Chapter 7

Blastac was known as one of the largest conglomerates in England. It was founded by Alexander Newton who was ahead of his time in genetics and engineering. He got his doctorate from Oxford in 1935 and in '44 and was recruited by the British Army to replicate the Super-serum made by Abraham Erskine for the war effort. He failed to replicate it and found another way to appease the military by founding a new company who provided weapons to the soldiers and it greatly benefitted England in the World War. Its main headquarters was located in London, known as Blastac Tower. The building was constructed in the 1990s. Most of its floors were occupied by Labs and research. After Alexander Newton's death in a car accident, the company put an end to its genetics labs and invested more in Artificial Intelligence and weapons manufacturing, from chemical weapons to simple AKs.

Harry was currently in the Blastac Tower's ground floor waiting for the elevator along with Romanoff who was discretely looking around for threats. He did so too but not so frequently like her. The interior of the tower looked high-end, outfitted with latest technologies, but he still found it lacking. He realized that when it came to tech and science, he was never satisfied by other people's work. What can he say, he was a scientist first, then a spy. But even he had to admit that the facility was well-guarded and made it quite hard for anyone to snoop around unnoticed by the security. But fortunately, they weren't anyone. They were both arguably one of the best spies in the world, even if his partner didn't know it.

He was broken out of his thoughts when the elevator dinged and waited for the Redhead to enter. Once they were in the elevator, he noticed that, as expected, there was a camera here as well. He saw the time, date and weather on the screen. It was already 6:12 pm in the evening. Most of their day was spent on the road from the house to Heathrow to the Tower. "What floor, please?" They both heard an automated voice. The file Romanoff got him said that the elevator was AI controlled and it seemed that so far it was right. "26th Floor" said Romanoff without blinking an eye. The triskelion also had an A.I based elevator, so it was hard to be surprised. He had also heard rumors about an A.I running the Stark Tower, where she lived most of the time, so it explained her lack of reaction.

As soon as the door closed, he saw Romanoff tense for a second. He didn't know why though. Did she not like to be in a small enclosed area with no exit? Was she claustrophobic? Was she uncomfortable because of him? He knew the latter was unlikely. Personally, he wasn't too keen on using an elevator either but the stairs were for security personnel only. It wasn't because he was claustrophobic. In fact, he didn't like elevators because he disliked the idea of being in a box with no exit. The elevator stopped at the 19th floor and let some people in. He observed them discretely looking for anything out of the ordinary and Romanoff was doing the same.

Finally, they arrived at the 26th floor and after a lot of 'excuse me's' and 'sorry's' he got out with her. Previously, this floor was used as homerooms for the employees, and they were used for relaxation, breaks and lessons but after Alexander Newton's death, the new CEO changed the entire regime of the company and now this floor was mainly used for storage. It was rumored that the new CEO Charles Newton, Alexander Newton's son, had killed his own father to get control of the company but the charges were dropped ultimately because of the lack of evidence and got control of the company. Charles Newton was a ruthless man who had a Machiavellian personality. He had spent his adolescence in a boarding school and after 10 years, got his doctorate in Engineering. He wasn't a genius like his father was known to be but he had inherited his father's cunning and sharp mind in spades, which he used to expand the business.

As usual, the floor was vacant of any soul. No one came here anymore, not employees, and certainly not the guys who ran the company. Only janitors and Security came here at night. Janitors came for cleaning and guards for doing a final sweep for any intruder or lost guy in the building before closing. They both walked through the long corridor with his footsteps echoing a bit around the hall. The super spy was glaring at him for his clumsy footsteps but he ignored her. He had a cover to maintain. It was also the floor with minimum CCTV coverage. So, it wasn't hard to avoid the cameras.

The two agents arrived at one of the largest rooms in the building. It was easily the size of a big house. The room had rows upon rows of racks filled with boxes and files. Some of the stuff was scattered over the floor and nothing on the racks was placed in order. It seemed like no one had bothered to organize the jumbled room. But they weren't here for the useless boxes. They were here to hide until the night so they can snoop around without much difficulty.

Romanoff didn't wait for him and went to the end of the room to stay there until the security does their final sweep at midnight which was in around 5 and a half hours. Harry walked slowly behind her not knowing whether she wanted him to follow her or not but her lack of reaction made him continue his strode. She sat behind the last rack and wasn't acknowledging his presence. He was fine with it. He sat at a distance from her and looked outside the window. He had to admit, London was one of the most beautiful cities in the world. He never appreciated its beauty before but we, humans, never stop to appreciate what we have and rather pursue what we'd like to have. Harry looked at the sky and saw an aircraft flying overhead. The plane was circling the city at low altitude preparing for landing.

Talking about planes, his thoughts went back to Anna Sauer. Something was very wrong. He had her under surveillance for days and knew she was not an idiot. Quite the contrary, in fact, she had climbed her way to the top by using her sharp mind and wits. There were many unanswered questions he'd like to know about her like 'Why would she use her previous IDs to travel when she knew S.H.I.E.L.D already knew about them?' 'How was she alive?' and last but not the least, 'How did she know about the S.H.I.E.L.D safehouse?' There was a possibility, no matter how slim, that she may have been following them from the airport but that didn't explain how she knew about their op in the first place. Something was very wrong and he could feel in his bones that something was bound to happen sooner or later.

