Revamped!
Chapter 29: The Secret World of Espionage Part Four
Two Days Ago - Somewhere in the Baltic Sea - Time Unknown
The tension builds in the corridor where Ivory and the assassins are cornered by Sergei and his henchmen. Ivory doesn't look at Clint or Natasha but has her eyes sharply focused on the man who called the shot on Merida - Sergei. Clint and Natasha are blank, no identifiable expression on their faces since their daughter just got shot dead right before their eyes because of Ivory. Sergei, however, is very satisfied that his plan for eliminating Project: New Generation is working (even if this wasn't in his original plan. The fewer of them, the better).
"You've been very naughty for playing with me, Miss. Gates," Sergei scolds her. "Every item that you have given me is a fraud and for that, there are consequences. I'm giving The Avengers full permission to kill you for killing their daughter."
Ivory doesn't respond, her face doesn't twitch the slightest. Instead, her eyes narrow to pierce them through Sergei as she puts her hands up in surrender without arguing. Her signature flirty grin makes an appearance as she turns to face Clint and Natasha. The guards return their weapons to them and they load them in the blink of an eye. To everyone's surprise, the weapons remain in their hands not fired.
"What are you waiting for?!" Sergei yells impatiently.
"First, show me the video of Merida," Clint orders, hands balling into fists as Natasha's eyes go cloudy. "I want to see my daughter myself."
"Denial, I see. That's completely normal for a grieving parent. I'll show you your daughter."
Sergei pulls up the video of Merida from his tablet.
The video shows Merida lying on the sidewalk, not moving, as expected since she was shot dead. The camera then pans up to a nearby rooftop where the shooter is seen packing up his weapon. The shooter looks right into the camera and they see a young man who flashes the SHIELD emblem on his windbreaker thanks to the moonlight. He winks at the camera as he waves goodbye and runs off into the darkness.
"What is this?!" Sergei exclaims.
The camera then pans back to Merida who lies dead on the sidewalks. Her skin is a strange pale shade with dark tinges of blue in it. Once the blue fades and her natural skin colour returns, Merida shoots up and gasps for air. She suddenly scratches at the edges of her face which begin to pixelate. Her face peels right off and reveals itself to be a holographic mask. Her red curls - which were a wig - fall to the ground and reveal a young woman with a brunette pixie cut. She also looks right at the camera, playfully winks at it, and punches it.
The video cuts out. It wasn't the assigned shooter or Merida but some random SHIELD agents in their places. Sergei is pissed, Clint and Natasha are happily grinning, and Ivory's expression doesn't change but she has lowered her arms. No need for surrendering anymore.
"How can this be?!" Sergei demands since it's obvious that he's the only one with no idea as to what's going on.
"Do you really think our daughter would allow a sniper to follow her around?" Natasha questions him rhetorically. "We raised her to be smarter than that. When your goons captured us in Mongolia and told us to call Merida to prove that your live stream was legit, I took that opportunity to tell Merida that she would be followed. You just didn't catch that."
Natasha crosses her arms in pride as Ivory rolls her eyes all this. Clint snickers at Sergei who raises an eyebrow in confusion.
"You look confused," Clint points out. "Allow me to explain. You see, while our little Merida was growing up, my wife taught her how to speak many languages. I'm telling you, Merida was so fluent in so many languages that you could drop her anywhere in the world and she'll find a way to communicate even if she doesn't speak their tongue."
"Get to your point," Ivory states with an angered tone. "We don't have all day."
"You wait or I will shoot you for taking so long," Clint responds. "Anyways, Natasha and I also taught Merida how to speak in spy language. Now, take notes Sergei, spy language is when you take the first words in a prose to make a separate message."
Natasha takes over, reciting her phone call in Mongolia. "'Watch what you say, Мериде. Your words, unlike others, always have a way of making their way back. Back in a bit.' Which translates into three simple words: watch your back."
"But Merida probably didn't know what exactly she was looking for or if she even caught onto the espionage code, but it can't be that hard to spot a sniper, right Ivory?"
Ivory huffs in annoyance and crosses her arms, extremely annoyed to be here. "Yes."
Sergei pieces all this new information together and concludes that Merida wasn't shot but is on the submarine. He immediately orders for all his men to search every square inch of this place for that redhead. They all disperse in seconds, leaving Sergei with Clint and Natasha, and Ivory. Ivory claps her lips together and starts laughing to herself about all this. Sergei shoots a glare in her direction.
"What the hell are you laughing at?!" He yells, not in the mood to deal with her now.
"You," Ivory replies.
Sergei pulls out his gun and points it at Ivory though it doesn't seem to faze her at all. She sighs and rolls her eyes.
"Let's continue explaining spy language," Ivory says. "We'll use something I said earlier." She looks up to fake some thinking gesture, tapping her pointer finger on her chin. "How about we use what I told these Avengers during our exit before you rudely interrupted us: 'Merida will get shot if you two misbehave, you both know that. Is this how you imagined a possible demise for you two? Here at the bottom of the ocean because of your daughter.' How about you translate that for us?"
Sergei pauses to think. He applies his new knowledge on spy language and gets: Merida. Is. Here. Then he frowns, keeping his gun pointed up at Ivory as he fumes at her. Ivory fakes applause for him with a mocking cheery grin.
"It's you," he says, cocking a gun at her.
"So it seems," Ivory replies.
Ivory's face - or what everyone thought was her face - twists into a digital glitch and flickers out, just like what happened to the Merida in the live stream after she rose from the dead. Their faces weren't faces at all, but SHIELD's remote holographic interfaces. The face that everyone sees now is the real Merida Barton. She discards her mask and yanks off her off-kilter wig from her head. She drops it to the floor and the infamous red curls bounce free. Merida reaches behind her back and unclips out a crossbow from her utility belt.
"Before you shoot, let me thank you," Merida says to Sergei. "The unplanned plan was going down right under your nose. Thank you for getting rid of your henchmen which now leaves you vulnerable to three SHIELD agents and thanks for opening the door for me. It makes my job a whole lot easier. And, word to the wise, you will never ever have your trigger on me. I always have my bow pointed at you."
Merida immediately jumps up and kicks Sergei's gun out of his hand with one foot. While in the air, she spins around and knocks him unconscious with her other foot.
[Merida to the rescue!]
