Shadow

3.Assassin

People streamed through the crowds, back and forth from their mundane jobs in blissful ignorance. None were aware that a deadly assassin was among them, weaving between the people to a café where she could keep an eye on her target from a distance. 
Bringing the porcelain cup up to her lips, Maeve took a few sips of her coffee. The man, Simon Allsgate, was a known weapons trafficker who had dealings in the past with Hydra. Right now, he was meeting with one of his business partners who essentially does all the dirty work when acquiring the firearms. 


Her hazel eyes immediately caught him, looking smug despite trying not to attract attention. He was in a plain back suit, hat on his head and briefcase in his hand. He reclined himself on a bench, looking down at his phone. If Maeve didn't know better, she'd think he was just a busy man on his way somewhere, pausing to take in the scenery around him. Except she did know better. 


A sudden figure settling themselves in the chair opposite made Maeve look up. It knocked the breath from her lungs, stunning her a brief second. 
"Maeve" Natasha curtly said, studying the woman whom she hadn't seen for many years. 
Said woman took a minute to watch her with a glare before easing up. 
"Natasha," she replied in a firm tone, "I'm shocked you've deigned me with your presence" 
The redhead rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses, schooling her guilty thoughts into a nonchalant façade. 
"Let's be mature" she responded. 
Maeve hummed, eyes flickering to her target briefly. Still in the same position. 

"You know," Maeve whispered as she sat forward and propped her chin on her intertwined hands, "I could announce to the whole café that the elusive black widow is here. Hydra want you, don't they? Bet it wouldn't take them long to track an avenger" 
Natasha just smirked in return as Maeve reclined back and folded on leg over the other. She knew the younger woman was just toying with her. Like a cat toying with its prey. 
"If only you could bring yourself to do that. Would save you a lot of trouble" Natasha commented. 
Hydra were brutal to Maeve when she was growing up, most knew she'd never subject anyone to the harm she went through. 

With a wave of her hand, Maeve brushed off the assassins remarks. She had a job to do, something to focus on and couldn't be distracted by anyone. Least of all, her. 
"What do you want, Natasha. I'm trying to enjoy a latte" she said with an annoyed tone. 
She'd gone years without seeing Natasha Romanoff, preferably, she would've liked to keep it that way. Just the sight of the redhead pissed the brunette off. 
"It's Hydra. They've infiltrated shield in one of the highest ranked position. They've set up a weapon to target thousands of people at once and kill them" Natasha explained, leaning over as her voice dropped. 

Maeve watched Simon, a man walking up to him and shaking his hand. She groaned, rubbing her forehead with her hand. 
"And what? You want my help?" She retorted with a sneer. 
Natasha glanced around, seeing nobody looking her way. Music was drifting through the cafe, the gentle chatter mixing with the sounds. Luckily, it distorted their conversation from the onlookers. Not that she could imagine the 80 year old couple next to them being Hydra agents. Then again, stranger things have happened. 
"No," she said cautiously, "Fury wants you to help" Maeve as about to respond before she noticed her target getting up, on his way to leave.

"Wait here" she said coolly, standing up and leaving the cafe before anyone could bat an eye. 
Natasha couldn't help but keep her eyes trained on Maeve, watching in case anything seemed off. She had no idea what the other was doing, only that it included the man her eyes had been flickering to during their conversation. 
Likely a target. Although the guy looked harmless, he could have anything under his coat, in that briefcase. The thought made Natasha tense, a miniscule movement that was barely a movement. It made her get up, and discreetly follow the other assassin. 


Simon cut down an alleyway, making Maeve's lip curl in amusement. Stupid bastard. He was making this all the more easy for her. With a hand to the wall, frost shot from her palm and formed a wall between the other end of the alleyway and her target. 
"Simon Allsgate," she purred with delight at his frozen form, "my client wants you dead I'm afraid" 
He turned towards her, eyes wide with fear. The bravado had been immediately stripped from him at her show of ice manipulation. 
"You, I know you," he said whilst trying to mask his pure animalistic fear, "you're that Hydra agent from that deal years ago!" 
Natasha stopped around the corner, leaning against the building in front of the alleyway. 
"Hmm? Oh, the exchange 10 years ago? Yeah that was me" She shrugged, vaguely remembering the man from one of her last years in Hydra. 
He had a thick beard back then, something not very becoming of a man in his late 20's at that time. Back then, it was his father who dealt with the business. 

He visibly paled, remembering how with one command from the Hydra executive she had slit three of his men's throats in a minute without a second of hesitation. 
"You killed three of my men" he mumbled, shock keeping him glued into place. 
She shrugged, briefly patting the gun at her waist. On the other side of her waist was a knife. 
She took the knife, a sense of irony overcoming her. 
"Funny you should die the same way they did" she whispered whilst walking up to him. 

"You don't have to kill him" Natasha voiced down the alley, not revealing herself. 
Maeve knew perfectly well she had followed and was lingering nearby. Maeve could only think of how hypocritical Natasha was being. She'd killed many more for a lot less. 
Maeve didn't respond, instead spinning her knife ideally. 
"I'll double whatever they're giving you! Please, don't kill me!" He sobbed.
Maeve scoffed, gently pulling her targets chin up with the tips of her fingers. 
"That's not a pretty look," she frowned apathetically, "but if I let you go they'd be on my ass, that's just too much work"

He went to grasp her wrist in a plea before Maeve stepped back, using her other hand to slash his throat. Blood spluttered out out the wound and his mouth before he collapsed. The man writhed on the floor, holding his wound whilst crimson pooled around his body. 
"Happy now?" Natasha asked as she stood next to Maeve in front of the dying man. 
He saw her, desperately reaching out for some help from the new woman. 
"Not really," she sighed in return, "I'll help you. As long as I get to talk to Fury"

The man slowly stopped crawling like a desperate insect, his breathing ceasing as the almost black blood soaked into his suit. 
Her clients would take care of the body and any footage that had caught her. It didn't matter about finger prints and skin under the nails where the man had grasped her. Maeve wasn't legally a citizen in any country, nothing could track her down.
"Alright, deal" Natasha sighed as she watched the blood stream down the alleyway.