Harry heard a rustle and looked at his right towards the redhead. She was inspecting her wooden blade. She was able to sneak It in through the metal detectors because everything from its tip to the butt was made of wood. It was as sharp as a metal knife but it wasn't as durable. He didn't know how she got it but he suspected it was Stark. She was still wearing her black suit but had taken off the glasses she was wearing. He didn't know what was going on in her mind. She would occasionally glance at the knife and would go back to her brooding. Perhaps, she was missing her usual weapons.

They both looked up when they heard chattering outside the room. He focused on the footsteps and the voices and figured that there were four to five people. He couldn't hear what they were talking about and by the looks of it neither did Romanoff. Of course, they had prepared for this scenario. Every part of the tower was connected to an air vent but the problem was, like most buildings, the vents were too small to sneak in and wouldn't be able to hold their weights. Occasionally, the passageways broadened enough for an adult person to hide but wasn't strong enough to let them both in. The good news was that they had found a vent on the 26th floor which was durable enough to hold both their weights but it would be a close fit. This part of the vent was seven feet long and only a foot and a half wide.

They heard the footsteps nearing and Romanoff signaled him to follow. She went first and used a rack to climb on to the duct. He waited for her and did the same. He got up the vent and saw that Romanoff had already gotten comfortable. 'But not for long', he mused. Fitting in the two of them was tricky without making any noise but fortunately he was able to get in without making any sound before the door could open. The first thing he noticed was that it was really cold. The second thing was that it was really windy because of the air circulation. The position they were both in was quite uncomfortable. She was lying flat on her back with her body stiff as a rod and he was on top of her while trying not to put all his weight on her lithe body.

He barely had the time to close the hatch when the door opened revealing four people, two men and two women. By the looks of it, they worked here. He could tell, even from here, that they reeked of cigarettes and alcohol. The two men were the ones carrying alcohol and it looked like they weren't here for a quick drink. Not when he saw the guys pouncing on the girls. Despite growing up in a place where he was trained in the acts of intercourses, he was still uncomfortable with intimacy. He heard loud moans and this time he didn't bother to hold a sigh of frustration. He noticed that they were already undressing and he didn't want to see it anymore so he turned to Romanoff.

It seemed that the activity below them wasn't affecting her in the slightest, or maybe she wasn't showing it. Her hairs would occasionally get in his face and he had to shake his head to get them off him. He could still hear moans and grunts of pleasure and concluded that they had just begun. He held another sigh and noticed that Romanoff was looking at him intensely in the eye. He saw that her eyes were green but unlike his bright emerald orbs, they had a bluish hue to it. He admitted that her eyes were hypnotizing. She was also breathing heavily with her chest rising hypnotically. He was trying very hard to get control of his body and it seemed he had succeeded for a moment. She must have noticed that her administrations weren't working as well as she though it would, so she upped her game. All of a sudden, he found, Romanoff's upper torso leaned towards his with her large breast pushing towards his chest. Her face was so close to his that he could feel the gentle caress of her breath against his throat sending shivers down his spine. Her plump lips parted slightly and he saw her tongue darting out licking her red lips. He tried to look away but she used her hand to turn his head back towards her. She caressed his cheeks gently and placed her other hand on his chest and went lower and lower….

"Don't" he hissed, his eyes blazing in anger. He was really pissed at her for her attempt at seduction. If he could have gotten away with it, he would have gutted her. But unfortunately, that wasn't possible so he closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. He could have stopped her attempts but he wasn't really there in the head. He was thinking about the same techniques he had performed on others and left them for dead after that. He remembered their screams, their despairing, begging and then silence. He remembered to have killed babies in their sleeps, raping women to break them. He remembered all the torture he had put people through. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he knew that her administrations had awoken something in him, something darker. He just didn't know what.

She must've seen the anger leaking off him because she stopped all of a sudden. In front of her and any agent, he had never displayed any emotion except nervousness. So she must have been startled to see an intense emotion on his face. He knew she did what she did to rile him up because of her irritation towards him and he berated himself to fall too easily for her tricks.

They were both startled by a bang. The door of the room flew open and he saw two security guards standing there with their eyes wide and mouth open by the display in front of them. The two couples or friends, he wasn't sure about their relationship, were laying naked on their partners and drinking heavily. One of the guards composed himself and exclaimed, "What the fuck?" He heard loud exclamations from the four and saw them trying to cover their privates with their hands in vain. Honestly, it made him feel like a pervert to have watched and heard the whole thing. The guards dragged them out after they dressed and heard one of them mutter in anger "Should've let Sean do the final sweeps." He would be surprised if they didn't lose their jobs tomorrow. Harry checked his watch and saw that it was 11:49 pm.

After they left, they both descended from the vents and decided to wait for another hour just to be sure if the tower wasn't empty,