Friday, 12th June 2009
Clint, Maria and Natasha were in their Quinjet with several other agents. Natasha had kept her words with the mysterious German assassin. They were on their way to Siberia where Irmina had been for the last three years.
"Couldn't it be a trap?" Clint voiced as he set the Quinjet on autopilot. Maria looked over to Clint and then to Natasha, who was glaring at her best friend. The agent who co-pilot with Clint pretended that he wasn't there. "What? I'm just saying what we all are thinking."
"We have kept track of the activities of her location. The last time there was movement was three years ago."
"It's abandoned. Plus, if she wanted to kill any of us, she would have done it three years ago." Maria voiced as she checked her firearm. Clint checked on his bow and arrows, and Natasha checked on her bites and firearm. "Easy for her."
"Extremely easy," Natasha rephrased.
"King. A Nazi General from World War Two, who happens to be the only person with more kills than the Winter Soldier. Or anyone else. Fun." Clint whined, receiving smack from Natasha.
"She trained me after my graduation." Clint choked on his drink as Maria faltered with her equipment checks. The agent choked on his saliva as he tried to look away from Natasha. Natasha finally figured out why she felt familiar with her. Natasha fidgeted with her firearm while Clint and Maria waited for her to explain. "I've never seen her face. She trained me for a month, and she was gone. Back into ice, as they said. She had no memory of who I am."
"If Fury didn't want us to recruit her, he would have ordered to kill her." Maria reasoned as she stretched herself.
"We're here." One of the agents said as he took over the controls.
"Damn, it's fucking cold here." Maria expressed as she stepped onto the snow. Natasha breathed the cold air as she checked on her tracker. The seven agents with them checked the area for any danger or traps, but there were none; not even a single soul was there.
Maria led the way to where Irmina was. She was in the cave with nothing. No security or equipment. They walked further in and found a cryostasis. One body in it. The body of Irmina König. Her stats and conditions were perfect. Her face was covered. Maria ordered the two agents to figure out how to get her out alive. Natasha checked every cave pocket with Clint, finding files and technology here and there until she found a box with King painted red. She opened it to see her set of clothes, files, katanas and suit.
"What did you find—"
"Use non-lethal!" Maria ordered as she watched Irmina take down two of her agents. One agent shot a taser at her, but she just took it off and glared. She took him down as well as the other two.
There was no intent to kill except to escape.
Irmina looked up to Natasha, who was pointing her love bites at her. Maria stood back with Natasha and Clint, trying to figure out how to knock her out without serious injuries. One agent pointed his firearm at Irmina, but she took it out of his hands and snapped it in half. Clint shot an exploding arrow to the ground. Irmina was thrown back by the explosion; she got up, her mind fuzzy as she scanned the familiar redhead.
Her brain was finally able to think correctly. Then, finally, she recognised who had woken her up.
"Bad day?" Irmina coughed as she rubbed the back of her head.
Natasha exhaled with a smile and replied, "would be better if you showed me the rest of your face."
"No can do, Angel. That would lose my charm," Irmina chuckled as she helped the agents. "Sorry, I thought you were them."
"Hydra?" Clint stated with his aim still on her. Maria pushed his bow down, and when he didn't budge, she ordered him to stand down. Natasha held onto the katanas tighter; she wanted to ensure she was back. "I thought they were gone?"
"Yep, sorry. Damn, they put me in a cave instead. Well—there's a few. Might be gone, not sure." Irmina stretched herself as she eyed her katanas in Natasha's arm. Irmina smiled, remembering that Natasha kept the words. "Thank you for keeping your word and getting me out, Black Widow."
"Ah, we're even now, King." Natasha teased while Clint and Maria watched their interaction, very amused. They were very compatible; this was the first time Natasha enjoyed talking to another person.
Even better, flirt.
Maria cleared her throat, getting her agents to work while Natasha handed Irmina her katanas with her classic smirk, and Clint went out to the jet. Irmina went to her box of things and checked for something to wear. She was wearing a sleeveless turtleneck and military trousers, so she was freezing. Her mask still on. Irmina slid her jacket and gloves, trying to find some shoes. After digging, she found some combat boots under her files. Natasha stood beside her, watching her put her shoes on.
"What's so interesting about me wearing my shoes?" Irmina asked while Natasha shrugged, slightly amused at the assassin. "I think you guys might want to bring this with you. It's everything you can know about me. I think." Irmina stopped the agents and took out a few photographs from her files.
"What did you take?" Natasha pestered, but Irmina just shrugged and followed Maria to the Quinjet. "King!"
"Irmina. Irmina König."
"Okay, Irmina, show me what you took."
"Das nächste Mal, Engel."
—
Irmina handed Natasha her katanas and her jacket, knowing full well that they would arrest her right when she left the jet. Natasha was the only one she trusted with her things. But she doesn't fully trust her.
