Diamond Skin[DISCONTINUED]

The Hunt

Mariko swerved the car to avoid oncoming traffic. Her focus solely on the road ahead of her and not the assassin next to her.

"There's a sharp turn on your right. Take it...Now!"

Using the E-Brake she drifted into the turn. Natasha let out a string of Russian curse words as the car slid gracefully. Mariko looked at the red head from the corner of her eye.

"You wanted to come with me."

"I don't like owing favors." The assassin responded curtly, "Especially to a rival."

The woman chuckled darkly at that, her foot not once lifting from the gas pedal,

"Sweetheart, maybe you should do your research before you label someone as a...rival." Mariko purred.

Natasha glared at her, but noticed the gleam in the other woman's eyes. The engine roared as it neared a black mustang with a faint red symbol on it.

"Could he be anymore obvious?" Mariko muttered. She avoided oncoming traffic before sliding up next to him, her dark eyes flicking to the other assassin as she rolled down the window. "You should lean back."

For the moment, Natasha did as told, watching as Mariko brought out her pistol and started shooting at the other car. Surprisingly the owner just stepped on the gas pedal and shot off like a rocket.

"Owl Eyes, get me information on what's under that hood!" She ordered, "And more on his military background."

The Deathstalker didn't respond as she instantly started to work, then she started rambling about how he had something fancy for his engine,

"In English."

"Basically his car goes really fast, if his record says anything he's almost as good as a driver as you are. Almost."

"Am I faster than him?"

"No."

Mariko growled. It was the most animalistic thing Natasha had ever heard come out of a human before, and one that wasn't visibly enhanced. She passed her gun to Natasha, giving her a hard look as she did so,

"Slow him down."

The red head nodded as she leaned out the open window and shot at the tires. After her fourth shot she managed to get the rubber and the car wavered a bit, making a hard turn into an abandoned lot. Instead of following, Mariko continued straight. Her eyes focused on the road as sounds became muted. Suddenly she turned the car into an alleyway and drove through a thin garage door that easily split at the collision, sliding the car to the side, she smacked Wilhelm with her bumper. Causing the man to launch into a nearby wall. When the car stopped moving, Mariko stepped out of the vehicle smoothly. Shutting the door as she strode up to the broke figure, stepping on his shattered arm with a grim smile. Slowly she crouch down with her pistol in hand,

"Kurt Wilhelm, it is a pleasure to meet you. Sadly for you my mission isn't to kill you just yet, for I need information about Project Apocalypse." She put more pressure in his wrist area, savoring his screams of pain, "And you are going to cooperate not matter what. Do you understand?"

The hard boiled German was about to bite down on his fake tooth when she forced open his jaws with a steel like grip. Tearing out the tooth quickly before passing it to Romanoff, who watched her work intently. She tightened her grip of his jaw, letting him feel the impossible strength she owned. He bones groaned in protest as he struggled to speak. With ease she picked up the man and held him against the wall, using a knife to pin him up there. Taking a few steps back to took out one of her throwing knives. Twisting the blade before throwing it with accuracy. The blade skimmed his ear, leaving a blood trail.

"What's Project Apocalypse?" She asked.

"Nothing that concerns you, you dimwitted Bitch!" He yelled.

That word as Mariko stiffen up. Natasha watched on warily when she noticed the snap in the woman's eyes, something in her demeaner changed as the woman walked up to him with an unnatural grace. Her hands caressed his face like he was a long lost lover, but his features twisted as a burning, insufferable pain laced his entire body. He let out a silent scream as she did something to his mind, spirit, and body. A soft smile twisted her features into something sinister as she pulled back her hands, letting his gasp for air,

"That wasn't even my hardest hit." She purred softly, lustful even.

He looked at her, eyes glossy as his secrets poured out of his mouth involuntarily.

"P...Project Apocalypse...is the end of SHIELD...the end of...Pandora's Box...the end of every government you can think of," He started, pain still evident in his eyes, "Sleeper agents were placed everywhere...so secretive, they don't even know they work for Hydra. After our work with The Asset named The Winter Solider, we decided to do a little more testing with different groups of people. Imagine, millions of people who have never broken a law in their life, suddenly becoming killing machines as soon as they're activation words were spoken..."

Mariko stared at him with a pure hate in her dark eyes. They seemingly darkened as she gripped his throat and lifted his bulk up easily,

"What do you know about Pandora's Box?" She hissed.

"Home...Base..." He choked out.

Without another though, she snapped his neck with one hand and threw his body away from her. Growling to herself as she got back into her car, but Natasha stopped her by gripping her arm tightly,

"What's Pandora's Box?"

Mariko didn't answer as she stared at the woman's hand that dare touch her. Then back at those pale green eyes as she moved with impossible speed and fluid grace. Natasha didn't have time to blink before she was hunched over the hood of the car with her arm pinned behind her back. She struggled but suddenly felt like passing out a pain flooded through her. The woman whispered in her ear.

"We'll be seeing each other soon, but I can tell you that Pandora's Box is a sister Agency to SHIELD. We aren't allies, yet we're sure as Hell aren't enemies."

Then Natasha fainted. Mariko easily picked up the woman and placed her comfortable on the ground, putting a knife in the woman's hand in case she needed to defend herself when she woke up. The assassin got into her car and drove into the night. Her mind whirring as she thought about all the agents in Pandora's Box, none of them did she suspect to be Hydra. With one last growl of frustration, Mariko thought about how she would convince Pandora to finally reveal herself and the Agency to SHIELD. It was time to finally meet.

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When Natasha woke up she felt stiff, groaning as she slowly forced herself to stand on unsteady legs. In her hand was a blade she didn't recognize and her phone was still in her pocket. There was the sound of multiple engines and three SUV's rolled into the garage. The Avengers were first to come check if she was alright, then Nick Fury himself came out of one of the cars,

"Agent Romanoff," He started, "I'm glad to see that you're okay."

The assassin didn't give a second thought to her next words as she greeted him with,

"What do you know about Pandora's Box?"