Black Widow: Forever Red
Page 25
She looked up at her brother’s face and found that his eyes were bright and blurry, and in that moment she knew that he loved her, too
“You have Romanoff eyes,” she said finally. It was all she could bring herself to say. Alex nodded. He reached for his sister as she pulled away.
Enough.
We’re Romanoffs.
Like Kalashnikovs, only tougher.
But her brother just stood there, waiting for her, until she finally, reluctantly, pulled him in for the quickest hug in history, not longer than the time it took for two brisk pats on her brother’s back.
“Yal yublyu tebya, sestrenka.” Love you, sis.
Natasha nodded, a pained expression on her face. “Can we just shoot someone already?”
So the three of them went inside without saying another word. It was only when Natasha rounded the corner that she caught a glimpse of her brother and Ava, quietly kissing each other good-bye.
S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY
CLEARANCE LEVEL X
LINE-OF-DUTY DEATH [LODD] INVESTIGATION
REF: S.H.I.E.L.D. CASE 121A415
AGENT IN COMMAND [AIC]: PHILLIP COULSON
RE: AGENT NATASHA ROMANOFF A.K.A. BLACK WIDOW, A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA
TRANSCRIPT: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, LODD INQUIRY HEARINGS.
DOD: You know the Turkish government isn’t very happy with us right now.
ROMANOFF: We had no choice. With Dr. Orlova gone, it wasn’t like Ivan Somodorov could build another O.P.U.S. We knew this was our best chance for a fatal hit.
DOD: You wanted to take out quantum entanglement for good? There was no part of you that was curious to see how the QE tech could progress? On American soil, under the safe and watchful eye of the American government?
ROMANOFF: Because we have such a great track record in that department? Some progress isn’t progress at all, sir. Some progress causes as much damage as good.
DOD: Your so-called unicorns? Vita-Rays and gamma radiation?
ROMANOFF: Exactly, sir.
DOD: You’re not the least bit tempted, Agent Romanoff?
ROMANOFF: If you told me I could turn back the clock and have Odessa never happen, that might be tempting.
DOD: But you can’t, can you?
ROMANOFF: Nobody gets a reset, sir. Not even me.
SOMODOROV FACILITY,
YEREBATAN SARAY
JUST OFF THE CISTERNS, ISTANBUL
A curving ramp took the three of them below the ground.
When Ava looked up, her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the space, and as they did, she couldn’t believe what emerged. Where she was, at this particular moment, didn’t look like anything she had seen on earth before. Lit rows of columns mapped out the vastness, all hidden beneath the bustle of the old city. Some were thicker than others and lit with a strange red light.
They were at a cistern. Not a random cistern, but Yerebatan Saray, which in Turkish meant “underwater palace,” at least according to the placard on the wall. It was a monument, the engraved paragraph said. Constantinople’s only source for freshwater, despite being surrounded by water, was a little river called Lycus. Because it was insufficient to meet the needs of the growing city, the Turks had to build an aqueduct that brought water to the city and distributed it to various outdoor tanks. These were the cisterns.
So said the wall.
But the words couldn’t possibly do justice to what Ava saw before her now.
She stood at the mouth of a vast, shadowy underground cavern, the size of maybe a football field, illuminated with only the faintest light.
Just enough light to count the hired guns, she thought.
She counted as she surveyed the length of the space. The place was heavily armed, but not impossibly. It was the kind of muscle you’d expect at a monument, not a military base.
So there’s more.
The cavern was divided into smaller areas by a series of wooden walkway bridges that traversed the space, suspended over the reservoir of water that filled the rock floor. A handful of tourists moved along the paths.
Tourists. Check. Going to have to remember that.
In between the bridges, rows of enormous columns reached up at evenly spaced intervals, appearing to hold up the carved ceiling. The shafts and capitals were uneven and seemed absurdly luxurious, as if they had belonged to a previous building from a more glorious time.
This was not such a time.
Ava was overwhelmed.
My father came here to work every day? Can this really be where Ivan keeps his lab? Somewhere this beautiful and peaceful?
Natasha held out her wrist. A light on it was flashing, and she yanked her black leather sleeve down to cover it, leaning in toward Ava and Alex.
Her voice was a low whisper. “Look for the entrance to his private facility.”
“How could there be a lab? Here?” Ava answered.
“The cisterns are probably just a way to get underground unnoticed. Think of them as a giant lobby. We probably won’t see anything that looks like a lab until we get to the far perimeter, but it’ll be here somewhere. Hiding in plain sight, right? Just find the door.” Natasha motioned toward the shadows.
“What about Ivan?” Alex looked at his sister.
“Leave him to me.”
“What aren’t we leaving to you?” Alex raised an eyebrow.
“Morale? I pretty much suck at that.” Natasha almost smiled. “And you can cover me. That’s why you’re armed. But that’s the only reason. If it has a pulse, it’s mine. Got it?” Then she grabbed Ava’s arm. “Ava?”
“I understand.”
“You don’t. You aren’t me. You might think you are, but you’re not. You don’t know what’s going to happen in there, even if you think you do.”
