Retribution

Far away from the SHIELD agents' makeshift headquarters, the rest of the Thule Society had caught wind that one of theirs had been captured. They also knew that he had been taken in by SHIELD. Everyone recognized Natasha Romanoff, the infamous Black Widow. Her exploits in Manhattan, Washington, DC, and Sokovia had made her a legend within the criminal underground. Not only that, but the fact that all of her information was on the internet for all to see only made it more obvious.

There was little doubt that Boseslav Zacpal had already told them everything he knew about Kukal's murder. He was a liability. And liabilities had to be dealt with. Permanently.

She had done well for them before. She killed Kukal without leaving a trace of evidence. It was only because of Kukal's idiocy that SHIELD was able to divine as many leads as they had. She was young, but what she lacked in experience, she more than made up for in expertise.

They called her on the burner phone by which she told them to contact her. She stated she was going to remain in the Czech Republic for another week, just in case someone came sniffing around. A good thing.

"There is little doubt that Boseslav Zacpal has already told the SHIELD agents everything he knows in regards to Kukal's murder. I want you to exterminate that pest before he tells anything else."

When she spoke in reply, her Czech was fluent, with the hint of a Russian accent. "That will cost you extra."

There was no reason to hesitate."Very well. Our watchmen saw him being taken to a hotel at this location."

They gave her the location of the hotel, and then told her to make the assassination public to send a message to not only SHIELD, but also anyone who even thought of giving them any information.

In the Thule Society, leaks were not tolerated.

4:30 AM

Hours later, when the sun hadn't even peeked up from under the horizon, Agent May and a pair of agents Natasha didn't recognize arrived to take Zacpal into custody. The man seemed fearful and skittish, and started to curse them for not transferring him to a safer place more quickly.

"He's right. He's a dead man," Natasha said bluntly.

May hummed quietly and handed her a bullet-proof vest. "Tell him to put that on. And to keep his head down. We just need to get him into the SUV, then he should be safe."

SHIELD issue vehicles were bullet-proof and bomb-proof. They were as sturdy as a vehicle get. While that should have put Natasha's mind at ease, it didn't. This person they were after was too good. There was no telling what kind of weapons she could have gotten her hands on.

"You think Thule Society is coming after our friend here?" Mack asked. It sounded like he already knew the answer to his question.

She nodded. "Yeah. Most organizations don't like snitches. Much less ones that spill sensitive information, like our friend here just did."

Mack nodded and turned to help Zacpal into his vest.

A lot of good that would have done. If anything, he was going to be shot in the head, if the woman they were after was as good as she thought she was. Then again, she could have been paranoid. There was no reason to believe that there was going to be retribution paid within hours of Zacpal being captured.

Triplett took out what looked like a toy sniper rifle from a large brown suitcase. "I'll climb up onto the roof and make sure no one tries to get the drop on y'all."

When she eyed him curiously, he just smirked and walked out the back door. His confidence reminded her of Clint. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

May grabbed Zacpal and led him toward the front door. Natasha, as was suggested, told him to keep his head down. "See anyone, Trip?" she asked before stepped out the door.

=Nope. All clear. Make it fast, May. It's cold as hell up here.=

May grunted out a laugh and shoved their prisoner out the door. There, the two agents were waiting with assault rifles. One of them nodded and opened the door, while the other one kept watch at the rear of the vehicle.

With Triplett watching from above like a hawk and the agents watching the streets from below, there was very little that was going to get passed them. Then again, there was very little that could rightfully be qualified as a trained killer.

What happened next proved that.

A lone woman on a motorcycle turned the corner twenty-five yards from where the transfer was taking place. Zacpal was only a few feet from the bullet-proof SUV when the rider on the motorcycle hit the throttle and came screaming down the street.

With expert balance, she steered with one hand and raised her left arm. Twin bursts of smoke erupting from the gold bracelet on her wrist heralded a pair of shots. The first dropped the agent keeping watch at the back of the SUV. The second impacted Zacpal's left temple, killing him instantly.

When the prisoner suddenly jerked to the side and collapsed to the ground, everyone jumped into action. Weapons were drawn and cover was taken. May was barking out orders and pointing to the woman on the motorcycle. Triplett fired a shot from his rifle, but it didn't even pierce her jacket. The same with the next two shots bouncing off her tires.

