Disclaimer: I do not own nor plot deaths with the Avengers or Harry Potter.
Dr. Henry Caudswell
"Вставай!" The harsh Russian words along with hands pushing him out of bed woke Harry from his sleep.
A second later he was crouching over the still form of a teenage girl a dagger on her throat and her hands around his neck. It took Harry a minute to catch up to his body and when he did he scrambled from on top of the girl. He shook his head and rubbed his temples trying to figure out what a red headed teenager was doing in his room.
"Ты уже проснулся?" The girl spoke up again and Harry stared at her blandly. "Ты уже проснулся?" She repeated as she gestured to the bed.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Harry asked, still trying to wake up.
The girl glared and her hand swung forward, obviously trying to slap him. Harry caught her wrist and twisted it before it hit its mark. The girl grimaced and twisted her body with the wrist trying to lessen the pressure. Harry stared at her blankly for another minute before he remembered.
"Oh, that's right. You were that girl I saved from getting killed yesterday." Harry smiled as her glare intensified, but released her hand.
"Я бы прекрасно справилась с этим и сама." The girl said snidely while rubbing the aching wrist. Harry didn't know exactly what she said, but he got the gist of it.
"Oh yeah and I could have flown to the moon on my broomstick. You should learn to accept when you are beat." Harry stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. "Stay here, pipsqueak, I'm going to go clean up."
Harry ignored her angry form and headed to the bathroom. Once he got there he shut the door and took out his wand. The translation spell must have died sometime in the middle of the night, which was good information to know. He waved his wand over his head and leaned against his sink heavily once the dizzy spell hit. He raised his head to glance into the dirty mirror. Why on Earth had he decided to help that girl last night? There was no reason he should have done so and might have pissed of potential clients.
He turned on the rusty faucet of the shower. It was too late to go back and change things now and despite everything else, he kind of liked the girl's spirit. He jumped into the too hot shower and tried to forget about the red head. His mind turned onto more important topics, like his current target. Dr. Caudswell was an interesting character in private sector research nowadays which meant that a lot of big money would be trying to keep him safe.
After about ten minutes of over thinking the problem and letting yesterday's grime slide off his body he stepped out of the steaming shower and pulled a towel off the rack.
"The shower's hot if you need it, little spider." Harry yelled out the door before picking up his clothes, slinging the towel around his waist, and stepping into the cheap motel room. He moved to his suitcase ignoring the curious eyes that followed him. "Knowing exactly how much this hotel room costs, I don't think it will last that way for long." He turned toward her, but the girls eyes were moving over the rest of his body. Harry got the feeling that she was more trying to count the tick marks than she was checking out his muscles. "Oi! You listening over there? Go get cleaned up." He pointed to the shower.
The girl's eyes flicked to his and she nodded before disappearing into the steamy bathroom. Harry shook his head and dropped his towel, picking up new clothes to put on. It was a bad decision to pick up this girl, he just knew it. After he had put on a new sleeveless shirt and a pair of his signature snakeskin pants he picked up his discarded pants and pulled out the shrunken briefcase. With a casual flick of his hand the case was back to its regular size and he was putting it on the table.
No matter what posturing he had done in front of the fat Bloom, there was no way that he wasn't going to count the money that he had received from his bastard of a client. He was still lifting stacks of bills out of the case when the girl exited the bathroom. You could only tell that she had taken a shower by the water that dripped from her hair. Her eyes found the money stacks and stayed there.
"Well, don't you look sparkling this morning, princess." Harry smiled at her and continued unpacking the money from the case. The girl's eyes didn't waver from their spot on the money, it was a hungry stare that Harry knew well. "Now, now, little spider, don't get ahead of yourself. Some of this might even be yours if you do your job right. Besides, you wouldn't be able to take it from me anyway. You don't have the skills." The girls eyes pulled away from the money stacks to Harry's amused gaze, he imaged she had to forcefully pull them away.