Not yet.
Irmina showed her hands to one of the agents and waited for him to cuff her. The agent was confused and looked at his teammate for help. Irmina chuckled under her breath as she watched the confused faces of the agents.
"Cuff me."
"Oh!" The agent looked over to his commander, and she gave her a nod. His friend handed him the cuffs, and he put them on her wrist. Maria and Natasha laughed as they panicked a little while Clint held back his. He grew fond of her within the hours they spent together on the Quinjet, as did everyone on the jet. "Sorry."
Irmina smiled as she sat back down beside Natasha. They had an hour left before reaching the Headquarters. Natasha spends a good five minutes checking her out. Irmina couldn't help but smile at the Russian. That small notion told Natasha that she had been caught staring.
"So 1923," Clint voiced, trying to get to know her more.
"Yep, I'm old."
Clint wanted to ask more, but Maria stopped him. "Let's keep it for interrogation." Irmina nodded, thankful for the Commander, as her attention turned to her files that were being organised. There's no way she can walk free after this. But even if she's in prison, she will escape it anyway. "He wants to recruit you. Your skills are better to be used than to be wasted."
"I will take that as a compliment."
"I have one question for you. Why do you keep doing what they ordered?"
"To get myself killed."
The agents stopped what they were doing and looked at her. They didn't know what to say or do. Irmina gave out a soft chuckle and started to pick on her fingers. Natasha looked down at her hands as Maria cleared her throat, signalling everyone to go back to work. Clint went back to flying the jet. Maria made sure her agents were doing the right things. Natasha placed her hand on Irmina's to stop her from hurting herself.
"You had no choice."
"I did," Irmina sighed as she leaned her head onto the wall of the jet. She shut her eyes, not wanting to be spoken to anymore. She moves her hands, getting rid of the warmth Natasha's hand provides. Irmina drifts off to sleep, avoiding everything.
"King, we're here," Natasha nudged her awake. Irmina frowned when she heard Natasha use her blood-covered name. Irmina stood up as two agents waited for her. Clint, Maria and Natasha stood in front of her as the two agents stood beside her and the rest behind her.
—
Fingers tapping furiously on the table, in morse code, it translated to "Death with Honour." Irmina was bored out of her mind. She stayed cooped up in the interrogation room for so long. Irmina looked at the cuffs and chains, knowing she could break them. She pulled hard on her chain, and it broke. She looked at the surveillance camera, showed them her cuffs and broke them with one swift pull.
On the other side of the camera, Maria and Natasha smirked, impressed, while Fury scoffed in disbelief, and Clint tried hard to hold back his smile.
He did like her, after all.
Irmina perked up when she heard the door open. The Director and his second entered with files in their hands.
Finally, she can get out of this room to a bed, maybe a bed.
"Care to remove the mask?" Fury asked, still standing as Maria locked the door.
"Not unless you want me to kill you. Very few get to stay alive after they see my face. The whole ordeal," Irmina dished out as she nodded over to the cameras. Fury glanced at Maria and nodded as she switched off the cameras; only the audio could be heard from the interrogation.
"How about now?" Fury asked, still polite. Irmina removed her mask and smiled at the two, who were taken aback by her beauty. Irmina was like a goddess, from her face to her body to her voice. Everything about her appearance was perfect.
"Irmina König, born on the third of October 1923. Am I right?" Maria confirmed as they took a seat; the Commander received a nod from the Assassin. Irmina realised that even her files didn't have a picture of her. "You are nicked named 'King', is that right?" She nodded in confirmation.
"There's not much to question you, to be frank." Fury voiced as he watched Irmina closely with his remaining eye. Irmina gave him a small smile, maintaining eye contact with the Director. "So why did you turn yourself in?"
"Got tired."
"What do you want?" Fury questioned.
"Use my specific skill set for the better or return to Japan."
"Agent Romanoff said that you had a choice."
"Right. I can choose not to kill the targets, but they will be eliminated sooner or later. Or maybe they would have lived a long life. We can't find that out now, can we? Or I could have killed myself, and more people would have lived, but for some reason, I couldn't do it." Maria clenched her jaws as she watched Irmina closely as Fury gave her no chance of emotions on his face. Or so he thought. "If I failed any missions, I would get tortured, my mind getting fucked by them and memories gone. So to save myself, I execute my missions. All of them. I try to give them a quick and painless death."
"Either they suffered their fate, or you did." Irmina nodded with dull eyes. "Is there anything you want to tell us about World War Two?"
"World War Two started because of me."
"How?"
"Because of my very first successful assassination."
"Target?" Fury asked in a blunt tone. There's no need to sugarcoat it.
"My own father. He ordered his own assassination."
"Wasn't he one of the high ranks?" Maria asked, baffled as she looked up from her papers.