She was around the corner and gone, in the wind in a matter of seconds.

The whole affair lasted ten seconds. Two men dead in a matter of seconds.

Mack cursed and slammed his hands against a wooden table. May was on the phone with Coulson, filling him in on what had just transpired when Triplett entered through the back door, face grim and sullen. He tossed his rifle on the bed and sat down, heaving out a frustrated sigh.

Natasha knew that this was going to happen. She didn't think that it was going to happen quite that way, but it was inevitable. She had been inside when the double murder happened, about to start reviewing the notes Bobbi and Mack recorded during the interrogation earlier with the former.

No one managed to get a good look at the shooter. She was wearing a helmet to conceal her identity, as well as protect herself from return fire.

"Did anyone see anything?" Bobbi asked the assembly.

"It was a woman, that much I know," Triplett answered. "She was here one second, gone the next. Blew both of them away in a heartbeat."

"What kind of gun did she use?" Mack asked. "Assault rifle? Handgun?"

"Whatever it was, it was silenced. Didn't hear any shots until Trip opened fire," Bobbi remarked.

"She didn't have a gun," he answered. "She had a gold wristband or something. Whatever it was, that's what she used."

"She fired bullets from a wristband?" Mack asked with a raised eyebrow.

Natasha's blood ran cold. That confirmed it. They were dealing with a Black Widow.

It shouldn't have been possible. She was the last one; she was sure of it! "It was a bracelet."

Triplett looked at her with raised eyebrows. "How do you know?"

She sighed, but didn't answer. Instead, she merely pulled up the sleeve to her sweater, revealing the black Widow's Bite bracelets she wore with her superhero outfit. They were made for her by SHIELD's tech department. Her original ones were in a safety deposit box somewhere in Moscow. Her original ones were gold, just like the ones Triplett said he saw on the shooter.

She bent her wrist down and fired a single shot at a soda can on the table across the room. The round erupted from her bracelet silently; only a brief puff of smoke and the can suddenly being knocked off the table showed that a shot had been fired.

"So... you're saying we're dealing with someone like you?" Mack asked slowly. "A copycat?"

"She's like me," she answered as she pulled her sleeve down, "but she's no copycat. She's a Black Widow."

The room went silent for a short moment. "Damn. That makes too much sense."

"I thought there weren't any of you guys left," Bobbi said. She pulled out her laptop and, after powering it up, started searching through SHIELD's files on the Red Room.

"That's what I thought. Most of us were killed when the Soviet Union collapsed. SHIELD came down hard on the Red Room, so they killed the Black Widows so we couldn't talk."

"Except you," Triplett noted.

"I was the lucky one." Try as she might, she couldn't conceal some of the sadness that she felt whenever she thought about what happened to her sisters leaked out. She breathed in to push it back down. "I think it's best if you let me handle this alone."

"No way," Mack answered immediately. "I agreed to this assignment, and I plan on seeing it through to the end."

Triplett and Bobbi nodded in agreement.

"That end might come a lot sooner than you expect," she replied honestly.

Black Widows may have varied in experience, but they all were among the deadliest killers in the world. The name struck fear in the criminal underground, because no one took a woman seriously until she was pointing a loaded handgun in a man's face while straddling his bare pelvis. They didn't know who this Widow was or what she looked like. She could have been anyone. And with Hydra's tech being passed around across the globe on the black market, she could look like anyone at any time.

It was too dangerous for the others. She herself knew all the tricks, because she created most of them. She was the best; her handlers said so. Out of all the Widows to come along the line, they never surpassed her marks.

They were going to learn, one way or another. "Fine. But, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Girl, you know you can count on us," Triplett said with a wink.

Natasha caught herself almost smiling, but held back. "Good. As soon as May clears out, we can get started. Our only lead is dead, but he gave us a few names to work with."

"They know that their paymasters know we're onto them, so no one's going to be talking," Mack said.

"I'll make them talk," she responded. "They're going to die anyway. It's only a question of whether they want to die screaming or die quietly."

"Do I even want to know?"

"You know Frank Castle, right? He told me that if you solder a person asshole shut, the bilirubin in their feces leaks into their bloodstream, and they die a horribly painful death." She shrugged. "He's right."

They just stared at her.

"What?"