A/N: Sorry for not posting yesterday, I've been crazy busy. Anyway, thanks for all the feedback, and please read and review!

Like an abacus I played with, counting every win and fail

Though she spent the rest of the day attempting to track down leads, it became apparent that Rostov was her best bet on finding the others. None of them had kept the codename they'd shared, and names had been changed. Even if they hadn't, everyone only had a first name in the Red Room (if they had one at all). In any case, she could at least entertain the idea of doing what he wanted. Her research into his life did not indicate any HYDRA affiliation. Or any reason why he might be behind the attack on Yelena. Still, to be safe, she dressed in work clothes and took as much of her weaponry as she could carry on her person to the meet.

Natasha tried to arrange her meets in public places where ever possible; since he'd insisted on an abandoned warehouse, she went a few hours early to scope things out. The part of town was not one in which someone would willingly venture at this time of night, and she predictably didn't see anyone else. It was on the waterfront, and many of the surrounding buildings were still in use. There were a few yellow lights flickering here and there on the property, and she used her phone to scan for any traps. Nothing pinged, though that didn't necessary mean it was safe.

Sighing, she leaned against the wall and considered if this was worth her time. What information did she really have? Yelena had been attacked; it sounded like they were going after other Widows. But couldn't she count on her sisters to be able to fend for themselves? Of all the people she might worry about, this seemed the most unfounded. On the other hand, she'd never worried about Yelena, and she was relatively certain her friend would have fallen if not for Natasha's help. And anyone who wanted to take down former Widows was likely to have reason for it; she didn't think that could be anything good. Sure, they'd all been spies and assassins at some point, but giving them justice and hunting them down were two very different things.

Since she didn't know who orchestrated the attack and had no leads, the best option was to find the others. Perhaps they would know something, or could be used as bait. Or she might even meet up with one of them at the same time whoever was behind this chose to act on her, which would be convenient. In any case, doing a favor for Rostov seemed to be her best lead at this point. So she headed back to her hotel to get some rest before the meet.

Always cautious, Natasha arrived at the warehouse at eleven-thirty to watch Rostov arrive. He came alone, which was something of a relief. Hiding in the rafters, she watched him come in through one of the smaller doors, and glanced through a window to see if anyone was waiting for him. She hadn't heard anything, and a scan from her phone showed no other warm bodies in the area. Satisfied, she climbed down and dropped silently behind him.

"You're early," she said, smiling when he jumped.

"You should talk," he replied, turning around and trying to look nonchalant.

"So, why the choice in scenery?"

He cleared his throat. "In half an hour, there will be a lot more people here. It's one of our meeting places."

"The Sword of Judgment?" she questioned, and Rostov nodded. She suppressed a sigh. "You wanted me here to add to your membership?"

"Not at all, Natalia," he replied with a snort. "I have a much better use for your skills."

"Which is?" she pressed when he didn't immediately continue.

"I want to be in charge of the society. And I think deposing leaders is within your purview?" The mocking edge in his tone made her hackles rise, but she forced a smile.

"Of course."

He returned her cold smile. "Then perhaps you can go back up where you were hiding, and our dear leader will be assassinated at our sacred meeting."

"And you'll rally them to you, promising vengeance," she finished.

"I knew you were a clever one."

She sighed. "Fine. Shall I shoot him or set up a trap?"

The second idea clearly hadn't occurred to him, because he brightened at the mention. "A trap would be perfect!" he said with surprising enthusiasm.

"Thanks. Your people don't do any kind of security screening before the meeting starts?"

"No, we haven't had any reason to. Yet," he added with a grin.

Killing the leader of a terrorist organization was not something she was going to regret, she supposed. The vacuum of power would be filled by Rostov, and a thought was forming on how to deal with him when this was over. "Fine. I'll get set up."

The two of them waited in the dark outside until some other people started showing up. Most were men, as she expected, but a few women joined their ranks so Natasha didn't stick out quite as much. Rostov pointed out the leader to her, and she was pretty sure she recognized him from SHIELD's watch list. Remembering faces was an important skill in her business, even if it made the nightmares significantly worse. If he was who she thought, that would make killing him that much easier.

After some mingling, during which she did her best to appear to belong, the meeting started. It was filled with impassioned speeches using rhetoric she had heard many times before. If anything, she felt more and more that her favor for Rostov was actually a good deed. Assuming she could deal with the repercussions afterward, of course. When getting rid of one leader, another would always pop up to replace him, for all the belief in that cutting off the head would kill the snake. Civilians didn't flock to these people if they were content to do nothing, and no longer having their leader would not suddenly make them happy to just go home.

She waited until none of the others were close enough to the leader's platform to be hurt by the blast before setting off the bomb. The head guy was severely injured; not dead, but unlikely to be leading the charge after this. Pandemonium ensued, as expected. Rostov valiantly led his people out of the wreckage and she followed. Once everyone had gathered outside, he gave them an impassioned (short) speech about how they would be beset on all sides by their enemies and she hid a smile. How many people were duped into thinking they were serving the greater good when it was just a power play on the part of their leaders? Not that she hadn't fallen for the same thing once or twice, she supposed. But she'd learned from her mistakes, at great personal cost.

Her expression was appropriately afraid and then incensed while he spoke, and then she waited patiently for the others to head home when sirens could be heard. Rostov gave her a nod dismissively, but she wasn't about to leave. Not without her information. A look of annoyance passed over his face when she just smiled and didn't move, but he didn't say anything. When most of his people had cleared off, he turned away from the site and she fell into step beside him.

"Can this wait?" he growled.

"Don't want to be seen with me? I'm hurt," she replied sweetly.

He snorted. "Fine, I called in my sources. The information you want should be in my inbox by now. I'll send it to you as soon as I get home."

Her laugh startled him into glancing hastily in her direction. "Oh, I think you know better than that, Andre."

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"I'm coming home with you, my friend. When you've upheld your end of the bargain, I'll leave."

He looked around sharply when she referred to their arrangement. "Can you keep it down? Bozhe moi, I thought you were supposed to be subtle."

"Oh, Andre," she laughed, putting her hand on his shoulder flirtatiously.

Blinking, he shook his head and then continued walking. "My house is just up here," he said after a pause, seeming subdued. She knew where he lived, of course, but she didn't say anything, just followed him up the stairs and through the front door. Not a lot of security, she took note of for later. Just a deadbolt on the door and simple locks on the windows. Not something she would expect from a former agent of the Red Room; paranoia was a fairly common side effect of the training.

It was a nice house, she reflected, despite the lack of security, and she wondered how he was able to afford it. The information on him did not give him a regular job, and being part of a terrorist organization wasn't generally lucrative. She grew tense at the thought, wondering who might be bankrolling him, and what he might be willing to do for them.

"Andre, is that you?" a frail voice called from upstairs.

"Yes, Babushka, go back to sleep," he responded with surprising gentleness. "She wanted someone to keep her company in this big place," he explained shortly in a whisper when he caught Natasha staring.

"Of course," she agreed and followed him into the study. He walked over to the computer and they waited in silence while it booted up. A few keystrokes brought the information to the forefront and he frowned at it before sending it all to the printer.

"Well, I have some bad news for you, Natalia," he said, his tone somewhere between mocking and actually sorrowful.

Reaching for the pages he held out, she met his eye. "What is it?"

"Looks like you're rapidly running out of competition for your codename."