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[b]The Hub, 5th September 2016[/b]
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[b]Interaction[/b]: Stephanie Rogers [@DrewVonAwesome][/center]

The quinjet touched down smoothly and Natasha was immediately out of her seat and marching down the lowering hatch. Her suit, once a pristine black, was now dotted with specks of soot and plaster powder. It was meant to be a simple enough package surveillance mission, but her intel had been a couple of days old, which meant by the time she reached her destination, said package had already exchanged hands and awaiting transport. With no backup, radio silence and thirty minutes until the package was moved, she had been forced to make a decision. The result was probably less ideal than the Director would have liked, but either way, she had the drive, the exact location and layout of the base as well as having wiped all evidence of her presence and thus granted SHIELD plausible deniability should the Croatian government pin the blame on them. All in all, Fury wouldn't be receiving any backlash from her actions, which he should be grateful for. Besides, every action she took had been detailed and reasoned in the short post-mission report she had filled out on the way back and currently tucked into her belt. She would rewrite it properly later when there was time. 

The elevator rose without a sound, stopping three floors up. Natasha stalked through the wide hallway, not stopping for anything or anyone as she headed for the office of her mission handler. To her annoyance, he wasn't in and she bypassed the single lock on his door swiftly. Picking up a pen from the table, she scrawled a quick note upon a post-it to inform him of her decision to keep the drive until he was personally here to take it, and to expect her post-mission report on his desk by the end of the week. Because she sure as hell was not going to leave something this important in an inadequately protected office, even if this was the Hub. And if he couldn't be bothered waiting around for an agent's return, she wasn't going to bother giving him the courtesy of handing in her paperwork before time. Maybe her time with Coulson as her handler had spoiled her for anyone less competent. 

A few feet away from the office and someone appeared near-silently by her side. It was only the familiarity of this agent that stopped her from lashing out instinctively.

"May." Natasha acknowledged, not breaking her stride. 

"Romanov." Agent May returned the greeting. "Hill is requesting your presence in the main bay as soon as you arrived. Which was five minutes ago."

Inwardly, Natasha sighed, sparing a glance towards the first right-hand curve she came across before taking the opposite turn which will bring her to Hill. On anyone else, the look could be interpreted as longing, but she knew there was no time for a quite change and shower, no matter how much she wanted to clean the grimy feeling out of her hair and skin. 

"Was there anything else?"

"None. Though you might need this if the way Hill looks is any indication." 

Both agents stopped, Natasha glancing down at May's outstretched hand which held two small disks and a spare garrote. Her eyes darted up a second later, an eyebrow rose in question. Nevertheless, she accepted the weapons with a nod of thanks, removing the used garrote from her brace and replacing it with the new ones. The taser disks went into the previously empty slots at her hip. May took the old garrote from her hands and walked away, tossing a half-wave over her shoulder. Arsenal replenished, Natasha rounded another corner and turned her head to allow the scanner access to her eyes, feeling a trite better. The door slid open without further prompting. Another few steps, a couple of turns and Natasha spotted the familiar figure of Captain Rogers up ahead. Sidling up behind the Captain on silent feet, the Black Widow made sure to stay slightly to the right and a few steps behind just in case the supersoldier was caught by surprise. It wasn't likely, given her enhanced senses, but she didn't live this long by being careless, even around allies. Especially around super-powered allies.

"Captain." She said quietly. "Any insight on why Hill requested us?"