1964-11-10 - A Blast From The Past
Summary: During an infiltration of the Triskellion to gather intel on the Winter Soldier / James "Bucky" Barnes situation, Black Widow is interrupted by Director Carter, someone who bested a Red Room operative in the past. Natasha narrowly manages an escape.
Related: A Squad of Winter Soldiers
Theme Song: "James Bond Theme" by John Barry - https://youtu.be/ye8KvYKn9-0
peggy black-widow 


The Black Widow, under guise of Natalie Robbins, Level 6 cleared agent of SHIELD, recently transferred from the CIA, has been able to gain access to the Triskelion. Even worse, she used her considerable skills to work her way into the archive, under guise of having filing to do there, but once inside, her folder of fake intel was put aside, and she's currently actively browsing files, gathering intel about the Winter Soldier. At first it seems pretty lackluster, until she realizes the mistake she made, level 6 wasn't high enough. That means she is unfortunately delayed, by amending her access level on the fly. However, if someone was sharp enough, or accidentally monitoring, they may notice this unusual activity.


Normally, it might have gone by. But with the recent activity regarding Winter Soldier and his clones, Peggy's been on the alert for anothing having to do with Bucky. She has the clones locked up in the deepest, darkest hole she can find after that incident, while Winter Soldier recovers. And unfortunately, that heightened level of security brings things to her attention. No one gets to the upper levels of SHIELD clearance without that paperwork going across Peggy's desk, and she doesn't remember anything about Agent Robbins. What's more, the fact that she's been bringing Sharon back from the CIA means she's had more than a bit of attention going towards that agency and their personnel. It's a perfect storm, as it were…especially given the situation Natalie finds herself in. So, Peggy is on her way towards the archives, to go ask Agent Robbins a few pointed questions.


Natalie grins to herself as she manages to overcome this little delay, she always finds a way, and now the information gets juicier. The programming, she already knows about, only she knows of it from an encounter with Winter Soldier, and finding him thinking he's a James "Bucky" Barnes for some reason. She had no doubt SHIELD has been tampering with his mind, using brainwashing techniques. So typical of the Capitalist Scum, trying to steal what isn't theirs. But now she finds this weird suggetion that James "Bucky" Barnes is a restored effort after a supposed KGB brainwashing? She scoffs at the allegations, no doubt a coverup. Her attention fully invested in her little research, she's not quite as alert as she might otherwise have been. Her cover worked to perfection, she has no reason to think anyone would have any reason to question her now. Unfortunately, she's unaware of the timing coinciding with Peggy's recent direct involvement with the CIA. The lack of communication between American agencies was what she often flourished on for infiltrations. Then she encounters something utterly new, which she had already seen evidence of, 'clones', that was rather alarming, particularly as it didn't read as though SHIELD was responsible for them. "Huh…" she mutters to herself, snapping pictures of documents with a tiny spy cam.


Peggy's no fool; before she enters, she makes absolutely certain there are senior agents on duty. Not outside the room; that's too sloppy, and might be noticed. No, instead there are a pair of senior agents, armed with tranquilizer weapons, one junction away from the archive room Natalie is in, in every direction. And their orders are simple: If anyone shows up that /isn't/ Peggy, shoot them. If it /is/ Peggy and she doesn't give a codephrase inside the first three seconds, shoot anyway. She has no idea what she's up against, but she is covering her bases. There's a reason she's the Director of SHIELD. She makes her way to the archive door, and as quietly as she can, she'll open it. No weapon at hand yet; she wants nothing that could be disarmed too fast.


Even when she's not at her highest alert, something like a person walking into a room with her, even if silently, easily takes Natalie's attention. The camera disappears into a secret pocket as if it was never there the moment the door opens, her hand reaches for the folder with the fabricated intel as she turns around to see who joined her. If she's lucky, it's another agent filing data, and this should be a breeze. If she's not, it's an armed guard and she'll have to blow her cover by showing him why the Black Widow has the reputation she does. Unfortunately, an option she didn't at all anticipate happened. Peggy Carter is well known to the Red Room, after undercover 'Dottie' was thwarted by the meddling woman. Avoiding assassinations, interfering with plans, and getting ahead in an American agency that doesn't have as much merit based promotion as the KGB was a remarkable thing. Peggy Carter wasn't just another agent, Widow had to navigate this encounter very carefully, "Ma'am," she tries to play it cool by responding as any other SHIELD agent might upon encountering the Director, going as far as to straightening to attention, though she does forego a salute. This room isn't the place for those.


Director Carter looks back to Natalie. She doesn't know the other woman, which only helps confirm to her that SOMETHING odd is going on here. And while she's likely to recognize Red Room training when she sees it, standing around gives her no tells she can use. The brunette woman nods. "Agent…Robbins, is it?" she asks. "Everything going well?" She's not really trying to put too much effort into the deception that nothing is wrong; she's on her guard. She already knows something is wrong.


"Natalie Robbins, Ma'am," Natalie says with deference, "transfer from CIA long range recon division." Holding up her folder, she notes, "we recently attained interesting intel about Hydra and their plan to direct SHIELD agents against SHIELD." That is usually a juicy bit of intel that any agency would find A) Believable (all these damn agencies do it to one another or attempt to) B) Important (as in, they'll at least take a look, allowing an option for escape). If this was any other SHIELD agent, Widow likely would have moved to take them out and making a clear escape. The fact it's Peggy Carter, is what's turning this into a show and tell, where neither side is quite showing.


