MERCURY | mcu [1]

𝟬𝟭 | 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

It was a cold evening. Lorena di Santo sat in the back of the car that was taking her to her mission, once more reading over the dossier that had been provided mere hours earlier. As the car passed through the streets of New York, everything seemed so perfectly normal. Along the streets, people were out and about. It was a Saturday night, and everyone had places to be, whether it be a party or a nightclub, or returning home for a quiet night in.

Lorena envied them all.

She knew all entry points like the back of her hand now. The building in which she was infiltrating was one of the highest security in the city, and yet, entering seemed almost two easy. She had studied every advantage point in the last few hours, so much so she could map the building perfectly in her mind.

With a brief glance out of the window, she could see the building in view. It stood tall, grand, overlooking the bustling city below. It was lit only by a few bright windows, and the huge sign that was pinned to it.

STAVROS

Lucian Stavros, a man that Lorena was all too familiar with. He ran the largest research in psycho-pharmaceuticals in the country, and yet he had been all too easy to get to. Not fifteen hours ago, Lorena had taken him off the streets of Brooklyn, where he frequently took liberties in underground bars, gambling away his inheritance and company funds. He was yet to be reported missing, and Lorena had no doubt that the interrogators of Chimera had stripped him down to his last shreds of humanity.

Now, she was after his research. The illegal research that, to the best of Chimera's knowledge, was not yet known to any other organisation. Not to the government, the CIA, SHIELD.

And now, it would be in Chimera's hands.

Perhaps that was not something that should be celebrated. Lorena tried not to care. She knew that the research Stavros had been conducting would be devastating if unleashed. It was a copycat of Chimera's own concoction, something that had gone so horribly wrong in so many subjects, and yet, by some kind of a miracle -- or perhaps, a tragedy -- it had gone well for Lorena.

The car parked a few streets down from the Stavros building, and Lorena stepped into the shadows, a ghost among the unsuspecting citizens of New York.

She walked the few blocks to the back of the building. The cold breeze whispered as it blew her hair back, icy against her exposed ears. Lorena approached the building. The back door was unguarded, as expected, but if she opened it she would set off the alarms.

For all his faults, her mentor, Ivan Petrov, was talented with gadgets and computers. She always carried several on her, and her favourite was the Sonarbox.

He wasn't so talented with the naming process.

Lorena pulled the sonar device from her belt, clicked it on, and placed it against the door. The picture of what awaited inside appeared on the small screen, black and white and flashing almost sickeningly. There were six guards on the ground floor, three at the front door, and three pacing the length of the building in one minute intervals.