September 29th 11:00AM
Location: Saint Michael's Clock Tower
Carlos and Natasha froze as they saw Jill lying on the ground unconscious,
The Black Widow had placed a tracker on Jill's comms signal and thank God that she did otherwise they would have spent much longer trying to find the S.T.A.R.S officer
"Jill!" Carlos yelled as they both ran to check on the condition of their friend.
Natasha gently moved the unconscious women's head to a more breathable angle,
"Hey Jill- please answer me god damnit!" they both spotted it straight away.
The sickly back veins that travelled from an injury on the women's arm it spread across onto her chest and up to her neck and face.
"No, no, no" Natasha whispered recognising the signs of the infection spreading rapidly through Jill's body.
"Carlos, Dr Bard, the vaccine. It's Jill's only hope" she gently took his shaking hand in to her own- Carlos nodded and reached for his Walkie Talkie
"Tyrell do you copy?"
The Black Widow was right, they needed to get Jill to Dr Bard the vaccine just had to work
"What's going on?" the other U.B.C.S officer asked through the comms
"Jill's been infected, we- we're taking her to the hospital, maybe Dr Bard can save her" Jill made a soft groaning noise,
Carlos wondered if she knew that they were there.
Natasha gave Carlos's hand a gentle squeeze before turning her attention back to Jill,
"Jill come on fight it. You're strong, you can do this" Black Widow assured the woman who moaned quietly as if aware of the Black Widow's voice
"Alright, I'll meet you both there" Tyrell stated through the comms.
Carlos lifted Jill on to his back in a piggy-back style carry-
"How are we gonna do this?" Carlos asked Black Widow who was currently checking on the condition of her well used Assault Rifle
"You carry, I shoot anything that moves" Natasha clicked a fresh magazine into the weapon, she was now angry that she had found Jill like this and God help any Zombie that got in their way today
"You hang in there Supercop" Carlos told Jill before they went about getting her the help she needed.
DATE: September 29th 7:20pm (LOCATION: Spencer Memorial Hospital)
Natasha took the lead the whole difficult way over and efficiently killed every Zombie and undead creature that got in their way,
She made sure to ask Carlos regularly on several occasions if he was alright- she insisted that she wouldn't mind carrying Jill for a while, but the stubborn U.B.C.S officer would claim that he was fine.
Black Widow quickly did a visual sweep of the main reception
"All clear" she announced once she was happy that there were no monsters lurking in the shadows.
They took Jill into the ER just off the main reception area
"Clear" Natasha announced again.
There was only a single door that would act as an entrance and exit in the emergency room making it an ideal and defensible spot to set up base.
Carlos carefully placed Jill down on one of the empty beds, it was obvious that the infection was rapidly spreading across Jill's deathly pale skin.
"Fight it Jill" Carlos pleaded as Natasha refilled her ammo,
The Black Widow wasn't one for showing emotions, sometimes even when the situation called for it- she'd often been labelled as uncaring and cruel by individuals that were unaware of her upbringing, but if she could switch places with Jill right now she would, in a heartbeat.
"We're gonna get you the vaccine, you're gonna be ok. I promise" Carlos told Jill who mumbled incoherently,
Natasha just hoped that it was a promise that they were able to keep.
"You should stay with Jill" Carlos said to Natasha as he left back out into the main reception area, however Black Widow quickly stormed after him.
"No Carlos- we do this together" Natasha insisted as she checked the settings on her Stingers,
She still hadn't given up hope that maybe she could reach someone from S.H.I.E.L.D, they certainly knew that she was in the City and despite the destruction she had a feeling that Director Hill wouldn't be so quick to write her off as dead,
"Come on Romanoff, we can't just leave Jill on her own, anything could get in there whilst we're off looking for Bard" he insisted as Black Widow pulled something out of one of her many pockets, Natasha went about using a few cable ties to secure the only way into the room-
"You carry around cable ties?" he asked both slightly amused and concerned,
Black Widow tested the strength of the sealed door and was satisfied that nothing undead would plunder inside.
"You never know when you need to tie someone up" she shrugged and saw the soldiers eyes widen slightly in a suggestive manner,
"Not like that- get your head out of the gutter Soldier!" She glared at him.
Carlos couldn't help but laugh,
The Black Widow so far hadn't been what he expected an Avenger to be, true she was a hero and weather she wanted it or not it was a title she carried with her, but there was something else- something not quite 'honest and good'-
The Black Widow wasn't exactly what Carlos would call a 'happy soul' Nikolai certainly seemed to hate her for some reason,
The harsh words he'd used to describe her didn't do her any justice,
But as it had been Carlos had immediately fallen in line with her orders the moment he'd met her 'trusting these hero types is just what you would naturally do' -
However, he realised that he didn't actually know anything about her,
Sure other Avengers sure you could find a lot written about them, but Natasha Romanoff may as well been a ghost.
"Hey Tyrell, it's Romanoff, where's Bard now?" Natasha spoke into her Stingers
"Got to be in the lab in the back, both of you stay frosty. I'm on my way" Natasha hoped that the vaccine would work-
Right now she would do anything to secure it for Jill and she was certain that Carlos felt the same way.
