Poisoned Youth | Marvel616

Queen

    It was dark in the quiet lab. Women, clones to be exact, naked and in a coma, were in giant test tubes with cords all over the floor.
    "She's perfect," Dr Vikhrov said.
    "She was the fourth one to survive," a man dressed in a black uniform said. They talked like they were trading cattle. Not humans lives. Not innocent young women abused by a cruel system.
   "When I'm done with her I'll make her the best. She won't be a simple black widow. " He smirked
     The plane ride was silent on the way to Russia. The air laid heavy with unspoken words and grievances. Miriam felt betrayed and ripped open. She shared everything with Luda assuming she did the same. The picture perfect childhood she claimed to have never existed. Malcolm's knuckles were white and his teeth were sore from gritting them. Lies were the foundation of his unstable life. People promised to love him as their own only to realize he was damaged goods.
    Luda was in the cock pit. It smelled of stale cigarette smoke and an ash try was filled with cigarette buds. Her breath became more unsteady the closer they got to Russia. She kept asking herself one question, "Am I ready to face him?"
     The loud engines turned to a low hum as they landed in an old S.H.I.E.L.D air field. It was deserted and rather creepy looking. Like an abandoned play set. There were still airplanes and vehicles sitting unused although most were scrapped for parts. Anything civilians could use like motorcycles and snowmobiles were missing.
    There was a rising heat that surrounded the area.
     "No one was going to tell me that Russia could be hot," Malcolm joked finally breaking the silence.
     "Yes we actually have a summer," Luda smiled. She wasn't met with any replies. The wound was just cut to deep. She needlessly cleared her throat. "Alright let's get everything off the plane."
The three rode their motorcycles down and drove onto the main road. Off they went, riding as fast as they can, just trying to forget the events of the last week.
The building was surrounded in yellow tape, but looked untouched. Small police departments can't handle large investigation and government conspiracies, so, for a large price, they don't mind handing the investigation over to foreign powers. Dr. Vikhrov is a wanted criminal in the internationally anyways. The power lines were clearly cut and the backup power ruined. Two bodies laid in front of the building. One was naked and missing it's security badge while the other seemed fully clothed. Their bodies were stiff and rigid and their eyes were bloodshot.
     "They were choked," Luda whispered to herself
     "There's no marks except for two small dots on the neck," Miriam pointed out looking at the bodies closely.
     "Sounds like vampires if you ask me," Malcolm remarked 
     "More like a snake." Lyudmila sighed and grabbed the security key off the man and entered the door. Bodies strewn throughout the building. Most were shot, but there were some who had the same tell tale signs of the guards. The building was small compared to other labs. It just served one purpose. It was two story. The top was for research, labs, and experiments, and the bottom was for the workers and guards. The task force split up and looked through all the room. Needles and surgery materials filled three of them. The sight made Luda sick and bad memories came up to the front of her mind.
Auburn hair was pushed down onto a cool metal table as surgeons surrounded her. They cut into her causing unbearable pain to rack the thirteen year old's neck.
     "Russia can't handle another traitor. That's why we need to ensure your loyalty. This implant in your head is a kill switch. One wrong move and your spinal cord is severed." Dimitri looked her over trying to find fear in her eyes.
     The scene replayed in Luda's mind over and over trying to stop herself from passing out. If he was going to test her pain tolerance, she'll show him what she is made of. A soldier and a spy is a dangerous combination.
   Luda felt acid burn at her throat as she puked in the trash can. She sat down trying to catch her breath. Malcolm entered a room with large computers and papers strewn out across the floor. Someone went through them already and picked out the most important parts.
     A sharp scream rang out in the empty building. Luda and Malcolm both went running to Miriam. With Luda on the left and Malcolm on the right, guns were drawn towards the door. Luda slowly stepped in. "Miriam?" She yelled out
    The brunette was standing looking petrified at the wall. 4 black widow cages were propped up against the wall. They were crawling up the cages sides pointlessly undoubtedly starving.
     "Are you serious? I thought you were being attacked," Luda scoffed causing Miriam to give her a dirty look.
   "I don't like spiders," she mumbled.
     A scientist's key card was laying on the table ripped from it's owners bodies. Luda ran it against the scanner and powered up the computer. Documents and computers all showed up clearly already downloaded.
     "Inna Grigorevna Abdulov. Former agent of the second Black Widow program. Died November 5th, 1991. Subject accepted the genome splice, and seemed to develop traits of the black widow including strength, poison, sharp hair on appendages, and enhanced eyesight." Malcom skimmed the text out loud over Luda's shoulder.
      "He's experimenting on people," Miriam whispered disgusted.
    "Well that's kinda like his M.O." Malcolm pointe out.
