Beauty and the Beast

Miss Izabella

The doctor pulls open the door and holds it to permit the Russian to enter first. Natasha accepts his chivalry and lead the couple purposefully to the counter,

"We need to speak with whoever is guarding over an 'Izabella Mikhailov,' Natasha flashes an identification, 'I need access to room 418 on the emergency floor."

The woman behind the desk flips through papers handing her the key, "Here, Miss Natalie Rushman. Our contact mentioned you were bringing a physician, is that right?"

"'Physicist', there's a big difference,"

Bruce retorts abruptly.

He's taking offense over something based on his scoff and the way he glares between Natasha and the lady behind the desk.

Natasha raises a hand over his clear irritation to shut him up and move on with their mission, "He's my partner, yes."

"Partner."

The lady behind the desk offers a clipboard where Natasha signs off on her cover name, adding a plus one;

"Here Doc. They just need an initial."

Bruce takes the pen and scribbles hard enough to leave an intent. He rolls his eyes and Natasha holds a fake friendly smile.

The lady offers a key, nodding with a hint of suspicion, "Good luck."

The couple dash through the long hallways next and turn a corner.

Bruce mumbles upon getting over his misinterpreted job description, "Natalie Rushman'...Who is 'Natalie Rushman'..."

She shrugs her shoulders as they enter the elevator with a coy grin, "Ask your boss."

"Tony? Why would Tony know- you know what, I don't need to know- I don't want to know."

"You don't think I let every stranger call me 'Natasha' do you?"

He holds a cautious focus on the keypad and punches in their desired floor, "Apparently not...So when we met in Calcutta-."

"That wasn't an undercover mission."

"No alias necessary?"

The doors close as she looks over her written notes from Fury's phone call, reading them aloud, "Let's talk about our girl here, Izabella Mikhailov."

"So she's Russian."

"Mm,' Natasha tilts her head, trying to hide the fact that underneath her cold expression she's just a bit triggered, 'After Mrs. Mikhailov, Izabella's mother, was swindled out of her profitable design company, she was hunted and killed leaving behind a daughter-."

"Where's the deadbeat dad."

Natasha checks her paper, "It looks like her father passed away soon after she was born..."

"...Whoops."

Natasha studied her friend as he tucks his head and stares at the ground. His voice is cold. Sarcasm at an all time high.

She continues;

"It looks like the girl was found in her home after the event, multiple bruises and scrapes from the attack-."

"In the house, where they killed her mother," he asks numbly, eyes lifting stoically. He's triggered next, arms crossing in a standoffish motion.

"It looks like she was on track to make a bunch of money this year. Unfortunately there's very little record of her finances. Everything I can see here looks...average. Her business wasn't failing but it wasn't thriving either..."