. Malick takes over as head of HYDRA after Age of Ultron and in Season 3 (I think). He's also in the first Avengers but was never named. I do creep myself out a little when I have Kari interacting with these people who we all know turn out to be HYDRA. But it is important for the plot. Things are really galloping along now, I'm so excited for about the next 5 chapters. Actually I'm excited for this part of the story arc. I love bad ass Kari and giving her a chance to shine.

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and have a good New Year as well. This was going to be another 12-15K word monster so it felt natural to break it up. It also means I'll be updating quicker as well. For fans of Shatter Me, there'll be another update coming on that in a few weeks too. I had such a mental block on it but it slowly coming along.

On a personal level, I'll be glad to see the end of this year. But I can't thank you all enough for sticking with me through some really slow patches. Sometimes I hate the amount of backstory I want to put into this before we get anywhere near the Avengers but it's such an amazing journey that I hope everyone will enjoy with me. The other day I found some of my original plans for this story and while the core of it is still there, I like this Kari and her story much better.

Until next time.