"You don't know me, Basilisk. You have no idea what my abilities are." The girl told him emotionlessly. Her mouth moved in ways that didn't follow her words and Harry was reassured that the translation spell was working properly.
"I know enough to know that I could kill you if I needed to. So, no stealing, alright?" Harry asked in an amused tone. "Now, sit down and help me count." He pushed a few stacks over to the empty chair at the table and motioned for her to sit. She looked at him suspiciously. "Look, you aren't going to steal it unless you are incredibly stupid and if you are that dumb I don't want to be working with you anyway, and I can just kill you. Now, I know you can't be that dumb, so sit down and help me count."
The girl sat cautiously and grabbed a stack to start counting. She grabbed at it much like a starving person grabbed at food and Harry grinned at her.
Once Harry got to the end of his stacks he wrote down the total amount and turned to her. She was already staring at time when he did.
"I got 460,000€."
Harry smiled at here and nodded. He picked up the stacks and started placing them back into the case.
"Perfect. I need to go drop this off and then we can talk about the job." He closed up the suitcase and headed to the door. "I will be back in thirty minutes, feel free to use this room however you want. Play with Barbies or whatever it is that you kids get up to nowadays." He was almost out of the door before she spoke up.
"Are you actually going to come back or will you just leave me here?" Her voice was harsh. Harry turned with a grin.
"You know I didn't even think about doing that. I suppose I could, after all it isn't really like I need you hanging around." He paused a moment in mock thought with a finger on his chin. The girl bristled - Harry grinned at it. He shrugged. "Well, I guess you could be useful, so no, I won't just leave you here." He almost turned back to the door before spotting his suitcase. "There you go." He pointed to it. "All the insurance you need that I will be back here before you know it."
He was still smiling as he walked out the door.
Harry was whistling as he walked back into the apartment to the glares of its current occupant.
"Did you miss me, little spider?" Harry asked with a smile and walked over to the table. The glare of the girl would have phased him if he hadn't lived with Snape for seven years.
"Vhere did you go?" She snarled at him.
"Didn't I already tell you to speak Russian, hearing you speak English is like listening to a car crash." He ignored her and sat down with a thump. He threw his legs onto the table and leaned back in his chair on the two back legs.
"Don't lie to me to inbred idiot. I followed you outside." She stomped closer to him.
"No, really?" Harry gasped with mock surprise. "I had absolutely no idea. You need to learn to trust a little, sweetheart."
Harry wasn't surprised when she stepped forward, expecting a slap. What he didn't expect was for her to launch herself over the table and tackle his body to the ground. Harry almost groaned as she squatted over him, very pleased with herself.
"You disappeared into thin air. How did you do that? I have never lost a target in my life and you vanished. It is not possible." She spat at him obviously mad.
"Now, now, don't be like that. I can't have you following me everywhere, sweetheart. A guys got to have his secrets." Harry smiled and with a shift of his weight and a twist of his body the girl was underneath him, her wrists clenched in one of his hands. "I think we are getting a little too used to this position if you ask me. I'm not into prepubescent boys." He kept smiling through her intensified glare, but stood up. "Now, if you have wasted enough time lying around, it is time to get to the target. And..." He spun around dramatically and with a move that only a wizard could pull off, a CD appeared in his hand, "I have a present for you."
The girl's emotionless mask slipped back into place as she sprung up from the floor. It only took a few seconds for her to take the CD from Harry's hand and sit back down at the table.
"What is it?" She looked at the thing curiously turning it over in her hands.
"That my dear is a CD that took me a very long time to acquire, almost..." He glanced down at his watch. "thirty minutes give or take a few." He ignored the familiar glare she gave him. Harry pulled the CD player from his pocket and handed it to her. "That is what you use to play it."
She looked at him incredulously. "I know what it is, snake. I was asking what it has to do with me."
