A black widow can cause severe systemic distress with a single bite, within an hour. It's no exaggeration to say that 1 bite from a black widow can cause the human system to collapse. A fine line, the width of silk, but unimaginably strong alone. A Black Widow, black and red.
Natasha was swift in her thoughts; no matter how a human might plan, against a bite from a black widow, failure is to be expected. As a trained spy, she focused on completing the mission; unless stated otherwise, the enemy would not be kept. She was ordered to end the situation, and from the file she received, it was clear that all that was needed was the hostages alive and 1 captor, if possible.
She was at the end of the vent, as she peered through the cracks at the scared hostages and the desperate/vicious captors. She gently opened up the vent and climbed out on all fours. She dangled briefly before she silently launched herself across from the vent opening to a horizontal support beam.
When she had seen the bomb earlier, she studied it intently, from her knowledge of bombs and the like, the mechanism to trigger it was on a timer, she had been listening, and every 1 minute, a slight but noticeable sliding sound would escape the bomb. She didn't rule out a wireless trigger, but for that, it would require constant surveillance of the building; she had the other agents with her search the surroundings, and with the heavy rain and fog, the news crews outside wouldn't be able to capture anything worthwhile for said activator.
Since the bomb had yet to detonate, plus the captors wanted the Slaughter, so if an activator existed, they would wait unless anything special happened.
Natasha was above a locked entrance leading outside. She was certain some of the hostages saw her, but knew the captors didn't. She could not know how the bomb vests worked, so killing them was out of the question in case they were the activator without knowing it. She sent a message to the agents outside to discreetly cover the entrance of the mall, as she set up an exit.
The fog and the storm were great cover. She used a built-in EMP to disable the door and alarms, and she gently slid the doors open. She turned back around and silently made her way to some hostages at the back. She made a 'shh' gesture and picked them up 1 by one and carried them out. There were too many to realistically carry all out, but she carried a few out for a reason. She was betting on one of the least stable captors to notice a change and make their way here.
As they always say, you can't lose in gambling, you can only win, and the Black Widow won.
It was not really gambling, truth be told. She was trained as a spy, and understanding human behavior was something she was taught aggressively. Her decision-making all had a basis, and she could tell from a glance many things, and with more than a glance, she could figure out character and current problems.
The D-class that were forced to submit to the leaders, weren't glad for anything, and when 1 noticed a change, they went to investigate, without telling the others. They were a bit quiet when they broke off, but some still noticed, yet they didn't care, as they saw nothing worth hollering for.
Natasha was hiding with the hostages; she had taken a coat from one of the people she took out and was now wearing it, head down. Her ears were listening as footsteps approached, but she stopped a distance away. She waited for a moment to determine a few things about the bomb vest. She noticed the bomb vest had grenades all strapped with a string; the mechanism is also a timer, however. She needed to be certain of something before the D-class could process a change; he was already unconscious.
Natasha had performed a quick knockout. She pulled him back before any of the captors saw and hid from sight with the unconscious D-class. Getting a closer look at the bomb vest, it was very crude. A Kevlar vest, fitted with grenades, and a simple timed trigger, no other extra triggers. With the new injection of information, Natasha saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
She didn't wait any longer and started the end. With 1 already knocked out, she didn't need the other alive, but she decided to get one of the leaders, as they are more level-headed.
Before the hostage's eyes, she leaped into the air and slammed down hard. One of the leaders had his spine broken within a second. The other D-class didn't react fast enough and were shot or kicked so hard their jaw dislocated. She made quick work of the D-class; some managed to get bullets out, but they missed and ended up with a bullet to their head or an exploded heart.
By the time she was done, the agents hiding outside had made it barely to the entrance.
"Don't stare, lockjawed. The bomb is on a timer; we need to get all these people out." The civilians panicked at her words and rushed for the exit, but as they were closing, they funneled to the only open exit.
The other agents wanted to open it up more, but were stopped by Natasha.
"Don't we can't risk a person outside watching the news to flick a switch?" She stopped them in their tracks and instead hurried them over to open up the more discreet exits.
The rain was still pouring down; in fact, it got even worse. Hail was coming down mixed with the rain. The thunder was still cracking and illuminating the clouded sky. By this time, all hostages were taken out, and only the bomb was left. They couldn't figure out how much time was left, unless someone went back in with the bomb.
Nobody wanted to. Eventually, someone was dumb enough to go back in. The bomb had zero time indicators other than the grinding every minute Natasha had reported. The one who went in didn't hear it until he pressed a stethoscope to the bomb, and the sound was undeniable.
The grinding was present just as it had been told.
With the conformation they were able to make arrangements. Since nobody wanted to die, and malls are falling out of style, they decided to just let it blow. They can't tell how much time is left, so it's better this way.
[In a place]
The agents handling the containment of slaughter were still doing their due diligence and trying their best to lead it to the trap they had set up. With the shallow hole, they were planning on leading it there and dropping a dome-like thing to keep it temporarily under control. Then the reinforcements from SHEILD would bring an actual cell.
They were haggard and exhausted from all that leading. The suits they were wearing made things worse, because for some reason, nobody thought to change clothes before leading an actual monster. The fog made everything even more demanding, as they couldn't see or hear 280 getting close until it was right in their face; essentially, they were playing prime FNAF 4, with deadly consequences.
Clint was watching over them so they didn't get hurt badly, but some still got scratches and gashes. It was okay, though, they only had a bit of way to go!
As for reinforcements... They were held up, probably going to be late or never arrive. The MTF that deals with the living dead can discern the dead from the living, but they don't because if someone is alive anywhere they are hunting, it means bad news. In this case, they are after 280 and have intel that it escaped and is out there. They also just received better intel that points them to the exact location of 280, since reinforcements are just casually sitting in the location with a 500kg bomb.
This is good news for them, as any normal and mentally stable individual would do; they pulled the trigger and watched the mist eradicate under the golden and orange kaboom. It happened suddenly, it would say in documents, or it was actually a 500kg bomb. It lit up the rainy afternoon, within proximity. Only a few farmers witnessed it, and 1 person was filming a video. It captured the explosion from afar, a blur behind the clouds, which quickly fizzled out. It would spark rumors, but never will it be revealed that a bomb went off.
The few farmers who saw it would be paid to say they were asleep like a roach in a rug.
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That's the end of this chapter.
1457 Words
SO! I started writing this the Sunday before last week, but when I showed up to class I was hit with the meanest set of assignments and assessments, thus no updates, this week is no better as college finals are literally due this week for me, so prob no updates until the weekend or something.
BTW we can ignore logical fallacies okay? I wanted to write something cool/actiony 🥹✌️