"Come on- Prince Charming" she grinned as Carlos kept glancing back at the door.
They make their way into the hospital waiting room, as if sensing their presence, the Zombies began to lift themselves off the ground-
"We so don't have time for this!" Carlos yelled as the both of them fired at the approaching undead,
Carlos sprayed the room with bullets from his assault rifle whilst Natasha charged up multiple 'Widow's Bites'
A female Zombie charges through the door on the other side of the room,
Black Widow quickly fires her sting, causing the Zombie to convulse in a net of bright sparks.
"What are those things you wear on your wrists?" Carlos asked as they continued into another corridor.
Black Widow held up the golden gauntlet on her wrist-
She'd seen through multiple variants of her 'Stingers' throughout the years, but these new golden ones were her favourite.
For all her misgivings with Tony Stark, he sure supplied her with plenty on interesting weapons with the 'Stingers' being a specially designed weapon redesigned and updated to suit her needs
"They're called 'Stingers' they can deliver a high frequency electrostatic charge- the percussive energy from one of these blasts can deliver up to 30,000 volts- I call it the Widow's Bites" she smirked as Carlos cringed imagining how much that would hurt,
"Get hit with one of these Bites and you'll be feeling it for at least a month afterwards" -
Carlos made a mental note to keep out of her way when she was using those things.
Everywhere they looked there was evidence that a lot of blood had been spilled here recently- and Natasha doubted that it was purely the work of the Zombies.
The corridor leads to a reception desk area where they are greeted by a female AI receptionist
"Welcome to the office of Doctor Nathaniel Bard, please state your business clearly into the intercom"
Natasha and Carlos share a confused look, neither of them had been expecting an automated system, but of course the asshole scientist had been too quick to end his communications with them to give any details.
"Doctor Bard, are you in there, it's Romanoff. We're here to rescue you, open the door!" the only response to her words was the automated receptionist-
"No voice match found"
Natasha went in search of the reception AI's data input system whilst Carlos glared at the intercom
"Voice Match? What kind of Sci-Fi bullshit is this?" he asked,
Natasha immediately concluded that Bard had in fact switched off the intercom system, he likely didn't want to hear the Zombies outside or- he was worried who might call for him.
The security bypass on the door could still be unlocked with a recognised voice, however neither of them were clearly on that list
"Opensesame" Carlos tried again, but the receptionist repeated it's previous statement
"No Voice Match Found"
Carlos looked over to Black Widow who was still hunting for the AI's override controls anything she could hack into, but she suspected that too was inside the office
"Damnit" she whispered to herself
"My name is Doctor Nathaniel Bard, open the doors please" Carlos attempted his own impression of the Doctor that they had spoken with earlier
"No Voice MatchFound"
Natasha laughed "Seriously" she asked him to which he shrugged
"Had to try" she laughed again, she was certain that Carlos and Clint would get on like a house on fire- she missed him a lot right now, but wouldn't for one second want him here.
Clint always thought that he could save everyone- in this scenario that kind of thinking got you killed.
Carlos next attempted to shoot the intercom
"No Voice Match Found" the AI receptionist repeated itself
"Give it up Carlos!" she yelled over to him-
He sighed, they needed to get into that Lab.
Why would Bard deactivate the intercom system in his office, unless of course he was afraid of something,
In Natasha's experience frightened people tend to do stupid things.
"You find anything to hack over there?" he asked as he gave up trying to trick the voice recognitionon the intercom system-
"No the data input had to be inside, but I did find something that may help"
She held up and old style recorder, the type that used cassette tapes to record voices,
"According to this note, a few of the nurses were secretly recording Dr Bard as evidence in a harassment law suit that was to be coming his way"
The pair had only spoken to the Doctor for a few short moments and yet, believed the accusation completely- the dirt bag seemed like the type.
"Is the recording we need in there?" he asked, but Natasha shook her head,
Carlos could have sworn that he felt his heart drop lightly inside his rib cage,
He knew he was getting worked up when a firm hand grabbed his arm
"Carlos keep your shit together. The other nurses must have the recording, firstly we'll need to get our hands on a hospital ID Card if we want free reign of the hospital, then we'll find where they've kept the recording, trust me"
Carlos took a deep breath, he was glad one of them could still think rationally to come up with a plan
"You're right- thanks Romanoff" Natasha scoffed
"Carlos, by now I think you can start calling me Natasha" the red head smirked,
Carlos felt like the ground could swallow him whole right about now, he was on a first name basis, with an Avenger.
"Thanks- Natasha" she grinned at him,
Carlos's apprehension of her was a well-deserved character trait that she had been dispositioned with since she was a younger women,
Natasha wished she could tell him that it was ok, she didn't bite, much.
Carlos followed Natasha into another waiting area which was almost completely dark apart from the Red emergency lighting,
The Zombies that occupied the area quickly took notice of them.
