Forgotten Ghost | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 25: A New Mission

Natasha drove the car through D.C. dangerously, narrowly avoiding other cars and speeding through traffic. Katya just shook her head. Natasha loved the speed and danger, so who was she to take that away from her.

Steve was busy reading his file in the back, sometimes asking the two agents in front something, but he was mostly quiet, conjuring up a plan in his head. The file didn't hold all recent information. Between the conversation with Fury and the briefing on the jet they were going to have, new information undoubtedly popped up. Rumlow would brief them on that, since he waited for them.

The car sped to the jet, coming to an abrupt halt next to it. Natasha turned off the engine and got out before Katya could even unbuckle her seatbelt, and got their stuff from the trunk. Meaning their weapons that they didn't feel like sharing with others.

She shoved Steve's uniform in his arms and locked the car before marching to the jet, Katya and Rogers on her heels. Steve may be leading this mission, but Natasha was the one in charge right now. 

Rumlow sent the woman a dirty look when she stepped in first, which she completely ignored of course. Next came Katya, who got that same knowing smile he always gave her. The one that gave her the creeps. Steve, forever being a nice person, nodded a greeting to the leader of S.T.R.I.K.E., disappearing in the small bathroom to change into his uniform.

Fury ordered SHIELD's clothing department to design a new suit for him. This one was a lot darker, more navy than blue. It was modern, less show pony and more soldier. Katya liked this one better, the stealth suit. 

Natasha nudged Katya out of her thoughts, gaining her attention. She offered her one of Katya's guns to put in the holsters on her thighs. She always carried one gun on her, but she preferred having two on missions. Just a precaution in case something happened with the first one or she had to shoot with her non-dominant hand. ''Thanks,'' she muttered, also accepting the knives the redhead offered her.

She knew Katya's arsenal from beginning to end and always knew which weapons she would like for which missions. That's how much attention she paid to everything she did.

It was going to be a very long flight. The SHIELD ship they were taking back sailed in the Indian Ocean when it was hijacked. For your information, the Indian Ocean lies between Africa, Australia and India. It was almost the other side of the world if you started from D.C.. 

It would be dark out when they reached it, that was a big advantage. They could slip in unnoticed and take down a lot of the pirates before their leader would know what was going on. It would spare them a big gunfight and hopefully some wounds.

The agents on the plane had nothing to do for at least six hours and that was a long time to be locked up in a small ship with a lot of people. It made Katya claustrophobic all over again. What she did was try and get some sleep and ignore the eyes on her. Crawling into the corner of the bench, she pulled her knees to her chest and laid her head to the wall of the plane. It was everything but comfortable, but it was the best it would get for now.

All kinds of thoughts ran through her head as soon as she closed her eyes. The quiet conversations of the other agents were blocked out by the sounds of the plane. Turbulence shook her body every now and then and the cold from outside seeped through the walls. Up in the air, it wasn't as warm as it had been on the ground in D.C.. Suppressing the shivers, she eventually fell asleep until a soft nudge on her shoulder woke her up.

Natasha sat next to her on the bench, offering her something to eat. It was important to have enough energy before a big mission like this, something Katya forgot from time to time. Luckily, Natasha was there to make sure she ate enough to keep her energy levels up.