"Well, little spider, I got sick of listening to you butcher the English language so I decided to give you a gift." He pointed to the CD. "That will teach you how to speak without a noticeable accent. I think the teacher is American so maybe you will get one of those." He shrugged. "Either way, it is better than the babble that you are currently spitting out." Harry pulled out a large folder with a picture attached.
"Who is the target?" She asked while putting down the CD and pulling the folder to herself.
"That, is Dr. Henry Caudswell." Harry pointed to the picture on the front. The older gentleman had large glasses that covered half of his face and made his eyes look too big. His grey hair didn't look like it had been washed in awhile, much like the rest of him. "He is a big name in private sector research and development. He is currently being funded by these companies." Harry opened the packet to a long list of names. "It is mostly pharmaceutical companies at the moment, but what interests me is a few weapon manufacturers that I see on there." He flipped through it again and showed her a second picture of a familiar fat man. "This is the man who wants him dead. He calls himself Mr. Bloom. He owns an acquisitions company that tried to buy out Dr. Caudswells company and failed. He has decided that since he can't monopolize Dr. Caudswell's research than no one should have it."
The girl looked at him strangely. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Nothing really. We are still going to kill Dr. Caudswell and make tons of cash. However, you never leave yourself in a position of not knowing who you are working for. Bloom is too much of a pissed faced coward to ever betray me, but I never leave that sort of thing to chance. I am telling you because if you see this man appear anywhere, I need you to tell me at once. Understood?" The teenager nodded and looked back at the folder.
"So, what is the plan?"
"It should be rather simple, all things considered." He pulled out a piece of paper with dates and times. "This is Dr. Caudswell's schedule. The place we get him is while traveling home. It is the easiest place to catch anyone off guard. Of course, it isn't going to be as easy as all that. He is constantly surrounded by guards. He will be in a car following a car full of bodyguards, that is also packed to the brink with thugs ready to protect him." Harry showed her the images that he had taken of the caravan that traveled everywhere with the man.
"Then how will we get him?" She asked questioningly after a few seconds looking over the papers.
"That is where you come in, sweetheart. Meet Dr. Caudswell's daughter." Harry flipped through the folder to find another picture, this time of a young blond girl about the same age as Widow. "Melinda Caudswell is currently away at school in Germany and not our problem. However, since you are about the same age as her...well, people can be very sentimental. We do a basic trap set up. We stage an accident and pretend to be the first on the scene, when Dr. Caudswell's cars approach..."
The girl nodded.
"Wouldn't it be easier just to pretend to be in the accident. It draws more sympathy than just being the first on the scene." She said emotionlessly, flipping through the folder.
"Sure, but do you actually want to be injured enough to pull the story off? These goons are some of the best money can buy. It is easier to pull off emotions than injuries and if you misstep once with a pretend injury they are going to know something is up." She stared and then nodded.
"How will we kill him?" She asked.
"That's the fun part." He passed a small vile of viscous liquid toward her. "That is venom, very deadly. One of my signatures actually. It has been diluted though, it will take close to an hour to work its way through the bloodstream enough to kill. We will both have a needle with a bit of this on it, whoever gets close enough sticks him and we slip away. I will be far away when the actual death occurs, as will you. Understand?" He leaned back in his chair and watched the thoughts fly through her head. After several moments she leaned back as well and nodded.
"It seems fine."
"Good." He stood up suddenly. "Well then, there is work to be done. I will get the corpse and set up the accident, you get outfits prepared that will let us fit in and appear harmless. Got it?" He moved to his bag and pulled out two hundred euro bills to hand to her. "Don't spend it all in one place." He smiled and patted her on the head. She growled and swatted his hand away. He glanced at his watch. "We meet on this road way at 1930 hours, got it?" He pointed to a spot on a map. "I should have everything set up by then. The road is usually pretty abandoned which is why it is used by them." He handed her the folder. "Memorize this. Know the plan like the back of your hand and everything will turn out just fine."
"I don't screw up." She told him calmly, but tucked the folder under her arm anyway. She had composed herself emotionless again and Harry almost felt a pang of loss.