"Where do you think we can find a hospital ID Card?" he yelled to Black Widow across the sound of their loud gunfire
"I suppose the 'Staff locker Room' would be the best place to start!" she yelled back as she landed a head shot the on large zombie that shambled towards them,
She looked to her left where a set of large glass windows prevented more zombies from joining in on the action.
Carlos went to look through the glass windows that looked into the operating room when suddenly a body under a sheet on the hospital gurney attempted to grab him, Natasha shot the Zombie in the head before it could get up
"Thanks" he breathlessly said to her.
To get into some of these rooms they were going to need that ID Card, leaving the only way they could go to be upstairs.
They followed the signs up to the next floor when it became clear that there was something roaming the hospital other than the Zombies, large smears off blood stretched across the hallway walls- but no bodies Black Widow couldn't help but notice.
Hospital furniture had been arranged to create a barricade preventing them from following the hallway signs any further
"Ok not this way" Carlos mumbles,
Natasha took the next immediate left turn where she kicked open the Fire Escape door that led out on to the roof
"How- how long do you think Jill has?" Carlos asked her, she sighed and looked over to the distance where the sun was slowly setting,
She didn't like placing her bets, especially when it came to peoples lives- but she calculated that most people turned within twelve hours upon exposure to the T-Virus, despite the fact that Jill was a fighter.
Natasha knew that the S.T.A.R.S Officer wouldn't be able to hold out for too long
"I couldn't say Carlos, but it's safe to say that we need to get this done as quick as possible"
They go back in the hospital via another roof access,
She wondered why the hospital staff had setup the barricades, or more importantly what it had been keeping away.
As they follow the hospital hallways further Carlos picked up a map of the hospital layout
"This might come in handy" Carlos whispered to himself,
Natasha suspected that they might find the recording at the Nurses Station,
She hoped that the recording would contain what they needed to get past that intercom system.
Past the next set of double doors the scenes of bloodshed got a whole lot worse- this area of the hospital had be subjugated to a complete blood bath,
The entire floor was covered in 'fresh' blood and there were signs of struggle, overturned furniture, papers strewn all over and the next set of doors had been nearly ripped clean off its hinges.
"Fuck" Carlos whispered as the corpses of the hospital staff came into view
"Stay sharp soldier" Natasha was curious why the corpses hadn't gotten back up yet,
She gave one of them a gentle kick only for it to slump completely down from its sitting position.
Carlos gave the handle of the door to the locker room a push
"Locked" he hissed and then he saw the administration note- something about someone losing their keys in the courtyard.
Natasha made a 'pft' noise as she knelt down next to the heavy lock
"I'm not going looking for any lost keys, we don't have the time" she stated as she reached into a small pocket on her belt and placed a small explosive inside the lock.
She then immediately stood back up as the small explosive completely obliterated the lock keeping them out.
Black Widow kicked in the smoking door, Carlos felt as if he wasn't already smitten on Jill then he could literally melt at the Black Widows feet right now-
"The Explode-y way huh?" Carlos asked her to which she grinned in response.
They start breaking into the lockers one at a time searching the contents for anything that would prove to be useful and hopefully the ID card that they really needed.
"So... I was wondering, how does one get a name like the Black Widow?" Carlos asked, Natasha laughed she supposed she'd built up enough trust in him to be a little open-
"Through Killing a lot of people" Carlos froze, she had to be joking- surly, the woman was an Avenger not a murderer
"Seriously?" he asked to which Natasha nodded.
In the next locker that Natasha opened the corpse of a female fell out, thankfully it did not get back up,
"Well- since there a high chance that we all might die here, you should know that I used to be an assassin, now I'm not"
He stared at the red head and found that the unusual assessment he'd originally made of her now made sense, but also didn't.
In the short time that he'd been working with her he saw her as someone that wanted nothing more than to protect others, that wasn't what he would call the behaviour of a trained killer.
What Nikolai had told him about the Black Widow now made more sense to him- the Russian seemed to genuinely hate Romanoff-
"How do you even be an ex-assassin?" he asked, the next locker Natasha broke into held the ID card that they needed, she waved the small plastic card at him
"Listen Carlos- I can't elaborate on everything. There are things from my past that even the Avengers don't know about, but when I was a young child, I was crafted into a highly trained killer, to be used at the beckand call of the KGB. But, I broke free of all that, it's not who I am any more, but I've got a lot of Red in my Ledger, I'm sure you can understand the concept of redemption?"
Carlos nodded his head, he was completely lost for words and he suspected that she didn't tell him this because she wanted his sympathy or his understanding, she just needed him to know who the Black Widow was, she wasn't a billionaire in a flying suit, she wasn't a genetically engineered patriotic super soldier, she wasn't like anyone- and that gave her a power that many underestimated-
"Of course Natasha"
She sighed "Look if we all make it out of this I'll- I'll try and tell you some more, but right here and now I need you to trust me"
'like I'm trusting you' she ironically thought to herself as she glanced as the Umbrella logo on his uniform.
"Where you lead Romanoff, I'll follow" and he would follow her- even if it meant following her through hell itself.