Chapter 28) – She’s Not Gone Yet But She’s Leaving

"…And that about covers it. Good work today, the both of you. I don't know how many civilians could have died without you."

Sat on a chair inside a pop-up S.H.I.E.L.D. tent, Mara and I had just finished being debriefed on the successful Expo mission.

I had removed Mara's facemask and created a head for myself to show our handler that we were paying full attention to the meeting.

May led the debrief but was accompanied by Natasha mid-way through as she then filled us in on the parts of the mission we didn't see.

Natasha's breakdown covered the interrogation of the Hammer Industries employee, hidden behind the gigantic screen of the main stage, and the confirmation that the local control of the drones was overridden remotely.

Not wasting her time trying to re-gain control of the drones from the Expo, or relying on the Hammer Industries employee to do so, Natasha immediately set off towards Hammer Industries headquarters.

Since the headquarters was the last place Vanko was known to be at, Natasha knew that he was the person most likely controlling the drones.

That was not to say that Vanko would still be at the headquarters as he could have given himself remote access and fled the scene.

Fortunately, even if Vanko had vacated the premises, the Hammer Industries employee at the Expo informed Natasha that if she re-gained control over the main servers locally, or destroyed them, the drones would shut down.

When Natasha arrived at Hammer Industries headquarters, she swiftly despatched anyone that got in her way; as Justin Hammer decided to be uncooperative and didn't inform any of his security staff that his drones were running rampant.

This meant that since Natasha was an intruder, they attempted to do their job – couldn't really fault them for that.

Unfortunately for them, Natasha was much, much, better at doing hers.

Throughout the infiltration she was only slightly hindered by their attempts to apprehend her, and decimated anyone that showed any indication that they would try to stop her.

Again, you couldn't really fault the security staff for being woman-handled the way they were. Natasha was REALLY good at what she did.

If anything, they should have been grateful that she only incapacitated them as it was probably harder for her than outright killing them.

You don't get a name like Black Widow if you have to make a conscious effort NOT to kill someone during combat after all.

After making her way into the server room, she found 2 dead guards – hung by their necks from the ceiling – presumed to have been ordered to watch over Vanko and subsequently killed by such.

Since Vanko was nowhere to be seen, Natasha proceeded to try and regain local control of the drones after first making sure to reboot Rhodey's suit, so that he would stop trying to kill Tony.

That pretty much covered Natasha's side of things.

Shortly after rebooting Rhodey's suit, the Iron Men disabled all the drones before Natasha had the chance to shut them down.

Needless to say, by then, we were also already done as we could still hear the metal duo fighting while Mara was catching her breath on the stage floor.

Just before the Iron men finished cleaning up their clankers, Natasha contacted with us and we knew the rest from there.

With the debrief coming to a close, Mara asked, "So, what's next? I mean obviously not right now since I need a good sleep after the long days I've had, but after nap time what's the plan?"

Natasha looked at May before returning to look at us as she said, "Unfortunately this is where we part ways. Ah, that's not to say you're being kicked from S.H.I.E.L.D. or anything. I probably should have worded that better. What I meant was that I need to write a report about my evaluation of Iron Man and after that I'll be reassigned, but it's unlikely that we'll be working together in the immediate future. You still need in-depth training and the type of missions we excel at are different. My specialisation is undercover work and silent assassinations, yours is like a… well… like a tactical nuke. I know you don't know what that is, but it'll become clear during your training."

Since I already had a head created, in order to show that I was listening to the debrief, I expressed my gratitude towards the Black Widow, "Thank you for everything, Nat. You've been a big help to us and very considerate of our situation. Regardless of the type of mission, I hope we don't have to wait too long to work together again."

Standing up from the chair, Mara also said what she needed to, "Like El said Nat. You've done a lot for us, from recruiting us to S.H.I.E.L.D. and helping us pick our handler, to helping us on the few missions we've done. Just like El, I hope we can work together again and that it's sooner rather than later."

Punctuating the end of her sentence, Mara held out a hand.

Not hesitating for a second Natasha accepted the handshake but clearly wasn't expecting what resulted from it.

Pulling the spy towards her, Mara wrapped Natasha in a hug as she said, "I'm gonna miss you Nat. Contact me often and stay safe."

Mara wouldn't have been able to see the Black Widow's face, but I could.

As my host spoke to her, Natasha broke out into the widest smile I had seen her wear so far. Granted that wasn't saying much considering the earlier times were only slight smiles, but it was still noticeably bigger and seemed to be filled with genuine gratitude.

After replying to my host with, "I will, you too Mara." The spy removed herself from Mara's clutches, but not before hiding the smile she had worn with her expert facial expression manipulation.

Turning slightly to face me, she also responded to my words, "The same to you too El. Look after Mara." As she winked at me with the eye that Mara couldn't see.

There was a high likelihood she noticed that I had spotted her mask slip off during the intimate moment, as I wasn't exactly hiding my presence. But considering she didn't mention it, she must have been fine with me seeing it.