"See you later then, little spider." He grinned and turned. As he opened the door he spared a glance backwards to stare at her. The girl had turned away from him, probably thinking that he had already left. With one hand she touched the CD and player lightly, almost caressed it. He turned away from the sight without another thought.
Harry leaned against the side of the only not burning car calmly. Staring at the red headed teenager in front of him that looked completely different from how she had a couple of hours ago.
The girl had turned up in a private school uniform that was already covered in soot. Harry had been more than surprised when she handed him a guys uniform from the same school. He had held it up questioningly to get a simple response.
"You are young enough to pull off the act of brother and sister." She pointed to her ruined clothes. "We were driving back from school to our parents house in the country when we ran across the accident." She pointed to the fiery wreck. "We stopped and tried to look for survivors, but only found the one dead guy." She pointed to the cadaver he had stolen from the morgue. "We had no way to contact the police and decided to wait for someone else to come along and help."
"Sounds fine to me." He said without caring. He had been slightly proud of the accident he had been able to fake though. With a cadaver that had died in a car accident stolen from the morgue all he had to do was find some wrecked cars. The first had been set on fire completely - to hide the fact that there was no bodies in it - and the second had the engine burst into flames. It was a rather spectacular wreck if he did say so himself, but Widow had barely spared a glance at if before telling him to change into his new clothes. Their old clothes had been stowed away behind the tree line along with spare weapons if the entire plan went to shit. A working car that he was leaning against was in fairly good quality and parked a little ways away. It was the car that they would be leaving in and the car that their covers drove.
He heard the growl of approaching cars and stood up straighter.
"They are coming. Are you prepared?" He asked hurriedly. He stared at the soot on her face and her messy hair and knew that he looked close to the same if not worse.
"I'm fine." She said emotionlessly and turned to face the oncoming cars. It wasn't good enough, he thought quickly.
The cars were almost around the corner.
Harry growled and spun her around.
"Cry." He told her roughly.
"What?" She asked confused.
"Cry, you silly girl. You are a private school student who has just seen a dead body and a car accident for the first time." He shook her a little. "Now, cry."
She nodded and lowered her head for a second. When her face turned back to his it was like he was staring at a completely different person. The girl's eyes were leaking tears and the shocked innocent look in her eyes was enough to give Harry pause. He stared for a second and then pushed her back toward the oncoming cars.
"Good enough." He said gruffly, turning away from the sight. There was something very unsettling about that look on her face. He knelt on the ground next to the dead body and pretended to check the pulse.
"STOP! PLEASE, STOP!" The girl was screaming in a two tone way that Harry identified as the Russian translation spell working. He knew that she was undoubtedly waving her arms frantically and pulling the full school girl act because after a second of car engines he could hear the screech of brakes and tires. "THANK YOU. PLEASE, PLEASE. YOU HAVE TO COME. I think someone is hurt."
A car door was opening and Harry turned around to look. Two black SUVs were stopped in the middle of the lane. The passenger door of the first car opened to let out a burly Russian in full black combat gear. Harry almost rolled his eyes, but refrained himself.
"What happened?" The Russian asked Widow roughly, staring at the scene in front of him.
"Please, I...I think..." Her voice broke. "I think he might be dead. I...we...my brother and I were coming home from school." She sobbed a little into her hands.
The Russian looked very uncomfortable, but nodded at her and made his way over to Harry. Once he got close enough to the accident he turned to back to the car and waved for a hand. As the first car unloaded a couple more men the first goon got close enough to kneel door next to Harry.
"What happened?" The man placed his hand on the neck of the dead man to check for a pulse. Harry looked up in surprise.
The man spoke Russian, which made since because they were in Russia after all, but somehow it had slipped Harry's mind during the planning phase that he didn't actually know how to speak Russian. He turned to look at Widow sharply.
"My brother is mute." Was the shakily shouted reply that he received. He almost sighed in relief.