Peggy nods, as if that's new data, espeially since under normal circumstances, someone coming in from CIA /is/ a good cover. "Interesting may be an understatement." She starts over towards the other woman, with her folder. "What have you managed to put together so far?" Of course, once they're closer to proximity, that's when it'll be time to act. Peggy's more a good old-fashioned boxer than a martial artist, but she's not untrained. And a kick to the knee is usually good to take anyone down, which is why it'll be her opening move when she's close enough.


Widow herself is no stranger to 'tells', Peggy closing in distance the way she is doesn't register as the response she'd expect to her news. There's no movement to a debriefing room, no precise question, just a broad "what more would you like to tell me", which to Widow suggests there is zero interest from Peggy. This isn't about trying to assuage the information offered, this is about distance. "That you're every bit as good as advertised," is the reply that most certainly breaks character. Play time apparently is over, and the folder goes flying in Peggy's face, along with a scattering of papers and white powder, meant to blur Peggy's vision. Because while 'Natalie' sent the folder and all its content flying in Peggy's face, she dove for Peggy's feet, attempting a scissor lock around her ankle, to twist and knock her down, hopefully into a table's edge to make this simpler.


This is where Peggy's trademark heels will betray her a little. She closes her eyes as the powder comes up, but then…that leaves her with her eyes closed at a critical moment. Her balance precarious, when "Natalie" catches her ankle, she tips as expected. To her credit, she twists her body as she's going down to avoid the table, though it's still a solid hit to the ground. One hand quickly wipes at her closed eyes to get off the powder; she's unwilling to risk exposure to what it might be in her eyes. "Don't be a fool. You're deep in the most secure prison on the planet." she forces out, a bit breathless from the hit. "You can't get away." Her eyes cleared, she'll open them, pulling her free leg up and closer to her body to use it as a shield or a pushback if she needs to.


The Black Widow is relentless, meaning she's giving Peggy all the credit in the world. Rather than assume she's down for this encounter, she immediately follows up her takedown by repositioning, rolling on top of Peggy, pressing one knee to her throat. "What I can and can't do, remains to be seen, Director Carter," she whispers, before leaning a bit lower and whispering, "you know I outperform 'Dottie' in every single test? You're dealing with the top of the class now, dobroy nochi," she ends with the Russian for 'good night' before releasing the Widow's Kiss, a pinkish hued knockout gas, right in Peggy's face. She needs Carter down to stand a chance to get out of here. She has no doubt if Peggy came for her in person, there are guards on alert outside this door. But she is also pretty sure Peggy is the only one in this building who ever faced a Red Room agent. These agents wouldn't know what a Black Widow is capable off, and so time for games being over, she moves to stand to the side of the door, waiting for whoever will come in when she lets out a cry, "HELP! DIRECTOR CARTER IS DOWN! WE HAVE A MOLE!"


Peggy's good; very good. But she's no match physically for someone who's been treated with the Super Soldier serum. With the Widow rolling to put a knee to her throat, her options are limited. She'll ram -hard- with her other knee, aiming for any vitals she might be able to get, but there's no way she can avoid the gas from this position. She'll hold her breath as long as she can, fighting for all she's worth, but at this stage, the physical confrontation is a foregone conclusion.


The Super Soldier serum sure comes in handy for hand to hand confrontations, almost none of the agents and soldiers who had faced Widow over the years ever expected her to overpower them. Especially with the way she carries herself. There's a reason she's the foremost Black Widow produced by the Red Room, and Winter Soldier would vouch for her fighting prowess even without the serum. The serum just makes her all the more of a powerhouse. She waits by the door, but when no guards rush in, she looks at the knocked out Peggy and hisses, "suka," quite upset that the idiots she'll have to go through has been receiving some instruction after all. She takes out a smoke grenade pellet and throws it out the door. Once the thick smoke starts to spread, she leaps up, and attaches to the ceiling, where she starts to crawl out the door by way of crawling on the ceiling, hoping to avoid all guards in the confusion. All she needs is to make her way to a window, no matter how tall. She figures she can do that much, most attention likely will be focused on eye level after all.


The smoke grenade gets the agents to fall /back/ a little, still maintaining readiness. They're not going in after her; just working to get her to come OUT. Since the Archives are well into the building, windows aren't easily available. Windows in the Triskelion are at a minimum to start with.


This level at least, should be simple enough to clear, smoke providing ample cover and coupled with the fact she's going in by the unlikely way of the ceiling, she gets to the elevator. She does find two agents waiting in the elevator, which she proceeds to take out one with a zap of Widow's Bite, the other with a powerful kick to the throat. She had the element of surprise on her hand, from her she opens the maintenance shaft, before shooting a Widow's Line all the way to the top. It's child's play for a Soldier Serum enhanced individual to force elevator doors open, and now she looks out for either a window or roof access path. She hopes the commotion on the lower level and the fact she knocked out the Director and two agents would be enough of a distraction. They're more likely to look for her on the lower levels than assume she could climb all the way to top level so fast.


As Black Widow predicted, most of the attention is on the lower floor, some reaching to aid Director Carter and the two knocked out agents, other on the hunt for the enemy agent, increasingly sweeping higher floors. This gives the Black Widow enough time to find a window at the top floor, from which she shoots a widow's line and swings down to ground level where she has her getaway vehicle ready. Seems like tonight was largely successful. However, she'll certainly need to report back about the Winter Soldier clones, and the fact Peggy Carter is as sharp as ever. Now that she knows there's a Black Widow about, it'll likely never be as easy to do a repeat infiltration of the Triskellion.


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