I assumed that the wink was some kind of human action to show a tactic understanding between us not to mention it to Mara. Otherwise, she may have become too clingy to the spy.

Either that or she got 1 of Mara's hairs, or some dirt, in her eye and she was subtly trying to remove it.

Once I nodded at Natasha to show I appreciated her words, and that I thought I understood what the wink implied, she turned around and exited the pop-up tent we were in.

With only May and us remaining in the tent, our handler gave us a very brief comment on our next assignment, "Our next assignment will be alongside Coulson, down in New Mexico. We don't get 0-8-4's very often, even I've only ever been involved with 1 of them over my numerous years as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, so it'll be a good opportunity for you since more often than not they can be dangerous. And in the future, anything dangerous means you'll probably be nearby - considering your abilities."

Seeing the logic in our handlers' words, we both bobbed our heads in agreement.

Remembering the last time the 0-8-4 was mentioned by Coulson in Tony's garage, I asked May, "What exactly is an 0-8-4 May? Coulson said to ask you what it meant, but we got caught up with Tony's whole dying thing."

Raising a hand to hold her chin with it May thought about the question for a few seconds before she answered, "Technically speaking the definition is currently up for debate. Previously it simply meant an object of unknown origin. A team goes in to determine if the thing is useful or poses a threat. If it's useful, great, we study and use it. If it's dangerous, not so great, we try and destroy it or, if that's not possible, we at least move it to where others can't use it. When I say previously, I mean prior to you 2 appearing. See, by definition, you 2 aren't an object. You may be a human but, for arguments sake, we'll broaden it to living being, with unknown abilities and origin. We can't really limit the choices to 2 for a living being with an unknown origin. What if S.H.I.E.L.D. determined that they can be useful, but they don't want to help us? Are they then dangerous? Then what? Should we eliminate them, let them go free but secretly monitor them, or apprehend them and throw them in some underground prison? There's a lot of discussion ongoing with the S.H.I.E.L.D. higherups on if the 0-8-4 designation should be changed to include living beings, or if they should get their own code. For the assignment Coulson is on however, it will follow the traditional definition of 0-8-4 meaning it is an object of unknown origin as someone on site has already confirmed it to be an object."

After explaining what exactly the code meant, May directed us out of the tent, "That's enough work talk for now. Let's head to the nearest safehouse to get some rest. Neither of us needs to be here now that the debrief is over and the clean-up crews are fully operational."

Following after our handler, I absorbed my head back into the agent form, while also restoring the facemask for Mara, as we made our way to the car May would drive to take us to the nearest safehouse.

------

Mara was given ample time to sleep as she awoke at nearly exactly midday the following day. This was particularly late for her considering she was usually up, and we were ready for the day ahead, at around 9am.

With the amount of sustenance Mara had provided me over the course of the battle at the Expo, we didn't need to go through our entire usual morning routine.

So, after a quick 10-minute relaxing shower, we were out of the room we had stayed in with Mara wearing our agent form - without the facemask.

Seemingly at the perfect time, May was only a few steps away from the entrance to the room as we exited it, "Good morning, or rather, good afternoon you 2. Apt timing, I was about to come and check if you were awake. If you'd stayed in bed any longer you might have been rushing to catch our ride."

With the handler turning away from the direction of our room, we fell in-line behind her as Mara questioned, "I take it that means we'll be getting picked up soon?"

As May continued to walk towards the main living area of the New York safehouse, she clarified, "Not immediately, but it will be within the hour. From the California safehouse I'm aware that you have a shower in the morning and can take up to half an hour to get ready for the day. So, if I woke you up around now you would still be able to go through your morning routine, for the most part, but might have had to rush towards the end of it - depending on the transport's arrival time."

Reaching the end of the short hallway, we entered the living room as Mara made her way to the connected, open plan, kitchen to make some breakfast, "Thanks May, I appreciate the consideration, really. Do you have more details from Coulson about the assignment, or will we know more when we get there?"

Grabbing herself a bowl, some Honey Nut Cheerios and milk, Mara prepared the most important meal of the day for humans.

At the same time, May answered her question, "I haven't been informed of anything other than that the Quinjet coming to collect us is expected to arrive sometime soon. S.H.I.E.L.D. keep tight lipped about 0-8-4's and all information regarding them is kept on a need-to-know basis, at least before we decide on their classification. Since we're not at the site yet, we don't need to know."

Sitting down opposite the handler, who had decided to join us on the dining table in between the living room and kitchen space, Mara began munching on her cereal while I created a head to continue the conversation, "You said that that 0-8-4's are on a need-to-know basis before their classification has been decided, but what about after? Can you tell us about the 0-8-4 mission you were involved with?"

With food still in her mouth, Mara commented, "Goog questhun Ewl."

Turning to face my host, that had her mouth stuffed with breakfast, I retorted, "Don't talk with your mouth full, Mara. You said it was rude."

Rather than verbally reply, she broke out into a sheepish grin as she resumed her meal.

As stoic as ever, May's expression showed barely any change at our exchange, but I did think that I noticed the corners of her lips twitch slightly.

