Chance - Natasha Romanoff

III : Friend & Acquaintance

"He's giving you something. He's very generous." Irmina shrugged as she started to arrange the photos, catching a bag Nikolai threw at her head with no warning. Irmina scowled as she packed everything into the bag. When she opened it, she noticed cash. Lots of cash.

"Here you go!" Nikolai panted as he handed Maria and Natasha a bottle of whiskey and vodka. The bottles of alcohol were expensive and had the highest grade. "She doesn't get any because alcohol had no effect on her stupid serum." Irmina scoffed and rolled her eyes as she slipped the bag full of photos and cash onto her back. "Here."

"A knife?"

"You're very good with it. It's made for you. You like the weight, the grip and the length. You would use it now but for good this time since you're an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. I will try not to do anything stupid and get on the wanted list, so you don't have to arrest me."

"How did you know she was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"The bird outside," Nikolas informed as he pointed to his cameras. "And who else would recruit this psycho except for S.H.I.E.L.D." Maria chuckled as Natasha was impressed with his correct conclusion while Irmina snorted and hugged him. "This is new. You hate this, but I will savour it." Nikolas joked while Irmina rolled her eyes and pushed him away.

"I'll try to visit more. Don't get into trouble." Irmina said as she backpaddled out of the hangar and pulled Maria and Natasha with her.

"Okay, Grandma."

—

"So the Japanese from that time was your family?" Natasha asked as she interrupted Irmina's inspection of her katanas. They had about 15 more minutes before they reached Osaka. Natasha had a lot of questions, and so did Maria, while Irmina just wanted to sleep. 

"Something like that."

"Now you have you tell us more, can't leave us on that."

"We have a busy body." Irmina pointed at the agent, that was trying very hard not to listen. He couldn't believe he was one of the few who could see her face. "As long as you don't get around telling people, I'm fine." The agent nodded as he sighed in relief. He was interested too.

Who would not be interested? An 85 years old assassin that has been a weapon in her entire life had a family.

"Did you only meet Maki?"

Natasha nodded as Irmina showed her a picture of Maki. Maria gave her a quizzical look at the former Hydra Assassin. Natasha focused on the radar in case anyone wanted to shoot them down. "After World War Two, I ran. The moment we knew the war had ended, I escaped. I ran as far as I could. Since no one knew who I was, it was easy to run and hide."

"How did they find you?" Natasha asked with nothing but curiosity.

"Bushida-sensei found me somewhere in Spain after a few months. He didn't question anything and took me in. I was so hostile to him that he had to knock me out. Yes, a super soldier was knocked by a Japanese Airman. To be fair, I was scared out of my mind, and any man I saw was an enemy. I was utterly weak and a mess. He took me to Japan and secluded me for months. In the months I was in seclusion, I met his daughter, Aki."

"How did you—" Maria pondered before she was cut off.

"She's a rule breaker. She didn't care about her father's rules and visited me every night."