    Luda sat there in silence. Her stomach turned with hatred and anger. Dimitri Vikhrov was creating a monster out of a young women. A monster that she had to put down.
Luda downloaded the files and walked out of the room. She didn't bother to say something to the others or keep her guns drawn. She just wanted to get this mission done with as soon as possible. Luda started up her bike, and waited outside for Miriam and Malcolm. The three of them rode off together like old times. In the underground, they were always on missions together either taking down hydra agents or recruiting new agents for the resistance. It's hard to break that bond completely.
     "Brown Recluse to Eagle-1, we're heading out now. I'd like to request an autopsy for the agents who weren't shot. Something tells me this isn't just a break in."
     "Roger that Brown Recluse. I'll get on that immediately."
     "Thank you. Brown Recluse out."
    Miriam and Malcolm chatted in the background as the jet took off.
"Do you think she'll have four arms?" Malcolm asked laughing
"You're an idiot." Miriam scoffed punching him on the arm
"What? They said appendages. There could definitely be like 8 arms or something."
Miriam laughed and shook her head, "I guess we'll see soon enough."
The sky was dark and cloudy as they landed in New York. Once again, they took out their motorcycles and rode into Manhattan. The summer night was warm and filled with electricity signaling a storm.
"Welcome back," General Alvarez said as they walked into the meeting room. He slid a file over to Luda as she sat down, "Cobra venom killed those men, and as we all know there are no cobra's in Russia. There was an American mayor killed with the same poison. He ran one of the last towns to bow down to hydra, and boy did he put up a fight. Seems to me R.I.S.A has more then one enemy."
     "Whoever killed those men stole files from the lab. We need to get those back. Make sure they don't get into the wrong hands." Malcolm spoke up. His eyes were set in seriousness. A trait not usually associated with him.
"Where do we start? We have no leads other then poison," Miriam spoke up
"We could track down people who sell poison," Malcolm suggested.
"The person seems to have a connection with hydra but maybe they freelance too. Any other assassinations we know of?"
"There were several unconnected murders mostly of Russian mafia members, but that seems to be of their own free will."
"Maybe the mafia knows something," Luda finally spoke up after being deep in thought. "I have a contact. A former mafia member I can talk to."
Alvarez smiled contently, "Good get on that as soon as possible."
"Yes sir."
Miriam, Malcolm, and Luda all headed their own ways.
The ceilings were vaulted and held large chandeliers that fragmented golden light everywhere. Lyudmila was dressed in a dark green slip dress and gold shoes.
"So Natalia really didn't avoid death this time." The older man eyebrows creased. His hands reached for his gun holster.
"No but her legacy did. I'm Lyudmila. Her daughter." Luda pretended to not see his threat and showed a picture of the mother and daughter to the man.
Eventually the man loosened up, "A daughter of Natasha is safe with me. What do you need?"
"Mr. Smirnov, what do you know about this cobra assassin." She took a sip of the wine he already ordered.
He looked around nervously like he was expecting something to happen at any moment. "Aurore Landry has come back for revenge. She was taken by Kraken, hydra I suppose, from the mafia. We killed her parents, and created who she was today."
"Do you know where I can find her?"
"If I did, she'd already be dead. I was there you know. I helped blow up her parent's car." Paranoia was evident in Boris Smirnov's voice.
A red light appeared on the man's chest. He looked down frozen in fear and Luda sprang into action.
"GET DOWN," she yelled out to the crowd. She pushed Boris onto the ground and covered him with her body.
Bullets sprayed into the building causing glass to go flying. People ran screaming out of the building while others hid under tables. Fear gripped everyone inside.
"This is Brown Recluse to Nephilim and Agent 9, there is an active shooter outside of the east side of the building."
"Roger that. We're on it." Miriam replied back into the coms.
"You're going to be ok," Luda said to Boris. She got out her purse and put in her mother's widow bites. All three of them used their grappling hooks to get to the top of the building. A women with warm, almond-toned skin ran down the stairs. Her green curls bounced as she moved. Malcolm and Miriam got to the roof top first. They sprinted into the roof entrance and tried to catch up with her.
Miriam hooked her like onto the railing and landed in front of Aurore. Malcolm followed suit and landed behind her.
     "There's no where to run," Miriam said. They both had their guns pointed at Aurore's head. They only they earned back was a smirk. Aurore sent a swift kick backwards to Malcolm's groin, and in his moment of hesitation she pulled him on front of her. Malcolm landed with a firm thump on the ground, and let out a painful grunt.. Miriam jumped over him and chased Aurore up the stairs. Malcolm followed a few seconds later. Luda was on the other side of the door and waited till she heard a hand grab the doorknob. She slammed it hard in Aurore's face. As she stumbled backwards, Miriam kneed her hard in the back and grabbed ahold of her neck.    

     Luda smirked at her, "Aurore Landry, welcome to America."