Like always though, our handler was perfectly willing to assist us in any capacity and thus answered as best she could, "I can't tell you everything about it, since I don't know everything about it in the first place. It was also a long time ago, we're talking sometime in 2003, so 7 years ago. Coulson and I infiltrated a Russian mining facility, not that he was aware that I was assigned to assist him. At the time I was a specialist, basically a non-superpowered version of what you'll become in the future, so I went wherever I was assigned and did whatever ordered. The infiltration was pretty smooth sailing and in next to no time we successfully made our way to the vault the 0-8-4 was stored within. Before we could open the vault, SVR agents arrived at the facility. SVR are just Russian foreign intelligence that focussed mainly on civilian affairs. Anyway, while Coulson distracted the SVR agents, I opened the vault and grabbed the 0-8-4 that was locked inside a strongbox. After I had secured the 0-8-4 away from the facility, I went back to collect Coulson, just to find him being handcuffed and thrown into the back of a van. Letting him sweat for a little bit, I eventually T-boned the van and took out the SVR agents holding him hostage, successfully rescuing him. Much to his annoyance mind you. He had harped on about how not everything needed to be solved with violence and how he could convince them to leave the mining facility with his shoddy Russian speaking ability."

Mara had stopped eating her cereal partway through May's story when she noticed the typically stoic handler had a noticeable smile on her face as she recounted the events.

Due to that she was just staring at out handler, fully engrossed in the story.

When May stopped after the rescue, Mara practically pleaded, "What next? What next? Is that it? What was in the box?"

While May answered my host's child-like questioning, the smile slowly faded from her face, "I was explicitly ordered not to open the strongbox, so I didn't. Still don't know what was in that box to this day, and I'm not too interested to find out. Coulson has a higher clearance level than me, so he would most likely have access to the files if you can convince him to share the details."

When she finished talking, the ever-so-sloght smile was completely gone - like it had never been there in the first place.

Even then, we learned something new about our handler. We already knew she smiled slightly when complementing her fighting techniques, like we did after Tony's birthday brawl. And now we knew she smiled when reminiscing about old assignments.

Well, most likely only the missions prior to the 1 that gave her the detested 'Cavalry' nickname, anyway.

Seeing the expression on May's face revert back to neutral, Mara resumed her cereal.

As my interpersonal skills were lacking, I was unsure on how to revive the conversation and so we all sat in silence as my host consumed her meal.

When Mara was almost finished with her cereal, I eventually thought of another question to ask our handler, "May. What powers did the gifted individuals you evaluated for the index have? Anything like what Mara and I do?"

Unfortunately, it appeared that May didn't like my question.

Although she did answer it, her slightly narrowed eyes and shorter than normal sentences made it clear that she didn't want to, "There were simple things. Increased strength. Heightened intelligence. And then there were complicated things. Pyrokinetic abilities… Sensory manipulation. But nothing really close to what you 2 have. We're still not entirely sure what your abilities would class as. The closest we could categorize it as, would be self-matter manipulation or along those lines. During your training, we will also try to fully understand your capabilities to get an accurate Index evaluation."

Not wanting to talk any longer, May stood up from the table, after she had answered my question, and informed us, "I'll make sure we've got everything ready. You can do as you please within the bounds of the safehouse until we leave."

Mara and I both nodded in affirmation as the handler left the room.

Mara internally sighed as she finished off her cereal, and made herself another bowl, [Haaah, it's gonna take a while before she opens up to us properly. We shouldn't rush it and should just be satisfied with how accepting she's been so far. Although I'm not sure if that's due to her being our handler or her liking us slightly.]

Confused at what my host meant when she mentioned about us rushing, I absorbed the head back into my form and questioned, <What do you mean rushing, Mar? What did I say that seemed to displease her?>

Slapping her forehead, Mara realised she had forgotten to tell me some important information about our handler, [Shit, I forgot to tell you. You know how May hates her Cavalry nickname? Well, the way she got it was extremely traumatising for her - which is why she hates it. I won't go into the details, because it's not my story to tell, but it happened on an Index evaluation mission. The question you asked probably made her think of the event that caused her trauma, so that's why she was so displeased. It's not your fault or anything. She hasn't told us about it, so in her mind we're none the wiser, and she won't blame us for it. It's just with traumas, or anything psychologically related really, most of the reactions are reflexive defensive mechanisms. They need to be slowly worked through, and jumping head first into things can make them exponentially worse. She'll come round eventually. Maybe not to us first, but to someone at some point. That's what my therapist said when I had regular sessions with them anyways. We'll both just have to continue to act the way we have been with her, and eventually we should get close enough to her that she tells us about it herself.]

Showing that I understood everything my host said, I responded, <Sure thing, Mar. I'll try to avoid any past Index talk going forward until she's ready discuss it.>

With our internal discussion finished, Mara made her way through another 2 bowls of cereal followed by some light animal encyclopaedia reading.

Before long however, the Quinjet that we had been waiting for arrived - in order to take us to New Mexico.