The Russian looked at him in surprise, but when a rush of more goons came over he pushed Harry away.
"Go stand over there." He pointed to where their working car was parked. The other goons came to stand around the dead body and start muttering. Several minutes passed in this fashion of Russians looking between the car wreck, the dead body, and the caravan of SUVs while muttering gruffly. It wasn't until the second car opened its doors that anything changed.
"What is the hold up?" Dr. Caudswell stepped out of his car obviously agitated and Harry wanted to smile. Sometimes it was just too easy to kill men with overblown egos. Harry spared a glance to Widow, she was the closest so she would have to do the deed. His eyes moved away quickly from the sight. Widow was trembling in a way that was familiar to Harry, but ultimately unnatural on her. It was the shaking of someone about to go into shock and Harry resisted the urge to throw a blanket around her. "What is this?" The doctor apparently caught sight of Widow.
"Sir, get back in the car." The Russian goon that came out of the second car was the biggest one yet and he looked very upset at his charge. "It isn't safe yet."
"Sir, please...it was just..." Widow stopped as another sob wracked her frame.
"There, there, what's wrong?" Caudswell was apparently very sentimental because as he got closer to Widow he put his arm around her carefully. He completely ignored the growling of his bodyguards. Harry smiled when he noticed the small slip of hand that Widow gave when she hugged him back. The job was done, now they just had to get out of there.
"I...I..." She sobbed into his jacket as he made hushing noises.
The large Russian from the back car approached the two and grabbed the arm of Dr. Caudswell.
"Sir, I really think you should get back in the car." He grabbed the doctor's arm roughly and started pulling. Caudswell gave a sigh, but seemed to give in.
"Alright, come on then." He kept his arm around Widow as he headed to the car and Harry started screaming in his head. He had barely taken a step in their direction when a loud shout came from behind him.
He turned to the goons by the burning wreck quickly.
"BOY! COME HERE AND HELP!" Five of the burly goons had gathered around the back of the car that wasn't on completely fire, they looked like they were getting ready to push. Harry frantically turned between the image of Widow heading to the car with the target and the burning wreck. "BOY!" He made the decision quickly turned to the goons huddled around the car. His body fighting with every step he took away from Widow. "Great. Help push."
The burly Russian pushed him to one side of the back of the car, but Harry didn't pay much attention. His eyes were glued to the image of Widow being lead back to the car with Caudswell. The voices in his head were all screaming loudly and he didn't notice when his lips started moving to form words that he couldn't say aloud.
"Don't get in the car with them. Come on you moron, have some self preservation skills, don't get into that bloody car. Don't get into the car with them. Don't...fuck." The last word was said frantically under his breath as his whole body tensed.
He was getting ready to fight his way through the goons to get to Widow, but with one final groan from the group of Russians next to him the car he was leaning on moved and threw him off balance.
He regained it quickly, and turned back to the SUVs. This had gone on too long. His whole body was tensed prepared for any attack that came him way. He ignored the looks that the Russian's were sending his way and headed to the second car.
He got almost 5 feet away before the large Russian that had gotten back in with Caudswell stepped out of the passenger side and pointed a gun at his forehead. Harry paused for a second and evaluated the situation. He could get to Widow quickly if he disarmed the man, the man would reach for his lost weapon and put him in reach of...
"Brother. I am fine." Widow got out of the back of the car shakily. "Please, let's just go home." She turned back to the car and spoke to the man in the backseat. "It was nice to meet you. I am sorry...about the accident." She was still a little shaky as she spoke, but left the danger zone of the car and stepped back over to Harry. Every step that she took toward him loosened the tension in his body. When she got close enough to touch his arm Harry sighed and fell back into character.
The large Russian looked between the two of them curiously, but nevertheless nodded.
"Go home, now. We will take care of this." He waved at the still burning wreck, but tucked his gun away into a holster.
