"Hydra? World War II Nazi Scientist Hydra?" Benji repeated doubtfully.
"That's the one," Romanoff answered briskly.
"Aren't they defunct? You know, Captain America and the SSR and all that?" Jane Carter questioned, scoffing at the beautiful woman before her. Romanoff clearly wasn't as perfect as she appeared.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Do you watch the news?" Romanoff snapped. "Hyrda's back in a big way."
"Yeah, I watch the news. SHIELD 'claims' that a World War II secret agency infiltrated their entire organization decades after it disappeared," Carter retorted. "I don't now which speaks more poorly of SHIELD, if that's true or if it isn't."
Romanoff and Carter were raring for a fight. They locked eyes and neither would back down anytime soon.
"I don't now if I can work with these people," Romanoff announced, without removing her gaze from the other woman's face.
Barton put a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, she doesn't know anything about SHIELD. IMF is ages behind on that front."
Romanoff turned to look at him. "In that case, I definitely can't work with them."
Barton signed something quickly with his hands, which surprised his IMF team. They did not know he knew sign language. Romanoff, on the other hand, apparently did, and she responded in kind.
"We can catch them up."
"I'm here to help you take down some minor Hydra players. You have to maintain your cover."
"We can still do that. Take down the Maddock cell. We tell them you work for SHIELD, and I've worked with them in the past."
"That won't work. You were worried about them finding out. Tell the truth."
"The truth? What kind of line of work do you think we're in? Just about everything about SHIELD is need-to-know, and we can't open that can of worms."
"Fine. We will-"
Hunt cleared his throat. "I don't love the secret conversations."
Romanoff looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "You should be used to it by now, Agent Hunt."
"I was just convincing Natasha to stay and help us," Brandt explained.
"And, will she?" Carter demanded.
Romanoff turned her full body to face the female agent. "I will. Under the condition that I keep some cards close to the chest. Mainly, about SHIELD and Hydra. Deal?"
Hunt looked at Brandt. "You're sure we can trust her?"
Brandt nodded. "We can trust her more than anyone else."
"Deal," Hunt said to Romanoff.
She nodded. "Here's what you get to know right now. I work for SHIELD. SHIELD is not the fucked up organization you see in the news. Does any one of you have a problem with that?"
Nobody replied.
"Good. Now, Hyrda has infiltrated some all levels of SHIELD, that is true. But that is not your concern in any way. You're concern right now is to take down the Syndicate, which, as I have said, is Hydra. Technically, the Syndicate is a branch of Hyrda specialists and operatives. The five of us will take down Maddock, who leads a branch of a branch of Hydra."
"Won't two more heads just grow back?" Carter scoffed.
"Not your concern."
Hunt shook his head. "I'm starting to have a problem with this arrangement. It sounds like you're taking over. You're here to help us. The IMF decides our missions, not you."
"The IMF is a bunch of Cold War era snobs who don't know what intelligence even is, and I mean that in every way," Romanoff snapped. "I don't care about the IMF. The IMF is insignificant in the grand scheme of things."
"Now, that's not true!" Benji Dunn cried out. "The IMF is the most successful clandestine service of the US government. We do the impossible, hence the name."
Hunt agreed. "You're SHIELD. What do you know about the IMF?"
"More than you do," Romanoff responded. "But we're getting off task. Your concern was that I was taking over. I hate to break it to you, but I am. If I leave this up to you, who know how this will end. You don't know what you're walking into. I do."
"We can handle ourselves," Hunt said.
She scoffed. Brandt signed something to her, and the Black Widow sighed slightly.
"You're good agents, and you do good work. However, this team is a gun, and a gun does not point itself. You need me or you'll walk in blind. And I work on my own terms."
"I don't know if this is even worth it anymore," Carter exclaimed, throwing up her hands. "This isn't teamwork, and we don't know her."
"Trust me, at least," Brandt pleaded. "She's right. You don't know enough about the big picture."
"We don't? Do you?" Hunt challenged, picking up on his agent's use of the word "you." Brandt was not counting himself as one of the IMF team anymore, instead he was siding with his lover. Hunt could immediately see the implications and problems of such a situation.
"We need Natasha," Brandt insisted.
"They're right," Benji interjected. "Without, um, Miss Romanoff-"
"Mrs.," she corrected.
Well, that was going to be dealt with later. Hunt glanced at Brandt, but he did not appear to react to the announcement that the legendary Black Widow, Brandt's own lover, was married.
"Um, without Mrs. Romanoff, we have no intel. We know literally nothing. There's no way to do this without her or someone else with more familiarity. And I'm starting to think the Syndicate is small fish. I would take years to figure out everything we need to know just from these files."
Agent Dunn had been skimming and sorting online files ever since the Black Widow had pulled them up on the computer.
Hunt crossed his arms. "Well, if two of my agents are certain, then we can do this. We just need a plan."