“I have your memories,” Ava reminded her. “I know what’s going to go down.”
“But you don’t have my stomach. Not for this,” Natasha said.
Ava said nothing.
“I’m serious.” Natasha squeezed her arm more tightly.
Ava pulled it away. “I got it.”
“You’re the pro, Tash,” Alex said.
Natasha met his eyes. “That’s right. I am. So no heroics. Not from anyone else.”
“Get me in,” Ava said. “I do the thing with the drive and we get out of here.” Her eyes darted around the room, searching for some sign of light that meant another entrance. “As fast as we can. Being this far underground is reminding me of a grave.”
Flip the stupid switch. That’s why I’m here.
She tried not to think about what would happen after. If Natasha was right, it would basically scramble every hardwired neuron in her body. With any luck, it would also scramble a hundred other Entangled assets, wherever they were around the world. Including Alex, possibly. He hadn’t shown any of the signs, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t part of the program.
Ava tried to focus back on the conversation around her.
Alex spoke in low tones. “I’m pretty sure we just walked right in the back door, the one they use for the public visitors, which probably gives them their cover. Maybe we work backward from there? Start at the far end?”
“Affirmative.” Natasha wagged her head toward the back of the cave. “Follow my lead, kids.” With that, Ava and Alex followed Natasha Romanoff out of the light and into the darkness of history.
Ivan Somodorov’s history.
Ava shook her head.
Good pick, Ivan. It’s like the place was made for a firefight. And even better, it’s hidden beneath a massive urban population—with a massive urban power grid. No wonder you set up camp here.
She took in her environment with her Entangled brain firing rapidly.
Perfect for snipers. You could get off a shot from any of the hidden nooks and crannies. Good coverage, but easy penetration. The water in the cistern, though. Need to get a read on how deep and how wide—
“Ava,” Natasha hissed.
Ava looked u
p, startled.
“Bridge.” Natasha motioned.
It was time to move.
They took the nearest bridge, keeping to the side where the shadows were the thickest. One after the other, they moved like rats through the darkness, darting from column to column, threading and winding their way through the wooden maze.
One bridge connected to another above the illuminated, rippling water of the cistern. The reflected light on the surface was beautiful and hypnotic and distracting—so Ava avoided it. Instead, she trained her eyes on the walls in the distance.
Look for the entrance to his private facility.
The cisterns are probably just a way to get underground unnoticed.
Think of them as a giant lobby.
That’s what Natasha had said.
Now she hopped from one bridge to another, ducking behind a column just as a group of guards headed their way, deep in conversation.
Alex motioned to Ava and she froze behind him.
Der’mo.
Ava checked over her shoulder, but now there were two guards at her rear.
They’re switching shifts.
She looked ahead. She could just make out the barrels of their guns, glinting in the reflected light.
A bridge didn’t leave many options when it came to traffic patterns. Especially not when the traffic was armed with automatic weapons. And wearing more Kevlar than a fencer.
Those aren’t guards.
They’re soldiers.
Ivan’s Russian mercenaries.
Natasha gestured—and slipped into the freezing, dark water without a splash. Alex slid in after her. Then Ava.
The cold bit through Ava’s clothes. She kicked her way behind a bridge piling, pushing beneath the surface to another, then another—until she was well out of range of the guns.
Slowly, quietly, she broke the surface, next to the cave wall. Only her eyes emerged above the red-lit water, and only long enough to get her bearings.
Natasha’s and Alex’s heads were bobbing above the water next to her.
All clear.
As far as Ava could tell, they could use the unbroken shadow in this part of the cave for cover.
She followed the others up over the splintered edge of the bridge. Ava clamped her teeth tight to keep them from chattering. Her eyes were stinging.
Now they were in the darkest part of the cavern, farthest from the entrance. Ava tried to calculate the distance she had come; there were twenty-eight rows of twelve columns each in the cisterns. She had already made her way past twenty-two of them.
She did the strategic math.
If Ivan’s lab correlates roughly to this space, the entrance will have to be close by now. A service entrance, maybe, or a closed-off security checkpoint. Nothing out of the ordinary, but inaccessible.
There.
There it was, not twenty meters away.
The telltale construction tape, zoning off a single wooden bridge in front of a lone, rusting steel door.
The door to the labs. That has to be it.
Ava suspected that the posted sign on the door meant “off limits.”
The wood beneath her feet began to vibrate, and she didn’t have to look to know there were soldiers coming up the walkway behind her.
Natasha slid past her, toward the door. She already had her blade out of her belt.
She slid it into the aging lock before she had time to reconsider; it sprang open on the fourth try.
Too easy.
Ivan had all but left the door open for them.
As usual, he would be waiting.
The three former Russians glanced at each other, one last silent communication. Ava knew they were all thinking the same thing.
Have it your way, Ivan.
Let’s do this.
As Natasha pushed open the steel door, she saw that she wasn’t the only thing that had changed since Odessa.