"Thank you sir, thank you." Widow grabbed his arm and pulled him back over to their car. Harry lead her to the passenger side and made sure she was buckled in before he got into the driver's seat and turned on the car. He backed up quickly and turned back down the road that they came from, the entire time he kept his gaze on the rearview mirror.
They were several minutes down the road and completely out of view from the SUVs when Widow spoke up.
"Well, that went great except for the clothes we left at the scene." Harry spared a glance at her to see her wiping the soot and tears from her face, the emotionless mask back in place. Harry's hands clenched on the wheel.
"You don't do that." He growled at her, but kept his eyes on the road. She looked at him surprised.
"Don't do what?"
"You don't do what you just did." He spat angrily. "You don't get into an unknown car full of hostiles alone. You don't do that to m...to your partner." He glared at her. "You don't do that."
"Wow, didn't know you cared." She said it so off the cuff, so sarcastically that Harry wanted to slam on the breaks. He didn't. He sped up.
It took them almost thirty minutes to get back to the city, but when they did Harry pulled into the first car park he saw. He sped up several floors and didn't slow down even when he saw the slightly scared look cross Widow's face. He pulled into an empty spot and slammed on the breaks. He got out of the car roughly and slammed the door shut behind him. He moved over half wall in front of the car and stared at the cityscape beyond.
"That's it. We are done. Paid in full." He almost growled, but didn't look back at the car. He didn't turn when he heard the door opening or closing. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. This wasn't supposed to happen. You don't get attached to partners. You don't get attached to anyone.
"Hey." The voice was soft as was the hand that touched his arms. He glanced over his shoulder at her.
"What is it now? I already told you the debt was paid, right? That's your cue to run like the wind. Get as far away from here as possible." Far away from me, went unsaid.
The girl stood next to him and leaned against the half wall as well. Several minutes passed in comfortable silence.
"There are rumors about you. Did you know that?" The girl asked calmly, not even looking in Harry's direction.
"Of course, I knew that little spider. There have been rumors about me since I was a year old. It's not news." Harry said while looking out at the city skyline.
"They say that if you get close enough to see Basilisk's eyes, then you are already dead." Harry scoffed at that.
"I suppose I have venomous fangs as well?" He turned to look at her dark red curly hair.
"I don't know about that, but I do know that you are..." She paused looking for the right word. "Good, at your job I mean. The best I have ever met, besides me, of course." She turned to look at him. "We...we work well together." She spun her face back around quickly, letting her hair hide it, but not before Harry caught sight of a small blush. Harry couldn't help but smile at her.
"Oh really, the great Black Widow has come seeking my humble help? Whatever should I say?" He paused for mock thought, but Widow pushed him a little.
"I am being serious. I need a partner and I can't trust those incompetent hired baboons anymore."
"Oh, I am better than a baboon now?" Harry asked.
"Slightly better, more of a gorilla than anything else." She said with a straight emotionless face. "So what do you say." The question was serious, as was her face.
Harry paused in thought for a few minutes. It was a serious thought. He didn't expect to ever have a partner again, not after Ron and Hermione. He looked upon the shorter female. There was something about this girl that drew him to her.
"You know, if I say yes, we will actually have to tell each other our names." He said absentmindedly still considering.
"I'm Natasha." The girl said it quickly, without thought. She didn't take her eyes away from the city sky even when Harry turned to her in shock. "That's my name, Natasha."
It was then that Harry knew there was only one possible answer he would have to her question.
"I'm Harry." He held out his hand to her and smiled when she looked at him in shock. It took her a few moments, but she grabbed his hand and shook. "I have a feeling this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful partnership."
AN: Hello there. I have to give thanks to my glorious Russian translator Sehmet.
Translations:
"Вставай!" - Get up!
"Ты уже проснулся?" - Are you awake yet? (Thanks to Nikeya for the updated translation)
"Я бы прекрасно справилась с этим и сама." - I could have handled it just fine without you.
Thanks for reading and if you liked it enough to want more please shoot me a review to tell me so.
~Rain