"He was, but to prove to Hitler that I was a successful experiment, killing him was the best plan." Irmina sighed as she scratched her forehead. "I can carry out my orders without my emotions or hesitation. So I murdered my own father at 16 because I was told to do so."
"Damn."
"I was a perfect German and everything. White, blonde hair, blue eyes and tall, all that jazz. The only downside at the time was I was a woman."
"Hm, you were to their ideologies. You have been active since then. Several high ranks from different countries. You were a big name on the battlefield. King of War." Fury praised, impressed but terrified, and so was Maria. Irmina was stronger than most who would have walked the Earth.
"Why, King and not Queen?"
"Germany can't let the world know they have a girl on the battlefield, can they? Most German women are in the auxiliary units. I was the only one on the field, killing for a dictator. Plus, it's my name. König equals King."
"You have a lot of kills under your name, King." Fury said as he shut the files, reading another nickname. Irmina clenched her jaws and exhaled slowly through her nose.
"Yeah, that happens when you put a trained soldier, one very hard to kill, in a war for five years. And I did all that without the serum. Until it got a lot higher after 1943. The birth of Captain America was the birth of SS-Oberführer König, known to the world as General King, which sounds terrible now that I ponder. I was just SS-Obersturmführer König, which was First Lieutenant König/King. Massive promotion."
"You were also a War Hero, respected by many countries." Fury voiced as Irmina frowned and let out a shuddering breath. She hated being called a hero, not especially with the blood on her hands. "King of the Shadows, that was the other name they called you."
"Appearing out of the shadows was kinda my thing, still is," Irmina said as Maria glanced at her, and both she and Fury knew she wasn't telling them everything. Irmina got the gist that they knew.
It was better that they didn't know that particular thing about herself.
"So you went against Captain America."
"Oh yeah, we loathe one another. I was doing what I was ordered while he was doing for freedom. When we fought, he went all patriotic without knowing I was forced. I mean, I was a Nazi. It was annoying. He lost every time, so I was satisfied." Maria hid her smile by looking at the files as Fury raised his brow, amused with how calm she was. Irmina is telling them everything like it is a bedtime story. "And I'm pretty sure he's pissed off that I was, you know a war he—anyways, how old am I?"
"85," Maria answered. Irmina nodded with a scrunched nose. Damn, she is old.
Technically a MILF.
Anyway...
"Also, there are more super soldiers like me, but I don't know where they are, but I know they are on ice. They can overpower the original Winter Soldier but not me. During one of the training, they lost control and started a riot. They were an elite group before the serum, with more kills than everyone else in Hydra, except for me. Then on, Hydra uses only the Winter Soldier and me, easier to control. I had a few broken bones; damn, they were annoying."
"What happened to them?" Maria asked, smiling at Irmina.
"The mental side effect of Stark's serum. Their minds were already corrupted, so the corruption got worse with the serum."
"It's different with Captain America." Irmina nodded in confirmation at Maria as she took one of her files and decided to read it. "And for you, you were the same as the Captain."
"Oh, don't say it like that. He was insufferable. I was less annoying and more likeable. The serum in me was sure to be perfected over the years."
"Your mind was not corrupted like him. If not, you would be dangerous and mindless killers like them." Maria continued. "You are a good person with her hands forced."
"You could have killed my agents years ago, but you didn't. You could have killed my agents when they woke you up, but you didn't. You could have killed us here and now and escaped, but you didn't. Even with the serum, you are still yourself, a good person. You probably heard from Agent Hill that I want to recruit you. I have a knick-knack for recruiting certain people."
"Yeah, I noticed." Irmina joked, tears begging to fall as Fury broke into a smile. Maria was flabbergasted by what she had noticed, and so did anyone watching the interrogation.
Fury smiling. He's gone insane.
"You will be close to Agent Romanoff in the sense of your living quarter. Your weapons privileges will be on hold, but you can train with the Agents. And You're Agent Hill's shadow." Irmina looked at Fury, making sure that Natasha was okay with it.
"Don't worry. We're the ones that suggested it."
"Oh really?" Irmina smirked as Maria nodded with a smile and winked at her.
"You have a good heart, a strong one too." Irmina smiled as she held back her tears; it was getting harder to do so. "Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D, Agent."
People may think that Fury was making hasty decisions, but from the reports he received from his most trusted agents, Hill and Romanoff. He trusted their instincts as well as his own. He knew that Irmina would not waste this chance.
"Anything else?" Fury asked as he noticed that Irmina was trying to ask him something.
"Is it possible that I visit some friends?" Fury gave her a quizzical look. "You can send agents with me and all because I feel like I'm going to miss something big."
"Fine, Agent Hill and Romanoff will go with you. Anything else?"
"Two months and two locations. And my katanas with me?"
"You're lucky I like you. Fine, and they will always be with you."
"I'm okay with that. Good company."
"Where to first?" Maria asked.
"Moscow." Irmina grinned.
~~~~~~~~