Ivan had gone high tech. This wasn’t the old warehouse on the dying Ukrainian docks. This was a massive state-of-the-art scientific facility the size of an airplane hangar, which was exactly what it looked like. A underground military research base, devoted to one thing and one thing only—and that thing stood carefully elevated on a steel platform in the center of the room.
The O.P.U.S. itself.
Snipers surrounded the base of the platform, which, while only a few meters tall, spanned maybe ten meters across in either direction.
Mercenaries.
Again.
Now that there was enough light to really see them, she noticed they wore the short-sleeved black polo shirts, black bulletproof vests, and black military pants tucked into black combat boots of Istanbul’s police force.
Their faces were hooded in black.
They’re dressed as riot police.
Explains away the bigger guns and the body shields.
Natasha counted the guns as the three of them took cover behind a stack of crates leaning against a curving corner of the rock. There were too many to count.
Her eyes narrowed.
From this vantage point she could see more than just Ivan’s hired guns. She could see everything—and one thing in particular.
Ivan Somodorov.
She watched as he stepped out from behind the O.P.U.S., high on the raised scaffolding that held the device in the center of the chamber.
The ghost from her past was a ghost no longer.
The old Russian grinned from above. “Natashka? I know you’re out there. I said you would come, and you didn’t disappoint. You never do, do you, ptenets?”
His hairless head shone beneath the fluorescent bulbs that hung from the cavern ceiling; it was the only part of him not hidden by his baggy, black nylon track suit. She looked away from his face, but couldn’t move her eyes from the thick scrolling of tattoos that bisected his neck. She didn’t have to see the pattern to know what it said.
“No Man No Problem.”
It had been Stalin’s infamous reason for making all of his political enemies disappear—and to the same ends, Ivan’s.
Her stomach twisted into a slippery knot of muscle and bile.
Ivan looked down at his watch, shaking his head. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to speed things up, however. We have a tight schedule. Twelve minutes, in fact. We can’t keep the children waiting.”
Natasha said nothing.
Alex and Ava looked at her.
“Come out and see your old friend, my baby bird,” Ivan shouted again. His thickly-accented voice echoed in the room around her.
But Natasha Romanoff was done playing games with Ivan the Strange.
She’d been playing them her entire life. It had to end, and not with a bullet in her baby brother’s back. It wasn’t worth risking his life and Ava’s.
Natasha knew that if it came down to it, she would sacrifice her life for them. She had always known; that had never been a question.
The only remaining question would have been why.
At first, it would have been because of duty. A sense of responsibility or loyalty. The nature of the job she’d loved so much and done so well. The greater good, for the most people.
It was an old Russian lesson, and she’d learned it well.
But now, everything had changed.
Now she was learning something else, something she was only just starting to understand. Something unlike anything else she’d felt in a very, very long time.
Love.
Natasha wasn’t afraid.
She was determined.
She just had to distract Ivan long enough so that Ava could do what they’d come here to do.
Alex looked at her. “Tash? What are you—”
She took a step forward.
Ava reached for her arm. “Don’t.”
But Natasha pushed past both of them and took her place in the center of the room.
S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY
CLEARANCE LEVEL X
LINE-OF-DUTY DEATH [LODD] INVESTIGATION
AGENT IN COMMAND [AIC]: PHILLIP COULSON
RE: AGENT NATASHA ROMANOV A.K.A. BLACK WIDOW, A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA, A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOFF
TRANSCRIPT: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, LODD INQUIRY HEARINGS
DOD: What did he really want from you? Ivan Somodorov. Because I can think of easier ways to eliminate a target than dragging her down into an ancient Turkish cistern.
ROMANOFF: There’s an old saying from the gulag. If you mean to punish a man with three brothers, you make the first kill the second while the third watches.
DOD: And this is what you were now? The three gulag brothers?
ROMANOFF: It’s just an old saying, sir.
DOD: I heard another old saying about the gulag.
ROMANOFF: What’s that?
DOD: Don’t go to the gulag.
ROMANOFF: I didn’t have a choice. None of us did.
DOD: I think you’re wrong. I think this was something you wanted. I think you sought Ivan Somodorov out, you went to him, all three of you. You took the fight to Odessa, and then Istanbul.
ROMANOFF: Just as he brought it to the United States before that. Just as he stole a child from her mother.
DOD: So the real question is, what did you want from him?
ROMANOFF: I don’t think that’s a question at all, sir.
SOMODOROV FACILITY,
YEREBATAN SARAY
JUST OFF THE CISTERNS, ISTANBUL
“Ivan,” Natasha said, her voice a low warning. “We don’t need to involve any of them. They’re just children.” She kept her hand moving, slowly, until her weapon was trained on Ivan’s head. “This is between you and me.”
The hooded soldiers aimed their guns at her, and she could feel the snipers moving into place around the perimeter of the room.
Outnumbered, at least ten to one.
Been there before.
Ivan shrugged. “Don’t spoil it, Natashka. I have been waiting for this day for a long time. So have my young friends around the world.” He grinned. “They may not know it now, but they will, very soon.”
“You mean your underage army? The Quantums?”
“Catchy. I think I’ll use that.” Ivan nodded.