Retnikopf: Widow Of Siberia (old Version)

Chapter 6 - Mason

The room was quiet. No one wanted to speak. They all stared blankly into open space, letting their minds race through what had just happened. Only Natasha tapped her foot impatiently.

They had barely gotten away from Vienna and her team of Widows. She had to have let them go. There was no other way.

Natasha had a friend. He was her intelligence guy when she needed him to be. If he didn't already know about something, it wouldn't take him long to find out.

Nat stood up instantly when she saw him enter the room.

"You guys look like you been through the wars," Mason joked, trying to ease the heavy tension in the room as four highly trained killers were in front of him.

"Do you know who Vienna Retnikopf is?" Natasha asked, ignoring his comment and getting straight to the point.

Mason froze but only for a second, "why? This isn't something you want to get closer to."

"How much do you know about her?" Natasha continued to question, not letting him talk her out of this.

"Not a lot, only the mess she leaves behind," Mason sighed, giving up on trying to protect her from this, he'd never succeeded in the past so why even try now, "remember that ghost I told you about, very similar, and I couldn't even tell you that he was your James. The only reason we know her name is because she's no military hero, it didn't matter. She's has no records, no birth certificate, no school records, medical, nothing. I think she was born there, in Siberia, raised for this."

"She wasn't," Melina cut in, her face held sorrow and worry like Nat had never seen before, "she was born in Moscow, as part of a program, an experiment, to make better widows. If you never teach them empathy, it shouldn't get in the way later on."

"We already know about her early life," Alexei said softly, "we need to know about what happened after we lost her, about 17 years ago."

"Then you already know more than I do," Mason told them.

"No, we know different parts," Yelena said, the frown on her face slightly threatening, "What do you mean, messes?"

"Vienna Retnikopf is the name we know because its the name she gave," Mason explained, "I had a guy a couple years ago, he was meant to be getting info on her. But he only saw her when she wanted him to. He got the name to me before she killed him, she gutted him. Apparently she has a thing for that."

The room was silent as he paused, none of them were looking at him.

"The code name she uses is Red Skies," Mason continued, "they use a phrase as a scare tactic, 'when the sky is stained red in the morning, you know that she has come' the sky being the ceiling, referring to the blood splatters often found. She doesn't hesitate, she's violent, dangerous and extremely skilled. I'm begging you Nat, don't go after her."

"What about Taskmaster?" Natasha asked, ignoring him again.

"That's someone else," he told her confidently.

"No its not," Natasha corrected him, "we saw her face."

"You saw under the mask?" Mason asked, surprised.

"Alexei broke it," Yelena told him.

"If that's true, and they're the same person," Mason said taking a deep breath, "she's not gonna thank you for that. She doesn't have a forgiving reputation."